Category: News

REMEMBERING the late town clerk in Shannon was one of the new town mayor’s priorities immediately after she was elected last week.

Fine Gael councillor Mary Brennan paid tribute to Tomás MacCormaic, who died suddenly on June 7. He had been the town clerk for 27 years prior to his retirement two years ago and was highly regarded in the town.

A golf classic was held last week to raise funds for the senior citizens club in the town last Monday and the new mayor was one of those involved. “It was dedicated to Tomás,” she said.

“Tomás was a gentleman and was very much part of the community in Shannon. Young and old loved him. Nothing was too little or too big for him. I felt it was a nice gesture to dedicate the golf to him. He was involved with the senior citizens club.”

Cllr Brennan was elected as mayor two weeks earlier, to replace Tony Mulcahy who left the council to take up a place in the Seanad. Her fellow councillors opted to re-elect her to the position for a 12-month term. She has been a town councillor for the past two years.

She told The Clare People she enjoyed the fortnight as chairperson of the council and is look- ing forward to the year ahead. “It has been very enjoyable. I am excited about it,” said Cllr Brennan, who has worked as the caretaker in the town’s health centre for the past 23 years.

A number of priorities are on her mind for the year ahead, not least a focus on the local airport.

“I’d hope we could facilitate more work at the airport and lobby Richard Bruton. It is such a shame to see the airport being used for the wrong reasons; our children leaving due to lack of jobs,” she said.

She knows at first hand the circumstances surrounding the recession, as one of her sons has emigrated to Canada, while another will move to Australia in the coming weeks.

“I will be working with the community. I would be quite open to taking on board any ideas people would offer me for the betterment of Shannon,” she said. “I’d know a lot of people in Shannon through working in the health centre. People know they can come up to me and I will point them in the right direction,” said the mother-of-three, who is a native of Mayo. My eldest is 30 and my youngest is 23. I would be very well known in that age group. I work with vast age groups. The elderly enjoy coming in and having the banter in the health centre.”

HOMES IN seaside areas in Clare are selling at the moment, while more cash buyers have come into the market in recent weeks. However, overall house prices in Clare are showing no signs of increasing.

According to the latest Daft House Price Report for the second quarter of this year, house prices fell on average by 5.1 per cent. The average asking price for a house in June of this year was € 196,000, which is a fall of 47 per cent on the 2007 peak, according to Daft.

According to Daft, a two-bed house in Clare currently has an asking price of € 108,000. A threebed house has a tag of € 155,000; a four-bed is priced at € 229,000 and a five-bed has an asking price of € 279,000.

These prices are decreases on the figures, compared with the first quarter of 2010. Then, a two-bed house in Clare had an asking price of € 144,000, while a three bed was priced at € 194,000. A fourbed house was priced at € 276,000, while a five-bed was deemed to have a price of € 326,000.

Ennis-based auctioneer Diarmuid McMahon of Sherry Fitzgerald McMahon said yesterday that the Daft figures “are consistent on asking prices. They are not on sold prices. Prices nationally have fallen by between 40 per cent to 60 per cent between 2007 and now and have fallen in Clare by between 40 per cent and 60 per cent”.

“We’re seeing a lot more cash buyers coming into the market. There are apartments for sale around the town of Ennis that you would get rent for between € 450 and € 500 per month and that you would buy for between € 50,000 and € 60,000,” said Mr McMahon.

“The majority of our sales now are cash buyers. They are coming back into the market now because they can see value,” he added.

“Some of the seaside properties are selling well. We are selling a lot in Kilkee; selling for prices the vendors are willing to accept,” he said.

Some property owners in seaside resorts are not losing money because they bought before the peak in 2007.

“They are selling. The prices are down considerably,” he said.

Looking ahead, Mr Mahon predicts, “I’d say the best scenario by the end of this year is stabilisation. I think that stabilisation is starting to happen in better locations. Good quality houses will trade at prices that I think will be the same in six months’ time. I think eventually, in four to five to 10 years, you will get price increases but they would be in line with inflation.”

THREE international high rollers are set to battle it out for the chance to buy their very own piece of the Banner County as interest hots-up on the 180-acre Mutton Island.

The island, which is located just half a mile from the Clare coast, has been owned by a number of high profile people since the departure of its last inhabitants in the 1950s and was even subject to a bid from The Beatle’s John Lennon in 1967. The Clare People understands that interest in the island is high with a number of solid enquiries coming from America and the Middle East. The island, which is home to a number of derelict building and a herd of wild goats, is likely to sell for less than the € 500,000 guide price.

