Category: News

PRESIDENT of Ireland Michael D Higgins did not call himself a Clare man during his first offical presidental visit to the county, but his brother and sister both agreed it was safe to consider him “one of our own”.

Ireland’s first citizen, who spent his formative years, from the age of five to 19, living in his parental home of Ballycar, Newmarket on Fergus, would not describe himself as a Clare man but a man with many associations with different counties.

“Yes indeed I associate myself with Clare.

“There are many origins I have that are very simply understood,” he said.

“My father and my grandfather and my greatgrandfather have been associated with County Clare since time immemorial. I am glad to say in the 1901 census in the townland of Ballycar there are four families of Higgins. And once again as a result of my brother’s [John] activites and his sons, there are four families in Ballycar again.”

The President explained that his mother came from an area near Charleville in Cork and her family continue to live there.

A former TD for Galway West, he described how the city accepted him as a migrant and its mayor twice.

“Galway is where my own fam- ily have been born and rared,” he added.

While the president maintained his life experiences have been made up of many counties, including the city of Limerick where he was born, all have a common thread of both rural and urban life.

It is these experiences that have formed the ninth President of Ireland, who admited that coming back to Clare as the country’s first citizen was like coming home.

AN ERSI report published yesterday predicted that the jobless rate is to rise to 14.9 per cent this year before settling at around 14.7 per cent.

One organisation that is not letting such predictions dampen its spirits, however, is EmployAbility Clare, formerly Clare Supported Employment Service, which is defying the odds by keeping its job-seeking success at an all-time high.

It is good news for the local people with an illness, injury or disability who continue to take up employment with the support of the service.

“We are delighted to report that our placement figures continue to remain steady despite the current climate,” said Alice O’Carroll, team leader with the service.

“I think local businesses have gained a confidence in our uncompromising commitment to match them with the right person to meet their needs over the last decade.”

The service, which is funded by the Department of Social Protection, is also committed to meeting the recruitment needs of local employers.

In some cases, businesses may be eligible to avail of a subsidy of € 5.30 per hour to assist them with wage costs when they employ a candidate through the service. Her e, Cla ir e Ga lla gher t a lks t o fou r ind ividu a ls who have ga ined employment – a nd a con fidence b oost – wit h t he help of Cla r e Sup p or t ed Employment Ser vice.

THREE Junior Certificate students from Ennis have been hailed as heroines by Clare Civil Defence chief Liam Griffin this week after their quick thinking helped save the life of a woman who got into difficulty after going into the River Fergus to retrieve her dog.

Rice College students Ellen McMahon (15), Aisling O’Sullivan (15) and Eve Copley (15) came to the rescue of a woman, who hasn’t been identified, who was out walking her dog on Tuesday evening last near Steele’s Rock in the Lifford area the town.

“The three of us were walking past at about 7.15pm, having been up town for something to eat after our Business Studies exam,” revealed Ms McMahon. “When we were passing, the woman was standing behind the wall and the dog was on the steps at Steele’s Rock. We walked on a bit and, when we looked back, the dog was being dragged downstream and the woman had moved to the steps and was calling him.

“Then she went in after the dog and was taken away by the flow of the water down towards the FBD offices. She was very tired because she had swum out to get the dog and the current was so strong there was no way she would have been able to swim back to the steps,” she added.

The three students quickly raced back to get the lifebuoy that’s located near Steele’s Rock and came to the aid of the woman, who was getting into difficulty.

“She had a hold of the dog and we raced up got the lifebuoy and threw it in to her and slowly dragged her in. We didn’t get her name because, after being soaked to the skin, she got a drive home from a passing motorist,” revealed Ms McMahon.

“Their quick thinking helped save that woman’s life,” Clare Civil Defence chief Liam Griffin told The Clare People . “It just shows the importance of lifebuoys,” he added, “because sometimes they get vandalised and the people who do that can cost a life. Luckily in this case, it was there and the girls were able to use it and come to the rescue of the woman.”

THE move to locate a high technology pharmacuetical plant in Clarecastle was announced in November 1973 – the first big jobs announcement for the county after Ireland’s accession to the European Economic Community.

Syntex was an international company founded in Mexico in 1944, before developing subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, Spain, England and America and prior to establishing in Clarecastle had a worldwide workforce of 5,000.

The announcement of the development of Syntex’s first production facility in Europe on a 77-acre site in Clarecastle, with the promise of 200 jobs that would grow to 500 represented a huge injection into the local economy.

The founding managing director, Dr John T Day said “the reason Syntex selected Ireland was because of a very attractive incentive package available to manufacturing companies.

“We have been very impressed by the co-operation we have received from the IDA and SFADCO, the Clare County Development team and Clare county officials.

“I would like to thank the local people for the very efficient and progressive way in which they have approached the establishment of a high technology industry in County Clare,” he added in announcing this huge jobs boost to the county.

