Category: News

AFTER more than two decades of local campaigning and action, construction work on a new state-of-theart rescue centre for the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard will being later this week.

The new € 2 million centre, which is expected to be operational by the summer of 2014, will revolutionise the way in which the Doolin Unit can operate – and may, in time, save lives.

Even though the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard is one of the busiest coast guard units in the country, it does not currently have the ability to store all of its equipment at the current site at Doolin Pier.

This means that important equipment has to be stored at different locations around North Clare, meaning making rescue operations more complicated. The new facilities will include a garage area for the storage of boats, equipment and transport as well as changing facilities and an operations room.

“Ultimately this will make our work more efficient because we will be able to keep everything in the one place. The team will all have one place to assemble; there will be no confusion over where different teams should go in an emergency,” said Mattie Shannon of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard earlier this year. “Also, when you put a piece of equipment down you will where it is going to be when you need it again. That was a big problem. We had to store so much equipment in so many different places that it was very difficult to keep track of everything.

“This is going to make our job a lot more easy and they will make us better able to save leaves. We will be able to assemble at the one place and leave as a block.”

The news was welcomed yesterday by Clare Senator, Martin Conway (FG).

“The building in which the volunteers have worked in for the last 20 years was not fit for purpose and I have no doubt that the new facility will greatly assist the volunteers in their tireless work on behalf of the community, carrying out search, rescue and recovery operations off the coast of County Clare,” he said.

A CLARE woman is proposing to go where no woman has ever gone before – into Clare county council chambers as a Fianna Fáil county councillor.

Clare Colleran Molloy is aware however that her biggest challenge is to first get through the hotly-contested Fianna Fáil convention for the Ennis Electoral Area.

At least 15 people are expected to contest the convention for the new constituency, and it is very likely she could be the only woman in this contest, especially if former independent candidate Rita McInerny opts to contest the West Clare Fianna Fáil convention.

The Quin woman is a complete novice when it comes to elected politics, but has worked with community and charitable organisations.

A barrister by profession, she has also helped to run a restaurant with her husband Tony Molloy, formerly of Tony’s Fashions, Ennis, in her hometown of Quin.

The Clare woman spent a number of years living and working in Florida, returning home in 2002, and selling her American home and moving back on a permanent basis in 2007.

At the time she saw a lot wrong with politics in Ireland.

“While Fianna Fáil was in my blood I saw a lot of problems when I came home. I remember a news report from the time saying the Government was surprised with the surplus and did not know what to do with it, and thought this was bad forward planning,” she said.

She told The Clare People that she felt that the time was now right for her to begin a political career, aware that more female voices need to be heard in the council chambers and the Dáil.

She has returned to the law library and she and her husband are in the process of selling the restaurant, allowing her more time to the law and a possible political career.

“Fianna Fáil is on its knees and needs new blood,” she said.

For the first time ever the convention will be run on a one person one vote selection process, which Ms Colleran Molloy believes may be an advantage to her in the two month run up to the convention.

“It allows me as a new comer to ruffle some feathers,” she said.

There has never been a female Fianna Fáil county councillor in Clare and the party fielded just on female candidate in the last county council elections – Michelle Moroney in the Ennistymon Electoral Area.

FREE Legal Aid Centres (FLAC) in Clare reported a marked decrease in the number of people requiring free legal assistance with financial matters.

According to the legal rights group’s annual report for 2012 there has been more than a 49 per cent drop in legal enquiries relating to credit and debit issues in Clare on the previous year.

The human rights organisation, which promotes equal access to justice and has a base at the Citizen Information Offices in Ennis, Kilrush and Shannon, also reported that the majority of its work for a second year in succession is in the area of family law.

As many as 36.9 per cent of the calls to the FLAC in Clare related to family issues, making up 167 of the 445 enquiries – the same number as last year.

There was a 26 per cent drop in the number of people requiring employment legal advice, even though it made up 11.2 per cent of all enquiries.

There was also a significant drop 28 per cent – recorded in the number of people with consumer law ques- tions, with a 15.5 per cent drop in property and land questions and a 16.7 per cent drop in immigration and refuge calls – a drop of six calls to five.

In total the queries to the three centres were down 8.5 per cent on 2011, from 497 to 455 inquiries.

The number of people enquiring about negligence and personal injury had increased by 27.6 per cent in 2012 to 37, while enquiries relating to wills, succession and probate went up 25 per cent to 40.

Questions about neighbour disputes and client solicitor relations went up from 11 to 16 and three to five re- spectively.

Enquiries relating to civil matters went up 40 per cent from 15 to 21.

In a statement the FLAC said there is not only a fundamental need in Irish society for accessible legal information and advice for individuals, but also for fairer systems that allow people to access their rights across a wide range of issues.

Director general Noeline Blackwell added, “2012 was a milestone year for FLAC where, after years of campaigning to reform personal debt law, we finally saw the passage of personal insolvency legislation, its many flaws notwithstanding.”

MORE than 40 council houses are to be made liveable again, as almost a half a million euro is invested in the project.