The sale of the island is being managed by Philip O’Reilly Auctioneers in Ennis, who believes that it will take a person with “a lot of money and balls” to buy the island.

“We’ve had a lot of interest in the island. We’ve had a lot of interest from America, mostly from expats but we’ve also had interest from people in the Middle East,” Philip told The Clare People .

“At the moment there is nothing at all on the island but a herd of wild goats. But it is perfectly located, just a half a mile from the coast. You can see the island when you are teeing off of a lot of the holes down in Doonbeg and whenever I play down there people are always asking me what it is.

“It would take a person with a lot of money and balls to buy the island and at the moment there doesn’t seem to be someone like that in Ireland. But it is a great opportunity for someone – this is a 180-acre island which is likely to be sold for less than the asking price of € 500,000.”

While no official bid has been made for the island, The Clare People understands the there are currently three very interested enquires and a large number of others who have yet to show a formal interest in the property.

Planning permission for a tourism development on the island has been turned down in the past so and, according to Mr O’Reilly, the island is likely to be bought for a home rather than a commercial development.

SEVEN Clare people yesterday became the first unemployed people in Ireland to get a year-long job under the new Tús scheme.

The scheme, which is being ran under the supervision of the Clare Local Development Company (CLDC), will give unemployed Clare people a chance to get paid € 20 extra a month to take on a job at a community or social project around the county.

Two of the employees will be based at the offices of the CLDC itself, implementing the Warmer Home Scheme in the county and designing websites for a number of different community group around the county.

Other groups to benefit from the scheme yesterday are the Moyasta Community Group, St Pat’s Soccer Club in Kilmihil, Clare GAA at Cusack Park, the Tulla Soccer Club and the Kilkishen Development Association.

Workers at 11 more Clare organisations will begin next Monday, July 11, and a total of 100 places have been allocated to Clare in total.

Currently more than 104 community projects have asked to be considered for a work placement but, according to Jackie Bonfield of the CLDC, the organisation is desperate for people in North Clare and in the south east of the county to put their community group forward.

“The candidates for this scheme were chosen through random selection and we have been conducting interviews with 300 clients to determine what kind of work would suit them best. Someone might have worked in an office all their life but wanted to get into gardening – so we can try and match them with a group who needs gardening work done,” said Jackie.

“Even though we are already oversubscribed for with community group looking for workers, we are desperate to talk to groups in the North Clare area – from Ennistymon up to the Ballyvaughan area – and to people in the south east of the coun- ty; we have a shortage of community group in this area.”

Tús works by giving short-term quality work opportunities for the unemployed both in the community and voluntary sector. Each work placements will last for a 12-month period and the participants will receive an additional € 20 a week payment on top of their social welfare payment. The project was yesterday welcomed by Clare TD Michael McNamara (Lab).

“Work carried out by Tús must benefit the community. Participants will learn new skills and will also be able to apply the skills they already have to the work they will be undertaking,” he said.

A CLARE woman made history at the weekend when she was one half of the first two-person Irish relay team to swim the English Channel.

Maighread McMahon (33), who is from Kilmaley, and swim partner Lynsey Dunne battled fatigue, motion sickness, jellyfish stings and darkness to complete the swim from England to France in 13 hours and 53 minutes.

Accompanied by a pilot boat, the pair set off from the English coast at 9am on Friday morning. Alternating two-hour shifts in the water, the journey was eventually completed at 11.40pm when Dublin-born Sligo resident Lynsey climbed out of the water in France.

A jubilant Maighread told The Clare People yesterday that she was delighted to have been part of the record-breaking challenge. She said, “It was a long day but a good day.”

In crossing the channel, Maighread and Lynsey raised € 10,000 for the Irish Cancer Society. Most crosschannel swims are attempted in groups of six or as solo efforts. However, Maighread and Lynsey are believed to be the first Irish two-person team to complete the swim.

A former student of Killable National School and Coláiste Muire secondary school in Ennis, Maighread started training for the challenge last April.

She said, “I had been doing a lot of triathlons and swimming would have been my best event. So I said to Lynsey, would you be interested in swimming the channel?”

Training involved swimming six days a week in the seas around Ireland. Mairead, a quality manager with Diageo, explained, “It’s hard work when you are working as well. You have to do a lot of ‘carbing up’ to put on weight so you don’t get hypothermia.”

