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THE success of pedestrianisation in Ennis hinges on problems regarding town centre parking being properly recognized and addressed, according to the Chairman of the O’Connell Street Trader’s Association.

Gearoid Mannion was commenting last night on Ennis Town Council’s proposal to introduce Saturday pe- destrianisation in Ennis.

Mr Mannion said that it is time for the council to recognize that there is a problem with parking in Ennis.

“Come into Ennis on any busy day

and you can’t get parking. The dogs on the street know there is a prob- lems with parking in Ennis but the council don’t believe it is a problem,” he said.

Mr Mannion added, “The success of pedestrianisation be it on a Saturday or everyday does hinge on parking.”

He explained that a balance also had to be struck between the views of the public, who seemed broadly supportive of the proposal, and those of a “significant minority” of retail- ers who have seen their business suf- fer on days when pedestrianisation 1s in place.

Members of Ennis Chamber of Commerce met last night to discuss the proposal ahead of a meeting with council officials today.

Town Clerk Eddie Power told the January meeting of Ennis Town Council that a report on pedestria- nisation would be presented at the council’s next meeting in February.

Mr Power said the report would be presented along with a recommenda- tion to pedestrianise Ennis’ streets on Saturdays. The council is also expected to appeal to the public to ensure that cars are not left parked on streets during the hours of pedes-

Wet-DIpecrIN(O)0e

The council is also expected to in- stall permanent electronic barriers in order to close the streets to vehicular nee BeElen

The barriers will be controlled by keys that will be available to council staff, gardai and other members of the emergency services.

Councillors have said that a system should be in place to allow for the manual removal of barriers in the event of a serious emergency.

There have also been calls for free parking to be introduced on the same days as pedestrianisation.

House prices drop by 30 per cent

THE freezing weather conditions may be causing havoc across the country but at least one group in east Clare are happy that the big freeze has replaced the big flood.

Work has begun on the playground for Kilkishen after a delayed start because of the heavy rains and flood- ing.

‘“We’re making good progress now. It’s very cold but because the ground is dry, we’re able to get on with it,” said Mike Hogan of the Kilkishen Development Association.

Mike explained that the machinery was on-site two days before Christ- mas to begin clearing work but the ground was too wet.

The play equipment for the facility

has already been delivered and is be- ing stored until the area is ready for it to be assembled.

“We’ve very kindly been given a place to store it. There’s €18,000 worth of equipment there so it has to be kept safely.”

“We were planning to do the groundwork in November but couldn’t because it was just too wet. But if it continues dry and we are able to work on through February and March, then that would be a big help.

We’ve had plenty of volunteers on the groundwork which is going on at the moment and we have more for the time when the equipment needs assembling. People have been very good and are very supportive,” said Mike.

The land for the facility was donat- ed and €43,000 was raised through the local authority Playground Grants Scheme.

The local school and community were also closely involved, with the children themselves designing and selling Christmas cards, stag- ing a concert and locals organising a Thousandaire night and a bumper eNO ECee

The Clare Shout Festival also raised a sizeable sum towards the €60,000 which 1s needed in addition to the money from the county coun- cil’s fund.

The initial play equipment will be for the use of toddlers to 12-year-old and the playground committee hopes to go on and provide facilities for teenagers as well.

It’s hoped that the area will eventu- ally be able to boast basketball and skatebording facilities in addition to the slides, swings and roundabouts.

When the first sod was turned on the facility some weeks before Christmas, local councillors were invited and thanked for their support in getting funding, it wasn’t a politi- can or a celebrity who did the hon- ours. “We asked the children from the school to do the official first sod turning because it will be their facil- ity,’ said Mike.

THE region’s flagship tourism company sustained losses of over €250,000 in 2008 as visitor numbers continued to plummet last year.

Shannon Heritage Ltd operates Bunratty Castle and Folk Park along with King John’s Castle in Limer- ick and accounts just returned to the Companies’ Office show that the Shannon Development subsidiary in- curred losses of €254,476 to the end of December 2008.

