THERE will be a contest for the top job in Clare GAA, with Noel O’Driscoll (O’Callaghan’s Mills) and Michael McDonagh (St Joseph’s Miltown) going head-to-head for chairman’s position being vacated by Michael O’Neill at the County Convention on December 18.
O’Driscoll has told The Clare People he will be in the race, while it has also been confirmed by sources within St Joseph’s Miltown that McDonagh, who served as chairman from 2003 to 2007, will be allowing his name go forward for the position.
ENNIS’ grid-lock problems at peak periods are set to be alleviated from this Wednesday when the long-awaited inner relief road finally opens up for traffic.
Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Peter Considine (FF) will formally declare the road open at a special ceremony at Friar’s Walk Coach Park at 10.30am, bringing to an end a long running saga for the provision of a new road to alleviate traffic problems in the county capital.
The final stage of the project was signalled in July when Ennis Town Council revealed that the final phase of the road was to begin later that month after the local local authority signed a € 360,000 construction contract with Gildoc Limited.
The contract provided for the construction of 180 metres of single carriageway road, footpaths and serv- ices, including new traffic lights at Station Road and Clare Road.
The Ennis Inner Relief Road Section E contract, to be delivered by Ennis-based Liam O’Doherty Building Contractor on behalf of Gildoc Limited, had a completion deadline for late September but was held up until final funding was secured.
At the time, outgoing Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) praised the local authority “for delivering this project which many had feared would not go ahead due to the “current fiscal constraints”.
“However, the necessary funding has been secured to ensure the delivery of what will be a very beneficial infrastructure project for Ennis town centre.
“It will complement similar road projects in recent years, including the section of the Inner Relief Road from Station Road to Francis Street and the Ennis Bypass, in further reducing traffic congestion in the Clare county capital,” he added.
“The new road will link Station Road at Madden’s Furniture to Friar’s Walk, the Causeway, Clare Road at Cathedral Court,” explained Eamon O’Dea, Ennis Town Engineer.
“This section of the Inner Relief Road will improve traffic flow to the town centre for customers and visitors to Ennis, and will reduce traffic congestion in the Station Road and Upper O’Connell Street area of Ennis,” added Cllr Guilfoyle.
CLARE’S hopes of gaining bilingual status from the Department of the Gaeltacht have been boosted significantly this week on the back the 2011 National Census of Population report which says that nearly half of the county’s population are able to speak the language – the second highest ranking of any county in Ireland.
The findings, published by the Central Statistics Office as part of the latest bulletin report on last year’s census, called ‘What We Know – A study of education and skills in Ireland’, have revealed that the number of Irish speakers in the county is now running ahead of the average for the rest of Munster.
“A total of 53,853 persons in County Clare, accounting for 48 per cent of the population aged three and over, indicated that they could speak Irish. This compared to 41 per cent for the State as a whole,” a CSO spokesperson has revealed.
The breakdown of these figures has revealed that only Galway, with 51 per cent of its population being able to speak Irish, has a higher ranking than Clare. This means that Clare has a high percentage of its population speaking Irish than Gaeltacht counties such as Kerry and Donegal.
A further breakdown of these Clare figures has revealed that the majority of Irish speakers are females, with 29,145 females proficient in the language as compared to 24,708 males.
Meanwile, the upsurge in knowledge and interest in the language has been reflected in figures which show that there are now Irish speakers in over 60 per cent of households in the county. The figures show that of 42,648 households in Clare, 25,704 of those have Irish speakers in them, a figure which represents 60.3 per cent of households throughout the county.
However, a breakdown of these figures has revealed that only 1,539 people in the county speak the language on a daily basis outside of the education system, a figure that accounts for just 1.4 per cent of the total population aged three and over, compared to the state average of 1.8 per cent.
