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has learned that Clare County Council has with- held payments from the consultants overseeing the planning of the multi- million-euro Lahinch Promenade Development because of continued delays in the project. It now also looks certain that con- struction work on the development will be ongoing throughout the busy

Summer season, despite guarantees given that this would not be the OF Ton

‘Unfortunately, it seems to me that we are still some distance away from the development actually starting,” said Cllr Richard Nagle (FF).

“I requested at the last local area meeting that the meetings with the stockholders would take place as soon as possible. We are now in the month of April and we are told that

this has not been done.

“We were told that this was to hap- pen in September 2007, then we were told January 2008, and now we are still looking at an uncertain time. I welcome the construction work on the lifeguard centre but this is just getting started and will take at least 14 weeks. This is going to be a se- vere hindrance throughout the tour- ism season. We have already heard that the playground is being held up

because of this.

“I know myself that payment has been delayed to the consultants be- cause of the delays and they have not been helpful. We are sick and tired of being fobbed off. We have been wait- ing for five years and this is not good enough.”

Questions were also raised about the willingness of Clare County Council to push the project forward.

“Realistically, nothing has _ hap- pened in the last five years on this and all the responsibility does not lie with the consultants. If a project is not driven, it doesn’t get anywhere, and this project hasn’t been driven. It is looking like we are going to end up doing work during the peak tour- ist season, which is wholly unaccept- able,’ said Cllr Joe Arkins (FG).

The role of the council in driving the project forward was defended by Senior Executive Engineer, Hubert eek

“There might be an impression there that this is not being driven by the council and that is not really fair. An awtul lot of work is being done on this and I wanted to make it clear what is going on,” he said.

The consultants have said that the photomontage of the project will be completed in the coming days and a meeting will then be held with Sea- world and the Golf Club.

THIS Wednesday, Clare County Council will face its first ever pros- ecution by the Environment Protec- tion Agency (EPA) for alleged non- compliance with the terms of its waste licence at the Central Waste Management Facility in Ballyduff Beg in Inagh.

While the Kilrush court appear- ance 1s the first ever attempted prose- cution, the issue of Ballyduff Beg has proved one of the most controversial in Clare over the last decade.

The facility was first mooted in

February of 1998 when potential sites Kilmaley, Lissycasey and In- agh were identified by Clare County Council. In the summer of 1999, tests were carried out, with Ballyduff Beg being determined as the most suit- able location.

In January of 2000, Clare County Council began to compile an Envi- ronmental Impact Statement at the Inagh site and in August of the same year applied to the EPA for a waste management licence.

By the closing date of October 2000, locals lodged a total of 247 submissions with the EPA. Despite

this local opposition, the EPA issued a formal proposal to grant the licence in December of 2000 and, despite further local opposition, granted a licence on June 13, 2001.

In April of 2002, the Community Liaison Committee was established as one of the conditions of the EPA licence. Locals and members of the committee meet each month to dis- cuss issues arising from the opera- tion of the facility.

The Central Waste Management facility officially opened for business in September of 2002. There was no official ribbon-cutting ceremony.

In December of 2005, a feature un- (su k-l cone) y

DOUBTS have been raised over the way in which Clare County Council allocated funding following the deci- sion to grant the Lisdoonvarna Play- ground Project more money than it had actually asked for.

Following a heated discussion at the local area council meeting held in Ennistymon yesterday, the decision was made to award the playground €35,000 from the Community Play- eround Grant Fund, even though it had only asked for €30,000.

The fund, which this year totals €83,000, is competed for by differ- ent groups all around north Clare.

“IT would favour the Lisdoonvarna development, but I think we would be setting a dangerous precedent in giving people more than they asked for,” said Cllr Flan Garvey (FG), be- fore leaving the meeting.

The overpay situation arose follow- ing concerns raised by a number of councillors over a validity of a pro- posed playground to be located in the Michael Cusack Centre in Carron.

