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CLARE’S water safety officer has urged people using the county’s beaches to be extra vigilant until full time lifeguards are deployed, starting from this weekend.

The recent warm spell has seen thousands of people visiting Lahinch, Kilkee, Fanore and other popular beaches – with early season bumper crowd reported on many coastal locations.

Clare Council Council will commence it’s full-time, seven day a week, lifeguard service at a number of beaches from this weekend and people are urged to be extra vigilant while swimming on unguarded beaches for the next four days.

Despite the large crowds, there has been no reports of any serious incidents on the county’s beaches over the past two weeks.

Clare’s newly appointed water safety officer, Claire McGrath, has asked that people continue to be extra cautious while swimming on unguarded beaches.

“The lifeguards will be on seven days a week from June 28, they have been on weekends for June and will be on at the weekends for the first two weeks of September,” she said.

“People should swim parallel to the shore, swim where you can stand and don’t head off for a marathon across the bay.

“People should also supervise their children at all times and always have with you. “Never swim alone,” Ms McGrath added.

So far there have been no major incidents on the county’s beaches this Summer.

“The beaches have been busy, when the sun comes out people flock to the water. We have had no major incidents on the beaches so far, thank God. Just the usual minor cuts and bruises but nothing major,” she continued.

“People need to know the locations of the life guards and swim in life-guarded areas, stay within the flagged areas that the lifeguards set out and follow the rules that the lifeguards put in place.”

Clare County Council have also issued advice for people planning to use leisure crafts and boats on Clare waterways in the coming days.

People are advised to check local weather conditions, wear correctly maintained and fitting lifejackets and not to consumed alcohol prior to entering the water.

The appearance of full time lifeguards at the busiest Clare beaches this weekend coincides with the primary school holidays which begin nationally this week.

Despite the various warnings there are still a number of people who are swimming in local lakes and rivers with no supervision, often late in the evening.

The water safety authorities have been very strong in their pleas to young people in particular to think safety first when contemplating swimming in locations that do not have any lifeguard coverage.

A CLARE film has been nominated for its first major award – even though it is yet to be given it’s big screen premier. A Nightingale Falling , a film set in Kilnaboy during the Irish War of Independence, has been nominated for this years Bingham Ray New Talent Award. The film, which was shown to selected audiences at a preOscar event in Los Angeles in February, will receive its world premier at the Galway Film Fleadh next month. The Bingham Ray award recognises emerging talent in cinema and actor Tara Breathnach, who plays May in A Nightingale Falling is one of four people shortlisted for the prestigious accolade. A Nightingale Falling is based on the PJ Curtis book of the same name.

PJ’s novel tells the partially true story of a wounded English soldier who is taken in by a pair of Protestant sister living in Kilnaboy. It stars a number of professional actors as well as local star, Maura Clancy, a stalwart of the Corofin Players.

“The genesis of the story begins here [in Kilnaboy], where there were two Protestant sisters who came un- der some suspicion and even some ostracisation during the Irish War of Independence,” said PJ.

The film was shot in Daingean in Offaly and Tyrellspass in Westmeath last July by Irish based production company Mixed Bag Media. Mix Bad Media has its own Clare connection with Whitegate resident, Gerry Burke, working as co-producer on this film.

MORE than 90 per cent of staff at Ennis General Hospital have voted to begin industrial action which could begin in as little as seven days.

The IMPACT trade union held the ballot at Ennis and other hospitals in the Limerick Hospital Group on Friday in response to the revelation that the HSE paid one of its local managers € 258,000, on a contract bases over a 13-month period.

The union claims that this role was previously carried out by a salaried staff member in the HSE who earning about € 80,000 per annum.

IMPACT will now bring the results of the ballot to the HSE and will begin industrial action within seven days if no agreement can be reached.

The industrial action will include a suspension of all contact between members of the IMPACT union and the manager in question but will not at this time include any withdrawal of work.

“The ballot was passed by about 90 per cent. I’m not surprised, I’ve rarely seen people this annoyed about a local issue within the hospital group,” said Andy Pike, IMPACT rep for Ennis General Hospital.

“Once notice of industrial action is served, no union member will taking instruction from that persons [the contracted manager], we wont be providing any information to that person or we wont be reporting to him.

