Category: News

AN EAST Clare woman has spent the last month going door to door around thousands of houses in the east Clare area, looking for her dearest friend her 13-year-old dog, Punch.

Carmel Gooney has spent hundreds of hours over the past four weeks travelling along roads and across country looking for the missing Pomeranian, who has had prayers said for him and even a candle lit in his name in Knock.

Punch, who has a heart condition and is partially blind, is of great sentimental value to Carmel’s family, having been nursed back to health by Carmel’s late mother when he was just a puppy.

“His eyesight isn’t the best and he is on heart medication. He is of fierce sentimental value. My own mother died about four years and, when Punch was a puppy, he was in a traffic accident and lost all of the power in his legs. Myself and my mother taught him how to walk again. So there is a great connection there to my mother. Now that he is gone and she is gone, it is very lonesome, to be honest,” said Carmel.

“He went missing around June 17. He went missing from my house in Scariff on June 16 and was found by a local woman. Unfortunately, she didn’t realise that he was lost so she let him go. So the last sighting was on June 17.

“He wouldn’t normally roam anywhere but if a neighbouring dog was out for a walk he might follow them. But his eyesight isn’t great so he could find himself somewhere and not be able to find his way home.”

One bright side of Carmel’s monthlong search for Punch is the support that she has received from the local people.

“I’ve been covering as much ground as I can. I’ve covered Scariff, Mountshannon, one side of Woodford, around Feakle, Killanena and Caher. We also have people looking out for us through the animal welfare groups,” continued.

“I’ve met people who have been looking for him, people who I have never met before in my life. I have found one thing out, though, the good will of people is amazing. People have been ringing up and saying prayers. One woman even lit a candle for him in Knock. The good will of the people has been something else.”

Punch is orange with a small white spot on his chest – similar looking to a small fox. Anyone who comes across Punch is asked to contact Carmel on 086 2699317.

A CLARE member of the HSE West Forum has called for trolley watch figures for Ennis General Hospital to be clarified.

Green Party Councillor Brian Meaney made the comment in the wake of INMO (the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation) figures showing that the number of people waiting on trolleys at Ennis General Hospital increased during the first six months of this year, to reach the highest levels in four years.

The INMO says that, nationally, there is an increase in overcrowding in hospitals.

Between January and June of this year, there were 363 patients on trolleys in Ennis. This is an increase on 215 during the first six months of this year and an increase on 251 two years ago.

The figure for 2008 was 160 and 804 in 2007, according to the figures.

Nationally, the increase so far this year compared to 2006 was 37 per cent; 67 per cent compared to 2007 and 20 per cent compared to last year.

However, Councillor Meaney says he would like to see a breakdown on how the figures are compiled.

“I would like to see how these figures are being calculated. I’ve gone to the accident and emergency at night. You do have people on trolleys but it would be in the accident and emergency. These are not corridors.

“I know many people whose lives have been saved because they have been on a bed with wheels. I am not underestimating genuine instances of people having spent long hours on corridors across the country, but I would like to see how the figures are being calculated,” said Cllr Meaney.

Mary Fogarty, who is the INMO spokesperson in the mid-west, said there is insufficient capacity at Ennis General Hospital.

“There is a concern. We have always had a concern that there aren’t enough beds in the system,” she said, adding that there are fears the situation may worsen.

“There is a shortage of nursing staff. There is a concern that if any more acute beds close in the region, they (figures) will get higher,” she said.

“In the short term, we don’t see it improving but we would hope that it would improve,” she added.

CLARE couples who want to marry with the backdrop of a romantic view or to have a civil ceremony in the hotel where their reception is to be held will have to go join a queue more than a year long in Limerick.

At present, although some of Clare’s most beautiful spots would get the thumbs up as places where civil ceremonies would be allowed, staffing at the Clare registry offices is such that all civil marraiges are being dealt with through Limerick.

And with the recruitment ban in the public service, staff in the Limerick office can’t meet all the requests for civil ceremonies.

Bride-to-be Jennifer Flynn from Westbury was told the next date on which a registrar could come to her chosen hotel is a weekday a year from now.

“I was amazed because I was told three months notice was necessary but I never would have thought they were so booked up,” she told The Clare People .

Staff at the the Ennis registrar’s office confirmed that civil ceremonies for couples in Clare are currently being conducted in the Limerick office.

“We go through Limerick for the civil ceremonies at present. The couples have to contact the registrar there and give three months notice and the Limerick office will take it from there,” she said.

Sources in the registrars office also confirmed that the staff there are stretched and could not meet the growing demand in Clare for civil marraiges in situ.

For Jennifer, who plans to marry partner Colm next year, it means thinking it out again.

