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THE family of a Kilfenora man Brian McMahon, who tragically lost his life in California over the weekend, flew out to America yesterday to be with his wife and children.

Father of two Brian McMahon was killed in a car accident in the Californian city of San Rafael on Friday morning last. Mr McMahon, who is 46 years old and has been living in America for a number of years, was out walking close to his home just before 8am, local time, when the ac- cident took place.

The exact details of the accident are not yet clear but it appears that Mr McMahon was struck by a single vehicle on the street close to his home at 7.45am. Emergency first aid was given to Mr McMahon at the scene at he was rushed by ambulance to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead.

“San Rafael police officers and San Rafael paramedics located an unconscious 46-year-old man lying in the roadway. Life saving measures were immediately initiated. The male sub- ject was transported to Kaiser Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival,” said a spokesperson from the local police department.

“The driver of the involved vehicle remained on scene and called 911 to report the collision. Numerous bystanders were interviewed at the scene.

“The driver fully cooperated with the investigation. At this time, it appears neither alcohol nor any other impairment was present or a factor in this collision. The involved vehicle was taken for a thorough inspection.”

Police are reportedly investigating the possibility that the driver may have been blinded by the bright morning sun and did not see see Mr McMahon out walking. Mr McMahon was home in Clare in August and was due to return with his sons for the All-Ireland hurling final but was unable to do so because of work.

Mr McMahon is survived by his Tipperary born wife and his his two children aged 13 and 11 years old. He is also survived by his father Murty McMahon, his American-based brother John and a number of siblings based in the North Clare area.

CLARE students need to receive more education about the problems associated with binge drinking before they begin college.

Shannon student and Student Union president at the Limerick Institute of Technology, Chris Walsh, believes that not enough is being done in secondary school to prepare young student for the dangers of alcohol.

Hundreds of Clare students drop out of third level courses between September and December each year – with alcohol played in a major role in many of these cases.

“We have a big emphasis on the first years. They are living on their own for the first time and they can get caught up in everything that in happening around them,” Chris told The Clare People yesterday.

“First years do go a little bit mad so we do try to hit them early on with any information that we can. First years will always be a bit crazy for those first few weeks but education is a big thing.

“We try and prepare them as best we can but I think that it [information about alcohol] is something that has been left behind in secondary school. I think some of the students are coming in at 17 or 18 years of age and they haven’t had an education on the dangers of alcohol and binge drinking.

“The drinking culture does go with college to a certain extent and I think this is something that second- ary school could focus on more, so they have the information when they arrive in college.”

The Students Union at LIT run a number of information campaigns about alcohol throughout the year but often times the information comes too late for students who have not lasted past the first few months of college because of the effects of drinking.

“The information is all there, it is just a case of getting it to them at the right time. I think there is probably not a lot ground work being done in the secondary school when students are younger, before it [alcohol] becomes a big factor in their social life,” said Chris.

“We run a number of different drink aware campaigns throughout the year and we try to focus them around any big events or festivals that will be taking place on campus. We always run a campaign in the run up to RAG week for example, just to encourage people to be aware of what they are drinking.”

THE search for a 42-year-old man who was washed into the sea off North Clare will resume this morning. Naval divers are due to resume their search for the Latvian national around 10am this morning, October 8, after bad weather brought an end to last nights search effort.

With more settled weather expected this morning, it is hoped that the mans’ body can be located close to Ballyreen, where he entered the water in Sunday evening.

The man had been fishing with a number of friends at a spot known as Fisherman’s Climb in the popular fishing location between Doolin and Fanore on Sunday evening when he was washed into the ocean by a freak wave. A friend raised the alarm and then attempted to swim out to reach the stranded man.

However, while the friend was swimming to rescue the man, the victim – who has not yet been named – was washed under the water. Despite an intensive search led by a number of rescue agencies, including the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard, the man has not been sighted since. The man’s friend, who dived into the water to save the 42-yearold man, was assisted by emergency services and treated on site for the effects of cold. “The search has been stood down for the night because of poor weather conditions and the hope is now that the divers to be able to enter the water tomorrow morning,” said Mattie Shannon of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard last night. “We are hopeful that the divers will be able to come up with something tomorrow. It is a very exposed spot and if something is not discovered soon it could be very difficult to locate.” It’s understood that man was not wearing a lifejacket and may have been dragged beneath the waves by his heavy clothing. The area has been the scene of a number of tragedies in recent years including the death of a two men in separate fishing accident in Ballyreen in 2009.

