Category: News

THE success of the Loophead lighthouse tourism initiative has been hammered home in the first week of its operation as thousands flocked to the most westerly point of the county.

Figures secured by The Clare People this week revealed that over 2,000 people have now passed through the doors of the famous landmark building – a volume that has already prompted its Clare County Council promoters to extend the opening hours.

“It was initially planned to open from 10am to 4pm, but now we’re going to go from 10am to 6pm,” a council spokesperson revealed. “This is because of the interest that’s there. We have had over 2,000 visitors in its first week.”

The official opening of the light house took place last Monday week, and brought to an end a two-year process that was started when the idea for opening the facility was first floated at Clare County Council.

Local Loophead councillor, Gabriel Keating, made the initial move in July 2009 when calling on “Clare County Council in conjunction with tourism bodies and the Commissioners of Irish Lights to develop the lighthouse as a tourism centre”.

It was the Fine Gael representative’s first ever motion to Clare County Council, having been elected to Clare’s premier decision-making body the previous month and now on the back of the facility’s early popularity has called for additional facilities to be added to the visitor attraction.

“This is only the start,” said Cllr Keating. “This is bringing jobs to the peninsula and there are 10 people employed. I would hope that a museum can be developed in one of the rooms on site. The past week has shown the potential that’s there in Loophead and it’s about moving it on and bringing more people into the area,” he added.

Clare County Council’s Director of Services, Ger Dollard, has revealed that “in the autumn we will be continuing to work with our partners in Shannon Development and Loophead tourism to arrive at a consensus on the future development of the tourism product”.

CALLS for the resignation of the Bishop of Killaloe, Kieran O’Reilly, have been described as “unfair and unjust” by diocesan spokesperson Fr Brendan Quinlivan, who believes that the diocese “can stand up to” any judicial or Church investigation into the handling of allegations against clergy in the Killaloe Diocese.

This comes after calls from Clare Senator Martin Conway (FG) for the resignations of both the Bishop of Killaloe, Kieran O’Reilly and the Bishop of Galway and Kilfenora, Martin Drennan.

“I think that to call for his resignation is unfair and unjust, he has been in office for less than a year. He has [implemented], and will continue to implement, the child policy in the Diocese of Killaloe as begun by Bishop Willie Walsh,” he told The Clare People .

“Bishop Willie Walsh was very open and reports concerning the conduct in the diocese were published either last year or the year before.

“Bishop O’Reilly has continued on in that way and any statutory body or Church investigation would get access to any files they are looking for.

“We have been fully compliant with both Church and state guidelines [on the handling of allegations against the clergy].”

It also now looks likely that the Diocese of Killaloe will publish the results of an audit into its recent performance with regards to the handling of allegations against priests when the audit is completed later this year.

The audit, being undertaken by the Church’s own child welfare organisation, is due to take place in September.

“We stand ready for the audit of the diocese which will take place later this year. My understanding is that an audit will take place in Killaloe in September and we are ready for that,” continued Fr Quinlivan.

“I am confident that we can stand over our practices and that we can stand up to any investigation from any Church or state body. It is down to each bishop to decide if he wants to publish the results of these audits and I would imagine that Bishop O’Reilly will do so.

“I think it must be remembered that it was just such a report that prompted the Cloyne Report to take place.”

Meanwhile, relations between the Irish government and the vatican reached an all time low yesterday when the vatican recalled its ambassador to Dublin. Papal nuncio, Giuseppe Lenaza, was called back to Rome yesterday after what was described the “excessive reaction” by the Irish government to Cloyne’s Report.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny (FG) received a standing ovation at the McGill Summer School over the weekend following his unprecedented attack on the hierarchy of the church last week.

A MAN who was involved in a “one punch” incident in Shannon has been given one chance by a judge.

Jason Lynch (22), of Kincora Apartments, Shannon, was accused of assaulting David McKee at Shannon Town Centre.

Mr McKee told Ennis District Court yesterday that he was out socialising in Shannon on November 21, 2010.

He left the Knights Bar at around 2.30am and was walking home with two others when an incident occurred.

He said he saw two males walking along a roadway near Darcy’s Bar in the town centre “and they stood right in front of me. I thought one was my cousin”.

