Tag Archives: Deputy Cathal Crowe

THE new €19.5 million 60-bed block modular unit to tackle overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) will be fully operational almost two months after a recent predicted timeframe given by a government minister. Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler stated in the Seanad recently “from a construction perspective, the new ward block should be ready to be operational by Monday, November 9”. However, it has now been confirmed the long-awaited modular unit will come on stream in three distinct phases, starting with 20 beds next Monday and will not be fully operational until January. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has told Deputy Cathal Crowe a new 20-bed ward, which is part of the 60-bed unit will open next Monday, this will be followed by a further 20 in December and the final 20 will be up and running in January. “A state-of-the-art facility will be in place at UHL now, and the timing couldn’t be better …

FRUSTRATION is growing South-East Clare over repeated water breaks involving an old water mains pipe coming from Corbally that is supplying water to householders in Parteen and Westbury. Residents are becoming increasingly concerned with the frequency of water breaks with eight disruptions in the Parteen and Westbury area this year. Grainne Flynn, Ballykeelaun, Parteen, who has two children, said residents needed a proper water supply to have showers and wash clothes. She said the interruptions in the water supply were happening too frequently and even when the water comes back she can’t really depend on it because the pressure can be low for days. She is annoyed with the amount of times she has to call Irish Water to unblock a public sewer manhole outside her back garden, which she can’t access. She described the smell after overflows as “disgusting”. When this public manhole overflows, workmen acting on behalf of Irish Water have to go through property owned by one …

MINISTER for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue has pledged to keep restrictions on mart access under review, following a major outage with the online system, which affected sales nationwide, including those in Clare. Raising the issue in Dáil Éireann, Deputy Cathal Crowe told the minister there had been anger and confusion among local farmers over the issue that arose at the end of last month. “The system crashed for about two hours at Sixmilebridge mart,” the Fianna Fáil TD outlined, “with the result that many of the cattle already in pens in the back yard had to be loaded back onto trailers and returned to their home farms. There was consternation in the marts and considerable anger and frustration among farmers.” The Meelick-based TD said that while sales had managed to resume on the day in question, many farmers were unable to sell their animals. “The mart in Sixmilebridge continued and some sales took place, including the sale of my uncle’s yearlings, …

A 25-YEAR campaign by flood-hit residents in South-East Clare has finally reaped dividends after An Bord Pleanála gave the green light to the construction of a €1.2 million flood protection embankment. Springfield resident, Geraldine Quinlivan has praised the dogged determination of the local community for securing the long-awaited flood protection works. This South-East Clare rural community has been hit by flooding in 1995, 2002, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2018 and in February 2020 when families had to be evacuated from their homes after their access road became impassable. More than 7,000 sandbags and pumping stations were delivered to houses in the locality as part of a flood management plan implemented by Clare County Council to assist other locals in the battle to keep water from entering their premises. Speaking to the Clare Champion on Wednesday, Ms Quinlivan said residents were delighted with the latest ruling from the appeals’ board after decades of lobbying. She hopes that no one will lodge a …

THE Mid-West Health Service Executive has confirmed a new Covid-19 testing centre will open on the outskirts of Ennis on November 16. This announcement comes in the wake of increasing concern about the number of people from West Clare who have been referred for Covid-19 testing in Limerick and North Tipperary in recent weeks due to capacity issues. A new Covid-19 testing centre will open in the Ballymaley Business Park, Gort Road, Ennis, on November 16. This will replace the existing test centre, which was provided at Clare GAA’s headquarters in Cusack Park. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne has expressed concern about official statistics confirming more than 600 planned Covid-19 tests were marked as no-shows across the Mid-West from October 19th to 25th. “I am deeply concerned about the continued trend of no-shows for Covid-19 tests across Clare, Limerick and Tipperary in recent days. “The HSE have said that up to late last week there has been around 600 missed appointments for …

“HORRIFIC and shocking” were the words used by Clare’s Green Party senator to describe a rise of almost one-third in the number of barring orders breached in this county over the last nine months. Senator Róisín Garvey expressed grave concerns about the figure, which was revealed to members of Clare’s Joint Policing Committee by Chief Superintendent Seán Colleran. The Garda chief outlined that there had been 52 breaches relating to barring orders and safety orders between January and September of last year. Over the same period in 2020, the figure increased by 16 to 68, a rise of 31%. The number of domestic disputes increased by 7% in the first nine months of this year. Reacting to the figures, the Inagh-based senator questioned what additional supports were in place to respond to the situation. “This is an really shocking figure,” she said. “If you have a barring order, you fear for your life. Breaches like this are horrific. What I …

DEPUTY Cathal Crowe is appealing for a collective effort from Clare people to reduce the very high incidence of Covid-19 in the county and avoid spending Christmas in lockdown. As Clare people face six-weeks of Level Five restrictions from last Thursday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases exceeded 1,000 for the first time in the county when 1,030 were notified on October 17. Thirty-three more cases were confirmed a day later bringing the county total to 1,063 on October 18. Deputy Crowe said he feels particularly bad for businesses facing closure again and remains fully available to help and advise them in terms of supports. “The people of Clare have already made huge efforts to flatten the curve back in the spring months and yet here we are facing into the same situation once again. “I know how disheartening this will be, how detrimental it will be to people’s mental health, but I hope that people in their individual actions …

DRUGS have been described as “a catalyst for many other crimes,” by Deputy Cathal Crowe who has called for dealers who parade their wealth around villages and towns in Clare to be tackled by the Gardaí. “They are in every town and village and a real scourge,” he told last Monday’s meeting of the Joint Policing Committee (JPC). “We all know the guy who doesn’t go to work in the morning, but has a lifestyle that none of us could hope to aspire to. There are people going in and out of his house at all hours and packages are being dropped through car windows. These are the people that we want to see taken down. The trouble they are causing is untold.” Deputy Crowe added that “a mini CAB” in the county had been effective in tackling those living on the proceeds of crime. He also called for a liaison officer to be tasked with working with the council …