Category: News

THE growing number of women in Clare development addictions to prescription drugs and alcohol has prompted the Bushypark Treatment Centre to launch an after treatment programme, specifically aimed at women.

The number of Clare women with addiction problems is on the increase – with older women abusing prescription medication a particular concern. This has prompted the Mid-West Regional Drugs Task Force and Clarecare to fund Bushypark in a new women in recovery group.

“Women tend to go for alcohol and prescription drugs – and prescription drugs really is a key issue for women. from the trends that we see coming in to us they are much less likely to abuse elicit drugs or gambling,” said Margaret Nash of Bushypark.

“This is a problem across all ages. We are seeing a trend of young girls from 14 or 15 years of age who are binge drinking. But there is a real problem for older women, especially when it comes to prescription drugs. This is a huge concern for us.

“This is older women who are deal- ing with an empty nest, when their children move away, but also women tend to live longer than men – so a lot of widows are finding themselves in difficulty. There are a lot of widows out there. Usually with addiction there is an underlying condition and the stress of different situations can bring that to a head.”

Women can often face greater stigma than men when facing up to their addiction issues. The women in recovery group aims to help women rebuild their lives after an addiction problem and reduce the likelihood of a relapse.

“Women generally have much more guilt and shame than men when they discover they have a drugs, gambling or alcohol problem and that does make them slower to come forward. Women’s drinking is more secretive than men, they tend to drink in the home and that makes it harder to spot and be diagnosed. This makes them slower to access services,” continued Margaret.

“It is also different for women going back into society after treatment. People can be a bit more unforgiving to a woman in this situation as opposed to a man and they can also have responsibility thrust on them earlier. So there tends to be a higher relapse rates for women than there does for men, and this is where the new programme comes in. It is about learning the skill of self care – about minding themselves.”

The group features a mixture of group therapy, personal development, relationship support, art therapy and other supports. It is designed for women who have completed a treatment programme but is open to anyone. For details ring 065 6840944.

A TRAVELLER feud that has spilled onto the streets of Ennis on two separate occasions over the last week has been branded “absolutely disgraceful” by Chief Superintendent of the Clare Garda Division, John Kerin.

Seven people have been arrested in total in connection with violent disturbances that broke out at Ennis Cathedral, Maiville housing estate and the Maid of Eireann roundabout between Thursday and Sunday.

Charges have so far been brought against three people. Gardaí expect to make more arrests in the coming days. Armed members of the Garda Regional Response Unit have also been on patrol in Ennis over the last five days.

The latest incident occurred Sunday at the Maid of Eireann roundabout when members of the rival famillies clashed at around 6pm.

Gardaí on routine patrol came upon the incident and were backed up by units from Ennis Garda Station. Weapons including Stanley knives, pick-axe handles, slash hooks and a baseball and iron bars were all among weapons seized this past week alone. A garda was hospitalised after receiving whiplash injuries when the car he was sitting in was rammed by another vehicle.

A number of vehicles were damaged and an area near the roundabout was closed to traffic for three hours. Two women have been charged with public order offences and are due to appear in Ennis District Court on Wednesday.

Three men also arrested on Sunday had their periods of detention extended at Ennis Garda Station yesterday.

Gardaí believe the incident is linked to a violent altercation that occurred during a wedding at Ennis Cathedral on Thursday afternoon.

THE Canadian dentist who spent the last month searching Ireland for a mystery Clare woman says he has no regrets, even as he returns to Canada alone.

Sandy Crocker arrives back in Canada later today after his month-long love crusade to find the girl he met in Ennistymon for just five minutes in 2011.

Over the last month, Sandy has been contacted by two women who believed they might have been his “Ennistymon girl” but sadly neither turned out to be the right person.

Sandy’s story was first published in The Clare People on September 18, but went on to be picked up by thousands of media outlets across the globe, including Time Magazine , ABC News in the US and the BBC.

Speaking to The Clare People yesterday, Sandy thanks the people of Clare for all their support over the last four weeks.

