Category: News

THE mother of a Clare toddler who had feared that her daughter would die in her arms following a brutal dog attack, was last night relieved that her three-year-old was sitting up and entertaining nursing staff.

Little Abbey O’Donoghue from Ballynacally received 60 stitches to her head, arms and under her ear after the canine attacked her at a family birthday party on Saturday afternoon.

Her worried father Cathal said it was a sight he will never forget and will haunt him and his family for years to come.

Cathal and his wife Caroline, along with their children Jonathan (6), Kelsey (5), Abbey (3), Jake (2) and baby Ruby, aged five months, had visited his sister’s home that day to give his niece a card for her 21st birthday.

The children had decided to go outside to the garage with their cousin to get some crisps, but as little Abbey was leaving the house, the family Siberian husky ‘Red’ unexpectedly pounced on her.

“She was just outside the door and we heard the screaming of her cousin.

“Abbey was also screaming and telling the dog to stop biting her. My brother-in-law ran out past me and jumped on the dog.

THE Clare TD who admitted his party had its eye off the ball when it came to the first Lisbon Treaty will be hoping that his team is playing as one in the run up to the Fiscal Stability Treaty referendum as he receives the captain’s arm band.

Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley has been appointed Director of Elections for the May 31 referendum by party leader Deputy Michéal Martin.

The Clare TD will now be hoping that his home constituency will fol- low in the tradition of previous European referenda and return a yes vote.

The Banner county had the largest acceptance on the western seaboard of the second Lisbon Referendum with 72.3 per cent vote in favour of the referendum.

It was also one of the few counties to support the first Lisbon referendum.

Deputy Dooley admitted at the time that the FF focus wasn’t total: “There was a lot going on within the Fianna Fáil organisation on the occasion (of Lisbon 1.)”

This time around, the Fianna Fáil party leader has entrusted the Clare TD with a strong yes campaign for the Fiscal Stability Treaty.

“Timmy, as a member of the SubCommittee on the Stability Treaty, has been making a constructive and positive contribution to the debate so far and I have no doubt he will continue to add to the standard of the debate in the weeks ahead,” said Mr Martin.

The newly appointed Director of Elections has been critical of the current Fine Gael-Labour Government’s approach to the referendum.

He said, “The debate in the Dáil and public comments by ministers show that the government is presenting the Treaty as part of its economic recovery plans.

‘This is a foolish approach almost designed to turn away people who support the Treaty but do not endorse the government’s strategies.

“Allied to the fact that the Government has abandoned past practice of active coordination with other proEU parties and a picture is developing of a government more committed to getting a political boost than maximising the chances of a large yes vote,” said Deputy Dooley.

A LARGE number of North Clare community groups and tourism providers will travel to Limerick this week to show off everything that the Burren has to offer. ‘A Burren Evening’, which is organised by the BurrenBeo Trust, will take place at the Hunt Museum in Limerick this Thursday.

This is the second time that local groups in North Clare have taken it upon themselves to travel to another location and show off exactly what the Burren has to offer.

Last year, a large group from North Clare travelled to Dublin to market the Burren directly to the people of the capital.

The theme of this week’s event is ‘Landscape, Memory and Friendship’ and it aims to be a celebration of life in the Burren as well as the work of the BurrenBeo Trust and other organisations.

Some of the organisations taking part in ‘A Burren Evening’ include St Tola’s Cheese from Inagh, the Burren Smokehouse in Lisdoonvarna and the Aillwee Caves in Ballyvaughan.

BurrenBeo Trust is Ireland’s only landscape charity and is dedicated to ensuring that the unique yet fragile Burren landscape is sustained for future generations to enjoy. The Limerick event will also include the launch of the fourth edition of the annual flagship magazine, ‘Burren Insight’, as well as a new set of Burren field guides.

“The Burren has long been admired its rare habitats, geology, archaeology, rich culture and traditions. Burrenbeo Trust is actively engaging with the local community and other stakeholders in managing this unique landscape,” said Brigid Barry of the BurrenBeo Trust.

“The field guides have been developed as part of Burrenbeo’s ‘learning landscape’ initiative, which is just one of a number of exciting programmes that Burrenbeo Trust are currently concentrating on.

“The Burren is the perfect outdoor classroom for young and old and the Trust’s Ecobeo programme has already seen over 700 children take part in their experiential learning courses.

“As well as facilitating children in becoming Burren experts, the Trust is also the main providers of information to local and visiting communities through a range of cutting edge media and more traditional walks and talks,” she said.