The largest concentration of Irish speakers is in the county capital of Ennis, with 11,277 of the town area’s population of 25,360 claiming to be speakers of the language. This trans
lates into ?? per cent of the population, a figure that represents a boon to local hopes the ‘Inis Dom’ project will see the town granted bilingual status by 2018. “We have a five-year plan to make Ennis a bilingual town and we think we can do this,” said local language activist, Domhnall Ó Loinsigh when launching the Inis Dom project last year. “As a town, Ennis would very much be to the fore as an urban community that is promoting Irish. We are very confident that through Irish, something can be done to make Ennis a place apart.
“This is about enhancing the visibility and use of Irish in the town and there is no cost involved. It is also about promoting the cultural image of the town, making it a more attractive place for visitors and as a more attractive shopping destination,” he added.
The second largest number of Irish speakers is located in Shannon, with 3,759 of the town’s population of 10,058 able to speak the language, while third and fourth in the county’s league table of Irish speakers are Kilrush and Sixmilebridge with 966 and 895 respectively.
A FINAL decision on whether fracking will be allowed to take place in the West Clare Basin will not be made until 2014 at the earlier, it was revealed yesterday. The terms of reference for a major Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report on the viability of fracking are currently being drawn up and the report will not be completed until 2014.
The Minister for Energy, Pat Rabbitte (LAB), has confirmed that no decision on whether to grant a licence for commercial fracking will not be taken until after the EPA report in completed.
British-based company, Enigi Oil, was granted limited exploration right in an area around Doonbeg earlier this year and provisional data indicates that a commercial fracking operation could be sustained in the area. This prompted a large anti-fracking campaign locally which resulted in councillors at Clare County Council voting to change the County Development Plan to ban fracking earlier this year. This move is of little legal value however, as the power to grant a license for fracking lies solely with the Minister for Energy.
The EPA produced an initial study on fracking earlier this year but Minister Rabbitte requested that a second, more detailed, study be produced. The steering group for this research was announced last week and will include representatives from the EPA, Department of Environment, the Department of Environment, in Northern Ireland, the Commission for Energy Regulation, An Bord Pleanála and the Department of Energy.
The Clare Basin is one of two locations in Ireland where the possibility of commercial fracking has been identified. Fracking involves drilling large vertical tunnels deep underground and then using pressurised water and other material to crack and shatter the shale rock located there and release the natural gas trapped inside. The technique has been blamed for causing earthquakes in some parts of the world and has also be sighted a possible major pollutant to local water system.
THE women of Clare place a far greater emphasis on education than their male counterparts, the latest bulletin report of the 2011 National Census of Population has revealed.
The ninth report published by the Central Statistics Office since the census was taken in April 2011 presents a profile of the education and skills of the county’s population of 117,196, focusing in detail on age leaving education and field of study in which qualifications are held.
The Clare figures show that there are 17,533 people in the county with a third level qualification, but that a much larger proportion of these graduates are women. There are 10,084 women graduates to 7,449 male graduates.
A breakdown of these figures reveals that 58 per cent of graduates in the county are female, as against 42 per cent of males. Meanwhile, the percentage of female graduates in the county runs two per cent higher than the national average, with males graduates are two per cent lower than the national average.
“Twenty nine per cent of people aged 15 and over in the county in 2011 had a third level qualification, with 24 per cent were college graduates. The figure of 29 compares with 31 per cent for the State as a whole,” a CSO spokesperson told The Clare People .
“Twenty one per cent of all men aged 15 and over who had ceased full time education men were third level graduates compared with 28 per cent of women. A total of 398 people aged 15 and over who had completed their education held a Doctorate (Ph.D.) level qualification in April 2011.
“The social sciences, business and law category was by far the most popular field of study among all those with post-secondary school qualifications in the county in 2011, with 6,809 persons holding a qualification in this area,” the spokesperson added.
A PROPOSAL by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to build a car park on the edge of the site earmarked for the controversial Mullaghmore Interpretative Centre is “part of a process” that will eventually lead to the building of a visitor facility in the area.
This warning has been sounded out by the Burren Action Group (BAG) this week as part of its detailed submission to Clare County Council planners opposing the NPWS plans for the car park at Knockaunroe in the Burren National Park.
