Category: News

HAVING spent Sunday in the “lashing rain” marching and counter marching in preparation for one of the largest St Patrick’s Day Parades in the world, the Tulla Pipe Band is determined to get to New York “whatever it takes”.

Pam Reilly, PRO, said the 29-strong band members that are to travel to the Big Apple have not even considered the looming holiday weekend strike at Shannon airport.

As the band is booked in on a March 15 flight since last October, it is unlikely their plans to lead the Clare contingent in the parade will be affected.

Likewise Mayor of Clare Joe Arkins, who is to represent Clare in New York over the weekend, had a lucky break when he was not able to get a reasonably-priced flight on the Friday, and instead had to book in for an early flight on March 13.

County manager Tom Coughlan is however at the mercy of the industrial action as his flight his booked for Friday, March 14, the day of the four-hour strike.

Mr Coughlan along with the county mayor, mayors of Ennis, Kilrush and Shannon, is to attend meetings organised by the Mid West Regional Authority with the IDA, Tourism Ireland, CIE Tours International and other Irish American groups.

Last night Transport Minister Leo Varadkar says he hoped the workers union SIPTU would put the strike on hold as talks between IBEC and the union continued.

“The Government has come together with the employers’ body IBEC and the trade union umbrella group ICTU to put together a panel of experts agreed by all sides who can study the issues relating to the pension funds at the airports and come up with a solution,” he said.

Meanwhile the Tulla Pipe Band, made up of members aged nine years old to their late 70s, are planning to take part in the Brooklyn Parade on the Sunday before leading the “honour unit” or first section of the parade.

“As this is the first section of the parade we will get world wide coverage. We are very proud not only to be representing Tulla, but Clare and Ireland,” said Ms Reilly.

THE long lost remains of a British ship which sank off the Clare coast almost 120 years ago, were uncovered over the weekend in Liscannor Bay.

The ship, named the Elizabeth McLea, sank in rough seas in December of 1894 when its anchor became dislodged, causing it to drift in a heavy storm and run aground on rocks just off Lahinch beach.

The remains of the wooden hull of the ship, which have somehow survived in Liscannor Bay for the past 119 years were uncovered over the weekend. It is understood that a combination of the recent storms and high tides over the weekend, worked to uncover the remains of ship.

Heavy storms in January and February have transformed the layout of the beach at Lahinch – moving thousands of tonnes of sand and exposing large areas of rock.

The ship was spotted by local man Patrick O’Dwyer, who is a green keeper at the nearby Lahinch Golf Course.

“We were working away on the golf course and we noticed what looked like flags sticking up from the sand. If you look from the end of the Lahinch Promenade, the ship is located about 200 yards north and about 100 yards out to sea, so it isn’t far off from the main beach at all,” he said.

“We’re not sure how it became uncovered, but it must have something to do with the tides and the way that all the sand shifts and gets moved around.

“You can actually get relatively close to it. The sand becomes very shallow around the ship itself so you’d want to be careful because it might give away and that would be quite dangerous, but you can get relatively close to it.”

The ship sank on December 28, three days after Christmas Day 1894. The storm was so great that the crew were forced to climb the ships rigging to avoid being swept overboard by the storm. When the storm began to ease the crew were able to make it back to the deck before using ropes to winch there way into the water and finally ashore.

The Elizabeth McLea was in Liscannor Bay collecting a cargo of Doonagore Stone for transport back to Bristol. The Clare flag stone was a prize cargo in the 1800s and some is understood to have been used in both Buckingham Palace and the White House.

According to locals the ship has resurfaced in the past, but this is the first time that the Elizabeth McLea has been visible for at least a decade.

A FIREMAN from Ennis is being hailed as a hero for the second time after jumping to the aid of a drown- ing woman at the weekend. Eli Brace jumped off Sarsfield Bridge in Limerick City as the woman was swept under. Eli is a member of Limerick City Fire and Rescue Service. The Shannon-based Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter 115 had been dispatched to help out in the river rescue, but due to high winds the winch man could not reach the woman. Eli then jumped from the bridge. The woman was being swept under the water when he rescued her from the water. The Ennis native was previously in the army before joining the fire services in 2008. He is a member of the fire service’s Swiftwater Rescue Team, who receive specific training to carry out rescues in river conditions. It is not the first time the married father has been involved in a dramatic river rescue. In March 2011, he was one of 10 members of the fire services who attended an emergency at Shannon Bridge in Limerick city. Emergency services were called to the scene after a man was seen entering the water. Eli, who is originally from the Cloughleigh area of the town, jumped into the water at Limerick Docks in order to save the man from drowning. In January, Eli was one of three people who co-opened Crossfit Ennis in the Quin Road area of Ennis. He spent his military career training soldiers in all aspects of fitness in his capacity as a PTI (Physical Training Instructor).

COMMUNITIES along the west coast of Clare are coming together to hire their own engineer and access the damage to land and property as a result of two months of storms and high tides.

Led by the Clare Irish Farmers Associations, community groups have decided to take action where responsibility is being denied by government and state bodies.