This followed the company return- ing a pre-tax profit of €27,745 in 2007.

Confirmation of the losses coincide with the company absorbing a 13 per cent drop in visitor numbers last year to around 440,000. This follows a 13 per cent drop in 2008 resulting in a total drop of 141,000 visitors over two years.

This has resulted in the company — which employs 300 – imposing a 10 per cent pay reduction or 12.5 per cent reduction in hours worked, for staff and management.

Chief executive John Ruddle con- firmed the pay/hours reduction yes- terday, but stated: “Overall, staff numbers remain unchanged during 2009 despite the global downturn. The company is making the retention of its full staff a key 2010 priority in this very difficult climate.

“The Shannon Heritage operation is vitally important to tourism in the Shannon region as it continues to an-

nually contribute an estimated €20 million to the local economy and in- directly supports many more jobs in the wider region.”

In 2008, Shannon Heritage sus- tained a 10.5 per cent drop in gross profit from €9muiullion to €8&million that year. The €245,000 loss sus- tained in 2008 reduced the company’s accumulated profits to €621,237.

Describing 2009 as a very chal- lenging year when the company had to make adjustments to work- ing arrangements, Mr Ruddle said

that some visitor sites had a slightly shorter season, and minor adjust- ments to opening hours were also introduced in 2009. However, all ac- tivities are going ahead as normal for 2010.

“After five years of strong growth to 2007, Shannon Heritage, like most businesses 1n the tourism sector, has experienced the effects of the world recession. While 2009 results are not yet available, a 13 per cent decline in visitor numbers is anticipated. While any loss is disappointing, the

company is satisfied with the results given the dramatic fall in US visitor numbers to Ireland.”

The accounts show that visitor num- bers to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park dropped from 343,675 to 305,557, while visitors to Bunratty Banquets dropped from 65,878 to 57,911.

EDUCATION #£Minister Batt O’Keeffe has issued a ‘call-to- arms’ to rally volunteer engineers to go into schools across Clare to enthuse students about maths as part of Engineers Week 2010.

Speaking at a photocall with busi- ness leaders, Minister O’Keeffe welcomed the Engineers Ireland initiative and called on engineers and businesses to support the day. “T strongly welcome the efforts of Engineers Ireland to promote eve- ryday understanding of maths in schools through Volunteer Day and Engineers Week more broadly. These initiatives support the Gov- ernment’s strategy to move more students into science and technol- ogy-based higher education cours- oe

“Our curriculum reform plan – Project Maths – will begin in all post-primary schools in September as part of efforts to radically re- form the way the subject is taught and make it more relevant and ac- cessible.”

Engineers Week is a campaign held annually by Engineers Ire- land to promote engineering as a career and the importance of the industry to Ireland. Volunteer Day on Thursday, Feb 11, Engineers Ireland’s first national volunteer day, will be a key day in Engineers Week 2010, which runs from Feb 8-13. On that day, it is planned that volunteer engineers, with the co-operation of local schools, will enter classes in Clare and across the country and spend a few hours working with pre-junior certificate students to improve their knowl- edge and appreciation of maths through puzzles and work sheets.

John Power, Engineers Ireland Director General, said: “Engi- neers Week is a critical campaign in the engineering calendar. En- gineers Ireland believes there is a direct link between the decreas- ing numbers studying maths and the shortage of engineers entering Irish industry. Leaving Certificate results showed that just 16 per cent of students took honours maths which is down on the 2008 figures. We need our students to become more comfortable with maths as it is a fundamental building block towards a career in engineering. Ireland already has a deficit of en- gineers and the situation is becom- ing more severe. A ready supply of engineers is critical to the Smart Economy and emerging industries such as the Green sector.”

