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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.

EXPERIENCE and sheer determi- nation won out in the final of the Eu- ropean Seniors’ Team Championship at Shannon Golf Club on Saturday as Ireland won back to back titles against a Scotland team that were simply overwhelmed by the strength of their Irish counterparts by 4 1/2 matches to a 1/2.

It was Portmarnock’s Adrian Mor- row (pictured right), the current Irish and European Seniors Champion that shot out of the blocks first and by the turn had a three hole advantage over Scotland’s Derek Murphy. The

match ended on the 16th with a win for the towering Dubliner, 3 and 2.

Former Walker Cup player Arthur Pierse made short work of John Fraser. The Tipperary man was four holes to the good after nine and closed out the rather one sided match on the 16th, also by a 3 and 2 mar- gin. There were wins too for Liam MacNamara from Woodbrook who saw off Robert Stewart convincingly while John Carroll and Hugh Smyth enjoyed a comfortable win against Gordon MacDonald and Alexander wabuter

Killeen’s Maurice Kelly was in to- tal control of his match against the

four time Walker Cup star, and Cap- tain of the Scottish side, Ian Hutch- eon but was called in off the course to halve the match.

Team captain, Tommie Basquille was thrilled with the win and paid tribute to his team during his victory speech. “The lads were brilliant all week, and while we suffered a scare in the semis against the Germans, the team really concentrated and played superb golf in winning the title again. J am immensely proud of them for all their hard work and commitment.”

Ireland will go in search of three in a row next year at Ascona in Swit- zerland.

CLARE County Council is set to refuse planning permission for a €50 million retail park adjacent to the Ennis by-pass.

With a formal decision due later today, a council source has indicated that the application by Galway devel- oper, Stephen Harris for a retail park at Skehanagh, Clarecastle is about to be turned down.

Mr Harris has encountered major hurdles in the planning process over the past two years after €18 million was paid to Clarecastle man, JJ Mc- Cabe for the 48 acre commercially zoned site.

Only last week, it emerged that the Department of the Environment made a late intervention to reject the plan because of nature conservation concerns. This related to the fate of the protected butterfly, the Marsh Fritillary which has disappeared from the site due to grazing and

flooding.

The expected refusal will come as a surprise as an independent report commissioned by the council con- cluded that the Harris site at Ske- hanagh, Clarecastle was better po- sitioned to secure planning ahead of a proposal by Ennis developers Sean Dy piler Wem Com Oeiioeevie

However, the local planning land- scape deteriorated in the meantime with a subsequent council report de- claring portion of the Harris site as being at risk to flooding.

It is not known how this has fac- tored into the final decision, but it seems certain to have featured in the planners deliberations as the Depart- ment of the Environment also flagged it as an issue.

The local authorities in the Ennis area have also rejected any future residential or commercial develop- ment pending the commissioning of anew €75 million sewage treatment plant which is not expected to be in

place until 2012.

Ennis Town Council has recently refused developments as small as 26 units and a €50 million retail park 1s expected to be a much bigger burden on the local infrastructure.

Plans for the 48 acre site included a retail warehouse park, motor sales village, Travelodge hotel, drive-thru restaurants, storage and distribution, and a petrol station. The develop- ment was to provide over 30,000 m2 commercial floorspace

Planning was only being sought for the retail park in the south-east quad- rant of the site but the council had already expressed serious concerns over the proposal.

will be released on the label this week, but the label has already has a measure of suc- oe It released an EP for Lanzarote based ska band Seven Stars Riot Squad (SSRS) earlier this year which broke into the official Canary Island record charts top 10. Indeed the label was created on the

Spanish island where Meteor Prize winning Gallagher had been play- ing since the break-up of the Revs.

Mr Logue was unavailable for comment yesterday but Gallagher said he was looking forward to the album release.

“T was playing a few gigs in pubs out there when I met Alan. He came up to me after a gig and asked about the original songs. We ended up chatting for ages about it and he said he’d like to get involved in some way, said Gallagher.

“It was as simple as that really. I found myself there six months later as the co-owner of a small indie record label about to release my own album.

“T think it’s very much a team project. I obviously value Alan’s Opinion – he was the one who gave me that lift in confidence after the

Revs by saying that he wanted to get involved in my music, which nobody had said to me in awhile.”

The former Revs front man plays the Burren College of Art in Bal- lyvaughan this Thursday as part of the album launch tour. Despite it be- ing early days for the label there has already been discussion of releasing old atosmr-lolebeehe

“I respect him a lot. He told me that he didn’t know anything about chords but he really liked the songs. So it was great to get that kind of perspective from him. The great thing is that he knows that if the musicians are happy creatively then everything ticks away nicely,” con- tinued Rory.

For more on G

ONCE more, the focus of the county and country’s handballers is firmly set on this year’s big alley competi- tions. As it stands, the 2008 Munster 60×30 Championships have already kicked off and Clare are vying for honours in a number of grades.

