Category: News

A LIMITED policy of pedestrianisation will be in effect in Ennis during December after a meeting heard a lack of support exists among businesses for a longer period of pedestrianisation.

The council had previously proposed pedestrianising O’Connell Street on December 7 (Saturday), December 14 (Saturday), December 21 (Saturday), December 22 (Sunday), December 23 (Monday) and December 24 (Tuesday).

At yesterday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, Town Clerk Leonard Cleary said the council had sought the views of business people, rate payers and property owners in the town.

He said Ennis Chamber had proposed closing O’Connell Street to traffic on the final two Saturdays and the days leading up Christmas Day.

“A larger December pedestrianisation policy does not seem to be gaining currency at the moment,” explained Mr Cleary.

Under the 2013 policy, O’Connell Street will be pedestrianised from December 21 to 24. Town manager Gerard Dollard told the meeting the on / off nature of pedestrianisation had created difficulties around it.

He said until such time as the council makes a decision on whether proceed with a longer trial of pedestrianisation, the council would have to manage the existing approach.

Cllr Peter Considine said he was “disappointed” with the shorter period but agreed to support the proposal.

Welcoming the decision, Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) expressed concern “organised begging” could undermine the council’s attempts to create a festive atmosphere in the town centre in December.

Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) called for the council to take action against so called ‘chuggers’ who have set up in front of Dunnes Stores.

Cllr Guilfoyle said pedestrians are being forced out onto the street by people collecting money for charity. He told the meeting it was only a matter of time before someone is hurt.

Councillors agreed to a limited pedestrianisation as the council announced details of a free car-parking initiative for Christmas.

Town clerk Leonard Cleary stated, “Following the success in recent years, Ennis Town Council has developed and researched a Christmas Parking Initiative 2013. A recent consultation was held between representatives of Ennis business com- munity and Ennis Town Council with the key task of promoting shopping in Ennis over the Christmas and New Year period.”

Free parking will be in place up to 12 noon daily during December to January 6 both on street and off street. Parking will be free in Cloughleigh car park until January 6. The council is also encouraging staff of shops and business owners to free up spaces close to the town centre by using alternative spaces.

Mr Cleary said the council will promote the initiative online and through media. “The business community is also taking an active involvement promoting the initiative.”

CONCERN has been expressed that the designation of buildings as protected structures is killing off some of the oldest businesses in the town.

A special meeting of Ennis Town Council will take place later this month after councillors yesterday chose not to adopt the town manager’s recommendation that 183 buildings in Ennis be retained on the record of protected structures.

Councillors have sought a meeting with the county conservation officer to highlight concerns they have over aspects of the policy.

Cllr Brian Meaney (FF) told the meeting the high cost of renovating properties that are protected structures is unfair to owners.

Cllr Meaney said the policy also runs contrary to the council’s aim of encouraging more people to live in the town centre.

He said the council could adopt a policy that protects the built character and heritage of the town while at the same time affording property owners the flexibility to renovate their businesses using modern building methods and materials.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) said protected structure status had prevented the owners of Keane’s on O’Connell Street from extending their business.

Highlighting the example of one of the town’s oldest shops, Pyne’s on Abbey Street, Cllr Peter Considine (FF) said it was a small family-run business that could not afford the cost of maintaining and renovating the building due to the high cost of carrying out work to a protected structure.

“It’s a one of a kind, a dying kind and are we going to kill it further?” he added.

Town Manager Gerard Dollard said that while he agreed there should be some State support to cover the cost of such works, “If members wish to change this they better have very good and valid reasons for doing so.”

He told the meeting the council is statutorily obliged to make a decision on the protected structures list before the end of the month.

A special meeting to discuss the matter will take place on Tuesday, November 19, at 5pm in Waterpark House.

FIRE personnel from Kilrush came under attack from youths throwing stones while carrying out their duty on Halloween night.

The fire unit was called to an illegal bonfire in the town by concerned residents who feared it would get out of control.

While the reserve members of the fire service were dealing with the flames, four to five youths threw stones in their direction, hitting the fire engine.

No firefighters were injured in the incident.

Denis O’Connell, Senior Assistant Fire Officer with the Clare Fire Service, said that almost every year the members of the fire service face some aggravation when they are called to control bonfires.

“This was not very serious as no one got hit, but no one should have to put up with that when they go to do their day’s work,” he said.

