Category: News

AN AMERICAN tourist says she is “extremely embarrassed” after her driving resulted in a two car collision near Shannon earlier this month.

No one was injured as a result of the crash involving two cars that occurred at Hurler’s Cross on May 14.

The court heard that Julie Dowling (31) was driving in convoy with her family on the day in question.

The court heard that Ms Dowling looked left but never looked right before turning onto the main road near Hurler’s Cross.

Inspector John Galvin told Ennis District Court that Ms Dowling pulled out in front of an oncoming car, causing a collision.

Ms Dowling, with an address at 1210 W Indian, TRL Apartment 4, Aurora, Illinois, 60506, USA, appeared in court charged with dangerous driving.

After hearing the facts of the case, Judge Patrick Durcan agreed to reduce the charge to one of careless driving.

Defence Solicitor Stiofán Fitzpatrick told the court that his client had been traveling in a convoy of cars with 10 members of her family when the collision occurred.

He said this was the first time that Ms Dowling had driven in Ireland.

He added, “She is extremely nervous to be here before the court. She is driving for 16 years in her home state.

“She is extremely embarrassed. Fortunately no one was injured”.

The court heard Ms Dowling cooperated fully with gardaí. People were taken to hospital as a precaution but were all released, the court heard.

Judge Patrick Durcan said he could understand how an accident like this could happen.

He said he would prefer not to impose any order. Ms Dowling paid € 300 to the court poor box and the charge was struck out.

Judge Durcan told Ms Dowling that the money would be donated towards charity.

He added, “You are very welcome in this country and I hope this hasn’t dampened your visit.”

MORE than three quarters of a million euro was yesterday allocated to 26 different community roads works projects in Clare.

A total of € 767, 529 will be spent on the 26 Clare projects – with a € 614,023 coming from the Department of Transport and the remaining € 153,506 coming from the local communities where the roads will be built.

The scheme is specifically targeted a more rural roads in the county and requires that a portion of funding to be put forward by local communities.

Half of the allocated projects are located in the Killaloe electoral area, where 13 projects have been earmarked funding totally € 420,000. Shannon was the least represented electoral area with just one successful project receiving funding of more than € 15,000.

There were six successful projects in the Kilrush electoral area, four in Ennistymon and two in Ennis.

Clare County Council’s roads maintenance budget has been cut drastically in successive years with decreasing budgets meaning that a large number of roads projects are being delayed by years – or indefinitely.

This funding crisis was compounded by the unseasonably cold and wet winters in recent years which have caused unexpected damages to a large number of roads, with most or sometimes all of the annual roads budget being spent on repairing these roads.

“Local authorities have asked communities to come up with a portion of the cost of road maintenance ei- ther through funding, labour provision, machinery supply or other forms of benefit,” said Alan Kelly, Junior minister at the Department of Transport.

“This funding is then being added to my department’s spend to prioritise maintenance in rural isolated areas and will allow communities have a direct input along with their local authority into local road maintenance.”

It is expected that the funding will effect a total of 108 households in Clare, 56 farms and two forestry plantations.

A TEENAGER has been ordered to stay away from parts of Ennis town centre after being released on bail.

The 16 year old pleaded guilty to multiple charges of burglary and theft at Ennis District Court in April

He was one of two people who stole a car from Castlewood Park, Ennis last summer. The teen pleaded guilty to trespassing on a farmhouse in Lemenagh, Kilfenora last October. He admitted stealing items from a house in the Lifford area of Ennis, also in October

He also pleaded guilty to his role in burglaries at houses in Westwood, Ennis on dates unknown between December 25 and 26 and at Showground’s View, Ennis on dates unknown between December 26 and 27. He appeared back before Ennis District Court on Wednesday having been remanded for a month to Oberstown detention centre.

Reports handed into court offered contradictory views on the teen’s behaviour, the court heard. Inspector John Galvin said it was hard to be “optimistic” given the boy’s attitude to bail conditions previously imposed by the court.

Defence solicitor John Casey said his client was fully aware of the consequences of not abiding by the court’s orders.

He added, “If he betrays this trust, he will be putting himself away. He will be throwing away the keys.”

The court previously heard that the boy had been led astray by a man described in court as a “Fagin” type character.

Judge Patrick Durcan said he was willing to give the boy a chance.

