Author: admin

A NORTH Clare committee has been set up to organise local opposition to the construction of massive twin fish farms off the Fanore coast. This follows a meeting in Ballyvaughan last Friday night, which attracted more than 100 concerned locals as well as people from as far away as Cork.

Details of the local committee will be formalised in the coming week an organised opposition to the fish farm is likely to intensify this month. Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), the state agency who are behind the development, were invited to send a representative to the meeting but were unable to do so.

Representatives of Clare TD’s Pat Breen (FG) and Michael McNamara (LAB) attended the meeting but the North Clare group expressed its dis- appointment that none of the county Dáil representatives were there in person.

“We are setting up a local committee later this week and we will be following up on everything that was said at the meeting. Pat Breen and Michael McNamara both sent representatives to the meeting. Many of the politicians in Galway, including the mayor, have come out publicly against the farm, so it was a shame that none of our local representative could be there in person. But maybe they can come on board in the future,” said a North Clare committee spokesperson.

“There was more than 100 people there at the meeting and not one them was in favour of the fish farm. There was a lot from North Clare but we had people from all over the west coast. There is now an issue for anyone along the western seaboard.

“This concerns everyone involved in who lives along the coast. It is not just the commercial fishermen, it’s people who are involved in the tourist industry – it’s all of us really.

“We invited the BIM and it was a shame that they could not get a representative there. They contact us at the eleventh hour and said that they would meet us if we cancelled the meeting and held it again on another day.”

understand that Mr Daly will be involved in the publicity for the event but it is not yet clear if he will be actively matchmaking during the weekend. For more visit www.theouting.ie.

THE town of Kilrush is back in the national eye, one week after it hosted the National Famine Commemoration, as it has been shortlisted for Best Kept Tidy Town in Ireland.

The Heritage town is one of just four nationally in the final stage of the competition.

Chairman of Kilrush Tidy Town Committee Paul Edson said that winning the award would be “a great stepping stone for the national Tidy Town Awards”.

Mr Edson said that while the town has never looked as good there are still some contentious areas that need addressing. He explained that the town could not become complaisant. Boundary walls in areas such as Pella Road, O’Gorman Street, Grey Street, and St Senan’s Terace needed to be addressed he said.

The Tidy Town’s committee is tak- ing the issue in hand by going door to door to residence and offering to help them to paint their wall if they wish to take on the project.

In what is likely to be the last every report to Kilrush Town Council the Tidy Town’s chairman said, “This might be our last ever meeting with the town council so we want to achieve as much as possible in the next 13 months.”

The council contributes € 4,000 to the Tidy Town fund.

Mr Edson fears that such funding will not be available from the amalgamated Clare County Council.

He said the Tidy Towns also want to concentrate on Francis Street, the largest and widest street in the town.

“It is like a beautiful around a painting that is not completed,” said Mr Edson.

He said the committee were seeking extra funding to put a three tier planter and hanging baskets for the street.

A MEETING will take place in Ennis on Thursday night aimed at helping families affected by the growing problem of drug abuse.

The Mid-West Regional Drugs Task Force, together with members of the community from around Clare, is hosting a Substance Misuse Services Information day on Thursday, May 23, from 11am to 2pm at the Temple Gate Hotel. Fr Peter McVerry, from the McVerry Trust, will speak at the event.

Mary Leahy, Clare Community Forum, says; “If you want to know more, please come along to the Temple Gate Hotel.

“You may not be aware of what is available and this is an opportunity to have a cup of tea and see what services are here in our community, for our community. It’s not an area that many of us feel very comfortable about, so we want to encourage people to come along to this informal event.”

Those involved from the community came together after completing the FETAC 5 component certificate in Community Addiction Studies, hosted by Ennis Community College and supported by Clare VEC and the MWRDTF.

Pat Talty, of the organising group said;

“The course focused my interest in wanting to do something further, at a local level.

Together we decided that a starting point for this was to hold an information event, to inform ourselves and the people of Clare of the services available to us, our families and our community when substance use becomes problematic.”

Since last year, a number of new services have started in the mid-west region.

This includes the Community Substance Misuse Team (CSMT), which assists young people, families and communities develop effective and supportive coping strategies to deal with substance misuse issues.

Clare Youth Services, Bushypark House and the Health Services Executive Drug & Alcohol Service, CSMT and Limerick Youth Service recently responded to a clear need, and established a youth support group.

This group provides help to young people aged 14 to 18 years who are affected by a close family members drinking or drug use. Further information on all groups will be available on the day.

