Category: News

THE HSE have had difficulty filling nursing posts in the mid-west area which includes counties Clare, Limerick and Tipperary.

That is according to Regional Director of Operations, HSE West, John Hennessy who was responding to criticism that retired staff continue to be employed within the HSE on a part-time basis.

Mr Hennessy maintained that staff were only re-employed in certain circumstances and for a short period of time. He added, “When we had permanent nursing posts in the mid-west we had difficulty finding someone to take up the post.”

Clare County Councillor Tom McNamara (FF) criticised the HSE for its re-hiring practices.

“There are people working in the HSE that have retired in the last five years taking posts that could be filled by young graduates,” he said.

“This [practice] is forcing young people out of the country, while these people’s pensions are not touched because they can work a day or two to bring them up to their former wage before it is touched.”

He proposed that the HSE take new people into the health service on a 12-month contract instead to cover any gaps in the system.

Francis Rogers, Assistant National Director of Human Resources, said it was HSE policy not to rehire people on pensions.

“In circumstances where we found ourselves having to re-hire pensioners it was only in extreme circumstances where we do this. This would also be for a very short period and only where a very specific specialist was needed,” he said.

“There is no financial gain in this to the pensioner. During this period their pension is abated. It is an issue we very carefully monitor.”

This week Fine Gael Senator Tony Mulcahy proposed that selective redundancy be used in the public sector. “The problem is we are losing people we want to keep and we are keeping people we probably need to lose. We really are going to have to get the unions engaged on that and be supportive of that. I am 100 per cent supportive of the Croke Park Agreement because in fairness they [public sector staff] are working very hard,” he told The Clare People .

“But like everything else there is dead weight in a lot of organisations that has to be picked out and say no you don’t serve a purpose anymore and you are not doing what we need you to do and those are areas we have to tackle.”

SIX Clare men made up the majority of the rifle team that brought glory to the 32nd Reserve Infantry Battalion at the Defence Forces All Army Shooting Competition.

Among the members of the winning team was Kilrush man Private John Kiely who currently holds two all army shooting records, not yet broken by his colleagues in the reserve army or even the professional defence forces.

After an absence of two years from the Defence Forces All Army Shooting competition, the rifle team representing Clare, Limerick and Kerry came close to securing a historic double gold win at Kilworth Military Ranges in Cork, having won the Southern Brigade qualifying competition several weeks before.

Despite a record team score and the second highest recorded in a competition, they missed out on gold by the narrowest of margins.

Two team members also won three individual prizes, one going to Corporal John Lillis from Barefield and two to Private Kiely. The Kilrush man was also crowned All Army Champion Marksman and received the coveted red marksman badge.

This competition marked another milestone in his shooting career having attained nine podium finishes from his last 11 starts which also includes two army scoring records, a run of consistence that is unheard of in living memory.

After the competition team captain, Lieutenant Mark Burke Kilrush was very optimistic about the future of the team.

The 32nd Reserve Infantry Battalion riffle team was made up of Lt Mark Burke, Sgt Robert Adrian, Pte John Kiely all from Kilrush; Cpl John Lillis, Barefield; Cpl Tommy Lineen, Kilmihill; Pte David Cosgrove, Ennis and Pte Kevin Garvey, Kilmallock.

LAHINCH has made it to the twenty-first century by becoming the first town in Clare to have its very own app. The app, which can be downloaded free from the App Store, was developed by local man Matthew Kelly.

Once downloaded, the applica- tion gives its user two different live video feeds from Lahinch, as well as a large amount of information about the town and its businesses.

“My idea was to make it easy for people to get information about Lahinch quickly. So if a group of golfers or surfers or even locals wanted to take a trip to Lahinch, one quick look at the app and they could see the webcams, or the surf report or any amount of other information,” said Matthew. “If someone wanted to go surfing, let’s say, it takes one click to see are there any waves, another click to book a lesson from one of the surf schools, and another to book a hotel or B&B. It is about promoting Lahinch and making it easy for people to plan their weekend.

“We haven’t come across something like this for any other town in Ireland. People have already suggested to me that I should start making these for other towns in Ireland, but we will have to wait and see how this one goes first before I look at that idea,” he said.

Both the Lahinch Surf Shop and the Ocean Scene Surf School have allowed Matthew to use their webcam images for free.

“The whole idea is that it is free for the users to download, and it will always remain that way, but maybe if it takes off I may consider selling advertising on the site in the future,” continued Matthew. “At present, this app is only for people who have iPhones. They can download this for free by going to the App Store and searching for Lahinch but I will be developing a version of the app for android phones in the future.”

ALMOST 1,000 people turned out at the Church of Corpus Christi in Lisdoonvarna on Sunday to witness local Sister Margaret Mary receive the highest award that the Pope can allocate.

In one of his first official engagements since his appointment, Papal Nuncio Charles Brown presented Sister Margaret Mary with the Papal Gold Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice after communion at 11.30am mass.

The Papal Nuncio presented Sr Margaret Mary with the medal on behalf of his holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, in recognition of her decades of service to the Sisters of Mercy and education in North Clare.

