Category: News

MEMBERS of Clare’s Nigerian community will gather in Ennis this week for events to celebrate the African country’s Independence Day.

The Association of Nigerian Community in Clare (ANCC) has planned a series of activities in Ennis that include football, a party with dancing, singing, fashion and Nigerian food.

A number of events including a fashion parade and a children’s awards ceremony are planned for Ennis CBS.

It is 53 years since the first Independence Day.

The association has invited the Mayor of Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council, Bishop of Killaloe, Garda Superintendent in Clare and other guests to grace the occasion.

The ANCC was first set up in Clare in 2007. One of the prime objectives of the Association of Nigerian community in Clare is to foster closer working relationships within all communities in Clare and also with the Nigerian embassy in Dublin. It exists as an advocate and to suppor t the welfare needs of Nigerians as well as to progress integration and to be valued, valuable residents of Clare.

“We are delighted to be celebrating Nigerian Independence here in Ennis which is home to many of us now, these events will give us an opportunity to showcase and share our culture and rich heritage from food music, fashion and dance as well as the history of Nigeria,” said ANCC President Francis Okeyebulor.

The father of five who was elected president of the ANCC in August said the association is also planning a number of charity events.

He adds, “As an organisation we want to help Nigerian people who are in Clare. We believe that integration to the Irish way of life is very important. We thing it is integral that people integrate with their local communities. We want to help Nigerian people who maybe in difficulty. The association had been dormant for a few years but we have a good committee in place now. We have resuscitated it and we hope the association can play a role in helping people in Clare.”

THE Irish Kidney Association has paid tribute to the West Clare Kidney Support Group as it has exceeded raising € 200,000 for the organisation during the past decade.

The enormous funding has been used for projects benefiting kidney patients and their families from Clare and throughout Ireland.

In recognition of the West Clare group’s fundraising, chairman of the committee of the West Clare Kidney Support Group, Tom Prendeville, was presented with an award.

The Kilrush man was instrumental in setting up the West Clare group.

Clare IKA board member Peggy Eustace, from Ennis, who accepted a presentation on his behalf, thanked the entire committee for the enormous contribution they have made to the Irish Kidney Association over the years through their annual walk from Kilrush to Corraclare, which takes place every May bank holiday weekend.

Projects which have benefited from the West Clare Kidney Support Group’s fundraising include the Irish Kidney Association’s Renal Support Centre, which has 12 ensuite bedrooms and is located on the grounds of Beaumont Hospital in Dublin; a Holiday Centre in Tramore, Co Waterford, which offers free week-long holidays for kidney patients and their families; and the establishment of a home haemodialysis programme rolled out by Beaumont Hospital benefiting renal patients from around the country including a patient from Clare.

The IKA’s Renal Support Centre, which opened in 2000, is open all year round and provides a dayroom and free overnight accommodation for kidney patients and their families from Clare and other counties.

Many Clare families have benefited from the use of the centre, which has become a home away from home for them when their loved ones are called for a transplant at Beaumont Hospital. Families of Clare transplant recipients from the living donor kidney programme have also benefited from the use of the centre. Also using the facilities are patients who have to travel long distances to various Dublin hospitals for outpatient visits and require overnight stays.

COST cutting measures have resulted in a reduction in polling stations in Clare for the referenda this Friday.

The 13 per cent reduction in polling booths will see the number reduced to 151, 24 less than previous referendum and elections.

The closure of two school houses in the west of the county will also have an impact on where some people can vote.

Those registered to vote at Clooneygullane (Clonigulane) Primary School will now vote at Cahermurphy Primary School, while those registered to vote at Baltard Primary School will now vote at Doonbeg Primary School.

Polling stations have also been amalgamated for financial reasons, therefore people registered to vote at Maria Assumpta Hall, Ennis, will now vote at Holy Family School, Station Road, Ennis, and the two boxes formerly at the Youth Centre, Kilrush Road, Ennis, will be amalgamated into one and moved to the Holy Family School.

