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SIX Clare men made up the majority of the rifle team that brought glory to the 32nd Reserve Infantry Battalion at the Defence Forces All Army Shooting Competition.

Among the members of the winning team was Kilrush man Private John Kiely who currently holds two all army shooting records, not yet broken by his colleagues in the reserve army or even the professional defence forces.

After an absence of two years from the Defence Forces All Army Shooting competition, the rifle team representing Clare, Limerick and Kerry came close to securing a historic double gold win at Kilworth Military Ranges in Cork, having won the Southern Brigade qualifying competition several weeks before.

Despite a record team score and the second highest recorded in a competition, they missed out on gold by the narrowest of margins.

Two team members also won three individual prizes, one going to Corporal John Lillis from Barefield and two to Private Kiely. The Kilrush man was also crowned All Army Champion Marksman and received the coveted red marksman badge.

This competition marked another milestone in his shooting career having attained nine podium finishes from his last 11 starts which also includes two army scoring records, a run of consistence that is unheard of in living memory.

After the competition team captain, Lieutenant Mark Burke Kilrush was very optimistic about the future of the team.

The 32nd Reserve Infantry Battalion riffle team was made up of Lt Mark Burke, Sgt Robert Adrian, Pte John Kiely all from Kilrush; Cpl John Lillis, Barefield; Cpl Tommy Lineen, Kilmihill; Pte David Cosgrove, Ennis and Pte Kevin Garvey, Kilmallock.

A NIGHT-TIME taxi rank could be put in place at the Abbey Street carpark under new proposals put forward by Ennis Town Council.

Council officials met gardaí and members of the Ennis Taxi Federation in April after taxi drivers outlined a number of concerns and proposals about taxi services in Ennis.

A new night-time taxi rank has been proposed for the Abbey Street car park, which would operate between 8pm and 7am.

The proposed layout was presented at last month’s meeting of Ennis Town Council.

According to the report, the rank could run alongside the roadway close to the river Fergus and would not interfere with parking spaces. “The edges of this road could be painted with a blue line and signs erected advising the public of the night-time rank.”

Town Clerk Leonard Cleary told the meeting that a technical assessment would first have to be carried out at the site.

He said the extra taxi rank had been requested to cope with the outflow of people from nightclubs at the weekends.

He said the cost and the potential loss of revenue from lost parking spaces would also have to be considered.

Mr Cleary said further consultations would take place with taxi drivers groups and gardaí before any decision is taken.

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said drivers rated the existing rank in the Parnell Street car park as one of the best in the country.

He said it is important that people can get off the streets as quickly and safely as possible during busy peri ods.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) suggested that a rank could be set up in an area of the car park close to Dan O’Connell’s pub.

Meanwhile, councillors in Ennis meet today to rubberstamp the adoption of a new coach-parking plan for the town.

In recent weeks, Ennis Town Council has extended the coach parking facilities available in the Friar’s Walk car park, providing two additional bays for large coaches and one additional bay for a smaller coach. The council has also been looking at a more long-term arrangement to create a first class coach parking facility in the town so as to attract additional coach business to the town.

THERE have been calls for land at Drumcliff and Ballyalla to be setaside for the purposes of developing a sporting and recreational hub in Ennis.

Clare County Council has also been urged to ringfence any proceeds from the sale of 98 acres of land at Drumcliff for reinvestment in the same area. The council announced that it is to put land in the area up for auction.

The proposal has been put forward by three Ennis councillors, Tony Mulqueen (FG), Johnny Flynn (FG) and Pat Daly (FF).

Their proposal is due to be discussed at the June meeting of Clare County Council.

The motion states, “In light of the innovative use of this council’s resources such as land, development levies etc by Clare County Council to enable recent proposed sport facility development initiatives in association private and voluntary groups in Killaloe and at Doora; that a similar approach be adopted with regard council owned lands at Drumcliff and Ballyalla Lake. These lands and lake are in a central location with over 50 per cent of the Clare’s population living within a 30 minutes drive time and which enjoys nearby high quality access to the national motorway system.”