“IT don’t think that the Carron scheme

fits in with the playground scheme at all. There has to be unlimited public access to the playgrounds,” said Cllr Joe Arkins (FG).

“Tam also disappointed that there aren’t more applications in from oth- STUCCO) napa SL UODAL eK

Council engineer Hubert Newell confirmed that the Carron playground did not meet the normal criteria in terms of access for the children.

‘The people in Lisdoonvarna have spent nearly a million and a half on this project and are putting together a real integrated scheme for the whole

community.

“They got the short straw last year so I think it is only right that they should get the funding they are look- ing for this time around,’ said Cllr Martin Lafferty UND).

Of the €83,000 on offer, €12,000 was allocated for the construction of fencing for the Corofin playground.

Of the remaining budget, €35,000 was allocated to the Lisdoonvarna facility and €35,000 was allocated to the Carron playground, provided it was made easily accessible for local Oi elon

A MAN died in his car after suf- fering a heart attack yards from his home, the Coroner’s Court heard last elo

Sean Corry drove 100 yards from his home in Dunmore, Doonbeg when he fell ill, causing the car to strike a stone wall. Mr Corry was on his way to feed cattle when the acci- dent occurred. At the inquest into his death, a jury at the Coroners Court in Ennis found that Mr Corry died of natural causes.

Mr Corry was discovered by a

neighbour, Ann McInerney. She told the court that she was dropping her daughter to school when she saw Mr Corry’s car.

She said, “I saw the car of the left side of the road. The car had hit the stone wall. When I was coming back I noticed Sean Corry slumped at the wheel”.

Garda John O’Brien was called to the scene. He told the court, “I saw a green Opel Vectra embedded in a wall two foot high, 100 yards from Sean Corry’s house. I had known him for the past 12 years”.

Garda O’Brien said he believed Mr

Corry had “suffered a heart attack before the car mounted a wall near where he was going to feed cattle”.

Pathologist Dr Elizabeth Mulcahy carried out the post-mortem on Mr Corry’s body at Limerick’s Midwest- ern Hospital.

In her deposition, Dr Mulcahy told the court that there were no exter- nal injuries and that Mr Corry had a clinical history of ischemic heart Oberon

She said “In my opinion, Mr Corry had a heart attack in the previous 12 hours and then had this terminal Vo 0 ee

Dr Mulcahy said death was due to cardiac tamponade, secondary to a micro-cardial infraction.

County Coroner Isobel O’Dea told the jury “I would suggest that in the circumstances, and based on the fact that it wasn’t caused by an accident,

the verdict should be natural causes.

Ms O’Dea said, “I extend my sym- pathy to Mr. Corry’s family on this huge loss. It must have been a huge shock”. Supt Gabriel O’Gara ex- tended his sympathy to Mr Corry’s Je DOepe AYA

IT WAS business as usual at Shan- non Airport yesterday despite it be- ing the date on which the Shannon stopover officially ended.

But while yesterday was the offi- cial date for the Open Skies agree- ment to take full effect, the impact of the ending of the stopover actually struck late last year.

A spokesman for Aer Rianta said there was “nothing done and no statements issued to mark the end- ing of the stopover because it had already ended”’.

A schedule of landing one flight in Shannon for every three flights land-

ed in Dublin over an 18-month pe- riod was put in place under the Open Skies talks. This came into operation in the winter 06/07 schedule.

Subsequently, a number of airlines fulfilled their obligations under the schedule and stopped landing at Shannon. American Airlines was one and it ceased its routes into Shannon while continuing to fly into Dublin last year.

“We have already had the impact of it. There will be nothing different in the scheduling next week than there was last week,’ the spokesman said.

He added that Aer Rianta are “very happy that post-Open Skies, we still have seven routes to the US with

Continental, Delta with two routes, USA Airways and Aer Lingus with three cities”.

Open Skies is the agreement be- tween the EU and US that will allow EU-based airlines to fly from any city in the EU to any city in the US and vice versa. It has lifted long-standing restrictions on what routes airlines can fly between the two areas.

