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THE first tentative steps have been taken towards the formation of what could be a new force in Clare foot- ball – a senior football champion- ship alliance between O’Curry’s and Naomh Eoin.

“We would have been very disap- pointed with our Munster final per- formance in 2008. We felt we should have and could have done a lot better than we did. We really have to make that good for the Clare supporters

who were there that day, the support- ers we felt we let down. We’re going to make that good and that’s our am- bition for the year. Our ambition now is to contest another Munster final and on this occasion to win it,’ Mc- Namara revealed.

“The bar is there. It’s held by Kil- kenny and held high. That’s what we have to attain and that’s what we have to achieve.

“We have levelled off what I used to determine the slide, now we can look with renewed optimism to what hope- fully will be a good league campaign and then an excellent championship campaign. It couldn’t be better. We train and train hard for big days and

big match days and we couldn’t ask for better than a Munster semi-final clash against either Cork or Tipper- ary, he added.

And, in sounding a bullishly confi- dent note for the year ahead, McNa- mara also revealed that youth will be given its fling throughout the season.

“There are some of last year’s panel that we didn’t bring back for a va- riety of reasons. There are a whole new range of people there. There is an open ended panel, with 10 or 12 players who haven’t appeared at sen- ior inter-county level before. We’re hoping that half a dozen of those will represent the county into the future.”

“We saw with the Under 21s last

year some very exciting new talents emerging. They were a very very good 21 team and a refusal to be beaten was written all over them, particularly against Cork in Cork.

‘“There’s excitement there and it’s up to us to target it and while it may not come to the fore immediately, certainly most of the new talent will be appearing and re-appearing through the league and through the championship with one eye to the fu- ture,’ added McNamara.

FINAL financial figures are expected to show that Lahinch Golf Club suf- fered a loss of €600,000 in 2008.

The number of golfers playing green fee rounds at the world famous golf course declined steeply in 2008 to 12,000, from a high in 2002 of Rol OeF

Since 2006 there has also been a 40 per cent drop in golfing tours visiting Lahinch. The figures are contained in Lahinch Golf Club’s Christmas newsletter to its members.

Club captain and Council Chairper- son, Padraig McInerney wrote, “As you are well aware, these are major recessionary times that we now live in. Lahinch Golf Club is not immune and has been hit by a large reduction in the number of green fee rounds being played during the year, mainly by our American friends.

He added, “These are down from a high of 19,600 in 2002 to 12,000 in 2008. This means that income for 2008 is well down and will result in losses for the year ended December 31 of £600,000 approximately.

“Tour operators golf rounds are down from 5,650 in 2006 to 3,450 in 2008 (40 per cent). The clubhouse refurbishment was deferred for these reasons and will be revisited once we have some stability. We expect these trends to continue into 2009 and we will be budgeting for further reduc- Wey e

Mr McInerney also outlines how the club plans to tackle the problem

of falling tourist numbers.

“Going forward, the council have agreed to tackle these problems in three ways: 1) We are conducting a major review of the club’s overhead, work practices and contract agree- ments to see where savings can be made; 2) We are reviewing our mar- keting strategy with a view to stabi- lizing and maximizing our green fee income; 3) We are also reviewing all categories of club membership, vis a vis the value we have to offer our existing members and prospective

members.”

Lahinch Golf Club opened its doors to 22 new members in 2008. Welcoming the new members Mr McInerney explained the new en- trants are “made up of seven spouses and siblings of existing members, nine brothers and sisters of existing members, five from the immediate locality and one, not from the afore- mentioned localities.”

IN a market where prices continue to decline, many property owners are cutting estate agents out of the equa- tion to save on costs. Consequently the ‘Sell it Yourself’, or ‘SITY’ sector, as it is known, is gathering momen- tum.

The company trading as Sellity- ourself.ie has been the major success story across Ireland in this arena, and it has its head office in Ennis.