The rules of the challenge meant that Maighread and Lynsey could only be in the water for a maximum of two hours at a time.

Conditions may have been warm and relatively calm but the pair did have to contend with jellyfish.

Maighread said, “I got a few jelly- fish stings across the face. Some of them were really quite painful. But I thought, there’s no way a jellyfish is going to get the better of me.”

Despite temperatures hitting 29 degrees, Maighread had to stay well wrapped up while she was on the boat to keep her body temperature high. On board, she also had to fight the effects of motion sickness. However, the most dangerous part of the journey came right at the very end.

She said, “The tide changed and it was dark so you couldn’t see what was above or around you.”

Maighread is still in England, taking a well-deserved break. Now living in Carlow, she intends to take part in swimming events in Ireland and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of attempting a solo cross-channel swim. “I need to have a think about it. But after doing it, it would be fantastic to do it solo.”

THE young students and teachers from the Mol an Óige primary school in Ennistymon last week paid tribute to two German trainee students who have lived and worked in the town for free for the past 10 months.

German students Anika Fuchs and Johanna Hohn have spent the last 10 months in Ennistymon, immersing themselves both in the life of the school and in the workings of rural Ireland.

Both women have also been a huge help to the school, which is the fastest growing school in the county.

“They have been absolutely invaluable this year. This is the first time that we have had volunteer teachers from abroad and we are really happy with the way that it turned out. It was a big boost for the school this year,” said Sinead Barrett of the Mol an Óige school.

“Both girls had some experience before they came but I think they have both learned a massive amount while they were here. The girls were facilitated to come here by Léargas, who were able to fund a host families for the girls – which was a great way of helping them settle in and to learn more about the area.”

As well as immersing themselves in the school and the local area, the trip also allowed the girls to learn more about the Steiner method of education.

“I really wanted to work with children and to improve my English at the same time. The kids are lovely here so it was a good experience,” said Johanna.

“I live near Berlin so it was a big difference coming to the west of Ireland. But I really liked it here – I got to know the Irish culture very well and the landscape, so it was a really good experience. My time here was great and now what I want to do is study social studies back in Germany and work with children.”

Both girls say they have enjoyed their time in Ennistymon and will be returning to Clare again in the future.

“It is my dream to become a German and English teacher so I thought it was a good idea for me to come over and work in a school and get some good training,” said Anika.

“It was very nice here. I love the countryside in Clare and Ennistymon is a really nice town. The school has been very good. At first it was a little difficult, I had to get used to how things work at a Steiner school, but I love being here with the students and the teachers.”

ENNIS Golf Club has installed a new security system aimed at ensuring greater protection for staff and members in response to recent break-ins at the club.

Members must now type in an access code at the main entrance door in order to gain access to the clubhouse at night. Last year, a group of people gained entry to the clubhouse late at night by cutting a hole in the roof at the rear of the building and into the bar area, where a safe was removed.

Earlier this year, an intruder broke glass in the club shop before gaining access to the dressing room area.

Honourary secretary John Cullinane explained that in light of those recent events and given that staff are often alone in the building at night when they finish work, the club felt it was necessary to improve security.

He explained, “It was done more so for the health and safety of staff. Some nights you might only have one female staff member working alone.” Mr Cullinane added, “We have CCTV to identify members and an alarm system. We were looking at security issues in general for the club house.”

Meanwhile, Mr Cullinane added that members have responded positively by email and letter to Clare County Council’s request for submission to a proposed pedestrian crossing.

Speed ramps have been installed on a section of road near the golf club. The ramps form part of an overall scheme of traffic calming measures, which will include the installation of a pedestrian crossing, linking sections of the golf course.

Ennis Golf Club has contributed € 10,000 to the overall cost of the project, which members say is essential to protect members’ safety.

In May, the council launched a public consultation process with all submissions and/or objections to be submitted by June 24.

Speaking then, Town Engineer Eamon O’Dea that the ramps are necessary to slow traffic ahead of the pedestrian crossing. He said cars often travel at speeds of 70km per hour in an area where the speed limit is 50km per hour.

The measures had been opposed by some councillors who claimed they had caused disruption to motorists.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Cullinane said the gradient of the ramps had been lowered in order to address the concerns of the public. He said the crossing remained dangerous for maintenance staff and golfers, particularly the club’s 200 senior members.

Mr Cullinane added that engineers at both Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council had expressed support for the installation of a pedestrian crossing.