A NEW strategy aimed at guiding the way for future retail development in Ennis will be launched in the town tonight. The retail commitment document has been drawn up by members of Ennis Development Forum.

Rita McInerney of Ennis Chamber of Commerce explained, “It’s a vision document for the town. It follows on from the support we got for our submission on the proposed development on the Limerick Road. The Ennis Development Forum wanted to take a more positive approach. It’s giving businesses something to commit to for the future of retail in the town. It’s still in its early stages.”

Details of the retail document will be outlined at an event for local businesses in the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis tonight.

‘Boosting the bottom line for retailers’ will focus on the retail industry. The event is organised by Ennis Chamber of Commerce.

The meeting will also discuss a recent survey carried out by Retail Excellence Ireland to determine the impact the Tesco Extra opening of twelve months ago had on the viability and vitality of Naas town centre.

A total of 81 retailers were surveyed and asked key questions on whether any decline could be attributed to the opening of the new out-of-town Tesco Extra.

The results indicated that 94 per cent of the surveyed businesses experienced decrease in their turnover with nearly half of those decreasing in business by more than 15 per cent. All of the respondents indicated that up to a third of the decline was directly caused by the opening of the new Tesco Extra.

At least 56 retail jobs have been lost among the 81 stores surveyed since the opening of the new development – that is 70 per cent of the town centre stores suffered job losses.

Ennis Chamber, Ennis Development Forum and the Ennis Street Associations recently made submissions to the An Bord Pleananla appeal by developers for a comparable size 70,000 square foot Tesco on the outskirts of Ennis.

Patrick (Paddy) McNAMARA
of Clonkett, Cranny. Peacefully at home. Funeral mass at St Mary’s Church, Cranny onTuesday at 11 o’clock. Burial afterwards in Kildysart Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Patrick, (Paddy) O’RIORDAN
of 7 Cullina, Ballina. Peacefully at Limerick Regional Hospital. Funeral mass onTuesday at Our Lady and St Lua’s Church, Ballina at 11.30am. Burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Johanna GARVEY, nee Kearse
of 5A Cooper’s Place, Ennis (formerly of Cahermurphy, Kilmihil). Funeral mass onTuesday at 11 o’clock with burial afterwards in Drumcliffe Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Colm CASEY
of Beachpark, Ennis. Laid to rest in Drumcliffe Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Gerard CORBETT
of Ardnacrusha, late of Mulgrave Street. RequiemMass onTuesday at 11amat Truagh Church, with cremation afterwards in Newlands Cross Crematorium. May he rest in peace.

Mairead O’DONNELL, (née Molony)
of Bridge Street, Scariff. In her 93rd year. Laid to rest in the newcemetery, Moynoe. May she rest in peace.

James SHANNON
of Killenagh Ennistymon. Laid to rest in Killenagh cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Kieran BARRY
of Ennis Road,Tulla. Laid to rest inTulla.

Peter FINNEGAN
27 St Senan’s Road, Ennis, Laid to rest in Drumcliffe Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Ann FOGARTY, (née Hayes)
of Carrowcraheen,Tubber. Late of Newmarket on Fergus and Quin. Laid to rest in Blakemount Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Mortimer (Murt) GUTHRIE
of Loughville, Lahinch Road, Ennis. Laid to rest in Drumcliffe Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Seamus BOLAND
of Killaloe, Clare. Formerly of Kilbane, Broadford. Suddenly. Laid to rest in Reilig Lua, Killaloe. May he rest in peace.

Patrick McNAMARA
of Ardane, Kilmurry, Sixmilebridge. Laid to rest in Kilmurry Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Nora (Norrie) POWER
of 3 Considine’sTerrace, Ennis. Laid to rest in Drumcliffe Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Josie McGRATH, (née Ryan)
of Derry, Barefield, Ennis, formerly of Glenbane, Lattin,Tipperary. In her 90th year. Laid to rest in Lattin,Tipperary. May she rest in peace.

Francie MORGAN
of Bannagher, Dysart, Maurices Mills. Laid to rest in Dysart Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

A NEW Ennis General Hospital Committee is needed to raise issues relating to health in the county and keep the need for investment in Clare’s health services top of the agenda.

That was the message that came from a special meeting of Clare County Council called to discuss the ailing health services in the midwest region.

Councillors were unanimous in their call for the Minister for Health to provide necessary finances to recruit essential frontline staff for the HSE West.

The councillors were careful to add that Ennis General Hospital stayed within its budget for the last number of years, unlike other hospitals in the HSE West, and were punished for its competency with further cuts to its budgets.