“We have the option of getting married in the registry office and then going to our reception and that’s probably what we will have to do. Neither of us are religious so we don’t want a church wedding. But the registry office seems so cold and impersonal and it means we’ll only be able to have our witnesses and a couple of other people at the actual marraige. I’m sure the registrar is very nice and will do everything possible to make it special but why make it legal to marry outside the office and then not have enough people to make that a possibility?” she said.

ARRANGEMENTS have been made to transport the bodies of French couple Michel and Jacqueline Lacave after the pair died in a tragic road accident on the Clare and Galway border last Wednesday.

The elderly couple, who are understood to come from Pontvallain, just outside Le Mans in the north-west of France, were on a sightseeing holiday in the Burren when the accident took place.

The 77-year-old man, Michel, was driving a motorcycle with his 66year-old wife Jacqueline as his pillion passagener when the accident took place between Ballyvaughan and Kinvara on the N67.

The accident took place at an area known as Roo Demesne, right on the Clare/Galway border, when the motorcycle collided with a car while trying to negotiate a difficult bend in the road.

The French couple were pronounced dead at the scene while the people travelling in the car – two adults and two children – were uninjured but shaken.

Two units of the fire brigade from Gort and an ambulance from Galway attended the scene and the road was closed off for some time while gardaí conducted a forensic examination of the scene.

It is understood that the motorbike had difficulty taking one of the large bends at Roo Demesne and collided with the car, which was travelling in the opposite direction.

THE demographic of Clare people taking park in adult education courses has changed dramatically in the last three years – with the recession leading to a dramatic rise in the number of young Clare men taking part.

That was the opinion of one of the county’s most experienced adult education coordinators who also believes that the demand for adult education courses will far outstrip supply in the years to come.

This comes following the launch of a free guide to adult education and training oppor tunities launched last week by Clare VEC.

“If you go back a number of years in Clare there was a tradition of lads leaving secondar y school early because the money was good for them to go and work in construction. It was very difficult to get some lads to continue on and finish their leaving Certificate,” said Marian O’Callaghan, Adult Education Co-ordinator in Lisdoonvarna.

“Now they have a real difficulty as there is nothing for them now in construction and they don’t have the skills or the qualifications to do something else. I have noticed the gender balance had change in recent years. A few years ago all of the course would have been very much dominated by females but that isn’t the case anymore.

“It is ver y hard to go anywhere without having some piece of paper. The choices at the moment around the North Clare area are they you either do training or you emigrate. That what is facing a lot of people at the moment. It is tough – but there is very very little out there for people now.”

The demand for adult education courses has also increased in recent years but so too has the range of qualifications that the courses open up for people.

“Quite a number of people involved with us have gone onto third level in Limerick or Galway and one person in now a lecturing in nursing, so the courses do give people a great scope,” continued Marian.

“I would say that at the moment we are all over subscribed for courses. All over the county I’d say that there is a huge demand.”

The Clare VEC Adult Education free guide is a comprehensive list of all courses available at the statutory and private education providers throughout the county.

The courses are broken down in to areas of interest from general education including Leaving Certificate to information technology to community healthcare and counselling.

The guide is available in libraries, shops, post offices, social welfare offices or local organisation around the county or contact the Clare VEC Adult Education Centre by calling 065 6824819.

THE Cliffs of Moher is in line to reclaim Ireland’s top tourism spot and once again become the most visited tourist attraction in the country.

The iconic cliffs have seen a massive turnaround in visitor numbers in recent months, which could see them leapfrog other attractions such as Dublin Zoo, the Guinness Storehouse and the National Gallery and into first place.

Visitor numbers for the first six months of 2011 have increased by 19 per cent compared to the same period in 2010. A total of 345,398 people visited the tourism location so far this year. Typically, the second half of the year is busier than the first six months, meaning that visitor numbers could be close to 800,000 for 2011.

Should this trend continue, it could bring visitor numbers back to the previous high of 2007 – the year that the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience was first set up.

“We are delighted with the significant increase in visitor numbers to the cliffs this year. The increase is especially noteworthy considering the poor weather conditions experienced in May and June in particular,” said Katherine Webster, Director of the Cliffs of Moher.

“The provision of visitor facilities, such as the exhibition centre and our new café, have ensured that the Cliffs of Moher is further establishing itself as an attractive year-round visitor destination, irrespective of the weather conditions.”

Nine jobs have also just been created at the Cliffs of Moher through the opening of a new style café, the Cliffs View Café. The Cliffs of Moher Centre now employs a total of 50 people, making it one of the largest employers in north Clare.

