Category: News

COUNCILLORS clashed during last Friday’s special meeting of Clare County Council about a proposal to allow a “mostly English owned” company to build a crematorium in Clarecastle which the local authority had recently turned down plans by “one of our own” to construct a similar facility in Shannon.

Independent councillor Ann Norton warned that Clare County Council must be seen not to “discriminate” against any proposal which could potentially bring development and jobs into the county.

His comments came in the wake of an outburst by Cllr James Breen (Ind) who questioned proposal because it was being put forward by a “mostly English” company. Cllr Breen raised concerns about other planning permissions which were not granted in the area.

“I know a gentleman living in that area [Clarecastle] who is receiving dialysis two times a week. He wanted to sell two sites on his land to pay for his treatment and he is being told that he can’t,” said Cllr Breen.

“To bring two applications [the Clarecastle and Shannon cremato- rium proposals] to the council at the same time was wrong. That, as far as I am concerned, is playing off one against the other.

“We can grant planning to a consortium which is mostly English owned and we turn down one of our own. I don’t think this is right and this council should not accept the proposal.”

A spokesperson from Clare County Council explained that both applications had come before the July meeting of the local authority because a decision to sell council land for the Shannon proposal was delayed as a result of the local elections.

Speaking on the proposed Clarecastle crematorium, Cllr Ann Norton said that Clare should be open for both local and international investment.

“I think it is important as councillors that we are not seen as discrimination against anyone who comes into Ireland and wants to invest. We have to appreciate that Ireland needs jobs and need to bring in outside businesses. As councillors, we need to show that we are open for business in Ireland regardless of whether they are local companies or outside businesses who are coming into invest,” she said.

A SPECIAL sitting of Ennis District Court will take place today to deal with alleged drugs offences.

It is the first time the court has sat specifically to deal with alleged offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

A total of 69 cases are due to be heard at the District Court, which is due to get underway at 10.30. The cases concern allegations against 34 people some of whom are charged with multiple offences.

In some cases, defendants are facing non-drug related charges.

Pleas of guilty have been entered in many of the cases, while others are due to be contested.

In cases where defendants have pleaded guilty, Judge Patrick Durcan has already ordered the preparation of pre-sentence reports from the Probation Services.

These reports are read and considered by the presiding judge before passing sentence.

The reports often look at a person’s backgrounds and explains the reasons why they may have started using drugs.

The move to hear cases involving a specific category of crime was introduced in Clare this year by the District Court judge for the area, Patrick Durcan.

It is understood that one of the reasons to hear all cases involving drugs offences in one day was to ensure a level of consistency in sentencing, where it applies.

Special hearing days have already been set aside road traffic cases and general crimes such as public order and criminal damage offences.

The move towards specialised hearing days is also an attempt to introduce a greater degree of efficiency into the way criminal cases are heard in the courts in Clare.

LAST Friday’s vote against altering the zoning of 24 acres of land in Clarecastle for the construction of a crematorium was the second time in just four days that councillors voted against crematorium plans, which the council planners had been in favour of.

While planning permission for the Clarecastle crematorium and grave- yard had not yet been granted, the proposed material contravention was the last obstacle in the way of planners issuing a green light for the proposal.

At Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council, councillors decided not to sell land for a crematorium in Shannon, even though the project had been granted permission by the local authority and the council had put the land up for sale earlier this year.

The land, which is located at Illaun- managh in Shannon, was purchased by Clare County Council from Shannon Development in 2002, with planning permission granted for the creation of a crematorium in March of 2009. A proposal to sell the land was opposed by Shannon Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) who claimed that the land should be kept in local authority ownership and for the future use of the people of the Shannon area.

Cllrs Flynn’s proposal not the sell the land was then opposed by his neighbouring councillor, PJ Ryan (Ind) from Sixmilebridge, who argued that a Clare businessman should not be prevented from developing a legitimate business on the site.

The vote was held to decide the situation with the councillors voting by 14 votes to 11 to retain the land in council ownership.

The land was granted planning permission in March of 2009, with both the Shannon local area members and a full meeting of Clare County Coun- cil voting to sell the 1.29 acre site to Illaunmanagh Ltd for € 140,000 later that year.

The purchase of land never took place however and in March of last year a second developer, Jim Cranwell, applied for an extension of the planning permission for the crematorium. The land was offered for sale by Clare County Council at this time with Mr Cranwell making an offer of € 140,000 – the same amount offered in 2009.