Proponents say the deal will boost competition, increase flight frequen- cies, reduce fares and create jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.

But tourism and business interests in the region are concerned that the ending of the stopover, combined with a weak dollar, has already im-

pacted on business.

Hoteliers in Clare are reporting losses of up to one third of their US business bookings for this year and the Irish Tourism Industry Confed- eration is predicting that 250,000 bednights will be lost in the region over the first year of Open Skies. It will take up to three years to recover those bednights, the confederation said.

However, Deputy Tony Kileen said that the introduction of a US customs and border protection post at Shan- non would boost transatlantic traffic.

‘| think the facility will far outweigh the potential losses under Open Skies in the long term,” he said.

IARNROD Eireann has lost as much as €1 million as a result of the 50- day closure of the Ennis to Limerick eNO Maelo

The service, which carried up to 600 passengers daily until the track became flooded on February 6, reopened temporarily on Thursday morning before closing for some of the weekend.

The weekend closures were due to routine maintenance and not directly related to the flooding.

Although officials from the rail company declined to comment on losses incurred as a result of the

flooding, it is estimated that as much as €300,000 was lost in direct rev- enue over the 50-day stoppage.

It has also been estimated that more than €300,000 was paid out to finance the replacement bus service. Passenger numbers are also expected to be down until confidence in the service is restored.

“I can’t reveal exactly how much was lost as a result of the flood- ing. That is commercially sensitive information, it would weaken our hand in the future if the need arose to contract someone to operate a bus service. The less people know about this, the better,” said Jim Gallivan of larnrod Eireann.

‘The service is very reliable. We advertise a 40-minute journey but each day we are coming in at around 35 or 36 minutes.

“It is a very reliable service. The public impression of the service is still strong.

“We don’t have numbers yet but we would expect passenger levels to be back to normal capacity quickly, maybe in about two weeks.”

It is as yet unclear what corrective action will be taken to prevent future flooding but an investigation is due to start in the coming days.

‘The OPW are looking into the sit- uation. It’s not just a question of how the water came. It’s also a question of

how the water soaks out in the area.

‘There are a number of different things to be looked at before a deci- sion 1s made as to how best to deal with this situation in the future,’ continued Mr Gallivan.

“It is a turlough and that makes it a very complicated situation to deal with. Last year was an exceptionally heavy year for rain and it was prob- ably water from last November and December that caused the flooding and not rain from this year at all.”

Jarnrod Eireann last month gave cuarantees that the re-instigation of the Western Rail Corridor, due to take place next year, will not be de- layed by this flooding.

NINETEEN members of Clare County Council claimed over €30,000 each in salaries and ex- penses last year, new figures released yesterday show.

Overall, the 32 members of Clare County Council received €1.37 million in salaries and expenses in 2007.

The figures released by the council show that former mayor Cllr Flan Garvey (FF) claimed the highest amount, netting over €45,000 dur- ing 2007.

Cllr Garvey was followed closely behind by the current mayor, Cllr Pa- tricia McCArthy (Ind) who claimed €43,631.

They are just two of 19 councillors that received over €30,000 in sala- ries and expenses last year.

The figures also show that it cost 228,585 to fund councillors’ travel to conferences all over Ireland and some overseas activities as well.

Mayors receive an annual allow- ance of €27,000 per annum. Both Cllr Garvey and Cllr McCarthy re- ceived €13,500 each last year.

Councillors receive a salary of €16,/52 after tax, while they also

receive monthly allowances to attend statutory meetings.

These allowances range from €6,000 to €7,500 each year.

Senior members of the council who are chairs of its Special Policy Com- mittees (SPC) receive an additional allowance of €6,000 each.

These members, Cllr Joe Arkins, Cllr Pat Hayes, Cllr PJ Kelly, Clir Ri- chard Nagle, and Cllr Tommy Bren- nan also attend meetings of the coun- cil’s Corporate Policy Group (CPG)

The policy group is involved in drawing up the agenda for each month’s council meeting.

