Author: admin

A YOUNG man lost his life after his car veered off the road and hit a sign just moments after he complained about feeling unwell. Peter McGov- ern, (39), a mechanic, from Deco- made, Lissycasey, died in a single- car accident on August 27 last year. Ennis Coroner’s Court heard last week from John Hill who said he met

Mr McGovern, who was his neigh- bour, at a football blitz in Lissycasey that afternoon.

He said Mr McGovern complained of a pain on his right-hand side, low down on the stomach area. He said he suggested to Mr McGovern to get medical attention and he said he would attend Shannondoc.

Martin Bosowsla said he was driv- ing along behind Mr McGovern’s car

on the main road near Lissycasey.

He said Mr McGovern’s car veered onto the hard shoulder on the left- hand side. He said he veered in twice and, at the Maxol filling station, he hit a sign.

Mr McGovern’s wife Marie said he had left their home in Lissycasey on the morning in question to go to Mass.

She later went to the football pitch

with their son and daughter. She saw her husband at the pitch. She was later informed that her husband had been involved in an accident.

Garda David Connolly attended the scene of the accident. He said Mr McGovern’s car was embedded in a sign outside the forecourt of the ga- eh Xen

Pathologist Dr James O’Driscoll carried out a post-mortem examina-

tion on Mr McGovern’s body. He said that death was due to shock and haemorrhage in association with multiple injuries.

“It was possible he had acute cardiac pain while driving along,” he said.

A verdict of accidental death was returned by the jury. Coroner Iso- bel O’ Dea said that Mr McGovern’s death, at such a young age, was “very sad and tragic”.

A 71-YEAR-OLD Cooraclare man lost his life when he was knocked down crossing the road in Lissycasey last year, an inquest has heard.

Father-of-five Sean Gallagher was killed at Decomade, Lissycasey, on the night of April 17, 2006, while on his way to a dancing session, En- nis Coroner’s Court was told last Wednesday.

Sean’s son Shane said he had been at his parents’ home in Kilmacduane, Cooraclare that evening. He said his father, a retired carpenter, left the house to go dancing at the Boree Log pub in Lissycasey at around 9.15pm.

Shane passed that pub at 10pm and saw that a crowd had gathered. He continued on his way home and later heard that there had been an accident, involving a man from Cooraclare.

Shortly after he arrived home, two

gardai arrived at the front door with the devastating news that his father had been killed.

The inquest heard that Patrick Keane went to the Boree Log that night arriving at around 9.55pm. He got out of his car and said he saw Sean Gallagher getting out of his car, on the opposite side of the road. He was standing near the pub when he heard a loud bang behind him.

“T started running. I knew when I

saw him he was dead. People started coming out of the pub,” he said, in his deposition.

Sergeant Frank Naughton went to the scene of the accident that night. He said the body of a man was on the ground on the road on the Ennis side of the pub. He was told he had been struck by a car as he crossed the road.

Pathologist Dr Peter Fawl carried out an autopsy on the body of Mr Gallagher at Limerick Regional Hos-

pital. He said his opinion was that Mr Gallagher died due to shock, second- ary to multiple injuries, consistent with having been involved in a road traffic accident.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea suggested a verdict of accidental death and the jury agreed with this recommenda- tion. She expressed sympathy to the Gallagher family. ““To come on and see the accident must have been hor- rific,” she said.

CLARE jockey Kieren Fallon takes his fight for racing justice to the Brit- ish High Court this Tuesday in a bid to have fixing allegations levelled against him by City of London Police thrown out.

Lawyers representing the Ballinru- an legend, who is six times champion jockey in England and a three-time Epsom Derby winner, are confident OE DE AAU NTSANO LemOd OT-DuUcXoiMO DRANK oLem

This would clear the way for Fal- lon’s return to the saddle on the Brit- ish circuit for the Aidan O’Brien sta- ble. It comes in the same week that he’s due to return to action in Ireland at this Thursday’s seven-race card in

Tipperary after serving a six-month ban for failing a drugs test.

In July 2006, Fallon, along with seven others, was charged with con- spiring to defraud the internet bet- ting exchange, Betfair. They were charged with “offences relating to allegations of fixing the outcome of horse races between December l, 2002, and September 2, 2004, and money laundering”.

