Category: News

A VOLUNTARY housing association has submitted plans to the HSE and the Department of Health showing it can give round the clock care to older people in a community setting, for one fifth of the cost of long-stay nursing home care.

The innovative proposal put forward by the Kilmaley Voluntary Housing Association outlines how for € 250,000 per annum from the Government, the voluntary organisation could provide 24-hour care and security to older people in its 24 housing units.

This would also move the service in Kilmaley from independent living to assisted living as the current residents get older and require more help.

The housing complex, which was set up in 2000, will open 12 more units next month bringing the number of homes in the community up to 24.

The latest plan sent to the HSE, Department of Health and the Fair Deal Review Committee proposes to increase support for residents of Kilmaley Voluntary Housing Com plex so that they can remain in their homes as long as possible.

Kilmaley Voluntary Housing Association director Tom McNamara said that the complex would then be able to provide around the clock security; assistance and care to the residents as long as they can are mobile.

The business plan shows this can be achieved if each residence pays € 75 in rent every week, which will cover all electricity, heating and other costs, and the HSE pays the required staff. The extra staffing cost would come to € 250, 579, along with the € 150,000 costs already covered for the day-care centre.

The business plan claims that a similar service at Cahercalla Nursing Home would cost € 1.2 million, € 1.3 million at St Joseph’s Hospital, and € 1.1 million in Páirc Na Coille Nursing Home.

The benefits would not just be monetary, said Mr McNamara who is also a member of Clare County Council, but would allow older people to have their own home while also having security and assistance as required.

“All we are looking for is the staff costs. We have the infrastructure and we have the expertise to run it on a voluntary capacity,” he said. “We want people to grow old in as normal a way as possible and to be secure and safe as they do,” he added.

A RECENT spate of business closures in Ennis re-enforces the importance of customers shopping locally.

That’s according to one local businessman who said many small businesses in the town are “struggling to stay open”.

Gearoid Mannion, Chairman of the O’Connell Street Trader’s Association, said the closure of as many as a dozen small businesses in Ennis in recent weeks is “disappointing”.

“Even though there is this talk of green shoots and of an economy being in recovery, it shows that those green shoots don’t extend as far as small businesses who have been living on the edge for the past four years now.

“A lot of the talk about recovery is premature and based on optimism. The reality is a lot different. The reality is a lot of businesses are struggling to survive… We’re certainly not out of the woods yet.”

Mr Mannion said a lot of businesses are being left with no option but to pull down the shutters.

“It got to a point where a lot of people are putting their own personal money into the business just to keep going. That was never going to be sustainable long term and there comes a point where people just have to call a halt. There are a lot of businesses struggling to stay open, to meet their responsibilities and pay their staff,” he explained.

The well-known Leavy’s shoe shop on O’Connell Street is probably the most high profile casualty of the slump in retail activity.

Businesses on Abbey Street are equally concerned about the future with as many as nine vacant units on the street.

Mr Mannion said the spate of closures around the town empahsises the need for customers to support local businesses.

“If anything it just goes to show how important it is to shop local. The level of disposable income available to people to way down and people are certainly a lot more cautious about how they spend money. But what I would say is if you’re going to buy a jacket, or a pair of shows or whatever, shop locally and give the Galways and Limericks a miss,” he added.

Another local businessman Tony Mulqueen believes Ennis Town Council should focus on revitalising Parnell Street in order to breathe new life in the town centre.

“I know they are talking about this new covered market but I think they should put a roof on Parnell Street. It’s ideally suited to it. It could be easily done,” he said.

The Fine Gael councillor estimates that business at his own garden centre is down 80 per cent. “Things are very bad out there,” he added.

THE € 200,000 repair works to the main road to Loop Head are to be completed later this week.

The main Kilbaha road has been closed since February 1, when high tides and a storm eroded two parts of the regional road previously made vulnerable by December and January storms.

Local businessman and farmer Bernie Keating said that the local people are delighted with the temporary works, but there was a lot of frustration locally getting to this point.

“The ESB brought in crews from England and Northern Ireland when we had a storm three weeks ago, and within a week everything was back up and running. There are shortterm contractors and tradesmen in every parish in the county crying out for work. Why weren’t they brought in to help out the council workers? Considering the scale of the damage in the county it would have been impossible for the county council workers to handle it,” he said.