A BRAZILIAN carer who stole his 79-year-old employer’s credit card to fund a € 3,000 spending spree in Dublin has been sentenced to four days in jail.

Rodrigo Pires (21) stole the card from the home of Hugh Weir at Ballinakilla, Whitegate, on July 12, 2014.

The English language student travelled to Dublin where he used the card to buy flights to Italy, an Apple Mac notebook, and clothes from Brown Thomas, shoes and sunglasses.

Details of the spree were heard at Ennis District Court on Friday. Mr Pires, who is originally from Sao Paulo but was staying at an apartment at Shaun Court, NCR, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one charge of theft and nine charges of deception.

The offences were committed at Whitegate and locations around Dublin city centre on July 12 and July 13. Inspector Tom Kennedy explained Mr Pires came to Dublin to study English on a student visa. He said after completing his studies, the accused decided to move to another county because he was living with Portuguese friends and not getting his opportunity to speak English.

Garda Declan Condon explained that Mr Pires lived with Hugh Weir, an author of books on the environment, and his wife at their home in Whitegate.

He spent five months helping to care for Mr Weir, who suffers from polio. Garda Condon said Mr Pires earned € 100 a week for his work.

Garda Condon said Mr Pires was due to return to Brazil when his visa expired at the end of July.

Instead, he stole Mr Weir’s credit card and travelled to Dublin where he dishonestly by deception with drew sums of cash from AIB bank. He bought flight tickets from Aer Lingus and Easy Jet, sunglasses worth € 229 and clothes and shoes from stores such Schuh, Top Man and Brown Thomas.

Gardaí arrested the accused at Dublin Airport after the bank notified Mr Weir his card was being used in various locations in Dublin.

The court heard most of the goods were recovered but Mr Weir is still owed € 1,531. Mr Pires has no previous convictions.

Defence solicitor Stiofán Fitzpatrick said his client was ashamed of what he had done.

“He decided to do it in the spur of the moment. He saw the opportunity and he took it,” added Mr Fitzpatrick.

Judge Patrick Durcan said, “This is a very serious matter.” He sentenced Mr Pires to 90 days in prison but suspended the final 86 days, meaning the accused had to spend four days in prison.

Judge Durcan ordered that Mr Pires agree to leave Ireland on his release and not return for five years.

A SOLID link connecting the Burren and the Lord of the Rings may finally have been established following extensive research by a Northern Irish scholar.

Dr Liam Campbell has studied a number of edits undertaken on JRR Tolkien classic fantasy novel between 1949 and 1954, when it was first published. By painstakingly cross-referencing the individual edits with known visits by JRR Tolkien to North Clare, Campbell believes he has, for once and for all, proved the connection.

According to Dr Campbell, who will speak at next month’s Burren Tolkien Society Festival, some of the discovered passages read like a virtual road map to the Burren.

“I have evidence of late passages which were put into the book in the 1950s by Tolkien. Once you are aware of the chronology of the book, and when he edited certain section, you can see some of the later edits which when written up read like a road map to the Burren,” said Dr Campbell.

“Many people say that the Lord of the Ring was finished in 1948, before his visits to Ireland, but I also uncovered a letter between Tolkien and his editor from April of 1953 in which he says ‘at last I have finished the book’.

“I know that he did a major rewrite of the whole book in 1952 with his son, and that took place after he came to the Burren and experienced the place.”

Dr Campbell will reveal specific passages from the book, which is the second most published book of all time, which have a distinctive Burren influence, and is keeping the exact details close to his chest until the Burren Tolkien Society Festival in August.

“It is true to say that if I was to read some passages to you, and told you it was a tourist guide to the Burren, you would not bat an eye lid. I can’t speak on which sections of the book have these passages but I will reveal that during the talk,” continued Dr Campbell.

“There is a deep connection between the book and the Celtic mythology. I would almost say that so much of the information about the Elves in the book comes almost directly from Celtic mythology.”

For more on the Burren Tolkien Society visit www.burrentolkiensociety.ie.

LOCAL councillors have condemned the vandalism of flower baskets in a residential area of Ennis at the weekend.

A number of baskets were upturned in the Turnpike area on Sunday night. The incident occurred at a time of the year when judging traditionally takes place for the National Tidy Towns competition.

The matter was raised at yesterday’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District Committee. Councillor James Breen (Ind) said he wanted to condemn the “mindless vandalism” that occurred in the Turnpike on Sunday night.

