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ENNIS TOWN Council has been accused of showing no goodwill to- wards the traders in the Ennis Farm- ers’ Market.

Spokesman Jason Horner said the traders are very frustrated with the lack of response from the council to- help promote the market which takes place each Friday at the town’s his- toric market area.

Mr Horner said that the council recently ended the monthly market at Glor as it didn’t comply with the council’s casual trading bye-laws.

A grower and seller of organic pro- duce, Mr Horner said the council “don’t seem to want to do anything Koma ee

He said business was thriving for the market traders.

“Things are really going well and the market helps bring people into the town centre. We have a good reg- ular clientele and what we are doing should be encouraged.”

Mr Horner said it is getting to the stage where the attitude of the coun- cil towards the farmers market 1s stymieing the development of the market.

“We are not looking for a lot, but

we don’t seem to be successful in what we are asking for.”

He said that the traders sought an electricity connection from the coun- cil, but were unsuccessful, while a request for a water connection was met with what Mr Horner described as “an unhygienic connection which was only knee high”.

The longest running problem 1s the issue of cars parking in the area des- ignated as the Farmers’ Market the night before and this makes it very difficult for stall holders to erect their stalls on market morning.

“We have been in touch with the council on this but they have done nothing for us.”

Mr Horner said some of traders who operate at Ennis also operate at Kilrush where there is a market every Thursday.

“The contrast is really obvious where Kilrush Town Council re- sponds in a positive way to requests made by the traders there,” he said.

FOUL play has been ruled out in the case of two skeletons that were dis- covered buried in Quin last week.

Gardai had initially feared one of the remains might be that of a Bal- lykilty woman who disappeared 21 years ago.

An archaeological team alerted the Garda after they discovered two skeltons in a shallow grave while conducting a survey for the develop- ment of Quin community centre.

Further tests revealed the remains are more than a hundred years old

and may even date back to Medieval Wbeslone

The grim discovery was made be- hind the centre by the team work- ing under archaeologist Edel Ruttle of TVAS (ireland) Ltd, a Crusheen based archaeological consultancy ooyenh ey Nah Ye

TVAS director, Graham Hull, ex- plained that the company “is obliged to inform the gardai when remains are found in these circumstances”.

He added that osteoarchaeologist Mara ‘Tesorieri, who was onsite at the time, “was reasonably sure that these were antiquated remains but

the gardai had to be informed and a portion of jaw-bone was sent to the State Pathologist in Dublin for ex- ~Neeuper-lu (eye lae

An initial analysis by ‘Tesorieri “suggests that one of the skeletons is that of a female aged over 45. It may be associated with the neighbouring St Fineen’s church and we think that it’s possible the wall of the graveyard around the church may have been moved at some stage”.

Investigating gardai first had to eliminate suspicion that the remains could be those of Mary Guire, a local woman who left her work in Knap-

pogue castle in 1987 and was never Toros mbexe nO

“Once we were told that the remains were more than 100 years old, that would be the limit of garda involve- ment,” said Inspector Tom Kennedy.

Ger Buggy of the Quin community centre development committee, said that he is “very glad there was noth- ing untoward involved. The bodies have been covered over again.

“We had planned to put in a drive- way but a report has been sent to the Department of the Environment and we are waiting to see if any further action is necessary,’ he added.

THE National Park and Wildlife Services (NPWS) has applied to Clare County Council to reconstruct an access bridge to one of Clare’s lake islands.

The NPWS has applied to build the bridge to Rabbit Island from Dro- more Wood Nature Reserve in Ruan.

The project will also include new hand railing.

According to the planning appli- cation submitted to Clare County Council on August 1, the site of the project is located within a special area of conservation and within in an natural heritage reserve. There is currently a pedestrian rope bridge accessing the island.

A decision is due on the applica- tion to reconstruct the bridge on Sep- tember 25, that will allow visitors to Dromore to access the island in comfort.

An area of approximately 400 hec- tares or 1,000 acres, Dromore was established as a nature reserve be- cause of the diversity and richness of its flora and fauna.

Its richness comes from its many different habitat types. These include a river, lakes, turloughs, callows (flodded meadows), limestone pave- ment, fen peat, reed beds and spe- cies-rich woodland.

