Category: News

DOOLIN will become the main ferry port transporting an estimated 70,000 tourists to the Aran Islands each year should the planned Doolin Pier Development get the go ahead.

That is the opinion of a group representing local tourist interests, ferry operators, the Doolin Community Harbour Co-op and the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard who met in Doolin last week.

At present less than 10 per cent of the estimated 70,000 people who visit Aran travel through Doolin. According to the Doolin groups, the development of the new pier could attract more than half of these tourists to north Clare, with research also showing that 68 per cent of the people who visit the Islands from Doolin would stay at least one night in Clare.

The pier is being opposed by local surfers who believe that it will damage the famous surfing wave at Crab Island just off Doolin Pier.

According to Niall O’Dwyer of Doolin Tourism, the local people are depending on the pier to kick-start the tourism trade in Doolin and in the entire county.

“We are relying on this pier development to turn the tide for tourism in Doolin. It means we can bring large group to the pier all through the year which will give massive sustainability to the businesses lately,” he said.

“This will mean a lot to the people of the whole county. Coaches go to Galway at the moment to access the Aran Island but in reality it would be much easier for them to leave from here. More than 90 per cent of the traffic to the Aran Island goes through Galway but massive amount of that would go from Doolin if this pier is developed.”

More than 91 per cent of the entire population of Inis Oírr have signed a petition submitted to Clare County Council in favour of the pier development.

“The people of Inis Oírr have a close association with north Clare going back generations, not just in Doolin but also in Ballyvaughan and New Quay. This pier has enormous potential to reform those bonds which were formed over generations,” said ferry operator Eugene Garrihy.

“We are firmly of the belief that Clare can promote itself as a tourist location on its own if we secure this development but we must provide a better service for the people who come here.”

According to Mr Garrihy, this development is needed to prevent the emigration of the young people from the area and the eventual destruction of the old traditions in Doolin.

“I grew up in Doolin. I remember holding my mother’s hand when eight of my siblings emigrated to America and to England. I have a sister in New York who emigrated the day I was born, she is still there. I remember the tears and the suffering and the pain and all of that is happening again,” he continued.

“We have an opportunity now to do something that will create sustainable employment in the long term. We believe a good compromise has been reached and we just want to get on with it now.”

OVERCROWDING at the existing pier in Doolin is becoming an increasing safety hazard, both for tourists and water users according to the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard, who use the pier to launch their rescue crafts.

The existing pier is also believed to be too close in the shore-line, meaning that in the case of an emergency a docking boat would not have time to stop before it washes up on the rocks off the pier.

“When the new pier will be built all of the commercial traffic will be able to work off the new pier which will leave the existing pier and slipway for the use of the coastguard and leisure users – so it will take a huge amount of traffic off the existing pier and make things much safer for those using it,” said Mattie Shannon of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard.

“The coastguard would be very concerned about the amount of traffic that is currently operating off the pier as it now stands – not just for our own sake but also for the safety of the tens of thousands of tourists who will be using the pier during the summer months. It would be much better from a safety position if the new pier was allowed to go ahead.”

According to Niall Hughes of the Doolin Community Harbour Co-op, there is a large market from leisure craft owners, scuba diving and other sea uses to access the pier at Doolin.

“The existing harbour is too shallow and it dries out at low tide and the situation now is that there are so many people coming in and out at high tide that the pier gets overwhelmed.

“The pier is far too small for the needs of the community. It has gotten to the stage now that it is nearly all commercial boats coming in now and there is no room for leisure boats – but there is a big demand for leisure boats,” he said.

“There is a huge demand from scuba clubs, families, people who go fishing – to use the pier from a leisure point of view.

“If we have this deep water pier it means that the commercial boats can have safe access at all stages during the tide and the old pier can be used solely for leisure based activities. This is down to safety, there is just not enough space for everyone who wants to use the pier.”

THE owner of a new erotic sex shop has vowed to defy the “Joe Duffy brigade” when he opens his premises on O’Connell Street on St Patrick’s Day.

Businessman Pat Glynn will officially open the Erotica shop this Thursday and has signed a one year lease on the premises which was occupied by Moran’s until 2006 and most recently by the Two Euro Shop.

Speaking to The Clare People yesterday, Mr Glynn said that his shop was not a brothel and nothing illegal would be allowed to take place on the premises.

“People have questioned my decision to open an adult shop in the current age where internet porn is free and easily accessible, however Ennis has a huge population of people over 35 that have difficulty using the internet and after looking at the success of adult shops in places like Cork and Waterford I decided to take the leap of faith and face the backlash of the Joe Duffy brigade,” he told The Clare People .