He said he hoped the people who committed the damage are found and brought to justice.

Cllr Pat Daly (FF) said he was “appalled” by what happened in the Turnpike on Sunday.

“It was disgraceful, what happened,” he added.

He said he hoped such mindless vandalism would not deter from the efforts of local community groups who are involved in work for the National Tidy Town’s competition.

Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) said she also condemned the vandalism. She questioned if the Ennis MDC had invited the Chief Supt of the Clare Garda Division, John Kerin, to meet with councillors to discuss issues around crime in the town.

Director of Service Ger Dollard told the meeting that gardaí have always been happy to engage and meet with the Council.

Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said it might be possible to arrange a meeting for September.

He said the MDC should also consider establishing a forum similar to the Joint Policing Committees that existed under the old forms of local government.

There were also calls to open gates at Drumcliffe graveyard on Sunday mornings.

Cllr Daly said that many elderly people find it difficult to walk up the graveyard.

Earlier this year, Ennis Town Council revealed it had started to restrict access to the graveyard to prevent vehicles from damaging the graveyards.

There were also reports of anti-social behaviour and intimidation of people visiting the area.

Cllr Mary Howard (FG) told yesterday’s meeting there was some merit to keeping the gates closed.

She said she had witnessed some altercations at Drumcliffe over the last year.

“It can be very frightening there at times,” she added.

Cllr Daly proposed the council consider opening the gates to allow for vehicular access between 11am and 1pm on Sundays.

THE POTENTIAL development of a multi-billion oil and natural gas well off the Clare coast has hit a major set back – which could delay any exploration of the Spanish Point or Burren off shore wells by a number of years.

Drilling work was due to take place at the Spanish Point field, located in the Porcupine Basic off the Clare coast this Spring.

Irish company, Providence Resources, who are leading up the exploration operation off the Clare coast have announced a delay of at least a year.

The company had previously announced a partnership with Cairn Energy, who would undertake the drilling at the site. However, as a result of delays to a refurbishment of the rig, the project operator have been forced to cancel the rig contract.

As a result of this cancellation, Providence Resources will have to open a new tender for an industry drill-partner which prevent any drilling taking place until 2015 at the earliest.

The company has however decided to go ahead with its planned 3D seismic scanning of the area which should reveal more information about how much oil and gas reserves are contained in the Spanish Point field.

“The postponement of appraisal drilling at Spanish Point is regrettable and beyond the control of the partnership,” commented Chief Executive of Providence Resources, Tony O’Reilly, who is a son of Tony O’Reilly the former head of Independent Newspapers and CEO of Heinz.

“As the rig refurbishment delays became apparent, the operator evaluated various options to re-schedule the Blackford Dolphin rig and to secure another drilling unit for 2014, but this proved unsuccessful.

“Our ability to commence drilling in the autumn was further constrained by the rig’s operational capabilities at the Spanish Point location during winter and thus the decision was taken to terminate the contract and seek a new drilling unit for 2015.

“This procurement process has commenced and we will provide further updates as they are confirmed by the operator,” O’Reilly said during the week.

It is believed that there is a vast natural gas reserve contained in the Burren and Spanish Point wells with previous estimated suggesting that they contained enough natural gas to meet Ireland entire needs for more then 70 years.

THE NATIONAL Parks and Wildlife Service [NPWS] have confirmed that illegal deer poaching in taking place in parts of Clare – but cannot comment as to whether the problem is getting worse.

This comes in the wake of an incident in the Whitegate area last month when a horse was shot dead on private property by suspected poachers.

It has also been reported locally that shooting, and night shooting in particular, is continuing in areas of the county even though the shooting season for deer has long closed – and that some people are even shooting illegally from the back of moving vehicles.

East Clare residents have also expressed their concern that poachers, using high powered rifles to shoot at night, could pose a serious risk to public health.

“We do get reports of illegal hunting. Shooting at night is illegal.

“Discharging a fire arm from a public roadway is also illegal but that would be a matter for the gardaí to deal with.

“Shooting from a moving vehicle is also illegal and would be a matter for the gardaí if done from a public road, shooting from a vehicle off-road is something that we [NPWS] would look at under the Wildlife act,” said Seamus Hassett, District Conservation Officer for the NPWS.

“We mount patrols in conjunction with the gardaí and sometimes on our own but in relation to going to court, evidence has to be gathered and you would need to have a robust and strong enough case to take them to court.