Those to vote at the Kilrush Courthouse, Kilrush, will now vote at St Senan’s National School in Kilrush, while all voters to vote at the Boys Primary School on the Kilrush Road, Ennis, will continue to vote at this same location even though the school has relocated.

Returning officer for the county Pat Wallace said his team of workers will be much busier as a result, but he believes “it is doable for a referendum”.

He told The Clare People that this is something his office will continue to review on an on-going basis.

In areas such as Lahinch and Lisdoonvarna, where there were once two polling booths, there will now just be one. In total 83, 544 Clare People are registered to vote in the referenda to decide the proposed Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013 and the Thirtythird Amendment of the Constitution (Court of Appeal) Bill 2013.

Turn out for referendum in the last number of years has been declining in Clare.

The last referendum – Children’s Rights Bill – was held last November and just 32.3 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote.

The voter turn out for the Stability Referendum the previous June was the lowest in the county in almost a decade at 49.8 per cent turn out in Clare, which was just short of the national average.

Just 30.83 per cent of the electorate in Clare turned out in June 2001 to vote on the first Nice referendum, the abolition of the death penalty and the criminal courts referendum.

This was a huge drop from the previously referendum of June 1999 when 60.05 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote for “Recognition for Local Government.”

In March 2002 just 39.29 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote on the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy, with 47.05 per cent voting on Nice 2 that October.

The largest turn out for a referendum in recent years in Clare was in June 2004, when 64.6 per cent voted on Citizenship.

THE odds on Clare having a representative in the European Parliament have lengthened following the redrawing of the constituency boundaries last week.

Clare has been removed from the now defunct Ireland North West constituency and has instead been placed in a new South constituency – which includes all of Munster as well as Carlow, Kilkenny, Wicklow and Wexford.

Current Labour TD, Michael Mc Namara was Clare’s leading vote getter in the last EU election – claiming 12,700 first preference votes. However, depending on the turnout and voting patterns, a candidate in the new constituency will need to win in the region of 100,000 votes even be in the running for a seat.

In fact, it is difficult to see how a Clare candidate could even get on the ticket for any of the major parties, who will likely contest the seats. Current polls suggest that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael would claim a seat each in the constituency if elections were held today, with Sinn Fein, Labour and second candidates from the main two parties likely to battle it our for the remaining seats.

With Fianna Fáil’s Liam Aylward (Kilkenny) and Brian Crowley (Cork) both elected at a canter last time out, it is difficult to see the party putting forward a Clare candidate. Similarly, with Sean Kelly’s location in Limerick, Fine Gael are unlikely to pick a candidate from his back yard who might draw suport away from Kelly.

Sinn Fein are likely to put their weight being one main candidate with Toireasa Ferris, who claimed 64,000 votes last time out, currently in the driving seat. Tipperary’s Phil Prendergast is likely to get the nod from Labour – even if she can’t spell Clare [she last week welcomed “Claire’s” inclusion in the new South constituency].

Despite the current political lay-ofthe-land, Clare TD Michael McNamara believes that the new boundary will help Clare candidates in the future. “The larger constituents will make it more difficult for new candidates, unless they’re already well known or have a party organisation,” he said. “If anything, the prospect of a Clare-based candidate would be improved. It seems to me that as a county we have a stronger link to Munster than Connaught. Just look at the Clare [hurling] team, more of them go to college in Limerick, Cork or Waterford than in Galway.”

ONE of Ireland’s most experienced planners has raised serious concerns about the role that politicians play in planning process in Ireland.

Brendan McGrath, who is a consultant planner with Clare County Council, believes that clientelism has become endemic in the Irish plan- ning system and has come to supersede the public good as a planning consideration.

In his new book, ‘Landscape and Society in Contemporary Ireland’, Mr McGrath concedes that “something has gone wrong” in the Irish planning system, which he argues does not serve the common good.

“The political system functions to support individual landowners. Cli- entelism gets in the way of consideration that are more supportive of the broader community. It [political interference in planning] is an obstacles to the common good, which is what the planning system should be about,” he says.

