Category: News

A PUBLIC meeting concerning the construction of a controversial fish farm off the Clare coast will take place in Ballyvaughan this week.

The meeting, which has been organised by local fishermen and others in the local community, is the first formal opposition meeting to take place against the fish farm on Clare soil.

The meeting follows on from a general meeting, organised by Clare Labour TD, Michael McNamara last month.

At that meeting, which was held at the Russell Centre in Doolin, a pro- posed talk about ways of improving the local fishing trade was overtaken by a large number of complaints about the proposed fish farm.

The project is the brainchild of Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) and will be the largest fish farm of its kind in Europe if they are given the go ahead. The Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG), will decide on whether to licence the development later this year.

The twin fish farms will be located around six miles off the coast of Doolin and Fanore and locals are worried that the farm will have a negative impact on the existing local fish trade and have a negative impact on the Burren’s tourism industry.

A number of different studies have been presented by BIM and other group including Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) about the possible impact of the farm.

The chairman of the World Register of Marine Species last week sent a letter to Minister Coveney warning him about what the described as “incorrect data” released about the potential effect of sea lice from the farm on local wildfish.

“Salmon lice from aquaculture farms have proven difficult to control on farms, especially large farms and have been linked to mass fatal parasite infestations on wild salmon and trout in Ireland, Scotland, Norway and Canada,” said Mark Costello, who is also a Marine Ecology Professor at the University of Auckland.

“If there are a million fish on the farm with one egg-bearing louse each, the farm may release 500 million lice larvae. A key consequence of this is that on large farms, it is possible to keep the number of lice below what is harmful to the farm fish but they may still be producing a lot of lice larvae.”

The meeting will take place from 8pm at St John’s Hall in Ballyvaughan this Friday, May 17. Local politicians as well as a representative from BIM have been invited to attend.

INTERNATIONALLY renowned acoustic group Lúnasa have announced their plans to break a Guinness World Record next month in Ennis.

The group is calling out for more than 1,020 musicians to take part on June 21 in Abbey Street car park, Ennis, in order to break a world record for the largest tin whistle ensemble.

Tracy Crawford, of Ennis Roots Music Weekend, has said that the event has received a massive response from an international audience because of its promotion during Lúnasa’s American tour and that they are expecting a lot of visitors from overseas.

Bands, groups, and music schools have also been invited to take part alongside anyone who wants to learn to play ‘The Siege of Ennis’ on the tin whistle for the first time.

According to Tracy, “The event is for everyone and it’s a chance to take up an instrument. It will be very exciting to try break the world record and we are really looking forward to it.”

The current world record for the largest ensemble of tin whistlers stands at 1,015 which was achieved at an event organised by Scoil Acla in Keel, Achill Island, on July 31, 2010. The ensemble performed the “Dawning of the Day”.

Custy’s and The Irish Shop in Ennis have a range of whistles available for the event in store.

“When purchasing a tin whistle,” Tracy continued, “make sure and tell them that you are taking part in the Guinness World Record Attempt to claim your free copy of the ABC tune notation.

“We chose the ‘Siege of Ennis’ because of its obvious connection with the county and to make it interesting we are going to play it in two different keys.”

Tracy has also announced that the weekend will further feature an International Street band competition and the chance to perform with the Kilfenora Ceilí Band.

The event coincides with the Gathering 2013 and will feature a free open air concert by Lúnasa, Socks in the Frying Pan, The Kilfenora Ceilí Band and special guest Maura O’Connell.

For video tutorials and more information on the record attempt visit www.ennisrootsweekend.com.

AN estimated € 240 million of ordinary hard-working Clare people’s money is being put under threat by a Government policy that “requires credit unions to give banks preferential access to creditors”.

According to MEP Marian Harkin (Ind), there are up to 66,000 people from the banner county, who are members of the county’s nine credit unions, and they must insist their public representatives oppose the Government policy and that of the Central Bank and regulators.

The MEP for Ireland North West accused the Government and the central bank of threatening the future of the credit union movement in the interests of banks, which, she said, had undermined the country’s economy and caused incalculable harm to individuals, families and the entire social fabric of the country.

