Category: News

IT WILL cost almost € 24 million to repair storm damage to 60 kilometres of coastline and 35 specific areas of Clare County Council managed infrastructures, with bills for the Office of Public Works, to private individuals and community groups expected to run into millions of euros more.

According to the Preliminary Storm Damage Report submitted to the Government by the local authority on Friday, it was the “worst experienced in living memory”.

More information relating to infrastructure the council maintains is the responsibility of the OPW will be forwarded to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in the coming days.

These areas in question include Kildysart, Ballynacally, the Shannon embankments at Shannon Airport and Doonbeg at the site of the golf course.

“Clare County Council accepts there has been further significant damage to infrastructure not under the control of the council, in particular to estuary embankments along the Shannon Estuary and strategic tourism enterprises. An assessment of this damage will now be completed for the Government’s consideration,” said the county manager Tom Coughlan following a special meeting of the council.

The largest cost to the council will be repairing the promenade and dealing with the compromised rock armour at the seaside resort of Lahinch at € 5.84 million.

The county’s most westerly village of Kilbaha was also extensively damaged with repair work estimated at € 3.42 million, and a further € 622,000 estimated for Kilcredaun where six families were isolated from the main land for days.

Cloughaninchy, Quilty, which was the sight of devastating damage to homes is estimated to cost € 2.58 million.

Damage at New Quay is also over a million euros estimated at € 1.84 million with € 1.12 million of damage estimated to the N67 road at Moneypoint, Kilrush.

Senior engineer Tom Tiernan, who compiled the report, warned that the figures are as realistic as they can be at this early stage and are subject to change. He explained the vast bulk of the report relates to the destruction caused by the high winds and surging tides throughout the length of the Clare coastline through the first week of 2014.

“The vast bulk of damage caused by the first of the aforementioned three storms was most severely impacting inland – within 10 miles of the north and west coasts of the county. The vast bulk of the impact of the latter two events manifested itself at several locations along the county’s entire coastline and their respective severities are explained by the coincidence of very high tides, extremely low pressure centres moving in a south-west to north-east direction off the west coast of Ireland and severe south-west to west winds gusting at speeds of up to 150 km/hr onto the coastline,” he said.

YEARS spent studying the ocean off the North Clare coast paid off for Lisdoonvarna student Stephen O’Connell last week after he took first place in the Biological and Ecological Category of the BT Young Scientist Exhibition.

Stephen was one of six students from Mary Immaculate Secondary School to receive an award at this year’s Young Scientist. Indeed, nine of the 10 Clare projects at this year’s event came from Lisdoonvarna, with one project from Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon also making the final.

Stephen, whose father fishes off the coast of Doolin and Liscannor, has entered the competition on two previous occasions, with each project exploring different aspects of fishing in the area.

Stephen profiled more than 1,200 crabs caught off the Clare coast and developed a method for separating low quality and high quality crab meat. His work could have a major impact on the quality of crab being produced by the Irish crab industry.

The school also had great performances from Rhianna McMahon and her brother Keelan who took second place in their category as well as winning the EMC Data Hero Award.

Second year students Tess Casasin Sheridan and Aoife Doherty received the Geological Survey of Ireland Award for their project while David Sims was Highly Commended for his project.

“This is Stephen’s third year in the exhibition and they all have been building in the same area. His father and his uncle are both fishermen so that is what Stephen knows best. It is a great advantage to have a project that the student has an interest in and has a lot of knowledge around,” said John Sims of Mary Immaculate Secondary School.

“Keelan and Rhianna did very well as well, coming second in their category and also winning the EMC Data Hero Award. This award is for data analysis and they had 20,000 lines of data in their project which was a great achievement.

“The standard was so high this year and I think everyone did really really well. It was above my wildest dreams that everyone did so well. It was a great achievement.”

ONE hundred per cent of the € 23.76 million requested by Clare County Council from central government must be forthcoming and soon if the local authority is to begin restoring the storm ravaged county. That was the message from county councillors at a special meeting on Friday, during which warnings were issued that lives will be lost if the infrastructure is not repaired immediately.