“I left Ireland thrilled with having received such a warm reception and so much support from everyone. Even without ever finding the girl, I claimed success by having come here and done my best to find her,” he said. “The attention this story garnered was greater than even expected. I was overwhelmed by the sincerity of everyone in Ireland who helped me in my search. I did feel uncomfortable with the global coverage at first, but with the majority of followers understanding the simply kind gesture of this journey, I grew to be at ease.

“In the very beginning, I knew that by at least making the effort to find the girl, whatever the end result was, I would be able to happily move on. Given how popular the story has become, I’m sure people will not allow me to forget my ‘Ennistymon girl’ and my eventful return to Ireland.”

Sandy met his ‘Ennistymon girl’ in An Teach Bia in Ennistymon on July 9, 2012. He describes her as being in her mid- to late-20’s with freckles and redish-brown hair. He spoke to her briefly before she left the cafe but realised too late that he might have met the love of his life.

GARDAÍ in Kilrush have carried out more than 500 drug searches in the town of Kilrush so far this year, an average of 13 searches a week.

The 507 searches far exceed the number usually carried out by a Garda station of the size of Kilrush but, according to Superintendent Gerry Wall, this is an indication of how serious the local gardaí are taking the drug issue in the town.

The searches included buildings and searches of the person.

The local gardaí have also arrested two for selling and supplying drugs locally.

Drug dealers that are known to have pushed drugs in the West Clare town have also been arrested in different jurisdictions and await trial. Supt Wall reassured people that many of those who had been selling drugs in the town are before the courts in Clare and other parts of the county.

“They are all under pressure and will stay under pressure,” he said.

The superintendent was addressing questions during the Public Joint Policing Committee meeting which was held in the town last week and boasted a larger than usual attendance from members of the public.

The number of people arrested for possession of drugs up to the value of € 300 has fallen to 14 during the first nine months of this year from 29 in 2010, those attending the meeting heard.

A NEW initiative designed to help teenagers who have been affected by addiction has been established in Ennis. A new Youth Support Programme has been established by the Bushypark Treatment Centre which aims to break the cycle of addiction in some Clare families.

The programme is aimed at teenager between the ages of 14 and 18 years who have been effected by the addictions of others in their families – whether it be parents, siblings or grandparents.

“We are hoping to break the cycle of addiction which runs in some families. Kids do imitate parents behavior – they learn secrecy, they learn to be embarrassed and ashamed at a very young age and they don’t ever get a space to share their own feelings,” said Margaret Nash of Bushypark.

“What we want to do is to help them create coping mechanisms for when they are presented with diffi- cult times in their own life so they don’t just turn to alcohol and drugs themselves when they are faced with a problem.”

The development of self esteem is seen as a key part of new programme offered by Bushypark. “Everyone is faced with a difficult time at one time or another in their life and we would hope that this programme could give people the coping skills and the self esteem needed to get through these situations,” continued Margaret.

“Personal development is really key. We need to give young people the tools to get through difficult situations without turning to drugs or alcohol.”

The service is offered by Bushypark with the help of Clare Youth Services, Clare Alcohol and Drugs Services (SLÁINTE) and the Community Substances and Misuse Team. Bushypark is a service of Clarecare.

Anyone interested in learning more about this or any programme at Bushypark should contact 065 6840944 or visit www.bushypark.ie.

THE number of planning applications in Clare has fallen by almost one third in a year.

According to Clare County Council, 577 valid planning applications were submitted so far this year.

The majority of these were for new homes or housing estates. A total of 207 such applications was made.

Domestic extensions and garages are also proving popular, with 115 applications.

Agricultural developments accounted for 34 applications, with 82 applications for retention also received. Nine applications received by the planning authority were for outline planning permissions.

The remaining 130 applications were made up of changes of use, extensions to schools, wind turbines, entrances, graveyard extensions, and change of design.

The fourth National Housing Construction Index complied and issued by Link2Plans maintains there is a continued drop in housing construction activity throughout the county.

