Category: News

A SMALL number of new jobs are set to come in stream in Shannon in the coming months following the decision of American aircraft parts provider Aero-Zone, to set up a European headquarters in Shannon Airport with the creation of a new, Clare based subsidiary.

It is as yet unclear how many jobs will be created directly through the project, but it seen as a very positive long term development for the Airport. Over the last 18 months the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) has been working to increase the number and type of air services it provides to airlines and this move could help attract more business to the airport.

Based in Arizona, Aero-Zone said it has selected Shannon so it can provide “increased interaction and improved service” for its European clients. It said the decision to set up in Ireland is in line with its strategy of housing inventory at diverse locations.

“Aero-Zone has a large customer base within Europe and the Middle East.

“Having a physical presence in the region means we have an inventory closer to our customers, and allows us to improve what is a leading aircrafton-ground rapid response programme,” said Alfredo Dreyfus, founder and president of Aero-Zone.

The Shannon arm of the company will now be headed up by Sean O’Brien. He will be responsible for establishing a team of inventory specialists in Shannon, as well as supporting clients across Europe.

Established in 1994, the company provides parts for commercial airlines, corporate jet fleets and owner-operators. The company is now looking to procure a building in the Shannon Free Zone to act as its European Headquarters.

A CAMPAIGN to reinstate a permanent A&E service at Ennis General Hospital has been launched.

Kilmaley councillor, Tom McNamara (FF) was elected head of the Regional Health Forum last week, and has made the reclassification of Ennis General Hospital his primary goal for the next 12 month.

The Mid West Region is currently the only HSE region in Ireland not to have a secondary tier, or Model 3, hospital. Model 3 hospitals are designed to act as cover for the main Model 4 hospital in a region, in our case – the Regional Hospital in Limerick.

This campaign goes much further than a motion put forward at Clare County Council last month, which called for the temporary reinstation of A&E Services in Ennis, until construction work on a new facility can be completed in Limerick.

“There needs to be a lot of political pressure to bring this change about. But we’ve seen the evidence in the HIQA report [a damning report on A&E services at Limerick Hospital]. If a service is not being provided properly we have to act on that. Our health service is the most critical service in the country and we need to have a proper one here in Clare,” he said.

“We are the only hospital group in the country with no Model 3 hospital, I would be pushing for a Model 3 Hospital in the mid-west and Ennis is the ideal location for that. This would give us a 24 hour A&E and would give us a surgical service. I will be lobbying hard with the Department of Health and the HSE to put a Model 3 hospital in the mid-west. It is something that needs to be done.

“This would mean a permanent A&E service in Ennis, even when the new building in Limerick comes on stream. The HSE’s own plan means that you need all the different types of hospitals in an area and we have no Model 3 hospital.

“Limerick in our Model 4 hospital but we are missing a Model 3 hospital with a full A&E that can be used as a back up for the Model 4 hospital. At the moment they are saying that the population number are not there. But for the system is to work properly you need to have a Model 3 hospital to be in place.”

A CLARE Pro-Life group say they will continue to host pickets outside Timmy Dooley’s constituency office in Ennis until the 2013 Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill is overturned.

The group held a hour long protest outside Deputy Dooley’s constituency office on Friday afternoon, to highlight the East Clare TD’s decision to vote for the 2013 bill.

The bill brought in a legal framework for the Supreme Court ruling of the X Case, more than two decades after the initial court ruling.

Fianna Fail leader, Michael Martin, allowed his Dáil deputies an ‘open vote’ on the bill with only five of his 19 TD’s, including Deputy Dooley, supporting the legislation.

The Clare Pro-Life group have also held protests outside the office of Pat Breen (FG) and Joe Carey (FG) but have not picketed the office of Michael McNamara (LAB).

“We come out here to protest because Timmy Dooley voted for the abortion bill [the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill].

“Most of Fianna Fail voted against it, but he unfortunately went along with Michael Martin and voted in favour of the bill,” said Maria Mahoney of Clare Pro-Life.

“We’ve had contact with the TD on a number of occasions. Before the bill went through we had a lengthy contact with him [Timmy Dooley] and he wasn’t to be budged.

“We are left with showing our disapproval with what he has done and protesting.

“The pro-life people who voted for him are not going to forget and we are not going to let him forget.

“It is a long way to the next election but people will support candidates based on the voting record in the Dáil.”

Deputy Dooley said that he wel- comed anyone who wished to express their views outside him office.

“People are fully entitled to exercise their views and they [the protesters] are welcome outside my office any time they like,” said Deputy Dooley.

“My vote is a matter of public record and anyone who would like to see it can.

“If some people have an issue with that [they way he voted] they are welcome to come and protest any time they like.”

MORE than 90 per cent of staff at Ennis General Hospital have voted to begin industrial action which could begin in as little as seven days.

