Category: News

THE new 50-bed unit at Ennis General Hospital is to open at the end of next month.

The exact date to the opening has not been announced at the HSE awaits the arrival of specialist equipment for the unit.

Clare county councillor Tom McNamara (FF) said there was a lot of disappointment that it still wasn’t opened as the builders had handed over the unit last October.

“I cannot see how the delivery is taking so long. We were way under budget (at Ennis General Hospital) last year. Why couldn’t that saving have been used?” he asked.

“We need to put a definite date on it.”

CEO Mid Western Hospital Group, Ann Doherty, said the delay was not a budgetary issue.

“I don’t want to give a date and not meet it,” she said.

“We are well on the way to the opening of our new inpatient accommodation in Ennis. Currently the equipment is on order and delivery schedules are being agreed.”

“As of yet, delivery dates are not confirmed for all items of equipment and therefore an opening date cannot be confirmed. It is anticipated that the unit will be open in the next four to five weeks,” she said.

Ms Doherty said that once she had received definite information about the equipment and its installation she would confirm a date for the opening of the € 15 million extension.

The extension will include two new wards with 50 new beds and ensuites, and facilities for CT scanning, operating theatres, endoscope facilities and day surgery.

THERE was joy for the family and friends of baby Sergio O’Connor who came through a gruelling six hour operation in Boston on Saturday.

One year-old Sergio, who is one of a set of twins, had been in America for more than a week waiting for the life saving surgery to reconnect his oesophagus.

Sergio was born on March 5 last with a rare condition which prevents him from eating, drinking or swallowing. Sergio, who before travelling to America had only been released from hospital for a few hours on Christmas day, came through the operations well but is still in an induced coma.

Sergio and his twin brother Tadhg were born into one of North Clare’s best loved traditional music families with his father Donal, his grandmother Ann O’Connor (nee Dillon) and his uncle, the former TG4 Young Musician of the Year, Liam O’Connor, all taking part in countless sessions around the county over the years.

Sergio still has a large number of relatives in Ennistymon and other areas and a large number of fundraising concerts have taken place around the county in recent months, in help in the cost of his life changing surgery.

The youngster went into surgery at 7.30am local time and with surgeons using a rare process known as the Foker treatment, to reconnect his oesophagus. The operation went well but Sergio will remain in an induced coma for another week so that his oesophagus has time to heal up.

Sergio’s family in America say that are “over the moon” with the surgery and are very thankful to the entire team here at the hospital. Sergio will still require other procedures and surgeries in the future but last Saturday’s operation is seen as a key milestone in his recovery.

THREE thousand Clare people were unaware that they were close to becoming citizens of Limerick last week as amendments were made to the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2012 at Dáil committee level.

Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins attempted to add an amendment to the bill that would in essence bring in the proposals of the controversial Limerick Local Government Com- mittee (LLGC) report more commonly known as the Brosnan report.

He put forward amendment nine, which stated, “The administrative area of the new Limerick Local Government Authority shall be extended to include the residential areas of Shannon Banks, Westbury, Carrig Meade and Athlundard in Co Clare and shall also include that part of the campus of the University of Limerick also in Co Clare.”

The new Limerick Local Government Authority that would take over from Limerick County Council and Limerick City Council was one of the Brosnan proposals accepted by Government last year.

The proposal to extend the boundary of this new authority into Clare was rejected however after much protest from the Banner County by the Government last year and by the committee on Thursday.

Labour Junior Minister Jan O’Sullivan, who was chairing the committee meeting, told Mr Collins that the Government would not be accepting the amendment after those in attendance voted to reject it.

Among them was Clare Labour TD Michael McNamara who described it as an attempted land grab.

“In Government, Fianna Fáil transferred Aer Rianta International in Shannon to the Dublin Airport Authority and privatised Aer Lingus so that it can leave Shannon on a whim. In opposition, Fianna Fáil now wants to move part of the campus of the University of Limerick and the residential areas of Shannon Banks, Westbury, Carrig Meade and Athlundard out of Co Clare,” said Deputy McNamara.

Flan CUNNINGHAM
, Sallus, Quilty East. Suddenly. Funeral mass today (Tuesday) at 11 o’clock at The Star of the Sea Church, Quilty, with burial afterwards in Mullagh Cemetery. Family flowers only please, donations, if desired toThe Irish Heart Foundation. May he rest in peace.