The National Housing Construction Index measures every submitted Planning Application and Planning Commencement.

The team of researchers at www. link2plans.com have examined every housing construction planning application and planning commencement from January through to August 2012, in the production of the National Housing Construction Index.

The Index gives a direct comparison with the exact same period in 2011.

The Link2Plans research demonstrates that from January to August 2012, 231 planning applications were submitted in Clare. This compares to 341 in 2011 resulting in a drop of 32 per cent, ranking it the county with the third largest drop.

There was also an 18 per cent decrease in the number of Commencement Notices issued in Clare from 186 down to 152.

This volume examines the number of planning permission applications for residential projects from January to August, showing a significant variation regionally when looking at planning applications activity per head of population.

According to Managing Director of Link2Plans, Danny O’Shea, “Once again, the National Housing Construction Index has shown huge variations throughout the country. In the first eight months of the year, across the country, a total of 9,197 individual projects applied for planning permission which is down from 10,953 or a fall of 16 per cent compared with 2011. In terms of project commencements, nationally there was a 10 per cent fall from 4215 in 2011 to 3782 in 2012.”

DESPITE no submissions from people to the public meeting before it began, the people of Kilr ush showed an interest in the policing of their town with a larger than average crowd turning out for the Public Joint Policing Committee meeting.

Kil rush Town Clerk John Cor ry described the attendance as a “dra- matic increase” on previous meetings, with more than 20 members of the public showing thei r concer n.

Many people spoke up during the 90-minute meeting, with the majority stating they were afraid to report criminal activity to Gardaí for fear of reprisal. One man even queried the statistics presented by the superintendent.

“I think they paint a rosy picture. I don’t think ever ything is reported,” he said.

“It is not nice to wal k the street at night because you feel unsafe and that is for a man. It must be worse for a woman,” he added.

One woman raised issues about people being afraid in thei r own home, and being too afraid to tell the Gardaí.

“I know someone who is very lucky to be alive. I am afraid in my home. I don’t blame ye, I blame the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. I blame the minister because he closed down all the stations and ye can’t be everywhere, covering everywhere. Ye can’t be in two places at once,” she said.

Supt Gerr y Wall encouraged people to call the Gardaí and report incidents immediately, even if it has to be anonymously.

“I can give you every reassurance that any information we get we act upon,” he said.

The superintendent also explained he has more resources available to him at peak “crime times”, and was managing the manpower accordingly.

“There could be a day and the (Kilr ush) car could be out of town and a take a few minutes to get there, but we will get there as quickly as possible,” he said.

He said it was essential that people reported crime to the Gardaí even if they are slow to give thei r name.

“If people hold back we will never make progress,” he said.

AFTER more than eight years of work and hard graft by the local community, a major redevelopment of the Corofin Community Hall will begin later this month after funding of € 300,000 was confirmed yesterday.

This funding, which has been made available by the Clare Local Development Company (CLDC) under the LEADER programme, will enable the local hall committee to activate a loan of € 200,000 from the Clann Credo social financing organisation in finance construction works.

The € 500,000 development will include a total modernisation of the building as well as the construction of new dressing rooms of the dramatic society, a storage area for the local show society and new dressing rooms and toilets facing out onto the Corofin Community Field.

Work on the site should be completed just in time for the Festival of the Finn to return to Corofin next May.

“When we were putting our application together we calculated that there were more than 50 community organisations – large and small – in the Corofin area and this will benefit all of those,” said Gerry Kennedy of the Corofin Hall Committee.

“We have a group like the Corofin Dramatic Society who won an All Ireland last year and have had to be nomadic – they have had to go to Lisdoonvarna and to Ennis to put on their plays instead of here in Corofin.

“This is going to be a huge relief to all of the local community groups. We are fundraising locally now with a 500 Club draw and it is over subscribed.

“There is actually a waiting list of people who want to sign up, so the local community has really supported this project,” said Mr Kennedy.

“We are hoping to start within a month. We still have to sign a lease with the diocese for the building and we have to finalise the paperwork with Clan Credo, but we will hopefully be able to make some real progress on the building soon.

