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KNOCK airport is set to handle transatlantic flights from next May, a move which could hit Shannon in the pocket.

Scottish airline, Globespan, will be operating six scheduled flights a week through the airport – now known as Ireland West – after finalising a deal with the US Department of Transport in Washington.

Other US airlines which fly into Shannon were made aware of the deal and of the fact that Globespan could be in breach of the Ireland-US bilateral agreements.

They were also made aware that the deadline for lodging objections was last week, but no US airline lodged any such objection.

Ireland West will become one of just three airports in the country to handle scheduled transatlantic flights. On three days flights will operate through the Mayo airport from Glasgow and fly on to Boston.

On the other three days flights originating in Liverpool will stop in Ireland West and then continue to New York.

The announcement comes as Transport Minister, Martin Cullen warned that a set-back in the bi-lateral agreement talks has not bought any extra time for the stopover than the original 18 month transition period originally promised.

“As far as I am concerned, the clock started ticking in October,” he said. Speaking in Brussels, the Minister described the stop-over arrangements as “archaic, outmoded and cosseted”. He warned that the arrangements are blocking at least 22 major new routes between Ireland and the US.

The deal which will allow flights between Ireland West and the US was brokered after the recent visit to Sligo of New York’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg. During his trip, he met the board of directors of Knock airport and subsequently set up meetings with the Department of Transport while adding his voice to the application to sanction the new routes.

Mayo-born New York radio host, Adrian Flannelly spearheaded the initiative.

Two tour operators will be involved in the operation, Crystal Travel from Boston and 1-2 Travel from Cork. When requirements are finalised, prices for the new routes will be decided next month.

Marketing Manager of the airport, Annette Kearney said that they are “very keen to put these routes in place because we know they will be of tremendous benefit not only to the people living in the northwest of Ireland but to their many friends and relatives living in the US. One out of every two people in the region have family and friends in the US.”

OVER 100 non-national workers at Shannon airport could hold the key in the upcoming union ballot to decide upon the airport’s restructuring programme.

The 100 or so temporary workers mainly from eastern Europe are expected to vote on the deal next month.

It is understood that the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) made a late change to the offer to unions at Shannon by including temporary workers in the €10,000 loyalty payment for those who remain.

At a series of meetings at the airport last week, workers were briefed on the deal and SIPTU is making no recommendation for acceptance or rejection.

It is understood that there are strong divisions among airport staff despite the apparently generous payouts and this puts the sizeable eastern European airport workforce in a pivotal position.

Shannon councillor Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said yesterday that she had certain reservations over the proposed deal, especially with the scale of job losses being talked about.

Workers at Shannon will consider the €35 million ‘survival plan’ that involves the voluntary redundancy of 200 workers over the Christmas period.

As part of the deal, the DAA is seeking cost cuts of €10 million per annum. Along with the voluntary redundancies, they are seeking increased flexibility in work practices and rosters across all divisions and is looking to exit completely from the airport’s existing catering operations through outsourcing.

As part of the redundancy deal, long-serving staff will receive lumpsum packages of over €100,000 and can also avail of pensions at 55.

There is also a €3 million fund set aside for the 300 staff who stay with the company with each worker receiving €10,000 for increased flexibility. No part of the airport security operation will be outsourced and the agreement also requires francishees and outsourcing companies to recognise unions.

At the start of October, the matter was referred to the Labour Relations Commission and a press black-out was imposed on the talks.

A spokeswoman for the SAA this week declined to comment on the fresh proposals but said the purpose was to make Shannon viable without its military traffic.

“The operational costs per passenger are three times that of Dublin airport and it is absolutely essential that any restructuring plan strips away €9 million to €10 million a year in savings,” she said.

THE ENNIS student who joined an elite team to represent Ireland at a science competition in Brazil has returned home covered in glory.

Victor Akujobi, a student of Ennis Community College, has brought home the country’s first silver medal from the Junior Science Olympiad.

Victor was picked on the strength of his Junior Certificate grades in Science and Maths to take part in the DCU/Damova Irish Junior Science Olympiad in DCU in November this year. He won a gold medal in this event entitling him to represent Ireland.

“It was a really exciting journey”, said Victor who added that he was “delighted and so are my family and people at school”.

