Category: News

CARRIGAHOLT Postmaster Patrick Gavin’s house has been cut off from the mainland for the last five weeks due to the storms that have been battering the West Clare coast.

With road access is so poor, Patrick has been cut off from much human contact, especially that of his daughter, who he has not been able to see for the last fortnight.

As a sufferer of epilepsy, it’s too dangerous for her to visit in case she becomes ill and cannot access the medical attention she needs.

“It’s starting to take effect you know.

It’s starting to get to me now,” Mr Gavin said.

The Carrigaholt Post Office flooded last weekend for the second time in a month.

“The whole place is destroyed,” he added.

Mr Gavin says that the worst part of the most recent flood damage for the local residents is the lack of action from the Government.

Referring to a visit from Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, Brian Hayes, Mr Gavin said the focus of politicians and repair work should be on people affected by the floods, not public amenities:

“He should have come to meet the people, you know and give them some heart.

“The minister should have told them we have it under control, we’ll work at getting funding and getting the place fixed up”.

Mr Gavin claims that more attention should be paid to local residents affected by the storm before attending to public areas such as the promenade in Lahinch.

“I think the six residents up where I live might be a little more important than the prom in Lahinch or the unfortunate people in Quilty that are being flooded out of their houses,” he said.

He also added that plans for coastal erosion should be given priority over proposals for other council and public projects.

Despite the disconnect that Patrick Galvin sees between politics and people the Carrigaholt postmaster was adamant that young people should still get involved in local politics but change their emphasis;

“What we need is people who want to wear the jersey, who want to do it for people, not for themselves,” he added.

The devastation in Carrigaholt and neighbouring areas has seen many homes cut off for the second time in recent weeks as the weekend floods and high tides undid much of the progress that had been made with repairs over the past month from Storm Christine.

FOUR houses were evacuated in Doonbeg during the early hours of Saturday morning as waves smashed through windows and doors.

The houses along the Dunmore road had never previously experienced flooding or such force from the waves as the battlement along the bay protected them.

On Saturday morning last the 70year battlement could not hold back the ferocity of the storm and the homes along with the local caravan park were flooded.

During the storm on January 7, the land was flooded up to 150 metres from the village, reaching the 50 kilometres per hour sign at the bridge.

On Saturday morning the water far surpassed that reaching areas that had never before seen floodwater.

Community activist Tommy Commerford told The Clare People there were a number of vulnerable areas in the parish following the storm.

The stone barrier at Rhynnagonnaught was swept away allowing the water to run as far as Mountrivers.

By yesterday (Monday) up to 150 acres of land in this area still remained under seawater.

Stones and debris once again made agricultural land unworkable for lo- cal farmers, with many contending with reseeding land once again under seawater.

The road to Rhynnagonnaught is also under threat following the storm and the loss of this would maroon the residents on an island similar to what happened at Kilcredaun on the Loop Head peninsula.

Manager at the Doonbeg Golf Course and Spa Joe Russell said that while the golf course was once again victim to the storm the damage was not as significant as in January.

“It brought back the dune face again but not as much as before. The most notable thing is the debris on the golf course,” he said.

A significant clean up at the golf course is underway and plans are beginning for a major clean up at Doughmore beach.

“More needs to be done long term. If this happened every year we would have a problem,” the manager said.

“There is a long-term discussion that needs to be had. A long-term Government strategy needs to be prepared for this instead of going from crisis to crisis every year.”

An estimated € 800,000 worth of damage was done to infrastructure in the Doonbeg area in January, but with more places affected following the weekend that number is expected to multiply.

ANY repair work carried out along the Shannon estuary following the January storms were quickly disposed of by the St Bridgid’s Day at the weekend, and now up to 2,000 acres of agricultural land remains under damaging sea water.

New breaches have also been added to the Shannon embankment.

The main Ennis to Kildysart road remains flooded at Ballycorrick Bridge in Ballynacally and becomes impassable at high tide.

All low lying areas were still un der water on Monday with agricultural land in Ballynacally, Kildysart, Clonderlaw, Burrane in Kilimer and Carnacalla, Kilrush severely flooded. One house in Shore Park, Kildysart, was also flooded, as was the local graveyard.

The road from Kildysart to Labasheeda was closed on Saturday as the sea wall was damaged and debris littered the road.

Local county councillor Oliver Garry (FG) said local farmers are under pressure to look after the embankment as the Office of Public Works did not take over responsibility for the area from the Board of Works.

“30 years ago the Board of Works serviced those embankments, but when the OPW took over they did not service those areas, they only serviced land from Island Avanna down to Shannon Airport,” he said.

Cllr Garry said a meeting has now been arranged with the Minister for Agriculture and junior minister in the department in a bid to lobby them for a one-off grant to carry out works on the embankment forgotten by the OPW. It is hoped the meeting will take place later this week.

FORMER mayor of Kilrush Ian Lynch has pitted himself against his Kilrush Town Council Fine Gael colleague Cllr Marian McMahon Jones, as he declared himself an Independent candidate this week.

The former Fine Gael man, who failed to make it through the party’s convention, said he felt compelled to run by his strong desire to serve the community.