The assistant fire chief explained that bogus calls were as frustrating to the fire service as these senseless attacks.

“If we get a call we have to take it serious. If there is a unit in an area on a call, we then have to take a unit from another area if there is a second call in that area. This affects the call out time to an incident,” he said.

“It is very serious on a busy night to get a bogus call,” added Mr O’Connell referring to a bogus call out in Shannon on Thursday night last – Halloween night.

Thursday proved particularly busy for the Clare Fire Service with 10 call outs in total.

Four of the call outs were to bonfires, in Kilrush, Kilkee, Shannon and Ennis, and one was the bogus call out.

“Ten calls is a lot in one day for seven brigades,” explained Mr O’Connell.

Last year there were 10 bonfire call outs in the county.

Mr O’Connell attributes the drop in bonfire call outs to just four this year to the strong public campaign by Clare County Council last week. Members of the public reporting any waste being gathered for potential bonfires and the weather. He said the rain quite literally dampened plans for the Halloween tradition this year.

CILLIAN Griffey is the youngest candidate in the country so far nominated to contest the local elections.

The Fine Gael young gun will run for the first time ever in the Ennis Municipal Area alongside four more seasoned campaigners.

Putting his name forward to seek a place on the Fine Gael ticket did not come easy for the 23 year-old from Ballymaley.

“It wasn’t an easy decision to make but I am passionate about the party and about the community I want to represent,” he said.

“Recent events have shown us all that we need to fight for our nation’s future. I, like you all, am angered and sickened by the plight of unemployment and emigration. My single resolve is to contribute to the re-energising of the values and passion for public service that our party stands for.

“I joined the party in 2005 when I thought we needed a change. The Government was getting stale. I felt there were not enough young people in politics. By me doing this I hope to encourage more young people,” he told The Clare People .

From a farming family he was instrumental in setting up the Ennis Macra na Feirme branch, as well as extending the Young Fine Gael East Clare Branch to include the whole county.

The business support manager at HR Locker in Lahinch has no illusions about how difficult it will be to complete in an election as the new kid on the block.

“I am realistic. As I am not as well known I need a bit of a head start,” he said.

The Doora Barefield clubman is also secretary of the Ballyalla Lake Working Group and has volunteered with the Clarecare Homework Club.

RYANAIR has set a target of bringing one million new passengers into Shannon as it gears up to reach 2007 levels when its traffic numbers through Clare’s international airport reached a record 1.9m.

This vision and commitment of the low-cost airline for Shannon was sounded out at the airport on Thursday by deputy chief executive Michael Cawley, at the announcement of eight new Ryanair flights out of Shannon that will commence in April 2014.

“My ambition for Shannon,” said Mr Cawley, “we talked about one million passengers. I wouldn’t lessen that in any way. We can move on. 300,000 is a very good start – this is a very significant step, almost doubling our business,” he added.

In 2011, Ryanair pledged to grow traffic numbers in Shannon by one million, provided it secured the same incentive deal that was being afforded to Aer Lingus by the Dublin Airport Authority at Dublin Airport.

Now the commitment of delivering 300,000 new passengers to Shannon as early as 2014 comes on the back of the announcement of new routes to Berlin, Munich, Krakow, Paris, Nice Fuerteventura, Warsaw and Faro as well as increased frequency on the Stansted route.

“I think we have to walk before we run. I would characterise the announcement as running fairly fast,” said Mr Cawley. “As the economy grows from a very low level, we would see great opportunity as well as putting new spots on the map. It provides us with a platform. “Once these can be bedded down and successful we can grow more. We take one step at a time. That is critical in our business too. We bed down what we have and we move on. This is a very big step,” he added. The Ryanair deputy chief refused to disclose the terms of the new deal, but said “Shannon wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t good for them, Ryanair wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t good for us. All we want is Shannon to be competitive and they have been competitive on this issue and we have a very good understanding. We have met on the middle on that – the tax has been a critical ingredient in making it happen. We are committed for a good number of years under this deal – so is the airport. “We have 30m more passengers that we want to allocate to airports over the next six/seven years – we want to be with people we can ring up and say ‘are the terms the same as the last time’, ‘can we extend it further’. “I would be very disappointed, now that the shackles of the Travel Tax are removed, that Shannon doesn’t participate, at least pro-rata or possibly more so, in that 30m expansion. We are here to stay, we are here to grow,” he added.

