Category: News

The Burren will once again be in the hat when the management committee of the UNESCO World Heritage Site organisation meets in St Petersburg in the Russian Federation later this year.

It was confirmed yesterday that the Burren is one of a number of Irish locations that will go forward for possible inclusion as an official World Heritage Site. Should the Burren gain this prestigious status, it could result in thousands of extra tourists being attracted to holiday in North Clare each year.

The Burren was included on the so-called “tentative list” drawn up by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht’s Expert Advisory Group on World Heritage Sites. The Burren was included alongside a group application from the ‘Royal Sites’, which include Tara, Cashel, Dún Ailinne and Rathcroghan; the ‘Monastic sites’, which include Clonmacnoise, Durrow, Kells and Glendalough; and the Céide Fields in Mayo.

If the Burren succeeds in gaining UNESCO World Heritage status, it will becomes just Ireland’s fourth site after Brú na Bóinne, Skellig Michael and the Giant’s Causeway.

This is not the first time that the Burren has been close to gaining World Heritage status, having gone forward as one of Ireland’s final nominations in 2011 and 2010.

The Burren and Cliffs of Moher were granted Geopark Status earlier this year and it is thought that this might aid in the quest to be classified as a World Heritage Site.

The 36th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will take place in St Petersburg from June 24 to July 6. The committee, which is headed up by Russian diplomat Mitrofanova Eleonora, meets once a year to consider new applications for World Heritage Site status and to ensure that all current heritage sites are living up to their commitments under the programme.

CLARE farmers could be the unlikely winners of the move to domestic water metering, with water charges for farmers in Clare likely to be reduced under the new Irish Water organisation.

At present, each farmer in Clare pays Clare County Council a standing charge of € 145 per water metre, per year – almost 350 per cent more per year than the annual charge per domestic metre proposed by Irish Water.

The standing charge for farmers varies drastically from one local authority to the next, with farmers in Wicklow paying just € 60 per year, while farmers in Donegal pay € 175 per year.

Speaking to The Clare People yesterday, the Clare chairperson of the IFA, Andrew Dundas, says his members are hopeful of a standing charge reduction under Irish Water.

“We would be hopeful that the charges would at least be evened out across the country. It is very unusual, you play an awful lot more in some counties than you would in some others,” he said.

“We are hoping that we will get a reduction here in Clare. But it’s not just the reduction; we are hoping that the system would be an awful lot more efficient when it comes to things like stopping leaks and things like that.

“We are hoping that under the new company the whole water system will be run better.”

The Southeast Clare farmer did welcome the announcement that farmers who use water drawn from their own wells will not be hit with a charge under the new system.

“Some farms in Clare have their own wells that they paid to put in place themselves and it is some relief that they won’t be charged again,” he said.

“These wells were not cheap for the farmers to put in place in the first place and I think it would have been very unfair if farmers were to be charged to draw water from a well that they built themselves,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Hayes (FF), has said that the proposed establishment of Irish Water by the Government has raised more questions than it has provided answers about the transfer of Clare’s water and wastewater assets from Clare Local Authorities to the independent, State-owned subsidiary.

“If Clare’s water and wastewater infrastructure is transferred to Irish Water it is imperative that the funding invested by Clare ratepayers to develop this asset is returned to the county,” said Mayor Hayes.

A SMALL West Clare primary school has been praised for its enthusiastic teaching staff, well behaved pupils and significant improvements made in information technology.

A Whole School Evaluation Report under taken by the Department of Education and Skills at Clohanbeg National School, Cree, last November, found that its board of management and the local community enthusiastically supported the school, “for which this school is the primary focal point”.

“The teachers work diligently to provide effective teaching in an atmosphere conducive to the growth of mutual respect and inclusiveness,” the report into the 36-pupil school said.

“The quality of overall teaching, learning and pupil achievement, in the areas evaluated, is very good. The principal provides able leadership to the school and is well supported by a hard-working deputy principal.

“Significant improvements have been made to the school’s information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure and to the integration of ICT into teaching and learning,” it said.

The report found that enrolment was “somewhat higher” than in 2004, when it last carried out an inspection.