Niamh O’Meara-Daly explained the company’s offer. “Sellityourself. ie provides property sellers with a complete selling package, everything from an online property listing, “For Sale’ signboard, pointer board and a newspaper advertising service.

“What’s more, the €195 fee on Sellityourself.ie is a one-time fee and your property is listed on the site until it’s sold.”

The key difference between this and high street estate agency serv- ices is that it’s down to the sellers to show their house to potential buyers and they handle the price discussions themselves, before handing the sale over to a Solicitor to deal with all the legal aspects and to close the sale.

While Sellityourself.ie do not val- ue property, they can advise on how to value property as well as recom- mending independent valuers if re- quired.

According to Niamh, “One of the main advantages of selling property

without an agent is the financial ben- efit. When you sell your property yourself you do not incur the cost of an agents commission. The average commission charged by agents in Ireland is 1.5 per cent, to which VAT is added at 21.5 per cent, so the sav- ing can be substantial.

As she sees it, “The other main ad- vantage of SITY property sales is that you have total control over the sell- ing process. Property owners sell-

ing direct know the exact number of buyers viewing their property online. They also know the precise number of phone and email enquiries they are receiving and they can speak directly to the buyers to gauge their level of interest.

If interest is low they can take meas- ures to increase it, whether through readjusting the price or through advertising. With an estate agent, you’re relying on their feedback. In

some cases, this feedback may not be entirely accurate, as the agent has their own reputation to protect”.

Many property owners choose to sell on Sellityourself.ie because they feel that they can do a better job of promoting their property to potential buyers, as they know it so much bet- ter than any agent could.

A recent survey by Sellityourself.ie showed that this is the main reason why people choose to sell on their

own.

Sellityourselfie is growing from strength to strength since its launch in 2006 and Niamh believes, “Prop- erty sellers are delighted at the pros- pect of having an alternative option to an estate agent, both in terms of saving money and dealing directly with the buyers. Also, because of the low cost, sellers have the option to advertise on Sellityourself.ie along- side an estate agent, provided they have not given sole selling rights to the agent.”

They also have the option of reduc- ing the price considerably if pushing for a quick sale as no commission will be incurred at the end of the sale. Many sellers have commented on the greater flexibility associated with selling themselves.”

There are currently 26 property listings in the County Clare area on the sellityourself.1e website. Two of the most recent properties are a three bed, semi-detached home in the Riv- erside Development of Ard Caoin, Gort Road, Ennis while in Tulla an impressive country house set on a half acre site has recently been add- ed.

Visit http://www.sellityourself.ie and select Clare from the search drop down in order to view all property listings in the county.

Sellityourselfie support staff are available to deal with enquiries, on Lo-Call 1850 663333 or on 065 6868630.

MAJOR increases in payments to elderly people are needed if they are to cope with the recession, with many retired people living on the poverty line as it is, it was claimed this week.

Age Action West is calling on the Government to act to prevent wide- spread poverty among older people living on a fixed income.

James Reddiough of Age Action explained that a weekly income of €203 1s considered to be the line be- low which people are living in pov- Saas

‘Most people living on a state pen- sion are living on between €219 and €232 per week. That close to the poverty line and when you consider that’s to clothe, feed themselves, pay bills and in rural areas, pay for their own transport that’s not a lot of mon-

ey.” Said James.

Age Action wants increases in the State pension, the Living Alone AI- lowance and other entitlements such as the €10 fuel allowance to help pensioners make ends meet.

There are between 1,500 and 2,000 additional deaths each winter, com- pared to the summer, many of whom are older people who die because they cannot afford to keep them- selves warm,’ Age Action chief ex- ecutive Robin Webster said. “Lives could be saved by increasing the fuel allowance paid to the poorest pen- sioners.’”’

DOMINIC Considine, founder and chief executive of Loyaltybuild, the Ennis-based marketing loyalty com- pany which has been acquired by US firm, Affinion for a sum believed to be in the region of €25muillion.

