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RESIDENTS of local authority housing in Ennis who mistakenly received letters requesting payment of the property tax have been urged to raise the issue with the Office of the Revenue Commissioners directly.

The letters have caused confusion and concern among council tenants, according to Ennis councillor Frank- ie Neylon (Ind). Cllr Neylon says that as the owner of the properties, Ennis Town Council is liable to pay the tax. Cllr Neylon has urged the council to tell the Department of the Environment how many houses it is responsible for.

Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Peter Considine (FF) said he is aware of letters being sent to people who have died.

Town manager Ger Dollard said the he is aware that some council houses mistakenly received letters from the Revenue Commissioners.

He said that even though the council is the landlord liable for the tax, the person who receives the letter is responsible for bringing the mistake to the attention of Revenue.

He told the council’s April meeting that staff would assist residents. However he rejected a call from Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab) for the council to carry out an awareness campaign.

He said the council had no role in the collection of the tax and any involvement “would only confuse the issue even more”.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) says he has received a number of calls from elderly residents concerned about the tax. Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) queried why there are differences between the values of neighbouring houses in the Turnpike area of Ennis.

A FINAL decision on revised plans for the construction of a long-awaited Crusheen stop on the Western Rail Corridor will be made tomorrow, April 10.

A decision on the development, which includes a new 90-metre platform, a 17-bay car park, a telecom and equipment room and a bicycle shelter, is expected from planners at Clare County Council tomorrow afternoon.

A campaign to create a Crusheen stop on the Western Rail Corridor has been underway for more than a decade.

Government funding of € 1.5 mil- lion was allocated for the development when the Ennis to Galway section of the Western Rail Corridor was reopened on 2010.

Clare County Council previously granted planning permission for a station at Crusheen in June of 2011. However, a fresh application for a revised plan for the station was submitted to Clare County Council in September of last year.

The main difference between the current proposal and the one granted planning permission in 2011 is a reduction in the number of parking spaces sought – which has been reduced from 47 to 17. A platform shelter which was part of the 2011 planning permission is not mentioned in the current planning application.

THE legendary West Clare athlete Willie Keane was hailed as a hero of Clare and all Ireland on Easter Sunday night as the Stella Maris Hotel in Kilkee played host to a special tribute night in his honour.

Over 200 people turned out at the celebratory function staged in the Kilkee man’s honour that doubled up as a fundraising night for the West Clare Cancer Centre in the town.

On the night friends, former teammates and rivals from around the county and around the country joined together to pay homage to the Kilkee colossus Keane whose remarkable athletics career saw him win 56 AllIreland titles between 1969 and ’79.

“Willie Keane was the king,” said former international cross-country colleague Mick Priest from Meath, “and as far as I am concerned he still is the king who did so much for NACA athletics in his career,” he added.

Sixty-three-year-old Keane was interviewed on the night by RTÉ GAA correspondent Marty Morrissey and in a wideranging discussion that was interspersed with contributions from the floor he recalled a stellar career in which he landed national titles in every distance on the track from 1500 to 10,000 metres as well as being cross-country runners of his or any generation.

“Every organisation needs a hero,” said former rival Colm Rennicks. “We didn’t have to look any farther when we got Willie Keane. That man is a legend. When you’re in the presence of greatness, you should recognise it. I knew I was in the presence of greatness the first time I met him. I still think it – it hasn’t changed,” he added.

World renowned physical therapist, Gerard Hartman revealed how it was the Keane who inspired to get involved in athletics – a journey that saw him become a scholarship student in America, multiple triathlon champion and physio to such athletic luminaries such as Paul Radcliffe and Sonia O’Sullivan among others as he has treated 61 Olympic medal winners and 47 World Champions.

“I used to see this man on Kilkee beach in an An Clár vest going up down, up down, up down. I didn’t who he was,” revealed Hartmann. “Willie was professional even though he didn’t know he was – it was his application that helped him win 56 national titles.

“Willie Keane was a great inspiration to us all – when I saw him on the beach in 1972 and I was inspired. I started running and became national triathlon champion seven times and been to six Olympic Games as a physical therapist.

“I wonder how many people have been inspired by Willie Keane – I’m sure up the country they’re all around the country. You were an inspiration to me. It’s a phenomenal tribute when you’re acclaimed by your own people. The parish and the people around you who value what you did are here tonight to respect years and years of application, dedication and success,” he added.