It recommended that the board should consider appropriate protocols for communicating its work to parents and said greater cohesion and consistency is required in planning for pupils with special and additional educational needs and in recording their progress.

The school’s board of management said it was committed to implementing the recommendations during the lifetime of the board and it was encouraged by the positive feedback of the report.

A Clare secondary school also came under the microscope of the Department of Education Inspectors.

The inspectors examined the teaching of English at St Camin’s Community School in Shannon in September. The resulting report found that good interpersonal relations exist between teachers and students at the 700 student co-ed school.

“Overall, teaching was good in the lessons observed, with examples of excellent practices in some lessons,” the report said.

“Further developing the school library would be a very useful wholeschool literacy support. While progress has been made in subject department planning, this is an area where there is still scope for development.”

The report recommended more active learning strategies in classes, by extending team teaching arrangements to meet the needs of particular cohorts, and by more widespread promotion of personal reading through planned year-group initiatives.

It said subject department planning for English would be enhanced by regular, planned teacher sharing of effective teaching methods and recommended that the existing programme for first-year English should be revised in order to provide a consistent, skills-focused experience for students.

CLARE company Cupprint Ltd has been named as winner of the Innovation & Emerging Technology Award at the national final of the Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards, which took place at the Mansion House, Dublin, on Thursday, April 19.

Cupprint Ltd manufactures paper cups for takeaway beverages, using an innovative printing process to print a minimum of 5,000 cups with a two-week turnaround compared to a minimum of 50,000 cups and a twelve-week turnaround.

The company was established in 2009 with the unique selling point that this smaller scale manufacturing appeals to companies all over Ireland and Europe who do not need large quantities of cups. Since it was founded, the company has expanded to export to cafés and marketing companies all over Europe. Cupprint Ltd has a turnover of € 2.2 million last year and has 35 employees.

Receiving the award, Terry Fox from Cupprint Ltd said: “Winning the Ulster Bank Business Achievers Innovation & Emerging Technology Award is an honour. It represents our visions and exactly what we set out to achieve. I accept this award on behalf of our fantastic team at Cupprint and would like to thank them for their dedication and enthusiasm in keeping the company ahead of our competitors during these uncertain times. I am delighted to accept an award that recognises this achievement.”

Seven other leading businesses from across the country were selected as winners in their category at the awards, which are in association with the Irish Independent, Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland.

A FINAL exhibition of work by Roma families living in Clare will take place later this week at Ennis Community College.

Clare Family Learning Project will welcome its Turkish partners for the final meeting and exhibition of families participating in the EU Comenius Regio Project.

The project has been successful in engaging Czech and Slovak families living in Ennis in a number of classes. In total, 42 adults are currently attending a number of classes including family music, family cookery and health and exercise with the Clare Family Learning Project.

Some of the participants have now moved on to more formal learning with workplace education and English language classes. Schools who are partners have now moved on to more formal learning with workplace education and English language classes. According to those involved in the project, schools that are partners have mentioned improved attendance by children of those parents. The exhibition takes place at Ennis Community College on April 30 and May 1.

A new booklet aimed at helping Czech and Slovak children to adapt to the Irish education system was launched in Ennis last September.

‘Helping Children To Do Well in School’ is a collaboration between the Clare Family Learning Project, Ennis Educate Together School, Ennis Community College and Clare Immigrant Support Centre.

The views of Czech and Slovak parents with children attending Ennis Community College and Ennis Educate Together were sought during the preparation of the booklet, which received funding from the European Union’s Comenius Regio Project.

The Ennis project is twinned with a similar EU initiative in Aydin, Turkey.

The Clare Family Learning Project was developed by Clare VEC’s, Clare Adult Basic Education Service. The project provides support to parents helping their children’s literacy and numeracy skills.