A native of Kilmihil, Mr Considine will remain as chief executive of the company which employs about 70 staff devising and managing market- ing loyalty programmes on behalf of client companies.

Other shareholders in Loyalty- build, which was established by Mr Considine as Shannon Showcase in 1999, are Sean Lyne and Domhnal Slattery, who are also investors in

Traveller families in need of permanent homes

Plan for Traveller accommodation ‘bodes ill

AHEAD of the four day National Hunt Festival at Leopardstown, which begins on Friday, St Stephen’s Day, trainer Willie Mullins has con- firmed he could run_ stablemates Cousin Vinny and Hurricane Fly in the same race for the second time in a month.

The possibility of the two meeting could arrive on Saturday as over the weekend, Mullins said that there was “every possibility” that Cousin Vin- ny will run.

Last year, Cousin Vinny was the first horse to complete the Chelten- ham and Punchestown bumper dou- ble and Mullins confirmed that is he does go on Saturday, it wouldn’t pose a problem to the trainer if he and Hurricane Fly run in the same race.

“Cousin Vinny’s hurdling debut was very pleasing and he obviously has loads of speed as you need that to win three bumpers,” said Mullins. ‘“He’s won on good ground and on soft ground but his best form is on good ground.”

Mullins also stated that Hurricane Fly has had some invaluable experi- ence of late. “He had a lot of expert- ence form his runs in the spring,” he continued. “He stepped back to two miles last time but two and a half miles isn’t a problem either as he was second in a Grade One and won a

Grade Three over that trip.”

Meanwhile, over the weekend, the big news from Thurles was that odds on favourite Solwhit failed to land the Jockey Hotel Hurdle on Sunday.

With Paddy Flood on board, Nine- tieth Minute was steered to success despite Charles Byrnes’ Solwhit go- ing to the track priced at 1-3.

To Flood’s credit, though, Ninetieth Minute looked to be in control of the race from start to finish and despite a strong fight from Solwhit, he was un- able to get ahead in the race and ulti- mately lost by three parts of a length at the line.

However, it wasn’t a total negative experience for Byrnes as Dromin Hill Echo, with Lenny Flynn on board, landed the Molony Cup Handicap Chase in emphatic fashion.

Afterwards, Byrnes also confirmed that he will go at Leopardstown and Limerick and will most likely go to Limerick under a mandatory pen- alty.

There was further positive news for Byrnes when his 50-1 shot Bit of a Devil took the INH Stallion Owners’ EBF Maiden Hurdle.

Two out, Bit of a Devil took control of the race and bombed home in what was a first winner for jockey Justin AY Lora) ens

THERE was one election at the 2008 GAA convention — for the five places up for grabs among seven contestants for honour of joining board chairman Michael O’Neill and secretary Pat Fitzgerald as delegates to the 2009 GAA Congress.

Robert Frost (O’Callaghan’s Mills), Noel Walsh (St Joseph’s Mailtown), Syl O’Connor (Sixmilebridge), Ger Hickey (Feakle) and John O’Sullivan (Ruan) were the candidates who won out, with board vice-chairman John-

ny Hill (Lissycasey) and longtime Congress delegate Gabriel Keating (Naomh Eoin) losing out. Meanwhile, only one position on the Clare County Board team re- mains vacant, as convention failed to election a Youth Officer. Both Michael O’Connor (Crusheen) and Sean O’Halloran (Bodyke) were nominated for the position, but de- clined to let their names go forward. “It would be very selfish of me to allow my name go forward. I have the position of cathaoirleach of Bord na nOg Jomaint and the job of youth

officer 1s a very important position. I decline my name going forward,” said Sean O’ Halloran.

‘Sean has a lot to offer as youth of- ficer and I would hope that he would re-consider,’ said secretary Pat Fit- zgerald.

“IT too an important a position to be dual mandated,’ responded O’Halloran. “It is a crucial position, especially in the modern era with the development of our games. I believe that the position should stand on its own merits. On that basis I won’t al- low my name go forward.”