Business Leaders came out in force today to show their support for the initiative. Representing in- dustry on the day was Paul Rellis, Managing Director, Microsoft Ire- land; Leonard Hobbs, Intel Ireland Research; Eamonn Quinn, Chair- man, Nualight and Paul Mallee President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

To get involved, please contact the engineering team on O1 665 1340 or email info@steps.ie. Engineers Week 2010 will run from Feb 8-13.

CLARE will learn of their quarter- final opponents in the Oscar Traynor Cup next week with the draw for the last eight round scheduled to take place in the Aishling Hotel in Dublin on Friday, January 22.

The Clare side, managed by Hugh Kelly advanced to the knockout stag- es for the first time since 2004 thanks to taking four points from their two games in Group 5 of the prestigious nationwide competition.

In their opening game with the Limerick Desmond, Clare secured a valuable away point when Rock Rov- ers’ Stephen Hickey grabbed a share

of the spoils with a goal in the 90th minute.

Then in the second game against the Cork Business League at Mc- Donough Park in Newmarket-on- Fergus, an injury time strike from Bunratty’s Con Collins gave Clare a thrilling 3-2 win and safe passage into the quarter-final stage.

Those teams who will be in the draw with Clare are Galway or Mayo from Group 1, Roscommon, Sligo or Don- egal in Group 2, Tipperary Southern & District League in Group 3, Cork AUL in Group 4, Wexford in Group 6, The Defence Forces in Group 7 and Dublin AUL in Group 8.

Manager Hugh Kelly, in resum-

ing the management reins for the 2009/2010 competition said “any- thing is possible and we could go all the way”. The Derryman was man- ager of the Clare team that scored a famous victory in the competition six years ago, when they beat the Dublin Senior League 2-1 in the final played in Ballycasey.

It was Clare’s first national cup suc- cess since the Clare Youths won the Irish Inter League Youth Cup in 1971 thanks to a 2-0 win over Dublin Ath- letic Union League in Ennis Show- erounds. Clare’s Youths are also in the knockout stages of the FAI Youth Inter League for the first time since the 1970s.

2009 presented an exciting new dawn for Clare camogie as they am- bitiously met the double challenge of playing at the top level in both league and championship head on in a bid to establishing the county as a new senior force.

After several attempts during the decade, Clare finally made _ that breakthrough on the back of an un- precedented 2008 in which a Nation- al League Division 2 and All-Ireland AUT eb Ce) MMOL O(c) Rom UITDO A aRcecDuIEsIen

However, the beginning of 2009 also brought great change in Clare camogie. Orla Considine was ush- ered in as county chairperson, Clare subsequently entered two adult teams for league and championship for the first time (one at senior and one at intermediate level) and a new man- agement team of Bertie Sherlock, Catherine O’Loughlin, Kevin Ryan, John Sheedy and Fintan McNamara was introduced to guide both panels into the new unchartered waters.

In hindsight, it was perhaps too demanding to initiate such an ambt- tious two pronged set-up in the first year. The lack of numbers were an constant issue which meant there was a significant doubling up of play- ers and possibly a year at junior level would have served the second team better in their inaugural year.

That said, Clare can feel quite un- fortunate not to have taken more points in both the league and cham- pionship, especially at senior level. Clare entered the league in typical determined fashion but overall, in- experience at the top level was to repeatedly prove their undoing. Des- perately unlucky to be edged out by a point in their opening tie against eventual finalists Tipperary, Clare then led by 0-8 to 0-5 with less than 25 minutes to go against defending champions Kilkenny in Meelick only a week later before conceding nine unanswered points. Unperturbed by such set-backs, Clare finally got their just rewards with a final day 2-7 to

2-6 victory over Dublin in the capital and it was enough to give them re- newed confidence for the champion- ship campaign.

The intermediates on the other hand had a largely fluctuating league debut in Division 2. Going down by seven points in their opening tie against Tipperary in Cashel, the young side actually claimed a major scalp in their next outing by comprehensively beating defending All-Ireland inter- mediate champions Kilkenny by 0-11 to 1-O in Meelick, inspired by Carol Kaiser, Roisin McMahon, Chloe Mo- rey and Danielle Sheedy.