SPORT has given plenty of joy to the Twumasi family since they moved from Ghana to Ennis 10 years ago. Brother Nicholas and William are talented GAA players with Eire Óg and Clarecastle respectively. Both have also excelled at athletics and on the soccer field. Last year 17-year-old Nicholas was part of the Avenue United team that reached the semi-finals of the under 17 National Cup. He is on the cusp of winning a Premier Division title with the Ennis club’s junior side. Nicholas dreams of playing at higher level, maybe in England or Scotland. Soccer is his favourite sport. But while sport has given Nicholas great days and memories, it has also introduced him to some of life’s uglier attitudes. Racism never encroached on the Twumasi family’s life except on the sports field. Nicholas explains, “I experienced it a lot. It got me in trouble a few times. It only stopped two years ago. I was surprised because we are all playing sports just for the fun of it. There is no need to do any of that when I haven’t done anything to you. I just lose it when things like that happen. It was players and people on the sideline.”

Dad Kwame says he too was surprised when insults were hurled at his son. He says, “They called him names when they played football. It is a game. You have to close your ears and not listen to them.”

Nicholas says he only ever experienced racism on the sports field. He explains, “That was the most difficult part, when you are playing sport and someone keeps racially abusing you. We reported it a few times but the referee would say there is nothing he could do if he didn’t hear it. With Avenue we reported it a few times and we were told there is noting we can do about it if the ref did not hear it.”

He adds, “The last time it happened, a guy started abusing me straight in front of the ref. It has died down since last year. It’s a lot easier now.”

The family moved to Ennis in 2002. After a 10-year wait, they secured citizenship last year. Kwame, a selfemployed former Dell worker, and his wife Comfort have five children and one foster child. Kwame says the family were welcomed to Ennis and enjoy their life in Ireland.

Citizenship, he says, has made it easier for the family to travel. Nicholas hope to study in England after completing his Leaving Cert. For him, citizenship didn’t come soon enough.

He says, “I couldn’t go through to ‘Football’s Next Star’ (football talent show) with Celtic because I didn’t have Irish citizenship!”

A NUMBER of events are planned in Clare to celebrate Africa Day, which takes place On May 25.

‘A Taste of Africa’ will take place in Clare County Council foyer, New Road, Ennis, from 12.30pm to 12.30pm on Wednesday, May 22, to mark Africa Day.

This community event will share some aspects of the rich heritage of various African countries and will create an opportunity for both African and non African Clare residents to enjoy some time together on this special occasion.

The event will include food tasting with explanations of the origins and recipes of the dishes and a display of African traditional attire. The mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Daly, will also be in attendence.

Africa Day this year marks 50 years of the African Union and Afri- can Independence. It provides an opportunity for all Africans, including those who have made Ireland their home and non Africans to celebrate Africa, its people and their potential at a time of great opportunity for the continent.

The 50th anniversary of the African Union is an occasion to underline the change in the general narrative on Africa from despair and hopelessness to the potential of inclusive economic growth and the building of democratic institutions.

Abiodun Ladigbolu of the Association of Nigerians in County Clare (ANCC) said, “The ANCC, Clare Immigrant Support Centre, Ghanian Irish Friendship Society and Moroccan Irish Friendship Association are delighted to be working in cooperation with Clare County Council in bringing a Taste of Africa to Ennis on Wednesday. We hope we will be joined by many people on the day.”

Throughout Clare events are being organised in schools and libraries to mark Africa Day.

Africa Day on May 25 marks the 50th anniversary of Africa Day and African unity. Events are happening throughout Clare and Ireland until May 26.

The events include a showcase of African writers at Clare libraries; activities at Clare Youth Service and A Flavour of Africa experience at Little Hippies Childcare Centre.

THE DATA Protection Commissioner has written to a Clare school demanding that it turn off CCTV cameras in operation in a classroom in the school.

The school installed the CCTV system recently and within days of installation a complaint was received by the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC). Within the complaint it is alleged that the school in question installed the CCTV cameras in classrooms without consulting parents of children in the school.

In a letter sent by the DPC to the Chairperson of the Board of Management of the school, which has been seen by The Clare People , the officer stated the DPC “will not tolerate the use of CCTV cameras in the classroom”. The letter stated that an investigation of the complaint is underway.

The school have been given two weeks to respond to the letter, which lists four areas of concern, one of which is why the cameras were installed. The letter does not identify the complainant who brought the matter to the attention of the DPC.

KILRUSH Town Council’s finances are the healthiest in years and its soon to be disbanded council is determined to have all of the money spent on local projects before it is absorbed “ and lost” within a newly amalgamated county council.

According to the Financial Statement for last year, and published this week, there was an overall net surplus of € 19, 535 at the end of 2012, and € 200,000 transferred to specially marked projects.

This is no small feat considering that at the end of 2007, there was a cumulative deficit of € 187,000 in the council’s revenue account.

