Category: News

SHANNON Airport must be “freed from the dead hand of the Dublin Airport Authority” and sold by the State to the highest bidder, Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary has told The Clare People in outlining his blueprint for the survival of the former hub of the aviation world as an airport of international standing.

O’Leary’s radical proposal to sell Shannon to secure its future came as he launched a new bid to generate much needed business at the airport that has been in passenger freefall over the past two years after Ryanair slashed its operations for a peak of 53 routes down to its current status of three.

In pledging to provide an extra million passengers to the airport over the next five years if granted a growth incentive scheme similar to the one ac- corded to Aer Lingus in Dublin, Mr O’Leary has challenged the incoming government to finally grant Shannon its independence by selling it.

“There is going to be much more radical solutions under the next government,” said O’Leary “and I strongly believe that one of the first State assets that should be sold should be Cork and Shannon Airports to non DAA ownership that would be committed to growing traffic.

“Seamus Brennan tried to give Shannon its independence but he was shafted by Bertie and the unions. It would be a very brave politican, particularly if it were a coalition government involving Labour that would come up with a plan to give Shannon its independence and upset Brother Beggs and Brother O’Connor.

“But Shannon should be sold debt free. The debts should stay with Dub- lin and I say that as Dublin’s biggest customer, so I’ll probably be still paying off the debt. The only way forward for traffic growth, for jobs and for tourism in Shannon and Cork is to free them from the DAA.

“One airline has demonstrated the ability to grow traffic at Shannon – that’s Ryanair. No one can take away from the fact that over the last five years we were operating over 50 routes to and from Shannon.

“There was a buzz about the place; there was traffic growth; we were working closely with what started off as the independent board of Shannon under Pat Shanahan and Tadhg Kearney. Shannon isn’t independent anymore and the best way to give it its independence would be to sell it,” added Mr O’Leary.

THE Dublin Airport Authority stand indicted for allowing Shannon Airport go into “freefall” over the last two years, Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary has claimed, while warning that only his budget airline is “the only” way the airport can be saved.

“Shannon is in freefall. It’s facing a traffic collapse and I think that Ryanair is the obvious and only way the traffic collapse at Shannon can be reversed,” said O’Leary as he launched a scathing attack on the DAA’s com- mitment to Shannon.

“The last 12 months show that the DAA have no interest in growing Shannon. They are busily rewriting history at the moment to say that Ryanair shut the base in Shannon last year because of the tourist tax. We didn’t. We cut back capacity because of the tourist tax from 1.9 million passengers to about 1.3 million. We are now down to 300,000

“We did write to the DAA in January of 2010, saying ‘do you want to extend the five-year low cost agreement’, under which we were paying Shannon about € 1 per departing passenger. The DAA wrote back and said no

“They have no interest in Shannon and the reason why the DAA don’t want any discounts in Shannon is they don’t want discounts in Shannon because they’d have to offer them in Dublin Airport.

“The DAA doesn’t care about Shannon and would happily neglect Shannon at the altar of protecting their high costs in Dublin. Shannon Airport at the moment is dying on its feet. It has almost no flights. It has very few passengers and compared to the buzz that was in the place two years ago when Ryanair were growing and opening up nearly 40 routes, the place is dying on its feet.”

“Shannon Airport is facing two alternative strategies. One, you can accept Ryanair’s offer, an offer from the largest airline in the world, to deliver a million new passengers. Two, you can all troop off to some conference in a couple of weeks times hosted by SFDCO, the DAA, the local county councils and all the usual talkers and hoteliers and the Diaspora and all the rest of them gobshites, who’ll talk and talk for f****** Ireland and not deliver for Ireland and not deliver one passenger.

“We could have done this a couple of weeks ago and tried to make an election issue out of it. There is no point making this a political issue – it’s a business issue. The DAA – you own Shannon Airport; it’s collapsing in front of you; your 33 per cent cost increase last November has put the final nail in the coffin. Do you want to grow traffic. If you do here’s the deal?”

CLARE poet, storyteller and author Eddie Stack will publish a book based on the people, music and stories of Doolin later this year.

The Ennistymon born author has been working on compiling The Doolin Book for more then a decade and will include extracts of interviews with some of the town’s most legendary past residents.

One of the highlight of the book will be an extensive interview with Micho Russell conducted by Stack before his death in 1994.

In this rare interview, Micho talks about his time growing up in Doolin as well as how he and his brothers learned their music and songs in the area.

“Doolin is one the few places in Ireland where all the strands of Irish traditional arts survived until relatively recently,” said Stack.

“This book is about these arts; the music, the singing, the dancing and the storytelling. It’s about the artists, the environment which fostered them and the legacy they left for younger musicians and singers.