“It is astounding, to say the least, that the Central Bank acting for the government, is attempting to weaken the credit union movement in the interest of the banks and in doing so is undermining a financial support mechanism which has, unlike the banks, done nothing but good for the community. The latest spokesperson for ‘official Ireland’ to engage in an unworthy attack on the credit unions is the registrar of credit unions Sha- ron Donnery. In her speech to the AGM of the Irish League of Credit Unions last weekend, she has warned of dire outcomes for the peoples’ credit movement if they fail to concede to the banks. For the Regulator of Credit Unions to demand concessions for banks, which broke every rule in the book by pushing excessive mortgages on people, is totally unacceptable.

“Even more unacceptable is the pressure being exercised by various representatives of ‘official Ireland’ that the banks must have preference over credit unions in debt recovery,” she said. “The banks, and the Central Bank, as their regulator, have lost any moral or business right to main- tain that mortgage repayment has primacy over the repayment of credit unions which are community-owned not for profit financial institutions.

“Over € 100 million of credit union funds were written off in the failures of Anglo Irish, AIB, Bank of Ireland and TSB. In no way can credit unions again be sacrificed to the benefit of badly-performing financial entities, many of whom are now raising interest rates on mortgages,” she said.

The nine credit unions in Clare include Derg Credit Union, Scarriff; Ennistymon and District, Ennistymon; Fergus, Lissycasey; Kilrush; SFADCo Staff, Shannon Town Centre; Sixmilebridge; St Peter and Paul, Clarecastle and St Francis, Ennis.

CLARE farmers are within touching distance of an end to the fodder crisis – one of the worst feed shortages to hit the county’s farms in decades.

Clare IFA chairman, Andrew Dundas, believes that the next ten days are critical with any remaining fodder running out and grass growth just starting to begin in earnest.

The organisation helped to harvest a further 1,100 bales of silage from land banks at Shannon Airport last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday more than twice what they had predicted they would get from the site.

This mean that 2,300 bales of silage were harvested from the airport over the past two week. While these bales have already been allocated to Clare farmers and are likely all used up – they provided a vital stop gap to get farmers through the worst of the crisis.

“We have gotten a bit of heat and grass is starting to grow. It will take a week or two to get going properly but hopefully the end is in sight,” said Mr Dundas.

“The next few days are the real pressure time on farms but at least an end is, hopefully, in sight. Shannon Airport came at the critical time – there were a lot of farmers in a critical situation over the last 10 days and the bales [from Shannon Airport] really saved them.

“This was about getting people over the hump and I think it made a big difference in the county. I would say all those bales are eaten at this stage – but they were there at a crucial stage.”

One silver lining of the fodder crisis was the way that the local farming community – including the farming organisations, co-ops, marts, local businesses and farmers – came together to see themselves through the crisis.

“A bit of growth is crucial now. It will take a few weeks for the grass growth to come back and hopefully that will be the end of it,” continued Andrew.

“There was a great effort right across the farming community in Clare to get through this. Everyone worked incredible hard and a lot of organisations and people out there deserve a lot credit. It was a real cross community effort – from Shannon Airport to the marts, co-ops and all the agri-businesses. It was a great community effort.” Tue07May13

A BALLYVAUGHAN grandmother who says she was ‘butchered’ by doctors when giving birth to her first son in 1965, is appealing to the Health Service Executive (HSE) to locate records of the birth.

Elizabeth “Ellen” Moore says that she has wanted to die on a number of occasions over the past 48 years following her symphysiotomy – which has left her in near constant pain and completely incontinent.

This procedure, which involved breaking a woman’s pelvic bone during labour, was conducted without her knowledge or permission in September of 1965.

Mrs Moore has recently obtained all her medical records from the HSE under Freedom of Information – but records of the birth of her first son and the controvertial symphysiotomy have been lost.

Ellen, who has five grown up children now living in Shannon and East Clare, says she wants the records so she can finally explain to her children why their mother was the way she was.

“My family are so supportive – they always have been. Sometimes I just curl up on the bed and hope that the pain will go away. It is difficult, [but] I had to get up every morning. I had five children, I had to keep going,” she said.

“There were time when I wanted to die, I wanted to get into bed and never get out of it – after I’d had an accident down the town of something.

“Nobody can give me back the years of my life. I should have had a good life, I should have been able to go places and do things – but I’ve been tied to pain. I think if I felt sorry for myself, I’d start to crack up.”

A GROUP of Clare farmers have proposed radical changing to the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), which they believe could prevent as disastrous fodder shortage, like the one seen over the past month, from happening again.