Fallon’s license to ride was sus- pended by the British Jockey Club who imposed a ban on riding on Brit- ish tracks until his trial for “allega- tions of race fixing” is over. This trial is due to take place in September.

However, Fallon’s exile from racing was extended to a worldwide ban last

November when the French racing authority, France Galop, suspended him after testing positive for a pro- hibited substance.

Throughout this turbulent period, the Coolmore Stud operation – who retained Fallon’s services to ride for the Aidan O’Brien stable in Bally- doyle – have remained loyal, backing his fight against British injustice.

“We remain very supportive of K1- eren,’ said Coolmore’s Michael Ta- bor. ““We always have been, and we still are. Obviously people are talk- ing, everyone seems to have a point of view, but I can assure you we are unanimous. Nothing has changed.

“When things go wrong, that’s when you have to show strength, to

keep on the straight and narrow. He’s over 21, like all of us. We all have to take responsibility for our ac- tions. We are all still with him. We feel very sympathetic. If we didn’t, it would be over,’ he added.

Fallon himself says he has plenty of reason to look forward. “I have really good people around me and I can’t wait to get back,” he says.

The comeback happens this week — in Ireland, then Britain he hopes, then the world. The greatest jockey of his generation is raring to go.

CONCERNS have been expressed that the announcement by Dell of a global reduction in jobs could have far reaching consequences for the economy of the Midwest.

As well as the 3,000 jobs created directly by Dell in Limerick, a fur- ther 20,000 reliant on the success of the company in the Midwest region remain under threat.

Thousands of jobs in sub-supply companies throughout the Midwest are reliant on Dell business for sur- vival.

The expectation that 450 Dell jobs in Ireland are to go within 12 months has sent shock waves through the business community in the Shannon Kosta (eye

The Chief Executive of the Cham- ber of Commerce in Limerick, Maria Kelly, has said the announcement by Dell of a global reduction in jobs is a cause for concern in Limerick and the wider Midwest region.

She said some sort of announcement was expected from Dell to realign its global business after it was overtaken as the number one PC manufacturer in the world by Hewlett Packard.

It is anticipated that some cuts are

likely to be achieved by leaving po- sitions vacant and voluntary redun- CP bates tee

The company also employs 1,500 people in Cherrywood in South, County Dublin.

Dell is expected to cut its Irish workforce by up to 450 over the coming 12 months as part of a global drive to cut costs.

Last week, the company announced that it is to shed 8,800 jobs world- wide, amounting to about 10 per cent of its global workforce.

In a statement, the company’s Chief Executive, Michael Dell, said the re- dundancies would be across all re- gions and departments.

However, the company stressed that no final decision had been made on the number of job losses in Ireland.

The company will open a second factory in Europe this autumn at Lodz in Poland. Dell has stated that the Lodz facility is being opened to complement existing operations in Limerick. Dell’s second European factory, at Lodz in Poland, will open this autumn.

The company has always main- tained that facility would comple- ment the Limerick operation rather than replace it.

“The Green Party are not using a demand for an end to troop stops at Shannon as a pre-condition for enter- ing coalition. There was never going to be pre-conditions.”

Green Party policy states the party is “committed to ending the use of Shannon Airport by US military forces involved in the war in Iraq and insists that any aircraft suspected of involvement in illegal movements of prisoners must be searched”.

Party chairman and spokesperson on foreign affairs, John Gormley TD, was in the vanguard of opposition to troop landings at the airport, even before war was declared by President Bush in March 2003.

In January of that year, Deputy Gormley visited Shannon in solidar- ity with those who had established a peace camp on the perimeter of the airport, while as late as this Febru- ary he stated that “Shannon Airport is now, for all intents and purposes, a US military airport”.

However, Deputy Gormley’s ad- mission that he “couldn’t stand five more years of opposition” is one of the factors in the abandonment of the Shannon Airport policy.

The first break with party policy came in Clare when election candi- date, Councillor Brian Meaney said, “I personally believe that allowing the use of Shannon would be in the best interests of getting the Ameri- cans out of the mess they have cre- ated in Iraq”.

Now, as negotiations on the forma- tion of the Government reach their critical stage, the Green leadership have taken Cllr Meaney’s lead.