Victor was on a team of six that travelled to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the competition. Fifty-three countries competed at the Olympiad, which ran from December 3 to 12.

The competition consisted of three three-hour exams spanning both the theoretical and experimental aspects of the four science disciplines, biology, chemistry, physics and maths.

On December 12, Victor was announced as one of the silver medalists, the first silver medal that Ireland has won at this event.

The win is a dream come true for the 15-year-old Nigerian, who came to Ireland in January this year to join his parents. “The buzz of pride and excitement in the school is a clear reflection of the immense magnitude of his achievement” one of Victor’s teachers told The Clare People .

After an appeal from a friend of the family through The Clare People , generous sponsors came on board to provide spending money for Victor’s trip.

Victor said that one of the best things about the Olympiad was “making so many new friends from so many different countries and cultures. My email in box is full”.

The Ennis student is hoping for a career that will “include something to do with maths, physics and computers. Those are my three main interests”.

Ennis Community College is no stranger to this type of international glory.

In 2001, one of their students Iris Choi won gold in the IBM/DCU Irish Physics Olympiad. She went on to represent Ireland in Antalya, Turkey in the International Physics Olympiad in June of that year.

Also on the International Wall of Fame for Ennis Community College is James Martin, who won the IBM/DCU Irish Schools Programming 1998 and went on to represent Ireland in Setubal, Portugal in September of that year at the International Olympiad in Informatics.

CLARE householders could send 2011 tonnes of valuable recyclable material to landfill this Christmas, according to Clare County Council who are anxious to divert used packaging to its recycling centres at Lisdeen, Scariff, Ennis and Ballyduff – where everything from plastic and aluminium to cardboard and glass can be recycled.

According to council statistics, this year’s Christmas binge will see Clare householders consume

508,110 bottles of wine; 1.4 million cans and 406,488 bottles of beer; 745,228 cans of soft drinks and 101,622 boxes of sweets as well as 101,622 rolls of wrapping paper.

Over 711 tonnes of cardboard and paper from gift boxes, selection boxes and packaged foods will be disposed of in the county.

In total, it is estimated that each Clare household could produce an average of over 59 Kilos of used packaging waste that could be recycled this Christmas.

The Council is calling on all householders to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost this festive season.

The Lisdeen Recycling Centre will be closed from December 24 to 26 and from December 31 to January 1. Alternate opening hours are December 22 (10.15am to 4.15pm); December 23 (9am to 3pm); December 27 – 29 (10.15am to 4.15pm); December 30 (9am to 3pm) and January 2 (10.15am to 4.15pm).

The Scariff Reycling Centre will be closed from December 24 to 27 and from December 31 to January 1. Alternate opening hours are December 22 (2pm to 8pm); December 23 (12pm to 6pm); December 28 (2pm to 6pm); December 29 (2pm to 8pm); December 30 (12pm to 6pm) and January 2 (2pm to 6pm).

The Ennis Recycling Centre will be closed from December 23 to 27 and from December 31 to January 1. Alternate opening hours are December 22 (12pm to 4pm); December 28 (12pm to 8pm); December 29 (12pm to 6pm);

December 30 (9am to 5pm) and January 2 (10am to 5pm).

The central waste management facility at Ballyduff will be closed from December 24 to 26 and from December 31 to January 1. Alternate opening hours are December 23 (9am to 1pm for commercial customers and 9am to 3pm for public civic amenity site); December 27 to 29 (usual opening hours); December 30 (9am to 1pm for commercial customers and 9am to 3pm for public civic amenity site) and January 2 (usual opening hours).

MONEYPOINT, the country’s biggest producer of greenhouse gases, could be a candidate for technology which would allow the pollution to be buried.

The Clare power station is belching more poisons into the air than any other industrial source in the country, a recent report revealed.

But Carbon Capture – a technology which will be up and running in less than ten years – would enable the ESB to grab carbon dioxide and bury it before it can get into the atmosphere and do damage.

Figures published by the European Pollutant Emission Register show that Moneypoint tops the list for highest emissions of a number of environmentally damaging chemicals.

The coal-burning station near Kilrush is the greatest source of carbon dioxide emissions. Data from the Environmental Protection Agency shows that between 2003 and 2005 Moneypoint emitted 16.8m tons of carbon dioxide.