“That would entail evidence, either physical or others.

“I cannot really comment on whether the problem is getting worse in Clare or not.

“You hear anecdotal evidence that deer numbers are decreasing in some areas and also that they are increasing in others.

“So it is very difficult to give an accurate answer. But we are aware of an element of what we would consider taking place in Clare.”

Fears have been raised about the dangers of night hunting in parts of Clare – with poachers using rifled that can kill from a number of kilometres away.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service have confirmed that, under current legislation, there is no maximum power of rifle than can be used. “There is no upper limit to how powerful the rifles can be – there is a minimum power. The rifles must be of at least a .22 caliber with a minimum grain weight of 64 grains and a minimum muzzle velocity of 1700 foot pounds.

The idea of this is to insure that the rifle is powerful enough to insure that animal is dispatched humanely,” said Mr Hassett.

CLARE County Council has applied for approval from the Department of Environment to raise loans of € 1.75 million to fund an ambitious re-development of part of the Ennis Market.

Members of the former Ennis Town Council previously approved the raising of the loan to develop a covered market and other infrastructural works at Garraunakilla.

In a report to Ennis councillors, Ennis Municipal District Coordinator, Ger Dollard states, “At this point in time, formal approval has not to date been received but the Council is continuing to engage with the Department in relation to the matter. It is unlikely that any significant financial requirement will arise in the current year and it is the Council’s intention to progress the project to a shovel ready stage. At that point, it would be essential that formal funding decisions are made in relation to then project”.

“The project offers a very significant basis for rejuvenation of the area and the intention would be to follow on, subject to funding, with further phases of the Market redevelopment project.”

The proposal to re-develop Garraunakilla includes the building of a structure that according to the Council will have “multifunctional uses”. The proposed structure would consist of two adjacent pavilions with a plexi-glass roof covering the central corridor.

Mr Dollard told the meeting the construction of a covered market formed phase one of an overall re- development of parts of the town centre.

The plan also envisions developments at Barrack Street, Lysaght’s Lane and Moran’s Car Park.

He was speaking in response to a motion tabled by Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) at yesterday’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District Committee.

Cllr Mary Howard (FG) told the meeting the proposal represents a “very exciting project” for Ennis. She said covered market has the potential in time to become one of the town’s “iconic” buildings.

She said it would be beneficial if the new councillors received a full briefing the project.

Cllr Ann Norton (Ind) agreed that it would be useful if all councillors were brought up to speed.

Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) said she had concerns at how the Council could afford to take on such a costly project at a time when it is struggling to provide resources for “basic public services”.

Cllr James Breen (Ind) said he had been approached by some people in the Market area who claimed the planning notice for the development was not displayed properly in the market.

Mr Dollard said this was not correct. He said the former Ennis Town Council received a high volume of submissions in relation to the project. He said there was a high degree of knowledge among the public about the project.

In his report, Mr Dollard that initial archaeological investigations had been completed and a detailed design is being prepared so the project can be brought to tender.

CLARE County Council has been urged to “go all out” and purchase a site in the Buttermarket, Ennis for the development of a new car park in the town.

That’s according to former Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Daly (FF), who raised the issue at yesterday’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District Committee.

In a motion, Cllr Daly called on the Municipal District “to seek funding for the purchase of the site at Buttermarket, Ennis with a view to constructing either a ground floor car-park or a multi-story car park, particularly as parking in the town is at a premium presently”.

Cllr Daly told the meeting there are very few sites in Ennis that would be suitable for car-park development.

He said parking is a major issue, particularly for businesses in the town.

He said the Council should “go all out” to purchase the site, even if that meant lobbying the Department of Environment.

In his reply, Senior Executive Engineer, Eamon O’Dea said Ennis Town Council had previously “pursued acquisition of this site for the purposes of car-parking and had agreed a purchase price and paid a deposit”.

He continued, “Following examination of title and other matters, the Council on advice of the Town Solicitor and in the absence of issues being clarified by the liquidator, the sale did not proceed. The property was recently offered again for sale and the Council has again submitted a bid for the property”.

Director of Service and Ennis MDC Coordinator, Ger Dollard, said he was aware the site had recently been sold at auction and the issues around title had been resolved.

Cllr James Breen (Ind) told the meeting it is “very necessary” new parking facilities are developed in the town. Cllr Mary Howard (FG) said she fully supported the proposal.