News

EAMON Gilmore was right when he said on RTÉ during the week that opinion polls have “no real meaning” at this time. Clare Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley was also saying more or less the same thing on radio on Monday morning. They were both commenting on the latest opinion poll, which brought bad news for their respective political parties.We have four years to go to a general election and opinion polls taken around now merely reflect what people are thinking around now. People’s thinking will have shifted in four years’ time.So the polls have “no real meaning” now. Last Sunday’s Sunday Times published a poll, which showed Sinn Féin on 25%, second to Fine Gael who were on 32%. Fianna Fáil were on 16% and Labour on 10%.If Fianna Fáil and Labour are going to ignore those figures, they will do so at their peril. Anyone would expect Labour to be languishing in the polls following last December’s tough …

CLARE Fine Gael TD Pat Breen has refuted claims he doesn’t spend sufficient time tending to issues in West Clare. At the official opening of the refurbished Kilkee library on Monday evening, a number of protestors greeted TDs, county and town councillors on their way into the building. Carrigaholt-based Pat Gavin was one of the protestors. He expressed anger at the fact that his autistic daughter has to travel a 130km daily round trip to Ennis to continue with her education. His daughter received her primary school education at the autistic unit at St Senan’s National School in Kilrush.  “I’d prefer to see these guys that are coming here to open the library this evening, opening an autistic unit for my child, who’s travelling 130km a day to go to school. She’s doing that for the last three years. This crowd that are in power now promised me when Fianna Fáil were in there that they’d open it when they …

The streetscape of Ennis was enhanced dramatically this week with the installation of Market Day in the historic Market Street area.Ennis Sculpture Initiative specially commissioned the piece, which was crafted by Ennis artist Barry Wrafter and depicts a market scene from a bygone age. Barry said, “it is the market area of town, hence the theme of the sculpture. It is where livestock, along with other produce, was traded in the past”.The sculpture features two farmers and a cow and has been situated on the roundabout in the market. It is more than life size in height and volume, with the taller figure standing seven feet six inches tall.“To flesh out the story of this sculpture in more detail, it is two men of the land meeting on some fine day in the past to come to an agreement on the purchase of a cow. This is the moment in time literally set in stone that the deal is made …

At the beginning of this week the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, published the heads of the long-awaited whistleblowers bill. This legislation has been needed for a for a very long time but this week’s announcement seems, at last, to be concrete evidence of good intentions on the part of the government. The aim of this legislation is to protect people in all sectors in the case that they come forward with information regarding illicit activities in their workplace. In theory, the bill will provide protection for people’s future job prospects if they come forward to regulators or authorities.What we can say for sure is that there are people all over the country who are in possession of information which, if it came to light, would lead to the prosecution or, at the very least, reprimand of others in both the public and private sector. For many years the lack of legislation in this area has protected …

DOONBEG will host the village’s first St Patrick’s Day parade since the 1950s on Sunday, March 18. The recently established Doonbeg Enterprise Group is behind the parade’s revival, which will be led by Mayor of Doonbeg, Padraic Haugh. Tommy Comerford is the co-ordinator of Doonbeg Enterprise Group and recalls a time when St Patrick’s Day parades were a regular event in the village. “We had a fife and drum band with about 20 members. It was unique that time to have such a band. The FCA were also very strong at the time. There was a lot of local recruitment so we used to have a big parade of all the FCA personnel. The parade was mainly made up of that,” he recalled. The organising committee came up with the idea in an effort to take some proactive steps to help reinvigorate the local economy. There are four public houses and two shops in the village. “That’s what we’re trying …

ENNIS man Oliver O’Loughlin has been chosen to head up a new dedicated office for regeneration in Limerick.Mr O’Loughlin is currently a director of service with Limerick City Council and he has held a variety of roles within the local authority over the past 20 years. Among other things, he worked as a fire chief, a senior engineer, as well as drawing up the city’s emergency plans.His appointment was confirmed by Minister for Housing and Planning Jan O’Sullivan who recently announced that following the end of the regeneration agency’s five-year remit this June, it would come under the control of the local authority.In his new role, Mr O’Loughlin will begin the process of bringing the various aspects of regeneration into one dedicated office, working with current chief executive Brendan Kenny. According to Minister O’Sullivan, the new dedicated office for regeneration will replace the current structure comprising the Regeneration Agencies and Limerick City Council. “This amalgamation will accelerate the delivery of …

THIS week’s announcement that a referendum on the EU fiscal compact treaty is required presents the Irish political establishment with a major challenge.With more Euro-scepticism in the country now than when the Lisbon Treaty was rejected in 2008, the leading parties, all of whom are advocating a Yes vote, have a lot of work to do.On Wednesday, Deputy Michael McNamara told The Clare Champion he believes passing the treaty is very important. “In my view a rejection of this treaty would result in instability and in my view the country can’t afford instability at this point in time.”A No vote would have a negative investment on the perception of Ireland in other countries, he added. “I believe that the investments that have been announced and the investments that the Chinese delegation signalled they were interested in making, are because the Government have stabilised the situation and they would be jeopardised by instability.”He claimed a rejection would stop Ireland from accessing …

Significant progress is being made filling vacancies in the region’s flagship maternity service, according to Deputy Joe Carey. Dr Gerry Burke, consultant obstetrician at the Mid-Western Regional Maternity Hospital, recently caused consternation when he claimed no plans were presented by the HSE or the Department of Health to deal with the shortfall if 47 midwives were allowed to retire under the Government’s public service pension deal.Dr Burke claimed at the time that the HSE was prepared to collude with the Department of Health in making pregnant women and newborn babies contribute to paying for the gambling losses of international banks and for the fiscal recklessness of previous governments.His comments were criticised as “outrageous” at the time by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.In recent weeks, Clare Fine Gael Deputy Joe Carey has held discussions with health professionals and others working in maternity services.As someone whose family utilised the services of the hospital in recent weeks, Deputy Carey said he knows first-hand the issues …