Category: News

THE people of Gort are in a state of shock following the tragic death of two local people in a house fire n the town last Thursday morning. The victims, who have been named locally as 38-year-old Ben Whiteman and 65-year-old Nuala Sweeney, died after a blaze broke out at 2.50am at Tom O’Donnell’s Flats on the Rail- way Road.

Numerous tributes have been paid locally to mother-of-four Nuala Sweeney and to Ben Whiteman, who worked as a mechanic. The pair have lived locally in Gort for more than a decade but had previously lived in the Caher area of East Clare. Four units of the fire brigade from Gort and Loughrea attended the scene and spent more than three hours bringing the blaze under control.

While the incident is not being treated as suspicious, questions have been raised after the first unit of the fire brigade to arrive on the scene had to delay entering the building for 25 minutes until a back-up unit arrived.

The normal complement of firefighters in Gort is nine, but for several months the station been reduced to just four. The four-man crew had to observe the protocol of having a back-up crew to support them before they could enter the building.

Galway County Council, which administers the service, has been attempting to recruit additional personnel, but has had difficulty in securing appropriate candidates for the positions.

“Would lives have been saved, or would the building have been as badly damaged – and there is a shopping centre nearby – if Gort was fully resourced?” said local Cllr Gerry Finnerty (FF).

“I know the council have been trying to recruit firefighters; I’ve seen the flyers, but we just don’t have too many people who are willing to work in our town. We have lost one-sixth of our working population since 2006.

“I’m very concerned at the impact of the under-resourcing of the fire service is having in the town and in south Galway, which is a large rural area.”

THERE will be plenty of Clare interest in Cheltenham this week with Connolly native Stephen Murphy represented in the first race of the festival as owner of Western Boy, while Tubber native Derek O’Connor has two rides at the prestigious meeting.

Champion Point to Point rider O’Connor rides Shotgun Paddy in Tuesday’s National Hunt Chase (4.40) and will be on the fancied Indian Castle in Thursday’s Kim Muir (4.40). O’Connor is looking forward to the mounts and in particular Thursday’s booking.

“Shotgun Paddy mightn’t be suit- ed by the ground as it is drying out quickly, but I’m really looking forward to the ride on Indian Castle. He’ll probably be favourite and I’d be hopeful of going close there,” he told The Clare People on Monday.

This is the biggest week of the year for the Tubber man in more ways than one, both he and his wife Karen are expecting their first child during the festival, so Derek won’t be hanging around after Thursday’s race.

“No, there won’t be any time for celebrating win, lose or draw on Thursday, it will be straight home. We’re lucky, Karen and I, we have great family around us, so hopefully all goes well,” he said in the hope of a double celebration.

There will be Banner interest in the first race today (Tuesday 1.30) when Western Boy, in the colours of Newcastlewest based, but Connolly born Stephen Murphy, takes his chance in the Supreme Novices Hurdle. A winner at Leopardstown at Christmas, the Pat Fahy trained five year-old ticks all the right boxes and Stephen is hopeful of a good run.

“Well, we’d love to see him in the first six but above all you want him to come back safe and sound. It’s a very hot race but we’re hopeful he’ll give a good account of himself,” Stephen told us on Monday from the track. Western Boy will go off around 16/1 in the race and will be ridden by Davy Russell.

CONCERNS have been expressed that children unknowingly played on and close to asbestos material, while their patents fished at Lislanaghan Lake in Kilkee.

Local people said there was no signs to indicate any danger from asbestos at the site of the former reservoir prior to the issue being raised by former councillor PJ Linnane last June.

Clare County Council admitted this week that it did not know how long the asbestos was illegally dumped at nine sites in West Clare, stating “the material appears to have been deposited over an undetermined number of years up to June 2013”.

Described by medical profession as “the hidden killer”, asbestos can cause four serious lung and respiratory diseases that can take years to affect those exposed.

According to the Health and Safety Executive in the UK, these illnesses “will not affect you immediately; they often take a long time to develop, but once diagnosed, it is often too late to do anything. There is a need for you to protect yourself now.”

It is understood the asbestos material dumped in West Clare is from broken pieces of the council’s own Asbestos Cement Water Mains.

It is also not known how much of this waste was deposited at the council depot in Kilkee, four other sites at Lislanaghan, Kilkee; the Dunlicky Road, Kilkee; the council depot in Kilrush; Ballykett, Kilrush and Breaffa, Kilrush.

Clare County Council said that it has commissioned an external independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the depositing of Asbestos-Cement materials and work is to begin this week on stage one of removing the dangerous substance.

It is ten months since Mr Linnane first reported the asbestos piping discovered near his home, and just over three months since the dumping in Kilkee was revealed in The Clare People .

