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COUNCILLORS in Ennis have called on the Minister for Transport to release funds for the development of a € 250,000 roundabout on the Tulla Road in Ennis.

Clare County Council is proposing to develop a roundabout near Oakleigh Woods and Cappahard to alleviate traffic issues in the area.

Residents have long campaigned for the measures to improve safety on the road.

At the July meeting of the Ennis Municipal District Committee (MDC), councillors agreed to write to the Minister for Transport to see if funds are available for the project.

The discussion stemmed from a motion tabled by Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF). Cllr Colleran Molloy wants the council to address the need for “additional signs for Ennis town centre on the northern part of the motorway at the current Tulla / Scariff exit”.

She is also seeking brown exit signs at the current Quin exit for Quin Abbey and Knappogue Castle.

In his reply, Eamon O’Dea, Senior Executive Engineer, stated, “Junction 13 on the 18 is not intended as a primary access road to Ennis and provides a means of direct access at R352.”

He continues, “I would not be recommending the inclusion of Ennis on the signs at junction 13 until the Cappahard Roundabout is constructed.”

Mr O’Dea told the meeting that any motorway signs encouraging traffic to access the town centre via the Tulla Road would put “severe pressure” on the route.

Mayor of Ennis MDC, Johnny Flynn (FG) proposed the committee write to the minister’s office to seek funds for the roundabout.

Cllr James Breen (Ind) said the roundabout is badly needed. Cllr Pat Daly (FF) described the project as “very important”.

Cllr Ann Norton (Ind) said there are a lot of families living in the area. She called on the committee to write a strongly worded letter to the minister.

In May, Director of Service, Ger Dollard told a meeting of the former Ennis Town Council that funding for the roundabout project is unlikely to be available in the short to medium term.

COUNCILLORS clashed during last Friday’s special meeting of Clare County Council about a proposal to allow a “mostly English owned” company to build a crematorium in Clarecastle which the local authority had recently turned down plans by “one of our own” to construct a similar facility in Shannon.

Independent councillor Ann Norton warned that Clare County Council must be seen not to “discriminate” against any proposal which could potentially bring development and jobs into the county.

His comments came in the wake of an outburst by Cllr James Breen (Ind) who questioned proposal because it was being put forward by a “mostly English” company. Cllr Breen raised concerns about other planning permissions which were not granted in the area.

“I know a gentleman living in that area [Clarecastle] who is receiving dialysis two times a week. He wanted to sell two sites on his land to pay for his treatment and he is being told that he can’t,” said Cllr Breen.

“To bring two applications [the Clarecastle and Shannon cremato- rium proposals] to the council at the same time was wrong. That, as far as I am concerned, is playing off one against the other.

“We can grant planning to a consortium which is mostly English owned and we turn down one of our own. I don’t think this is right and this council should not accept the proposal.”

A spokesperson from Clare County Council explained that both applications had come before the July meeting of the local authority because a decision to sell council land for the Shannon proposal was delayed as a result of the local elections.

Speaking on the proposed Clarecastle crematorium, Cllr Ann Norton said that Clare should be open for both local and international investment.

“I think it is important as councillors that we are not seen as discrimination against anyone who comes into Ireland and wants to invest. We have to appreciate that Ireland needs jobs and need to bring in outside businesses. As councillors, we need to show that we are open for business in Ireland regardless of whether they are local companies or outside businesses who are coming into invest,” she said.

A BRAZILIAN carer who stole his 79-year-old employer’s credit card to fund a € 3,000 spending spree in Dublin has been sentenced to four days in jail.

Rodrigo Pires (21) stole the card from the home of Hugh Weir at Ballinakilla, Whitegate, on July 12, 2014.

The English language student travelled to Dublin where he used the card to buy flights to Italy, an Apple Mac notebook, and clothes from Brown Thomas, shoes and sunglasses.

Details of the spree were heard at Ennis District Court on Friday. Mr Pires, who is originally from Sao Paulo but was staying at an apartment at Shaun Court, NCR, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one charge of theft and nine charges of deception.