Clare County Council’s 2013 Housing Works Programme got an extra € 700,000 boost and the funding is being invested in improving the local housing stock.

The 42 vacant Clare council houses will not only be returned to use as a result of the investment, but the work will also contribute to local employment.

The funding will be targeted at improving the energy efficiency and comfort levels of the council’s social housing stock, returning council houses to use and providing grant aid for the adaption of houses for older people and people with a disability.

A specific allocation of € 198,490 was set aside under the jobs stimulus investment programme for energy efficiency retrofitting of social housing stock.

Mayor of Clare, Cllr Joe Arkins, highlighted the new employment opportunities that will be provided for numerous private contractors in the county by the effective doubling of Clare’s 2013 allocation.

“The energy retrofitting measures for 2013 will target 250 older houses in the council’s stock which lack adequate insulation and draught proofing. The works will, in addition to providing an economic boost, considerably improve the comfort levels for our tenants.”

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Housing SPC, Cllr Patricia McCarthy welcomed the provision of additional funding of € 400,000 euro to carry out necessary works to return vacant houses to stock.

“This budget provision will see contracts being issued in respect of approximately 42 vacant units around the county in the current year. This, she stated, is particularly welcome at a time when our recently completed housing needs assessment identified 1,671 applicants in need of housing,” she said.

The housing adaptation grants scheme also received a welcome boost with an additional allocation of € 81,456 to bring the total available for the year to € 1.55 million.

The council’s director of Housing Services, Bernadette Kinsella, said, “This ambitious work programme presents a significant challenge for the council. However, I believe the Housing Department’s highly motivated technical and administrative team will ensure the effective delivery of this programme.”

LESS than a year after it was threatened with closure, representatives of the Ennistymon Community Hospital yesterday signed contracts which will secure the facilities future for a generation.

Following a mammoth local fundraising operation, The Friends of Ennistymon’s Hospital and the HSE yesterday signed contracts for Phase 1 of a € 3 million master plan for the facility.

Construction work will begin in early August with Phase 2 of the project likely to get underway at some stage in 2014.

In order to secure this new future for the facility, the Friends of Ennistymon Hospital have raised an incredible € 400,000 from local people to co-fund Phase 1 with the HSE.

A similar amount of money will also need to be raised locally to cofund the second part of the project. Yesterday’s contract signing seems like no more then a dream last year, when the facility was threatened with closure for the third time in as many years.

“The contracts were signed this morning which is a great relief for all of us.

“This is a major step forward, in the last six months we were threatened with the hospital being closed.

“That is the third time in recent years that we have been told that Ennistymon hospital was in danger of being closed,” said Thomas O’Sullivan of Friends of Ennistymon Hospital.

“It came down to what funding we could put up to back up our talk. So we were able to go to the HSE, from our small community, with € 400,000 for Phase 1.

“This is an incredible amount of money for the people of North Clare to come up with.

“We have people at church gate collection from Mullagh up to New Quay and down to Kilnamona and the support that we have got is really tremendous.

“These local people are the real back bone of our funding. That proves to us that people really want it.”

The development will see the total transformation of the facility, with twin on-suite rooms replacing the current ward-style sleeping arrangements. Phase 1 will focus on the mens and women’s sleeping quarters while Phase 2 will develop the mens area.

“As soon as the first section is nearing completion we will start looking at Phase 2.

“We have started fundraising for that already and hopefully we can progress that in the next eight or 10 months,” continued Thomas.

FIVE Clare companies have exported a total of € 2 billion, and made their way on to the 2013 edition of Top 250 Exporters in Ireland and Northern Ireland, in association with Investec.

None of the five companies made it on to the top ten, but have been praised by the Irish Exporters Association (IEA), for contributing to the Irish export market.

Three Clare companies made it on to the top 100 with Benex Ltd making it on to the top 50 at 36th place.

The Shannon-based company exported € 1.074 billion worth of goods.

Mentor Graphics Ireland was in 74th having exported € 393 million worth of goods while Phardiag Ltd was in 77th place with € 368 in exports.

Zimmer Orthopedics Manufacturing Ltd was in 144th place with € 122 million exports and Enterasys Networks (Distribution) Ltd was in 153rd with € 114 million exports.

John Whelan, Chief Executive, The Irish Exporters Association, said, “The dominance of the information communications technology (ICT) sector in the top echelons of Irish exports industry continued in the Top 250 survey for 2013.

Total exports from the sector grew by 12 per cent in the past year maintaining Ireland’s place as the second largest exporter of computer and IT services in the world. Of the Top 20 companies listed, 10 of them are focused within the ICT arena.”

FIFTEEN new high end jobs are coming to the Burren with the announcement that American maritime consultancy and recruitment firm, Flagship Management, will locate its European, Middle East and African Headquarters in Kinvara.

The new Kinvara operation provide consultancy and recruitment services to maritime companies operating in the North Sea and Gulf regions. The positions created will include a local head of operations, maritime consultants, recruitment consultants as well as finance and administrative staff are are expected to come on line over the next three years.