Eternally modest, Sr Margaret Mary dedicated the medal to all the sisters who helped found and run Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna.

“I know it is mortifying for you personally to find yourself the centre of the Church’s attention this morn- ing. It is an awesome thing to feel something of Saint Peter himself point you out to us afresh, as he taps you on the shoulder to say thanks thanks for your lifetime’s companionship of Christ and your unstinting humble ministry to his people,” said Lisdoonvarna priest, Fr Conor Cunningham. “Sister Margaret Mary is deeply loved and admired by the whole community for her kindness, her hard-working nature, her humility and above all for her striking example of living faith, prayerfulness and service.

“It is this example of everyday holiness and joy that above all that has brought her life’s witness to the attention of the Holy Father so that all may benefit,” he said.

Originally from County Mayo, Sr Margaret Mary moved first to Ennistymon to take up a position with the Sisters of Mercy, before becoming one of the founding teachers at Mary Immaculate Secondary School in 1949.

“It has been a joy to me to live among you here in North Clare for most of my life and to serve God and to serve you as best I can. I never expected any notice or reward for my modest contribution. The joy of serving God and serving you was reward enough for me,” she said.

“I want very much to associate all my dear friends in the Sisters of Mercy with this honour. Today I am thinking especially of our beloved departed sisters and friends. I am very grateful to you all for coming to today’s celebration of faith and education in Lisdoonvarna.”

CLARE designer, Jackie Maurer, stole the show at this weekend’s Future Makers Awards, bringing two awards back to the Banner County – including the main overall prize.

The Ballyvaughan-based designer won the inaugural Scarva Pottery Materials Award and also won the overall Future Makers Student Award.

The combined prize fund for winning both awards was € 3,000.

“These awards are fantastic. They will give me a platform and allow me to further my work. I’m absolutely thrilled,” she said.

“Nine years ago I got my work into a major exhibition in the RDS. I’ve been making pieces since I was 16 years of age.

“I started out as a functional maker, I trained with Stephen Pearce. In 2008, I went back to college and completely changed the style of my work.”

A graduate of the Limerick School of Art and Design, Jackie is renowned for her unique wearable ceramic neck pieces.

This weekend’s award recognises excellence, creativity and technical ability, and offers professional support for students to build their profile at a very early stage in their career.

With a total prize fund of € 30,000, the Future Makers awards and supports the next generation of Irish designers, helping them develop an exciting future in the craft and design industry.

Future Makers promotes and dis tinguishes craftsmanship and excellence in design for creative students and graduates at a critical stage in their career.

A total of 28 designers made it as far as the grand final, which was hosted by Sonya Lennon, host of the RTÉ One Off the Rails programme.

EMERGENCY services recorded one of their busiest weekends in recent years as the Banner county took to the water to take advantage of the scorching heat.

A large number of incidents were recorded in the North and East of the county – with coast guard units in Doolin and Killaloe responding to seven different incidents, none of which resulted in major injury or the loss of life. This hot spell comes a week before the roll out of lifeguard services in county – with lifeguard’s not due to begin work at Lahinch, Kilkee, Fanore and Spanish Point until this weekend. Councillors at yesterday’s North Clare Area Meet- ing of Clare County Council suggested that an “emergency response team” be put in place to react to large numbers of locals and tourists descending on Clare’s coastal beaches outside the normal tourist season.

Speaking to The Clare People yesterday, Clare County Council’s Civil Defence and Water Safety Officer, Liam Griffin, said that lifeguard services had been maintained in the county – despite cuts to all other areas of the local authority staffing.

“Despite a considerable reduction in local government funding and other cutbacks within the sector, we have taken the decision to retain the same level of lifeguard cover as provided in previous years,” he said.

THE highest level of absenteeism within the HSE West is in the midwest area and more specifically among the nursing profession in Ennis, Limerick and Tipperary hospitals.

According to figures released by the HSE absentee levels within the mid west area is at 5.93 per cent, compared to 4.89 per cent in the west and 5.46 per cent in the former northwest health board area.

The sector most affected by long and short-term absenteeism is nursing in the mid-west with 6.46 per cent of staff not showing up for work on a regular basis.

Previously members of the HSE West Forum such as Clare’s Cllr Tom McNamara (FF) had warned that stress levels among nursing staff was extremely high as staffing levels were cut.

However at a recent meeting of the forum some councillors brought up the possibility that bank holiday absenteeism might be an even bigger issue, with figures requested for Friday and Monday spcific absentee rates.

At last week’s meeting of the forum, Galway’s Cllr Padraig Conneely was critical of high absentee levels across the HSE West, the councillor claiming there were issues about some staff taking long weekend by ringing in sick.

Cllr Damien Riedy asked that the members of the forum be furnished with a break down of how many staff are missing work on the Friday of bank holiday weekends and on ordinary Mondays and Fridays.

Absenteeism is an issue that the HSE continues to take very seriously according to officials.

Regional Director of Operations HSE West John Henessy told the meeting that there had been instances of disciplinary action taken due to missed work days; “I know of two staff members in the HSE who have lost their jobs due to absenteeism.”