Cllr Lynch was first elected as a public representative in 2009 when he was voted onto Kilrush Town Council.

Even then he considered running for the county council but as advised to build his profile and experience in the town council first.

“Looking back this may have been a mistake because since the local elections in 2009 Kilrush Town and the greater hinterland have been without representation at Clare County Council level, and there is no doubt that this has been to the detriment of our town. The voice of the people of Kilrush and surrounds is not been heard, this is evident in decisions where things like road signs placed by the NRA direct people away from our town, in a time when footfall is badly needed,” he said.

Kilrush Town Council will be dissolved at end of this council term, and Cllr Lynch has no option but to put his name forward to contest the Clare County Council Municipal Area of Kilrush if he is to remain a public representative.

The young councillor believes change is needed in the Clare County Council Chamber.

“Change is badly needed, people are sick of seeing the same old same old. It’s time for new blood, new spirit, fight and new passion, some one that is not restricted by what they can say or flight for, someone that has courage to stand up and be heard and has the capacity to get things done, this is what people want, this is what they deserve,” he said.

“Yes, it has been said to me to wait, my time will come, but this is not about Ian Lynch or my career in politics, this is about standing up for what I believe in.”

A SITE has been identified in Ennis for the establishment of a park to honour the memory of Clare people who died in conflicts around the world.

A green area between Glór and the Temple Gate Hotel will be the location for the Clare Peace Park. There are already plans to erect a sculpture to recognise the sacrifices of men and women who fought in conflicts such as the Vietnam War

The € 200,000 sculpture will be funded by the Vietnam Veteran’s Advocacy Group, whose members have been regular visitors to Ennis.

The memorial will include the following inscription:

“This memorial is dedicated to the Irish men and women who served in Allied military service in south East Asia during the period 1959-1975. Those who were lost are listed in the order in which they were taken.” A Mayo artist has secured the tender for the project.

A local group, the Clare Peace Park Initiative, are proposing to erect a memorial to the estimated 700 Clare soldiers who served in World War I.

The group was founded in December 2012 from a Remembrance Day Service Committee.

It is intended that the park would be a focal point for the existing commemoration ceremony that takes place on November 11 each year.

Dr Keir McNamara of the Clare Peace Park Initiative explained;

“We also intend to remember those who died from Clare in international conflicts since then.

A total of 45 Clare men died in the Second World War (1939-1945), two in The Spanish Civil war (1936-1939) and two in Korea (1950-1953).”

The group are asking anyone who may have information on Clare people who fought in World War I to contact them.

Further information is available on www. clarepeaceparki nt iat ive. com and the group’s Facebook page.

The group also intends to launch a fundraising initiative.

“In a few years you’re going to have the centenaries 1916/17 so if we don’t get things going we may lose momentum,” added Dr McNamara.

WHILE the local authority tackles one of the largest flood relief projects in the county town of Ennis, a new form of flooding has taken hold in other parts of the county.

During the last number of years, rural roads in Clare, which previously went unaffected by heavy rainfall, are now subjected to significant flooding.

The reason for the floods, according to the council, is blocked drains and ultimately a staff shortage, which has continued since a Government moratorium and a major early retirement scheme in the public service.

Tom Tiernan, Senior Engineer with Clare County Council, confirmed, “Blocked drains and subsequent flooding has increasingly become a problem around the county in recent years.

“Clare County Council is unable to carry out drainage clearing work as regularly as it would like to due to curtailed resources,” he said.

Frustrated local county councillors have been inundated with calls relating to the issue.

Cllr Tom McNamara said, the finances simply are not there to regularly undertake even the most basic of road maintenance works.

This has led to the deterioration of our roads, particularly in rural areas.

“For example, in recent weeks I have seen flooding occur on sections of the R474 between Ennis and Miltown Malbay as well as smaller regional and local roads where flooding has not occurred before, such as that experienced recently on the Bushypark Road. This flooding is the result of roadside drains not being maintained and becoming filled with debris. The blocked drains simply cannot cope with the volume of rainwater,” he said.

THERE was mixed feelings towards the € 13 million allocated for the upkeep, improvements and general works on Clare’s regional and local roads this year.

The Government approved fund to Clare County Council, Kilrush Town Council and Ennis Town Council was down by € 2 million on last year, which is ultimately bad news for rural roads impacted upon by the storms and heavy rain of recent months.

Clare County Council is to receive just under € 12 million with the Ennis authority to receive € 339,200 and Kilrush to be allocated € 115,000.

Members of Clare County Council have criticised the funding reduction claiming it has “drastically reduced” the council’s ability to carry out basic road maintenance work such as road surfacing, hedge cutting, and road drainage clearing.

Ennis West Councillor Tom McNamara (FF) said the council was fighting a losing battle. “Rather than being financed sufficiently to maintain local and regional roads they have to focus maintenance on the most travelled roads only,” he said.

It wasn’t all bad news from his point of view however with € 50,000 allocated to Connolly.

There was also some good news for motorists using the R474 between Ennis and Miltown Malbay and the much-publicised Kilkee to Loop Head Road.

The maintenance of the later is essential to the Wild Atlantic Way route to begin later this year.