“The shop will be selling a range of sex toys, magazines, DVDs, erotic chocolates, lubricants, sex games and other fun items. For the people that think it will promote illegal activities I can assure them that we will not be promoting anything of the sort.

“There is a difference between an adult store and a brothel. Sex is no longer something to be ashamed about and I do feel the minority that do have a problem with it clearly think we’re involved in illegal activities.”

Mr Glynn did admit that the location on O’Connell street “may be controversial” but said that the shop will be strictly over 18’s and efforts will be made to tone down the shop during daylight hours.

“We will do our best to keep the shop out of the public eye until after 8pm – we will have the blinds pulled and the pink neon light switched off until this time,” he said.

The head of the O’Connell’s Street Traders Association, Gearoid Mannion, has welcomed the new business, saying as long as nothing illegal is taking place, most local traders would welcome the adult shop.

“They will be paying rates the same as all the rest of us so, once it’s all legal, why should anyone have a problem with it. It’s up to the public now to vote with their feet after that and decide if it is going to be success,” he said.

COUNTY Clare is lagging behind the rest of the country in terms of job creation, with the recession now likely to linger in the Banner County when job growth returns in other areas.

New figures releases from the Central Statistic Office (CSO) revealed that 10,814 people signed on the Live Register in Clare last month, the second highest amount recorded in Clare since records began.

The number of people signing on the Live Register nationally has fallen by 22,624 or 4.51 per cent since the peak of the unemployment crisis in August of 2010. However, the number of people signing on in Clare has actually increased by almost one per cent (0.81 per cent) over the same period.

This means that the rate of change in the numbers signing on in Clare is more than 5 per cent worse than the number signing on in the rest of the country.

According to CSO figures, 10,814 people signed onto the Live Register in Clare last month, a drop of 69 peo- ple from the January figures.

More than half of all those people signing on were located in Ennis, where 5,998 people signed on last month. This represents a small drop of 0.34 per cent or 21 people since January.

Similar small drops were recorded around the county with offices in Ennistymon, Tulla and Kilrush reporting 1,747, 1,568 and 1,501 people signing on respectively.

While the news is bad in Clare, Seán Murphy of Chamber Ireland believe that the figures indicate a stabilisation of the unemployment levels nationally.

“The seasonally adjusted Live Register figures provide another indication of an ongoing stabilisation in the economy. While this suggests that we are slowly turning our economy and jobs market around, clearly much needs to be done to reduce unemployment levels further,” he said.

Chambers Ireland has called on the new Government to abolish Employment Regulation Orders (ERO) and Registered Employment Agreements (REA) as a means of prompting jobs growth.

THE Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard has thrown its support behind Clare County Council’s plans for a € 6 million development of Doolin Pier.

The planning department of Clare County Council has received more than 30 submissions from members of the public in relation to the project, which is due to be decided in the coming days.

Plans for the pier had been opposed by local surfing groups on the grounds that the development would damage two world renowned waves located at Crab Island and Doolin Pier.

A decision on Clare County Council Part 8 planning permission was due in December last but the elected members of the council asked for more time to be allowed for submissions to be made. A final decision is due to be made at next Monday’s March meeting of the local authority.

In his submission to Clare County Council, Mattie Shannon of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard said that the new proposal would make the pier safer for use.

“It will make it much safer for commercial craft to use the new pier while Doolin Coastguard will have the space it needs at the existing facility with reduced congestion,” he said.

The project also received supportive submissions from a number of local organisations including The Russell Centre and Doolin Tourism, while a large number of submissions were also received from local and national surf organisations.

In a submission lodged by Cliodhna Fawl of the West Coast Surf Club in Lahinch it is claimed that the pier will be a “serious danger” to surfers in the area.

“Apart from the damage that the proposed work will undoubtedly do to the world famous wave environment, the design poses a serious and significant health and safety threat to the surfers accessing the waves at Doolin Point and Crab Island,” she says.

“Surf tourism is a highly important and valuable income stream for west Clare, throughout the year, and to proceed with the proposed works without any assessment of the impact on these waves or without any input from surfers sends the wrong message not only outside of Clare but also outside of Ireland.”

A BOIL notice will remain in place in Ballyvaughan until the new multimillion Ballyvaughan Water Scheme comes on line later this month. The Clare People has learnt that Clare County Council plans to bring the new € 5 million scheme on line within the next two weeks. The development was originally due to come on line before the end of 2010, but a number of small delays have delayed completing the project until this month. Once the scheme is fully connected, the local authority will then enter into a period of consultation with the Health Service Executive (HSE) with a view to possibly lifting the boil water notice.