It also featured as the leading source of arsenic and its compounds along with five other chemical pollutants.

But as it produces 14 per cent of the country’s energy, closing the coal-burning station down is not an option.

Moneypoint is currently undergoing a €360 million makeover designed to reduce emissions, mainly of sulphuric and nitrous oxides, which will extend it’s life by 15 years.

A spokesman for the ESB said that it would “look at any new technology aimed at reducing emissions”, but added that the carbon capture technology is so new that there has been no chance as yet for energy bosses to study it.

Harry Audas, general manager of the International Energy Agency(IEA) greenhouse research and development programme, said that Carbon Capture is viable.

“It could be demonstrated technically viable within the next five to ten years but there’s still no commercial incentives, so it’s up to the politicians to get the commercial incentives in place.”

The IEA is the organisation which advises governments in developed nations on energy policy.

A breakthrough which would enable power generators to capture and bury carbon dioxide – the main greenhouse gas, widely blamed for heating the planet – would be a technological leap towards greener energy production which would be worth millions.

Also featuring in the list for certain chemical pollutant emissions were the neighbouring, the Tarbert County Limerick ESB plant and Aughinish Alumina.

A CLARE man whose job it is to try to spot terrorists trying to board airplanes won his case for unfair dismissal after his employers claimed he missed a day’s work because he was hungover.

Andrew Brislane from Spanish Point was one of four airline security profilers who was drafted in to Shannon to help ICTS, a company which provides anti-terrorist security services for US airlines. The Employment Appeals Tribunal heard that ICTS is subject to security checks by inspectors from the US Government’s Transportation Security Administration.

In August 2004, the company was to undergo one such check but drafted Brislane and a number of others as three of their staff had resigned the previous month. The Tribunal heard that the drafted profilers had met in a hotel bar the night before. A supervisor of ICTS claimed that he had seen Brislane the next morning looking “rough as if he had a lot to drink.”

Brislane’s brother rang to say that he was sick. Four of the profilers failed to come to work and ICS said they had to put a contingency plan in place which resulted in long queues.

Brislane told the tribunal that he became ill and was told by his doctor that he was suffering from a virus and had had a mild heart attack.

The Tribunal ruled that ICTS had failed to carry out a proper investigation into the incident and had dismissed Brislane’s medical certificates.

CLARE musician, Mike Hanrahan, has resigned his position as chairman of the board of the Irish Music Rights Organisation.

Hanrahan’s was one of two resignations from the Board after a disagreement with other board members. Quitting along with him is vice-chair and music executive, Barbara Galavan.

According to sources, their resignations follow a series of rows over what direction IMRO should take for the future.

Hanrahan has been IMRO’s chairman since 2000 and Galavan has been vice-chair for almost sixteen years.

It is understood that both had had a number of disagreements with other board members in recent months.

The organisation polices copyright and collects royalties from places which play music publicly.

The Clare musician is internationally recognised as a songwriter and a guitarist. He has released a number of solo albums and has played with bands including Tumbleweed and Stockton’s Wing.

As well as producing solo albums, he has been heavily involved in writing and producing for Dubliners singer, Ronnie Drew over the last ten years.

PLANS have been lodged with Clare County Council to construct a substantial park ‘n ride facility in Liscannor for the €31.5 million Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre.

The plans by the Mermaid Partnership form part of the first signs of a private sector involvement in the visitor centre which is now nearing completion. The outline planning application is for the construction of a park ‘n ride facility with a retail development which will consist of five buildings and 352 underground car-parking spaces and 10 bus-parking bays.

The site located on the northern side of the R478 in Liscannor village is zoned for park and ride facilities in the North Clare Area Plan.

John D Flanagan of the Mermaid Partnership confirmed that outline planning is currently being sought from the Council.

“The Council’s decision will dictate when an application for full planning permission will be submitted. A timeframe on an approximate start up date for the proposed park and ride service to the Cliffs of Moher will be made once such an application is submitted. We are anxious to proceed with the proposed development as early as possible.”

“The overall proposal has the potential to contribute hugely to the overall development of the tourist sector in Clare while creating considerable employment opportunities in Liscannor and the north Clare area.”