The IMPACT trade union held the ballot at Ennis and other hospitals in the Limerick Hospital Group on Friday in response to the revelation that the HSE paid one of its local managers € 258,000, on a contract bases over a 13-month period.

The union claims that this role was previously carried out by a salaried staff member in the HSE who earning about € 80,000 per annum.

IMPACT will now bring the results of the ballot to the HSE and will begin industrial action within seven days if no agreement can be reached.

The industrial action will include a suspension of all contact between members of the IMPACT union and the manager in question but will not at this time include any withdrawal of work.

“The ballot was passed by about 90 per cent. I’m not surprised, I’ve rarely seen people this annoyed about a local issue within the hospital group,” said Andy Pike, IMPACT rep for Ennis General Hospital.

“Once notice of industrial action is served, no union member will taking instruction from that persons [the contracted manager], we wont be providing any information to that person or we wont be reporting to him.

“We are concerned that any form of industrial action that we undertake would not detrimentally effect patient services so this will be an inconvenience for people in the hospital group but it will not effect hospital services. “We plan to contact the HSE at national level and give them another chance to tell us when the contact with the individual will end. “If we get a satisfactory response to that engagement then the prob- lem can be solved. But if they still refuse to even inform staff when the contract is due to end then we will serve notice and the action will begin within seven days. “We think it is responsible to give the HSE another chance.” The contractor is paid in the region of € 700 a day – which amount to more than the total yearly salary paid to HSE secretary general Tony O’Brien.

FOLLOWING an exhaustive eighteen month campaign Clonlara mother Noreen Keane has had her son Ronan’s medical card returned.

Ronan, who suffers from Downs Syndrome, lost his medical card in early 2012. His mother Noreen has battled since to have it restored and this included protests at the Fine Gael Árd Dheis. “We managed to take on the government, take on the system and win. “The amount of people who contacted me who said they were not able to stand up and fight or where notable to have their voices heard.

This was never just about Ronan, for me it was about all of the kids in that same situation. To take cards from severally ill children and give them to well children is just not fair.”

BLAKES Corner in Ennistymon has received a facelift with the first round of cosmetic works taking place at the controversial site since a dispute about its future arose some six years ago.

Clare County Council have just completed paint work on the buildings at Linnane’s and Blakes in Ennistymon, restoring much of the exterior appearance of the listed strictures. The local authority have also paid for completion of roof repairs on the building, with major damage reported to have taken place at the site during this winters storm.

The works, which are valued at between € 3,000 and € 5,000, were prompted after local representative highlighted the poor condition of the building.

A proposal to fill in the steps in front of the building, and create a safer passageway for the thousands of cars which will use the junction each day to travel to and from Lahinch and the Cliffs of Moher has not been under taken. Clare County Council have also confirmed that consultants have been appointed to complete a feasibility study to examine a long term solution to the ongoing traffic difficulties at Blakes Corner. “The consultants have been appointed. A feasibility study is being carried out at present to explore the various options for delivering a resolution to traffic problems at the location,” said a council spokesperson.

The building at Linnane’s and Blake’s are at the centre of a dispute between Clare County Council, the National Roads Authority and local conservation group Saver Ennistymon’s Heritage. Plans to demolish the buildings and rebuild their facade a few metres back from their current location, in the process making way for a new road layout, are being opposed by Save Ennistymon’s Heritage.

Clare County Council and the NRA proposed building a roundabout at Blakes Corner to prevent ongoing traffic difficulties in the area and to make the roadway safe.

Save Ennistymon’s heritage would like the local authority to examine other possibilities – such as bypassing Ennistymon.

A CLARE film has been nominated for its first major award – even though it is yet to be given it’s big screen premier. A Nightingale Falling , a film set in Kilnaboy during the Irish War of Independence, has been nominated for this years Bingham Ray New Talent Award. The film, which was shown to selected audiences at a preOscar event in Los Angeles in February, will receive its world premier at the Galway Film Fleadh next month. The Bingham Ray award recognises emerging talent in cinema and actor Tara Breathnach, who plays May in A Nightingale Falling is one of four people shortlisted for the prestigious accolade. A Nightingale Falling is based on the PJ Curtis book of the same name.

PJ’s novel tells the partially true story of a wounded English soldier who is taken in by a pair of Protestant sister living in Kilnaboy. It stars a number of professional actors as well as local star, Maura Clancy, a stalwart of the Corofin Players.

“The genesis of the story begins here [in Kilnaboy], where there were two Protestant sisters who came un- der some suspicion and even some ostracisation during the Irish War of Independence,” said PJ.

The film was shot in Daingean in Offaly and Tyrellspass in Westmeath last July by Irish based production company Mixed Bag Media. Mix Bad Media has its own Clare connection with Whitegate resident, Gerry Burke, working as co-producer on this film.

