Category: News

SURF school operators in Lahinch will be confined to a single area on the northernmost end of the Lahinch promenade, when new beach byelaws come into effect on July 1. The new bye-laws, which were passed into law by the Clare County Council last week, will provide ten car-park spaces, two for each surf school, where trading can now take place. The surfers will now also be encouraged to enter the water using the northern steps, in an effort to segregate surfers from walkers and other beach users. Over the last ten year surfing has become a key part of the summertime trade in Lahinch – with hundreds of people surfing or learning to surf on the beach each day. The Lahinch prom now supports five official surf schools who help attract a large number of tourists to the county each year. “We have received a massive number of complaints from people who walk and swim at the beach. People can’t park, they can’t walk the prom because there are wet-suits everywhere and the surfers are there waxing their boards,” said Lahinch Cllr Bill Slattery (FG). “I think the surfers are getting a good deal out of this. They have been breaking the bye-laws by trading there up until now and this will give them a legal right to trade on the prom.” Just one submission was made when the draft bye-laws went on display last month. Local man, Liam Grant, suggested that the close proximity of the surf school would create tension between the businesses, that one of the surf schools would be given a “prime” location on the prom, that the need of surfers were not being listened to and that tighter regulations for the surf schools, in the same regulations, would be preferable to moving the school. The council took one of these suggestions on board and the slot allocated the surf schools will be rotated year-on-year, to ensure that no school is given the prime location.

CLARE County Council is to write to the Department of the Environment seeking legislation to be introduced to ban posters from certain areas of towns and village – with separate poster zones being created instead.

This follows a motion put forward by Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council which called for a permit system to be introduced which would require each election candidate or political party to notify Clare County Council of the number of locations of all posters erected in Clare.

“One important angle is safety – there is a serious health an safety question for people putting up and taking down posters. They are also distractions for people looking at them [the posters] when driving on our road,” said Cllr Murphy.

“I am not looking for a total ban, I think posters are a useful things – especially for young voters. I believe that they do serve a purpose for younger candidates whose faces might not be that well known.”

The motion received support from all the candidates present, including a number of councillors who reported having their posters stolen during an election, only for them to reemerge in another part of the county once the vote is complete.

“I have always been an advocate of the central locations for posters,” said Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind).

“We all know that posters do disappear in some areas – a poster might disappear and may not reappear for a year or more and they have been used for some other purpose in the mean time.”

Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) also reported some of his posters appearing in private residences around the county.

“In my area they take them down the day after you put them up. People take them down and then put them up again after the election,” he said.

“It is very hard to keep track of all your posters between the wind and these individuals who seem to think that these posters would make a nice additions to their own house.”

Cllr PJ Kelly called for a total ban on all election posters – saying they he had never had to use them to get elected.

THE Burke’s group of hotels are now the largest employers in the North Clare area following the announcement that they will create 15 new full-time positions with the reopening of the Tír Gan Éan House Hotel in Doolin.

This brings to 125 the number of full-time people employed by the group – between the Armada Hotel, Hotel Doolin and Tír Gan Éan – surpassing the 120 currently employed by Data Display in Ennistymon. A further 65 seasonal jobs will be also be generated at the three hotels between now and the end of October. Tír Gan Éan, which is located beside Hotel Doolin, was closed last year, by another hotel operator.

Managing director of the Armada Hotel and Hotel Doolin, John Burke, said that the new jobs were made possible, in part, because of the nine per cent VAT rate on tourism operators.

“The fact that the lower VAT rate of nine per cent for the tourism in- dustry will continue into 2013 is good news not only for the Irish tourism and hospitality sector, but also for consumers as the cost of accommodation can be maintained at extremely competitive rates,” he said.

“The decision to acquire Tír Gan Éan is key to our strategy of providing quality accommodation at an affordable rate. It will be marketed at overseas visitors, as well as the rapidly growing domestic market,” added Mr Burke.

General manager of Tír Gan Éan House Hotel and the award-winning Hotel Doolin, Donal Minihane said the hotel will offer ‘a boutique guesthouse experience’ complete with its own in-house bakery.