THE kindness of a Clare carpenter means that people can now donate to the local hospice during funerals in a discrete and safe way. For the last number of years, the fundraising staff at Cahercalla Hospice were required to make temporary donation boxes when requested by families who wished to seek donations for the hospice in lieu of flowers at funerals. Mary Maloney, Fundraising Manager at Cahercalla, said that the boxes were often hastily put together with a poster attached and taken to funeral homes and churches across the county on request. On a trip to her home county of Galway recently the fundraising manager noticed that the Galway Hospice had professionally made donation boxes for such occasions. Taking her inspiration from Galway, she approached Munster Joinery to see if such boxes could be made for the Clare hospice. Paudie O’Callaghan and his business partner Dave Burke not only made 10 of the wooden boxes but also donated them free of charge. “This was a real act of kindness and charity that was not sought,” said Ms Maloney. She said the boxes have a lock so families can leave them in funeral homes, at home or in churches without any concerns. Padding inside the boxes also means there are no loud noises when coins are added, therefore disturbing the funeral. Ms Maloney said the boxes are available from the fundraising committee at Cahercalla Hospice from anyone who requires them.

A MAJORITY of members of Clare County Council have voted in favour of re-zoning an 80-acre tract of land at Stonehall near Newmarket on Fergus that could facilitate the development of a large-scale renewable energy plant in the area.

A total of 17 councillors voted against an amendment proposed by Fianna Fáil councillor Pat McMahon that called for the E3 enterprise zoning site to be removed from the draft Shannon Town and Environs Development Plan 2014-18. 12 councillors voted for the amendment.

Developers Carbon Sole Group have proposed developing a 70MW Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facility at Stonehall.

The proposal is strongly opposed by locals in the area who have voiced concerns over the safety and suitability of the proposal.

A large crowd of people living and working in the Stonehall area attended last Wednesday’s council meeting.

In putting forward the amendment, Cllr McMahon said a renewable energy development could be better facilitated in Shannon Industrial Estate.

He said the proposed power plant would be 43 stories high while three to four trucks would carry fuel to the plant every hour. Cllr McMahon said the proposal represents “an attack on the local community”.

He added, “Nobody that I’ve met is against enterprise but it has to be in the right location.”

Senior planner Gordon Daly set out the reasoning behind the proposal to zone Stonehall for renewable energy developments.

He said the area has good infrastructure, is physically suitable and is relatively unpopulated.

He said the Council had placed a strong emphasis on being pro-enterprise. Mr Daly said this approach “would not be worth anything unless you give it effect”.

He added, “We do believe it is more appropriate to zone more enterprise land in Shannon.”

Mr Daly said the area had been targeted specifically for renewable energy development in order to prevent a migration of businesses from the industrial estate.

He said the area could become a cluster for renewable energy industries.

Mr Daly told the meeting that at a time when the farming industry is under pressure, raw materials for renewable energy plants would be sourced locally.

Responding to suggestions that such developments would be better suited to the existing industrial estate, Mr Daly said there isn’t 80 acres of land in the free zone with characteristics similar to the Stonehall site.

Mr Daly said the planning application process would deal with concerns with regard to any future developments at the site.

He said, “Zoning is not a fait accompli for planning permission.”

He added, “We would recommend in the strongest possible terms to retain this zoning…It would be an opportunity missed for this county.”

Fine Gael councillor Sean McLoughlin supported the zoning of lands at Stonehall. He said if industry is not attracted to Shannon, emigration would become an even bigger problem than it already is. “I want jobs for Shannon,” he said.

THE top official with Clare County Council has rejected suggestions that the local authority entered into a “deal” when it met with the backers of proposed power plant in Stonehall 15 months ago.

County manager Tom Coughlan was responding to comments made by Fianna Fáil councillor PJ Kelly at last week’s council meeting.

Cllr Kelly asked if the council had entered into a “quasi contractual arrangement” when it met Carbon Sole Group, the developers behind a proposed Combined Heat and Power facility at Stonehall. “Did we walk into a trap here?” he added.

Mr Coughlan said he totally refuted any suggestion that the council entered into a deal with developers or investors.

He said the council had met with the backers of the Lynx Cargo facility in Shannon and had met other potential investors.

He said the council is always interested in job creation initiatives but added that the local authority “do not compromise on planning”.

He said any meeting with inves- tors or companies is aimed at getting “badly needed jobs” into Clare.

Senior planner Gordon Daly had earlier told the meeting that his first contact with the developer occurred 15 months.