This latest boil notice came into effect at the beginning of February and is the third boil notice to be put in place in Ballyvaughan in the past nine months. A spokesperson from the local authority confirmed to The Clare People yesterday that the boil notice would not be stood down until the connection to the new water supply is completed.

However, even if the new scheme becomes operational before the end of March, it could be mid to late April before the boil water notice itself is lifted.

“It is anticipated that water supply from the new scheme will be made live in the next fortnight. Once commissioning is complete we will meet with the HSE with a view to removing the boil notice. This may take a further number of weeks at which point we would officially advise consumers,” said a council spokesperson.

The new € 5 million project will connect the Ballyvaughan water supply with the local Ennistymon water supply drawn from Lickeen Lake. A number of local groups in Ballyvaughan campaigned against the development, requesting instead that measures be put in place to improve the existing water supply in the village.

Clare County Council also confirmed yesterday that it still taking numbers from north Clare residents who wish to be informed via text message if there is any future disruption in the water supply.

The innovative new text service was introduced in Ballyvaughan earlier this year after a number of local residents and businesses complained at not being informed that their water was not fit for human consumption.

The current boil water notice effects all homes on the Ballyvaughan Public Water Supply including the Muckinish, Gleninagh, Gregans, Knocknagrough and Newtown group water schemes.

Anyone who receives water from these schemes is asked to boil all water used for drinking, cooking, making ice-cubes and brushing teeth before using it.

THE multi-million euro aquarium at Lahinch Seaworld will be forced to close later this month because a lack of funding will prevent it from gaining an operating license. The Clare People understands that the aquarium faces its final license check on March 24 and because of damage to stock levels over the winter months, and a lack of funding, it will not be in a position to have its license renewed.

This comes after Lahinch Seaworld received a negative pre-license audit after an inspection earlier this year. The aquarium will be forced to close its door to customers from March 24th and it is unclear right now when it will be able to reapply for a new license.

Clare County Council, who contribute more than € 60,000 to the running of Lahinch Seaworld each year, have declined to comment on loss of the aquarium license.

“Lahinch Seaworld is a private company. The council contributes annually towards its operational costs.

“It would not be appropriate for the council to comment on the current financial status of the company,” said a spokesperson from the local authority yesterday.

Seaworld Manager Ian Taylor also declined to comment on the financial situation at the facility but did call on all local people to get behind the project.

“We are making changes here and things are slowly improving. We are aiming high, but with little support we will always struggle. What we need now is for all of the people to get behind us.

“We have some great facilities here, a fantastic new restaurant, we have just brought in a new pricing structure which will make it very attractive for people to use our pool, gym other facilities.

“What we really need now is for all the community to get behind us.

“We are getting involved with the local people and inviting them to become a much bigger part of what we do at Seaworld,” he said.

According to the latest annual accounts lodged for Lahinch Seaworld and Leisure Centre PLC, the company made of loss of just over € 97,000 in 2009.

According to these accounts the facility had received € 1,905,000 in government grants up until the end of 2009.

THE Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) discriminates against Shannon Airport and Ryanair in favour of propping up Dublin Airport and the national carrier Aer Lingus.

That’s the claim levelled at the ruling body of Ireland’s three State airports this week by an angry Ryanair boss, Michael O’Leary, after the DAA refused to give the green light for the low-cost carrier’s one million traffic offer for Shannon, in return for a ‘growth incentive scheme’ of € 4.20 per passenger.

“We wrote to them offering to increase our passengers from a base of 300,000, where it is currently, to 1.3 million if they did nothing other than extend the existing transfer incentive scheme, which they admit they have given to Aer Lingus,” said Mr O’Leary.

“The growth would start from November with the introduction of a winter schedule and would grow to 600,000 passengers in year one to a total of a million passengers in year five. I don’t understand why Shannon say it’s unsustainable when it mirrors exactly the deal that the DAA are paying Aer Lingus in Dublin.

“They have this transfer growth incentive scheme they’ve given to Aer Lingus and when we ask for this for Shannon and say we’ll deliver a million additional passengers, they say it’s too expensive. I don’t understand why Shannon say it’s unsustainable when it mirrors exactly the deal that the DAA are paying Aer Lingus in Dublin. The DAA would prefer if Shannon Airport was empty, which it is,” added Mr O’Leary.

Continuing the Ryanair chief said that the DAA was responsible for the collapse in Shannon’s traffic and that his airline was the only one capable of delivering substantial passenger growth at the airport.