LAHINCH ar tist Michael Hanrahan wi ll later this mont h become the only l iving Irish ar tist to have a piece of his work included in the most exclusive ar t collection in the world.

Michael, who was the only ar tist accredited to cover the Queen’s historic visit to Ireland, will fly out from Shannon Ai r por t later this month to hand-deliver one of his works to Buckingham Palace.

The for mer banker, who reti red from the financial world to become an ar tist just five years ago, received a letter from Buckingham Palace last Wednesday, informing him t hat the Queen would be “ver y pleased” to receive the painti ng for her collection.

The painting, which depicts President Mar y McAleese and the Queen at the Garden of Remembrance, was on display at Kenny’s Ar t Galler y in Lahinch over t he weekend, and will hang at White Ar t Gallery in Dublin for three weeks before being hand-del ivered by Michael to Buckingham Palace.

“The letter came into my postbox yesterday and I knew it was an i mpor tant letter when I spot ted the royal seal on t he back of it. The letter had been sent from the Queen’s private secretar y telling me that the Queen would be ver y pleased to receive one of my paintings. I was overwhel med and ver y honoured,” said Michael.

“The Queen has one of t he biggest and most expensive ar t collections i n the world. Some are held in Buckingham Palace and some at another palace in Edinburgh.

“This work will be exhibited all around t he UK as par t of the Queen’s diamond jubilee next year and it is amazing to think that an ar tist from Clare would be par t of this collection.

“I will be t he proudest man in Ireland flying from Shannon over to London with that painting to deliver it to the Queen.”

Michael was t he only non-photographer given full access to record t he Queen’s visit to Ireland earlier t his year in its enti rety.

“I was there for t he four days of t he t rip and I think I had a unique role to play in recording the event for future generations. It was an historic occasion. Most of t he work was done back in the Cour thouse Gallery and Studios in Ennistymon,” continued Michael.

“As an ar tist, I had the oppor t unity to think about it and do somet hing a bit different. A painting is different from a photograph – it’s framed and it is an inter pret ation. I t hink this puts more of an emphasis on people to t hink about what t hey are looking at. This was an opport unity t hat I couldn’t pass up.”

A TOTAL of 11,892 dwellings in Clare are currently not being lived in, a figure which equates to over a fifth of the entire housing stock in the county.

The figure was made public with the release of prelimenary Census 2011 findings which recorded the number of vacant residences, while at the same time revealing a rise in the population of the county by some 5.5 per cent.

There are now 116,885 people living in the county, only the second time in 110 years that the county’s population has broken the 110,000 barrier.

The Census figures reveal that the number of new housing stock in Clare increased by 14 per cent in between the 2006 and 2011 censuses, which means that Clare house builds ran ahead of the national average of 13.3 per cent.

However, the breakdown of these figures have also revealed that this in housing numbers has contributed to a sharper increase in the number of vacant dwellings around the county.

The vacancy rate in Clare is now running at nearly 22 per cent, eight points higher than the national average of 14.7 per cent, with the western seaboard being the worst part of the county affected.

A map of the county produced by the CSO shows that vacancy rates in west and north Clare are now running at over 25 per cent, startling figures that back up claims made to The Clare People by a number of Census enumerators from their experiences on the ground back in April.

Only seven other counties have higher rates of vacant housing than Clare, the reason being traced back to the building boom that saw a proliferation of holiday homes during the Celtic Tiger years and the special seaside resort status given to Kilkee and Lahinch by the Rainbow Coalition in the 1990s.

A BURNING candle in the sitting room of a house may have caused the death of a 53-year-old man in a house fire over the weekend.

Michael Kennedy died after a fire broke out at a newly-renovated singlestorey home on the Grange Road in Ballina in the early hours of Sunday.

Two other people – Mr Kennedy’s wife and a friend – who were also in the house at the time, escaped from another room. However, Mr Kennedy became trapped in the sitting room.

He was pronounced dead at the scene and his body was taken to Limerick Regional Hospital for a post mortem examination, which was carried out by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis.

The fire broke out after 2am. The scene was preserved and a Garda technical examination took place on Sunday.

“The fire started in the sitting room in the house. The sitting room was very badly damaged,” said Inspector John O’Sullivan of Killaloe Garda Station, who is heading up the enquiry into the tragic accident.

He said the two women who escaped from the house were “badly shaken” but fortunately did not receive serious burn injuries. Gardaí have taken statements from the ladies, in an effort to determine the exact cause of the fire.