The United Farmers Association (UFA) have gained much support in Clare since they formed a number of months ago.

The organisation supports a redistribution of the money paid to Irish farmers under CAP with smaller farmers, such as those in Clare, ben- efiting more, while larger farmers, more common in the eastern counties, would get proportionately less.

Clare spokesperson for the UFA, Joe Corbett, has proposed a change to CAP regulations which he feels would unlock large landbanks of good farmland which are currently not being used to its potential.

The scheme involves allowing inactive landowners to lease their land with their Single Farm Payment (SFP) being split between the landowner and the leasing farmers.

Currently landowners will lose their SFP if they lease their land making leasing unattractive for both parties.

This system, according to Joe, would allow both parties to share the benefits of increased production on the land as well as sharing the SFP associated with the land, a system which he believes would lead to an increased production on Clare farms.

“Farmers who want to retire or maybe want to get employment off the farm need to be incentifised to lease their land. They can’t be expected to lease their land for less than they would get if they had the minimum stock levels as set out under the SFP,” said Joe.

“A person in this position will get 50 per cent of his SFP and get more than the remaining 50 per cent from the farmer who is leasing the land. The leasing farmers will then get 45 per cent of the SFP for the land, which will subsidise the cost of leasing, but he will be able to more than make this up from increased productivity on the land.

“This idea will unlock the production potential that is in this land and it will see the land owner and the active farmer sharing that potential.”

The UFA scheme would also see the remaining five per cent of the SFP used for an emergency hardship fund to be created to help farmers in times of extreme hardship, such as the recent fodder crisis.

GONDOLA type boats and greater use of the Rover Fergus could see Ennis become Ireland’s answer Venice. That’s according to one local councillor who wants to see Clare become the romance capital of the mid-west.

Ennis councillor Johnny Flynn (FG) is urging Ennis Town Council to draft new byelaws that would al low gondola boat journeys through the town centre.

Speaking earlier this month, Cllr Flynn explained that gondolas are boats that were traditional to the River Shannon and Fergus Estuary.

He said, “These were common to the River Fergus and what I would want to see is Ennis become Ireland’s answer to Venice.”

Cllr Flynn’s proposals are due to be discussed at today’s monthly meeting of Ennis Town Council.

In a motion, Cllr Flynn states that Clare needs to develop a unique selling point to capitalize on the Wild Atlantic Way tourism initiative.

He says that the town’s waterways could be utilized more. According to Cllr Flynn boat tours could run from Knox’s Bridge to Steele’s Rock.

He states, “In order for Ennis and Clare to benefit in terms of jobs etc from the development and the promotion of the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ tourist trail from Donegal to West Cork there is a need to develop a Unique Selling Point, a USP, for the county and its capital town to attract stayovers in the county. Clare is home to the month-long world famous Matchmaking Festival at Lisdoonvarna.

“Ennis due to foundation on an island and its history of flooded streets has been known over the decades as ‘Ireland’s Venice’.”

Cllr Flynn states that the council should seek to build “on Lisdoonvarna’s world renowned matchmaking reputation by promoting Clare and Ennis town as the premier romance county and town destinations along the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ by immediately drafting byelaws to permit and regulate: (a) horse drawn journeys in jarveys in and around the town centre; (b) gondola boat journeys on the Fergus River from Knox’s Bridge to Steele’s Rock to Post Office Field. Steele’s Rock is so called as result of Tom Steele famously serenading across the Fergus the woman of his dreams living on the opposite riverbank.”

A MAN who set fire to property owned by a man who harassed his mother did so out of “loyalty and love for his mother”, a court has heard.

Judge Patrick Durcan said he accepted that 21-year- old Aaron Moylan had a certain “motivation” for damaging garden sheds at The Hawthorns, Limerick Road Ennis on June 27, 2012. At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Mr Moylan, with an address at 8 Abbey Court, Ennis pleaded guilty to two charges of damaging two garden sheds by fire.

Judge Durcan this was a “very seri- ous and dangerous offence to commit.”

The court heard that Mr Moylan set fire to a garden shed owned by former Dell worker William Keane (40). In January, Mr Keane, with an address at the Hawthorns, Limerick Road, Ennis, pleaded guilty to harassment of a woman.

The incidents occurred over a 12month period on dates unknown between October 1 (2011) and September 1 (2012).

