Category: News

TWO Clare towns are set to benefit from improved broadband services following a multi-million euro joint venture between the ESB and telecommuncations giant Vodafone.

ESB and Vodafone have signed an agreement to invest € 450 million in building a 100 per cent fibre-to-thebuilding broadband network offering speeds from 200 Mbps to 1000 Mbps.

Ireland will also become the first country in Europe to utilise existing electricity infrastructure on a nationwide basis to deploy fibre directly into homes and businesses, initially reaching 500,000 premises in 50 towns.

The broadband scheme is expected to be rolled out in Ennis and Shannon. The fibre will be deployed on ESB’s existing overhead and underground infrastructure.

The ESB and Vodafone say that direct access to 100 per cent fibre broadband of up to one gigabit per second will transform the internet experience of small and medium businesses (SME), remote workers and consumers.

Subject to European Commission approval, the 50:50 joint venture will begin rolling-out the new network across Ireland in the coming months, with the first customers able to avail of 100 per cent fibre broadband from the start of 2015. The initial phase of the project is expected to be fully rolled-out by the end of 2018.

Pat O’Doherty, Chief Executive of ESB, said, “This innovative ESB-led initiative is a major milestone for Ireland as the fibre broadband network will be a key enabler for a knowledge-based, services-led economy that will help to attract investment to Ireland. This fibre infrastructure will use ESB’s existing electricity infrastructure, maximising the use of state assets to the benefit of Irish society.”

According to Fine Gael Deputy, Joe Carey, the investment will “help to both attract new investment and sustain existing businesses, as well as improving the quality of broadband available in people’s homes”.

SCATTERY Island is to celebrate its association with Brian Ború later this month when the tenth century invasion of the monastic settlement by Clare’s high king will be re-enacted as part of a local festival.

The re-enactment of the raid on the island by Brian Ború and his the Dál Cais army is the main event of the upcoming Scattery Island Festival that takes place on July 26 and 27 and is part of the national Brian Boru Programme, which coincides with the millennial anniversary of Ború’s death at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.

The invasion of Scattery and the subsequent killing of the Viking King of Limerick and his two sons will be recreated – a battle that historians say paved the way from Brian Ború to become High King of Ireland.

“Whatever one’s opinion is of the manner in which the Norse King was slain, it is clear that his death paved the way for Brian to enjoy unchallenged rule over his home Province of Munster,” says historian Dr Catherine Swift, of Mary Immaculate College in Limerick.

Rita McCarthy of the Scattery Island Heritage and Tourism Group said the re-enactment will be the focal point of this year’s festival, the theme of which is ‘Invade Scattery’.

“We are inviting former island inhabitants and anyone with a connection with Scattery or indeed, its rich history to join us on the weekend,” she revealed. “Last year’s inaugural festival, held as part of the Gathering Ireland initiative, proved to be a huge success with more than 5,000 people travelling to the island. This has helped to raise the profile of what has for many years been one of Ireland’s least known monastic settlements.”

Uninhabited since 1979, Scattery Island – also known as Inish Cathaigh – is located approximately one mile from Kilrush in the Shannon Estuary and is home to a monastery founded in the early 6th century by St Senan. The island features the ruins of six churches and one of the highest Round Towers in Ireland at 120 feet high.

The festival will feature guided walks, lectures, music and song, and marine activities celebrating the island’s association with St Senan, the Vikings, Brian Ború, the Spanish Armada and later as a defence outpost for the British.

AN UNNAMED Clare festival has been connected with Child A, a Roma baby wrongfully taken from her family by Gardaí last October.

The family of Child A were trading at a Clare music festival last July when an unidentified member of the public noticed the baby’s blond hair and blue eyes and later repor ted the incident to the Garda Missing Persons Bureau, describing it as a “suspected child abduction”.

This repor t led Gardaí to the removal of Child A from his family last October. The baby was later returned to his family after blood tests proved that Child A was a bio- logical part of the family.

According to details of the Logan Report, seen by The Clare People , the member of public repor ted the incident to the Missing Persons Bureau on October 21 last, three months after the sighting at the Clare festival. The report described the person stopping at a festival stalls to allow her child to have her braided when she noticed Child A.

“While my children were getting their braids in, I preoccupied myself with the little baby [Child A]. He had very blonde hair and the bluest eyes and his complexion was also fair… I commented on his colouring and the young woman then said ‘ehh his grandfather’ meaning he got his genes from his grandfather. Apart from the baby, all the others were completely dark in complexion, eyes and hair,” said the original email to the Garda Missing Persons Bureau.

Gardaí were able to identify the family by examining the details provided to Clare County Council by the family in order to obtain a licence to trade at the festival.

The Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald (FG) last week apologised to the family of Child A and called for all sections of society to work to tackling stereotypes.

According to Orla Ní Eili of the Clare Immigrant Suppor t Centre, there are between 200 and 300 Roma families cur rently living in Clare. Of these families, many Czech Roma, Slovak Roma and Polish Roma have blonde hai r and blue eyes.

“We have a well-settled Roma community in Clare who are getting on well and doing their best to make a future for themselves and their families,” she said.