According to Town Clerk John Corry the savings were achieved by cuts to expenditure in different sectors including payroll, and despite cuts to the Local Government Fund and grants from the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government.

At Thursday night’s meeting of the town council it was agreed to set aside € 150,000 of the € 200,000 transferred to special projects to the proposed Cooraclare Road Sports Development with the remaining € 50,000 to go towards that Vande leur Walled Garden Capital Works Project.

The council is currently awaiting grant-funding approval from central government for the sport’s development before the project can go through. Grant funding has been refused for the project on two successive years, leading to the mayor Cllr Mairead O’Brien (Ind) having some reservations about setting aside such a large sum.

She pointed out that if the project does not get a sports grant this year, it will be put on the shelf and the money set-aside by the town council absorbed by the larger council.

“Can we set a date to say if it is not achieved can we say it will be used for astro turf pitch?” she asked.

It was agreed that if funding was not provided in the next round of sport capital grants, the funding would be transferred to another project. It was also agreed to tender for the astro turf pitch so that the council could move quickly to have this project carried out quickly, if the sport development did not get the green light.

Meanwhile the council finances were further boosted by local businesses compliance with paying commercial rates. At 76 per cent compliance for the third year in a row this is the highest return to any of Clare’s three rate setting councils, including the county council. Mr Corry said that every effort would be made to collect all outstanding rates.

“We are being as flexible as we can with rate payers, and going down the legal route is a last resort,” he said.

Development contributions were down again this year to € 2,153 from an all time high in 2007 of € 273,096.

THE value of Clare’s water infrastructure, which will soon be transferred to the Irish Water Agency, has been estimated at more than € 400 million. Councillors at last night’s meetings of Clare County Council raised fears that this valuable public resource could be sold to a private company – and possibly even a for eign-owned private corporation.

Figures released at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council puts the total fixed assets of Clare County Council at € 637.2 million. When depreciation of € 247 million is taken into account and € 10 million of works currently being built – that brings the total value of Clare water system to € 400.1 million.

Councillors last night criticised the lack of clarity about the transfer of water resources from Clare County Council to Irish Water – and raised fears that the county’s water infrastructure could be sold to private companies in China and Singapore.

“Our water infrastructure could end up in Chinese hands – maybe we will have the Who Flung Dung corporation looking to take control of the Irish water system. We won’t have a control over the pricing structure and there will be no investment in water systems over the years,” said Cllr PJ Kelly (FF).

“Who is going to control water charges in the future? Is it going to be public representatives like this? No. It will be companies who will see every price increase as profit.”

The discussions follow a pair of water-related motions put forward by six councillors – including PJ Kelly and Pat Hayes (FF).

“There are a lot of critical issues which need to be insured if we are going to transfer to Irish Water. Irish Water should be retained permanently in Irish control. That any price increases would be list to the cost of living. That a percentage [of money collected] be invested back to infrastructure. And that all loans [on the water projects] be written off. I am not in supporter of Irish Water but if it going to happen then these points should be looked at and put in place.”

The meeting also heard that there is currently € 24.8 million owed on Clare water projects.

“Everything that we have heard to date states that the assets will remain in public ownership and we can only accept that as it stands,” said Director of Services, Anne Haugh.

“The basis of the negotiations at the moment are that liabilities will be transferred along with assets.”

CLARE County Manager, Tom Coughlan, has been appointed to the board of the new Shannon Airport Authority. Mr Coughlan is one of two new appointments to the SAA board, the move coming on the back of Clare County Council being a staunch supporter of the airport being given its independence from the Dublin Airport Authority.

Mr Coughlan’s appointment to the board, along with that of Tony Brazil of Limerick Travel, came into effect this Tuesday and completed the new SAA board.

“I welcome these appointments as they bring additional and relevant experience and expertise to the board,” said chairman of the SAA, Rose Hynes.

“Tony Brazil’s knowledge of all aspects of the tourism industry will be extremely valuable as we continue to grow passenger services at Shannon Airport. Tom Coughlan’s dynamism and energy as manager of Clare County Council, and his focus in that role on regional development and promotion, will also be a very positive addition to the board.

“I look forward to working with both of them towards delivering further on Shannon’s potential as a key economic driver for the wider region,” she added.

Mr Coughlan’s appointment honours a commitment given by Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar that there would be local authority involvement in the new Shannon Airport. As county manager, he as been in the vanguard of Clare County Council’s support of Shannon during and after the process that brought about its independence from the DAA.

“We are ready, willing and able to work with NEWCO and work with whoever we have to work with to try and make this a success,” he said when independence was finaly granted last December. “I think it can be the new start for Shannon – I think it has to be the new start because we cannot stay where we are. We have to make a new start, we have to move on from where we are. I very much echo the sentiment that doing nothing was not an option,” he added.