BY 6pm, Clare’s largest polling sta- tion was humming. The flow of vot- ers had been steady all day at Ennis CBS, but now business was really picking up.

The narrow hallways rumbled with the purposeful steps of voters. Out- side cars and SUV’s were plonked on the footpath. Inside the walls, others jostled for parking spaces.

Normally you’d associate this kind of traffic with the daily school com- mute taken by parents and children to and from New Road.

But today there’s a different reason for the hustle and bustle. It’s Election Day.

Time to chose the men or women that will serve Clare in the 30th Dail. And the people are eager to have Dales DMITRY

“Oh it’s always this way,” says Cen- tre Supervisor Anne Monahan. Pre- siding officer Lawrence O’ Loughlin concurs, “You’ll always find it like that.”

Between them, Anne and Lawrence have over 50 years experience at the polling stations. Steady hands on hec- tic days. 3,800 voters drawn mainly

from the Tulla Road and Roslevan areas of the town passed through the CBS last Thursday.

Seven individual stations were di- vided between two buildings. The booths propped neatly in classrooms in the main building. Three more ar- ranged in a circle in a separate hall.

The school also housed the busi- est polling booth in the county – box number two where 860 of the coun- ty’s 79,883 potential votes were cast.

Anne checked the first polling fig- ures at 2pm and already turnout was high, at 18 per cent. By 6pm that fig- ure had risen to 30 per cent.

A staff of 15 people sat through the long hours of voting, making sure everything ran smoothly. A good thing too.

A power cut struck parts of Ennis on Thursday. Electronic voting may- be quick, easy and less cumbersome, but what happens when the lights go oD nia

‘That would be an absolute disas- ter. No one would be able to vote,” says Anne.

While we await the winner of the pencil versus keypad debate, there will still be plenty of work for pre- siding officers at election time.

For Lawrence, that means rising in the early light of 6.30am. The day isn’t done until 10.30pm when the last of the all-important ballot boxes are under lock and key in the West County Hotel.

It’s a day for people and their pri- orities. After a 15-hour day, there’s only one place the Boston, Tubber native is thinking of.

“It’s a long day alright. I remember we had a long one a few years ago. It will take about a half an hour to clean up. I’ll be aiming to hit Rory Kenny’s by twenty past eleven’, says Lawrence.

TRACES of the GM maize Herculex Rw, which is not authorized in the EU, has been detected in samples taken from animal feed imported from the United States according to the Department of Agriculture and Food.

This GM Herculex Rw maize va- riety is authorised in a number of countries including the US and an application for its approval in the EU has been made. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has evaluated the application as part of the EU authorisation process and has

recently given a favourable opinion.

The authority concluded that it is unlikely that the placing on the market of products consisting of, or produced from GM maize Herculex Rw will have adverse effects on hu- man or animal health or the environ- eeloale

The Food Safety Authority of Ire- land (FSAT) have been consulted and they agree with EFSA’s evaluation.

Some 6,000 tonnes of Corn Glu- ten Feed and 6,200 tonnes Distillers Dried Grain was discharged at Dub- lin port from a ship, the MV Pakrac, which went on to Rotterdam where it discharged the remainder of the ani-

mal feed cargo.

The cargo of animal feed was certi- fied as not containing GM Herculex Rw maize product. However, infor- mation was received from the Dutch authorities that official samples tak- en by them had tested positive. The Department immediately arranged for samples to be taken from the ani- mal feed off-loaded at Dublin Port and sent to the State Laboratory for analysis. The State Laboratory in- formed the department that the sam- ples submitted had tested positive for eloceilo.@ ays

When the department received the information on positive results

from the Dutch authorities they 1m- mediately put in place a restriction order on the 7,000 tonnes that still remained in portal stores.

In the meantime, steps have been taken to take out of circulation ma- terial that had left the portal stores. While some of the material has al- ready been incorporated into the an- imal feed chain, it 1s unlikely, based on the EFSA evaluation, to have any adverse effects on human or animal health or the environment.

The application for approval of GM maize Herculex Rw will be con- sidered at EU Standing Committee Meeting in Brussels on June 8.

THE problems faced by Irish sheep farmers made national media head- lines last Thursday following a successful stunt by the Irish Cattle and Sheep Association in Dublin’s O’Connell’s street.