Francis Rogers, Assistant National Director of Human Resources, said, “Attendance management is continuing to receive priority attention by the Area Task Force working closely with local service management.”

Meanwhile absenteeism in the medical and dental area in the midwest is also at an all time high at 2.77 per cent, with other patient and client care at 6.25 per cent.

WOMEN are considered the fairer sex, but now they can be officially labelled the longer living sex as well where Clare is concerned, the latest statistics for the county from the 2011 National Census of Population have revealed.

The figures that were released in the third bulletin report from the Central Statistics Office last Thursday, show that there are now 14, 519 people of pension age in the county, with women outnumbering men. The latest breakdown of the battle of the sexes in Clare comes on the back of the first bulletin report from the CSO that revealed that there were more women than men in the county for the first time since the 1871 census.

In April it was revealed that of the county’s 117,196 population, 58,898 were female and 58,298 were male. Now, confirmation that women in the county are living longer than men has come with statistics which reveal that there are 7,652 women of retirement age in the county as against 6,869 men.

The figures for those of retirement age in Clare shows that, in keeping with national trends, the county is home to an ageing population. The 2006 census returns for the county showed that there were 12, 519 people of retirement age, which represented 11.5 per cent of the total population of 110, 590.

Five years on there has been a jump of 2,065 in the numbers of people of retirement age living in the county, with the increase to 14,519 meaning that 12.4 per cent of Clare’s 117,196 population are now of pension age.

In releasing the breakdown of figures of those of retirement age, the CSO has split the post-65 generation into five different groups – 65-69, 7074,75-79, 80-84 and 85 and over.

The biggest gap between females and males is to be found in the 85 and over category, with females outnumbering males by more than two to one. There are 1, 581 of 85 and over in the county, 1,070 of them being females to only 511 males.

This trend of women being in the majority is continued in the 75-79 age group, where there are 1,359 women to 1,264 men and the 80-84 category where the breakdown stands at 1,069 women to 781 men.

LARGE surf schools have been accused of operating a monopoly on Clare’s beaches – with smaller operators not being allowed access to prime trading beach such as Lahinch.

Thousands of surf lessons take place at Lahinch, Spanish Point, Kil- kee and Fanore beaches each week – with dozens of surf school springing up around the county in recent years.

Yesterday’s North Clare Area Meeting of Clare County Council heard accusations that large surf schools were operating a monopoly and essentially forcing smaller operators out of business.

The meeting became heated when Lahinch-based Cllr Bill Slattery (FG) read out information on behalf a Lahinch-based surf school, which also trades on a number of other beaches in the county. Cllr Michael Hillery (FF), who is based in Spanish Point, then made representations on behalf of a Spanish Point-based “friend” who currently trades in Spanish Point, but cannot gain access to Lahinch. Fianna Fáil Cllr Richard Nagle, reprimanded councillor for making representative on behalf of individual surf school – while others schools were not present.

The trading bylaws which govern the licensing of surf schools in Clare are due to be updated next month. However, Irish Water Safety are due to complete a risk assessment on all beaches in Clare where surfing takes place.

It was decided at yesterday’s meeting to grant month-long licenses to the surf schools, to allow time for changes to be made to the trading bylaws, once the results of the risk assessment have been released.

“There are a number of individual who are licensed to provide les sons in Lahinch and throughout the country. The difficulty is that once you have a licence, you can employ as many people as you like. So one person with a licence could have 160 people on the beach with 24 instructors – is it a licence to trade or is it a monopoly,” said Cllr Joe Arkins (FG).

Separate bylaws limit the number of surf schools who can trade on Lahinch beach to six. However, no such bylaws exists on other Clare beaches, meaning that Lahinchbased schools can operate school on every Clare beach – while other schools cannot gain access to the town’s most popular surfing beach.

“The surf schools are becoming a victim of their own success. The number of surfers are increasing on a yearly basis and Lahinch can only cope with so many surfers at any one time,” said Cllr Nagle. Tue29May12

THE life and times of the the founder of the GAA, Clare man Michael Cusack, is to be celebrated in a new annual summer school which has been proposed for the Michael Cusack Centre in Carron.

The summer school, which was proposed by Cllr Michael Kelly (FF) at yesterday’s North Clare Area meeting of Clare County Council could see the local authority working hand and hand with the GAA to bring hundreds of delegates to Carron each summer.

Councillors resolved at yesterday’s meeting to make contact with the Clare GAA county board in an effort to move forward the summer school in partnership with the GAA.

“There are schools taking place all over the country. A school like this would be a great source of income and would also showcase the Burren to tourists,” said Cllr Kelly.

“You could get more than 200 people in an area for such a conference. Michael Cusack was the founder of the GAA and, to be honest, I can’t believe that there isn’t already a summer school to mark the man.”

The motions in favour of the sum- mer school received widespread support from local councillors.

“I think that it is an excellent idea. Maybe the GAA could help lead the way in this as well. It would be a money making venture for the GAA and the spins offs for the wider areas could be massive,” said Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) who seconded the proposal.

“It could help put the Burren and the Michael Cusack centre on the map – more then they are already.”