“Doolin very much remains the jewel in the crown of north Clare tourism. Its scenic location close to the Burren and on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, as well as its affiliation with the Irish Traditional Music scene has meant that the village has continued to attract visitors, despite the downturn in the global economy,” he said.

JUST under € 1.8 million has been collected so far in Clare via the household charge, new figures from Clare County Council show.

The information was given in response to a notice of motiwon from Labour councillor Pascal Fitzgerald requesting a breakdown on the total amount collected in the county to date.

In his reply Niall Barrett, Head of Finance, stated that the latest information from the Household Charge Bureau that there were 17,819 household registrations processed for payment as at 9am on Tuesday, April 24. This corresponds to the sum collected for the county to date.

He continued, “Nationally there are an estimated 220,500 household charge declarations which have been made through the post and over the counter in local authority offices that are being processed by the Household Charge Bureau.

“The County Clare portion of the unprocessed declarations is not included in the above figure as the county/city breakdown is not yet available in the figure.

“In addition, 15,159 declarations nationally have been received by the household charge bureau where a waiver from payment of the house- hold charge is claimed and these declarations are not included in the figure.”

He added, “This gives a total number of 921,101 household charge declarations made nationally.

“The amount collected for Clare will increase as applications on hand are processed by the Bureau.”

Cllr Fitzgerald asked if householders living in unfinished housing estates who have paid the household charge could be provided with services by Clare County Council?

He also asked the council to clarify their position for the residents in these estates.

Mr Barrett stated that there are no proposals at the present time to change established arrangements for the provision of services to estates in the county.

Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) called for Minister for State Jan O’Sullivan, who he said represented 5,000 people in Clare, to attend a council meeting.

Director of Services Ger Dollard said the introduction of the household charge has not changed the way the council deal with unfinished estates.

He said the council is currently dealing with a number of unfinished estates in Clare.

“We are working very hard to get through that,” he added.

THE Irish Taxi Driver’s Federation has insisted that Ennis taxis remain one of the safest modes of transport available.

The national body issued the reassurance after an Ennis driver was given a two year suspended sentence at Limerick Circuit Court for assaulting a passenger.

Martin White, who is the Clare representative for the federation and has 30 years experience driving in Clare, said he had never heard of a taxi driver attacking a passenger before this incident.

“The number one priority for a taxi driver is the safety and well being of the passengers,” he told The Clare People .

“This was a one off incident and I had never heard of it before. He shouldn’t have taken the law into his own hands. He should have called the Gardaí if he thought there was an issue with the passenger and the fare.”

Mr White said that all taxi drivers undergo Garda checks.

“As drivers we are there to bring passengers home safe and I believe taxis are still the safest form of trans- port.”

Meanwhile taxi driver Okechukwu Utuke (44), of Dun na hInse, Ennis, received a two-year suspended sentence after he was found guilty of assaulting passenger Michael L’Estrange and fracturing his collarbone in a row over a € 15 fare on April 25, 2010. The case was heard over three days in Ennis.

During the case Mr L’Estrange told the jury that he had gone for a few drinks in town and left for home at around 1.30am. He said that he had started to walk but when he got to Country Pine, he “flagged” down a taxi.

He asked the driver to bring him to his home at Gort na mBlath. Mr L’Estrange said he stopped a short distance from his house as he never got a taxi directly to his home “because you don’t know who’s who”.

Mr L’Estrange said that after the car came to a halt in Gort Na mBlath, he disputed the fare of € 15, adding that it usually cost between € 7 and € 8.

The court heard that Mr L’Estrange dropped € 10 onto the front passenger seat and left the car.

He said that the driver followed him from the car, knocked him to the ground and started digging him with his fists.

AN EAST Clare family has been forced to move out of their own house because of anti-social behaviour by neighbours who were claiming a Rent Allowance Payment.

That is according to East Clare Cllr Joe Cooney (FG), who called for tighter regulations to be placed on people who receive rent allowance – including a provision for money to be taken directly from a persons social welfare payment to repay a private landlord or the local authority for damage done to a property.

Cllr Cooney said that the way that a small minority of people on rent allowance treat property is a “disgrace”.