“I remember saying, ‘Sorry, I thought you were my cousin’; maybe not in those exact words,” he said.

He said that he was then punched in the face.

He said he didn’t know the name of the man who had punched him, but when asked to identify him, he pointed to the defendant in the courtroom.

“I received a black eye and broken tooth. I received a good bit of dam- age,” he told the court.

However, defending solicitor Jenny Fitzgibbon put it to Mr McKee, “My client will say you egged him over.”

She added, “Your left hand went into your pocket as if to reach for something. My client felt threatened and in self-defence he hit you one slap.”

Mr McKee replied, “I had my two hands in my pockets. My hands stayed in my pockets throughout my whole walk.”

Garda Lynsey Nason told the court that the defendant admitted to gardaí that he had hit Mr McKee, but said it was out of self defence.

The accused told the court that he was walking home that night and was about to walk into the building where he resides when he heard a voice and then saw three men.

He said he saw Mr McKee reaching into his pocket. “He said something like, ‘I have something for you’,” he said.

“I hit him out of self-defence. I was frightened,” he said.

Inspector Tom Kennedy, prosecuting, put it to the accused, “You deliberately approached Mr McKee and you hit him into the face.” He denied this.

Judge Olann Kelleher said, “I have no hesitation in convicting this man.”

The court was told the accused had two previous convictions for assault.

The judge said he would give the accused one chance. “I’ll give him a chance. It was a one-punch event,” he said.

He imposed a four-month jail term, suspended for two years.

Addressing the defendant, he said, “It’s up to yourself what you want to do.

“If you are involved in any other incident in the next two years, you will serve four months. I’m giving you one chance.”

ENNIS is bidding to be the new home for a 2, 500sqm pavilion that drew thousands of visitors to one of the world’s largest cultural exhibitions.

Expo Ireland’s Ireland Pavilion – a major multimedia exploration of Irish history and culture – was one of the biggest draws at Expo Park in the Chinese city of Shanghai last year.

Now members of the Ennis Development Forum are pushing for the exhibition to be re-homed in the Clare county capital. The forum met with Minister for State Brain Hayes during his visit to Ennis last week.

They outlined their proposal to the Minister at a meeting in the Temple Gate Hotel. The bid, if successful, would see the Ireland Pavilion re-located to a two-acre site adjoining the 13th century Ennis Friary.

Forum member and Ennis town councillor Johnny Flynn said the pavilion could generate a huge tourism benefit for Ennis and Clare.

He added, “The Ireland Pavilion was commissioned by the Office of Public Work (OPW) and it was one of the most successful at the Expo exhibition. Ennis would be very happy to be the new home of the pavilion.”

Cllr Flynn said Minister Hayes, who has responsibility for the OPW, seemed “quite interested” in the proposal. He said that he intends to seek support from fellow councillors when he raises the matter at the September meeting of Ennis Town Council. He added, “It could be a big opportunity for Ennis as a venue for heritage and archaeological tourism.”

The forum is also calling for the two-acre site near the Friary to be opened up as a car park for coach tours. According to Cllr Flynn an estimated “120 coaches are passing Ennis a day” on the way to tourist attractions like the Cliffs of Moher.

He explained that tourists can often spend four to five hours in towns like Ennis, spending on average € 20 to € 50 per person. He added, “If we could even get 20 or 30 of the 120 (buses) you’re talking about € 50,000 a day being spent in the town.”

The call for more bus parking in Ennis forms part of a wider appeal for the renovated Ennis Friary to be opened up for more public and community use.

Ennis Development Forum believes the Friary could be the centre of a new tourism hub in Clare.

A roof has been installed over the 18th century church in order to provide protection for the collection of carved features, which survive at Ennis Friary.

However in June, the OPW ruled out the possibility of opening the Friary for greater public use. In a letter to Ennis Town Council, Marie O’Gallagher, of the OPW’s National Monument’s section, explained that “it is not envisaged that this space will be available for wider public use or community-based events. It is anticipated that the site will re-open to visitors in 2012.”

Work on the € 100,000 renovation project, which will include a wire mesh to provide security for the display area and deter birds and wildlife, is due to be completed by the end of the year.

ONE Clare business will have to shelve plans for expansion and others will struggle to make up their losses in the wake of the liquidation of the Superquinn chain.