“The circumstances that many of these families are coming from is horrifying. The level of discrimination that many of these people felt in thei r own country before coming here is hard to describe.”

The Clare Immigrant Support Centre is campaigning for better educational suppor ts in school to help Roma and other migrant children make a life for themselves in Ireland.

THE launch of the 27th annual South East Clare Show will take place in Bridgetown on Friday.

Details of the show, which takes place at the Bridgetown showgrounds on July 27, will be outlined at the official launch. There is a packed programme of events for this year’s show with visitors getting the chance to have their photo taken with the Liam McCarthy cup.

Show secretary Yvonne McNamara said the launch will give people a taste of what can be expected on the day.

“This evening will include some fun for children, a taste of what we have to offer on the day of our Show and the chance to meet Charlie The Great Dane Dog on the evening. The Liam McCarthy Cup will be present for some photo opportunities together with a possible appearance from the Clare Rose,” she explained.

This year the South East Clare Show have chosen Milford Care Centre as it’s charity of choice. The show committee hopes to present a donation after the Show to Milford, a centre that touches the hearts of so many people in the local community.

The society held its first show in 1990 and has grown annually in volume and popularity, now widely acknowledged as one of the top ten agricultural shows in Ireland.

Show Chairman Pat Hayes acknowledged the efforts of all those who contribute to making the show the success that it is.

“The show provides a showpiece for the best livestock, bloodstock, horticultural produce as well as crafts and home industry. It would also be equally important for me to acknowledge the efforts of the present committee who have spared no effort in preparation of this years show. To all the competitors sponsors, supporters, patrons and friends of the show I say a sincere thank you and wish you an enjoyable day on July 27,” he said.

This year’s event introduces plenty of new events and features families, children and patrons both in the leisure and competitive capacity.

The launch takes takes place in Bridgetown on Friday night, 8pm.

IT MAY be more than 50 years since Whitegate GAA last club ruled the Clare hurling roost, but the club now sits on the most impressive pedestal in the county following the construction of a massive replica of the Iron Throne from ‘Game of Thrones’, made entirely from hurleys.

The project was the brainchild of Mountshannon sculptural chairmaker Paul Berg, who completed the massive structure with the help of local people at the recent Iniscealtra Festival of Art. The throne is more then seven foot tall and, according to Paul, is strong enough to seat seven senior hurlers at one time.

“We decided to put the word out to the local community and to the Whitegate GAA club and, within a week, Whitegate delivered 150 hurling sticks, most of them signed, and a lot of them battered and cracked from the players. Once we got those we knew we were in business,” he said yesterday.

“We then received a further donation from Mountshannon and Lakyle National School and people were just arriving up to the house with hurleys every day. We made a box frame for the throne and then we organised a community workshop during the festival to build the thrown itself.”

The throne was made by Paul with the help of Nard Slabbers, Bernd Schneppe and a further 10 volunteers from the local community.

The throne has now been donated to Whitegate GAA club for use during big matches and community events.

“They are now storing the throne in the clubhouse, since Whitegate gave the majority of the sticks. We’ll take it out and tour around a little bit. When the matches take place we can have it beside the pitch so that people can pose and take photos on it,” continued Paul.

“It is a big structure though and people can certainly sit on it. Just today we had seven hurlers sitting on it at the same time. So it is a big structure.”

For more on the Throne of GAAmes visit www.facebook.com/hurleysculpture.

CLARE home owners may not now receive the expected cut in their annual Local Property Tax (LPT), despite the Government allowing local authorities to reduce rates by up to 15 per cent.

From 2015 onwards, local authorities will be allowed to keep 80 per cent of the funds raised through the LPT. Clare County Council will also be granted the power to reduce the rate of property tax paid by residents by up to 15 per cent from the same date and it had been expected that councillors would be in positing to sanction such a cut.

However, it now look likely that Clare, along with 10 other local authorities, may see cuts to its Local Government Fund (LGF), which will makes introducing cuts to the property tax impossible. The LGF is paid to local authorities from central government and a cut in this stream of funding may impact on the council’s ability to reduce the rate of the LPT.

Cllr Tom McNamara (FF) said the proposed cut was unfair on Clare homeowners, especially considering that the county has one of the highest rates of LPT payments in the country.

“I am not happy about this situation at all. We should have the scope to reduce rate of Local Property Tax as was promised. The Local Government Fund must stay at the same level as it was in 2012,” he said.

“When the property tax was brought in we were told that we have the leeway to reduce it if we had the funds available. This proposed cut to the Local Government Fund must not take place. It is just camouflage to take away our ability to cut the property tax.

“We have been penalised time and again. They [Department of the Environment] took € 247,000 off us when our collection rate was below 80 per cent but we were supposed to get that back. We never got that back, even when the payment rate was was above 80 per cent.”

Cllr McNamara called on Clare’s three Government TDs to seek clarification on the proposed cuts to the Local Government Fund. The proposed cuts to the Local Government Fund are understood to be one of the items up for discussion between Labour and Fine Gael follow Joan Burton’s election at Labour party leader last week.