The farming organisation took ad- vantage of last Wednesday’s morato- rium of general election coverage in the media and succeeded in bringing the issue to a non-farming viewer- ship for the first time.

ICSA sheep farmers gave away their lamb on Dublin’s O’Connell

Street last Wednesday, giving more than 400 families a free and tasty evening meal.

The promotion was designed to highlight the low lamb prices that farmers are currently getting while giving the public an opportunity to sample Irish lamb, which is at its very best at this time of year.

“The lamb giveaway this morning was a huge success. We are delighted at the public’s appreciation for Irish lamb, which is at its prime at this time of year, and also at the public’s understanding of the plight of the sheep farmers,” said ICSA president

Malcolm Thompson.

“They were genuinely shocked to hear that farmers are only getting €66 – €76 for their lambs, which would retail in the supermarkets for between €240 – €278.”

ICSA Sheep Chairman, Mervyn Sunderland, thanked members of the public for offering their support to farmers. “This kind of support for ICSA, and all sheep farmers, is very heartening. Maybe now the retailers will realise that the price they are paying for Irish lamb is unsustaina- ble, and that they had better improve their prices to farmers if they want

to maintain supplies and satisfy their customers.”

“If this doesn’t happen, the Irish consumer will be forced to buy sub- standard imported products at an inflated price, and today’s public response clearly demonstrates that they don’t want that.”

The best of cuts, including legs of lamb, chops and various joints, all reared in Laois, were handed out to the public, as well as hot lamb chunks, freshly prepared, so that the passing public got a sample to taste and a sample to bring home and try out with a simple recipe.

NORTH Clare community groups will be prohibited from ‘hounding’ Clare County Council for top-up funding should they fall short in capital for developing playgrounds, it was decided at yesterday’s local area meeting of Clare County Council in Ennistymon.

A motion put forward by Cllr Flan Garvey (FF), proposed that Corofin playground would be granted one off top-up funding of €12,000 from the 2008 Playground Grant Scheme (PGS), but that no future proposal for extra funding for playgrounds would be entertained.

The proposal came following a dis- cussion from the council as to which playground should benefit from some €§3,000 available under the PGS for 2007. New playgrounds in Lahinch, Ballyvaughan and Kilmaley all made applications for the funding as well as the Corofin playground which re- ceived some €50,000 last year.

‘“T’m very clear in my conscience that our commitment this year is to Lahinch. I would suggest that we al- locate the €12,000 to Corofin out of next year’s funding,” said Garvey. “If committees know they can come back to us every year if they over- spend then they will be coming back and hounding us year after year.

“As from next year, no-one will

get extra funding should they over- spend.”

An informal decision was made last year to prioritise the Lahinch play- ground, which is being developed in parallel with a major council devel- opment on the village’s promenade.

“T have no problem with Corofin getting more funding we would first need to find out how much it would take to complete the playground in Lahinch. We don’t want to have a half finished playground in Lahinch. There cannot have a finished play- eround without money. We gave a commitment to Lahinch last year, a unanimous commitment from this committee,” said Cllr Richard Nagle (FF).

“The playground committee and local community in Lahinch have en- gaged in a load of fundraising events which have raise some €50,000. Everything is in place to proceed, with a view to the community sup- port and the commitment that we gave last year. I think we should pro- eTere Ma Laem ore Lie

After lengthy discussion it was de- cided that the Lahinch playground would receive the full allocation of this year’s funding, with Corofin to receive an amount of funding from the 2008 budget. Other playgrounds, such as in Ballyvaughan and Kilma- ley will also be considered for fund- ing in 2008.

FITZPATRICK & Co are currently selling a Retail Unit in the Bru na Sionna development in Shannon, Clare. In a superb central location adjacent to SkyCourt Shopping Cen- tre and within easy reach of Shan- non International Airport and Shan- non Free Zone, Bru na Sionna when completed, will consist of approx. 230 residential units, 11 commercial

units and car parking.

Under construction by Paddy Burke Builders Ltd. and available through Fitzpatrick & Company is a 205 sq. m. prime ground floor unit with full planning permission for Retail use.

The unit will be ideally located within the Bru na Sionna develop- ment with adjacent parking.

For further details, please contact Rory Fitzpatrick at 061 361118.