Kieran FAHY,
26 Lower Main St.Tulla and late of Lahardan. Peacefully at home. Funeral mass today (Tuesday) at 11 o’clock at Ss Peter and Paul’s Church,Tulla, with burial after in local cemetery. May he rest in peace.

John GALVIN
of 32 Liosard,Tulla Road, late of 2 Chapel Street, Longford town. Laid to rest in Drumcliffe Cemetery, Ennis. Donations, if desired, to Milford Hospice. May he rest in peace.

THE Mid Western Hospital group had exceeded its budget by as much as 13 per cent at the end of March, while € 30 million goes uncollected from health insurers.

Ennis and Nenagh general hospitals were breaking even during the first quarter of this year, however the Mid West Maternity Hospital and the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick was surpassing all budget alloca- tions, having overspent by € 6,869. This is the largest deficit among hospital groups in the HSE West.

Meanwhile as much as € 20 million has not been collected from health insurance companies due to consultants lack of paper work in the HSE West, with a further delay in the payment of another € 10 million.

Liam Minihan, Assistant National Director of Finance HSE West, said it takes the HSE 145 days to collect its income from these companies. He added that a private company would not survive this practice.

“Insurance companies have slowed down paying us. € 20 million is also waiting for consultant signatures so that it can be processed,” he said.

Mr Minihan explained that the biggest drain on the HSE’s budget was the nursing home Fair Deal programme. The HSE’s nursing homes must have more than 95 per cent occupancy to receive payment from the Government. In total the HSE West was € 26.3 million over budget by the end of March, with the hospital budget over by € 20.4 million and the community sector bursting its budget by € 5.5 million.

The 361 retirees from the HSE West will save the health service € 34 million this year, and travel costs are down by € 300,000 according to the financial expert, with a further € 3 million saved by cutting the agency nurses bill from € 9 million to € 6 million.

Hospitals are already implementing seasonal closing in a bid to cut their spending but a cut to the overall budget at the beginning of the year has put them under serious financial pressure.

Bill Maher, CEO Galway Roscommon Hospital Group, said, “Year on year spending has been reduced, and there was a significant reduction in our allocation this year.

“The money follow patient system has been mentioned for the last five years and that it is always around the corner,” he said adding that such a scheme would make it easier for hospitals to break even.

LIVES could be lost on Lahinch beach as a result of new parking bylaws which will force all the town’s surf school to trade in one area of the promenade. That is the opinion of surf school operator Ben Bennett, who believes that the schools provide the first line of defense for people who get into difficulty while in the water at Lahinch.

Mr Bennett, who operates Ben’s Surf Clinic in Lahinch, was responding to the introduction of the new bylaws which he says will not fix any of the difficulties experienced by beach users at Lahinch.

The bylaws force the surf school to operate and to enter the beach at the northern end of the Lahinch Promenade. They were put in place after a number of complaints were made by members of the public about overcrowding at the beach.

“There seems to be a confusion between surfers and surf schools,” said Ben.

“None of the surf schools allow the surfers into the swimming zone but it is the inexperienced surfers that do drift in there. The surf schools are getting blamed for what the surfers are doing.

“Surfing is keeping Lahinch alive all winter long. It is not just a summer thing – the car park will be filled with surfers in the middle of the winter and all of them will be paying parking fees to Clare County Council – we are getting a really bad rap here.”

According to Ben, the surf school also provide a year round safety net for people using the beach at Lahinch.

“I personally rescue about seven to eight people a year at Lahinch because I am on the beach all the time. I would imagine that every other surf instructor would do something similar,” continued Ben.

“The council are putting us at the furthest point possible from the beach. We can’t see the beach. I am located at the first ramp down and from there I can see the beach and advise the people who are there about the tides and the currents.

“There will definitely be more accidents and more incidents due to the fact that surf schools are being placed at the back of the prom. I think the safety issues are very serious and I believe that some day, someone is going to be stretchered off very badly injured just as a result of moving the surf schools back. Someone is unfortunately going to drown.”

A NORTH Clare hotelier travelled to China over the weekend for a toplevel meeting with members of the Chinese government, in an effort to open a door for thousands of tourists from China to visit Clare in the coming year.