Among the other contributors on the night included Willie Keane’s wife Marie, Laurance Larkin of St John’s AC, former Clare NACA chairman Tommy McCarthy, Ger Keane on behalf of the Keane family, Paddy McDonnell who co-hosted the event with Marty Morrissey, chief Kevin Shaloo and Willie McGrath of the West Clare Cancer Centre.

DELAYS in processing social welfare payments are causing major hardship for Clare families, a meeting has heard.

The Clare Citizen’s Advice Centre has said that many people seeking making social welfare claims have to wait up to nine months before receiving payments.

Ann Marie O’Reilly, Advisor for the Citizens Information Centre, was speaking last month at a seminar hosted by Citizen Information Centre and Alliance of Social Protection of Recipients.

The event at the Temple Gate hotel highlighted the impact debt is having on Clare households.

The meeting heard that the centre raised the issue with the Government in a pre-budget submission last year.

Ms O’Reilly said, “Everyone knows the waiting list for all benefits are extensive. There is no quick fix for a benefit. No matter what benefit you go for, you’re going to be waiting. Carers allowance, disability allowance, invalidity pension, you’re talking possibly nine months plus. It’s going to be at least six to eight weeks before you even get a text or a letter stating that. We’ve people coming in after six or eight weeks asking, ‘Will you ring them?’, ‘How long more will it take?’. You just have to wait. The delays in processing benefits are causing major hardship.”

Ms O’Reilly said the majority of queries to the centre in Clare relate to social welfare payments.

She continued, “In 2007 the majority of our queries were social welfare. That was it. In 2010 we had a significant increase in queries about redundancies, constructive dismissal, minimum wage, everything. It was a complete change for us. It’s been changing over the years. The main thing I find in particular in Clare is that it is all social welfare queries at the moment. You might get one or two queries about something else but at the moment it’s social welfare, employment and debt. That seems to be a major factor. We seem to be referring a lot more people to MABS.”

The meeting, chaired by Ennis man Dermot Hayes, also heard from Professor Kathleen Lynch, University College Dublin, and Siobhan O’Donghue, Director of Migrant Rights Centre.

TWENTY beds have been reopened at a Limerick hospital to alleviate chronic over crowding at the regions only 24-hour accident and emergency department.

Patients from Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary have been subjected to long waits and hours on trolleys as the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick struggled with patient numbers at it’s A&E.

On Wednesday chief executive of the Mid Western Regional Hospitals Group Ann Doherty announced the reopening of the 20 beds at St John’s Hospital in Limerick.

A statement from the HSE said she was supported by the Minister for Health Dr James Reilly, the Special Delivery Unit and the HSE in her decision.

In the lead up to the announcement a large number of very sick patients were presenting with acute medical conditions particularly respiratory complaints at the hospital, placing the already pressurized hospital in an even more chaotic state.

The HSE confirmed that there has been no indication of a flu outbreak.

“We have had a succession of acutely unwell patients over the age of 70 presenting at the ED. The majority have required admission to a bed. All inpatients are reviewed three times a day to assess their fitness for discharge. However, the reality is that every bed in the hospital is occupied by somebody who needs to be there,” explained Ms Doherty.

“There are no delayed discharges due to people waiting for Fair Deal home care packages or because of inappropriate stays,” she added.

“We are very much aware of the limits of the present Emergency Department and construction has commenced on a new department which is expected to be operational in two years,” she said.

Meanwhile a risk assessment is currently being conducted at the hospital under the direction of the local fire service.

Limerick County Council, as the Fire Authority for the Mid-West Regional Hospital inspected the overcrowded A&E following a complaint.

The HSE has until Friday to completed the Risk Based Assessment.

A spokesperson for the HSE said, “We are very much aware of the inadequacies of the present emergency department and construction has commenced on a new department which is expected to be operational in two years.”

THE manager of the St Francis Credit Union in Ennis has warned that financial pressures are driving people into the arms of moneylenders.

Louie Fay says people are being “pushed to extremes” and forced to pay exorbitant borrowing rates.

Mr Fay was speaking last month at a seminar hosted by Citizens Information Centre and Alliance of Social Protection of Recipients.

The event at the Temple Gate hotel highlighted the impact debt is having on Clare households.

Mr Fay said, “For me the push is to push people towards moneylenders. I use the word legal but I would use it with a question mark because I don’t believe there is such a thing as a legal moneylender. For example, € 500 over six months, a person will pay € 150 interest. Whereas if they go up to the Credit Union they pay € 15 interest. And that’s what happening. MABS will verify this. People are being pushed out to extremes.”