The teen was ordered to abide by the directions of gardaí; stay away from named individuals; stay away from parts of Ennis town centre. He was remanded on bail to appear again at Ennis District Court on June 28.

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A MAN alleged to have had drugs for sale or supply in Ennis has been returned for trial.

Sean Slattery (23), with an address at 39 Park Avenue, Clon Road, appeared at Ennis District Court on Wednesday.

He is charged with the unlawful possession of ecstasy and cannabis at 39 Park Avenue, Clon Road on February 17 (2013).

He is further charged with having cannabis for sale or supply at the same location and same date.

His case was adjourned to Wednesday to allow time for the service of the Book of Evidence.

Inspector John Galvin applied to amend some of the charges against Mr Slattery.

Defence solicitor Daragh Hassett said he could not consent to the changes.

Judge Patrick Durcan permitted the State to amend the charge sheets.

He consented to the deletion of the word ‘herb’ in two of the charge sheets.

Garda Irene O’Flynn of Ennis Garda Station gave evidence of serving the book of evidence on Mr Slat- tery.

Insp Galvin told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) consented for the accused being returned for trial to the next sittings of Ennis Circuit Criminal Court.

A legal aid application for one junior counsel was approved. Judge Patrick Durcan delivered the alibi warning.

Judge Durcan made the order returning Mr Slattery for trial.

IN THE last three years the Loophead peninsula has gone from one of West Clare’s best kept secrets, to attracting thousands of visitors every year and being shortlisted as one of the top five places in Ireland to visit.

Much of the credit for the prominence of the Loop has been attributed to the local community who is working hard to promote the area and the opening of the lighthouse as a tourist attraction during the summer of 2011.

The numbers of tourists visiting the lighthouse has increased steadily since, and figures release yesterday (Monday) shows that despite the inclement weather conditions of the past two months, more than 2,000 tourists passed through its doors.

That is an average of 250 people every weekend.

The 19th century lighthouse’s opening hours will be extended to weekdays from the June bank holiday weekend and will remain open up to the end of September, attracting even more tourists.

The speculation of a local ghost is also adding to the mystery at the westerly lighthouse, with modern day ghost busters currently writing up a report of their findings in the historical building.

And the peninsula has been shortlisted in the last number of days as one of the five finalists in the The Irish Times Best Place to Holiday in Ireland competition.

For the competition – which has been running since March – members of the public were invited to nominate the places they love to holiday. The shortlist features three remote areas of natural beauty: the Glen of Aherlow, Co Tipperary; Inishbofin island, Co Galway; and Loop Head peninsula, alongside Derry city and Killarney, Co Kerry.

The Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Daly, congratulated the people of Loop head and said;

“The fact that Loophead has made the shortlist from an entry list of more than 1,400 destinations throughout Ireland is testament to the quality of the tourism product on offer. A huge amount of work is being carried out by local community groups, supported by Clare local authorities, to promote the peninsula as a visitor destination to both domestic and international tourists.”

START up companies seeking incubation facilities and enterprise support to allow them to progress from business idea stage to commercialisation are being invited to apply to the 2013 Ennis Innovate Programme.

Facilitated by the Ennis Innovate Regional Innovation Centre, the Programme supports and guides companies through the start-up process and provides them with introductions and linkages to various support bodies in the West of Ireland.

Based in Shannon Development’s Information Age Park in Ennis, the centre is funded by NUI Galway, UL, Shannon Development, Clare County Council and Ennis Town Council and supported by partners Enterprise Ireland, Clare Local Development Company, Clare County Enterprise Board.

Commenting on the Ennis Innovate programme, Gert O’Rourke, Director of Ennis Innovate said: “The aim of the centre is to provide practical support to entrepreneurs as they navigate the start-up path and provide them with introductions and linkages to relevant support bodies and processes, ultimately improving their chances of success.”

“Applicants to our programme should ideally have a number of years industry experience, and have the enthusiasm and drive necessary to develop and grow a successful business. If you’re looking for practical help and linkages to help your business grow then this programme is for you,” added Ms O’Rourke who has over 20 years experience in the micro-enterprise and SME sector.”

The Ennis Innovate Regional Innovation Centre, which was officially opened in early 2012 by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD, has already supported a number of business in the region through its Ennis Innovate Programme, including Empress Cosmetics, Fraysen Systems, Golf Voyager, Greenieland and Egan Concepts.