Of particular concerns are sluices, which were in many cases initially built by the former Board of Works to drain sea water from farm land.

This infrastructure is not the responsibility of Clare County Council according to the local authority, with the Office of Public Works also denying accountability.

Embankment work and coastal erosion along farms and private property is also adding to the confusion, with property owners in many cases prepared to undertake the work but fearful of the bureaucratic consequences if they do so.

Clare IFA county chairman Andrew Dundass said the Minister for State with responsibility for the OPW Brian Hayes gave a commit- ment that he would consider some financial support if the farmers came together to undertake the work.

This would have to be inspected by the council, said the minister, as the OPW did not have the resources.

“These are all jobs that need to be done, even though they may be farm land at the moment, if these jobs aren’t done they will affect people further a field,” said Mr Dundass.

The plan is that farmers will come together to finance the work with some grant aid from the Government, similar to the community road projects a number of years ago.

“We will have to put all the reports together for the areas the council are not responsible for and what can be done for these people.”

Mr Dundass said farmers along the Shannon estuary are frustrated that no commitment has come from the OPW as yet as to what repair work will be carried out there. The OPW is responsible for parts of the estuary, especially areas of conservation.

“A lot of farmers are in a position to build up those embankments but are afraid of the consequences of doing so due to the restrictions on these lands,” explained Mr Dundass.

ALL Clare properties that went under the hammer at the Allsop Sale last week made or surpassed their reserve, as all the banner properties were snapped up.

The only Clare hotel on the list, Magowna House, Inch, was sold for € 370,000, € 20,000 over the reserve. The new owner of the 10-bed house, three two-bedroom cottages and an 18-hole pitch and putt course has not being confirmed, with millionaire business man and farmer JJ McCabe denying he purchased the lot.

A bungalow at Mahonburg, Inch, also sold at the Dublin-based auction for € 105,000.

Meanwhile 16.67 acres of land in Doonbeg reached its reserve price of € 75,000 and was sold, while land in Ardnacrusha surpassed its reserve by € 20,000. The 22 acres of land was bought for € 95,000.

A ground floor appartment also surpassed its reserve by € 11,000. The Town Court apartment was sold for € 31,000.

New hotelier Mr McCabe told The Clare People,

A FAMILY has been plunged into sadness following the tragic death of a grandmother in Ennis on Sunday.

The 74-year-old woman was with her two young grandchildren in the Francis Street area of the town when the accident occurred.

Josephine Lucas was struck by a reversing car near the Aldi and Tesco shopping centres. Despite the best efforts of emergency services, she was pronounced dead at the scene. Gardaí are investigating the incident, which they have described as a “tragic accident”.

They have appealed for the members of the public who may have witnessed the accident to contact them at Ennis Garda Station.

CCTV footage of the area will also be studied as gardaí attempt to piece together the sequence of events that led to Ms Lucas’ tragic death.

It is thought she was at the rear of the car putting shopping into the boot, when it suddenly reversed and knocked her over.

Ms Lucas’ granddaughter and grandson who were with her were unhurt but were treated in hospital for shock.

The accident occurred at around 1.30pm and the road was closed for a period. Two units of the fire brigade from Ennis along with two ambulances and rapid response advanced paramedic responded to the incident.

VISITING restrictions have been put in place at the region’s largest hospital in a bid to curb the spread of influenza.

Last week the HSE advised that people be vaccinated against the seasonal flu as eight people have died so far this season as a result of the flu.

Just last night, (Monday) University Hospital Limerick was added to the list of hospital with visitor restrictions, which bans children visiting the hospital at any time during this period.

Visiting is permitted during normal visiting hours only, from 2pm to 4pm and 6.30pm to 8.30pm, with one visitor only allowed to visit a patient.

“Visitors who arrive outside of these times will not be permitted to enter the hospital,” a spokesperson said.

“Hospital authorities have reminded the public of the importance of complying with these restrictions, as visiting is a major contributing factor in spreading the disease,” she added.

The public are requested to co-operate fully with the advice and instruction of staff.

The HSE confirmed that there are no reports of any patients with flu in any of the four elderly units or hospitals in Clare or at Ennis Hospital.

The HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre figures show that five children aged under four years have been required to go into an intensive care unit in hospital and there has been a total of 31 under fours admitted to hospital with flu symptoms.

There were 34 people with confirmed influenza hospitalised last week, up from 26 the week before, and bringing the total to 118.

There has also been one confirmed case of swine flu in Cork.

A DISTRICT Court judge has criticised “some solicitors in Ennis” for abusing the legal aid system.

Judge Patrick Durcan made the statement when Ennis solicitor Tara Godfrey failed to appear at Kilrush District Court on Tuesday, to defend a client who was on free legal aid.

Ms Godfrey, a sole practitioner, was in Ennis Court House on that morning, where the circuit court was sitting.

At the beginning of the Kilrush hearings Kilrush solicitor Michael Ryan told the judge the Ennis solicitor was on her way and the case was put to the end of the list of hearings.

Just after 12.30pm the case was called again, but Ms Godfrey was not in attendance.