Cllr Richard Nagle (FF) said that one such urgent case was the main thoroughfare to the tourist attraction – the Cliffs of Moher.

“If something isn’t done at that location and other locations highlighted in this report, what is going to happen? Is it that that road will simply collapse and it is very close to that now? And if the road collapses, without ever talking about loss of life, it is going to result in a huge loss to the local economy, the main way to the cliffs will be collapsed and it will cost millions then. Whatever it is going to cost now that the road it there it will cost a lot more to be rebuild,” said the North Clare councillor.

He added however that priority must be given to people displaced by the storm and sea swells.

“We need a swift response from central government and a swift allocation of funds to start this work as a matter of urgency,” he said.

Cllr Michael Hillery (FF) was not confident that the close on € 24 million will cover the cost of the “damage I have seen along the coast line”.

Senior engineer with Clare County Council Tom Tiernan said the coun- cil will be working hard to restore local authority infrastructure.

He said the council’s focus would also be in making serous inroads into the village of Kilbaha in the coming weeks and Clahane north of Liscan nor “where serious damage has been done and a number of other areas where access is seriously curtailed”.

“We are a long way from having Lahinch ready for what is needed for the tourist season, but we will achieve it. This is something that is obviously very important to the county during the tourist season.”

THERE have been calls to remove beggars from the streets of Ennis after concern was raised that women are being “trafficked” into the town to beg.

Cllr Paul O’Shea (Ind) has requested the council “work with appropriate authorities such as social welfare inspectors to ascertain if those who continue to beg on the streets of Ennis are in receipt of social welfare payments”.

He called on the council to endeavour to make Ennis a begging free zone n 2014 so as to encourage tourism in the town.

At the council’s January meeting, town clerk Leonard Cleary said the issue of begging was recently discussed at the Ennis Joint Policing Committee on December 16.

He stated, “Ennis Town Council will work with the Gardaí and other agencies in relation to this matter. In addition the JPC discussed the importance of balancing support for local charities with national charity collections visiting Ennis. Again, the council will liaise with the relevant agencies.”

Cllr O’Shea told the meeting he had seen the same people begging on the streets of Clonmel and Ennis.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said women are “rotated” in and out of the Ennis area. He said some of the women are often forced into “other activities”. Cllr Flynn told the meeting there were reports locally that the women are dropped into Ennis by a man driving a Mercedes car.

“There is abuse of women and children in this,” he added. Cllr Mary Howard (FG) said gardaí believe women are being “trafficked” into Ireland for the purposes of begging. She also criticised the activities of some charity collectors or “chuggers”.

Cllr Howard said some of those collecting money around Dunnes Stores and the Post Office can be “intimidating and abusive”.

THOMAS Burke is fighting for his livelihood and facing the stark possibility that it may no longer sustain him following the storm and sea swells of early January.

The Kilrush farmer is one of just many dependent on the lands of West Clare for survival, now in serious trouble.

The suckler farmer is facing the real possibility of selling a portion of his herd as three quarters of a mile of his land along the coast at Shannakyle in now covered in gravel. More than 100 metres more has been washed into the sea.

Each day more and more land is eroded away as the sea walls he built to protect his land were also victim of the storm and high waves.

Mr Burke’s land is in the form of a mini peninsula that juts out into the sea, across from Scattery Island. As a result his 80-acre farm has been damaged on all sides.

During the height of the bad weather at least 30 acres, more than one third of his land was under water. This land will now have to be reclaimed from the damage of the seawater and all the debris that has been washed up.

He has also suffered thousands of euros of damage at three other points on his farm, including the loss of the sea wall he built.

“A half of mile of fencing was also destroyed and about 100 metres of land sucked out to the sea,” he told The Clare People . “The days that followed the storm caused more problems as the sea continued to erode the land that was no longer protected,” he said. “It will take three weeks with a digger to clean up,” he added explaining that the repair work will then begin. Even when the repair work is complete there will still be under-lying damage that will take years to rectify itself. “I am looking at the possibility of selling stock this year because the land won’t be recovered,” said the worried farmer. “There is no help coming as of now.”