A number of applicants have already been accepted on to the 2013 Ennis Innovate Programme. There are a limited number of places remaining. Interested applicants should visit www.ennisinnovate.ie or email gert@ennisinnovate.ie.

IRELAND’S oldest matchmaking festival is going pink this September with a gay and lesbian weekend being added to the month-long Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival.

This year’s matchmaking festival will begin with The Outing – a lesbian and gay weekend involving concerts, matchmaking and other events, all hosted by drag-queen Panti.

The event is the brainchild of local hotelier Marcus White who has contracted the organiser of the Dublin Pride Festival, Eddie McGuinness, to manage the event. According to McGuinness, the event will the biggest gay and lesbian matchmaking event ever to take place, anywhere in the world. It is not as yet clear if Ireland’s last matchmaker, local man Willie Daly, will be directly involved in the gay and lesbian festival.

PRIMARY and secondary level students are being called on by Ennis Tidy Towns, to enter their school in the Ennis Schools Sustainability Challenge 2013.

Schools who do their best to reduce waste, recycle and who are environmentally sustainable will be included in this year’s Tidy Town’s entry to help Ennis shine.

Feídhlim Harty of FH Wetlands System Ltd, has said Ennis Tidy Towns are looking for schools who have begun “composting apple cores, who have started a school vegetable garden, or who have even organised a second hand book sale”.

Being environmentally friendly means taking pride in your hometown, school and environment. The involvment of schools is of great importance to Ennis Tidy Towns and is critical to the future of Ennis.

“It’s really important that we can read and write but we must be able to look after the world around us. It is vital that young people get a sense of what it means to reduce waste and be environmentally sustainable,” according to Féidhlim.

“By doing this we can protect the environment and also help the pockets of our local schools.”

To enter your school into this year’s challenge, write a short description of your waste minimisation or sustainability project, when it started and what the results have been.

“We need you to keep it brief,” according to Feídhlim, “time is short, so from one line to half a page with bullet points will be perfect.

“The more initiative the better but it’s about highlighting the work students have done this year. It’s probably a bad time with exams and school trips around now but we want to give students the recognition they deserve for their hard work.”

Féidhlim has said that there is great hope for Ennis in the Tidy Towns competition this year and “each year the town has been going from strength to strength”.

Entries must be sent to reeds@wetlandsystem.ie. before May 17 to take part in the Ennis Schools Sustainability Challenge.

CLARE County Council will formally ask Clare’s six Oireachtas members to jointly propose a motion that would strengthen the local authority’s powers to move on illegal encampments.

The motion, which was put forward by Cllr Richard Nagle (FF) was aimed specifically at rural seaside towns during the summer months. According to Cllr Nagle, members of the Travelling community are consistently taking up residence in public areas in seaside towns – even though they have already been provided with accommodation elsewhere.

“We are now is a situation where we are not talking about just transient visitors, we are talking about people who have accommodation and choose to park in public areas,” said Cllr Nagle (FF).

“We were told that when we provided accommodation in these [local authority Traveller accommodation] sites that this chaos would come to an end. The people were given guarantees, promises were made and they have not been kept.

“It is difficult to wind down about this issue; we are being told that we are essentially helpless. There don’t seem to be any regulations that will help us deal with this properly. I don’t know how we can be so proactive with some people, who will face the full rigour of the law for their indiscretions, but it doesn’t seem to apply to everyone.

“There seems to be no law at all in connection to this. It is a pity when the Traveller accommodation scheme was being discussed that people were not told that this would be the situation. I find this situation totally frustrating. I think we need to write to other councils about this, we need to put pressure on our Oireachtas members to put in a private members motion. This is putting an intolerable strain on local communities and it cannot be continue. This is very very frustrating.”

According to the council’s director of services, Bernadette Kinsella, Clare County Council have previ- ously made attempts to strengthen the legislation, but without success.

“In 2010 we made a submission [on this subject] to the department asking for a review of the provisions and strengthen the legislation. We do take action as soon as we hear about these illegal encampments but it does take time. We can only do that in regard to the existing provisions,” she said.

“After the submission this was also raised with Oireachtas members but we haven’t as yet been given any indication that this legislation will be strengthened.”