Category: News

TIPPERARY County Council has issued a health warning about water on Lough Derg, advising people to “exercise caution” on the lake, but according to Clare County Council there is no cause for concern.

The contrasting state of water quality on either side of Ireland’s largest lake emerged this week after the environment section of Tipperary County Council revealed that the green scum known as algae bloom had returned to the lake.

“The presence of Algae Bloom was observed in recent days,” a Tipperary council spokesperson revealed.

Blue green algae can produce harmful toxins. Such toxins have been known to be harmful to animals that drink the water and skin rashes have occurred in humans following contact.

The bloom is most easily recognised when it forms a bright peagreen paint like scum on, or close to the shoreline.

“Notices are in place at various locations around Lough Derg informing the public of the algal blooms. The public are advised to please exercise caution,” the council said.

“Contact with this bloom should be avoided as it may cause skin irritation. Keep all animals especially dogs away from the affected area. ensure animals have an alternative source of drinking water,” the council spokesperson added.

However, when contacted by The Clare People this week, a spokesperson for the environment section of Clare County Council said there was no cause for concern for those on the Clare side of the lake.

“There is no case of algae bloom on the Clare shoreline,” a council spokesperson revealed. “That’s not to say that it’s not going to happen, but there are no cases to report. It’s being monitored all the time and the council is satisfied that everything is ok,” the spokesperson added.

Back in 2005 the death of two dogs after a swim in Lough Derg had prompted the two county councils to ban the public from swimming in the lake. A subsequent investigation of the waters were the dogs swam found a potentially toxic algae bloom.

It prompted both Clare and North Tipperary County Councils to erect signs advising the public not to swim in the lake and farmers and others to keep domestic and farm animals away from the lake.

It was the fifth year in a row that the councils had been forced to erect such signage along the Shannon’s largest lake in response to a pollution scare.

THE MONTHLY Killaloe court sittings are on the move again – less than a year after a new venue was secured.

The district court sittings moved to the Kincora Hotel last September, after months of searching for a venue by The Courts Service. At the time, the move was described by the Courts Service as a “temporary measure”. It came after it emerged that The Lakeside Hotel – where the court had sat for a number of years – would not be an option in the long-term.

However, the Kincora Hotel has now gone into receivership and the position regarding the availability for future court sittings is still unclear.

The hotel will not be available in September and a decision has now been taken to move the September and October sittings of the court to Ennis Courthouse.

The old courthouse in Killaloe is in a state of disrepair and funding is not available to renovate it.

The regional manager of the Courts Service, Brendan McDonald told The Clare People last night that a permanent venue is still being sought.

“The court will be moved to Ennis for the months of September and October on a temporary basis while we look to see can we remain in Killaloe. We will explore all options. We are committed to staying there in the short to medium term, provided we can get accommodation,” he said.

One of the more senior solicitors in the east Clare area, Billy Loughnane, expressed hope that the court will sit in Killaloe in the future.

“It is very important for a number of reasons that the court is held in Killaloe. We have Scariff close and Tulla close. The natural orientation of people from Killaloe would not be towards Ennis. It would be towards Limerick,” he said.

“Hopefully this is only a temporary glitch. A permanent move to Ennis isn’t something that should be contemplated,” he said.

THE dream by those involved in Clare camogie to have a headquarters for the game in the county have taken a giant step forward in the last week, with the news that Clare County Council has given the go-ahead for the Camogie Board’s ambitious development plans for a three-acre site just outside Ennis.

Local authority planners have given permission for a range of developments on the site at Gaurus on the Doora Road, that will transform the Clare County Council owned property into a new home for Clare camogie that will be the envy of other camogie associations around the country.

The development includes two pitches, while the planning permission granted by the council last week is for the construction of a carpark, the installation of dressing rooms, the erection of retractable netting system behind each goal on the premier playing pitch and for floodlights on the second pitch.

The granting of planning permission for these phases of the project has been held up as “the final piece of the jigsaw” in what has been a long-running campaign waged by the Clare Camogie Board to get proper facilities.

“Camogie in the county has been crying out for proper facilities for many years,” says Clare Camogie Board chairperson, Orla Considine.

“As far back as 1988 there was a commitment from Clare County Council to provide playing facilities for camogie, so that now it’s finally happening is great. It’s been a long road.

“Nothing was done about it for many years but two years ago the campaign was started up again and this is the result of it.

“We have had many meetings with council officials over the past couple of years and the granting of the planning permission for these developments is a huge step,” Considine said.

As recently as June, prior to the lodging of the planning permission by camogie board treasurer, Michael Maher, a development committee was established to spearhead the fuding and delivery of the project.