He also critcised the lending practices of some banks. Mr Fay said, “I had somebody come in to me lately. This lady had a job and wasn’t earning big money. She was saving € 500 a month. When I looked at her pay packet, I asked her how she could save € 500 a month. She said, “What I do is, I save first and then I live.” I thought that’s pretty serious. She had been saving € 500 for 60 months. That works out at € 30,000 saved over five-year period. She needed to get some work done on her house that was going to cost € 55,000. She went to the bank and said I need to borrow € 25,000 on top of my € 30,000. They took the application. She nev- er thought about this idea that she would be refused. It never crossed her mind. When she went back to pick up the money, she found that the bank had approved € 5,000.” He continued, “I thought about it afterwards, the bank didn’t refuse the loan. They offered her € 5,000. So in the stats that the banks are throwing at us saying they are lending, that (situation) did not come under refusal, it came under the customer not taking the money.” Mr Fay told the seminar that tough new regulations and the consolidation of smaller credit unions would have a big impact on the sector. The meeting heard that lending at St Francis Credit Union has fallen from € 20.3m in 2008 to € 11.8m in 2012. He said, “2013 is probably going to be worse than that. The issue is demand for lending has dropped. People have lost confidence. People are not confident about their jobs, they are not secure in doing what they want to do. Mr Fay said credit unions also had to shoulder some of the burden for fueling a lending market that caused the economy to crash. He said, “We’ve got to put up our hands because we were part of the problem, as credit unions we were part of the problem. We bought into some of that bad lending. Some credit unions did, some credit unions didn’t. We need to learn from what has happened in the last five years.”

THOSE of us who have endured years of the “hilarious” comments of “You’re Claire and you are from Clare” or other derivatives of this hilarity, can now have our ultimate revenge; there is a full weekend dedicated to us and we get lots of free stuff and discounts for a week.

Claires and Clares from all over the world are to gather in the Banner County for the weekend of June 23 as part of the ‘Welcoming Claire to County Clare, Ireland’.

Not only will the Claire/Clares be welcomed to their name sake county with a special discount card for businesses around the county, they will also be part of a world record attempt – to gather the most people of the same name in the same area.

The Mohammads of Dubai currently hold the record of 1,096, but they have yet to gather in a place called Mohammad making the Clare record attempt unique.

The quirky Gathering event is not just about encouraging support in numbers for all the Claire’s who have endured years of unfunny amateur comments, it is also a chance to promote the county on a worldwide stage.

One family from North America have already been in touch with organisers to say they will be bringing their daughter Claire to the event.

They want her first trip on as plane to land on Clare ground.

A group from Manchester are also planning to travel to support their friend Clare and benefit from the many discounts being provided through Ennis Chamber of Com- merce.

Leading the project is the Clare Volunteer Centre.

“You don’t have to be from County Clare, you may not have even heard of County Clare but you may know someone whose name is synonymous with being ‘clear, bright and famous’”, explained Sharon Meaney, Manager of the Clare Volunteer Centre.

“We hope it will encourage people to come to Clare. It will showcase the county and all it has to offer,” she said.

A special Youtube video – featuring Clare Daly from Clare – was also launched last week to promote the event and can be seen on http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=MIyn2jCxw6 w&feature=youtu.be. Information is also available on facebook and twitter. Tue2April13

A MAN who head-butted a garda after an all night drinking session has been ordered to carry out 100 hours of community service.

Ennis Garda Colin Egan sustained a chipped tooth after he was assaulted by John Nihill (25) at the Hawthorns Estate at 9am on New Year’s Day.

Mr Nihill, with an address at 25 the Hawthorns, Limerick Road, Ennis pleaded guilty at Ennis District Court on Wednesday to assault causing harm.

He also pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful possession of cannabis.

Inspector John Galvin told the court that gardai were called to a disturbance at the house on the morning of New Year’s Day.

He said Mr Nihill was very aggressive and appeared to be under the influence of an intoxicant.

Insp Galvin said the accused jabbed his finger at Garda Egan, telling him, “I’ll do you if you come out from behind that uniform.”

Mr Nihill was arrested. As he was being led away from the house, the court heard, Mr Nihill lunged forward and head butted Garda Egan in the face.

Gardaí used pepper spray to restrain Mr Nihill.

Insp Galvin said Garda Egan suffered a chipped tooth but was back to work within a day or two of the incident.

Gardaí searched the house and found cannabis valued at € 40, that Mr Nihill said belonged to him.

Defence solicitor John Casey said his client had been drinking since 6pm on New Years Eve and had stayed up all night playing poker with friends.