Lisdoonvarna businessman Marcus White flew out to Beijing last Thursday, just days after returning from a similar trade meeting in Russia. It is as yet unclear whether either of these trade meetings will yield a major tourism breakthrough for the county, but the growing middle-classes in both Russia and China are considered to be one of the major future growth markets for world tourism.

In 2010, Mr White succeeded in forging a relationship with a major German tour operator which has brought more than 15,000 German tourists to North Clare in the past two years.

“This could be a big help to Shannon Airport. The publicity that was gained when Xi Jinping was here was really encouraging and was a big help for what I’m going. It is very important that we can find a way to deliver on this market,” said Mr White.

“I met with Ramazan Akpinar from Pegas earlier in the month. Currently, they bring more than 600,000 Russians on tours to Thailand every year, so if we can get even a small slice of that market, it will be massive for Clare and Ireland.

“We were in Russia trying to encourage him to work with us to bring more Russian tourists into Ireland. It was a positive meeting but it will probably take another year to develop this into something real.

“Russia is very much an up-andcoming country and now is the right time for the Irish tourism board to target that market.

“I think the only way to do this is to go over there and meet the people who make the big decisions. The Irish embassy [in Russia] have been very good to me but more needs to be done to make this a reality.”

White’s Hotel Group operates the Burren Castle Hotel, the Hydro Hotel, the Imperial Hotel and the King Thomand Hotel in Lisdoonvarna, as well as a number of hotels in Donegal.

A WELL-ESTABLISHED small Bunratty business has been commended at the annual Small Firms Association (SFA) Awards.

Eoin Gavin Transport is the Clare member for The Pallet Network (TPN) which received a certificate of commendation from Minister of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton (FG) at the weekend.

The Pallet Network (TPN) is one of Ireland’s leading freight, transport and logistics services providers.

Eoin Gavin Transport was founded by its namesake, Eoin Gavin, more than 30 years ago, serving numerous sectors such as agriculture, environment, waste, food and construction.

“Despite the continuing economic downturn, we have focused on becoming as lean as possible, cutting costs while maintaining services. Being part of TPN, a multi-million euro network, enabled the company to grow because of the support and encouragement from the other network members. This year we are going to focus on staying lean and providing the best overnight service and the best customer service. These are the initiatives that helped us thrive in 2011. We are looking ahead to a suc- cessful 2012 and hoping to be short listed again next year in the SFA awards,” said Mr Gavin.

The aim of the SFA National Small Business Awards is to celebrate the achievements of small businesses (with up to 50 employees) in Ireland, and to recognise the vital contribution of the small business sector to the Irish economy and to showcase Ireland’s entrepreneurial talent like TPN and its members.

Seamus McGowan, Managing Director, TPN said, “TPN and its 23 members are delighted to have been highly commended in the SFA’s Environmental Sustainability category. As concern for the environment rises, TPN has taken into account the external costs of logistics associated with climate change, air pollution, noise, vibration and accidents and has put in place a number of systems and new, greener, more fuel efficient equipment to help combat these growing concerns. Our continuing success is down to the 23 committed members that we have around the country. The efforts of members like Eoin Gavin Transport have meant that we are meeting the needs of both small and large enterprises and keeping our services levels as high as ever. We hope to continue this success throughout 2012.”

CLARE big-wave surfer Ollie O’Flaherty will be one of the main attractions at the first ever Wavemasters Surf and Music Festival, which takes place in Spanish Point over the June Bank Holiday weekend.

The Lahinch man has become the hottest prospect in Irish and Euro- pean surfing following his thirdplace finish at the Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards earlier this month. Ollie will be joined at the festival by current Irish champion Stephen Kilfeather, as well as a number of leading Irish surfers.

In total, six surfers, each of whom are current members of the Irish surf team, will take part in an ‘Expression Session’ on Spanish Point beach from 2pm on Sunday, June 3. Prizes will be awarded for best move, best wave and best overall performance.

The festival will also include a number of live music performances taking pace at the Bellbridge Hotel in Spanish Point. The organisers are hopeful that the Wavemasters Surf and Music Festival could become a regular event in the county’s annual festival calendar.