This committee is made up of chairperson Orla Considine, treasurer Mick Maher, county councilors Joe Cooney, Patricia McCarthy and Pat Hayes as well Dr Pádraig Quinn, Kevin Kennedy and Eamon Fennessey.

LARGE crowds are expected in Sixmilebridge tomorrow for a Better Farm event run by Teagasc.

The O’Reilly family farm at Rathmore will be the focus of attention for the estimated 1,000 beef farmers expected to visit Sixmilebridge.

Tours of the 96-hectare farm, which consists of land at Kilmurry and Drumullan, will take place at 2pm and 6pm.

The event, which has been organised as part of Teagasc’s Better Farm beef programme, will focus on different areas of farming including grassland management, breeding performance, animal health and farm planning.

At the beginning of the Teagasc/ Farmers Journal Programme in 2008, Pat O’Reilly and his mother Mary had 103 suckler cows split into two calving periods with 75 cows calving in the spring and 28 in the autumn.

Shane McHugh, Better Farm advisor with Teagasc explained, “As is the case on many farms, there was no distinct start or end to either spring or autumn calving and in effect they were calving cows for 11 months of the year.” He continued, “With good limestone ground, the farm offered great potential to drive more production from grass. Pat started to measure grass weekly in the spring of 2009 and quickly realised what needed to be done. Extra money was spent on fertiliser addressing any P&K imbalances.

“The grass measuring showed up paddocks that were not performing and, in 2010, eight hectares were reseeded and a further eight hectares is targeted for 2011.”

Shane explained, “The other major development is that this year, in the outside farm in Kilmurry, the farm has been paddocked to give more control and flexibility in manag ing grass.” Shane added, “The extra output achieved in 2010, coupled with controlling of variables, has increased gross margin by 59 per cent over the 2008 figure and it now stands at € 668/HA. In real terms, gross margin has improved by € 248/ ha since 2008 which on a whole farm basis leaves the O’Reilly’s with an extra € 23,800 which can go to towards fixed costs and ultimately net profit. With such a high level of output on the farm, the improved beef price this year should leave the farm well positioned to further increase gross margin in 2011.”

Visitors will get an opportunity to discuss the issues with the management team and Pat himself.

SERVICES at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Ennis are in danger of being slashed from now until the end of the 2011 as the Health Services Executive moves to pare back the budget over-run that has been incurred in the first six months of the year. The Clare People has learned that there has been an over-spend of over € 1 million at the hospital from January to June 2011, and while this figure pales in comparison to the € 14 million over-spend at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick during the same period, there are now fears that key services will be curtailed in Ennis to make sure that the hospital comes in under budget at year’s end.

When contacted by The Clare People , the HSE didn’t comment specifically on Ennis but said in a statement that “there is a clear expectation that the services will manage within available budget”.

The statement also said “there are no options outside the mid-west” to source the money to meet the cost of the over-spend. “As part of reducing expenditure in the mid-west, we are reducing agency and overtime expenditure by 50 per cent from August to the end of the year, having previ- ously reduced it by smaller amounts.

“As we can no longer finance the cost of agency and overtime as a means of replacing staff in a moratorium controlled environment, we continue to work with our front line service managers to explore all possible measures to minimise the impact on front line service delivery,” the statement continued.

News of the Ennis over-spend comes against the back-drop over widespread cuts in health care budgets throughout the mid-west region, with a demand that € 17 million be shaved off spending in 2011.

MACRA NA Feirme has initiated a campaign aimed at setting up a string of new clubs across Clare.

Macra, a voluntary youth organisation for those aged between 17 and 35, has a number of clubs in the county and is aiming to set up others.

A development plan has been put in place for the county, in an effort to increase the number of clubs. The first two areas targeted are Sixmilebridge and Kilrush, where information evenings will take place over the coming weeks.

The first will take place on Friday, August 19, at the Mill Bar, Sixmilebridge, while another event will take place in Kilrush the following Friday.

“Clare was a county that had several clubs before and every now and then a club would go so we are trying to get new clubs in the county. The Macra year starts in September,” said the training and development officer with Macra, Theresa O’Leary.

“A lot of them have dwindled. In recessionary times, Macra does well. It did well in the ‘80s,” she said.

She said that while the focus will be initially on setting up two clubs, there are plans to start up several others across the county.

“Our hope would be to get as many people involved as we can. The events are about telling people what it’s about,” she said.

Traditionally, Macra was geared towards rural areas. However, it has become hugely popular in urban areas in recent years.

“Years ago, when it started, it was for farming and rural areas. Now it has become a social outlet. There is one in Galway city,” she said.

“In Galway, there are nine or 10 clubs and the same in Roscommon. Cork would be very strong also,” she said.

“People involved in sports often join. It is a voluntary organisation. People can do as much or as little as they want. It is wide-ranging. Membership is only € 20 for the first year,” said Ms O’Leary.