“We are concerned that any form of industrial action that we undertake would not detrimentally effect patient services so this will be an inconvenience for people in the hospital group but it will not effect hospital services. “We plan to contact the HSE at national level and give them another chance to tell us when the contact with the individual will end. “If we get a satisfactory response to that engagement then the prob- lem can be solved. But if they still refuse to even inform staff when the contract is due to end then we will serve notice and the action will begin within seven days. “We think it is responsible to give the HSE another chance.” The contractor is paid in the region of € 700 a day – which amount to more than the total yearly salary paid to HSE secretary general Tony O’Brien.

SWIMMERS and surfers have been warned to watch out for dangerous currents on Lahinch beach as thousands of tonnes of sand have banked up on the beach in recent weeks.

Lahinch was turned into a virtual rock beach in January and February following a spate of unprecedented storm which literally stripped the beach of all its sand. A large amount of this sand has slowly been washed ashore by the tides over the past three months – but this returning sand has created some potential hazards for beach users.

People are being urged to consult with the lifeguards or local surf school operators before entering the water in Lahinch.

“The sand levels are pretty much back to what they were but the way it has landed is very different – so there are a few current that people would not be aware of. Because of this it is very important that people who are coming to swim or surf in Lahinch have a chat with the lifeguards or the surf schools to find out how things have changed,” said Ben Bennett of Ben’s Surf Clinic.

“There are some unusual currents there and they will change over the summer. The currents will continue to change and to reduce as the summer goes on and we would expect them to be gone completely by the end of the summer. There will always be some current on a surf beach, the problem with these currents is that people wont be expecting them.”

According to Ben, all the tourism related businesses in Lahinch are open and ready for business, but numbers are a little down on recent years as many people believe the beach in not accessible due to the storm damage.

“Lahinch has recovered well. The beach is almost back to normal and all the businesses are open so things are going well. We need to get the word out to people – we have had a lot of people ringing us up who think that we got wiped out by the storm and that we’re not here anymore, so we need to get the word out that Lahinch is open for business,” continued Ben.

“We’re a bit down on this time of year. It is hard to tell because the sun has been great but there has been no surf. So we’ve had a lot of day trippers down to the beach but not as many surfers as normal.”

THE NUMBER of Clare women travelling to the UK for abortions dropped by 14 per cent last year, however more than one woman from Clare every week makes this journey according to British Department of Health figures.

Reasons given for the decrease in the number travelling for the 12th consecutive year vary from better sex education to the availability of the morning after pill, and post abortion remorse to the cost of the procedure.

While “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Choice” groups disagree about the reason for the fewer abortions, both agree that the number of Clare women andgirls travelling is higher than the 55 officially recorded in notification forms returned to the Chief Medical Officers of England and Wales.

They also agree that the overall number opting for abortion is de- creasing. CEO of the Irish Family Planning Association Niall Behan said that for certain more than 55 women from Clare travelled for an abortion last year.

Many of these women did not register their address with the clinic or gave an English address.

Others travelled from Clare to the Netherlands.

According to the HSE’s Crisis Pregnancy Programme 1,503 more women present to them for post abortion care following a termination in the Netherlands between 2005 and 2011.

This number too is expected to be higher in reality.

In 2013, 3,679 Irish women in total travelled to England and Wales for abortions, down from 3,982 in 2012, a 7.6 per cent decrease.

The number of women who travelled from Clare for an abortion has decreased by 14 per cent from 64 to 55 in the same period.

In a statement welcoming the con- tinuing reduction in the number of Irish women travelling to Britain for abortion, Cora Sherlock of the Pro Life Campaign said;

“While it is difficult to draw firm conclusions, a recent report from the HSE/Crisis Pregnancy Programme showed an increase in the number of women expressing abortion regret.

“In that study, 44 per cent of women expressed varying degrees of regret about their abortions up from 33 per cent in a similar HSE study in 2003,” she said.

Speaking to The Clare People the IFPA said it could not say for certain why the number of recorded Irish abortions abroad had decreased but there was evidence to suggest that better sex education and a change in attitude to sex and contraception played a major role.

Welcoming the reduction in numbers Mr Behan said a decrease in the number of new teenage mothers in Ireland also pointed to better sex education in Ireland.