“The Cliffs View Café is operated by Cliffs of Moher Centre Ltd and the focus is on good value and locally sourced food. The café is focusing on offering a selection of the fantastic local food products available in County Clare and includes local spring water, cheeses, baked goods, smoked fish, ice-cream and fruit and vegetables among the fare on offer. The café can seat 100 and free WiFi is on offer throughout the area,” continued Katherine. A € 200,000 community astro-turf facility will be officially opened in Tulla tonight. The 60×40 pitch is located at Tulla United’s Cragg home grounds and represents the latest step in the club’s emergence as a new power in Clare soccer. Forty qualified coaches cater for an estimated 200 underage players at Tulla United, while the club’s junior team enjoyed a promising return to the Premier League last year, finishing in fifth place and narrowly losing out to Avenue United in the semi-final of Clare Cup. Perhaps the club’s most visible imprint on Clare soccer could be seen in their contribution to the county’s youths team, which this year contested the semi-final of the All-Ireland inter youths league for the first time since 1971. Tulla players Daragh Corry, Niall Whelan, Paraic O’Malley and Thomas McKeown were all key members of the Clare panel that was managed by their fellow clubman, Mike Moloney. Moloney returns to club duties alongside Denis Corry for the coming season, replacing the long serving Barry Murphy as junior team manager. With final preparations underway ahead of the FAI visit, club chairman Mike Hoey last week paid tribute to the progress being made by Tulla at underage and adult level. He said, “The schoolboys have done well over the years and have been unlucky in a number of competitions. It has really brought the club on. Some of those players have come onto the A team. It has really made a big difference. We went up to the Premier last year. It’s nice to see young fellas come through.” The completion of new astro-turf facilities also brings to an end an eight-year project of re-development

at the Cragg.

Hoey explained, “We bought the land in 2004 and started reclaiming it in 2005. The grass pitches were developed in 2006. It was left for 12 months to mature and was opened in May 2008. We are absolutely thrilled and very proud of it.”

Work on the astro-turf project was carried out in conjunction with the local community council and was backed by LEADER funding. Hoey added, “It is part and parcel of the parish. Other clubs will avail of it. We have rugby, hurling, football and camogie that will be taking part in it. It has been well supported by everybody.”

Tulla’s underage structure was reinvigorated in the early part of the last decade. The club now fields teams at under 11, 12 and 14 as well as operating a blitz tournament for children aged seven and nine. Hoey is equally enthusiastic about the progress of the club’s girls teams.

He said, “This is their first really serious season at it. We had a team back in the early ‘90s but it disbanded. It’s good to see them back now. They have a big panel. And they also have an under 12 panel of players playing friendly games during the week. To see all those youngsters come along, it’s fantastic”.

Tulla has also been earmarked by the FAI as a potential site for an Ireland schoolboy international.

Hoey said, “‘Tis a very proud day for the club to hear that. We’re just waiting on clarification. They (FAI) are trying to work in a suitable date that would suit their home and away fixtures. It would be nice to get it. It would be great for the whole of Clare to see an Irish team in action.”

‘MISTERMAN’, one of the most important theatre pieces at this year’s Galway Arts Festival, was inspired by a tragedy which led to Clare man Brendan O’Donnell being convicted in 1996 of the murders of Imelda Riney, her three-year-old son Liam, and Galway priest Fr Joseph Walsh.

The playwright Enda Walsh revealed in an interview this week that he was inspired to write the drama after reading about O’Donnell and the three tragic deaths in Whitegate.

“I like characters who are always on the edge and there’s something about a one-man show; it feels very, very concentrated and it’s like cracking open someone’s skull and dropping the audience in there and going, ‘There you are now, what do you think of that?’” he said.

O’Donnell was arrested after a massive manhunt following the disappearance of 29-year-old Imelda, her three-year-old son, Liam and local priest Fr Joe Walsh. All three had been shot and O’Donnell was subsequently convicted of killing them. He subsequently died in prison.

Clare author Edna O’Brien came in for a storm of criticism when she wrote In The Forest , a book based on the murders.

Landmark Productions and Galway Arts Festival’s co-production of ‘Misterman’ is written and directed by Walsh and stars Cillian Murphy. Walsh described the reworked version of the one-man show as a psychological examination of a sympathetic yet unnerving character living on the periphery of a small town.

A NORTH Clare publican will this week install a lotto style “big wheel” into his pub which will allow his patrons to decide how much they have to pay for their booze.

The big wheel will be the latest in a series of recent new arrivals at The Roadside Tavern in Lisdoonvarna, who are also preparing to officially launch a series of home-brewed Burren drinks and Ireland first pub loyalty card later this month.

According to the pubs owner Peter Curtin, the three new Burren brews, the big wheel and the loyalty card is being introduced as a way of keeping his family pub alive.

“The pub trade in Ireland is in a tailspin. I am interested in learning new things and trying things. I’ll be 58 at my next birthday and I don’t want to have to close the door of this pub. This is a family pub and I’m happy to do what need to be done to keep it going,” said Peter.