LAST year was a record year for trgan transplants in Ireland, with at least six transplant recipients from Clare. One third of the Clare transplants were from living donors.

Four Clare people received kidney transplants last year while another was the recipient of a kidney and pancreas transplant.

There was at least one lung transplant recipient in the county.

Among the success stories were two living kidney transplant recipients in Clare both of whom received their transplants from family members.

Both transplants were carried out at Beaumount Hospital Dublin and both the donors and recipients have recovered well.

“The gift they have received has given these people a second chance at life as they now have a life free of dialysis. It’s the gift the recipients are so grateful for, as prior to been transplanted they were depending on machines to survive,” said Peggy Eustace of the Clare branch of the Irish Kidney Association.

“Sadly there have also been many donor families in Clare. We thank them for the generosity they have shown in donating their loved ones organs at a very difficult time for themselves.”

In 2013 as many as 293 organs were transplanted in Ireland compared to the previous record of 275 in 2011.

The highlight achievement was the growth in lung transplantation in the Mater Hospital from a record 14 in 2012 to a staggering 32 in 2013.

This is more than the equivalent of the previous four years of lung transplantation from 2009 to 2012, which totalled 31.

The second highlight is the consistently record-breaking living donor kidney transplant programme in Beaumont Hospital, which had 38 living donors and resulting transplants.

It brings the total living donor kidney transplants to 155 since the start of the service seven years ago.

The generosity of the 86 deceased donors and their families in 2013 dramatically altered and saved the lives of 245 people, 10 of whom received two organs.

There were 55 liver transplants performed in St Vincent’s Hospital and 11 heart transplants also conducted in the Mater Hospital.

In Beaumont Hospital a total of 195 transplant operations took place. 185 kidney operations, of which 38 were from living donors and 147 from deceased donors, 10 of the 147 also had simultaneous pancreas transplants.

THE community spirit continued into Carrigaholt as neighbours worked together to ensure people got to work, school and to the shops.

Local postmaster Pat Gavin, whose family was one of six marooned on a temporary island in Kilcredaun as a result of the storm and sea swells also praised the work of Clare County Council.

“Fair play, Clare County Council have done everything they can given their resources, but central Government have let us down,” he told The Clare People . “Part of what happened was due to neglect, even though I accept some flooding would have occurred,” he said.

The postmaster added he was referring to promises from the Government two and a half years ago that work would be completed at the seawall at Kilcredaun Irish College.

This work was estimated at the time at € 90,000. The sea wall was torn away in the storm and the college flooded as the people living there were segregated from the rest of the county by floodwater.

According to a Clare County Council report this week, restoration and reconstruction work on this part of the peninsula will cost € 622,000.

Mr Gavin said the generous spirit of neighbours, who loaned him a four-wheel drive, means he can now get to the post office every day.

Up to 250 yards off the main road remains under water as just 30 per cent of the water has receded. Clare County Council has put gravel on an old track so that the people living in Kilcredaun can now move around again.

Meanwhile farmers are struggling as their land remains under water. Even when the water recedes, they will have to reseed it in a bid to undo the damage of the seawater.

ALLEGATIONS of aggressive and intimidating behaviour by people visiting Drumcliff have emerged amid calls for less restrictive access to the graveyard.

Fears that vehicles would damage graves led to the permanent locking last year of one half of the cemetery’s gates. There have also been reports that groups of people were observed drinking and behaving aggressively in Drumcliff on Christmas Day.

The issues were disclosed at the January meeting of Ennis Town Council as councillors discussed a motion tabled by Cllr Paul O’Shea (Ind).

Cllr O’Shea proposed the gates at Drumcliff be unlocked every second Sunday “to enable loved ones to transport tools, equipment, plants and flowers so as to maintain their loved one’s graves.”

Administrative officer Betty Devanny stated in her response that access to Drumcliff cemetery has been restricted since November 2013, with exception give to undertakers, grave diggers, memorial sculptors, caretaker and those with mobility difficulties.