The availability of contraception, especially emergency contraception such as the morning after pill, as well as the establishment of the Crisis Pregnancy Programme by the HSE in 2001 also played a role, he said.

He raised concerns for women living in the county who could not travel for a termination for reason of expense, lack of a visa or women with a disability that made it difficult to exercise this option.

“So what happens theses women with an unwanted pregnancies? Many resort to buying medication on line, which is unsupervised and very dangerous,” he said.

The cost of an abortion in England and Wales is estimated between € 600 and € 2,000 – depending on the clinic cost, travel cost, procedure cost and accommodation.

During recession many women cannot find such money and resort to finding cheap and medically unspervised solutions online, according to the IFPA.

THE Ombudsman for Children is to be asked to investigate a case where children in State care in Clare were unallocated a social care worker for more than three months.

Judge Alan Mitchell directed that the children’s Guardian Ad Litem also refer the matter to the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).

The children, who were found to have been neglected by their mother, have since been allocated a social care worker.

Figures supplied to the Clare People yesterday by the Child and Family Agency (CFA) show that there are currently 10 childcare cases unallocated in Clare.

The Children in Care team in Clare (CIC) is currently providing services to approximately 160 children in Clare.

The order that HIQA and the Ombudsman for Children consider a particular case involving social care services in Clare formed part of an extensive written judgment delivered at a sitting of the Family Law (District) Court on Tuesday.

Judge Mitchell was told by senior social worker Tina Wiseman that due to staffing difficulties, a “con- siderable case load” of the CIC team in Clare had been unallocated since November 2012.

The Judge said, “That’s a source of serious concern to me”. He said the un-allocation of childcare cases is something that the CEO of the CFA, Gordon Jeyes could hardly condone. He asked Ms Wiseman if it was worth highlighting these deficiencies both locally and nationally. She said, “I’m in total agreement with you. It is scandalous”. Ms Wiseman said, “I can’t stand over what has happened and at the end of the day, the children are in state care.” Judge Mitchell granted a full child care order on application from the CFA in respect of a number of children. The children’s parents were not present or legally represented in court. The children were represented by their Guardian Ad Litem. Judge Mitchell commended Ms Wiseman “for not trying to defend the indefensible”. After hearing the case Judge Mitchell ruled that the Court was satisfied the children “have been neglected that their health, development, welfare has been and is likely to be avoidably impaired or neglected and the child requires care or protection….” He ordered that the Guardian Ad Litem “refer this case to the Ombudsman for Children to request her to carry out a preliminary investigation under Section 8 of the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002 and to HIQA to consider the non allocation of a social worker to the child in excess of three months, without sufficient reason being acceptable to the Court and the Court finds this practice was not in the best interests of the child and may have adversely affected the child”. The court was told that Clare CFA social workers have written to Gordon Jeyes, and the Minister for Children to express their concerns over resource concerns. Judge Mitchell adjourned the case for review to October.

CLARE County Council will spend more on average on road maintenance and business and tourism development than most other counties in Irelan but less, per person, on housing in 2014 than any other county in Munster.

According to figures obtained by from local authority watchdog, Public Policy.ie, Clare County Council will spend just over € 91 per person on housing this year, compared to € 387 per person in Dublin, and the national average which stand at just over € 160.

In contrast to housing however, the local authority will spend more on average on road maintenance and business and tourism development than most other counties in Ireland.

A new analysis of spending trends across all local authorities in Ireland has revealed that Clare County Council will spend a total of € 98.4 million on services in the county this year, or roughly € 840 per person in Clare.

The councils spend on housing for 2014 will amount to just over 10 per cent of its entire budget for services. The lions share of the housing budget will be used to fund rentals accommodation schemes or leasing programmes. This will amount to more than 30 per cent of the housing budget or 3.5 per cent of the overall services budget.

The smallest slice of the housing budget will be spent on the administration of services for the homeless in Clare which will account for approximately 0.4 per cent of the overall housing budget or € 400,000.

Clare is one of highest spending local authorities in Ireland when it comes to development management – which includes, heritage, tourism and the development of the local economy.

Clare will invest near € 95 per Clare person on development management this year – nearly twice the national overage of just € 59.

The lions share of this budget will be spend on tourism development and promotions with more than € 5 million, or 5.1 per cent of the entire budget, earmarked for this area in 2014.