“It is ten weeks this weekend since the first storm and the road has been closed for seven of those ten weeks by the council for health and safety reasons,” he added.

“One other concern, after storm Darwin only one county was declared a national disaster and that was Kilkenny. Isn’t it amazing that the minister is from Kilkenny?”

Local senior engineer Cyril Feeney said that the road should be open by the end of the week.

While a small amount of water came in and beach shingle was forced up on to the road with the tide last Monday, no significant damage was done.

The council has already begun € 200,000 worth or interim repair work on the road which included the installation of rock armour along the coastline, and are now completing a small retainer concrete wall between the rock armour and the road.

The engineer said that it will take months before a more permanent work can begin as the council have to go through tender, procurement and planning process.

“Some might say the € 200,000 interim work is a waste of money given that we have to do a million permanent job, but what is that against the local economy, agriculture and tourism,” said Mr Feeney.

THE vast majority of people signing on the live register in Ennis are young people – under the age of 25.

A whopping 85 per cent of the of the people signing on the the live register in Ennis last month was aged 25 or under. A total of 5,085 people signed on the live register in the county town in February – of these only 751 were over the age of 25.

The percent of younger people on the live register in Ennis has increased since the start of the recession in 2007 – but not dramatically. Of the 2,459 who signed on in Ennis in February 2007, 2,011 or 81.7 per cent of the total were under the age of 25.

Gender also appears to be a factor in unemployment in Ennis since the start of the recession, with more men winding up on the live register than women.

Between February of 2007 and February of 2014, the number of men signing on the live register in Ennis increased from 1,351 to 3,051 an increase of 125 per cent. Over the same time period however, the number of women on the register increased from 1,108 to 2,034 – representing an increase of just 83.5 per cent

Overall however, it does appear the the unemployment problems in Ennis are improving – but the improvement is slow. A comparison of the live register figures for Ennis in each February since 2007 reveals that the register hit its peak in 2010, when 6,165 were on the live register.

These figures have dropped each February since and now stand at 5,085, which is still more than double the 2007 figures of 2,459.

PRIESTS in the Killaloe Diocese contribute more than € 74,000 from their own personal resources to fund the running of the diocese in 2012.

The payout comes as parish donations to the diocese dropped for the second consecutive year forcing priests to dip into their own pockets to keep the diocese afloat.

According to the diocesan accounts for 2012, which were released last week, contributions from Killaloe’s 58 parishes were down 2.5 per cent in 2012.

This comes on the back of a 4.3 per cent fall in donation in the previous year.

It is not clear from the accounts how much was donated by each priest, or if each priest donated the same amount, but it is understood that the current basic salary for a priest in the diocese stands at € 22,000 and rises to just € 27,240 after a number of years of service.

The figures reveal that in 2012 parish donations totalled € 742,000, while in 2010, the figure was € 795,000. Bishop O’Reilly expressed concern at the year on year fall as these parish donations form the most significant proportion of diocesan income.

Despite the drop in donations from individual parishes, the overall financial situation of the diocese was positive with the Killaloe Diocese recording a net surplus of € 162,750 for 2012, when gross income for property and other investment portfolios were taken into consideration.

While the diocese’s overall accounts have shown surpluses in recent years, this has only been possible because of the additional contributions from Killaloe’s priests and donations and bequests.

“Such generosity cannot be taken for granted or predicted in future years,” said Bishop O’Reilly.

The contributions from priests was also supplement by a bequest of € 54,000 but even that sum is a massive drop from the nearly € 152,000 the diocese received in 2011 from such gifts.

THE number of pubs, clubs and hotel bars operating in Ennis has dropped by nearly 30 per cent over the last five years, with a number of pubs expected to go under when the rates bills are delivered to premises later this month.

According to Clare head of the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI), Charlie O’Meara, at least 11 pubs have gone out of business in Ennis since 2009, with just 29 currently operating in the county town.

Speaking yesterday Mr O’Meara said that the economic recovery spoken about in parts of the country had yet to reach Clare.

“Christmas was okay but January and February have been very poor. This expected turn around in the economy has not been seen in Ennis yet, certainly not in the pub trade,” he said.