DURING the Fine Gael selection convention for the Ennis Municipal Area at the Auburn Lodge Hotel, a councillor of almost three decades retired, leaving way on the ticket for the youngest local election candidate to date.

Five Fine Gael candidates in total were selected to contest the eightseater constituency in the 2014 Local Elections, with no decision yet if another candidate is to be added.

Former Deputy Mayor Cllr Sonny Scanlon announced his retirement from the council and withdrew his nomination at the convention, as three other sitting county council- lors were returned to contest the first ever election for the new look local authority.

Cllr Paul Murphy, Cllr Johnny Flynn, and Cllr Tony Mulqueen were nominated and selected, along with Ennis town councillor Mary Howard and newcomer to elected politics 23year-old Cillian Griffey.

The Michael Howard Ennis Branch of Fine Gael nominated Cllr Johnny Flynn, Cllr Tony Mulqueen and Cllr Mary Howard. Cllr Paul Murphy was nominated by the Clarecastle/Ballyea branch and election newcomer, Cillian Griffey was nominated by the Barefield and Quin Fine Gael Branches as well as the Clare Young Fine Gael branch.

There were no other nominations on the night. Fine Gael Party Headquarters had directed that five candidates would be selected for the Ennis area which meant no vote would have to take place and all five remaining nominees were selected to run in the new Ennis area.

The guest chairperson for the Ennis convention was Senator Hildegarde Naughton from Galway.

INDEPENDENCE has been the key in sparking a huge upturn in the fortunes of Shannon Airport over the past year, with the freedom of being allowed to chart its own future ensuring that it is “first out of the blocks” when it comes to attracting new business.

That was the message sounded out by airport chairperson Rose Hynes and chief executive Neil Pakey on Thursday last as Ryanair announced details of its 2014 operation that will see budget airling operate 18 routes out of Shannon.

“It demonstrates the benefits of Shannon being an independent airport,” said Neil Pakey. “The focus on route development is evident, and decisions are being made decisively and speedily.

“The new routes will increase both inbound and outbound footfall and revenue to the airport and the region; Irish leisure travellers will benefit from greater destination choice, while the business traveller, particularly at sub-supply level, can access new markets in Central and Eastern Europe,” he added.

“I thought that Shannon had the potential to do this all along,” said Rose Hynes.

“We said it in the Task Force Report. We are doing exactly what we said we would be doing; we said we would deal with passengers as a priority and we are doing that.

“We are doing exactly everything we said we’d do and we are doing it on time as I see it. We were in recovery mode, but we are now in growth mode as I see it. We have stablised the airport and are now in growth.

“We are first out of the blocks to avail of Ryanair’s response to the Government. This is a major boost to the passenger numbers in Shannon, but not alone that it is also a major boost to business and tourism interests in the region,” she added.

“The airport is now free to set its own price and its own business plan and that’s hugely important,” said Michael Cawley.

“We pulled back from Shannon before because Dublin changed the rules. Dublin increased our price by seven and a half times.

“I don’t expect that type of interference again. This is an independent board. Ryanair is in the business of growing airline passengers and we want to do it. Shannon’s destiny is in the hands of people locally and that is critically important. It wasn’t in the previous time,” he added.

“We have a very good relationship with Ryanair and we intend to develop that,” continued Rose Hynes. “We intend to collaborate with all the stakeholders in the region. This brings to 18 the number of Ryanair destinations from Shannon – that’s significant. We want to collaborate with our stakeholders to make those routes a success,” she added.

IT IS likely to be a tale of two very different meetings when Fine Gael holds its Shannon and West Clare section conventions next week.

There are just two nominees for the Shannon Selection Convention to be held on Monday, with Clare county councillors John Crowe and Sean McLoughlin nominated to go before the members.

With just two candidates before the convention, it is likely they will be automatically added to the ticket to contest the 2014 Local Election in the six-seater constituency.

It is not clear as yet how many people if any will be added to the ticket after the convention, as the directive from the party headquarters has yet to be received.

West Clare is likely to be a livelier convention however with seven nominees to go before convention.

Clare county councillor Bill Slattery is the only candidate from the north of the constituency to be nominated, with the majority of candidates coming from the old Kilrush Electoral Area.

There are two nominees from the town of Kilrush in the form of Kilrush town councillors Marian McMahon Jones and Ian Lynch.

The other Fine Gael town councillor, Cllr Liam Williams, was not among the nominees.