In answer to a number of questions, a spokesperson for the council said yesterday that it had tested the pipe material at one of the sites.

“Some of the pieces of pipe consisted of white asbestos. Some of the pipes consisted of a mixture of white and brown asbestos. Asbestos cement pipes historically were made from white asbestos or a mixture of white and brown asbestos. All of the waste asbestos cement pipe material will be removed.”

Brown asbestos is considered by experts to be more dangerous to human health than white asbestos.

Meanwhile a Health and Safety expert told The Clare People that the asbestos pipes should have been identified before the process of removing them began. The asbestos material should then be double-bagged by those with special training and equipment before being removed by RILTA, the only organisation in the state qualified to do so.

“There is the potential of asbestos going into the air every time that the broken pipes were disturbed. This could be a danger to workers or anyone in the area that moved them in any way. The equipment used to remove the pipes would also be considered contaminated officially, but this would not pose a huge risk,” he said.

CONCERNS have b e e n e xp re sse d t hat child re n unknowingly p laye d on a nd close t o asb e st os mat e rial, while t he ir p are nt s �she d at Lisla naghan Lake in Kilke e . Locals say t he re we re no signs t o ind icat e any d ange r from asb e st os at t he sit e of t he forme r re se rvoir p rior t o t h e issue b e ing raise d by forme r councillor PJ Linna ne last June . Cla re Count y Council ad mit t e d t his we e k t hat it d id not know how long t he asb e st os was ille ga lly d ump e d at nine sit e s in we st Cla re , st at ing “t he mat e rial ap p e ars t o have b e e n d e p osit e d ove r an und e t e rmine d numb e r of ye ars up t o June 2013.”

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 FLOOD warning remains in place along the western and northern coast of the county with high tides expected to threaten beleaguered flood defenses again today.

A number of roads were closed across the area yesterday with Loop Head, Quilty, Lahinch and Liscannor already sustaining damage.

At high tide, 6.30pm last evening (Monday), the people of the Loop Head peninsula were preparing to be isolated from the rest of the county again.

This is now the fourth month the community has to endure tidal and storm damage. Just six hours before, the only remaining road on to the peninsula was reopened as it has been flooded again by high tide earlier that morning.

At 6am the Fodra Road, the only life line for the West Clare communities was closed by the tides. The main road to Kilbaha remains closed as Clare County Council works to repair it, while the road at Ross is closed and no work has begun on it.

Yesterday the people of Rhinevilla and Kilduane were again virtually living on an island as the high tides raised the floods once again.

On a happier note, Yvonne McNamara from Kilbaha, who had feared she would not be able to make it to hospital to have her baby if the tides were in, gave birth to a healthy baby girl and Friday. Mother and daughter were safely home in Kilbaha again before the only access road was closed for a period of six hours.

Meanwhile in Quilty the high tide burst through some of the council work at Cloughnainchy, and water has come in on some of the land again, while other coastal defences held.

Meanwhile, the Lahinch to Liscannor road was closed once again yes terday, while Clare County Council cleared boulders and other debris from the road. The promenade in Lahinch sustained further flooding during the high tide on Monday morning but it is not thought that and further significant structural damage has been done.

“High spring tidal conditions resulted in some flooding at various locations along the Clare coastline overnight and this morning [Monday],” said a council spokesperson.

“This flooding has since receded. The main road at Liscannor was closed for a time this morning to enable council workers to remove rubble from the road.”

THE war of words and scientific data over the proposed construction of Ireland largest fish farm off the Doolin and Fanore coast may just have been won.

The Journal of Fish Diseases, who first questioned the research put forward by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) on the likely effects of sea lice on the local wild salmon as a result of the fish farm, have retracted their complaints.

The Journal of Fish Diseases had described the research, which was carried out for BIM by the Marine Institute in Oranmore, as having ‘fundamental errors’. The article, which was attributed to ‘Krkosek et al’, was the source of much criticism from groups opposed to the farm, including government agency Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI).

The twin fish farms, which will located about 10 kilometres off the coasts of Doolin and Fanore, would be the largest facility of its kind ever built in Ireland, if it gets the go ahead. The proposed farm has been met with stiff opposition, not least by groups of fishermen, business people and environmentalists in North Clare, who believe the farms will be a threat to local wild fish stocks and tourism.

“I welcome the apology by the journal for the inadequate editorial procedures followed and the unfairness with which they treated the Marine Institute by not affording us right of reply prior to the publication of Krkosek’s accusation,” said Peter Heffernan, CEO of the Marine Institute.

“Scientific peer review is all important to the quality, accuracy and integrity of research. However, what people must be made aware of now is that Krkosek et al’s work has now been reclassified by the Journal as a ‘Comment’, which is akin to an opinion piece.