In a letter to the Minister the councillors said, “Recognising that Ennis General Hospital has lived within its budget, it should not be cut in the upcoming budget.”

In the hour-long meeting, members of the council pointed to the dangers of staff shortages in frontline services and weaknesses within different services in Clare.

“We need a service for people under 65 years of age who have strokes in Clare,” Cllr Tom McNamara (FF).

He also raised concerns about the absenteeism figure of 12 per cent at Ennis General Hospital. A former nurse, he said the staff were under so much pressure due to staff shortages and over work that they were getting sick.

Cllr Pat Keane (FF) agreed stating the number of absenteeism would increase with the pressure.

“We have a new building here that we campaigned for for years and we can’t open it due to lack of staff,” he said.

Cllr Michael Kelly (FF) said, “Whatever we compromise for the sake of finance it should not be health.

“It is unacceptable to expect a nurse to care for 22 patients,” he added referring to The Clare People’s lead story two weeks ago.

Stating that pressure needed to be put on the health policy makers, Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) said it had slipped from the agenda since the demise of the hospital committee.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) agreed that as the driving force behind the committee Peadar McNamara had passed away, it had lost momentum.

He suggested that a new committee be formed.

CLARE County Council is examining eight unfinished housing estates in Clare where they believe that safety and security has become an issue. The local authority revealed at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council that it has written to a number of developers and financial institutions reminding them of their responsibility to ensure the safety of their developments. The local authority has also confirmed that it now believes that half of the county’s Category 4 ‘ghost’ estates no longer fall into this category, the worst category of estates. According to the local authority, only three of the six housing devel- opments that have been classified by the Department of the Environment as unfinished and developer-abandoned, or Category 4 estates, should still be in the category. The council say that they intend to contact the Department of the Environment and inform them of their opinion on this. Speaking at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council, Director of Services, Ger Dollard said that the local authority is deploying “quite a lot of resources” to the issue of the Category 4 developments and said that safety was the responsibility of the developer. He was responding to a joint motion put forward by Cllr John Crowe (FG) and Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) which asked for details on the condition of so-called ghost estates in the county. “It is the responsibiity of the property owner, developer or receivers to ensure that the site is secure and safe,” said a council spokesperson. “The council has written to developers and receivers with housing developments on the unfinished list, explaining to them their responsibilities in relation to the safety of the site.” Speaking on last night’s motion, Cllr John Crowe said that some Clare estates were in a “very, very bad condition”. “There are estates which are not even one quarter finished and no place for children to play in. There are open drains and other dangers,” he said.

A MAN who taunted another man over his family’s difficulties with suicide has been fined € 200.

Michael Molloy (19), with an address at 2 Ballaghboy, Quin Road, Ennis, appeared at Ennis District Court on Wednesday.

He was charged engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace.

The charge arose out of an incident at Abbey Street, Ennis on March 10 (2012).

Garda Niamh Browne told the court that Ennis Garda Station received a call about two men fighting outside All Bar One on Abbey Street on the night in question.

She said that when she arrived at the scene at 10.15pm, Mr Molloy was involved in an altercation with another man.

Garda Browne said she arrested the accused under section six of the public order act.

She told the court that as Mr Molloy was being brought away by gardaí, he sang lyrics about suicide from a song by the American artist Sean Kingston in the direction of the other man.

The court heard that a member of the other man’s family had committed suicide.

Mr Molloy told the court that he had been out for a drink with his wife.

He said he had been standing at the front door of the pub when he was hit in the back of the head.

He said, “I wasn’t going to let that go. I was defending myself.”

Mr Molloy accepted that he was uncooperative on the night. He said the pair had been calling each other names but denied singing songs about suicide.

Mr Molloy said he had previously been involved in altercations with the man.

Inspector Tom Kennedy said Mr Molloy had been fighting on the street when he was detected by gardaí.

Judge Patrick Durcan said Mr Molloy had given evidence that he was “set upon” on the night.

However he added that it was “curious” that no complaint had been made to gardaí.

He said he accepted Garda Browne’s evidence.

Judge Durcan said Mr Molloy had engaged in “appalling singing”.

Solicitor Daragh Hassett said Mr Molloy comes from a large Traveller family and had recently married.

He added, “He assures me he is staying away from this man. He has a young child.

“He won’t be repeating this behaviour.”

Judge Durcan imposed a fine of € 200. He said suicide was a problem that touched everyone in society.

He added, “I am not going to have people singing songs that abuse the issue of suicide.” Recognances were fixed in the event of an appeal.