The reserve has historical and ar- chaeological aspects. The 17th cen- tury O’Brien Castle is still standing by the lake edge. This is also the

sites of Cahermacrea Castle, Kilakee Church, two ring forts and a lime kiln. Two self-guiding nature trails of approximately one hour exist within the woodland and a section of the 140 kilometres Mid-Clare Way also passes through.

This loop overlaps on part of the Castle Nature Trail and the Mid- OETA ENE

A DECISION by An Bord Pleandala not to confer voluntary status on the University of Limerick (UL) has cost the university over £150,000.

This follows the board over-ruling its inspector’s recommendation to exempt UL from paying a €154,000 development contribution to Clare county council for an extention to the university campus.

Earlier this year, UL secured plan- ning permission for its Irish World Academy of Music and Dance build-

ing at Garraun, Clonlara.

As part of the decision, the council ordered UL to pay €304,000 in de- velopment contributions.

The university appealed the deci- sion and argued that the development scheme was not been properly ap- plied; that UL was registered under a charity trust; that the development was not for profit or gain and would be a major contributor to the social and educational life of the campus and area.

The university claimed that its vol- untary body status was accepted by

the Revenue Commissioners and the centre would be used by the people of Clare and Limerick as well as by students.

The university also argued that it was dependent on voluntary dona- tions and the demand for €154,000 would impede the viability of the project and contradict the spirit and letter of the scheme by imposing commercial levies on a non-com- mercial voluntary work.

The council argued that it was not a voluntary development as it would provide courses for which fees would

be paid and was a commercial enter- prise by a private body.

The Council also argued that con- certs and exhibitions would be held at the venue and these would gen- erate revenue through ticket sales. In addition, the development would connect to existing public water and sewerage schemes.

In his report, the Board inspector found that the term “voluntary ogan- isation” was not defined in the Plan- ning and Development Act, 2000, but that UL came within this remit and a full exemption should apply.

The inspector also ruled that UL should be exempt from contributing a further €150,000 in special contri- bution towards the upgrading of the local road network.

The board stated that it did not ac- cept UL came within the scope of the exemptions for voluntary organi- sations and the terms of the scheme had been properly applied.

The board ordered the removal of the demand for the special contribu- tion as UL had already contributed €500,000 to serve a related develop- ment at the UL campus in Clare.

SUSU See r-Wcclmmcchlbul hmm OKOecmmselomm belie Lufthansa group of companies show they have recovered from an indus- trial dispute at Shannon Aerospace to record a 57 per cent increase in pre-tax profits last year.

Profits for the Irish operation rose from $11 million in 2006 to $24 million last year while turnover in- creased by 38 per cent from $242 million to $335 million.

According to a statement accom-

panying the accounts, the airline in- dustry experienced a buoyant year in 2007, which saw the profits in most of the group’s segments increase.

“Industrial relation problems, which marred the results of Shannon Aerospace Ltd in 2006 were resolved in the second quarter of 2007 and the company operated profitably for the remainder of the year.

‘The group continued to experience strong competitive cost conditions in 2007, but there were significant con- tracts won in both the aircraft and

engine related business segments in 2007.

“The aircraft industry tends to be cyclical in nature and the board con- siders this to be the principal risk to the group’s operations and its cus- tomer base. The directors consider that quality of service to customers, turnaround times, cost control and production volume as key perform- AW Nom OSE RUD Rohe

No dividend was proposed or paid by the directors during 2007.

The statement added, “The empha-

sis of the group is to keep the compa- ny focused of the changing require- ments of an increasingly competitive market and of its customers.”

Previous accounts show that the in- dustrial dispute at Shannon cost the group $9 million.

Cost of sales increased from $201 million in 2006 to $272 million in 2007 and operating profit increased from $10 million to $28 million.

The company is in a healthy state with accumulated profits going up from $85 million to $116 million.

Fixed assets account for $383 mil- lion, while shareholders’ equity 1s valued at $249 million.

Underlining the importance of the company’s operations to the local economy, the accounts show that it employs 1,245 people — down slight- ly on the 1,258 it employed in 2006.

921 are employed in production, 308 in administration and 16 in Phe

The group’s payroll costs for 2007 were $88 million — up $10 million on the costs in 2006.

THE Gort Family Resource Centre will this week celebrate 5 years of community work in the area with the announcement of a number of new opportunities for local people.