The stores – including the Limerick branch – were put into liquidation and immediately bought again by Musgraves, but it is unlikely that suppliers owed money will ever see their cash.

Inagh cheese producers St Tola had planned to buy packaging machinery which would allow them to expand the sales of a new product, but the money has been eaten up by the collapse of the supermarket chain.

Siobhan Garvey, who founded the Inagh cheese company, said that while the amount of money which her company is owed by the supermarket may not seem like a lot, it will have a severe impact on St Tola’s plans.

“We had been supplying Superquinn for years and we re-launched with them in the last two months. What we are owed is thousands rather than hundreds of thousands and while it would seem like a small amount to a bigger company, it’s a bad blow for a small operation like ours, especially as this is the second time we’ve taken a hit this year,” she told The Clare People .

Siobhan explained that another outlet went out of business owing them money earlier in the year and this latest blow will severely hamper the company’s plans to expand with a new product.

“Everyone here is working hard and we should be exapnding and taking on more people, but this just knocks us right back. We have a new product, St Tola Cream Divine, which we were packaging by hand until we saw how it would sell. It’s selling well and we had planned to buy machinery to package it so we could increase supply, but that plan has gone out the window now. There are talks going on with Musgraves, but the reality is that it’s very unlikely that small suppliers like us will get their money back.”

Another Clare producer which has been hit is the popular Burren Smokehouse, who supplied their brand to the Limerick and other stores.

Birgitta Heden-Curtin said her company is also owed money and she sees little prospect of getting it back.

“We supplied Superquinn because as a supermarket, it was the right end of the range and we felt that it was the kind of place our products could feature. Our supplies to them were realtively small but no company, particularly a small concern, can afford to lose out like this,” she said.

LIFTING A car off the ground is little more than a dream for most people, but a Sixmilebridge man does it at ease.

37-year-old Tom Cusack is reflecting on his recent powerlifting world title, at his home at Ballylidane, Sixmilebridge, and demonstrates the skills that have propelled him to the top of the world.

Tom, who weighs in at 12 stone and four pounds – which is relatively modest for a powerlifter – lifts up a Volkswagen Golf which is parked in his driveway, before dropping it, all at relative ease. He puts it all down to a combination of his healthy lifestyle and tremendous willpower.

“I like to keep myself fit. You have to be fit and lean in powerlifting,” he says.

“I have great willpower. I never give in. I feel tired sometimes but I don’t give in. You get nothing from being lazy and not getting up off the couch,” he adds.

“When I make up my mind about something, that’s it,” he says.

His recent success did not come about overnight; rather it was through several years of dedication.

“I was always into weights. When I was 11 or 12 years of age, I was fierce strong. At 14 years of age, I was 13 stone. When I was about 17, I saw Gerry O’Connell from Crusheen, who is retired from powerlifting, in the paper. I got his number and got in contact with him,” he says.

“I didn’t play much sport when I was younger. All I liked was weights. I liked the Incredible Hulk. I was always interested in being strong and healthy. Arnold Schwarzenegger was always an inspiration to me,” he says.

“At 10 or 11, I started training by swinging a crowbar. I did it for a half hour in the morning before school and for another half hour in the evening. At the age of 14, I got my first 50 kilo dumbbell set. I was fierce strong. I was doing the weights on my own. I loved building up the strength and doing muscle exercises,” he says.

Over the years, he progressed from enjoying it as a hobby to taking part in competitive events, winning a hand ful of All-Irelands in recent years and a European title last year. The World Drug Free Powerlifting Association was set up about 10 years ago and Tom started taking part in some of their competitions, which culminated in him winning the title in the 82.5 kilo dead weight lift in Chicago last month.

Dedication is at the centre of his efforts and last year Tom set up his own gym on the grounds of his home at Ballylidane, Sixmilebridge, where he trains several times a week. His motivation is immense and he trains by himself.

He also credits his mum Ita with much of his success. “She is a very strong woman. She was my training partner for 10 years,” he says. While weightlifting forms a central part of his training – lifting up to 40 stone in weight on a regular basis – he also runs, clocking up around 13 miles every week.