“We are satisfied that Syntex are seriously concerned about the environment and that they have a keen sense of responsibility to the community,” said then Clare County Manager, Joe Boland.

“They have supported many educational and social programmes, not only in America, but also in other countries in which they have factories. Clare and Ireland are fortunate in getting a company of the stature and quality of Syntex to establish here,” he added.

Site preparation started in May, 1974 and ‘sod turning’ for the manufacturing plant took place in June 1974, which was performed by Minister for the Gaeltacht, Tom O’Donnell (FG), with the same shovel used by Charles Stewart Parnell to turn the sod for the start of the West Clare Railway in 1886.

The plant was built by Michael Lynch and Company, with the total project costing £11.8m, nearly £6m more than had been forecast, with production of Naproxen – a drug used in the treatment of arthritis – commencing in February 1977 and official opening of the plant by the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Gene Fitzgerald (FF) on July 11, 1977.

THERE are now more than 3,000 uninsured drivers in Clare, new figures released by an insurers watchdog have revealed, with these offenders being held up as responsible for hiking up the premiums of lawabiding drivers.

The figures have been released by the Irish Brokers Association which has called for Clare Gardaí to be given the power to confiscate the cars of uninsured drivers.

“There are 51,725 licensed private cars in Clare and it is estimated that 3,100 of these could be uninsured,” Brian McNelis, Director of General Services at the Irish Brokers Association told The Clare People .

He continued, “What the general public in Clare may not know is that these uninsured drivers could be indirectly costing them an additional € 30 on their annual car insurance premiums.

“The UK have now made it illegal to own an uninsured vehicle, even if it is kept off the roads, in an attempt to stamp out uninsured driving.

“However, we believe that such measures may be a little harsh on those who have fallen on hard times and have had to take their car off the road for a period of time.

Mr McNelis went on to say, “We do, however, feel that the current penalties are not acting as a sufficient deterrent and would urge compliant drivers to report those that don’t have insurance as they are ultimately paying their insurance for them.”

Motor insurance offences are pun- ishable by a fine of up to € 2, 500, disqualification of one year or more for a first offence, and two years or more for a second offence, and, at the discretion of the court, a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months, though these maximum penalties are rarely imposed.

Where the court decides not to impose a disqualification, drivers convicted of a first offence of driving without insurance will incur five penalty points on their licence record in addition to any other penalty imposed by the court.

A NEW house began construction in Clare every four days during the first three months of the year, which means ground was broken on just 22 houses between January and the end of March.

This is a significant drop on the same period last year, when 36 houses were built – a drop of 39 per cent.

The figure becomes even starker when the figures for a full year are compared.

From April 2011 to March 2012, a total of 201 commenced constructions in Clare, compared to 387 during the 12 months previous.

This is a drop of 87 per cent according to the latest house building sta- tistics released by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF).

It is unlikely that the drop in construction is likely to improve any time soon in the Banner County as planning applications to Clare County Council have also decreased significantly.

The National Housing Construction Index indicates that planning application figures in Ireland from January to April 2012 were down 20 per cent. However, Clare recorded the third highest drop nationally at 35 per cent, just behind Kerry and Kildare, both with a 39 per cent decrease in applications.

Senator Tony Mulcahy (FG) said the figures represented evidence of the ongoing challenges facing the local construction trade and the dif- ficulty being experienced by people in securing mortgages.

“A total of 115 planning applications were lodged to the planning authority between January and April, compared to 176 during the same period in 2011. This represents a 35 per cent drop, which will be of great concern to those working in the building trade in County Clare.

“The figures suggest that many people are having difficulty securing mortgages to finance the construction of new homes. This is typified by the fact that there has been a large increase in the number of home builders or developers looking for an extension to the planning application as the original application was about to expire after five years,” he said.

“The figures also show that increas- ing numbers of people are opting to rent properties rather than build their own home. Both situations have a negative impact on the construction sector and rural communities throughout the county where new housing starts are important for rural regeneration and the creation of jobs.”

There were 71 units completed in Clare in the first quarter of this year, however, compared to 74 during the same period in 2011. This resulted in a drop of only four per cent in the year-on-year comparison.

CIF Director Hubert Fitzpatrick said, “The latest statistics reveal that the level of new house building activity remains severely depressed, which points to a further sharp decline in output for 2012 in Clare.” It w ill b e a d u ll we e k, Frid a y a n d Sa t u rd a y t h e we t t e st , m ild b u t n o t wa rm . Lo n g – ra n g e fo re c a st su g g e st s n e xt we e k w ill b e sim ila r.

GAA clubs and inter-county hurlers and footballers along the western seaboard from Clare as far as Sligo and then across to Tyrone are set to embrace a ultra-marathon walking challenge that will start from Ennis and take place over four days in early August.