He said the council regularly met with people on enterprise related matters and are “very clear on why we meet them”.

He said the council “had nothing to hide” and that he was “entirely comfortable” with his role in the meeting.

Mr Daly was responding to questions from Cllr PJ Ryan who also asked if the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) had made contact with the council over the rezoning of land at Stonehall proposal.

Mr Daly said the DAA had made a submission welcoming the proposal.

“Ye’d be disappointed if we did not have a good relationship with bodies in Shannon,” he added.

Director of Service Ger Dollard said there are no development proposals for Stonehall before the council.

However he said that it is important that the council show it is “serious about enterprise and renewable energy”.

AN Ennis woman has started a petition to have the disabled toilet in Dunnes Stores strictly reserved for disabled users. Siobhan McMahon’s campaign has so far attracted almost 250 signatories.

Siobhan, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has been a wheelchair-user since childhood. She was moved to start the campaign after becoming “frustrated” with the number of non-disabled people using the toilets in Dunnes. She explained, “I just wanted to do something because I was getting really sick of it. You have teenagers in there doing their make-up. I can’t tell you the amount of times I have found beer cans in there. Back before the smoking ban, the smell of smoke in there used to be disgusting.”

Siobhan said people give out while she is waiting to use the toilet because her chair blocks the door.

She added, “I just got a new powerchair and that barely fits in. Then you have people banging on the door and interrupting you. My two-and-a-halfyear-old son knows the word ‘wheelchair’ from me telling people that a wheelchair-user is in the toilet.”

Siobhan wants keys provided to regular users of the facility in Dunnes, while other people should have to get a key from security personnel.

She said the problem affects other wheelchair-users in Ennis. Siobhan added, “A lot of my friends wouldn’t have great speech so they don’t feel confident enough to speak out.”

Siobhan has handed petitions into local businesses and says so far she has had a fantastic response from the community. She said it is also “very difficult” to get around the streets of Ennis because of the narrow footpaths. Dunnes Stores last night declined to comment on the petition.

THERE have been calls for Ennis Town Council to build on plans to further exploit the potential of coachbased tourism.

Last week, the council announced that additional bus and coach parking spaces have been allocated in the Friars Walk area of the town centre, located adjacent to Clare Museum.

The council is also investigating a number of other capital projects, including the development of a dedicated bus park equipped with main- tenance facilities for tour operators.

According to the Chairman of the Ennis Municipal Policy Committee (MPC), Cllr Johnny Flynn, job creation could be boosted if Ennis taps into the estimated € 500,000 weekly spend generated by coach tourists.

He explained, “If just a quarter of the estimated 120 tour buses passing Ennis each day during the tourist season could be attracted to stop in Ennis, it would mean up to 30 busloads spending € 3,000 each – that is, € 90,000 per day in and around Ennis, or € 540,000 per week.

“With an average staff cost per- centage of turnover of 15 per cent in SMEs, this would be € 81,000 in wages each week. This could create up to 100 jobs in retail, hospitality, restaurants, etc.

“By having a minimum of 15 coach parking spaces that figure of 30 coach loads a day could be achieved, as the spaces would be used at least twice a day.”

The Fine Gael councillor continued, “I raised the topic last autumn, seeking urgent action in order to generate economic activity and therefore create local jobs that were being lost to other towns with proper bus park- ing facilities.

“In proposing the notice of motion, I advised the meeting that O’Connell Street had been voted one of the 60 best public spaces in the world by USA organisation Publicspaces.org and that we were not capitalising on coach tours.

“There was general support for the notice of motion at the October meeting and, during the 2012 Budget discussions in December 2011, there was a commitment to progress a number of actions in the parking area in 2012 which should assist in stimulating economic activity in the town.”

Cllr Flynn pointed to figures from Fáilte Ireland that show that tourism numbers were up in 2011 and further increases are expected this year.

He welcomed last week’s announcement from the council.

“It’s great to see some extra bus spaces being provided but we need urgent extra progress – for example, the eight bus spaces in Friar’s Walk short-stay car park that were previously for buses could be urgently added to the attractiveness of the town for bus drivers and to get greater capacity.”