STAFF at Roadstone Woods in Bunratty will today begin their eight day of picketing in a dispute with the management over proposed cuts to bonuses.

Members of the SIPTU and TEEU unions agreed a six million euro cost saving package with the company in 2012 but the current dispute centres around a further € 10 million in cuts proposed by management.

According to local SIPTU rep Davy Lane, this cut will cost Clare staff in the region of € 20,000 between now and 2019 – when the proposed deal would expire.

“We have already absorbed more than € 6 million in saving for the company and now they are coming back looking to take another € 10 million.

“It became clear in the run up to the strike that the company would not budge on this € 10 million,” he said.

“This mean that our lads will loose bonus payment which are part of the wage structure.

“The loss to each of our members between now and 2019 is € 20,000. We told the management that that is not sustainable and we wanted a realistic proposition from them in relation to the cost savings.”

According to SIPTU the standoff is hurting both Roadstone Wood and its employees and is urging the company to go to the Labours Relations Com- mittee to discuss the situation.

“The picket started in Monday the 16th. We think at this stage that the cost to the company could be around € 5 million.

“The LRC (Labour Relations Commission) are in the background and SIPTU will always accept an invitation to attend the LRC. It’s a matter for the company whether they wish to avail of the LRC,” continued Mr Lane. The strikers are receiving strike benefit from the union.

“They are down a weeks wages at this stage so they are not doing too great, and the prospect of a second week ahead.

“Everybody is losing with this, but it is a matter for the company to move on this.”

SWIMMERS and surfers have been warned to watch out for dangerous currents on Lahinch beach as thousands of tonnes of sand have banked up on the beach in recent weeks.

Lahinch was turned into a virtual rock beach in January and February following a spate of unprecedented storm which literally stripped the beach of all its sand. A large amount of this sand has slowly been washed ashore by the tides over the past three months – but this returning sand has created some potential hazards for beach users.

People are being urged to consult with the lifeguards or local surf school operators before entering the water in Lahinch.

“The sand levels are pretty much back to what they were but the way it has landed is very different – so there are a few current that people would not be aware of. Because of this it is very important that people who are coming to swim or surf in Lahinch have a chat with the lifeguards or the surf schools to find out how things have changed,” said Ben Bennett of Ben’s Surf Clinic.

“There are some unusual currents there and they will change over the summer. The currents will continue to change and to reduce as the summer goes on and we would expect them to be gone completely by the end of the summer. There will always be some current on a surf beach, the problem with these currents is that people wont be expecting them.”

According to Ben, all the tourism related businesses in Lahinch are open and ready for business, but numbers are a little down on recent years as many people believe the beach in not accessible due to the storm damage.

“Lahinch has recovered well. The beach is almost back to normal and all the businesses are open so things are going well. We need to get the word out to people – we have had a lot of people ringing us up who think that we got wiped out by the storm and that we’re not here anymore, so we need to get the word out that Lahinch is open for business,” continued Ben.

“We’re a bit down on this time of year. It is hard to tell because the sun has been great but there has been no surf. So we’ve had a lot of day trippers down to the beach but not as many surfers as normal.”

AN IRISH singer who took Britain’s Got Talent by storm will be the headline act at the second Switch concert in Ennis next month.

Dubliner Ryan O’Shaughnessy reached the final of the talent show two years ago and is currently working on his debut album.

He will perform at the Switch concert in Ennis on Friday, July 4.

The concert, billed as Ennis’ answer to the hugely popular Other Voices show in Dingle, will take place at St Columba’s Church of Ireland on Bindon Street.

O’Shaughnessy, who learned guitar by watching footage of Eric Clapton, is the headline act that features up and coming bands from Clare, Limerick and Galway.

In 2012 he signed a record deal with Sony records. Sean Griffin says the Ennis Music Project, who run Switch, are delighted to have secured O’Shaughnessy for their second show. “One of the lads had done a bit of work with him in a studio before.

“We were looking for someone to play for the show. He asked Ryan and he said he’d be happy to do it which is great for us”, he explains. O’Shaughnessy is joined on the bill be Juhn Echo – a three-piece band whose members come from Clare, Limerick and Galway.

The trad folk band will launch their debut EP in Cruises bar in Ennis on Wednesday.

Also performing on the night will be local instrumental outfit, The Guy Montag. Switch is the brainchild of the Ennis Music Project. Committee members Shane Killowry, Robin Fitzpatrick, Sam Lavery, David Naughton and Sean Griffin wanted to try something different – present live music in a alcohol free setting.

A Clare Youth Service initiative, Switch aims to showcase old and new music talent from all over Ireland in unexpected locations around Clare.

The group of volunteers involved promise a “unique live music experience” and is aimed at 18 – 25 yr olds in the Clare area.

Further concert details are available on the Ennis Music Project Facebook page.