The centre, which is based in the town’s square, is about to extend its premises and and also expand on the number of community facilities and courses on offer.

“The resource centre is driven by a group of volunteers who represent the different people and needs of the community. It’s open to all and anyone interested or curious should come in,” said Sandra Farrell, Centre Administrator.

“We have now expanded our offices by taking on the second floor of our premises here in the square. That will allow us to increase what we can do with and for the local people.”

The group provides a range of serv- ices including citizen information days, migrant information, employ- ment and career guidance, money advice and budgeting and work with the gay and lesbian community.

“We have a lot going on at the mo- ment. We were lucky enough to get funding for six computers and have been running programmes for older people to get some basic computer skills. That is very popular and we are about to start a new eight week course from the beginning of Sep-

tember,’ said centre co-ordinator Ann Rozario.

“We are also about to start parent- ing classes for single parents. There are still places in that so anyone in- terested should give us a buzz. We have new programmmes starting all the time and are always looking for people interested in volunteering.”

Indeed, the actions at the centre are driven almost exclusively by volun- teers.

‘“T have been helping out a lot with the directory which is a book of useful local number in English and Portuguese,’ said volunteer Helen Scribens.

“It’s nice to do something for the local community – to give something

back. You get to meet a lot of differ- ent new people from the area. It’s a lot of fun.”

The centre has recently taken on a development officer who will look at different ways to grow the service over the next number of years.

Frank Murray, who was one of the founding members of the Gort Bra- Zilian Association, will look after the development of facilities for the Bra- Zilian community, the elderly, lone parenting youth and isolated men.

New events and programmes are being announced in the resource cen- tre on a regular basis.

To keep in touch with goings-on contact 091 6309021 or call into the centre.

FANCY getting your hands on a Sunderland jersey signed by the great Roy Keane himself? Well that and much more is on offer at a char- ity auction in aid of the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind to be held in Lis- doonvarna later this month.

The auction, which will take place in the newly redeveloped Lisdoon- varna Town Hall Pavilion, has been organised by local man John Stack. This October, John will travel to Spain in to tackle a gruelling six day cycling odyssey to raise much need- ed funds for the charity.

“T was in Cuba last year for a_ six-

day charity cycle and this year I’m off to Majorca. It’s organised each year by the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and they look for volunteers to come onboard, raise the money and do the cycle.

“Each person has to raise €3,300 to go on the trip and the most of that goes straight to the charity. At the moment we have 12 people from all over the country taking part but we have room for a few more if anyone is interested.”

The cycling trip will see John tackle high temperatures and rough terrain on his journey around the Spanish island.

“Tt’s going to be a tough challenge.

We have six days of cycling and be- tween 40 and 80 miles of cycling each day. A lot of the route is up decent hills and mountains so we will be tired afterwards,’ continued John.

“I’ve been doing some good train- ing, sure I’m cycling for years, but it will be tough going.”

The auction will take place on Sat- urday August 23 and John is asking anyone with good to donate to get in one lae

“Tl take absolutely anything for the auction. Anything from farm produce to silage bales to new po- tatoes, furniture and concrete,’ he continued.

“T’ll take anything that is saleable, I don’t mind if it costs a euro or a hun- dred euro so long as it’s saleable. If people just get in contact with me I will sort it out. If people down have anything for the auction but still want to donate they can give cash and people can also still get involved with going on the cycle itself. There is plenty of time still.”

Anyone who would liek to learn more or donate products should con- tact John on 086 2552709.

IT was a case of 36st time into the breach for Lahinch man Pat Conway last week as he, along with four other brave swimmers, took on the might of Liscannor Bay.

This year’s annual Lahinch to Lis- cannor Charity Swim was undertak- en in some of the worst weather in recent memory, with high winds and rough seas making the crossing a se- rious challenge for all concerned.

A group of five swimmers, in- cluding Pat’s son Damien, Johnny O’Loughlin, Brian McCarthy and Tom White, took to the rough wa- ters and in the process raised some

€6,000 for the Burren Chernobyl Project (BCP).

‘Pat has been doing this swim now for 36 years and we feel really lucky that in the past number of years he has fundraiser for Burren Cherno- byl,’ said Lisa O’Connor from the Burren Chernobyl Project.

“It’s such an important fundriaser for the organisation. It’s a great day and a lot of people come out to sup- port it both in Lahinch and Liscan- nor but besides that Pat always does a lot of fundraising in the town before the event itself.

