News

FEWER than a quarter of a million US troops transited through Shannon last year, Minister Leo Varadkar told the Dáil last week.

EDITORIAL  

THE board of Shannon Airport has been trimmed down to just two people and it no longer includes former chairman, Brian O’Connell nor does it have an input from Shannon Development. The board previously had nine members, Mr O’Connell, Patrick Blaney, Olivia Loughnane, Ray Gray, Dr Vincent Cunnane (CEO of Shannon Development), Mary Fitzgerald, Mark Nolan, Joe Buckley and Audrey Costelloe.The new, streamlined board will hardly need to retire to the comforts of the airport’s boardroom for meetings; a small office will do just fine. The board now just consists of Niall MacCarthy, the airport’s acting director, and Ray Gray, DAA chief financial officer. The move comes in advance of an announcement on Shannon’s future management by Transport Minister Leo Varadkar, following on from the Booz and Company report. It’s widely expected that Shannon will be separated from the DAA but kept in public ownership.This week, it was announced that Shannon’s passenger numbers had fallen again in 2011, for the …

The proposed construction of a controversial €100 million windfarm in West Clare has attracted over twice as many supporters as objectors, it emerged this week.The Clare Champion has learned the development of 45 wind turbines near Doonbeg by Clare Coastal Wind Power has prompted 1,970 signatures of support from based on a submission to An Bord Pleanála. This includes letters of support from over 129 businesses and virtually all of the traders in Doonbeg village. The Doonbeg Tourism and Marketing Group and members of Kilrush Rugby Club are also backing the proposed development.However, the appeals board has also received a signed petition from 874 objectors, all of whom are over 18 years of age, against the development. This includes about 90 residents, who are employed at Doonbeg Golf and Lodge, and the petition primarily represents people living locally.The proposed windfarm at Carrowmore South, Einagh, Monmore North, Doonbeg, Shragh, Mountrivers and Drumillihy would have 45 turbines, with a hub height of …

Clare County Councillor Pat McMahon has spoken about his horror this week at learning that the house where he was born was the subject of a suspicious fire over the weekend, causing up to €50,000 worth of damage.Councillor McMahon was shocked to the point of “denial” when he was contacted at around 7am last Sunday morning to say his family home in Newmarket-on-Fergus where he was born and raised was engulfed in flames.Roseville House has been in the McMahon family for a number of generations but has been unoccupied for some time since the death of a family member.The house was home to the five McMahon boys growing up and the Newmarket-on-Fergus councillor said he found it very difficult to see the place where he grew up with all its memories on fire.“I was in shock when I saw it, I was in denial first and then shock with all the memories we had from there. It is a two-storey …

THE net expenditure of almost €2.5million to allow people “spend a penny” in four Clare local authority superloos over a 20-year period has been criticised as “excessive” by Councillor Brian Meaney.The Clare Champion can exclusively reveal local authorities in Clare will pay €2.873million to a Dublin company over 20 years for two superloos in Ennis and one in Kilkee and Killaloe. This includes VAT at €13.5%, which is recoverable from Revenue, resulting in a net expenditure of €2.499,729 for the duration of the contract. Based on income receipts in 2011, local authorities could expect to earn a gross income of just €105,300 over 20 years and a net return of €91,711 when VAT is deducted.Details of the overall cost emerged after Kilrush Town Council decided to terminate its 20-year contract taken out on August 1999 making a net saving of €178,200 after a €53,200 penalty is included. The annual cost was €31,640 and the annual income was about €1,200.Councillor Meaney …

A recent survey in Kilmihil has revealed that at least 87 people have emigrated from the West Clare parish inside the last two years. The vast majority of the recent emigrants are aged between 20 and 30. Gerry Johnson, one of the local people who put the figures together, has said the deluge of emigrants from the community has led to Kilmihil losing a generation of people. He maintains the current crisis is worse than emigration figures from the parish in the 1980s. “We’re missing a generation in Kilmihil now. “That generation is gone. We’ve the younger people and the older ones like myself. But we’ve nothing in between. “That’s basically what’s happening in Kilmihil. I think it’s way worse than in the 1980s. Things weren’t as bad here as they are now. It’s lasting so long this time and there’s no sign of it getting better,” Gerry commented. “My own son, Neil, is 30 years of age and he’s …