“Our target is to have the centre up and running for the Festival of the Finn on the May bank holiday weekend next year, so fingers crossed.

“We have a great committee who have put in a lot of work to this over the years,” he added. Built more than 60 years ago, the Corofin Community Hall was the centre of activity for much of the local community until it fell into serious disrepair more than 10 years ago.

As part of the same Leader funding, Clare Camogie Board received € 181,000 in funding towards their development in Doora.

THE community centre at the centre of John Paul Estate in Kilrush has remained closed since its caretaker Stephen O’Gorman retired.

Former Mayor of Kilrush Cllr Ian Lynch (FG) believes that the centre is the lifeblood of the community and must reopen as soon as possible.

He said the town council should “convene a community meeting with the residents of John Paul Estate to obtain residents’ input on how this council may assist in enhancing the existing community centre with the view to encouraging community growth and spirit” within the newly regenerated estate.

Speaking at the October monthly meeting of the council on Thursday night last, he said the local authority housing estate “looks great” and there is a change in attitude in the area.

“There is a great community spirit and people are working together,” he said. “If we could get a community project over there, I think it would enhance the community.”

Cllr Tom Clyne (Ind) said that a new caretaker must also be employed because no one was going to do it on a voluntary basis.

Kilrush town clerk John Corry said he was aware that there were a number of groups interested in opening and using the centre, and he was in discussions with many of them.

Among those hoping to make use of the facility is the community garda in his work with the community.

Mr Corry said there were some concerns about the insurance.

He said the insurance company had some concerns that there was not a caretaker in place.

The town clerk added that any group that used the facility would probably have to pay a nominal fee so as to help cover the insurance costs.

THE Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government have been accused of hypocrisy as it calls on rural dwellers to register their septic tanks, while overseeing what has been described as “one of the biggest polluters in West Clare”.

Raw sewerage is pumped daily into the Shannon Estuary from the holding tanks at Skagh Point, despite a € 12.5 million Wastewater Secondary Treatment Plant being promised for the towns of Kilrush and Kilkee more than seven years ago.

It is now unlikely that the much needed scheme for the West Clare towns will come to fruition as the towns’ manager, Anne Haugh, said the county council’s hands are tied when it comes to raising the funds.

She explained that the council has been told it must raise € 2.7 million for the project, yet the Department of the Environment will not approve loans for any new projects.

Sean Ward, Senior Engineer with Clare County Council’s Water Serv- ices, said the Department of the Environment has approved a “procurement and construction budget of € 8.042 million for the two waste water plants, one third of which will have to be funded by the local authority.

“However, the council cannot begin this process until the EPA issues a wastewater discharge licence and the scheme is included in the 2014 WSIP (government) list.

“The only thing that would move the scheme from ‘scheme at planning’ status to ‘contracted to start construction’ status ahead of 2014 would be if the EPA issues a discharge licence with a very tight deadline to have the treatment plant completed,” said Mr Ward.

He is not very confident that the licence the council applied for in 2008 will be issued anytime soon.

The father of Kilrush Town Council, Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) said he believed it was hypocritical of the department to threaten people in rural Ireland who have septic tanks, yet allow the incident at the estuary continue.

“The spin doctors from the department have been at pains to point out the need for septic tank owners to register and carry out regular inspections and servicing operations to ensure that our ground waters are not contaminated with the resultant threat to the environment and to jobs,” he said.

“Yet some might find these utterances hypocritical when one realises that the long promised wastewater treatment programme for Kilrush and Kilkee more than seven years ago is still being considered by the department.

“Some people might be discomforted to hear that raw sewage is being pumped out daily in the Shannon Estuary from the holding tanks at Skagh Point. This anti-environment act gives credence to the sceptics who charge the local authority with being polluters in West Clare,” he warned.

The former mayor of Kilrush called on the Oireachtais members to bring the matter to the Dáil and the MEPs “at EU level where the € 12.5 million funding has been secured”.