The offences were committed at Whitegate and locations around Dublin city centre on July 12 and July 13. Inspector Tom Kennedy explained Mr Pires came to Dublin to study English on a student visa. He said after completing his studies, the accused decided to move to another county because he was living with Portuguese friends and not getting his opportunity to speak English.

Garda Declan Condon explained that Mr Pires lived with Hugh Weir, an author of books on the environment, and his wife at their home in Whitegate.

He spent five months helping to care for Mr Weir, who suffers from polio. Garda Condon said Mr Pires earned € 100 a week for his work.

Garda Condon said Mr Pires was due to return to Brazil when his visa expired at the end of July.

Instead, he stole Mr Weir’s credit card and travelled to Dublin where he dishonestly by deception with drew sums of cash from AIB bank. He bought flight tickets from Aer Lingus and Easy Jet, sunglasses worth € 229 and clothes and shoes from stores such Schuh, Top Man and Brown Thomas.

Gardaí arrested the accused at Dublin Airport after the bank notified Mr Weir his card was being used in various locations in Dublin.

The court heard most of the goods were recovered but Mr Weir is still owed € 1,531. Mr Pires has no previous convictions.

Defence solicitor Stiofán Fitzpatrick said his client was ashamed of what he had done.

“He decided to do it in the spur of the moment. He saw the opportunity and he took it,” added Mr Fitzpatrick.

Judge Patrick Durcan said, “This is a very serious matter.” He sentenced Mr Pires to 90 days in prison but suspended the final 86 days, meaning the accused had to spend four days in prison.

Judge Durcan ordered that Mr Pires agree to leave Ireland on his release and not return for five years.

CLARE is facing a ticking timebomb with a dramatic increase in the size of the county’s social housing waiting list and reports of a number of people being made homeless be- cause their rent allowance is no longer enough to cover their rents.

According to figures obtained by The Clare People , the number of people on the social housing waiting list has grown from 2,312 in October of 2012 to 3,066 this month.

This represents an increase of more than 32 per cent over the last 20 months and leaves the number of people waiting for social housing approaching an all time high.

This situation has been exacerbated by the recent increase in rental charges within the property market in urban parts of the county, with rent al- lowance payments no longer able to keep pace with the rising rents.

Ironically the news of the shortage of social housing units comes within a week of reports of a record number of properties currently unoccupied in Clare.

THE new West Clare Municipal District has been described as unmanageable and a thinly cloaked attempt to downgrade Clare County Council.

Councillors at last Friday’s meeting voted to write to the Department of the Environment and insists that the old electoral boundaries be restored.

In terms of geographical size, the West Clare Municipal Area is now the largest electoral area in the country, taking up just under half of County Clare. In a joint motion put forward by three councillors from the area, it was claimed that the council will not have the resources to meet the needs of such a large area.

“I think the boundaries as set out are wrong and I cannot see them working on the ground. The overall size of the area is unmanageable, there is just one senior engineer in Kilrush now, we lost one in Ennistymon. The idea behind this is to downgrade local government as was done with the NRA and Irish water. We should go back to the old system.

According to Ennistymon Cllr Richard Nagle (FF), the council will face major budgetary difficulty in the years ahead.

“What we are facing as we go about preparing a budget for 2015, is that we are now totally dependent on the Department of the Environment to provide the finances that the people of this county have rightly come to expect,” he said.

“When the property tax was first introduced we were told we would get 100 per cent of the money. This year we are getting none, next year we are getting 80 per cent. We need to make sure that we don’t end up getting 80 per cent of the property tax but with the ministers from various departments taking back the funding we recieve – leaving us with the same level of funding or less.

“My fear is that we won’t be left with the money to live up to the promises that were made. These promises were made by the Department of the Environment and not Clare County Council.”

Independent Cllr Christy Curtin said the situation wasn’t ideal, but councillors had to work with law.

“I share the frustrations but the law is in place. There is now a challenge on us to use this as best we can to serve the people,” he said.

CLARE County Council has been urged to “go all out” and purchase a site in the Buttermarket, Ennis for the development of a new car park in the town.

That’s according to former Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Daly (FF), who raised the issue at yesterday’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District Committee.

In a motion, Cllr Daly called on the Municipal District “to seek funding for the purchase of the site at Buttermarket, Ennis with a view to constructing either a ground floor car-park or a multi-story car park, particularly as parking in the town is at a premium presently”.