Anyone interested should phone 087 6257152 or check out Clare Macra on Facebook.

DRIVERS in Clare are clocking up penalty points for speeding at a faster pace than their counterparts in any other county.

Three Clare drivers have received driving bans, having accumulated 12 penalty points. Another two drivers have received 11 points, with 22 on 10 points.

The numbers of drivers who received penalty points in Clare during the first six months of this year exceeded figures for the whole of last year.

The biggest increase of any county was in Clare where more than 3,700 drivers were penalised up to the end of June. This compares with around 2,800 during the whole of last year.

CLARE County Council has been forced to spend almost € 192,000 on security at one Traveller accommodation site in Ennis over the past 12 months.

Security personnel have been engaged by the council at the Beechpark site on the outskirts of Ennis since units there were destroyed by arson and other forms of vandalism last April (2010).

In a statement, Fiona Mooney of the council’s housing department explained, “The council has security personnel engaged at the Beechpark development.”

“This weekly cost is € 3,000. The security will be withdrawn upon the installation of a CCTV system in September. The CCTV system will be funded by the Department of the Environment.”

According to information given by the council in response to questions from The Clare People , there have been eight incidents of vandalism and damage at Traveller accommodation units in Clare in the past 12 months.

Ms Mooney explained, “Four houses and four service bays have been damaged. The most serious occurred in early July when a house at St Michael’s Park, Ballymaley, was de- stroyed by fire in an arson attack. The council is liaising with the gardaí. The council’s insurers are currently estimating the level of damage and loss in respect of this attack.”

According to the statement, the cost of repairs resulting from damage and vandalism in the last 12 months is € 88,800. A total of € 24,631 of this sum was funded by the Department of the Environment.

Ms Mooney stated that the council, through the Local Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee in the first instance, is in the process of the mid-term review of the adopted Traveller Accommodation Programme 2009-20013.

She added, “The issues of damage and vandalism to Traveller accommodation built by the council under the earlier and current accommodation programmes are under discussion as part of that review.”

THE HEAD OF the Clare Garda Division has expressed concern at the high rate of retirements from the force, which will result in dwindling numbers involved in policing across the county. More than 20 gardaí in the Clare Garda Division – where the force had stood at around 320 – retired last year and at least 12 are expected to leave the force this year. A recruitment embargo means that no new gardaí will be trained in the next few years. Chief Supt John Kerin is very much in favour of community policing and ensuring significant numbers of gardaí are visible on the streets. Yet, some decisions will have to be taken in an effort to cope with the decreased numbers.

WHITEGATE businesswoman Deirdre Collins has shown she’s got great taste, having nabbed a Gold Star at the Great Taste awards.

The food science graduate has gone from taking home a day’s pay of just € 40 from her stall at the farmers market to a position where she has won a prestigious award, launched her ‘Eat Well Be Happy’ range into the UK market and is employing five people.

Now she is about to officially launch the new product which won her the Gold Star – her Thai butternut squash and lentil meal.

Already Deirdre has secured orders from stores countrywide and, since she launched on the UK market six months ago, Dee’s Healthy Burgers range is being stocked in The Health Store, Queenswood Foods and Rainbow Wholefoods.

Her meat-free feeds can also be found in the cold compartments at Dunnes, Supervalu, Centra and Superquinn.

From humble beginnings in 2009, the enterprising Clare woman has stormed ahead.

“I graduated in food science so I know a bit about what goes into food and, more importantly, what I don’t want to go into my food. I started really reading labels and you wouldn’t believe all the things that are added to foods which are supposedly healthy. So I decided to start making my own,” she told The Clare People .

From selling the product wrapped in paper at markets and often taking home little or no money for a lot of work, Deirdre decided to take the idea up a notch. “We moved on to cooking them (the burgers) at agricultural shows as a healthy alternative fast food and one which coeliacs and vegetarians can eat.”

Widely recognised as being one of the most successful business ideas showcased on the 2009 season of Dragons’ Den, Dee’s Eat Well, Be Happy range has been steadily growing in popularity among a diverse customer base of vegetarians, vegans, coeliacs and anyone keen to follow a healthy balanced diet.

“Over the last two years, it’s been full steam ahead for the company and our brand. We’ve recently hired two new staff and increased the number of stockists we supply across Ireland. At this stage, we’re in the chilled grocery departments of the main supermarket multiples and convenience stores, including Dunnes Stores, Tesco, SuperValu, Centra and Superquinn.

“We’re also stocked by numerous independent health stores and gourmet food halls throughout the country. Now that Dee’s Eat Well, Be Happy logo has become a familiar sight in retail outlets throughout Ireland, we’re thrilled to be taking the next step by beginning to export. It’s certainly an exciting time for the business.”