Month: October 2005

THE tourism subsidiary operated by Shannon Development increased its profits by 50% last year, accounts filed to the Companies Office reveal.

Shannon Heritage and Castle Banquets Ltd. increased its profits to €117,040 in a success- ful year for the company.

Prior to an exceptional cost of €60,000, the company, which employs 200 people, made a profit of £69,073 in 2003.

Last year, it made a turnover of €11.3 miul- lion, which was up 5% on the 2003 figures and attracted 625,000 visitors to its attrac- tions, an increase of more than 6%.

According to the accounts, “the 2004 year has been a difficult year for many in the Tour- ism industry particularly the latter half, due to a combination of factors. These include the downturn in US visitors due to the value of the dollar against the euro. However Shannon Heritage has managed to attract over 625,000 people to its range of day visitor attractions and evening entertainments.

‘Most of this increase was achieved in the first half of the year when trading conditions were much better.

The most popular visitor attraction remains Bunratty Castle & Folk Park which attracted 324,903 visitors in 2004 — an increase of 17,000 on the 2003 figure of 307,145.

SAU Sa item om aleriucmrmeNom\yE-Dade| Insurance A3 Sweep which got under- way at the Limerick track on Saturday night last. Race four went to ‘Redzone Run’, owned by Mrs Kathleen Carroll of Newmarket on Fergus running from trap 6 returned in a winning time of PIA Y

Heat seven of the stake went to ‘Scratch it Mac’ owned by Aaron Car- roll of Cratloe with a winning time of 29.26. Both dogs are expected to ad-

vance in the second round heats which take place this weekend.

‘Student Pass’ bowed out of the Irish Laurels at the Cork track during Sat- urday nights semi-final. The Cathal O’Doherty and Vincent Meaney owned dog did not enjoy much luck, finishing fourth after getting into trouble at the first bend.

Paddy Conlon of Cree made a wel- come return to the winners enclosure at Galway on Friday night ‘Cragaknock Vierl’ winning race two. The race was a sprint over 325yds and Vieri recorded a

good time of 17.94 out of box 1.

Race 10 on the same night went to ‘Buffalo Buddy’ owned by Ann Carey of Cooraclare who record a time of 29.17 running out of trap 1. Through to the final of the Tote A6 525 stake this coming weekend is “Clouncaheen’ Boss owned by Anne McGuire of Mullagh.

The dog won his semi final heat on Thursday night in a time of 30.03. Di- ane Shallis of Kilmihil also collected on Thursday night when ‘Greygrove Billy’ was a winner in race 9 with a time of 29.50.

SCIENTISTS at Teagasc’s National Food Centre in Dublin are involved in work on the development of a gluten-free bread formulation that they believe is superior to anything currently available on the market. Indeed, a number of small bakeries in Ireland have taken the formula- tion and are working on it commer- ats

Work on the gluten-free formula- tion was undertaken because of the increasing numbers of people who are gluten-intolerant, as well as Coeliac sufferers. Dr Eimear Gal- lagher, who is head of the research team, also believes that gluten free products are of a poor quality and are often expensive.

“We started to develop a gluten-

free bread with no wheat starch or gluten presence, working with rice flour and potato starch. We used a lot of statistical and mathematical models to give us the best formula- tion,’ said Dr Gallagher. *”Taste tests were done with panels from the Irish Coeliac Society, which has given the new formulation its approval.”

As yet the unnamed formula- tion has yet to come on the market, however, all going well it could be in commercial use before the end of next year. Meanwhile the research group has focussed their attentions functional ingredients, such as pro- teins, dietary fibre, calcium and mi- cronutrients to the formula.

One of the problems that people with gluten intolerance have is that they are not able to absorb some of these important nutrients properly.

THE decreasing influence of the Town Council in the operation of Ennis Town has been criticised by the Town Mayor.

Councillor Frankie Neylon (Ind) made his comments after the council withdrew from its loss-making refuse service and ahead of its handing over of responsibility for the town’s water sup- ply to Clare County Council to comply with Government policy, in January.

Mayor Neylon said this week, “It is very disappointing. All the council will be left with is collecting rates, car-park- ing and provision of roads and we will be reduced to a parish council or form part of a regional council.”