North Clare councillor, Martin Conway (FG) said he was supportive of the application, provided that it met all the criteria.

“Park ‘n ride for the Cliffs of Moher is the way to go. When you look at the poor quality of road structure around the Cliffs of Moher, anything that will reduce the volumes in terms of traffic is a welcome development.”

“The development of a park ‘n ride facility at Liscannor is also fulfilling another objective of spreading the benefits of the new visitor centre around north Clare. It will benefit Liscannor and I would be hopeful for park and ride facilities at Ennistymon, Lahinch and Doolin”, he said.

A decision is expected on the application in 2007.

ENNIS Chamber of Commerce has given a cool response to Ennis Town Council’s decision to raise commercial rates for the forthcoming year.

While welcoming the increased level of funding for the promotion of Ennis, the chamber fears the rate rise is not good news for small businesses struggling to compete with large scale developments.

Members of Ennis Town Council last week approved the 2007 budget which provided for a 4.8 per cent rise in commercial rates.

In his report Town Manager Tom Coughlan stated the rate increase represented a “slight decrease on the on the rate of increase in 2006”.

But according to the CEO of Ennis Chamber of Commerce, Rita McInerney the rise is an extra and unwelcome financial burden.

“Even if it is low, no business wants to rates go up. Its twice the annual rate of inflation, which is predicted at 2.4 per cent for the coming year….These are extra costs being placed on businesses. Our priority should be to encourage the individual uniqueness of the town. We need a mix of multinational and local shops, independent traders should not be squeezed out.”

She also revealed that some local businesses may refuse to pay water rates after recent problems with the Ennis water supply.

“We think a rebate scheme for businesses in Ennis should be looked at. It was placing a lot of extra costs on businesses, whether they had to buy in ice or water for just cleaning food. Some of them may go as far as withdrawing paying water rates. They are paying for a service but are not able to use it.”

€65,000 has also been allocated in the Budget for the promotion of the town while a further €20,000 is to be given to the Promote Ennis group.

In order to build on the Tidy Towns success of recent years, the council has set aside €100,000 for the enhancement of lanes in the town.

These initiatives have been welcomed by the chamber along with the decision not to increase car parking charges.

“There was a lot of positives in the budget. The money for the lanes is very welcome, it is something that the president John Madden has prioritised and is something that has repeatedly come back in the Tidy Towns reports.”

THE population of Ennis will reach ‘critical mass’ by the year 2020 if the town boundary remains its current size, a committee heard last week.

It is predicted that at the current rate of growth the population of Ennis will hit 48,000, which is 8,000 more than predicted in the National Spatial Strategy for 2002-2020.

The issue was being discussed in relation to the proposed extension of the town boundary at a meeting of Ennis Town Council’s Social and Economic Development Municipal Policy Committee.

At the meeting Town Clerk Eddie Power said, “The population of Ennis, at the town centre and environs, currently exceeds 24,000.

“It was predicted that this would rise to 40,000 by 2020, but if the figure keeps going up it would be 48,000, which would represent critical mass.”

Mr Power added that any extension would have implications for the effectiveness of local government, the structures in place and the coherent promotion of the town.

Following a proposal from Cllr Peter Considine (FF) the committee opted not to discuss the matter further.

The deadline for submissions from members of the public passed on Friday, December 15.

In their submission to the Council, Ennis Chamber of Commerce stated that any extension would have to strike a balance between business interests and new housing developments likely to come under the stewardship of the council.

Speaking yesterday Chamber CEO Rita McInerney said,

“The last extension didn’t benefit businesses in the town. The council’s remit extended to take in more houses, but there wasn’t the same growth in business.

“There can’t be a situation where the current rate payer base is paying for an increased number of houses.

“We wouldn’t be totally opposed to it as long as they undertake a balanced analysis.”

The current town boundary extends as far as the turn for Ballyalla, past the West County on the Clare Road, past the Golf links on the Miltown Malbay Road, beyond O’Sullivan and Hansbury on the Kilrush Road and as far as Hill Crest housing estate on the Tulla Road.

In 1988 the Minister for the Environment extended the Urban Boundary of Ennis. Ennis is identified as a “Hub Centre” in the National Spatial Strategy and as such is designated as a regional growth development centre.