“I am ambitious in everything that I do. Hopefully I will be world cham- pion when I am 90 years of age. A 65-year-old American came second to me in Chicago. There are lots of people in their 70s and 80s competing and breaking world records,” he says.

But it has not all been plain sailing for Tom. Five years ago he got ME and this set him back in his powerlifting ambitions.

“I got ME at 32. I lost my health. I put on two or three stone weight. I was burnt out. I couldn’t exercise. I used to work about 80 hours a week in my nursery (Hill View Nursery) for five to 10 years. That’s how I burnt myself out. Thankfully I got my health back a year ago and I came back better. Now I just work 40 hours a week and I relax,” he says.

Now that he is back to full fitness and with one world title under his belt, Tom is very much geared towards the future and has his eye on securing another world title in France next year.

“Hopefully I will defend my title next year,” he says.

Long-term plans are also on his mind and he has his sights set on taking part in strongman events next year, which he compares to “lifting a car”.

“I am going to compete for Ireland’s strongest man. I’m going to demonstrate you don’t have to be a 350 pound man to win it. I’ll demonstrate that a 170 pound man can do it. I can lift cars and carry 40 stone the length of a sports field on my back. I can lift a 200 pound steel log over my head. It’s all strong man events I will be doing after France,” he says.

“What motives me is I am going to demonstrate to the people of Clare how strong I am. I will never work 80 hours a week again. I am now more relaxed about life,” he says.

He believes that further successes will be achieved as long as he mingles his dedication and determination with his healthy lifestyle.

“The key to success is being natural, fit and healthy and having a high protein diet. Every day I eat a tonne of pasta and fish. That’s where I get my strength from. I don’t believe in supplements. I eat fresh fruit and vegetables every day. I drink six pints of water a day. I don’t drink or smoke. It stands to you in old age,” he says.

“If you life a healthy life you can break records at the age of 80. That’s what I will be doing hopefully,” he says.

TWO young people had a lucky escape on Sunday evening when both ended up in the water in Killaloe.

The Killaloe Coast Guard and the Shannon-based coast guard helicopter were put on high alert after a report that a man in his early twenties was in difficulty in the water south of Killaloe Bridge on Sunday. The young adult was fully clothed and his girlfriend was also in the water, having gone in to try to help him.

When Killaloe Coast Guard arrived at Ballina slip, the two young adults had made their way to safety. The two were taken home and the Killaloe Coast Guard rescue boat ‘Dalton’ returned to base. The Shannon-based coast guard helicopter was also stood down.

The coast guard has had a run of busy weekends as the holiday season gets in full swing and with the August bank holiday promised to be hot, they are expecting large crowds to come to enjoy the lakeside sports and amenities.

A spokesman for the coast guard reminded people planning a weekend of water sports to be responsible and take precautions.

“If you’re taking a boat out, always tell someone where you’re going and when you expect to be back and make sure everyone on board is wearing a lifejacket.”

THERE has been a positive response to a new countywide volunteer discount card with 160 Clare businesses so far signing up to support the scheme.

The Clare Volunteer Centre launched their volunteer discount card in January 2011 with the support of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce, Clare County Council, Ennis Town Council and the Clare Local Development Company.

The card has been created to allow volunteers access to a range of discounts and special offers from businesses around the county for 2011, The European Year of the Volunteer. 160 businesses around Clare are taking part in the scheme with 2,000 cards being issued so far.

Businesses who are involved are listed on the booklet accompanying the card and also on the website.

The Clare Volunteer Centre launched the scheme in partnership with Clare businesses in order to recognize the work of the county’s voluntary sector.

Last year, 256 people registered with the centre, an increase of 25 per cent from 2009, bringing the total number of volunteers registered at the centre to 496.

Sharon Meaney, CVC Development Co-ordinator, explained. “Acknowledging volunteers is just one method among many for businesses to become involved in their communities. Community involvement benefits not only the local community but can boost business itself.”

She continued, “The discount amount is at the discretion of the business with most giving 10 per cent. Kilrush, in particular, have seen an immense positive reaction to the card. It is seen to be building a great relationship between the community and businesses.”

Ms Meaney said, “Volunteers, now more than ever, are the backbone of many communities throughout the county. It is an ideal time, being European Year of the Volunteer, for your business to join with the community and say thank you to the volunteers who work tirelessly, giving their time, skills, experience and energy freely.”