Last year, the cost of collecting and disposing of Ennis’s refuse accounted for 15 per cent of the town’s overall

budget of €12 million.

Explaining the council’s decision to withdraw from the service, Cllr Neylon said, “If the council kept on the service for the remainder of the year, we would have been looking at a loss of €300,000 and next year a loss of over €1 million.

He added, “I made my feelings known to management on the issue as I have been fighting for years to retain the service, but they pointed out to me that they don’t have the expertise to run a commercial operation and that is ac- cepted.”

In 2003, the council spent €35,000 to market its refuse collection, managing to attract 35 new customers. Later that year, councillors ignored pleas by man- agement to abandon the service.

Cllr Neylon said, “The council have decided to hand the service over to a

private contractor after the Ennis trad- ers didn’t support the service. It is very disappointing.”

Cllr Neylon added that the small number employed by the council in the refuse service are being offered vol- untary redundancy or redeployment to other sectors of the council.

Cllr Donal O’Bearra (GP) said this week, “Ennis Town council needs to re- invent itself.

“Otherwise we will become a talking shop with the power to give out commu- nity grants on a very limited budget.”

He said, “We have become a begging bowl establishment and are too depend- ent on national government.

The issue over the water is a prime example where we are relying on Gov- ernment funding to solve the problem,” said Councillor O’ Bearra.

THE TRAGIC young father of three, who lost his life in an hor- rific road accident at Clonlara at the weekend, will be laid to rest tomorrow.

Shane Browne, from Ballycan- non Heights in Meelick, died after the truck he was driving was in collision with a four by four vehi- cle at Harold’s Cross in Clonlara, just after 1lam on Saturday morn- ing.

The passenger in the truck and the driver of the other vehicle were both injured in the collision.

One 38-year old man remains in a serious condition in hospital fol- lowing the crash.

Two units of the Limerick fire- brigade were called to the scene. Gardai at Ard Na Crusha station are investigating the crash.

Mr Browne was a driver by pro- fession. The 35-year old victim of Saturday’s crash had found new happiness in recent years with his partner, Maggie.

Sources close to his family said that he had been widowed several years ago, when his young wife died following an illness.

A native of Garryowen in Lim- erick, he had moved to the East Clare village in recent years, where he lived with Maggie and his three children. The youngest child is just 22 months.

Maggie and the three children were being comforted by relatives after hearing the shocking news.

A friend of the dead man de- scribed him as “a lovely man. This is a terrible shock and tragedy for his family, particularly with young children involved. No-one could believe it when we heard what had

happened.”

Mr Browne’s remains will be removed from Cross’s Funeral Home, Limerick, this evening at 7.30 and taken to St John’s Cathe- dral.

He will be buried in Mount Saint Oliver Cemetery after 10 o’clock Mass on Wednesday morning.

Mr Browne is survived by his partner Maggie, three children and his mother Toni.

Locals in the Clonlara area said that the spot where Saturday’s fatal accident took place, a cross- roads, was an extremely danger- ous location , where crashes had happened before.

One local man described it as ‘a blackspot for accidents. That cross roads is just deadly and there have been many crashes at that spot in the past.”

TINY Bodyke in East Clare is taking its place on the map of some of the world’s top tourist resorts by extend- ing the golf course development in less than 10 years ago.

The €15 million East Clare Golf Holiday Village now taking shape beside the championship standard golf course at Bodyke has linked up with global giants in the holiday vacation sector by offering 10 year holiday ownership deals starting from €5,000 for week-long breaks that include free golf.

Part of the innovative approach adopted for the holiday ownership is to offer the guests the option of either using the property each year during the week purchased or to exchange it for another worldwide resort. Both Resorts Condominium International (RCI) and DialAnExchange, the world’s largest vacation operators in the world have approx 4,000 affiliat- ed resorts in over 100 countries. RCI also operates one of the exchange

call centres in Cork providing sup- port to European customers. Businessman Mr Scott who mar- kets the holiday ownership through his Horseshoe Holidays venture from Clare added, “the ten year deals start at € 5,000 for a week in the low sea-

son, which works out at €500 per week for week-long breaks over a decade”.