“Even at a very local level clientelism is not helpful. The decisions are not made with the landscape in mind, instead decision are made be- cause of who owns what land. That is not about the wider best interests.

McGrath argues that it is not individual politician who are to blame for this process but rather the planning system which allows for rampant clientelism.

“It’s not as though politicians are looking to make lots of money on these things [planning decisions], but it is putting personal interests before decisions that effect more people,” he said.

“If things were being run properly, if there was no clientelism, the real planning arguments would hold sway rather than these local influences that get in the way.

“Councillors have a duty to the people that they represent, so if someone comes to them an says they want something zoned X, Y or Z, then the councillor is quite entitled to take that on board.

“When these type of considerations override the way that decisions are made then it is contrary to proper planning and development. That is the order of the day in local government where zoning decisions are made.

“Even with simple planning application, when the decision lies with the county manager. But even in these situations representations are made to managers and to their offices. And on occasion these representations can be given excessive weight.”

Brendan McGrath’s book, ‘Landscape and Society in Contemporary Ireland’, will be published this week by Cork University Press.”

THE Burren will soon be dancing to the beat of a brand new song as Gort Local Radio prepares to launch in the coming weeks.

The community radio station has been producing limited broadcasts online for a number of weeks but plans a major roll-out of programmes in the coming weeks.

The station was founded earlier this year by local man Donal Hanlon, who has been running all aspects of the radio station alongside local volunteers Brid McCann, Fidelma Larkin, Fiona O’Driscoll and Sinead Morgan.

A large number of local people attended an open day at the station last week and hope are high that these people will being their own shows on the station in the weeks ahead.

At present, the type of programming on Gort Community Radio in- volves local people coming into the studio and reporting on what is happening in the locality.

A number of new local businesses as well as community groups such as the Gort Youth Café, Gort ICA and the Gort Show have all been profiled on the station.

Donal became involved in radio after completing a media course ran by the South Galway Educational Centre last year.

After completing the course he took to the streets of Gort, microphone in hand, canvassing local about whether they wanted a local Burren radio station.

Donal has been presented all the programmes since the beginning of the station up until recently when a local girl, Lisa Nolan, came on board and is now presenting her own show.

To learn more about becoming involved or in Gort Local Radio, or to listen to streamed braodcasts visit www.gortlocalradio.wordpress.com.

IRELAND has developed a system of planning which is totally at odds with the modern standard of planning across western Europe. That is the opinion of Brendan McGrath, consultant planner with Clare County Council, who believes the Irish planning works to mismanage the landscape of the country.

His his book ‘Landscape and Society in Contemporary Ireland’, Mr McGrath argues that an Irish preoccupation on property rights has led to a broken planning system. “There is a good bit of effort in the book to set out how exceptional the cultural landscape and heritage of Ireland is, and the limited advantage that we have taken of this compared to other European countries. I would hope that this is one message [that people will take] from the book. Something has gone wrong,” he said.

“Planning is a very difficult area of Irish life. Ireland has a wonderful landscape heritage but our interaction with that heritage is problematic. All along the balance [in the Irish planning system] is about protecting the rights of private property and the common good and that balance has always been hard to achieve. The system has protected private interests fairly well but the system has fallen far short when it comes to protecting the common good.”

According to Mr McGrath, the problem does not lie in a lack of vision for the planning system but more a lack of will to enforce planning decision. “There has never been any shortage of plans and visions. As a country we are good at producing plans but there is an enormous gap between the plans and what actually happens. That is a really disappointing aspect of planning in Ireland. We have lots of plans about containing urban growth and creating these attractive little cities. But we have ended up with a lots of urban sprawl and we don’t have the national parks they have in other European countries,” he says. “I know where things break down [in the planning system] but it very hard to come up with explanation [on how to fix the problem]. We do lack effective government institutions. We can make plans and policies but we don’t seem to have the capacity to carry through on these.”

CLARE’S most senior local authority has been shortlisted for a national engineer’s award.

Clare County Council is in the running for Engineers Ireland Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Employer of the Year Award.