The figures show that Cllr McCa- rthy also received an allowance of €4,500 through being chair of the County Development Board from January to September 2007.

Cllr Brian Meaney (Green) and Cllr Bill Chambers (FF) shared an allowance of €9,000 for being dep- uty mayor.

For the first time last year, council- lors were able to claim a maximum of €600 for usage of mobile phone Viste Reon

The allowance is to represent 50 per cent of total vouched mobile phone costs associated with a councillor’s public duties.

THE first of this year’s 40×20 AII- Ireland handball semi-finals were played over the weekend and while three of the ties had Clare involve- ment, there was Banner success in only one.

Conor Cooney and Cathal Hannon secured their place in the All-Ireland Under 21 Doubles final after an im- pressive semi-final win over Mayo’s Dara Reid and Kieran Burke at Clare- castle on Saturday. After losing the first game 13-21, the O’Callaghans Mills/Tulla pairing fought back to win the next two by a convincing 21- 13 and 21-11.

Cooney will be searching for an Un- der 21 two-in-a-row, having won the

same title last year with his brother John while Hannon is still in the u- 21 singles race, again playing Mayo’s Kieran Burke at Newport this Satur- day in the semi-final.

Cooney and Hannon will play Tyrone’s Padraig McGlinchey and Darragh Daly, after they won their semi-final against Kilkenny over the weekend and the date and venue for this encounter has yet to be con- firmed.

Also in Clarecastle on Saturday, Shannon’s John Cawley was defeat- ed by JJ Farragher of Galway in the All-Ireland Silver Masters B Singles semi-final.

Despite wining the first game 21-8, Cawley could not keep up the pres- sure and Farragher took the next two,

21-12 and 21-9.

In Minor Singles, Diarmaid Nash was defeated by Stephen Cooney of Mayo in the All-Ireland semi-final at Ballaghadereen on Saturday.

After pushing Cooney all the way in the first (17-21), the Tuamgraney man was comfortably beaten 21-11 in the second. Nash, also part of the Clare minor hurling panel, had been widely tipped for All-Ireland hon- ours but on the day could not cope with Cooney.

On Tuesday, Jimmy Walsh and PJ Counihan brought another Munster title back to Clare when they defeat- ed Cork’s Michael Jordan and Jim Kennedy in the Diamond Masters ‘A’ final at Galbally (21-7, 21-10).

The coming week sees more of

Clare’s Munster champions attempt to reach All-Ireland finals.

At Newport this Saturday at 5pm Cathal Hannon will play Mayo’s K1- eran Burke in the Under 21 Singles semi-final having already beaten Burke and his partner in the Dou- bles semi-final, while in Roscom- mon town, also this Saturday at 5pm, Sarah Loughnane (Clooney) and Sarah O’Donnell (Tuamgraney) play Roscommon’s Lydia Connolly and Laura Mannion in the Ladies Junior B Doubles semi-final.

Jimmy Walsh and PJ Counihan were due to play their Diamond Mas- ters ‘A’ Doubles semi-final this com- ing weekend but the match has been postponed due an injury to one of their Roscommon opposition. Edel

O’Grady and Ashling Fitzgerald, both from Tuamegraney, will play Roscommon’s Leona Doolin and Hillary Rushe in the All-Ireland Mi- nor Doubles semi-final at a Munster venue.

On the local scene, Clarecastle and Shannon will contest the Clare League Division 4A final after two very close semi-finals last week. Clarecastle overcame Tuamgraney 109-99 while the other semi was even closer, Shannon scraping past O’C. Mills by 108 to 101. In Division 2, Tuamgraney reached the final after a comfortable win over O’Callaghan’s Mills.

The second semi-final between Clooney and Kilkishen was _ post- poned.