Ennis-based Tyroneman Barry Donnelly is the brainchild behind a 180-mile trek to Tyrone that has a target of raising € 10,000 for famine relief in Africa that will be administered by the Oxfam charity.

Details of what has been called ‘GAA Walk for Africa’ were announced this week by Mr Donnelly, who previously worked as a volunteer in Africa with the Tyrone-based Paul McGirr Foundation.

“It’s a big challenge, but it’s something I am determined to do,” said Donnelly, “because I believe there’s great scope for GAA people to get involved in a fundraising project like this.

“The idea would be that GAA clubs along the route from my adopted town of Ennis to my home place of Dromore in Tyrone would come out and show support – by walking a few miles, by helping with the fundraising.

“Physically it will be tough, because I aim to do the 400 miles in four days, which would mean walking 45 miles a day from a Thursday to Monday – that would be about four miles and hour for 12 hours a day,” adds Donnelly, who has been based in Ennis since 1999.

Oxfam have giving their backing for the project which, subject to Garda approval, will start from Ennis on the Thursday before the August bank holiday weekend and continue until the bank holiday Monday.

“It’s now about drumming up support for the idea,” says Donnelly. “This will be done through GAA clubs, the local media, social media, while I’m also trying to get the Ray Darcy Show on Today FM on board,” he adds.

Details of the ‘GAA Walk for Africa’ can be got from bdonnellyinsu lation@gmail.com or 087 2582516, while the Oxfam fundraising drive has already started with the opening of an AIB account, 93-51-58 06499047.

COMPUTER users have been warned about a new electronic scam that targets people’s personal bank details.

Gardaí in Ennis have issued the warning after receiving a number of calls from concerned computer owners.

Sgt Joe Downey, Crime Prevention Officer, explained that in recent weeks people have received telephone calls indicating that their computers have viruses and then directing them to various websites.

The caller directs the person to input certain data and what is actually happening unknown to the person is that they are uploading a virus, which corrupts their computer.

The caller now has control of the person’s computer and is able to access personal information, especially information relating to bank account details.

Computer owners are being told to ignore these calls. The gardaí have issued the following advice to computer users: “Please do not accept this call and under no circumstances should you input data as directed by the caller. Hang up and ignore the caller, as legitimate computer companies do not operate in this manner.” 30/06/2012

CLARE’S most westerly village was celebrating on Friday with the announcement that their long awaited playground has got the green light from Clare Country Council.

The local authority granted permission for the nautical themed state of the art playground with eight car paring spaces including one disability car space.

The new playground will be situated between Keating’s and the Lighthouse Inn in the village.

Kilballyowen Development Ltd and the Playground Special Interest group are continuing to fundraise for the project and hope to be granted Leader funding in the coming weeks.

Ailish Connolly spokesperson for the playground group said everyone was delighted with the news.

“We were donated the site for this purpose back in March 2011 and its been a long road to get to this point,” she said.

The playground is likely to attract a lot of local and visiting children.

“Loop Head Lighthouse hope to attract more than 17,000 visitors this summer and this facility they hope will encourage families to stay longer in the area. Kilbaha, Cross and Carraigaholt have a good population of young children with the schools and playschools totalling 121 students this year.

“We have been so lucky with the huge support we have had from the parish of Kilballyowen. We had such huge support from our local councillors Patrick Keane, Gabriel Keating, and Oliver Garry, TD Pat Breen and Clare County Council,” she said.

“The playground is now subject to Leader funding but all going to plan the playground, we hope, will be opened late August this year,” added Ms Connolly.

To date the hard working fundraisers have raised € 20,525 and are hoping to raise the remaining € 10,975 during the next few weeks.

THE Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is expected to issue directions later this month in respect of incidents alleged to have occurred at a primary school in Ennis earlier this year, a court has heard.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told Ennis District Court on Wednesday that Gardaí were in the process of responding to further queries from the DPP in relation to alleged offences at and outside Holy Family junior school, Ennis on March 20.

Three people – Conor Mahon (21), Rose Mahon (22) and Laura Molloy (21) – are facing charges arising out of the incident.

Conor Mahon, of Ballaghboy, Quin Road, Ennis is charged with possession of a slash hook at the school contrary to the firearms and offensive weapons act and with engaging in threatening and, or, abusive behaviour.

Conor Mahon’s wife, Rose Mahon, also of Ballaghboy Quin Road, Ennis, is charged with causing 1500 euros worth of damage to the windows of a vehicle on Station Road.

Her sister, Laura Molloy, of 21 An Pairc, Bruach na hAbhainn, Ennis is also charged with causing 1500 euros worth of damage to the windows of a vehicle on Station Road. Both sisters are also charged with provoking a breach of the peace.

Solicitor Daragh Hassett consented to Insp Kennedy’s application for a 14-day extension for DPP’s directions.

All three were remanded on continuing bail to appear again in court on June 20.