The big alley game is the original, traditional form of handball in which Clare tasted so much success down through the years and the recent past has seen a resurgence in big-alley in- terest and playing numbers.

Clare has always had a great tradi- tion in big alley handball, particular- ly the Tuamgraney club, which has produced many All-Ireland winners in the past. Incidentally, Tuamgraney is the only 60×30 alley currently in use in Clare and so is the main cen- tre of handball action for the whole county.

At adult level this year, Clare will be represented at Minor Singles and Doubles (Niall Malone, Diarmaid Nash), Under 21 Singles and Doubles (Cathal Hannon, Shane Hayes), Jun- ior B Singles (Fergal Coughlan) and

Doubles (Fergal Coughlan, Shane Walsh), Junior A Singles (Declan Frawley and Seamus Lawlor) and Doubles (Darragh Kirby/Seamus Lawlor and Declan Frawley/Liam

Frawley), Silver Masters ‘A’ Singles (John Cawley) and Doubles (Mike Kelly, ‘Charlie’ Coughlan) and Dia- mond Masters ‘A’ Doubles (Jimmy Walsh, PJ Counihan). Diarmaid Nash

and Niall Malone kicked off Clare’s 2008 interest with their Minor Sin- gles first round games against Lim- erick opposition but unfortunately were defeated by Seamus O’Carroll

and CJ Fatzpatrick respectively.

The Tuamgraney pair joined forces and faced the same opposition in the Minor Doubles, where the Limerick duo again had the upper hand.

Clare’s next fixtures see Newmar- ket’s Seamus Lawlor (Junior Singles) in action tonight (Tuesday) in Cashel at 8pm against Tipperary opposition while this Thursday, both Cathal Hannon and Shane Hayes travel to Ballyporeen for their respective U- 21 Singles Ist round games against Waterford opposition at 8pm.

Clare will also be well represented this year at adult Ladies level and in the different underage grades (Boys & Girls) and hopes are high that Munster and All-Ireland titles can be won in Saffron and Blue in *O08.

Trials were held in Tuamgraney last week to select juvenile county play- ers at all ages from under 12 to under 17 and Clare’s first games will be at Munster semi-final stage on Septem- ber 5 at a Limerick venue.

JUST over a year after he parted ways with Clare, Paidi O Sé has emerged as a potential candidate for the Dub- lin management position.

Following Tyrone’s easy defeat of Dublin on Saturday, the management position was vacated by Paul Caffrey and speaking on Monday afternoon, O Sé said he would give the job seri- ous consideration.

“Any player who went back to man- agement, or managed his county team, of course he would give the Dublin job very serious considera- tion, it’s a very attractive job,” he Sr NCGe

“Of course, all managers would look at that and would take it into account. Of course they would. | wouldn’t be on my own in saying that, there are plenty of other people who would as well. Winning an All Ireland seems to be the question eve- rybody’s asking. Whoever the man- ager 1s, you don’t get a quick fix.”

Any potential move to the Dublin position would represent a giant leap from his position in Clare, but O Sé said that a long-term view had to be considered.

“Any manager going into the Dub- lin job would be looking at a mini- mum of two years and a maximum of three years.”

THE rate of suicide in Clare is 12 and a half per cent higher than the national average.

A report by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland found that 13.906 people per 100,000 in the Banner county die by suicide.

The average rate of suicide in the Republic of Ireland is 12.358 accord- ing to the findings.

The all-island report also found that the rate of suicide in the Repub- lic is almost 50 per cent higher than bOmeeom Ceaser

Ireland has also the fifth highest rate of suicide in Europe.

As Clare has the ninth highest sui- cide rate in the Republic, Clare TD Joe Carey (FG) has called for appro- priate levels of funding to be made available to address suicide levels in the county.

“While suicide claims more vic- tims than road deaths each year, the Government provides ten times more funding for road awareness cam- paigns than suicide. The budget al- located is a meagre €3.05m, which is totally inadequate, whereas €40 million is spent annually on road

awareness. The Irish Association of Suicidology believe this figure needs to be increased immediately to €10m. I strongly agree with that assertion,’ he said.

“When we look at the figures, the total number of people who died by suicide in 2006 was 409 – the most recent annual figure – whereas 336 people died on the country’s roads last year. Ireland now has the fifth highest rate of youth suicide in Eu- rope.

“We need to listen to our communi- ty leaders in County Clare, and those at the coal face with voluntary and professional social bodies. We also need to make the finances available in order to develop the work being done on the ground by these people already. Suicide affects every de- mographic type in society, and it is crucial that the reasons why this 1s happening are identified and under- stood, so that society may respond appropriately.

“Undoubtedly, the pressures on young people in Ireland of the 21st century need to be identified and tackled. We can and must do more to ensure the figures released this week do not continue to rise.”