The Clare Volunteer Centre is part of the national network of volunteer centres, supported by Volunteer Centres Ireland.

The Clare Volunteer Centre opened its doors in Ennis in 2008. Businesses interested in taking part in the scheme can contact Ennis Chamber of Commerce.

CLARE small businesses and sole traders are jumping at a chance to get their services and products on the web for next to nothing.

A course in getting a business website up and running, which the Clare County Enterprise Board intended to run for one session, has exploded in popularity with the board having had to put on eight courses and counting.

The course, sponsored by Google, web hosts Black Knight and the Enterprise Boards gets a business or any self-employed person online with their own website in just three hours of intensive work. And it costs just € 25, a fraction of the amount that a struggling business would normally have to shell out.

The scheme was set up in the wake of a study which showed that only about half of small Irish businesses have their own websites. And the chance to have a presence online is proving far more popular in Clare than in other counties involved in the nationwde scheme, according to CCEB business advisor, Lucy Reidy.

“It has really taken off. We thought we might have had interest from seven or eight small businesses or individuals but instead we’ve had 80 sign up so far and requests for places on the course are still coming in, and that’s without even adverstising it,” Lucy told The Clare People .

“From our contact with other Enterprise Boards who are running the scheme, the takeup elsewhere isn’t anything like we’ve seen in Clare.”

The course involves three hours of intensive tuition and work with train- ers. The instructors contact course particpants in advance to have them gather up pictures, prepare descriptions of the business and any other relevant information which might be needed for the site.

“After the three-hour course, people go home with their website up and running and enough tuition to make changes to it themselves. The course is open to all professionals, whether they are in retail engineering, solicitors, catering, all fields. The only restriction is that to have a ‘.ie’ site you have to be a registered company, but people don’t have to be registered to have a ‘.eu’ or ‘.com’ site,” Lucy explained.

She added that the CCEB will continue to provide the courses for “as long as people want to do them and all partcipants have to pay is the € 25 to cover things like hiring costs.”

The next course is being run on August 31 and there are still some places available.

Anyone interested can apply online through the Enterprise Board’s website or ring for information on 065 6841922.

A CLARE company has secured two extremely lucrative new outlets for its products, one being Berlin’s answer to Harrods and the other the flagship store and mail-order lists of a top US speciality foodstore, worldwide.

The Burren Smokehouse secured a listing and got their first order this week for a selection of 11 different products with KaDeWe, one of mainland Europe’s largest department store.

The Clare company is now supplying the only Irish food products in the store.

Meanwhile, the final touches are being put to having the company’s products on sale through the mailing list and in the main New York store of a major US speciality food supplier.

“We’re delighted with both of the listings, I can’t say yet who the US supplier is yet, but there are 35,000 customers a week through their store alone and that’s not even taking account of the mail order opportunity. We are hoping to get our first order from them in September,” said Smokehouse founder, Birgitta Hedin-Curtin.

Bord Bia offices in Germany and in Dublin and the Bord Bia / Smurfit Business School Fellowship students in Germany were all involved in getting the Clare fish products on the shelves in Berlin.

“KaDeWe is a historical department store and is in existance for over 100 years. It first opened 1907. Each day up to 180,000 customers from around the world are welcomed in by the 2,000 KaDeWe staff.

Now our products will feature in its world-famous gourmet department on the sixth floor. This is Berlin’s premium department store,” said Birgitta.

Burren Smokehouse attended and exhibited at the the US listing company after they exhibited at the Fancy Food Fair in Washington DC last week. The event showcased 180,000 speciality products, with 2,400 exhibitors, with more than 80 countries represented.

“The wide and varied ethnic diversity of the US means that food culture and taste trends are very dynamic in this, the largest grocery market in the world,” said Birgitta.

Helping the smokhouse products get through the door of the US deli was the Bord Bia New York office headed by Karen Coyle.

The Burren Smokehouse exhibited with their importer and distributor, Food Ireland Inc owned by Irishman Pat Coleman.

“Pat has Clare family connections so it was great to have him with us,” said Birgitta.

It is too early, Birgitta said, to assess what will come of the company’s exposure in the new market, but, she added, the Burren company will be making the most of the opportunity.