AN INCREASE on the price of alcohol in next week’s budget could have a very positive influence in helping to prevent many Clare youngsters from abusing alcohol.

According to David McPhillips, Community Substance Misuse Team, limiting the availability of alcohol is the only real way that problem drinking among young people can be tackled.

Mr McPhilips, who works with teenagers affected by alcohol and drug problems in the Clare area, believes that changing the binge drinking culture amongst Irish youths can only be tackled once the immediate problem is tackled through limiting access through cost.

“Price and availability are the big things. If a young person has € 10 and the price of a bottle of vodka is € 20, then they are going to have a difficulty in buying it. Price and availability are the two things that you can impact on,” he told The Clare People yesterday.

“I think cultural factors have to come later. It is hard to change a culture and create a situation where, to be hammered drunk, is not an excuse. That has to change but that is something that can only be changed person to person, and family by family and that is not an easy thing to do.

“So you have to look at what you can act on and price and availability are the two things you can effect. But how do you change a culture. If you look at consumption in Ireland I think you find that consumption has gone down [in recent years] because it is directly related to availability, price and disposable income. The issue is not overall consumption but the quantity that we drink in a single drinking session.

“Binge drinking is the big concern and always has been. It is not the overall consumption, which is probably not much more than anywhere else, it is the way that we drink.”

Early this year, Clare’s U21 AllIreland winning manager Donal Moloney revealed that measures were taken to rid Clare hurling of the damaging effects of alcohol after a number of “dangerous situations” arose with the underage teams.

“If somebody says to a player, if they are out drinking heavy then they are not getting on the team, that can have a massive effect. Those kind of brief interventions can be very positive and could help changing people’s culture towards drinking,” continued David.

THE tourism and hospitality sector in Clare is anxiously waiting to see if next week’s budget will retain the 9 per cent VAT rate that has boosted their business in recent times.

Ennis-based tax expert Fergal Cahill says the matter is particularly important in Clare.

“Given the nature of the local economy and the high profile of the hospitality and tourism sectors, this is a touchstone issue for the county. The foregone tax revenue is being costed at € 350 million yet the industry can ill-afford to raise prices. There is considerable pressure on the minister in both directions, leading to speculation about a compromise move to a rate between 9 per cent and 13.5 per cent.”

Other issues that will be closely watched locally will be a possible harmonisation in pension tax relief to a single rate somewhere between 30 per cent and 35 per cent, replacing the current reliefs at marginal tax rates of 20 per cent and 41 per cent.

An extension of capital gains tax exemption past the end of 2013 is also likely to feature given that with- out it NAMA will be hard pressed to dispose of its enormous property portfolio.

Cahill Taxation Services is hosting its annual budget breakfast briefing next Wednesday in the Old Ground Hotel, Ennis. Over 100 business owners and civic leaders attended last year’s event to hear Fergal Cahill and his team interpret and analyse all aspects of Budget 2013.

GARDAÍ remain extremely concerned that tensions between two Traveller families in Ennis could result in more violence as it emerged that witnesses are wearing protective vests to court.

The fear was expressed ahead of the expected sentencing in Ennis today of four people involved in a violent public order disturbance at the Maid of Erin roundabout last October.

A Circuit Court judge was told last week that the relationship between the families has not improved and that “tensions remain very high”.

“There are garda concerns for the potential for violent incidents,” said Detective Garda John Casey at a sitting of Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday. The court was told that the two families previously lived as neighbours and friends in the Ashline area of Ennis.

AS MANY as 30 people from Clare are taking a case against the company behind the faulty De Puy ASR hip replacement implanted in more than 3, 500 Irish patients between 2003 and 2010.

The legal firm behind the suite understands there are 170 more Clare people affected by the faulty implant and have advised them that it is not too late join the civil action.

De Puy ordered a recall of the medical device in 2010.

In a case against the company in Los Angeles, it was alleged that a Belfast surgeon emailed De Puy engineer Graham Isaac in May 2006 outlining his concerns about the device.

The New York Times also published revelations that one type of the defective devices were marketed in Europe after the US food and drug administration rejected their sale in America in 2009.

Now personal injuries law firm Peter McDonnell and Associates is holding an information meeting for Irish patients affected by the De Puy Hip Recall of 2010 on Monday week, October 21, in The Old Ground Hotel, Ennis.