“Pat does a wonderful job and the local people and businesses are so generous.”

Funds from this years event will go to a number of worthy projects in the Belarus where the BCP has made great strides in helping vulnerable people effected by the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster.

Indeed, Lisa’s daughter Tessa has just returned from an aid trip to Belarus. “There are so many differ- ent projects going on over there at the moment. We have several group out at the moment in the children’s orphanage Goradishche; we have a group from the Special Olympics who were just out and did a fantastic job out there in children’s summer camps, we have had a physiotherapy group and a group out there doing ar-

tistic work and painting,’ continued Lisa.

“We have just opened a day-care centre in Cherven last week. This facility will allow families to keep their children at home while they can go out and work during the day. It will let a lot of families keep their children at home instead of having to put them in one of the government asylums.

“It was just opened there in the end of July and will be of huge benefit to the locals there and especially the children.”

To learn more about the Burren Chernobyl Project check out www. burrenchernobylproject.ie

that the town in still in demand.

“It absolutely bodes well that a few developers are prepared to invest in the town. There is not much of a drop in house prices either in the town according to local auctioneers,” he ENG

“There are about 50 houses from small developers in the system look- ing for permission, some of them with three to six houses,” he added.

There are just less than 100 more

houses that have been refused per- mission due to a “resident only” EN Son

Councillors zoned the land at the back of the Church residential with a “resident only” clause so as to en- courage an increase in the year round population of the town, and discour- age holiday homes in that particular area.

The refusal for this development was appealed to An Bord Pleanala.

Meanwhile the three newest plan- ning applications to Clare County Council could see as many as 62 houses built in the coming months.

The newest of the applications is from the planning authority itself. Clare County Council is proposing to build 23 affordable houses with

ancillary road and public lighting at Dough on the Miltown Road.

In its submission to the application the NRA said it would not be making a further submission relying instead on Clare County Council to abide by policy on road frontage.

Helan Kennedy has applied to de- molish existing houses and to con- struct IO houses consisting of six semi-detached and four detached also on the Miltown Road.

This application is awaiting further information following a number of objections from neighbouring land- owners regarding the necessity to knock existing old cottages and ac- cess issues. Submissions also stated that the houses on the road are single storey houses and the development is

for two storey dwellings.

An Taisce suggested that redesign- ing the access road and reducing the number of houses would avoid the necessity to knock the existing cot- tage.

An application by Michael and Gerry Bond to build 29 houses at Dough is also under consideration with a decision due on September 3.

A number of objections also face this development including the close proximity of the effluent holding tank close to a nearby bed and breakfast.

Objections also relate to a sugges- tion that the land for development is lower than the road, the brick road is in bad condition and the density of the houses proposed could devalue other houses in the area.

THE Government it would seem got value for money when decentralis- ing its offices to Kilrush, compared to moving civil servants to other towns.

Sixty staff took up jobs in the town’s Revenue office in Kilrush during Summer 2007.

These workers filled 50 full-time positions through job sharing and other family friendly employment NSU RUN Kone

The government secured a long- term lease for offices in the west Clare capital for €85,000 a year, while the estimated fit out, excluding VAT and fees, was €411,000.

These figures compare favourably to similar sized towns that also ben- efited from the decentralisation of government offices.

The fit out of an office in Listow- el, Co Kerry, cost €1.3m. The an- nual rent for the long-term lease is €183,000.

In Loughrea, Co Galway, the gov-

ernment is paying €139,235, a year in rent for offices which cost another €572,000 to fit out, excluding VAT and Fees.

In Navan, Co Meath, the taxpay- er is funding an office at a rent of €382,492 a year while the fit out cost more than €1.4 million.

In Athy, Co Kidare, the Govern- ment took out a temporary lease on offices costing €©231,554 a year in rent, while fitting out the offices cost €493,000.

It was only in the neighbouring

county of Limerick that the Govern- ment seemed to be paying less rent. The rent for offices in Newcastle West is €68,771 per year.

According to Fine Gael TD Pat Breen the Kilrush office seemed to be value for money.

‘When you consider what has to be paid out for green field sites and the cost of rents in other towns, it Seems a good option.”

“It is a work friendly, open space office,” he said of the offices on the Cappa Road.