News

THE consortium behind proposals for a €60 million private hospital in Ennis, creating up to 700 jobs, are expected to lodge an application for planning permission with Ennis Town Council within the next two months.An Bord Pleanála has ruled that plans by Duesbury Limited for the development on the site of the former Our Lady’s Psychiatric Hospital, on the outskirts of Ennis, do not qualify as strategic infrastructure development (SID) and the project can be decided on by planners within the town council. In making its decision, An Bord Pleanála stated the proposed development is below the 100-bed in-patient threshold.Duesbury Ltd had submitted to An Bord Pleanála that the proposed development is not strategic infrastructure.A spokesperson for Duesbury said, “We had initially planned to apply for planning permission with Ennis Town Council but legislation meant we were obliged to make an application to An Bord Pleanála to seek a determination on whether this development constitutes strategic infrastructure. We had submitted …

SHANNON Town Council is seeking clarification from the HSE on the future of the high-support hostel at Deilginis. At the April meeting of the council, Labour Councillor Tony McMahon proposed the council seek information from the HSE on “the future status of the high-support hostel at Deilginis and advise what effect nursing staff reductions will have on the service users there”.He also wanted the HSE to clarify whether or not services for young people experiencing mental health issues in the Shannon area will be maintained at current levels.Speaking to The Clare Champion following the meeting, he said he was concerned about the situation. “My understanding of it is that it’s going to be downgraded, that the permanent staff are going to be moved to other facilities in Ennis and that it’s only going to have occasional staff visiting there. That’s why I want someone to come and tell us what the story on it is because there is no definite …

Dozens of Clare tourism providers will embark on a tour of visitor attractions throughout the County during April and May, as part of an initiative to build referral business within the local sector.The Clare Tourism Forum has organised a series of familiarisation tours that will take place in East, West, North and South Clare over the coming weeks.Chair of Clare Tourism Forum, Barbara Faulkner explains the thinking behind the initiative.“By broadening their knowledge and experience of other tourism attractions within County Clare, individual operators will be better positioned to promote the wider tourism sector and in doing so accrue the benefits of fellow operators doing likewise,” she stated.Ms. Faulkner continued, “Flagship attractions such as Bunratty Castle, Aillwee Cave and the Cliffs of Moher have for decades attracted thousands of visitors to County Clare. While these popular tourist sites have made immeasurable contributions to the local economy, it is important that tourism operators are suitably informed to educate visitors about the …

Lives will be lost if seriously ill psychiatric patients are allowed to refuse a controversial form of therapy, a well-known Clare psychiatrist has claimed. Retired public consultant psychiatrist, Dr Moosajee Bhamjee insists that removing the option of prescribing electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to involuntary patients with severe depression or other serious illnesses who lack capacity and are unable to consent to treatment will result in deaths. “Will the minister take responsibility if a patient dies? Who takes responsibility if I say that a person needs ECT, the person says no, who is responsible if this person dies of starvation? “That is what happens with severe forms of depression. Some seriously depressed or ill patients will not eat or take fluids. Who decides in these cases?” Dr Bhamjee asked. Minister of State at the Department of Health, Kathleen Lynch told a recent mental health forum in Ennis that the Department was going to remove the provision allowing ECT for unwilling patients. “If …

FULL-time and part-time farming is the most common occupation among Clare county councillors, who have outlined their property and shareholdings in the latest declaration of interests.Councillors are obliged to complete an annual statement detailing their profession, involvement with land development, any other paid job, land ownership, directorships, gifts including foreign travel, which were provided on a commercial basis or property gifted to them free of charge.It includes local authority contracts, work as a political public affairs lobbyist, any shareholding or investments in a company or enterprise that doesn’t relate to land or any business or dealing in development land if the aggregate value of the holding exceeded €12,697 at any time during the appropriate period.n Councillor Johnny Flynn is a retired chief fire officer at Limerick County Council and is currently a civil engineer, who is involved with West Clare Renewable Energy, Atlantic Force Wind Energy and Atlantic Force Hydro.In addition to his family home and nearby old cottage on …

GAA communities on both sides of the Irish Sea are attempting to come to terms with the tragic death of a young man after a hurling training session on Tuesday evening. Cathal Forde, 28, from Castletown, Gort, collapsed at the end of a Kilburn Gaels hurling session in Highgate. He was rushed by ambulance to Whittington Hospital, Archway, London, where he was pronounced dead.In Gort on Wednesday the news of his passing was only beginning to sink in. “The club is just stunned at the moment,” said Martin Kearns, Gort GAA Club chairman. “Cathal was involved in the county final in 2008, which we lost, against Portumna. He emigrated just short of three years ago because of the recession. He headed for London to get work and he is out there since. I got the call from London at 7am. The club is in a state of shock. What can you say in this situation? Obviously on behalf of the …

Hardly a day goes by that somebody somewhere doesn’t suggest Fianna Fáil should pack it in. I don’t think any of those suggestions are coming from Fianna Fáil members. Presumably anybody in Fianna Fáil who might have wanted the party to die have already left.However, these almost daily calls on Fianna Fáil to leave the political field are beginning to bore me. Nobody can say with any degree of certainty what the future holds for Fianna Fáil. Perhaps there is no future for the party and perhaps there is. Your guess is as good as mine. Only time and the voters will decide. Certainly, nobody could have foreseen five years ago, following the success of the 2007 general election, what was going to happen to the party at the next election.Over the years we have heard experts predict there was no future for Fine Gael. I don’t know how many times we were told that Fine Gael was already dead …

A new political party – the Irish Citizens Party (Pairti Saoranaigh na hEireann) – was launched in Clare this Thursday. Its founder is Kilbaha sculptor Jim Connolly, who states that his motivation in forming the new party is simple, love of his country and his fellow humans.Mr Connolly told The Clare Champion that 21st century Ireland needed a new political leadership and a new party. Raking over the smouldering ashes of Civil War politics at every election had left the country bereft of an inclusive humanitarian vision, he said. “The recent collapse of Ireland’s economy, combined with the threat to the euro and the prospect of implosion of the EU itself had finally brought the fundamental inequalities in Irish life into stark focus,” he said.Founder of Rural Resettlement Ireland in 1990, bringing 720 new families to rural areas of the country, Mr Connolly also established other voluntary organisations such as The Open Fair, Irish Rural Dwellers Association and the Safe …