The statement continues, “That Clare County Council ringfence the proceeds from the upcoming sale of 98 acres of council land at Drumcliff for reinvestment in that same area and into the local economy by its utilisation to create a new public private community/voluntary ‘Drumcliff and Ballyalla Sports, Recreational and Environment Hub’ (including pitches, watersports, motorhome park, walks, cycling, biodiversity awareness, etc) which would be complimentary to existing facilities at Lees Road. Strategic use of the land sale proceeds in addition to other resources such as; other adjoining council lands, other sports/community organisation lands/funds, sports capital grants, Leader funding, etc could lead to such a development becoming a major tourist attraction resulting in increased utilisation of other existing facilities within short distance of hub.”

There have also been calls for Ennis Town Council to seek funding to improve facilities at Lees Road and Tim Smyth Park.

In a motion due to be discussed at today’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Johnny Flynn states, “The phenomenal growth in use by the public of the sports and recreation facilities at Tim Smythe Park and Lees Road indicates the social and medical benefits of such investments made by Ennis Town Council. The council should continue to add to such facilities by providing such as a MUGA (multi use games area) and improved lighting and surfaces in Tim Smythe Park; adult exercise equipment, general athletic equipment and mountain bike trails in Lees Road.”

Ennis Town Council had previously sought funding through the Sports Capital Grant programme to install new dressing rooms and MUGA. However the application was turned down by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

ALMOST 1,000 people turned out at the Church of Corpus Christi in Lisdoonvarna on Sunday to witness local Sister Margaret Mary receive the highest award that the Pope can allocate.

In one of his first official engagements since his appointment, Papal Nuncio Charles Brown presented Sister Margaret Mary with the Papal Gold Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice after communion at 11.30am mass.

The Papal Nuncio presented Sr Margaret Mary with the medal on behalf of his holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, in recognition of her decades of service to the Sisters of Mercy and education in North Clare.

Eternally modest, Sr Margaret Mary dedicated the medal to all the sisters who helped found and run Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna.

“I know it is mortifying for you personally to find yourself the centre of the Church’s attention this morn- ing. It is an awesome thing to feel something of Saint Peter himself point you out to us afresh, as he taps you on the shoulder to say thanks thanks for your lifetime’s companionship of Christ and your unstinting humble ministry to his people,” said Lisdoonvarna priest, Fr Conor Cunningham. “Sister Margaret Mary is deeply loved and admired by the whole community for her kindness, her hard-working nature, her humility and above all for her striking example of living faith, prayerfulness and service.

“It is this example of everyday holiness and joy that above all that has brought her life’s witness to the attention of the Holy Father so that all may benefit,” he said.

Originally from County Mayo, Sr Margaret Mary moved first to Ennistymon to take up a position with the Sisters of Mercy, before becoming one of the founding teachers at Mary Immaculate Secondary School in 1949.

“It has been a joy to me to live among you here in North Clare for most of my life and to serve God and to serve you as best I can. I never expected any notice or reward for my modest contribution. The joy of serving God and serving you was reward enough for me,” she said.

“I want very much to associate all my dear friends in the Sisters of Mercy with this honour. Today I am thinking especially of our beloved departed sisters and friends. I am very grateful to you all for coming to today’s celebration of faith and education in Lisdoonvarna.”

THERE have been calls for a system to be put in place to allow for weekly battery checks of difibrillators to be installed in Ennis.

Four defibrillators have already been purchased for Ennis following a well-supported fundraising drive.

The Ennis Defibrillator Committee are now seeking to make Ennis the town with the most people trained in the use of defibrillators.

It was launched last February after the issue of defibrillator cover in the town raised at a meeting of Ennis Town Council.

In response to a motion tabled by Labour councillor Paul O’Shea, the Health Services Executive informed the council that defibrillators were available in three locations – Clare County Council, Ennis Leisure Centre and Lees Road.

That sparked calls for the life saving equipment to be made available on the 24/7 basis in the town cen- tre.

Each defibrillator costs € 2,300 and the committee have raised enough money to purchase four units. These units will be positioned at key locations throughout Ennis in the coming weeks.

The campaign has also been backed by the Clare Area Red Cross, who are now providing training in defibrillator use.

The Red Cross has already provided training to 20 community groups and over 400 people in the use of defibrillators.

The Chairman of the Ennis Defibrillator Committee, Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab) has now called on Ennis Town Council to provide staff to carry out battery checks on a weekly basis.

In a motion submitted to today’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr O’Shea states, “That Ennis Town Council provide personnel to undertake a weekly battery check on public defibrillators that are to be installed throughout the town.”