The 15-page document was lodged with the planning authority on Friday ahead of this Monday’s closing date for submissions. It has warned that the car park will “create a new set of risks” in the Burren – chief among these a covert plan of “induced development” designed to eventually bring about the building of visitor facilities at Gortalecka, the original site earmarked for the Mullaghmore Interpretative Centre.
The BAG submission highlights what it calls the “danger of incremental development at the core of the (National) Park”, saying that the planning application was the “thin end of the wedge” and precursor for further development.
“The proposal excludes the provision of toilet facilities, picnic tables etc., it is inevitable that a demand will be created for these facilities on the site in the near future,” the BAG submission states. “Consequently, future applications for extension of the car park and provision of such facilities are to be expected. The initial choice of this site for a car park may be seen as the ‘thin end of the wedge’ for future provision of visitor facilities on the Gortlecka site. It will inevitably create demand for further development at the core of the park,” it adds.
The proposed car park facility is on the proposed site for the overflow car park that was originally included in the ‘Gortlecka’ application, a move that has prompted the BAG to claim that the NPWS application is going against decisions handed down by An Bord Pleanála and Supreme Court.
“The NPWS were obliged, by Bord Pleanála and Court decisions, to restore and rehabilitate the Gortlecka site at very considerable cost to the NPWS and the taxpayer,” says the BAG submission. “Consequently, the current application seems contrary to the intent of previous An Bord Pleanála and court decisions,” it adds.
THERE are now more than 5,000 unpaid carers in the county who are providing help to friends or family members who are aged or are suffering from long-term illnesses or disabilities.
These figures have been revealed by the Central Statistic Office from the 2011 census returns, which show the amount of carers in the county has grown immeasurably over the past number of years.
The CSO figures show that the county now has 5,315 unpaid carers, with the majority of these people providing up to 14 hours a week looking after their loves ones and friends.
The proportion of the population of Clare now involved in providing unpaid care runs at 4.5 per cent, a percentage that places the county ninth in the national league of un- paid carers that is headed by Mayo with 5 per cent.
The majority of Clare carers are women – 3,252 women provided unpaid care to relatives and friends as against 2,064 males.
A breakdown of these figures reveal that 1,357 women provide up to 14 hours of unpaid care a week, while at the other end of the scale 771 women, as against 336 men, provide over 43 hours of unpaid held per week.
These figures for the county, which were gleaned from the census that was taken in April 2011, have been released against the backdrop of a drastic cut in home help hours in the county, which has kicked in over the last number of months.
In September it was announced that there would be a 5.5 per cent cut in the number of home help hours and a 3.7 per cent cut in home care packages – decisions taken by the Minister for Health, James Reilly that led Clarecare director, Fiachra Hensey, to say that many families across the county would be in a “very vulnerable” position.
“The level of vulnerable people out there is huge. I think funding for home help and home care packages should be increased, instead of decreased,” he said.
Clarecare delivers 180,000 hours of home help across the county through 400 part-time home helps, which benefits about 1,000 families.
PUTTING car park facilities in place at Mullaghmore is a case of the National Parks and Wildlife Service putting the cart before the horse, the Burren Action Group’s 15-page document against the controversial development proposal has claimed.
BAG, which campaigned successfully against the Office of Public Works proposal to build an interpretative centre at Mullaghmore, has blasted the planning application as it comes ahead of a commitment to deliver the Burren Management Plan.
This management plan is now in its third draft, but the feeling on the ground locally in North Clare is that it will never see the light of day, with the NPWS instead pressing ahead with its car park proposal adjacent to the original Mullaghmore Interpretative Centre location.
In its submission, BAG says it shares the NPWS objective of “alleviating the problems associated with random car parking on the Crag Road and at the crossroads between the Crag Road and the Green Road”, but that the application is premature as it comes in advance of an agreed National Park Management Plan.
“Three draft versions of a Plan (Burren Management Plan 2011 – 2018) have been produced but none have been published and none have benefitted from the input of the public, tourism operators or adjoining landowners,” says BAG.