“Some of these tenants, the state that they leave some of the houses are a disgrace. I have people on to me, and they can’t rent out their house because of the damage done,” said Cllr Cooney.

“I am aware of a family in East Clare who had to move out of their own house because of the anti-social actions from one family beside them. If these people can’t treat the property properly, and not be acting the fool, then there has to be consequences for them.

“Not all tenants are the same, but some are very bad. This is a vital motion. What is going on is a dis- grace in some place, but it is not everywhere. The damage has seen some local council houses left closed for up to 12 months, which in my opinion is a disgrace.”

The motion was seconded by Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) who said that legislations need to be put in place to allow landlords to recoup payments from people who destroy their property.

“There are some people in this society for who there are no consequences,” he said. “I think we need legislation where a local authority or a private individual should pursue people in the courts and they should then have an attachments put to their [social welfare] payments.”

THE task force charged with responsibility for separating Shannon Airport from Dublin Airport Authority control won’t have a Clare County Council involvement – this is despite demands from the local authority to be included in the process of implementing the airport much-heralded independence and Department of Transport denials that the make of the high-powered committee has already been decided upon.

However, leaks to the effect that the county’s premier decision-making body has been left of the whole process emerged at the weekend when the first six members of the Department of Transport’s eight person ‘steering committee’ were revealed.

The group has been established to advise the Government on the separation of Shannon of from the DAA and its subsequent integration with the property assets of Shannon Development under the new independent airport structure.

Dr Alan Aherne, Declan Keane, Eamonn Brennan, Ed Hansom, Pat Dalton and Rose Hynes have been appointed to the task force, with the remaining appointments to be filled by representatives of both the Departments of Finance and Transport.

Ms Hynes is chairman of Stateowned energy group Bord Gáis and a former executive with Shannonbased aviation leasing group GPA. She is also a former member of the Shannon Airport Authority that was established in 2004 by then Trans port Minister, Seamus Brennan.

Mr Hansom is another former GPA executive who has been appointed to the high-powered committee, while Mr Brennan is chief executive of the Irish Aviation Authority.

Mr Dalton is an executive with investment group One51 and a former member of the Cork Aviation Authority.

Mr Aherne is a former adviser at the Department of Finance and is on the board of the Central Bank of Ireland, while Mr Keane was chairman of the interdepartmental working group report on mortgage arrears.

“We want representation on that committee and have to demand it,” Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) told a special meeting of Clare County Council’s Strategic Policy Committee for Community and Enterprise, Tourism and Emergency Services last week, with former Mayor of Clare, Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) saying “Clare County Council should have proper representation on the new Shannon Airport board.”

Speaking to The Clare People , Clare County Manager Tom Coughlan underlined Clare County Council’s need to be involved in the airport’s future. “The council considers that it should be involved and engaged in any future plans for Shannon Airport,” he said.

“There are issues surrounding the future of the airport which require immediate clarification,” he added. The county manager was referring to plans for the potential development of the council owned land bank in and around Shannon Airport as well as the appointment of a steering group.

THERE have been calls for the retention of tourist offices in rural parts of Clare amid concerns they could be shut under a new coordinated marketing strategy for the west of Ireland.

West Clare councillor Gabriel Keating (FG) called for a report “on the implications on the delivery of tourism services, if any, for Clare following recent media reports that the west of Ireland is to be marketed as a separate tourist destination.”

Cllr Keating told the meeting that in times of change there is always a danger that rural communities will be affected and forgotten about.

He said it was vitally important for Clare that tourism offices in Kilrush and Kilkee are kept open.

In his reply, Director of Services Gerard Dollard said it had been shown that on the international stage, a west of Ireland branding can be effective and is important in encouraging people to the area. He said the council welcomed the focus on promoting the west of Ireland

Mr Dollard stated, “The promotion and branding of the west of Ireland does not impact on the delivery of tourism services as such but the recent Government announcement regarding the proposed transfer of the tourism remit of Shannon Development to Fáilte Ireland obviously has implications for delivery of tourism services both in the area of product development and marketing and promotion. Clare Tourism Forums and the Strategic Policy Committee will also be seeking discussions with Fáilte Ireland at an early date to iden- tify the best manner in which Clare County Council and the forum can continue to play an active role in the delivery of tourism services and the marketing and promotion of County Clare.”