“Our biggest difficulty is multiples [large supermarkets] selling drink in Ennis at prices that we just can’t compete with. We have serious overheads and running costs but what can we say to people to who come and and say they can buy a bottle of vodka for for € 8 or € 9 and we are charging € 4 a shot for it.

“You can’t blame the punter on the street for looking for the best price that they can but it is a tough struggle for pubs at the moment just to compete. You are going to see more and more pubs disappearing.”

Mr O’Meara has warned that a number of pubs and other businesses are on the verge of going under in Ennis at the moment.

“The rates will be due in the next few weeks and we could be a few businesses going under then. If you are teetering on the brink, trying to keep your business afloat, the rates can actually bring you down,” he said.

“I might not seem like a lot but it you are just hanging on, a bill of a couple of thousand can be the final straw.”

A DOZEN shops and businesses have closed in the county town in the past month, causing concern for the county’s commercial sector.

Ennis Chamber of Commerce said that while it is particularly concerned about the number of older, often family-run businesses, that could not keep the doors open, it does not believe the town is dying.

The most recent spate of closures has hit a variety of business from the food sector to retail to the service industry.

CEO of Ennis Chamber of Commerce Rita McInerney said that a lot of business people hold out for Christmas in the hope of an upturn, but for many there are many pressures during a recession.

Uncertainty about commercial rates as the town council merges with the county council, is of particular concern to businesses. There is currently an 11 per cent difference between both area rates, which must be evened out in the next three to ten years. As much as 50 per cent of Ennis Town Council’s income comes from these rates, compared to the national average of 38 per cent.

There are also pressures to those businesses with an older renting lease that allows only for an upward rent review. Online shopping has also impacted on the retail business.

Despite the businesses closures Ms McInerney refuses to believe that the town is dying. “It is all relative. We are saddened that businesses and jobs have been lost, but compared to other towns around the country we are performing well, but we are not at the top in terms of occupancy and there is an unemployment rate,” she said. “Investment in the town centre needs to take place.”

The Chamber CEO also pointed out that a number of new businesses have opened in Ennis in the last few months that will help address the issue. “We are conscious however that there is a challenge out there,” she said.

THE M18 will remain closed northbound between Barefield (Junction 14) and Crusheen (Junction 15) until Friday to allow the National Roads Association (NRA) to carry out a safety assessment following a spate of recent accidents.

The northbound carriageway of the motorway between Barefield (Junction 14) and Crusheen (Junction 15) closed yesterday morning and will remain closed until Friday, March 14, to allow for “drainage assessment and improvement works” to take place.

This closure follows months of pressure from Clare County Council, Clare Gardaí and the local media, following a spate of accidents on the road over the Christmas period. The NRA had previously rejected calls for a safety audit to be conducted and speed restrictions to be introduced, but had a change of heart last week, confirming that a safety “engineering assessment” would take place in the coming months.

The move was welcomed yesterday by Cllr Pat Hayes (FF).

“I’m happy that the NRA are finally seeing some sense about this and I hope that the assessment will lead to the problem on the road being rectified,” he said.

The closure will commence at 9am on Monday and run until approximately 2pm on Friday. Traffic will be diverted from the existing M18 Northbound onto the R458 (the old N18) at Junction 14 Barefield and then returning to M18 Northbound at Junction 15.

“During the period June to September 2013, the NRA assumed responsibility for maintenance on the M18. Since this time, routine maintenance works have been undertaken including road sweeping and cleaning of gullies, slot drains and outfalls in addition to other general maintenance activities which assist with rapid drainage of water from the road sur- face,” said an NRA spokesperson.

“In addition, the NRA monitors and assesses the network under its direct control with a view to carrying out any maintenance or remedial works which might be required to improve road drainage and maintain the design capacity of the drainage system. However, the possibility of the occurrence of surface water due to extreme weather events cannot be fully eliminated.”

CLARE’S bid to bring Fleadh Ceoil na hÉireann to Ennis has been thwarted once again, with the county missing out on the 2015 event at the selection elections over the weekend.

The Ennis bid was pipped by Sligo – who also beat off Ennis to secure the 2014 Fleadh – with Drogeda finishing third in the vote.