The 51 villas at the golf holiday vil- lage are being sold under a tax-break scheme and will be leased back to the operating holiday company with

a yearly rent return of €7,000 guar- anteed for the first six years. Costing under €300,000, the villas qualify for capital allowances of 95.8 per cent excluding fit out costs, accord- ing to General Manager of the villa complex, Ger Teefy.

Promotional programmes in over- seas and home markets for both the holiday ownership scheme and the in- vestor programme have already been launched and are being supported by Feilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland and Shannon Development.

Both Tony Scott and Ger Teefy are longtime members of the East Clare Golf Club which has sparked the big- gest ever tourism and leisure invest- ment in the area. Mr. Scott has now joined the launching investor group of Ennis businessman Tom O’Keeffe of O’Keeffe Electrical; architect Michael Lucey of Lucey & Associ- ates and project manager, Emelyn Heapes whose expertise in tourism and leisure has already established 6-unit holiday accommodation at Dangan Lodge, Tulla and Fisher- men’s Lodge in Scariff.

and CIE, is designed to give pri- mary schools the opportunity to communicate their vision of their community and how it could be im- proved.

St. Enda’s project, which was completed by last years 5th and 6th class, looked at the development of the Lisdoonvarna around the Spa Wells.

The project traced the history of the Wells from the late 1700’s right up to the present day.

It examines how the town of Lisdoonvarna grew up around the Wells and how the guesthouses, ho- tels, schools and churches built up as the town expanded.

The project also researched the life of one of Lisdoonvarna’s oldest residents, ‘Biddy the Sulphur’ who used to jug out water at the sulphur wells for many years.

Indeed, a plaster cast of Biddy is in the school as a reminder to the children of a by-gone age.

An important element of the com- petition is looking to the future and in their project the pupils of St. En- da’s felt very excited by what has been planned to make the town an attractive tourist destination once eheee DOE

The children researched the project by interviewing their par- ents, grandparents and neighbours

and used the information to pro- duced the 35-page book.

The book also featured plenty of photographs from the past and the students also visited the Wells and all the sites mentioned in the

project.

A St. Enda’s teacher, Mrs Brigid Hehir, co-ordinated the project was delighted with the win and with the €3000 which was presented to the school last week.

Last years 6th class, who are now in Mary Immaculate Secondary school, returned to St. Enda’s to attend the presentation along with their principal Mr O’Loughlin and Se Erece heel mY Eee

A MAJOR new development project for the Burren region may be set to take off if unions can persuade the Minster for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Michael Martin to re- vise his new mandate for Shannon Development.

SIPTU and the NUJ are currently engaging with Department officials in a bid to overhaul the new man- date Minister Martin has handed Shannon Development.

Interestingly, one of the central planks of Shannon Development’s future plans as envisaged by SIPTU is a major development for the Bur- ren.

In a document lodged with the

Government prior to Minister Mar- tin making his decision, SIPTU state, “we will undertake a major new development project around the Burren.

“This major national asset is grossly underdeveloped and conse- quently underutilised for tourism.

“Before any consideration of in- vestment, marketing and develop- ment, we will bring together all of the development partners, particu- larly local groups, to develop and work to an agreed plan.

“We will concept, scope and de- liver a new future for the Burren, which sees it being easily accessible and remaining free from over devel- ej eetoele

“As local residents of the area

ourselves, we are particularly sensi- tive to underpinning normal project management considerations with care for the environment and local inclusiveness.”

The proposal by SIPTU follows the Minister for Labour Affairs and Clare TD,

Tony Killeen’s statement that Shannon Development should be the lead agency in drawing up a strategy to set out a proper access policy for the Burren.

Minister Killeen said that the policy should now be set in train to avoid scenarios such as tourists leaving the Burren with a negative experience never to return or tour- ists trampling farmers’ land and pulling up rare flowers.

No agency has grappled with the thorny issue of providing visitor fa- cilities for the Burren since the end- ing of the long-running Mullagh- more controversy in 2001.

On the prospects of the success of any new tourism product in the Burren, the Manager of the Burren Centre in Kilfenora, Paddy Maher said that the centre ‘is running fast to stay stand still this season.’