“It is based on my local knowledge, research, archival materials as well as field recordings of the Doolin tradition bearers from the 1970s and early ‘80s.”

Eddie also hopes to produce an “enhanced ebook” version of The Doo- lin Book , which will have embedded video and audio and be programmed for use with the iPad.

Besides the Russell brothers, the book will also focus on Doolin’s other famous musical family – the Killougherys.

A section of the book will examine the music of John and Paddy Killoughery, renowned local musicians who had a long association with traditional Irish house dancing.

They were cohorts of the Russell brothers and played together at house dances and sessions for over fifty years – until the practice was stopped by the local parish priest.

The book will also focus on Paddy Pharaic Mhichil Shannon, who was the last native Irish speaker to live in the region. In an interview Paddy remembers the old storytellers, dancing masters and musicians of the area as well as talking about the decline of the Irish language in the area.

Doolin’s long tradition of storytelling will also feature in the book with extracts recorded by the Irish Folklore Commission in the 1920s with Stiofáin Uí hEalaoire, Johnny Carún, Seán O’Caolaí, Liam Ó Duilleáin and Seán MacMathúna.

Also featured is an interview with storyteller Paddy Sherlock broadcast on the BBC by Seamus Ennis in the 1950s.

For more information search for The Doolin Book on Facebook.

PLANNING and preparation is “systematic and effective” at a second-level school in Shannon, while assessment practices are of a high standard.

A report in relation to St Caimin’s Community School in Shannon noted that the school has good lines of communication with students.

The report presents the findings of an evaluation of the quality of learning and teaching. It has been just published by the Department of Education and Skills, after an inspection was carried out at the school in November.

“The overall quality of learning and teaching in the lessons observed was good,” noted the report.

“With the support of senior management, a dedicated and effective team of teachers works closely with colleagues to promote inclusive practices among all teachers in all lessons,” stated the report.

It remarked that students identified with special educational needs benefit considerably from their time in St Caimin’s, while “a continuum of supports and interventions is implemented wisely and reviewed regu- larly”.

A number of recommendations are contained in the report. It is suggested that more detailed tracking of the total allocation of resources and their impact upon students be introduced.

It states that the extension of “individualised planning for students with low incidence needs merits consideration”.

“Greater use of team-teaching merits consideration as does the exploration of opportunities for staff to share practices that promote inclusive learning,” stated the report.

It noted that good time-tabling practices are evident in the school, which promotes access to and the development of an inclusive curriculum.

“The school adopts a holistic approach to meeting the needs of each individual in the school. Personalised learning in the collective setting of the classroom is central to the school’s engagement with students and this practice is manifested in the school’s movement, away from an over reliance on individual withdrawal, towards more in-class supports such as team-teaching. This shift in focus is in keeping with Department policy and guidelines,” stated the report.

THE efforts of hundreds of Clare people who have given their time and energy over the last two decades to charity work in central and Eastern Europe is to be recognised in a new book die to be published this week. Going Forward Looking Back was officially launched by MEP Mairead McGuinness last week and features a number of photographs taken of volunteers at work with the Burren Chernobyl Project in Belarus.

Indeed, a photograph taken by award winning photographer and Burren Chernobyl Project volunteer Maurice Gunning was chosen for the cover of the book.

The picture features Lahinch woman Tessa O’Connor in conversation with a residents in Rudyna – a residential home for older people in Belarus.

A second photo taken by Maurice is also featured in the publication. This photo features an unidentified Burren Chernobyl Project volunteer singing to Nikita – a child from the Cherven Orphanage for children with disabilities in Belarus.

Maurice travelled to Belarus for three months in 2010 and full exhibition of his photographs in planned for Glór in Ennis this April. Going Forward Looking Back tells the extraordinary story of the Irish relief efforts in central and Eastern Europe since the early 1990s.

The publication is based on interviews with 31 different Irish charity workers and volunteers who have dedicated themselves to helping the most vulnerable citizens in this region over the past twenty years.

There are more than 100 Irish voluntary groups still operating in the region today. The interviews highlight different approaches to aid and development work over the years – the highs and lows, the success stories and the lessons learned.

The publication was developed by the Eastern Europe Aid and Development Network, which was set up in 2009 to increase co-operation between Irish charities working in Eastern Europe.

The exhibition of Maurice Gunning’s photographs with the Burren Chernobyl Project in Belarus will take place on April 14 for two week. John Spillane and Juliet Turner will play a charity concert afterward with all proceed going to the Burren Chernobyl Project.