It should have initiated a new level of confidence in the predominantly teenage side but they were soon brought back down to earth by a 3-

14 to 2-04 defeat to Antrim and in fact, were unable to field in their final game against Derry a week later.

The final nail in the second side’s coffin came in their intermediate championship debut against neigh- bours Galway. With a largely experi- mental side, Clare were simply over- ran by a vastly experienced Galway who were ruthless in a 7-13 to 1-03 victory in Athenry. Clare chose to pull out of the competition after that while Galway eventually went on to win the intermediate championship O)binw resale

There was a similar camogie lesson for the senior side that afternoon as Clare supporters were left scratching their heads after totally contrasting halves. Despite being without the

experience of Sharon McMahon, Laura Linnane and Aimee MclIner- ney, Clare more than matched the All-Ireland finalists in the first half, only to undo all that good work with an abject second half display as Gal- way eventually ran out 3-17 to 1-04 victors.

It would have been enough to de- rail most sides but Clare had recog- nised long before the Galway game that their derby tie with Limerick would be the most pivotal game of their championship season. A tense, nail-biting encounter subsequently ensued with both sides craving the points to remain in the race for the semi-finals. In the end, Clare’s resil- ience saw them prevail by the bare minimum after the sides had been

level on three occasions in the final minutes. It was also a significant coming of age performance from Under 16 Chloe Morey who took responsibility for the final, pressu- rised free from 65 metres that sealed victory for the home side. That dis- play would subsequently earn her a national Gala Performance Award and also ensured that Clare’s hopes of advancement hinged on their fi- nal game against league champions Wexford a fortnight later.

Essentially a_ straight play-off in Bodyke, Clare battled hard but were unable to cope with Wexford’s smooth interplay and superior scor- ing ability who eventually ran out 2- 15 to 0-03 winners.

Overall though, Clare will feel sat- isfied that they were extremely com- petitive in their inaugural season at senior level. Wins over Dublin and Limerick, a one point defeat against Tipperary and the fact that they were still in contention for a semi-final place going into the final round of championship games indicates that they were far from daunted by their more experienced opposition. On the flip side however, sizeable champ1- onship defeats against Galway and Wexford mean that Clare still have a bit to learn before they can realis- tically challenge for honours at this Aree

The key to Clare’s future at the top level though could rest with their burgeoning underage system. The county have been consistently knocking at the door of All-Ireland glory at Under 16 and minor level in recent years and much like Kilkenny, that continuous supply to the senior squad, combined with the experi- ence of their more established play- ers means that the future is certainly bright for the county. Consequently it’s simply a matter of when, not if.

AFTER the 2004 FA Cup final in which Manchester United easily overcame Millwall inspired by 19 year old Portuguese winger Chris- tiano Ronaldo, his tormented marker that day Robbie Ryan famously ad- mitted “I have never played against anybody like that in my life and to be honest I was pleased to be taken off”.

At 66”, with an ease of touch, graceful lithe and pace, not to men- tion a ruthless eye for goal not seen in the county in quite a while, that quote could have easily been attrib- uted to 19 year old Darach Honan in 2009, whose devastating perform- ances against Limerick, Waterford and Galway ensured that Clare were firmly on route to a first ever All-Ire- land Under 21 title.

Of course, while those individual displays deservedly earned the for- ward national recognition, his huge potential has been noted for some time by keen hurling observers. Part of the County minor team that shocked Cork in their own back yard in 2008 and indeed the Under 21 side that were so cruelly denied victory in the Munster final later that summer, Honan did have better luck on the domestic front as Clonlara secured a remarkable treble of a first Under

21A championship as well as a senior league and championship success. It was enough to earn him the Munster Minor player of the year and he car- ried that form into 2009, now a year wiser and therefore infinitely more difficult to stop.