“The journal has also updated its author guidelines to clearly state the level of peer review for the different types of articles.”

A SHANNON based company has been ordered to fund a third level science scholarship after pleading guilty to health and safety breaches.

Seven people were hospitalised after the accidental release of a “toxic” and “corrosive” gas at Chemifloc, Smithstown Industrial Estate, Shannon on December 20, 2012.

Details of the accident were heard at Ennis District Court on Friday.

Inspector Dermot O’Callaghan of the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), told the court that 6000 litres of sodium chloride were being loaded onto a tanker for delivery on the day in question.

Insp O’Connor said that after the loading of the fourth container, a yel- low green chlorine dioxide gas was produced, “which is classified and toxic and corrosive”.

The warehouse and yard were evacuated and emergency services were called to the scene.

A number of people were hospitalized and one person spent two days in intensive care, the court heard.

Insp O’Callaghan explained that an investigation determined that an unknown and unidentifiable container was accidentally loaded beside the sodium chloride, which led to production of the gas.

Chemifloc pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that all containers used at work for hazardous chemical agents were clearly labeled or identified.

The company also pleaded guilty to failing to manage and conduct work activities in such a way as to ensure, as was reasonably practicable, the health and safety of employees.

The offences are contrary to the Safety, Health and Welfare Act Work Act, 2005.

Solicitor James Nash said his clients had acknowledged the accident. He said it had resulted from a “systems error” and the company have fully changed their labeling system at the plant.

The company has no previous convictions. Mr Nash said the company, who were represented in court by the managing director and another director, were embarrassed by what happened and would suffer a 70 per cent jump in insurance costs.

He said Chemifloc had always been compliant with health and safety regulations.

“They are both here. They are both embarrassed to be here and they want to take it on the chin”, he added.

Judge Patrick Durcan said this was a very serious matter.

However he noted this was a local company that provides employment and has complied with every regulation and law.

He said if Chemifloc funded a € 10,000 third level science scholarship and discharged total witness and legal costs of 4714 euros, he would strike out the summonses.

He adjourned the case to March 14. Founded in 1982, Chemifloc employs 40 people.

The company is involved in the manufacture and supply of water treatment products.

WITH 275 awards totalling almost € 8 million, Clare accounted for the sixth highest number of personal injury awards in the country last year.

More Clare people opted again last year to settle their personal injury claims through the Injuries Board.

The board makes awards relating to motor, employer and public liability accidents, without the need for litigation.

The board’s annual review showed that its non-adversarial model has delivered direct savings of over € 72m in 2013, relative to the prior litigation.

The average award in Clare was € 28,747 and total compensation for the county amounted to € 7.9m million.

The number of new claims received by the board in 2013, a useful barometer of future award volumes, increased by 5.8 per cent last year, driven by an 8.2 per cent increase in motor claims, which are typically of lower value.

Neighbouring County Limerick had the largest number of awards as a proportion of population with 788 people claiming through the board.

The average award in Limerick was lower than in Clare however at € 21,010.

Patricia Byron, CEO of the Injuries Board said, “I am pleased that as a self-funding agency, the board has delivered cumulative savings of € 1 billion on the cost of handling personal injury claims with no cost to the Exchequer and at considerable benefit to insurance policy holders.”

“Last year the board’s processing fee to respondents, typically insurers, reduced by 30 per cent from € 850 to € 600 and, as a result, the cost of processing personal injury claims is now at historically low levels.”

A PROSTITUTION survivor and former drug addict will address a group of teenagers, women and the general public as part of a joint initiative by students at Coláiste Muire, Ennis and Clare’s Women’s Network.

Mia de Faoite will make the address on Friday next from 7.30pm to 9pm in the Temple Gate Hotel.

The Dublin woman, who is a survivor of prostitution and drug addiction, is an activist for the Turn off the Red Light Campaign.

Through public lectures, television and radio interviews and the theatre she has highlighted the dangers intrinsic to prostitution.

Transition year students at the Ennis school have already begun researching the taboo subject of prostitution and discussing the issue that is often overlooked by society.

As part of Young Social Innovators 2014, the students are endeavouring to raise awareness, open up discussion around sexual exploitation and debate the criminalisation of demand for paid sexual services.

They have completed a project of their findings and will present it to the audience on the night also. There will then be an opportunity for further discussion with refreshments served.

The Clare Women’s Network, an or- ganisation that is a community based and seeks to ensure a safe society in which all women are valued, included and experience equality of opportunity all levels of life, have also been instrumental in the school’s project and Ms de Faoite’s visit to Ennis.

Mia is currently a second year student at The National University of Ireland, Maynooth where she is reading Philosophy and Sociology. This event is open to all and is free to attend.