THREE were lucky escapes for a number of Clare people based in New Zealand following last week’s devastating earthquake which shook the city of Christchurch – killing 145 people.

As hopes fade for the 200 people who are still unaccounted for fol lowing last Tuesday’s 6.3 magnitude earthquake, one north Clare woman is returning to Christchurch after miraculously avoiding being caught up in the devastating natural disaster.

Ennistymon woman Aoife Garrihy is currently living in Christchurch and had a lucky escape when she decided to leave the city and travel to visit a friend in Perth, Australia, hours before the quake hit New Zealand.

Aoife, who is a doctor in Christchurch Hospital, returned home to New Zealand city on Saturday last unsure of whether her belongings survived the earthquake or not. The Clare People spoke to Aoife before she returned to Christchurch who confirmed that she was okay and looking forward to getting back to work in Christchurch.

Christchurch Hospital escaped any serious damage during the earthquake but it has been inundated with a wide variety of serious injuries since the earthquake. The Clare People contacted a number of other Clare expats currently living in New Zealand to confirm that no-one from the county had been injured in the disaster.

The earthquake was felt as far away as Auckland on New Zealand’s north island where David Hanrahan from Lissycasey and Theresa Hassett from Tulla have been living for almost a year.

“We are okay, we are up her in Auckland so we’re away from the earthquake, thank God. It’s crazy down there,” said David.

“A mate of mine from Monaghan was working in a tunnel down in Christchurch, right beside where the quake struck. He had just come out of the tunnel a couple a minutes be- fore the quake hit – he is a lucky man but he is very shook up.”

The earthquake was also felt on Wellington and Lower Hutt on the north island, where Miltown Malbay brothers David and Declan Rynne are based.

“We’re all good here in Wellington,” David told The Clare People .

“We did feel the quake but it was quite minor here compared to Christchurch. They’ve had a pretty bad six months of it down there.”

This is the second earthquake to hit the city of Christchurch in recent months. On September 4 of last year a 7.1 magnitude quake struck outside the city, injuring two people and causing major power outages.

ONE man was taken to hospital for precautionary reasons following the accidental spillage of 250 litres of sulphuric acid at the Organic Lens manufacturing plant in Ennis on Friday.

The incident occurred at 6.30am in the chemical storage area of the plant, which is located in the Gort Road Industrial Estate. The plant, which is owned by Essilor Ireland, manufactures ophthalmic corrective lenses. It has 310 people employed there.

Employees were evacuated from the building, while six units of the fire brigade from Ennis and Shannon attended the scene. 50 of the plant’s night shift workers were in the building when the incident occurred.

It is thought two drums of 98 per cent sulphuric acid fell from a pallet while they were being moved with one of the drums bursting.

No one was injured in the incident though one man was brought to Ennis General Hospital, “just as a precaution” a company spokesperson confirmed yesterday.

Employees returned to work later on Friday while a full clean up of the storage has taken place, the spokesperson said.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Health and Safety Authority were informed of the incident. An EPA inspector visited the site and verified that the spill- age was contained.

In a statement, Jim Crampton, General Manager, outlined the details of the spill. “At approximately, 6.30am Organic Lens Manufacturing had an accidental spillage of 250 litres of sulphuric acid in the chemical storage area. As part of our plant emergency procedures, the plant was evacuated and the local fire brigade alerted,” he said.

Mr Crampton also thanked emergency services and employees for their assistance.

He added, “The fire brigade are assisting the company with the clean up procedures. There were no injuries to any of our employees and the plant is returning to full production. All relevant statutory bodies have being notified. We thank the fire brigade staff and our employees for their assistance.”

The incident is the first of its kind to have occurred at the plant, which opened in Ennis in 1991.

Human Resources manager Amy O’Leary explained that a “small” chemical spill had previously taken place but this had been dealt with at the time by fully trained and equipped in house staff. “We’ve never had the fire services out here before,” she added.

Essilor is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of ophthalmic lenses. The company has been in Ireland since 1973 when a glass manufacturing facility was first established in Limerick.

A NEW ‘Spring Tide’ can sweep Clare’s Labour Party election candidate Michael McNamara into the 31st Dáil, the former leader of the party and two-time Tánaiste Dick Spring has claimed this week.

In taking a timeout from his nephew Arthur Spring’s Dáil bid in North Kerry and turning his attention to the Clare campaign, Spring told The Clare People, “We will have Labour TDs on both sides of the mouth of the Shannon on February 26 and thus make some history.”

Spring, who served as a TD from 1981 to 2002, has claimed that the groundswell of support for McNamara’s election campaign represents a throwback to Dr Moosajeé Bhamjeé’s famous election win in 1992 when the Tralee man led Labour to their historic hight of 33 Dáil seats.