She continued, “This is necessary to prevent possible damage occurring to the kerbing, grave surrounds, and grave markers from vehicles accessing the cemetery which hap- pened on a regular basis while the gates remained unlocked. It will also provide for better management of the cemetery.”

Ms Devanny said only one side of the double gates are locked so it is possible for people to bring tools and flowers to graves. She states extra staff would be required to facilitate Cllr O’Shea’s request. “In the current economic downturn and a staffing embargo in place, it is not possible to facilitate this request,” she added.

Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) told the meeting he had witnessed incidents where vehicles drove at speed around the graveyard. “When the gates were left open, it was abused,” he said.

Cllr Mary Howard (FG) said she saw people drive through the graveyard on Christmas Day and park up for 40-50 minutes. “There is no room to maneuver and damage will be done,” she warned.

Cllr Howard told the meeting she also witnessed the same group of people “drinking and being aggressive” on Christmas Day.

Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Mary Coote Ryan (FG) said she recently saw two carloads of people enter the graveyard in a “very intimidating fashion”.

“There are some people who do misbehave and cause trouble for others,” she added.

Town manager Gerard Dollard said the changes at Drumcliff were introduced for the better management of the facility.

IT MAY be one of the worst villages hit by the storm but the high winds and waves did not damage he community spirit in Kilbaha.

On Tuesday three young mothers returning from the early school run decided to begin a tidy up at the year -old playground that had fallen victim to the storm.

Suddenly passers bys joined in and other parents returning home with their children at 3pm joined the group with shovels, wheelbarrows and children willing to give a helping hand.

Farmers and local contractors joined the impromptu clean up with tractors and mini diggers and what could have taken weeks, according to local woman Ailish Connolly, took three hours.

As many as 30 adults and 20 children were involved in the clean up, with council workers and Rural Resource workers staying around to help.

“We are so privileged to be in a community like this where the methil is alive and kicking,” said Ms Connolly adding that there was time for the odd seaweed fight and some merriment.

The mother of three who is part of the playground committee said an engineer is expected next week to access the damage, but she is hopeful that the community will be able to do the repair work themselves.

Already farmers have pulled the buckled fencing into place using their tractors.

As clean ups are planned for neighbouring Ross and Rhinevella on Saturday, the community remain concerned about the impact the storm will have on local tourism.

Many of the roads have been com- promised which is a concern ahead of the launch of the Wild Atlantic Way next month. The Loop Head peninsula has been included in the bus tour of the west coast of Ireland so proper roads are essential.

TWO Clare surfers, who took to the water during the height of the Storm Catherine last week, are in the running for this year’s Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards.

Lahinch surfer Ollie O’Flaherty and Peter Conroy from Miltown Malbay both braved massive swells on Mullaghmore Beach in Sligo last Monday, during the height of the storm.

The waves on the day were between 20 and 30 feet in height but they were also incredibly powerful. Because there was a extended period of time between each wave, a massive volume of water is inside each wave making them incredibly powerful.

“It is kind of an addiction. It’s something you have to build up to over. You can’t just wake up one day and decided to go out and surf 30 of 40 foot waves. You have to build up to it,” said Ollie.

“There were maybe 18 or 20 seconds between each wave, which is unheard of in this part of the world. This means that even if the waves are not 60 foot, they are incredibly powerful and travelling very fast.”

According to Peter, it takes years of experience before surfers can safely take on big waves like those produced during Storm Catherine.

“It is all about stepping stones. You have to comfortable just being in big waters like this never mind surfing. You have to know what the sea is doing. You have to realise that the sea is in charge, not you. We catch the waves, we play on the waves but if the sea wants to catch you, you are dead,” said Peter.

“It [the Billabong nomination] is a list of the best waves that have been surfed in Europe so far this year and mine and Ollie’s are up there. This will be knocked down to a shortlist of five later this year so for the mo- ment this is really a recognition that us Irish guys are putting it on the line for big wave surfing.” A final shortlist of five surfers for this year’s Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards will be announced in March.