Mr McDonnell, said whilst many of the 3, 500 public and private patients throughout Ireland who received the defective De Puy ASR Hip Resurfacing System – typically used in younger, more active patients – and the ASR XL Acetabular System, have already set the litigation process in motion, the vast majority of those who have been adversely affected are under the incorrect impression that the deadline, known as the Statute of Limitations, has already passed.

“Many patients whom I have spoken with throughout Ireland are under the impression that it is too late for them to submit a claim against De Puy. This, however, is not the case,” he said.

Of the 3, 516 Irish patients who received the implants, about 400 have had them replaced.

CLARE third-level students drink more per person than students from any other county in Ireland. According to a survey of more than 3, 500 students attending University College Dublin, Clare students drink more than 351 alcoholic beverages per year or almost one a day.

This means that students from the Banner county are Ireland’s biggest drinkers. Students from Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny and Dublin also featured high in the survey with students from Donegal, Mona- ghan, Carlow and Tipperary North amongst the countries lowest drinkers.

According to the study, which was carried out by ‘Discover Magazine’, the social and economic background of a student did not have a direct correlation with the amount that that student drank.

“We find relatively small effects of parental background variables on how much their college attending children drink. Neither father’s education, mothers’ age, whether a parent is still married, and parental incomes have any statistically significant effects on students’ drink- ing,” read the study.

The study did find that parents drinking habits did have an influence on their children, with a mothers drinking effecting all offspring while a fathers drinking only tending to influence male offspring.

“We find that drinking of mothers significantly impacts the number of drinks consumed by both female and male students about equally. But drinking of fathers appears only to influence drinking of their college attending sons,” it said.

Boys who attended an all-boy’s school, or a boarding school, also went on to drink more in college.

A HOMEGROWN Clare company that has been in business for 34 years has been acquired by one of the world’s largest elevator companies.

In a statement last week, American giant Kone announced that it had purchased Ennis Lifts, a local company specializing in the supply, installation, modernization and maintenance of elevators, escalators and autowalks.

Ennis Lifts Limited was founded in 1979 by C.P. McGuinness. Since then Ennis Lifts has grown to become the largest national lift and escalator company in Ireland, also serving Europe and the Middle East.

A statement on the company’s website states, “The cornerstone from which the company has developed has been providing excellence at all levels to our customers, thus becoming specialists in the supply, installation, modernisation and maintenance of lifts, escalators and walkways.”

Kone’s executive vice president and area director for central and north Europe, Ari Lehtoranta said the company is “delighted” with the purchase of Ennis Lifts.

“We are very pleased to have Ennis as a part of Kone. The acquisition will strengthen our business in the challenging Irish market.”

According to Kone, Ennis will continue to operate as a separate company under its current name and brand.

Kone is one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry. In addition to manufacturing elevators, escalators and automatic building doors, it provides maintenance to its global customers. Worldwide, it employs about 35,000 people including 325 in the Quad-Cities, a group of five cities on the Illinois / Iowa border.

The company’s North American headquarters are located in in Lisle, Illinois. Kone Americas’ operations centre is at Kone Centre in Moline. The company has an escalator plant is in Coal Valley, Illinois.

No one from Ennis Lifts was available for comment when The Clare People contacted the company yesterday.

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) advised last evening (Monday) that all patients who will be affected by today’s strike by junior doctors would already have been contacted by phone.

The health service was not able to say however how many operations, clinics and medical procedures at Ennis Hospital and the University Hospital Limerick have been cancelled as a result of the industrial action.

All appointments have been reviewed, theatre-by-theatre, clinicby-clinic, for all hospitals in the University Limerick group including Ennis Hospital, University Hospital Limerick, University Maternity Hospital, Nenagh Hospital, Croom Hospital and St John’s Hospital.

“The message we wish to give to the public is a simple one, if your procedure or operation has to be cancelled you will be contacted directly by phone call. If you do not hear from us you should present to the hospital as normal,” a spokesperson for the hospital group said.

Any patient appointment that has to be cancelled will be rescheduled he added.

Urgent care for areas such as oncology, dialysis and emergency will be provided. This means that the Emergency Department in Dooradoyle will be open and also the local injuries units in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s hospitals.

More than 3,000 medical doctors will force hospitals into a Sunday standard service from 7am to midnight in an unprecedented action over working hours.

Junior doctors have warned that tomorrow’s one-day strike may not be the last as negotiation with the HSE fail to find a resolution to the issue of non-consultant doctors working shifts of more than 24 hours. Tue8October13