This latest set back come in the wake of the decision to back away from the Ennis bid to host the 2013 Fleadh. This decision was made in order to allow Derry to host the Fleadh Ceoil in the same year that it was European City of Culture. This was also the first time that the competition was ever hosted outside of the Republic of Ireland.

The Fleadh is the single largest music event to take place in Ireland each year and is worth tens of millions to the local economy.

Michael Ó Riabhaigh of Clare Comhaltas said that he was disappointed with the result but hopeful that this precedent meant that Ennis will secure the Fleadh for consecutive years in 2016 and 2017.

“We are very disappointed but it was always going to be a big ask this year. Normally towns will get it for two years. The first is usually a struggle and they reap the benefits of in the second year,” he said.

“It was always going to be difficult to unseat Sligo this year, so we are very hopeful for next year. We feel that Sligo will be out of the equation for next year. I’m not saying that it will be an easy task for next year but if we do get it I feel that we will retain it for 2017 as well.”

The votes between Ennis and Sligo was closer than expected with a second count being needed to separate the two towns, once Drogeda was eliminated.

SURVIVOR of prostitution and recovering drug addict Mia de Faoite left an audience in tears on Friday night last as she recalled the true, disturbing face of prostitution.

Ms de Faoite, who is an activist for Turn Off the Red Light campaign, told the gathering organised by the Clare Women’s Network that the only way to shine a light on the issue is to hear from those who lived that life.

Refusing to let her past define her, she said she could never forget the life she has left behind and how she entered it.

“My decision to enter prostitution seemed to me at the time quite a rational one. I had developed a heroin problem at the age of 33 having never taken a drug in my life before,” she said knowing she had one valuable commodity she could sell – her female body.

She thought she would not have to do this for long, just until she and her girlfriend, who also had a drug problem, would be “sorted”.

Life in prostitution “owned me in a short period of time” however, she explained adding that it was very difficult to see choices.

The softly spoken NUI Maynooth student brought tears to the audience’s eyes as she recalled “the inevitable” – rape.

Her first rape was in the form of a gang rape.

“From that night on I no longer lived. I just existed and in a world I could no longer comprehend. I could no longer make sense of. The only reason I coped was thought disassociation.

“The young woman who was with me that night did not survive. Her drug use spiralled out of control and she died alone of an overdose about two months later. To many her death was just another sad statistic but to me she would always be of value.”

A year later Mia was raped again. Afterwards she was sitting on the street, her money and phone also sto- len. One of her “regulars” pulled up in his car, he was a taxi driver. She told him what happened and he took her home, and even though he knew she had just been raped and robbed he insisted she have sex with him to pay the “fare”.

Her last rape was by two men on cocaine.

“We as prostituted women were a primary target for any man who wanted to fulfil his fantasy of rape. Only with us they can do it for real and get away with it. Society and the laws that govern it play a major role in keeping it that way, and it will remain unsuitable while it remains le- gal to buy a human being in the first place,” she said. She had to accept her rapists would never be brought to justice.

The drugs helped her cope with life on the streets, and she was caught in an never ending spiral.

She gave accounts of being humiliated by teenagers who threw eggs at her and men who urinated upon her.

One of her friends who were trafficked from Africa into Ireland was regularly beaten by her trafficker, her young post-pubescent body already almost broken from starvation.

While an addiction to drugs led Ms de Faoite into prostitution, many of her friends were trafficked into Ireland.

Ireland is targeted by these traffickers because of the law, and due to the prices that can be charged here compared to mainland Europe.

And the stories went on, as the tears flowed.

This mother of one was speaking from the heart about a cruel heartless world she inhabited and teenage girls and women continue to live in today in Ireland, Clare and small towns around the county.

She shared a letter from her daughter, who knew at a young age her mother would have to unwillingly leave her at night to sell sex, and how this changed her mother’s demeanour as night approached.

The only way to address this issue of prostitution, according to Ms deFaoite, is to criminalise the purchasers of sex and not to continue to further victimise those forced into prostitution.

Men of all ages and creed, as many as one in 15, buy sex every day.

These are often family men of high social standing – the “good citizen” according to Ms de Faoite.

She challenged everyone present in Ennis to reconsider their definition of a good citizen, and argued the law must lead if attitudes are to follow.