Funding For Flood Relief Works In Clare

Almost half a million euro has been granted to Clare County Council to undertake flood defence works throughout the County.

Clare T.D. and Minister for Defence Tony Killeen says he has received confirmation from the Office of Public Works that four separate projects have been granted combined funding of 462,000 euro.

The projects include the installation of an overflow flood culvert at the Gort Road Industrial Park in Ennis (300,000 euro), flood mitigation works at Ranaghan on the Corofin to Tubber road ( 90,000 euro), a culvert upgrade in Clonbony (36,000) and flood mitigation works in Ruan (90,000).

Minister Killeen has welcomed the funding allocations which he said would greatly reduce the risk of flooding in the areas concerned.

He continued: “I have received confirmation from Minister of State Dr. Martin Mansergh, TD, Office of Public Works, that significant flood relief works will take place at Ruan, Ennis and Clonbony, near Miltown Malbay. This is the first phase of funding to be announced by the Minister of State in 2010. The works that are scheduled to take place will significantly reduce the risk of flooding to properties and land in the areas concerned”.

“Climate change is likely to produce higher rainfall in winter, and therefore to increase the risk of flooding along rivers. This increased frequency of intense rainfall events is likely to increase the numbers of floods, as we saw in County Clare late last year, and higher rainfall over winter will also mean increases in the extent of flooding from rising groundwater. The commencement of flood mitigation and flood culvert upgrade works, therefore, takes on added significance”, commented Minister Killeen.

Killeen Welcomes New Paper On Radon Gas Levels

Minister Tony Killeen has welcomed the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Radiological Protection Institute’s (RPII) agreement of a joint position paper on the radioactive gas radon.

The paper advocates for a national radon strategy, which will form the basis for a coordinated response for the future.

Minister Killeen says the move is significant in light of recent figures from the RPII showing that 342 or 11% of the 3033 Clare homes tested by the RPII had radon levels above the Reference Level of 200 Bq/m3.

According to the RPII the occupants of these 342 homes may be receiving radiation doses equivalent to several chest X-rays per day. The highest level measured in a County Clare home in Clare is 2980 Bq/m3, almost 15 times above the Reference Level. This level of radio corresponds to 10 chest X-rays every day.

The parts of Clare that have a predicted 20% or more of houses registering radon levels in excess of 200 Bq/m3, include Ennis and its environs, Crusheen, Corofin, Ruan, Kilnamona, Inagh, Clarecastle and Newmarket on Fergus.

Areas of the County registered where more than 10% of houses are predicted to have high radon levels in excess of 200 Bq/m3 include the entire North Clare area from Kilshanny to Belharbour and Carron to Doolin, along with Ballynacally, Shannon, Sixmilebridge, Bunratty, Quin, Tulla and Feakle.

According to Minister Killeen, who was formerly a former Minister with responsibility for the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, exposure to radon gas is linked to some 200 lung cancer deaths each year in Ireland.

The Clare T.D. explained: “Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that originates from the decay of uranium in rocks and soils. It has no smell, colour or taste and can only be detected using special detectors. Outdoors radon quickly dilutes to harmless concentrations, but when it enters an enclosed space, such as a house or other building, it can accumulate to unacceptably high concentrations. This gives rise to a radiation dose, which may cause lung cancer.”

The Minister urged all householders, particularly those living in High Radon Areas, to have their homes tested for radon. He added it was unnecessary for the public to put themselves at risk from radon. “Householders need to take this matter seriously and measure radon levels in their homes to ensure that they and their families are not at risk. Where there is a need to reduce levels, remediation is relatively cheap compared to other household repairs and resolves the situation immediately”, he stated.

Minister Killeen continued: “Testing for radon involves the placing of one radon detector in a bedroom and a second in a living room for a three-month period. The detectors are the size of an air freshener and can be sent and returned by post for analysis. A number of private companies and the RPII provide a radon measurement service to the public for as little as EUR56.”

Radon is a Class-1 carcinogen. Long-term exposure to radon increases the risk of lung cancer. Based on current knowledge it is estimated that in Ireland, for the population as a whole, a lifetime exposure (i.e. 70 yrs) to radon in the home at the Reference Level of 200 Bq/m3 carries a risk of about 1 in 50 of contracting fatal lung cancer. This is approximately twice the risk of death in a road accident. Radon is linked to approximately 200 lung cancer deaths in Ireland every year. For people who smoke, or who have smoked, the risk from radon is considerably greater than for people who never smoked.

Detailed information on radon and its risks, including information on how to get your home or workplace tested for radon is available on the RPII’s website www.rpii.ie.

Whispurr introduces Macro-messaging

Whispurr is Ireland's new social networking website.

Launched Friday 12th March at 2.30pm in the Exchequer bar in Dublin. Whispurr (currently over 1,400 users) aims to connect the online world with the world offline via macro-messaging. Macro-messaging is a 300 character message which can be sent online by a real time 'whisp' or via Whispurr's free SMS message service to a mobile phone.

Whispurr premièred it's viral video campaign for the first time at their launch. These videos were created with Jumper Productions and star Sophie Merry, youtube's 'Groovy Dancing Girl', which has received over 7 million views. Videos can be viewed at www.youtube.com/Whispurr2010

Whispurr is hosted on Google's App Engine and the developers work around the clock to churn out new time saving measures to make communication as easy as possible. As a Whispurr member, it is possible not only to send an SMS text message from Whispurr.com for free to a mobile phone but also from your registered email address- this means you do not have to log in to Whispurr.com to enjoy the fruits of its creative team.

When questioned over the rival medium of micro-messaging, Director at Whispurr, Conor Devine professed that with 300 characters you can add more value to your message because you have more words and this in turn can add value to communication as words do not need to be abbreviated to fit in a message.

Devine also said that Privacy is paramount to Whispurr and this will be seen in the up-coming 'networks' feature, which will enhance the security of shared information. The networks feature will encourage users to create different networks for the networks they interact with in the real world and as such each network can be private or public which will protect both content and privacy of members.

As different networks are targeted and correspond with offline networks, the content will be more valuable to members.