Cllr Daly told the meeting there are very few sites in Ennis that would be suitable for car-park development.

He said parking is a major issue, particularly for businesses in the town.

He said the Council should “go all out” to purchase the site, even if that meant lobbying the Department of Environment.

In his reply, Senior Executive Engineer, Eamon O’Dea said Ennis Town Council had previously “pursued acquisition of this site for the purposes of car-parking and had agreed a purchase price and paid a deposit”.

He continued, “Following examination of title and other matters, the Council on advice of the Town Solicitor and in the absence of issues being clarified by the liquidator, the sale did not proceed. The property was recently offered again for sale and the Council has again submitted a bid for the property”.

Director of Service and Ennis MDC Coordinator, Ger Dollard, said he was aware the site had recently been sold at auction and the issues around title had been resolved.

Cllr James Breen (Ind) told the meeting it is “very necessary” new parking facilities are developed in the town. Cllr Mary Howard (FG) said she fully supported the proposal.

A FORMER factory worker who admitted possession of child pornography at his home in Ennis will learn later this year if he is to receive a custodial sentence.

The 49 year-old man pleaded guilty in March to possession of five images and 43 movies of child pornography at an Ennis address on dates unknown between September 28 and September 30, 2009.

Details of the case were heard at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday.

Gardaí searched the man’s house after his computer’s IP address was identified as having accessed child porn. The court heard gardaí seized a Dell Inspiron computer; a hand held XDA device and a memory card.

Garda Frank Browne of Ennis Garda Station told Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan BL, the man initially told gardaí he was looking for pornography of women dressed up as teenagers.

He said he may have had a problem with looking at pornography during that time in his life.

Sgt Alan Browne of the Garda Computer Crime Investigations Unit, Harcourt Square, Dublin told the court the images depicted young girls involved in sexual activity.

He said it appeared the girls were pre-pubescent but due to nationality and ethnic background, it was hard to place a definite age on them.

Sgt Browne said the images were in the mid to higher end of the scale used by Director of Public Prosecu- tions (DDP) to classify child porn images.

He said the movies lasted between a few seconds and a few minutes. The court heard they were accessed using peer-to-peer sharing programmes like Ares and Limewire.

Asked by Counsel if the movies could be accidentally downloaded, Sgt Browne said he couldn’t determine that.

He said all the movies had been permanently deleted into the unallocated space on the computer.

Defence counsel, Mark Nicholas BL, told the court, that of the 30,900 pornographic images recovered from the computer, only five were considered in breach of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act.

He said that when the images and movies were deleted, his client would never again be able to access them. Counsel said his client had not attempted to hide or encrypt the images and videos.

He said the offending material just popped up when he was “trawling” for adult pornography.

Counsel said it had taken four years for the matter to come to court and his client had indicated an early guilty plea.

He said the man has suffered “reputational loss” and feels “absolute shame”. He said this was a case that did not require an immediate custodial sentence.

Judge Gerald Keyes said he required time to consider the case.

He consented to a defence application that the man not be named for the moment. He adjourned sentencing to October.

CLARE County Council has applied for approval from the Department of Environment to raise loans of € 1.75 million to fund an ambitious re-development of part of the Ennis Market.

Members of the former Ennis Town Council previously approved the raising of the loan to develop a covered market and other infrastructural works at Garraunakilla.

In a report to Ennis councillors, Ennis Municipal District Coordinator, Ger Dollard states, “At this point in time, formal approval has not to date been received but the Council is continuing to engage with the Department in relation to the matter. It is unlikely that any significant financial requirement will arise in the current year and it is the Council’s intention to progress the project to a shovel ready stage. At that point, it would be essential that formal funding decisions are made in relation to then project”.

“The project offers a very significant basis for rejuvenation of the area and the intention would be to follow on, subject to funding, with further phases of the Market redevelopment project.”

The proposal to re-develop Garraunakilla includes the building of a structure that according to the Council will have “multifunctional uses”. The proposed structure would consist of two adjacent pavilions with a plexi-glass roof covering the central corridor.

Mr Dollard told the meeting the construction of a covered market formed phase one of an overall re- development of parts of the town centre.