Meanwhile in East Clare there was unease that a project that is not scheduled to begin for at least another decade was again awarded funding from the council coffers.

“It is very frustrating that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport have again made a substantial fund allocation to the Limerick Northern Distributor Road (LNDR) project,” said Cllr Cathal Crowe.

“The € 140,000 allocated towards the advancement of the Limerick Northern Distributor Road is, in my view, a shameful waste of taxpayer’s money at a time when funding to our county’s existing roads network has been savagely cut.”

In 2013 € 300,000 was allocated from the fund to the project that is meeting with resistance locally.

“If precedence is followed the € 140,000 allocated last week will be channelled into the surveying of the route line and volumes of paperwork which, to date, the public have been denied access to,” said the local councillor.

THE Burren and the Cliffs of Moher have been shortlisted for the world’s most prestigious award for developing sustainable tourism.

Over the weekend the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark project was shortlisted for the prestigious Tourism for Tomorrow Award – alongside 17 other destinations from around the world.

The award, which is operated by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), saw scores of entries from more then 56. The winners and finalists will be recognised during the WTTC Global Summit, which will take place in Hainan in China this April.

The Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark has been shortlisted alongside Bonito in Brazil and Temes SA – Costa Navarino in Greece in the Destination Award, which recognised the development of sustainable tourism.

“Since 2008, Clare County Council has been working in the Burren to develop a truly sustainable tourism destination that gives direct benefits to the local community, promotes and celebrates local culture and produce, preserves the environment and provides a great experience for our visitors,” said Carol Gleeson of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark.

“This has been achieved with great support and partnership from local communities and businesses and agencies responsible for tourism and conservation and local development.

“This work includes establishing the Burren Ecotourism Network as far back as 2008, achieving UNESCO recognised Global Geopark status in 2011 and providing environmental and business training, developing a destination brand, promoting certification, and importantly linking high responsible tourism standards with economic benefit to the area.”

THE traditional Fianna Fáil church gate collection could soon be a thing of the past with a proposal to ban the collection to be discussed at the next meeting of the party’s Financial Committee.

Over the last number of years grass roots members in Clare have contributed more through the church gate collection than members in any other county in Ireland. Indeed the party netted in excess of € 17,000 from church gate collections in Clare in 2012, compared to just € 20 collected in Dublin and € 185,000 collected in Ireland as a whole.

Church gate collections have become a divisive subject in the Fianna Fáil party in recent years with urban members viewing them as old fashioned and outdated while members from more rural constituencies view them as a good source of revenue.

A Fianna Fáil spokesperson confirmed to The Clare People yesterday that the party’s high brass would examine scrapping the collection in the coming weeks.

“The matter hasn’t yet been referred to the Finance Committee. The committee meets every quarter and it will come up at the next meeting of the committee,” he said yesterday.

The spokesperson also described the proposal to ban church gate col- lections as a complex issue and declined to give a figure for the total raised by the party in Clare in 2013.

County Clare contributed almost 10 per cent of the total raised by Fianna Fáil from church gate collections in 2012.

This was an increase on the € 16, 536 raised by the party in 2011, but represent a significant drop on the amount raised in Clare while the party was still in government.

Clare has been a consistent cashcow for Fianna Fáil with € 21,727 being raised in 2010 and € 23,594 in 2009.

A complete ban on all church gate collections in Clare received cross party support when it was suggested by Ennis Cllr Tony Mulqueen (FG) late last year.

“All of the main political parties are now funded by the State. If the State is contributing millions towards the operations of political parties, I don’t see why they need to hold collections in front of churches anymore,” said Cllr Mulqueen.

“We seem to have an industry in collecting money in this country. As it stands at the moment, political parties receive State funding based on the number of seats that they win in elections.

“It seems a fair system and I received support from all parties when I suggested a ban on collections – including Fianna Fáil.” TODAY Th a n kfu lly a d ry day, su n n y b u t bre e zy a n d c h illy, ta m ps 7c .

THE DEATH of former postman and electricity meter reader Tony McElroy who was found dead in the Ballynacally Community Centre car park on Saturday morning last was one of natural causes.

Gardaí said they are no longer treating his death as suspicious, as a post mortem carried out the University Hospital Limerick on Saturday afternoon showed he probably died from a heart attack.

Mr McElroy, who was 61 years old and from Knockatunna, Kilmaley, had been socialising in Daly’s Bar in Balynacally on Friday night.

His body was found the following morning last 9.45am beside his car.

Gardaí at Kilrush were called and began investigating the circumstances around the sudden death.

The scene was preserved and the Offices of the State Pathologist was contacted, while Mr McElroy’s remains were removed from the scene and brought to Limerick Regional Hospital where the post mortem took place.

It is understood that the results showed the West Clare man died as a result of a heart attack.

Local people paid tribute to the man they got to know well when he worked in the area as the meter reader for the ESB.

He was also recognised as a keen card player and a man who enjoyed music sessions.

Mr McElroy’s funeral Mass will take place today (Tuesday) at 11am in Kilmaley Church followed by burial in Mount Temple Cemetery, Kilmaley.