Clare County Council will spend less than the national average on both environmental services and recreational space in 2014. A to tal of € 12.78 million will be spend on environmental services in Clare this years with the largest section of this being on fire services as well ad street cleaning and aftercare for the Central Waste Management Facility at Ballyduff beg.

The majority of the county’s recreation and amenity’s budget will be spent on the library services in 2014 – which will cost almost four per cent of entire services budget.

THE COST of renting a house in Clare continues to fall, despite anecdotal evidence of a recovery in the property market in the county.

The average monthly rent paid by Clare people in for the first quarter of 2014 was € 513 – a drop of € 4 on the € 517 per month average recorded over the same period last year. These figures represent a 25.2 per cent decrease on the average monthly rent of € 686 which was recorded for Clare in 2008. The report also signals a clear disparity in the cost of renting a domestic property in different parts of Clare.

The least expensive place to rent a home is Kilrush – with an average monthly rent of € 469 per month while Newmarket on Fergus was the most expensive Clare location at € 582 per month. Sixmilebridge comes in at € 576 per month, Shannon at € 573, with Ennis at € 511 and Killaloe at € 544.

These Clare figures are in contrast to the national average where a year on year increase of 3.5 per cent was recorded for the first three months of 2014.

The largest increase was in the apartment sector – where average rents have climbed by 5.6 per cent while the cost of renting a house has increased by 1.6 per cent.

THE NEWLY elcted chair of the East Clare Municipal District, Joe Cooney (FG) has admitted that councillors will face a major challenge to meet the need of the people living in the newly redrawn constituency.

Cllr Cooney, who was elected after the first count of last months local election with a massive 2,843 first preference votes, also said that making due with the council’s tight budget for works will not be easy.

“My priority is to try and make sure that people in the new Killaloe district get proper representation on Clare County Council. It is a massive big area – from Clonlara back to New Quay, to Whitegate and up to the Galway border.

“It is not going to be easy to make sure that all areas are well covered and people are property looked after and the right services are there in communities and in villages,” he said.

“It wont be easy but it is important that all areas are looked after.

“With funds limited, as they are at the moment, it is also important that everything is kept to a proper standard.”

While all of the councillors elected in the area are based in the eastern section of the constituency, Cllr Cooney insists that they people of North Clare will be represented.

“They do have councillors. There are six councillors nominated to represent that area.

“I will be representing the people up there [North Clare] and if there are any issues there, I will be there,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it is badly balances, there are six councillors in the east side of the area and none in the north side – but it our jobs to represent those people.

“I definitely see that as my job and I will be doing that for the next five years.”

Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) will serve as Cllr Cooney’s deputy for the next 12 months.

DESPITE being battered by an unprecedented series of storms this winter only 35 Clare residents have been granted humanitarian aid from the government under the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme.

This is in stark contrast to Limerick where a total of 531 people have received assistance under the same scheme.

According to figures obtained by the Department of Social Protection, just over € 70,000 has been paid to the 35 Clare residents to date in 2014.

This is despite Clare being the hardest hit county in the devastating series of storms which struck the western seaboard in January and February of this year. Damage was inflicted to scores of houses in North and West Clare which caused severe floods, which flood waters yet to fully recede in some areas.

A total of € 888,916 has been paid out through the scheme for the first five months of 2014.

Of this total the vast majority, € 518,104, was paid to Limerick – the home county of Finance Minister Michael Noonan (FG).

A further € 104,263 was paid to Waterford with the remaining € 250,000 being shared by 14 counties including Clare.

It is unclear whether Clare’s low level of successful application is due to a lack of applications from Clare or a high level of refusals.

A spokesperson from the Department of Social Protection yesterday encourages any Clare person who has not submitted an application to do so as soon as possible.

“The Department of Social Protection is continuing to engage with Local Authorities and other bodies to ensure that all households that require assistance are identified and provided with access to supports,” said a spokesperson.

“The Department is encouraging anybody, affected by the weather events of earlier this year, who has not yet contacted the Department to do so by contacting their local Community Welfare Service, details of which are available on the Department’s website.”

The storm damage in Clare was estimated to cost the county in excess of € 35m for repairs and some parts of Clare are still suffering the effects of the high winds and flooding.