THE Shannon region is ideally placed to cash in on a new tourism boom coming all the way from China, provided the proper marketing structures can be put in place to attract visitors from the world’s fastest growing economy.

This potential for the region to place itself in the shop window for Chinese tourist traffic was showcased at a Shannon Chamber of Commerce seminar last week that brought together leading Chinese academics and Tourism Ireland’s head of developing markets.

The seminar – entitled ‘Chinese Tourism on the Move: Targeting the Affluent Chinese Consumer’ – was hosted by the Shannon College of Hotel Management and supported by Shannon Development, Shannon Airport Authority and Tourism Ireland.

“Ireland has Approved Designated Status with China, which means that groups such as summer/winter schools, business tourism and spe- cial interest groups can be targeted,” Tourism Ireland’s Jim Paul told the gathering.

“A starting point for the Shannon region would be to build visits around the Cliffs of Moher, which gained a lot of air time during the Chinese vice premier’s visit to Shannon earlier this year. Ireland is often confused with Iceland, but once ‘Riverdance’ and the Cliffs of Moher are mentioned, there is an instant association,” he added.

A post-seminar workshop, facilitated by Kevin Thompstone, of the Thompstone Group, and former chief executive of Shannon Development, selected a number of areas for follow up as a first-stage attempt to position Ireland and the Shannon region as a preferred destination for Chinese tourism.

A less-restrictive visa process, direct access to Ireland, a Chinesefriendly standard for hotels, and group membership of Tourism Ireland’s Country Club to facilitate inmarket visits are listed as tier-one action items.

“Described by Emeritus Professor, Management School of Asian Studies, UCC, Deirdre Hunt, as ‘pioneering in many ways for the fifty-fifty Irish Chinese contributions and the increased depth and richness of material presented’, the seminar is but a first-step by Shannon Chamber to tackle the issues which hinder positioning the Shannon region as an attractor of a new influx of visitors to the region, from a vast country with a kindred love of family, place and space,” said Helen Downes, chief executive of Shannon Chamber of Commerce.

LAHINCH has made it to the twenty-first century by becoming the first town in Clare to have its very own app. The app, which can be downloaded free from the App Store, was developed by local man Matthew Kelly.

Once downloaded, the applica- tion gives its user two different live video feeds from Lahinch, as well as a large amount of information about the town and its businesses.

“My idea was to make it easy for people to get information about Lahinch quickly. So if a group of golfers or surfers or even locals wanted to take a trip to Lahinch, one quick look at the app and they could see the webcams, or the surf report or any amount of other information,” said Matthew. “If someone wanted to go surfing, let’s say, it takes one click to see are there any waves, another click to book a lesson from one of the surf schools, and another to book a hotel or B&B. It is about promoting Lahinch and making it easy for people to plan their weekend.

“We haven’t come across something like this for any other town in Ireland. People have already suggested to me that I should start making these for other towns in Ireland, but we will have to wait and see how this one goes first before I look at that idea,” he said.

Both the Lahinch Surf Shop and the Ocean Scene Surf School have allowed Matthew to use their webcam images for free.

“The whole idea is that it is free for the users to download, and it will always remain that way, but maybe if it takes off I may consider selling advertising on the site in the future,” continued Matthew. “At present, this app is only for people who have iPhones. They can download this for free by going to the App Store and searching for Lahinch but I will be developing a version of the app for android phones in the future.”

THE HSE have had difficulty filling nursing posts in the mid-west area which includes counties Clare, Limerick and Tipperary.

That is according to Regional Director of Operations, HSE West, John Hennessy who was responding to criticism that retired staff continue to be employed within the HSE on a part-time basis.

Mr Hennessy maintained that staff were only re-employed in certain circumstances and for a short period of time. He added, “When we had permanent nursing posts in the mid-west we had difficulty finding someone to take up the post.”

Clare County Councillor Tom McNamara (FF) criticised the HSE for its re-hiring practices.

“There are people working in the HSE that have retired in the last five years taking posts that could be filled by young graduates,” he said.

“This [practice] is forcing young people out of the country, while these people’s pensions are not touched because they can work a day or two to bring them up to their former wage before it is touched.”

He proposed that the HSE take new people into the health service on a 12-month contract instead to cover any gaps in the system.

Francis Rogers, Assistant National Director of Human Resources, said it was HSE policy not to rehire people on pensions.