West of Kilrush there are a further two nominees, as Clare county councillor Gabriel Keating and Kilkee town mayor Paddy Collins have been nominated.

No other Fine Gael member of the Kilkee Town Council is to contest the convention.

Cllr Oliver Garry from the Kildysert area has also been nominated to go before the delegates for selection on Friday night week, as has newcomer Johnny Pilkington.

From Cree, Johnny is a prominent member of young Fine Gael and is the son of former constituency chairman and director of elections for Fine Gael Dick Pilkington.

There are no indications how many candidates the party will run in the geographically expansive eightseater constituency that takes in the current Kilrush Electoral Area and a significant part of the Ennistymon Electoral Area.

TOURISM and business interests from along the western corridor from Limerick as far as Galway hailed the announced of eight new Ryanair routes out of Shannon to begin in 2014 as a huge boost to the west of Ireland.

The four chambers of commerce along the Atlantic Technology Corridor – Ennis, Limerick, Galway and Shannon – have said the new routes that will operational in April 2014 represent a huge shot in the arm to nearly 1,500 business in the catchment area. “The increased frequency to Lon don Stansted and the additional destinations offered to Central and Eastern Europe will greatly benefit the 1,355 businesses which form the membership of the four Chambers, and the 45,700 people employed by them,” they said. “Shannon Airport is the critical gateway to west and eastbound business and tourist traffic, which feeds the growth of so many businesses in this part of the west of Ireland. The four Chambers therefore regard Shannon as the airport for business in their sphere of influence. “Ryanair has demonstrated its be- lief in and commitment to Shannon; the onus is now on all stakeholders along the west coast to ensure that economical load levels are attained. Full aircraft demonstrate demand, and increased demand will lead to additional capacity being delivered in the future.”

Meanwhile, the Clare Tourism Forum has said the Ryanair expansion will help to sustain thousands of jobs in the local tourism and hospitality sector.

“The provision of direct services to French and German destinations in particular is a significant moment,” said forum chairperson Donnagh Gregson, “not only for Shannon Air port but tourism in this region as it will enable operators here to capitalise on the recent growth we have seen in the number of continental tourists visiting the county.

“Furthermore, this announcement will help to sustain existing jobs and create new opportunities for development amongst tourism operators in the wider region.

Ms Gregson confirmed that the Forum would now begin to refocus its marketing efforts to ensure that the new markets being opened up by Ryanair are targeted in the coming months. “Our members are particularly de lighted with the addition of services to Paris, Nice, Berlin and Munich which are key markets for the local tourism sector. “The commencement of these new routes in April 2014 will complement a comprehensive schedule of transatlantic services next year, which bodes well for tourism in County Clare and the west of Ireland. We are committed to supporting Shannon Airport by promoting all of these routes as well as playing our part in attracting additional routes and airline operators to the airport in the coming months and years,” she added.

A BURREN based political artist staged a public art demonstration in Ennistymon last week which she hopes will help end the process of fluoridation of water in Ireland.

Doolin-based artist Marianne Slevin staged the public art event outside the Ennistymon Library, which involved arranging a number of leaves with messages on them concerning the process of water fluoridation.

The issue of fluoridation of Irish water has become contentions in recent months with a bill to end the practice due to come before Dáil Éireann later this year.

“It is certainly a political activity. I think art can be very transformative, and sometimes issues that can be difficult to talk about or can cause conflict are best approached from an artistic medium,” said Marianne.

“I think this is a way that people can hear about an issue and approach it in own way. People can come to the subject in their own way. I mean, I hate confrontation, I’d do anything to avoid confrontation, so this a way of talking about an issue without forcing my views on them.

“I had brought leaves with some writing on them with me, and after that I started to improvise. I set myself up outside the library and built a place to work there. When I was finished I just walked away and let people discover the leaves and the messages themselves.”

Marianne has also been interacting with people on the streets Ennis and Ennistymon in recent week asking people to pretend that they are asleep or hypnotized. Marianne’s husband, professional photographer James Slevin, then takes picture of the scene which will become part of a future exhibition.

“We talk about it [water fluoridation] if people are interested to talk about it, or we just take pictures with them if that is what they are comfortable with. Later we do hope to have an exhibition of this when it is finished,” continued Marianne.

Marianne and James operate the Secret Gallery in Doolin. The gallery, which is located in their own home, is open to members of the public who happen to find it.