“Dr Bhamjee’e victory was the sensation of the ‘92 election. As the ‘Spring Tide’ was gathering towards the end of the campaign I was asked by Party HQ to do one final day’s canvassing in Donegal NE, Cavan/ Monaghan and Clare.

“By the time I got to Shannon the pilot said if I wasn’t back on the plane in 25 minutes he would have to leave as he was running out of flying hours.

I had a 20 minute

press conference with

Bhamjeé and there

was a feeling that he

was going well but

we did not see that we

would break through

the Dev culture in

Clare. But the people

of Clare in their wis

dom came out and

supported Bhamjeé.

Dr Bhamjeé to quote

his own words did

‘bring some colour to Dáil Éireann’.

“Given the breaking of traditional political moulds that is going on at present I believe that Michael McNamara can win a Labour seat in Clare. Ireland and Irish politics will be in a very different place after this election. With the Labour Party on course to achieve 24/25 per cent of the national vote that should suffice to bring Michael across the line,” he added.

THE CREATION of hundreds of jobs in the north Clare and south Galway area have been put on hold following the news that construction work on the € 300 million Gort to Tuam motorway is to be delayed.

Work on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) was due to commence earlier this month but the National Roads Authority (NRA) have confirmed this the project has experienced difficulties due to problems obtaining funding from supporting banks.

This is the second delay which has struck the motorway, which will be used by hundreds of Clare commuters each day when completed, following a four month delay in signing contracts with the projects main contractors, the the BAM/Balfour Beatty Consortium, last September.

This delay in signing the contracts caused the construction start-time for the motorway to be put back from November of 2010 to January of 2011.

In October of 2010 a spokesperson from the NRA confirmed to the Clare People that “despite rumours to the contrary” construction work on the motorway would begin in early 2011. Despite these reassurances NRA spokesperson, Sean O’Neill, confirmed over the weekend that construction work would be delayed on the project. Mr O’Neill also said that the NRA was still committed to the 57-kilometre project and hoped that that matter would be resolved soon.

“This delay has arisen due to concerns on the part of the funding banks relating to the sovereign debt situation in Ireland, and these concerns have impacted on the timing of progressing to financial close,” he said.

It had been expected that work on the project, which would complete the Ennis to Galway motorway, will be completed by 2014 however, it is not clear when construction work on the motorway will now be able to begin.

The delay comes as a blow to the business community in north Clare and south Galway with a number of local companies expected to act as suppliers and sub contractors to the main development team.

It is also expected that the influx of workers would give a boost to the local economy.

Once completed the motorway will connect the Gort/Crusheen bypass to the M6 motorway east of Oranmore – bypassing Ardrahan, Kilcolgan and Clarinbridge. It is expected to reduce the commute time between Ennis and Galway by 15 minutes.

A MEMBER of the Clare Travelling community may soon be granted a guaranteed seat on Clare County Council, thanks to a new proposal from the chairperson of Clare County Council’s Traveller Accommodation Committee, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP).

At Friday’s Clare Active Citizenship Network debate for Clare’s General Election candidates, Cllr Meaney put forward the proposal that one seat should be temporally ring-fenced for a member of the Travelling community.

Speaking to The Clare People after the meeting, Cllr Meaney admitted that the Clare’s multi-million strategy for the Travelling community was a failure.

“We are in a situation now where the Traveller way of life seems to be at odds with the rest of the community. The policies of the past have not worked and we can’t keep employing those policies and expect that they will work. One way that we can resolve this is to include the minority group in local government – this is done with the Inuit people in parts of Canada and the Maori people in New Zealand,” he said.

“Traveller-specific accommodation has not worked – that is saying something considering all the millions that have been spent on it – and I am not in the business of making mistakes. We have to make this work – there are responsibilities to make this work.

“This is something that is practiced in a lot of democracies to provide a seat in a local assembly for a minor- ity. This is not something that would be popular in local government, it wouldn’t be popular among elected people and I’m not sure that this would be a popular in the Green Party, this is something that I am putting forward.”

According to Cllr Meaney, his proposal should allow for member of the Travelling community to be elected without assistance in future local elections in Clare.

“This is something that would be introduced as a temporary measure during a period of transition – after that I would expect that people from the Travelling community could be elected on their own bat. This would be a temporary measure – maybe for the lifetime of one or two local elections in Clare,” he said. “It is necessary that we begin to approach the Traveller situation in a new way. We need to move away from a dependency situation – where Travelling people are treated as dependents – we need to ensure that all the people can participate in our entire society. This will require a change of attitudes from all sections of our society.”