Mr Keane was ordered by Judge Durcan not to have any contact with the injured party. On Wednesday, Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that Mr Moylan had an issue with a person living in The Hawthorns who had been involved in a relationship with his mother.

Insp Kennedy said that Mr Moylan went to the man’s property and set fire to the shed with a small bit of fuel and a lighter.

A shed in a neighbouring house was also damaged by fire as a result of the incident. Mr Moylan has no previous convictions.

Defence solicitor Tara Godfrey told the court that William Keane had harassed and stalked her client’s mother. She said the woman installed CCTV at her home because she was afraid of Mr Keane.

She said Mr Moylan had “cracked.” “He did what he felt would attack Mr Keane’s sense of security,” she added.

Inspector Kennedy said a certain amount of provocation could be attributed to Mr Moylan’s actions.

He added, “Mr Moylan was way out of order in going to set fire to this property. It was very dangerous and could have got out of control.”

Judge Patrick Durcan said, “I accept his motivation was out of loyalty and love for his mother….but I also agree this was a very serious and dangerous offence to commit.”

Judge Durcan adjourned the case until September 4 to allow time for compensation to be paid.

ENNIS Town Council has warned that dog owners who do not clean up after their animals who foul in public areas will be fined and prosecuted under the Litter Pollution Act.

Environmental wardens will be renewing efforts to combat dog fouling around the town by actively targeting blackspot areas over the coming weeks, the local authority said.

The public are also being encouraged to report, in confidence, to Ennis Town Council any offences they see being committed.

“Dog fouling is an issue that has been on top of people’s mind as the worst form of litter and has been one of the top issues of complaint from members of the public in recent times,” explained environmental warden Gerry Murphy.

Mr Murphy noted that dog owners are responsible for cleaning up after their pets in public areas but some are ignoring their responsibilities. He added that dog waste is not only a nuisance but can carry diseases which can be harmful to humans.

He continued, “The council is keen to promote the message that allowing your dog to foul in a public area and then not picking it up is simply unacceptable. Failing to clean up after your dog is the same as littering and is an offence under the Litter Pollution Acts. If you do not clean up after your dog you could face an on the spot fine of € 150 or up to a maximum fine of € 3,000 in court for each offence.”

“In January 2012, Ennis Town Council launched Personal Poop Scoop Dispensers which are available free of charge to dog owners from Ennis Town Council offices and the Dog Pound on the Gort Road in Ennis.

“These dispensers, which fit directly on to a dog lead so dog owners will not forget to bring them with them, are being made available so as to help dog owners to meet their civic duty not to cause a mess when exercising their pets,” Mr Murphy concluded.

To report littering contact Ennis Town Council’s Environment Section at 065 6828040. For further information contact www.ennistowncouncil.ie.

BED and breakfasts in Kilrush have a reported a 20 per cent increase in business compared to the May bank holiday last year.

The boost in bed numbers has been attributed to the National Famine Commemoration 2013, with event beginning on Friday night last.

Accommodation providers in West Clare from Lissycasey to the tip of the peninsula are also preparing for an upcoming busy week and weekend, as events building up to the National Famine Commemoration in the area’s biggest town attract new visitors to the west of the county.

The Kilrush marketing and development officer Síobhan Garvey said early estimates suggest that the 10 days of events and Sunday’s ceremony will give the town an economic boost of approximately € 100,000.

The full financial impact will not be known for a few weeks however.

Honorary secretary of Kilrush Chamber of Commerce Mary Rose Counihan added that while it is not known exactly by how much the town’s businesses will benefit, it will provide an economic boost.

She agreed it was likely to be worth over € 100,000.

“It is bringing people to the town who would not usually think of visiting the area,” she said.

“The town is literally buzzing. There are loads of people around that would not normally be around.”

In the past few days lecturers and speakers, along with their family and friends, have been checking into B&Bs and hotels in the area.

History enthusiasts have also been availing of the lectures and events that are being provided free of charge in West Clare, many staying a number of days.

This weekend 46 ambassadors are also due to visit Kilrush as part of the official commemoration ceremony.

It is understood some of these diplomats have already booked into the five star Doonbeg Lodge, with more expected to stay in other hotels in the county. And despite the inclement weather which endured during the opening ceremony in Carrigaholt, enthusiasm for this national event continues as week-long events have been organised by the local council and community.