The music portion of the festival will be headlined by Irish funk-rock band Republic of Loose. The music line-up will also feature Bellharbour musician Jim McKee and his band.

Over the last number of weeks, Jim has been travelling the world promoting his role in the new film, Songs for Amy , alongside Kinvara singer-songwriter Ultan Conlan. The pair wrote and recorded much of the soundtrack for the film. In recent weeks, the film has received a good reaction, winning an award at the Newport Film Festival in Los Angeles and also appearing at the Cannes Film Festival.

It will receive its official Irish premier at the Galway Film Fleadh next month.

Tickets for the Wavemasters Surf and Music Festival are currently available from 087 1841555.

MAGIC mushrooms located in the Burren could hold the key to tackling world hunger in the coming years. Scientists have discovered that networks of microscopic fungi play a key role in aiding plants to extract and process nutrients from the soil.

According to Dr Ray Woods of the British organisation Plantlife, intensive farming, fertiliser and human intrusion have destroyed these fungal networks across Europe, with the Burren’s wild grasslands now considered as a fungal “arc” for the future of European farming.

Recent studies have also shown that these tiny fungi can help plants to fight off disease and can even allow for the flow of nutrients from one plant to another over large distances.

“We are just starting to learn how vital these fungi are for growing crops. They are intimately connecting with well-known plants such as hazel, using 50 or 60 different types of fungi to grow,” said Dr Woods.

“The wild flowers of the Burren are a perfect example of this. There are so many different plants and flowers there and none of them ever seem to dominate. In the Burren, you have one of the last unimpacted areas of grassland anywhere in the world. It is really one of the very few places in the world where research into fungal networks can still be done. It is an arc for these fungi.”

One of the most important abilities of these fungal networks is helping plants to extract nitrogen from the soil. At present, virtually all world agriculture is built on the use of large amounts of industrialised nitrogen fertiliser, which is made using large amount of oil.

As global oil supplies continue to dwindle, the use of oil in producing fertiliser is considered by many to be the biggest challenge facing world agriculture in the next 50 years. This has prompted many people to exam- ine the role that the intact Burren fungal networks could have on world agriculture.

“People are already coming to the Burren [to study the fungi] but it is difficult at times to know who is coming and what they are doing. You come across people from universities in Germany, Holland, Ireland and the UK in the Burren,” said Stephen Ward of the BurrenBeo Trust.

“If they are doing original research, then chances are they would contact an organisation like the BurrenBeo Trust because we can be helpful.”

For more information on the BurrenBeo Trust, visit www.burrenbeo. com.

ENNIS General Hospital’s radiology department, which faced closure 12 months ago, has won the prestigious Biomnis Healthcare Innovation Awards.

In a rags-to-riches story, the department, which had come under much criticism in the past, was recognised for its ‘Innovation in Quality of Service Delivery’.

The new x-ray service has cut result waiting times from 10 days to just 15 minutes in the case of emergencies, cut costs by 29 per cent and has seen more than 1,800 patients.

Hospital manager Frank Keane explained that when the x-ray department faced closure last year, as a consultant radiologist could not be recruited, the hospital team began to “gingerly” consider the option of introducing teleradiology technology.

In April 2011, Ennis General Hospital (EGH) partnered with Global Diagnostics (Global) and through the deployment of new and innovative teleradiology technology and new enabling processes positively transformed the operations, efficiency level and the standards of patient care and responsiveness at the Radiology Department.

The x-rays continued to be taken at the Ennis hospital but then they were immediately sent by telelink to one of the nine consultant radiologists available to read them.

One of the biggest successes within this pioneering system is the quick response of the department.

Now an emergency x-ray is read and reported on within 15 minutes, while an accident and emergency x-ray’s results are with the patient within 90 minutes.

Inpatient x-rays are read within three hours, while the hospital now guarantees that GP referred x-rays will be read and the results with the GP within 48 hours, although most are with the family doctor within 10 hours.

This compares more than favourably to an older system where patients were waiting an average of 10 days to have an x-ray read.

The team of radiology experts from Ireland, Northern Ireland, England and the UK include specialist paediatric and neurology radiologists, and bring added expertise to the hospital service.

Mr Keane said he was delighted with the win at the weekend, especially as the competition was so stiff. All of the other eight entries came from Ireland’s leading teaching hospitals.