Category: News

RESIDENTS in Shannon will voice their concerns over issues in their locality at a meeting of the local town council tonight (Tuesday).

People living in the Cúl na Gréine housing estate in the Tullyvarraga area of the town feel they are being ignored and are concerned that contentious issues are not being taken seriously.

The 107-unit estate was built six years ago and issues such as antisocial behaviour have prevailed, for which locals urgently require action.

A concerned residents group has been set up, with the aim of ensuring their voices are heard by the local authorities.

Three representatives of the group will attend tonight’s meeting and are hopeful that their issues will be taken on board by the town council members. “They are coming along in solidarity of what we are doing,” said Independent Councillor Gerry Flynn, who is involved in the organisation.

“There are big issues. They have made several attempts to start a residents association but they got little or no help from Clare County Council,” said Cllr Flynn.

“There are people bringing up their children there and there are also retired people living there. They are fantastic people. All they want to do is to be able to enjoy their homes in peace,” he added.

He said that some people living in the area are the subject of threats and intimidation, while anti-social behaviour is problematic.

“There is a Neighbourhood Watch scheme. However, it is difficult to get resources even to buy a few signs. They are being forgotten about. I want to give them a voice,” he added.

Cllr Flynn is calling on the council to provide a detailed report on the estate management issues in Cúl na Gréine.

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.

CLARE FINE Gael TD Joe Carey is the latest candidate to claim reconfiguration of hospitals services has failed miserably, and he points to the largest hospital in the mid-west as proof.

He said that shocking statistics emerging from the Mid West Regional Hospital Limerick highlights the extent to which health services in the mid-west are not working.

In recent weeks, studies show that one in five patients at the Dooradoyle hospital had to wait 24 hours to be seen by a doctor, while one in four patients had a wait of between six and 12 hours.

The studies looked at 29 hospitals and found that the Mid West Regional Hospital ranked one of the worst in terms of waiting times and patient safety.

“I think it will come as no surprise to anybody in this region that the Mid-West Regional Hospital in Limerick has ranked so low in that staff working there have to deal with severe over-crowding and bed shortages on a daily basis.

“Anyone who has had to spend time in that hospital will tell you about the conditions.

“In this region, many of us warned the Government that the hospital was unable to cope and local Fianna Fáil TDs and HSE managers accused us of scare mongering.

“Now the facts speak for themselves. The reconfiguration process has placed unfair and immense pressure on staff working in Limerick’s Mid-West Regional Hospital.

“There was an attempt by the Government to fool the population into believing that Limerick was prepared for added demands placed on it. I never supported this policy and always felt it was misguided and under resourced,” he said.

“As well as consistently falling behind the majority of hospitals in the State in terms of waiting times, the statistics from Limerick in relation to staff shortages and sick days are very high. Staff there are under immense pressure.

“Months ago, I called in Dáil Éireann for an independent HIQA review of hospital reconfiguration in this region. I have contacted the Department for Health several times to insist that any further reconfiguration of services be suspended until a new Government is formed.”

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.