Clonlara’s defence of their Under 21 title fell at the first hurdle but they did retain their Clare Cup crown and just missed out on a historic back-

to-back double when beaten in the county final by Cratloe. However, it was in the county colours that Honan really blossomed. Part of a full-forward line triumvirate along- side county seniors Caimin Morey and Colin Ryan (who had scored 12 points in his full Munster champion- ship debut against Tipperary), Honan and Co. simply tore a ragged Limer- ick apart in Cusack Park in July, ac-

cumulating 4-15 out of Clare’s total of 4-22 to set up a second successive Munster final appearance, this time against Waterford.

After bagging 1-4 in that opening game, Honan was thirsty for more and duly came to Clare’s rescue with a match winning 2-2 to his name. If the first goal was an clever instinctive flick, then the second was a trade- mark Honan major, turning his man

on the wing before arrowing his way towards goal to turn the tie decisively in Clare’s favour.

However, there was a lot more to come from the Clonlara teenager. In what appeared a personal duel with Galway’s Joe Canning in the AIl- Ireland semi-final, the pair traded blows in what proved to be the most absorbing hurling game of the year. Canning may have led the way with 4-7 but Honan’s contribution of 2-4 and his constant threat and supply to others aptly earned him the man-of- the-match award.

Suffering from a hamstring injury and being double if not treble teamed at times in the All-Ireland decider against Kilkenny, he still played his part in a memorable day for Clare hurling and when the dust settled on that championship win, went on to win the Bord Gais Break Through Under 21 Player of the Year along with the Munster GAA Under 21 Player of the Year awards.

It meant that he was a shoe-in for Ger O’Loughlin’s county senior pan- el for 2010 and equally a certainty for The Clare People’s Sports Star of the Year.

CLARE’S first baby of the new dec- ade was in no rush to get going and arrived at 7.l4am at the Regional Maternity Hospital in Limerick.

The 2.61 k delightful baby girl was born to Brian and Nollaig Minnogue from Poulagowan in Scariff. Her de- lighted parents took her home at the weekend after a brief stay for mum Nollaig to recover.

Parents Laura O’Neill and Joe Kiely from Bruff in County Limer- ick were delighted to welcome their baby daughter, Ava, who arrived at St Munchin’s at 2.5lam to become the first new citizen of the mid-west.

She was the fifth baby born in St Munchin’s on January 1, on what was a “quiet day” for the hospital. By comparison, there were 18 births in the labour ward of the maternity hos- pital a day previously, December 31.

December 31 was also a full moon and, according to many experts in labour and childbirth, this is a very common time for women to give birth.

Waterford claimed the honours of producing the first Irish baby of the decade. Little Ava Hennessy clocked in at just 28 seconds past midnight at Waterford Regional Hospital.

Parents Rebecca and Shane, from Dunmore East, Co Waterford, were aware that the clock was ticking down on 2009 but just wanted to lay eyes on her as soon as they could.

“The midwife said to me ‘would

you like her to be born in 2009 or 2010?’, and I said “I don’t mind’. That was 11.20pm. I just wanted to see her as soon as possible,” said Rebecca.

Ava tipped the scales at 91b 5o0z and is the fourth child for the Hennessys. She has a big brother Jamie (17) and two sisters Abbie (11) and Danielle (OF

Just pipped at the post was little Harvey Hetherington-Kelly who was born at Mount Carmel Hospital in Dublin at one minute past midnight to parents Tanya and Stephen from Dun Laoghaire, Dublin.

The third baby of the new year was delivered at the National Maternity

Hospital on Holles Street at 13 min- utes past midnight.

Tegan O’Neill, who weighed in at 91lb 50z, was born to overjoyed par- ents Carmel and Pat from Castle- knock in Dublin.

The first baby of 2010 born in the west arrived at 2.27am. The little girl, was born to mum Fiona Cough- lan from Athlone at Portiuncula Hos- pital in Ballinasloe, County Galway.

‘A waste of taxpayers’ money’