“The DAA has overseen the collapse of Shannon traffic from 3.6m passengers in 2007 to just 1.7m passengers in 2010,” he said. “Ryanair is the only airline willing and able to deliver dramatic new route and traffic growth at Shannon and the refusal by the DAA of Ryanair’s one million passenger growth offer proves, yet again, that Dublin Airport has no interest in traffic growth at Shannon.

“If they did, Dublin would not have raised Shannon passenger charges by 33 per cent in November 2010 ( just four months ago) when inflation was 0 per cent and Shannon traffic was collapsing. Furthermore, if the DAA was ‘committed to incentivising growth’ as Declan Collier claims, the DAA would have accepted Ryanair’s offer of 1m growth passengers at Shannon, on similar terms to those currently enjoyed by Aer Lingus at Dublin,” he added.

SHANNON Airport is better off financially by having lower passenger numbers, Dublin Airport Authority chief David Dilger has claimed in rejecting out of hand Ryanair’s proposal to boost passenger numbers at the ailing airport by one million over the next five years.

He made comments when claiming that Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary wanted “hello money” in return for a commitment to boost its services in Shannon back to pre-2009 levels when it operated 53 routes from the airport.

“There isn’t a business in the country that can afford to pay its customers to deal with it,” said David Dilger in rejecting the Ryanair one million offer in return for a ‘growth incentive scheme’ that would see the DAA pay Ryanair € 4.20 for every new passnenger brought through the airport.

“All of us are in business to earn a reasonable profit. I’m afraid Michael’s purported generosity to Shannon is not really sustainable and we are certainly not going to pay him to bring passengers in.

“The fact is the financial situation of Shannon is much better today than it was with a far bigger number of passengers,” said Mr Dilger.

In reference to a previous deal between the DAA and Ryanair at Shannon, Mr Dilger claimed “that deal was never completed by Ryanair.

“The promises that Ryanair made were not delivered to this community and Ryanair paid € 3.7m to the DAA in the High Court in order to reflect their failure to complete the terms of that deal.

“Interestingly, the first part of that deal they want to do now is they want the € 3.7m that was won in the High Court back. So as well as being paid to deliver passengers they want ‘hello money’ as well.”

Mr Dilger’s comments came in the wake of Mr O’Leary’s move to gate-crash the Shannon Chamber of Commerce event in Bunratty Castle Hotel last Wednesday, prior to holding his own press conference in the Clarion Hotel in Limerick later that afternoon.

“ I do not think Shannon will return a profit this year,” said Mr Dilger, “but it is well on the way to becoming sustainable. It’s very important to us that we break even by 2012. That’s the plan and that’s what we will do,” he added.

A FREE alternative heating event organised by local Renewable Energy Consultants Ensoleir will be held on March 10 at Temple Gate Hotel. It is open to the public from 5pm with a seminar-style session for biomass installers beforehand.

The event will be of interest to anyone who wants to reduce their heating bills with the use of a renewable resource like wood and will inform about alternative heating solutions while also launching a new good value multifuel boiler.

Corofin-based company Ensoleir (short for Energy Solutions Ireland), who have recently been a major contributor to the first installation of a Miscanthus-fuelled boiler in Ireland, are now also providing domestic alternative heating solutions fuelled by wood and other solid fuels. In partnership with several wood energy suppliers and supported by Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) and Limerick Clare Energy Agency (LCEA), Ensoleir are offering a free-of-charge informative event on March 10 at the Temple Gate Hotel in Ennis.

“The alternative heating market has been identified as one of rapid growth over the coming years. The Limerick Clare Energy Agency is delighted to support the Getting Renewables Right event organised by local company Ensoleir and partners,” said Pat Stephens, Manager of Limerick Clare Energy Agency.

He welcomed the collaboration between local businesses by saying, “It is great to see local small business in the alternative heating sector coming together and pooling their expertise and resources to make themselves available to the public for questions and advice.”

The afternoon will start with a seminar for biomass installers at 2pm supported by speakers from the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) and Limerick Clare Energy Agency (LCEA). Throughout the day there will be live demonstrations of a new boiler series in a tailored van that includes the complete heating system.

“In order to provide a good quality product to our customers we believe that we need to go beyond advising them about the benefits of our highquality boilers. We want to provide them with the necessary network to make sure that the installation and maintenance of the boiler as well as the delivery of wood pellets and the pellet quality and availablility are secured from the start,” said Fritz Mohn, founder and CEO of Ensoleir.