An ambulance attended the house after Mr Nihill’s partner injured her foot in a fall, the court heard.

Mr Casey said his client, a father of one, became agitated when gardaí arrived at the house.

He said Mr Nihill has “no recollec tion” of the incident.

Mr Casey continued, “He normally has the demeanor of an extremely quite person…He aplogises fully and frankly for his behaviour on that morning. He has no explanation for it.”

Mr Nihill hasn’t drunk alcohol since the incident, the court heard.

Judge Patrick Durcan said gardaí had been subject to Mr Nihill’s intimidatory nature on the night.

He said he was of the view that the accused should receive a prison sentence. Judge Durcan adjourned the case for a brief period to consider sentence.

When the case resumed, Judge Durcan said he had considered the matter. He said freedom was the most important right a person has.

He said he has “no time whatsoever” for people who treat gardaí with disdain and who assault and injure gardaí.

Judge Durcan imposed a 100-hour community service order in lieu of three months in prison.

He adjourned sentencing on the drugs charge for a year. He told Mr Nihill to co-operate fully with the Probation Services.

Judge Durcan added, “In my view what you did on that night was very wrong.”

THE pressure of household and personal debt is creating major mental health problems for people, a meeting in Ennis has heard.

Denis Corbett, co-ordinator of the Clare Money and Advice Budgeting Service (MABS), said the service is observing first hand the impact debt of having on families and individuals. He said, “I have seen the stresses and strains that indebtedness and the lack of money has on a person’s mental health. We are going to have to start putting resources into this. It is a problem.”

He was speaking last month at a seminar hosted by Citizen Information Centre and Alliance of Social Protection of Recipients.

The event at the Temple Gate hotel highlighted the impact debt is having on Clare households.

Mr Corbett also said that there has to be an emphasis in education on responsible budgeting

He explained, “In MABS we are talking about people drowning in a river of debt and we are there at the very end pulling people out. But somewhere upstream there’s been a hole in the ditch and people have been falling into it. What we need from an educational aspect is to block that hole in the ditch.”

Mr Corbett told the meeting that the profile of people seeking help from MABS has changed drastically over the past 10 years.

He said, “What we saw happening in the last number of years in this country was that it was indeed a financial tsunami that hit us. The thing about being hit with tsunami is that by the time it arrived at our doorstep and hit our homes, it started way back and way out at sea.”

He added, “At the start typically the profile of the person we would see coming into us would be someone with a difficulty with a loan, a credit card or a moneylender. That was the sort of profile of that we were dealing with. That all changed and the next thing we were dealing with people with mortgage problems.”

Mr Corbett said that while new personal insolvency legislation “isn’t ideal, it is a start”.

He added, “At least we have this now. We didn’t have anything like this in Ireland before. I’m hopeful that it will start to provide solutions and make things much clearer because what we need is stability.”

Liam O’Connell, a solicitor now working with MABS, said 10 years ago it was “virtually unheard” of that a person would have their home repossessed.

He added, “In 2007 there was only 50 houses in the entire country repossessed. That went up again in 2008. It went up to 96 properties from the mainstream lenders. Since then we know it’s gotten worse. It’s deteriorated. In the last quarter of 2012 there were 238 cases issued as regards repossessions. There were 178 cases concluded and 11 orders granted. That’s part of the mortgage crisis. It is a very, very significant problem.”

ONE man was airlifted to hospital while at least two other removed to hospital by ambulance following a traffic accident on the main Ennis to Kilrush Road on Holy Thursday afternoon.

Traffic on the N68 was disrupted at Lissycasey for three hours following the incident.

An elderly man had to be cut from the wreckage following the crash, which occurred at the Ennis side of the West Clare village at approximately 12.30pm.

He was then taken to the local GAA pitch from where he was airlifted to hospital.

A passenger from his car and the driver of a second vehicle were removed to hospital by road ambulance.

Fire crews from Ennis along with HSE paramedics and gardaí attended the incident.

This follows an incident last month when a mother and her two children escaped with minor injuries following a collision involving an articulated lorry and two cars near Lissycasey on Tuesday, March 19.

The collision occurred at around 8.30pm at Crown approximately five kilometers west of Lissycasey on the main N68 Ennis to Kilrush road.

The woman and her children, aged between 7 and 10, were travelling in one of the cars involved in the incident.

They were taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick by ambulance as a precaution.

The occupants of the other car and the lorry driver escaped uninjured.

The road was closed for more than two hours.

Gardaí from Kilrush are investigating the accident.