A SENIOR director with the Ombudsman for Children has said that to the best of its knowledge it has not yet been asked to investigate childcare services in Clare.

On June 10, a District Court Judge ordered that the Guardian Ad Litem of a number of children taken into State care request the Ombudsman to examine a case where the children were unallocated a social care worker for more than three months.

At a sitting of the Family Law (District Court) in Clare last month, Judge Alan Mitchell directed that the Guardian Ad Litem also refer the matter to the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).

The children, who lived in Clare and were found to have been neglected by their mother, have since been allocated a social care worker.

Judge Mitchell granted a full child care order on application from the CFA in respect of a number of children. In the case, Judge Mitchell said the un-allocation of social care workers in Clare was “a source of serious concern” to him.

A senior social care worker described the staffing difficulties that led to the un-allocation as “scandalous”.

Yesterday, Niall Muldoon, Director of Investigations with the Ombudsman for Children, told The Clare People that to the “best of my knowledge, we have not received anything yet”.

Mr Muldoon said that in the event his office is asked to investigate, the case would first be examined to see if it falls under the remit of the Ombudsman.

“After that we look at it on a case by case basis,” he added.

A spokesman for HIQA would not confirm or deny the case had been referred to the authority.

“It is a policy of HIQA not to comment on specific cases,” he added.

Figures supplied to The Clare People last month by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, showed that as of June 13 there were 10 childcare cases unallocated in Clare.

The Children in Care team in Clare (CIC) is currently providing services to approximately 160 children in care.

A spokeswoman said the “staffing arrangement has by and large remained stable over the last four to five years, and in fact there has been a significant improvement”.

She continued, “Clare social work department was allocated five additional social worker posts in 2010 in the wake of the Ryan report and also a social worker post in 2012. Changes to core staffing group have been due to maternity leaves and special carers’ leaves.”

A PRIME Ennis development almost doubled its original asking price when it went under the hammer at the Allsop Space Estate Agents distressed property auction in Dublin last week.

The mixed residential and commercial development, located on the Mill Road in Ennis, attracted a lot of attention and was eventually sold for € 315,000 – despite having gone on the market with a reserve of just € 180,000.

The property comprises five apartments and three retail units right in the heart of Ennis, which already have a sizable rental income.

According to Allsop’s, the rental income on the property at present amounts to more than € 25,000 per annum, a figure made up of € 18,000 from three of the apartments while one of the retail units is bringing in € 7,380 per annum for the present owner. Two of the retail units are vacant at present as are two of the apartments.

This means that, even with the current level of vacancies, the development will pay for itself in just 13 years.

According to the auctioneers, the Ennis block is “internally arranged to provide five two-bedroom apartments and three retail units” and was advertised as an “ideal investment opportunity”.

The property is located along the Mill Road close the junction with Pound Lane and the Old Mill Road, while Allsop have revealed that first floor offices are not included in the sale as they have previously been sold.

Two other Clare properties were sold at the auction with a further two not being sold.

Three vacant warehouse units located at the the Portdrine Development Park in Cratloe sold for € 145,000, while a vacant house at Ashview Drive, Shannon Road in Sixmilebridge, sold for € 140,000.

A second house in Chapel Court in Sixmilebridge was withdrawn before the auction as was a property at Castle Gardens in Bunratty.

CLARE ISPCA officer Frank Coote has said he is concerned that a dangerous poison may have been laid along a popular public walkway in South East Clare.

Gardaí are looking into the matter after it emerged that a number of dogs died after ingesting Strychnine.

The dogs had been walking on the River Shannon canal bank near the villages of Clonlara, O’Briensbridge, Killaloe and Twomilegate towards the ESB power station at Ardncrusha. The walkway is owned by the ESB, who have rented the surrounding lands to farmers.

The potential presence of Strychnine along the walkway sparked fears locally that the pellets could be picked up and ingested by a child.

“It is a serious concern for a couple of reasons,” said Mr Coote,

“One of those reasons is that if you are putting down poison, it has to be pinned down. Animals can come along and eat it but if it’s a thing it is not pinned down properly, something like a blackbird could come along, pick it up the pellet and drop it in someone’s garden. And then you have the whole danger with children picking it up,” he explained.

Mr Coote said Strychnine is illegal but other forms of poison can be laid down providing the gardaí are first notified, warning signs notifying the public are erected and a notice is taken out in a local newspaper.

Warning signs have now been erected in the area and the ESB has written to farmers reminding them of their responsibilities. Gardaí are also looking into the matter.

CLARE tourism businesses are struggling to find staff to fill vacant positions this summer, despite there being nearly 9,000 people on the live register in the county.

One prominent Ennis businessman told The Clare People last week that he is now happy to take on unqualified staff, as it is proving increasingly difficult to find qualified staff to fill vacant roles.

This news comes as the number of people signing on the live resister in Clare jumped by more than 1.5 per cent last month, with 8,717 people now signing-on across the county.

With tourism numbers predicted to grow across Clare this summer, the possibility of a staff shortage has now been flagged by local employers. According to the Irish Hotels Feder- ation’s quarterly barometer, three out of every four hotels reported having difficulty finding qualified staff to fill entry level positions.