“It is getting harder to run the Lp LUKSTENToISR

‘We are happy with the numbers, which should be around the target of 33,000 to 35,000.

But the yields are down because the tourists are spending less and we have to work twice as hard for every Sale.”

AN ENNIS couple who received over €100,000 from a developer after with- drawing their objection to a €20 million housing development have blocked a proposal for a retail development on En- nis’s Francis Street.

Vincent and Ann Coffey of Clon Road, Ennis are lodging an appeal to An Bord Pleanala against a plan by Galvin Con- struction Ltd. to build the retail outlet.

Last month, Ennis Town Council granted planning permission for the pro- posal by Galvin Construction in spite of an objection lodged by the Coffeys who own property adjacent to the proposed development site.

In lodging their appeal against the Galvin application, they claimed that the proposal would “devalue our property by virtue of its proximity along the lat- eral boundary. It will result 1n overshad-

owing, loss of amenity and privacy.

The appeal states: “Our client’s are not opposed to the development of the site provided it’s carried out in an or- derly manner and in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable de- velopment of the area

“We would respectfully submit that this application should be refused pend- ing a more appropriate design solution for the site.

“The issues of concerns that arise are, it impacts on our client’s property value and affects future development propos- als for the site and it will interfere with the enjoyment and current use of the garden and will result in difficulties with the construction, excavation and consol- idation of foundations on a site that has already been filled.”

A decision is due on the appeal in Feb- UIA

Last year, it emerged that the Coffeys

withdrew their objection against a €20 million housing scheme at the Quin Rd, Doora by Luxury Homes (Galway) Ltd., after the company paid them £85,000 (€107,930) and gave them two free sites.

A letter to the Board from the Coffeys stated that at no time did they approach the developers with the intention of se- curing payment of money, gifts, con- sideration of other inducement by any person.

However, the Coffeys successfully blocked a subsequent application by the same developers in June 2004 to build a new €10 million development on zoned lands in Ennis after their appeal to An Bord Pleanala on the application was upheld.

In August, Luxury Homes (Galway) Ltd lodged new plans with the coun- cil for 108 two-bedroom apartments at Doora, Ennis and the Coffeys lodged a fresh objection against the proposal.

A CONSTRUCTION company has been fined for failing to dispose of waste in a proper manner, on the site of a housing es- tate in Ennis.

Callanan Walsh developers, of Mill House, Mill Street, Galway, faced two summonses arising out of an inspection at Shanballa on the Lahinch Road, on August 15, 2005.

Solicitor Mairéad Doyle, for Clare County Council, said a number of complaints were made, stating that burning was taking place on the site.

A council engineer visited the site in Au- gust and noticed a pile of mixed soil, wood, clay and plastic, which hadn’t been segregat- ed. Ms Doyle said plastic and cardboard was scattered around the site.

The engineer attended the site again in Oc- tober and was satisfied that steps were being taken. There was no evidence of burning and

there was no sign of any waste scattered on the site.

Defending solicitor William Cahir said his clients acquired the site and said sections of houses were licensed to independent devel- opers.

He said Callanan Walsh accepted they held overall responsibility for the site but that li- censees who build independently on the site weren’t taking responsibility for the accumu- lation of waste on the site.

“There were instances of third parties bringing waste on to the site,’ said Mr Ca- hir.

He said his clients have spent €5,000 car- rying out work on the site and have put inde- pendent procedures in place.

Ms Doyle replied, “They are the registered owners of the property and the buck stops with them. The matter has been going on since June 2004.”

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a fine of

€250 on each summons and ordered the defendants to pay €887 council costs and €500 legal costs.

Meanwhile, in the last two years Clare County Council has gone after 758 develop- ers for leaving a mess behind them. But just ten of these were developers of housing es- tates. The local authority issued 314 warning letters, 202 enforcement notices and brought legal proceedings in 42 cases.

The figures were made public by Cllr Pas- chal Fitzgerald (Lab) who said the actions taken fell short of what was needed by peo- ple who were living with the legacy of build- ers’ shoddiness.

“Tm not at all happy with this level of en- Koceonnonle

“Day in and day out, I get people calling me to tell me what a dreadful condition their CI RMKoer Dasa E

“We need more staff working on enforce- Tne toy nn