People from every part of County Clare converged on Westbury on Sunday last to register their protest at plans to extend the Limerick City boundary into South-East Clare. Dan Danaher reports

The Clare Shout reverberated throughout Westbury on Sunday last as people from various parts of Clare participated in a demonstration to oppose the controversial proposed boundary extension.
“Clare Says No,” was the chant of a group of teenagers on Athlunkard Bridge, which links Clare with Limerick. Dressed in the Clare colours of saffron and blue, people from North, West and East Clare joined people from South-East Clare parishes on the protest march from St Nicholas’ Church, Westbury to Athlunkard Bridge.
The rally organisers, Clare against the Boundary Extension (CABE) erected a large blue banner with this slogan at the entrance to Shannon Banks Housing Estate and residents carried placards with messages such as “Westbury Says No to Boundary Extension” and “Parteen GAA Says No to Boundary Extension”.
An articulated truck, driven by Mike Edwards and donated by Eamonn Morrissey from Shannon Transport, headed the protest, displaying a large banner proclaiming, “Clare Says No to Limerick Boundary”.
Clare Oireachtas members and Clare County Councillors were to the front of the protest.
Defence Minister Tony Killeen, opted not to attend the demonstration, however. He cited Cabinet confidentiality as the reason why he can’t outline his personal views after the boundary extension was briefly discussed at a recent Cabinet meeting.
Clare Fianna Fáil deputy, Timmy Dooley and Clare Fine Gael deputies, Pat Breen and Joe Carey joined hundreds of householders for the street demonstration. They were joined by Mayor of Clare, Councillor Christy Curtin, East Clare councillors, Pat Burke, Pat Hayes, Joe Cooney, Pascal Fitzgerald, Michael Begley and Cathal Crowe, who donned a Clare jersey for the day; North Clare councillors, Michael Kelly, Joe Arkins; Shannon Mayor, Tony Mulcahy, Councillors John Crowe, Patricia McCarthy and Shannon Town Councillor Tony McMahon; Ennis councillors, Paul Murphy, Paul O’Shea and Tony Mulqueen.
Piper Jim Linnane, from Ardmore in County Waterford, played Irish traditional music at the protest. Jim’s children reside in Ardnacrusha and he says his heart is in Clare.

Dooley will not support vote on change

Clare Fianna Fáil Deputy Timmy Dooley has pledged to oppose the proposed boundary extension of Limerick City into South-East Clare in any future vote in Dáil Éireann. He expects Environment Minister, John Gormley to bring a report before Cabinet in the near future.
“If there is a vote in the Dáil, I will not support a boundary extension into Clare,” he said. He claimed that drawing a new line on a map to bring 3,000 Clare people into Limerick City would not create one new job.
Deputy Dooley said Clare county manager, Tom Coughlan was willing to increase co-operation between Clare County Council and Limerick City Council.
Deputy Dooley said that states in the United States had come together to discuss issues of mutual benefit without having to extend boundaries.
Acknowledging there were a number of issues to resolved in Limerick City, he pointed out these were being dealt with through a number of Government initiatives such as the regeneration of a number of local authority estates. However, he stressed there was no justification for extending the boundary into Clare to solve issues in Limerick City.
Deputy Dooley confirmed the boundary issues was discussed at a Fianna Fáil party meeting on Tuesday of last week as this issue also affected other counties such as Kilkenny where Waterford City was attempting to extend its urban boundary.
He dismissed suggestions that his attendance at the march was in conflict in his role as Government Deputy because the Limerick Local Government Committee, chaired by Denis Brosnan, had only made a recommendation and no final decision had been taken by the Government.
Commenting on the interim Mid-West Task Force Report, which was produced by Denis Brosnan and others, Deputy Dooley expressed disappointment that it hadn’t recommended any innovative job creation proposals.
Acknowledging Mr Brosnan had created a lot of jobs as a successful businessman, Deputy Dooley said  he expected a lot more proposals on enterprise and job creation instead of local government and the governance of Limerick City.

Shift would split GAA club

Any change in the Clare boundary would split the parish supplying players and members for Parteen GAA club and could result in splitting the club, a club officer has claimed.
Parteen GAA Club chairman, Padraic Conlon, has insisted that transferring up to 3,000 people from Westbury and Shannon Banks would have a serious detrimental effect on the future of the club.
The club has recently invested €500,000 providing new facilities at their grounds in the middle of the Westbury Housing Estate.
Two weeks ago, speaking on behalf of  Environment Minister John Gormley during a Dáil Adjournment Debate, Deputy Billy Kelleher said the minister noted that Limerick Local Government Committee took the position that the attachment Clare people had to their county should not override the need for a more coherent approach to be taken to governing Limerick City.
However, Mr Conlon, who is a native of Tulla and now lives in Ardnacrusha, rejected this assertion. He pointed out one section of the Limerick Local Government Report highlighted the positive role played by sporting organisations such as the GAA and their integral role in the local community.
He explained if Westbury and Shannon Banks were included in Limerick City some of the Parteen players may feel they could move to a city club and end up playing for Limerick.
“If you go down to our pitch in Westbury, you could see between 90 girls playing camogie or 100 boys between the ages of six and 12. The club has a very good underage structure. A huge amount of new people who have come into the area have got involved in the club. The club has people from every county in Ireland. We are not anti-Limerick. Some of the best people in the club are Limerick people who are hugely committed to the development of the club and want the club to remain in Clare,” he said.