“The loyalty card system is the first of its kind in Ireland. People can come along a Burren Brewery Club member, once they are over 18 and drinks responsibly. When someone buys something in the pub they get points on their card and after awhile they can claim back produce for their points.”

On Sunday, July 21, the three new Burren Brews will be launched with a day-long celebration at the Roadside Tavern. The day will also see the official launch of Burren Brew- ery’s Loyalty Card and the world’s first pub spin-the-wheel machine.

“This will be the first pub in the world to have a big wheel. All the Burren Brewery Club members can come in and choose to pay the display price of the produce or they can spin the wheel,” continued Peter.

“The wheel will have a € 4 slot, a € 3.50 slot, a € 3 slot and so on down and whatever the ball falls on – that’s what they pay. There will also be a euro symbol on the wheel and if it falls on that they will pay the regular price and also pay € 1 towards a local charity.”

Peter has developed three Burren Brews with the Brendan Dobbyns who was involved in setting up of the Biddy Early Brewery in Inagh. From July 21, the Roadside Tavern will unveil the Burren Black, a smooth stout, the Burren Red which is slightly sweet ale and the Burren Gold which is a characterful lager.

A CLARE student, with dreams of reaching for the stars, is over the moon this week having seen his research launched aboard the last flight of the space shuttle.

Third-level student Gerard Newsham (24), a post-graduate student at Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT), is currently working at the Space Life Science Lab in Florida. On Friday, he was on countdown at the NASA Kennedy Space Centre for lift-off of the final space shuttle mission which has his science project onboard.

Speaking from the Space Centre, the Corbally student said, “I can’t describe how I feel; amazing is just not a strong enough word. Most of the time it just seems so unreal. I have to keep pinching myself.”

Gerard is working on a project entitled, ‘Symbiotic Nodulation in a Reduced Gravity Environment (SyNRGE)’, which set out to learn how plants and bacteria work together in space.

In an interview with The Clare People , Gerard revealed that his sights have always been on the heavens.

“Ever since I was younger, I always wanted to be involved in the space program but never thought it would happen. I had always told myself if I could just see the Kennedy Space Centre and see a shuttle launch, I’d be more than happy. Today and every day since October 2008, it’s to my delight I get to go there, do research and watch the shuttle launch.”

Gerard has been in Florida at the Kennedy Space Centre since October 2008, courtesy of an internship at the FÁS Science Challenge. His project was selected for flight in 2010, as his research at Limerick Institute of Technology at the Controlled Environment Lab for Life Science (CELLS) is directly linked to SyNRGE.

Staff and fellow post-graduate stu- dents from LIT watched live feeds from the Kennedy Space Centre, where the final mission for the 30year-program took off. The space shuttle Atlantis is destined for the International Space Station.

The Clare student says that he hopes to continue his exploration where no man has gone before.

“I hope to be here for the rest of my career. The staff and the facilities at the Kennedy Space Centre are worldclass and second to none,” he told The Clare People .

A € 12.8M FLOOD defence scheme along the River Fergus from Ennis town centre to Doora Bridge has received the green light from the Government.

The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan TD, last week signed off on funding for Phase 2 of the Ennis Drainage Scheme.

Welcoming the news, Chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Clare TD Pat Breen said that “Phase 1 has already being completed very successfully and the works in Phase 2, which will be carried out under the auspices of the OPW, will alleviate the problems which were caused by flooding in Ennis in December 2009. The area covered will be from Bank Place in the town right down to Doora Bridge.

“It is very good news for the town of Ennis. When this work is completed it should prevent further flooding which has caused a lot of hardship in December 2009,” he added.

The scheme is expected to be officially launched by Minister for State Brian Hayes in Ennis on Friday.

Part of the scheme, which involves the construction of a walkway and handrail along the left riverbank in Fergus Park to Knox’s bridge, has been opposed by local residents.

Members of the Fergus Park Residents Association are concerned that the proposed handrail will encourage anti-social behaviour and the ease of access to the back of 20 houses in the area.

In a report to Ennis Town Council on the Ennis Flood Relief Scheme, Town Engineer Eamon O’Dea said the OPW anticipates work will begin on phase two in September.

He explained that the tender assessment procedure for the Lough Girroga Flood Relief Scheme (Gort Road Industrial Estate) has been completed and work should start in August.

He stated that final design details for flood relief works at Fioruisce have to be confirmed with the OPW. The Council is also proceeding with the part 8 planning procedure at Watery Road / Elm Park Flood Relief Scheme. Mr O’Dea said the matter should be before the Council at the September meeting. He added that detailed design has commenced at St Flannan’s Tobertascáin – Ballybeg flood relief works.