“There is no indication when this Plan will seek the views of the public nor is there any proposed deadline for its completion. The application, therefore, is not in a position to avail of any agreed or finalised management proposals,” the submission adds.
In a further indictment of the NPWS proposal, the BAG submission says that the application, which was lodged with Clare County Council on October 22 is “incoherent”, “uncoordinated” and “missing significant data”.
“The application lacks the coherence that might be provided by a Management Plan and, in the single instance where its impacts in combination with other practices are acknowledged, no data is offered, even in relation to the applicant’s own services and facilties,” the BAG submission says.
“There is considerable potential for successful dialogue that can result in a Management Plan that respects and promotes the needs of the host people, local environment and those wishing to engage in sustainable low impact tourism in and around the National Park.
“There are alternative sites that can accommodate parking in the ownership of the applicant. There are also options for more multifaceted management practices available that can contribute to better visitor management in the park.
“A process to explore these options should precede a grant of permission to return to a site that has already failed the test of one of the longest and most comprehensive planning processes in the history of the state,” the submission adds.
THE DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is expected to issue directions in January in respect of four people charged in connection with an alleged public order incident at a roundabout in Ennis.
Bernard McDonagh (45) and Christopher McDonagh (38), Bernard McDonagh Jnr (22) and a 16-year-old boy are alleged to have committed a number of offences arising out of the incident at the Maid of Erin on October 14.
Bernard McDonagh (45), with an address at 1 Ashline, Kilrush Road, Ennis is charged with the assault of John Doherty. He also faces three charges of criminal damage and one charge of dangerous driving.
It is further alleged that Bernard McDonagh (45) drove a vehicle in a dangerous and reckless manner, which created substantial risk of death or serious harm to another.
Christopher McDonagh, with an address at 1 Davitt Terrace, Cloughleigh, Ennis, is charged with production of an iron bar and possession of an iron bar with intent to cause injury to John Doherty, Martin Doherty and Jimmy Doherty.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is charged with possession of a hatchet with intent to cause injuries to John Doherty, Martin Doherty and Jimmy Doherty.
He is also charged with the produc- tion of a hatchet.
Bernard McDonagh Jnr (22) is charged with possession of an article with intent to cause injury and the production of an article in the course of a dispute.
At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Inspector Tom Kennedy said DPP’s directions are expected in January. All four people were remanded on continuing bail to appear again at Ennis District Court on January 13, 2013.
CLARE tourism will be damaged internationally, while both private and State-run tourism operators will be the big losers if Clare County Council gives the green light for the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to develop car park facilities near Mullaghmore.
This claim is a major plank of the Burren Action Group (BAG) submis- sion to the planning authority, opposing the controversial NPWS application, that has been secured by The Clare People this week.
In a hard-hitting submission, BAG says that the car park proposal “makes no consideration of tourism practice in the area and does not appear to inform itself as to the policies of other statutory agencies or of the objectives of the County Development Plan”.
According to the BAG submission, permission for the car park facility would “endanger the reputation of the Burren” and “poses a risk to investments of other tourism operators” throughout North Clare.
“Substantial inter-agency efforts helped secure Geopark status for the Burren and efforts are ongoing to achieve a UNESCO World Heritage Site listing,” says the BAG submission.
“Smaller operators have undertaken international marketing activities through the Burren Ecotourism Network and have developed an accreditation scheme for green tourism that has been adopted as the Irish standard and has been approved by Fáilte Ireland.
“News of the existence of a statemanaged facility that is operating contrary to the precautionary and sustainability principles will harm the area’s reputation and the international perception that it is a prime ecotourism destination.
“The application runs counter to the objectives and principles of ecotourism, is contrary to the objectives of the County Development Plan and will endanger the tourism investments of both private and statutory tourism providers.
“It is not compatible with the area’s reputation for ecotourism and thus poses a threat to tourism operators in the wider Burren,” the submission to the Clare County Council planners adds.