Mr Ryan said he had just spoken to her and she was leaving Ennis. Judge Durcan said that the hearings in Kilrush were finished for the day and criticised what he believed were “some solicitors abuse” of the legal aid system. “The inspector is here, the witnesses are here and the person who is in receipt of the free legal aid is here. If people have too many balls in the air they should pass some of those balls on,” he said.

He remanded the case to Ennis court the following day stating he wanted an explanation as to why the solicitor who was assigned under the free legal aid scheme was not in court. The judge then told the senior law practitioner in the court, Gearoid Williams, that he wanted the issue brought to the attention of the Clare chair of the Law Society.

He asked him to express his “complete disquiet at the total abuse of the free legal aid system”.

Mr Williams said Ms Godfrey did intend to be at the Kilrush court and was sure she meant no disrespect.

“It does appear to be abuse of the free legal aid system. This is a total abuse and our country cannot afford this,” said Judge Durcan.

He added some solicitors in Ennis were behaving like this but said he had not any issues with the solicitors that come before his in Kilrush Court.

At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Ms Godfrey said she “apologized unreservedly” for what happened in Kilrush on Tuesday. She told the court she had been out of the office on Thursday and Friday and was unaware she had a conflict between the district court and circuit court.

Ms Godfrey said had she known, she would have passed the case to a colleague in Kilrush. “I apologise unreservedly….I can say it will not happen again,” she added.

Judge Durcan said he accepted Ms Godfrey’s apology. He said he raised the issue because gardaí, clients and the court services were discommoded.

“I felt that the public were let down by what happened,” he added.

CATTLE rustling is becoming a major problem in Clare with more than five incidents taking place on the county’s farms over the past nine months.

Thieves are now understood to be entering farms at night, feeding animals under the cover of darkness in order to gain their trust, before attempting to steal them at a later date.

According to Superintendent Derek Smart, thieves are now able to gain access to cattle ear tags on the blackmarket, allowing them to reintroduce stolen animals into the food chain.

At present, all cattle must have a valid ear tag, which tracks the animal from birth to slaughter. The accurate tagging of cattle is important to ensure the tractability of meat – to ensure that meat from animals is labeled correctly.

This is important not just in terms of preventing stolen cattle from entering the food chain, but also from preventing horse and donkey meat from being labelled incorrectly as beef.

“In the last six or nine months we have had five incidents with cattle being stolen in Clare. We work very closely with the Department of Agriculture officials on this, conducted a search over the past two weeks and interviewed one individual with reference to cattle being taken in and we will be sending a file to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP),” said Superintendent Derek Smart at last nights meeting of the Joint Policing Committee of Clare County Council and Clare Gardaí. “People are getting tags from somewhere – that seems to be the case. These people are obviously building up the trust of the animals over a number of night. So they can come in the dead of night and take the cattle.”

East Clare Councillor Pat Hayes (FF), also confirmed that people have been entered farms at night – attempting to build up a relationship with animals before attempting a theft.

“There have been a number of incidents around our part of the country where people have tried and failed to rob cattle,” he said.

“There has been plenty of evidence that they [the cattle rustlers] have been feeding the cattle in order to gain their trust which is incredible.”

Mayor of Clare, Joe Arkins (FG), said that there could be another horse meat scandal in Ireland if tags are allowed to be traded on the black market.

“I have had several hundreds of cattle since the new tagging system came in and there is no problem getting new tags. I think there is need for some sort of vetting system before a farmer can can get new tags,” he said.

THE number of serious drug offenses in Clare increased by almost 70 per cent 2013 as Gardaí crack down on dealers in the county.

Figures release by Clare Gardaí last night reveal a dramatic increase in Section 15 drug offenses last year, which deals with the sale and supply of illegal drugs. There was also a sizable increase in both minor, Section 3, drug offenses in Clare as an increase in the number of drug driving offenses.

There was a total of 74 Section 15 offenses in the county last year, an increase of 30 offenses or 68.18 per cent on 2013. These figures do not include a major crackdown on cannabis grow houses conducted by local Gardaí in January of 2014, with more than six grow houses in the county being raided during this period.

Indeed, according to Superintendent Derek Smart, the public has played a role in the increased detection of serious drug offenses, with landowners reporting unusual activity in rented or abandoned rural houses.

“It is thanks to the public that a number of these seizures took place. We put the word out through the media and it was thanks to information received from the general public that we were able to make some of those recent seizures,” said Supt Smart.

Drug driving offenses increase by 62.5 per cent in Clare last year, with 13 offenses in total, rising from eight in 2012. There was also a sizable in- crease in Section 3, drug possession offenses last year with 200 incidents in total, up from 154 incidents or a 29.87 per cent year on year increase.

East Clare Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) urged members of the public in rural parts of the county to report anything suspicious taking place in isolated buildings.

“I would like to compliment them [the Gardaí] on the number of cannabis grow houses which have been tackled around the county,” he said.

“With the number of isolated houses that we have around the community I think it is important to get the message out to people that people need to look in on these houses.”

It was also confirmed yesterday that were 53 behavioral warnings or ASBOs issued by the Clare Gardaí in 2013.