The plan also envisions developments at Barrack Street, Lysaght’s Lane and Moran’s Car Park.

He was speaking in response to a motion tabled by Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) at yesterday’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District Committee.

Cllr Mary Howard (FG) told the meeting the proposal represents a “very exciting project” for Ennis. She said covered market has the potential in time to become one of the town’s “iconic” buildings.

She said it would be beneficial if the new councillors received a full briefing the project.

Cllr Ann Norton (Ind) agreed that it would be useful if all councillors were brought up to speed.

Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) said she had concerns at how the Council could afford to take on such a costly project at a time when it is struggling to provide resources for “basic public services”.

Cllr James Breen (Ind) said he had been approached by some people in the Market area who claimed the planning notice for the development was not displayed properly in the market.

Mr Dollard said this was not correct. He said the former Ennis Town Council received a high volume of submissions in relation to the project. He said there was a high degree of knowledge among the public about the project.

In his report, Mr Dollard that initial archaeological investigations had been completed and a detailed design is being prepared so the project can be brought to tender.

A NEW community organisation, which aims to support people with disabilities in the Clare, will host its first meeting later this Friday. People with disabilities from across Clare are invited to come together with interested members of the public and community activists for the first meeting of The Clare Leader Forum.

“The Leader Forum provides a space for people with disabilities to talk to people who understand, without having to explain. As part of their work they will encourage all people with disabilities to come together and offer each other support, advice and exper- tise through a peer support network,” said Susan O’Brien of the Center for Independent Living.

“The purpose of the peer support network is to offer people the opportunity to make contact with others who are having similar life experiences. Through these groups a support network is established.

“This support can take the form of conversation and sharing experiences or simply listening to others. In some instances the network may decide to take an active part in promoting change or educating the public about issues they are experiencing in their area.”

Similar Leader Forums are already operating in several counties across Ireland and nationally through the Na- tional Leader Forum and the Center for Independent Living. The meeting will take place at the Junction at Cloughleigh in Ennis this Friday, July 18 at 11am. The new organisation forms as disabled Clare people have been expressed their frustration over the future of the Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant. Both grants have been closed to new applicants since March of last year, which the government undertakes a review of the schemes.

While the review is taking place, no new Clare applicants have been granted access to either scheme – resulting in a number of disable Clare people being left without a suitable transport options.

NEARLY ONE in every 8 Clare homes are contaminated with radon – a colourless and odorless gas which contributes to the development of a number of cancers, especially lung cancer.

The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland have just released the results of the largest survey of radon levels ever conducted in Ireland.

The survey, which compiles thousands of radon test taken in houses over more a decade, reveals that just over 12 per cent of all Clare houses recorded unsafe levels of radon.

Of the 4,316 Clare houses tested for radon as part of the study, 433 were found to have radon levels in excess of the safe level of 200 bq/m3.

One Lisdoonvarna home was recorded as having a radon level in excess of 3, 500 bq/m3 – more than 17 times higher that the safe levels.

The average radon level in the Clare houses surveyed was 89 bq/m3 – one of the highest levels of radon in Ireland.

Because of the county’s limestone and karst landcsape, large sections of county Clare are specifically vulnerable to radon.

Radon has been proven to signifi- cantly increase a persons chances of contracting lung cancer. The gas also seems to act in conjunction with cigarette smokers – with people who smoke in high radon areas having a disproportionately high change of contracting lung cancer.

“Radon is the principal source of radiation exposure to the Irish population, contributing over 55 per cent to the average radiation dose.

“The radiation dose to individuals from radon can vary substantially with some people exposed to a fraction of the average radiation dose while others are exposed to hundreds of times the average,” said Dr Ann McGarry, Chief Executive of the RPII.

“Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas which can accumulate in buildings to unacceptable levels. It is the second biggest cause of lung cancer after smoking and is linked to up to 250 lung cancer cases per year in Ireland.

“Most of the radiation dose from radon is received in people’s homes although exposure at work is the largest contribution to occupational radiation exposure.”

Less than 1 per cent of the average radiation dose absorbed by Irish people is due to exposure to artificial sources such as Sellafield and Chernobyl.