“In circumstances where we found ourselves having to re-hire pensioners it was only in extreme circumstances where we do this. This would also be for a very short period and only where a very specific specialist was needed,” he said.

“There is no financial gain in this to the pensioner. During this period their pension is abated. It is an issue we very carefully monitor.”

This week Fine Gael Senator Tony Mulcahy proposed that selective redundancy be used in the public sector. “The problem is we are losing people we want to keep and we are keeping people we probably need to lose. We really are going to have to get the unions engaged on that and be supportive of that. I am 100 per cent supportive of the Croke Park Agreement because in fairness they [public sector staff] are working very hard,” he told The Clare People .

“But like everything else there is dead weight in a lot of organisations that has to be picked out and say no you don’t serve a purpose anymore and you are not doing what we need you to do and those are areas we have to tackle.”

ONE Clare TD has described the resounding acceptance of the Fiscal Stability Treaty in Clare as the “least bad option”.

Labour TD Michael McNamara said, “It has been a difficult decision for many people, myself included, but I’m glad that clarity has been brought to the situation. The people of Ireland and Clare have provided a decisive result that will reinforce the Govern- ment’s efforts to work our way through the Eurozone crisis with greater urgency with our EU partners. We need to press ahead with the growth agenda and to work hard on getting a deal on the bank debt.Passing the referendum is not a solution to our problems. In many ways, it can be described as the least bad option,” he said.

Fine Gael’s Joe Carey maintained, “There was a very clear message that we had to pass this referendum in the interest of our country so we would have certainty going forward.”

The Clare TD was Fine Gael Director of Elections for North Munster and he was happy to see a lot of young people involved in the campaign. “It was encouraging to see so many young people getting involved in this campaign. I think they viewed it as their future. They wanted to make sure a yes vote was returned in their interest because it is really about putting our country first,” he said.

Senator Tony Mulcahy (FG) said he was arguing for the referendum from a business point of view and he believed being able to borrow at a reasonable rate is key to the future of industry. “At the end of the day, the people have spoken and said let’s steady the ship and keep the whole thing going,” he said.

Deputy Pat Breen (FG) said, “I know from speaking to people during the course of this campaign that they were very much aware of the importance of passing this treaty in terms of Ireland’s future role in the European Union. The fact that the Irish people are set to endorse the treaty is already receiving a very positive reaction all over the world. I have received quite a number of calls from colleagues throughout Europe congratulating us on the result. The fact that we were the only country in the EU to hold a referendum and that as a country we have taken the lead in support of the treaty will, I have no doubt, pay dividends into the future with foreign direct investment continuing to flow into this country. It will also strengthen our Government’s hands in future discussions at EU level,” he added.

THE voter turn-out for the Stability Referendum last week was the lowest in the county in almost a decade.

Campaigners from all sides said they were disappointed with the 49.8 per cent turn-out in Clare, which was just short of the national average. However, the large number of people staying at home at the time of a referendum is not unusual in Clare’s recent history.

Just 30.83 per cent of the electorate in Clare turned out in June 2001 to vote on the first Nice referendum, the abolition of the death penalty and the criminal courts referendum.

This was a huge drop from the previous referendum of June 1999 when 60.05 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote for ‘Recognition for Local Government’.

In March 2002, just 39.29 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote on the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy, with 47.05 per cent voting on Nice 2 that October.

The largest turn out for a referen dum in recent years in Clare was in June 2004, when 64.6 per cent voted on the Citizenship.

From then until last Thursday, the turn-out remained over 50 per cent in the Banner county, with 52.48 per cent voting on Lisbon 1 in June 2008, 56.9 per cent voting on the second Lisbon referendum in October 2009, while 56.12 per cent voted on the House of the Oireachtais Inquiries and 57.95 per cent on Judges Remu- neration during the Presidential election in October 2011.

Last week’s drop below 50 per cent was a disappointment to the majority of people involved in the campaign. Some blamed referendum fatigue, others a lack of knowledge on the subject.

“An element of referendum fatigue was built into the turn-out. I was disappointed that more people didn’t choose to vote but it is the norm for referendums that you don’t have a large turn-out,” said Fine Gael TD Joe Carey.

Fine Gael Senator Tony Mulcahy said he believed the low turn-out was due to frustration and annoyance among people. There was also an element of “people not understanding it” he maintained.