The council, which has a long and successful record of CPD, has been short listed for its achievements in using in-house expertise, local knowledge and innovation to develop the Clare County Flood Forecasting System (CCFFS).

The unique system has proven highly successful and is being replicated by a number of organisations throughout the country.

Dublin City Council, Dromone Engineering Limited, global healthcare company Abbott Ireland and PM Group are among other lead- ing organisations shortlisted for the awards.

Commenting on the shortlist, Engineers Ireland director general and chartered engineer John Power said, “Every year we are hugely impressed by the quality of entries and the organisations’ commitment to CPD, this year is no different. The shortlist reflects companies that have demonstrated how the strategic use of CPD enables tangible business transformation, helping to establish Ireland as a centre of excellence for engineering.

“I would like to congratulate Clare County Council for reaching the shortlist and encourage them to continue investing in professional development.”

The winners will be announced this Wednesday, October 2, at the Engineers Ireland CPD Symposium and Awards in the Clyde Court Hotel in Dublin.

OVER 3, 500 Clare children are being taught in classrooms of 30 pupils or more, a meeting has heard.

The increase in the pupil teacher ratio and it’s impact on small and large schools was the focus of much discussion at a public meeting organised by the Irish National Teacher’s Organisation (INTO) in Ennis last week.

The meeting at Tracey’s West County on Thursday night was at- tended by an estimated crowd of 400 people.

In a presentation, INTO Vice President Sean McMahon outlined the level of education cuts that have hit Clare schools in recent years.

The meeting heard that Ireland has the second most crowded class size in the European Union.

Mr McMahon said that of the 13, 501 primary school pupils enrolled in Clare schools in 2012/13 3, 585 are in classroom of 30 or more students; 1,887 are in classrooms of 0-19 students; and 8,029 are in class- rooms with between 20 and 29 students.

Mr McMahon said it is vital that Department of Education and Science moves away from the “madness” of a “magic number” of pupils that determines a school’s future.

He said, “I had a conversation with a teacher in the Ennis area this morning with 37 children in second class. In that class were four children whose first language is not English; there was an autistic pupil and a pupil with Aspergers. They are in a very difficult environment.”

“We want an increase in spending in primary education and a reduction in class size in line with European norms which would facilitate the employment of our young, enthusiastic and well-trained professional young teachers. We also want the madness, which is the assault on smaller schools, some rural and some urban, to cease,” Mr McMahon added.

Brendan Horan INTO National representative urged parents and teachers to lobby government TDs by taking part in the union’s post card and email campaign.

LABOUR TD for Clare, Michael McNamara has signalled his opposition to rumoured € 100 million cuts to education spending in October’s budget.

In a statement, Deputy McNamara told a public meeting organised by the Irish National Teacher’s Organisation (INTO) that the “range and nature of the cuts proposed in the media in recent weeks are not acceptable”.

He continued, “I had a long conver- sation with the Minister for Education about that funding and schools big and small are at the limit of what they can endure. There is simply not a future for a further € 100m in cuts and savings to be found or anything near that amount.”

The statement was read by a spokeswoman. She told the meeting that Deputy McNamara was unable to attend Thursday’s meeting in the West County due to a prior commitment.

Fine Gael TD Pat Breen said no decisions had been taken on the exact level of cuts and tax increases in the budget. He added, “It is a challenge but as the Minister for Finance says, ‘we are going in the right direction’. At the moment all departments are putting together their budgets, including the Department of Education and Science.”

His party colleague, Deputy Joe Carey said, “It [education] certainly is a priority of mine. I will fight for ye as people here, as parents, as teachers. Education is so important for our country and our economy. I’ve listened to what ye have to say and I will certainly support ye.”

Referring to recent economic data that says Ireland has emerged from recession, Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway said, “I certainly want to see that coupled with a period of growth in investment in education in this country.

Fianna Fáíl TD and party spokesman on Transport, Tourism and Sport, Timmy Dooley, said he would like to see an easing of the cuts to school grants and minor works schemes. He added, “There has also been the increase in the student population but unfortunately there hasn’t been a requisite increase in the number of teachers to cater for that demand.”