A ONGOING mystery involving the suspected finding of a rare Narwhal stranding in Liscannor Bay, was resolved yesterday with new photographic evidence revealing that it carcass removed by Clare County Council belonged to a long-finned pilot whale, and not its rare Arctic cousin.

The Kilrush based Irish Whale and Dolphin Group yesterday published new photograph of the mammal beached on Clohane strand near Liscannor last month. The photographs, which were supplied to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group by Brian and Teresa Kelly, confirmed that the mammal found in Liscannor was not a Narwhal.

In a statement, the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said the Clare County Council has received “unfair” criticism about their actions in removing the whale.

“The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group were always skeptical that the whale was a Narwhal, a species nev- er previously recorded in Ireland. We record over 150 strandings per annum, making it unlikely that in missing this one, that we’d miss a species new to Ireland,” said the statement.

“Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of discussion, especially locally as to what had happened to the whale, and why Clare County Council removed it without reporting it to the IWDG.

“Clare County Council have received unfair criticism of their actions and we hope they will continue to be supportive of the IWDG by re- porting stranded cetaceans to IWDG before disposal.”

The Narwhal is a medium-sized whale that lives year round in the freezing waters within the Arctic Circle.

The whale is recognisable because of a single tusk, which all male Narwhals possess. There has never been a confirmed sighting of a Narwhal in Irish waters.

So far in 2012, four pilot whale have beached on waters along the Clare coast, with 16 washing up along the Irish Atlantic coast.

INCREASED links between Clare and its Australian twin, the Clare Valley, is helping to give Clare people who have been forced to emigrate ‘down under’ a little taste of home. That is according to Councillor Sue Wurst, of the Clare and Gilbert Valley’s Council, who visited Ennis last week.

According to Cllr Wurst, the connection has also led to a boosting of the local tourism trade in both Clares, with tourists travelling back and forth between the two areas.

“We are out of the way of the major cities so we haven’t seen a lot of people from Clare coming to live and work with us, but we have seen a lot of Clare people coming to Adelaide, and making their way up to us.

“It would be hard to put a figure on how many people from Clare have come to us but we know it happens,” said Cllr Wurst.

“I know that a sizable number of people from the Clare Valley visit County Clare and I know that the reason that they do visit is because of the twinning link. We read the Clare papers and we know that Shannon has been going through difficult times so we made sure to use Shannon Airport and support that.

“While we are here, we like to buy as much stuff and we can eat and drink as much as we can. We want to contribute to the local economy. I know that when the Mayor of the Clare and Gilbert Valleys was here last week that he spent € 400 on clothes in one shop.

“The Australian dollar is quite high at the moment so we are very happy to come over here and to visit a place that is very much close to our heart.”

A NEW application for funding to create state-of-the-art sports facilities in Kilrush will be made by Kilrush Town Council within the next month, amid renewed hope that the project earmarked for Gallery Park on the Cooraclare Road area of the town will receive grant aid under the 2012 Sports Capital Programme.

Town Manager, Nora Kaye, told the monthly meeting of Kilrush Town Council that a new deadline of May 11 has been set by the Department of Sport for grant applications for sports capital projects and that work was already underway putting the application together.

“There are very tight rules and regulations,” revealed Ms Kaye. “Last year we made two applications – one for the astro-turf and one for the grass pitches, so that two contractors could work side by side and get the project finished early. This year we have to cost each separate element of the project.

“The maximum grant is € 300,000 so we have to break them up into packages of less than € 300,000 and to prioritise them. There is a bit of work to go into them yet,” she added.

The first phase of the € 1.3m development is set to include an artificial surface facility, grassed pitches (to include a full size playing pitch and two full size training pitches), fencing, lighting and associated works. The second phase of the project will include the development of dressing rooms, car parking, footpaths and associated works.

Plans for the ambitious project were unveiled were unveiled last summer when it was revealed that Clare County Council had reached an agreement with Gallery Park landowners Department of Education and the ESB to develop the site, but the initial application for funding for inclusion in the 2011 Sports Capital Programme made last September wasn’t successful.

“The maximum grant for the whole project is 90 per cent,” revealed the Town Manager, “but in awarding the grant and the monies, one of the terms of the scheme is that if you put more money towards it, you might jump the queue.

“We’ll have to look at matching funding. If we get funding we will have two years to complete the works,” Ms Kaye added.

“I would urge that every effort be made to ensure that we get this grant,” said Cllr Liam Williams (FG) who has tabled a number of motions on the need for developing sports facilities at the Gallery Road site.

“We have to keep the pressure on,” he added.