West Clare councillor Pat Keane (FF) said it is important that the region is properly marketed. He said opening hours at the offices should be extended during the tourist season.

Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) said, “Clare has a unique brand and we have to sell it and we have to sell it to everyone.”

Mayor of Clare Pat Hayes (FF) said all Clare people are ambassadors for their county.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said Shannon Airport should be promoted as the official airport of the Gathering – the government’s campaign to increase tourist numbers in 2013. He said the airport’s long association with emigration should be emphasised in order to avail of the estimated 400,000 extra passengers that the Government are hoping the Gathering will bring to Ireland

COMMERCIAL flights in and out of Shannon Airport have dropped by almost 10 per cent in the last year.

According to the latest figures from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) commercial terminal flights at Shannon were down 9.8 per cent in April 2012 when compared to April 2011.

It stated that there are now just on average 48 commercial daily movements at the Clare airport.

Commercial international arrivals and departures for Shannon, Dublin and Cork airports dropped by 4.6 per cent in April 2012, when compared to April 2011.

On a cumulative basis commercial terminal traffic for Shannon, Dublin and Cork airports for January to April of this year was 3.1 per cent.

It was not all bad news for the aviation sector however. There was an increase of 0.2 per cent in Ireland’s en-route traffic movements, or flights that do not land in Ireland, in April 2012 when compared to April 2011.

However, North Atlantic Communications flights (Europe/US Flights) saw a decrease of 0.16 per cent in April 2012, when compared to the same month in 2011.

On a cumulative basis the growth in en-route traffic movements and North Atlantic Communications flights for January to April 2012, compared to the same period last year, was 0.9 per cent and 1.17 per cent respectively.

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has pledged to return to the Loophead Lighthouse visitor experience with his family for a holiday, a commitment he made to the people of West Clare last Friday when officially opening the facility for the 2012 season.

Mr Kenny made his comments after he described the visiting the peninsula for the first time in glowing terms, calling it “a special day for me and my family” because “I feel I have come home here to Loophead”.

The Taoiseach’s grandfather, James McGinley, was a lighthouse keeper at Loophead from January 1933 until October the following year, a family link recalled by Mr Kenny during his three-hour stay in West Clare.

“I feel a very strong spiritual connection here because my grandfather served here as a light-keeper but my late mother ran around this patch of grass and my uncle was born here so there is a very strong family connec- tion in that sense,” he said.

“I remember him very well. Lightkeepers were meticulous people. They had to be — if that light wasn’t shining properly, well then sailors and mariners in distress could have suffered fatal consequences.

“This was the last light that people saw when leaving Ireland and the first they saw when they returned. They endured gales, storms, long weeks, the cold, loneliness, isolation, but these were men were sanguine, resilient, adaptable, resourceful, self possessed and who knew their job,” he added.

The lighthouse was opened to the public for the first time last year – an initiative sparked by a motion tabled to Clare County Council by local councillor Gabriel Keating (FG) in 2009 and taken on the local authority, Shannon Development, Loop Head Tourism and the Commissioners of Irish Lights.

A 11-week trial opening was a huge success and resulted in an estimated 17,000 people visiting the landmark building, which was worth an esti- mated € 400,000 to the local economy.

Earlier this year, Shannon Images was appointed to produce an interpretation plan that would further enhance the overall visitor experience at the lighthouse.

An exhibition focusing on the history of Irish lighthouses and the people who have operated them since the 17th century has been installed for the 2012 tourist season.

“The collaborative approach adopted by regional development agencies and the local community to enhancing the visitor experience at Loop Head is a model that could and should be replicated elsewhere throughout County Clare and, indeed, the rest of Ireland,” said Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Hayes (FF).

“Heritage tourism is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world and therefore, we should consider the possibility of opening up and promoting some of other many existing heritage sites and structures that currently remain inaccessible to the public,” he added.