AT LAST, the script changes. It’s been a tough old time not only for Frank Doherty, but also for the small knot of hacks who follow his team around. So far, the posse has been looking for new ways to ask the same old post-game question. “Where did it go wrong, Frank?’ has been our opener for the last two months.

On Sunday, things were different. It was time to address the positives.

“Wicklow are a nice county team, probably on a par with ourselves,” Doherty says from under the Cusack Park stand. “Forget about London and Kilkenny — no disrespect to ei- ther of them — but this was a solid county team today and we had to step up to the mark. So I’m happy, delighted to get the win to be honest because I knew we had to score well and we had to up the intensity.

“I’m tired of saying it but we have a young team and there were a couple of lads out injured again today. But it was great to see the likes of David Russell coming back. He gives that bit of experience and is a help to

those young lads. At the start of the league I looked at Wicklow and said this was a game that we had to win if we had any aspirations at all. It was a game I targeted.

“We had David [Russell] back which was a boost – he’s been a great asset to Clare football down through the years and looking forward, we’ll need the likes of him to help the young lads progress. And Niall [Considine — also back from suspen- sion] had a good first half as well.”

Already, there are other targets on the horizon and there are stepping stones to get Clare there. The first arrives, Doherty says, with Offaly’s visit in a fortnight.

“Offaly will be another challenge, that’s for sure. They’re the serious team in this group, along with An- trim.

“The two of those will be battling it out to win the division. Offaly is a step up, but today’s win was im- portant because winning becomes a habit. As does losing.

“But against Offaly we have to stand up and be counted. If we can get a good result it brings us into the

London game and then it’s just a cou- ple of weeks to the Waterford cham- pionship match.”

For afew minutes, it looked like this win could have been placed in doubt as a result of Ger Quinlan’s sending off, but according to the manager, the mental strength of Clare to come through what could have been a diffi- cult quarter of an hour was pleasing.

“I didn’t see the sending off, I was doing something else at the time, but once Ger [Quinlan] was gone, we worked damn hard and showed some good initiative. There was a lot of determination there to win the ball and that possibly wasn’t there a few weeks ago.

“IT definitely think this win 1s a shot in the arm for the lads and hopefully it’s going to put them in a positive frame of mind. We’ve worked hard in training over the past two weeks, something we couldn’t do with the seven games we had before this one and we stayed the full 70-minutes to- day, which was great.”

He walks off into the dressing room, out of the rain. A smile on his face for the first time in some while.

WITH only two games remaining in the National League, the make-up of the Clare football panel has been re- structured and streamlined over the past number of weeks with manager Frank Doherty now targeting the Munster championship opener with Waterford in Dungarvan on May 25, less than eight weeks away.

Last Sunday, Clare played with purpose and persistence and record- ed their first victory of significance

in the league campaign, heralding an upswing in their fortunes.

Prior to the beginning of the Cu- sack Cup, Doherty made it clear that players could still play their way into the panel and though that maxim re- mains true, the panel has continued to evolve with Waterford in mind.

Shortly after Clare’s win over Kil- kenny, Kevin Dilleen, who had been expected to have a role to play for the footballers, informed the county football management he was leav- ing the set-up to concentrate on club

eva b bares

Fintan Conway and Kevin Larkin, who both featured prominently in the McGrath Cup, are no longer part of the panel and Kevin’s brother, Jim- my, who had also featured at the start of the year, has moved abroad.

Dara Blake was also recently re- leased from the panel, as Doherty continues to shape his squad.

Neither Dara Kelly nor Laurence Healy were available for selection on Sunday due to injury and with both backs likely to push hard for a start-

ing place, it’s becoming clear that Clare will have sufficient defensive cover for the Waterford trip. In terms of the forwards,though, it’s still un- clear if management have made their minds up on the most effective six.

Speaking after the win on Sunday, Doherty was looking to the visit of league leaders Offaly to provide an opporunity for Clare to build on the Wicklow victory.

“If we can get a good result then it’s just a couple of weeks to the Water- ford championship game,” he said.