The Florida-based company is one of the maritime industry’s leading consulting firm for executive recruiting.

The company has enjoyed rapid growth in the European market over the last 18 to 24 months and the Kinvara operation is expected to drive that growth over the next decade.

Flagship Management’s spokesperson, John Mylott, said that Kinvara is perfect for the company’s expansion.

“We are delighted with the location in Kinvara and we have had a very warm reception from the community to date. We look forward to growing our European, Middle East and African business from Kinvara into the future,” he said.

Welcoming the announcement, Minister of State, Ciaran Cannon (FG), said it is very welcome boost for the Burren region.

“This is a company which would not otherwise have come on to the radar of the IDA, now choosing to locate operations in a location which doesn’t traditionally benefit from multinational investment and jobs. This is great news for Kinvara, I commend all involved and wish them every success for their future in Ireland,” he said.

“The fact that this company can serve markets across all of Europe, the Middle East and Africa from Kinvara is proof positive that with the right broadband connection any of our small rural communities can serve as a base for further job creation. All it takes is a little innovation and creativity on all our parts.”

KILNABOY man Joseph Kelly has won gold at the Worldskills competition held in Leipzig.

The aircraft mechanic at Transaero Engineering Ireland competed in the aircraft maintenance category at Worldskills Leipzig 2013 against aircraft maintenance engineers from around the world including Canada, Singapore, U.K, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand, China, Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and France to claim the top prize.

The competition took place over a four day period, 22 hours in total, with six modules to be completed.

The modules varied from sheet metal, daily inspection on a helicopter, gas turbine engine hot section inspections, flight control rigging, component removal, inspection and re-installation and electrical circuit troubleshooting and fault finding.

Mr Kelly was selected for Team Ireland having won the Irish national skills on two occasions in 2012 and 2013. He also took part in a series of interviews.

The training for the Worldskills competition was carried out mainly in FAS Shannon with expert in Aircraft Maintenance Michael Hayes.

The Kilnaboy man also received the ‘Best of Nation’ award.

NUI Galway has issued a final call for applications from Clare to its Sports Scholarships Scheme for 2013/14.

Clare has a long tradition of provided students to the university who have secured scholarships, among them a slew of hurlers such as Donal Tuohy, John Conlon, Patrick Kelly Domhall O’Donovan, Caimin Morey, Cormac O’Donovan and Gerry O’Grady as well as current Clare and Sixmilebridge camogie player Chloe Morey.

The Scholarship Programme is aimed at student-athletes of outstanding calibre who register as students of the University. The scheme is open to students who are only attending the college this September for the first time.

The scheme is also open to students already studying at NUI Galway.

The deadline for application for current and prospective students is Wednesday the 31st July at 5pm.

In the current academic year, student athletes at NUI Galway received significant financial and professional support services.

The scholarships aim to help aspiring young sportspeople to continue to develop their sporting prowess while attending the university.

Currently 60 students receive support under the scheme in a broad range of sports.

The scheme has assisted dozens of athletes’ progress to the highest levels of their sport in recent years and is aimed at providing them with the tools for success in their careers in the long term.

“The strongest selling point of our Sports Scholarship program is the results that it is producing,” said Gary Ryan is Elite Sports Develop- ment Officer at the university.

“We have supported the development of numerous Irish Internationals including some World Champions and medallists over the last number of years as well as the enormous success that so many of our GAA players have enjoyed at Senior and U21 level in recent years.

“Our focus is on the support of our student athletes in their dual careers. We strive to offer world class supports in one of the Ireland’s leading universities.

“Our scholarship students develop skills that will sustain them in their future sporting and professional careers and the long list of successful sporting alumni is testament to that,” he added.

The deadline for application for current and prospective students who may be thinking of attending NUI Galway is Wednesday the 31st July at 5pm.

THE people of Clare were not to blame for the current financial crisis – including the creation of a property bubble in the county. That is according to a new book about to be published by Clare resident, André Hakizimana.

The book, entitled ‘The Irish Economy – Past, Present and Future’, lays the blame for the ongoing recession on the policies used by the past and current government. According to the Ennis resident, the previous governments concentrated too much on exports, and this did not benefit the local domestic economy.

The present Fine Gael/Labour coalition government, he believes, is making the same mistake and should concentrate on investing and improving the domestic economy of many small regions, like County Clare.

“The housing boom and bust in Clare is a cause to the recession, but is not the core – the strategy [employed by the Government] is,” said Mr Hakizimana. “The Government should look to boost the local economy, rather than exports – where there is little or no job creation.

“The Government, the banks, but also the people must take responsibility for peoples current finincial status, but the public should not be blamed exclusively.

“The Government should invest in local enterprise as this would help people go back to work. This is key to improving our economy.”

Mr Hakizimana has been a Clare resident for almost 10 years and has a first hand experience of the effects of the economic boom and bust.

‘The Irish Economy – Past, Present and Future’ outlines the economic strategy of Ireland in recent decades and aims to pinpoint where everything started to go wrong. The book is available from The Ennis Book Shop at a cost of € 15.