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THE project has become a real fam- ily affair, with husband and wives, mothers and daughters, dads and sons all getting involved.

TJ Talty, wife Maire and their daughter Grainne from Lisseycasey were on-site in South Africa, hand- ing each other paint brushes, ham- mers, saws and cleaning rags.

The Talty’s other daughter, Cliona, was part of an earlier group of volun- teers while their niece and nephew, Paula and Shane had also been work- ing with an earlier team.

Mary Kelly from Tulla was at the airport to see her son, Francis head off in the first wave of volunteers and later she was in the kitchen baking while her daughter, Lourda, was do-

ing everything from carrying water to sealing floors.

Susan Fitzgibbon from Darragh arrived on the project days after her NOIZE stom ae

Christy Ryan from Kilmaley was swinging a hammer alongside his son, Malcolm, and inseperable sis- ters-in-law, Angela and Betty Hayes from Lisseycasey and _ Limerick, were painting as a pair.

Husband and wife team, Bridget and Michael Haugh from Lisseyca- sey slapped mortar on hundreds of bricks and organiser, Maureen Mc- Carthy from Ennis didn’t have too much persuading to do to get her brother, Jody on board.

And Mike from Tulla and his broth- er, Gerard Daffy were joined by their cousin Patrick from Corofin.

MISSION VALE can teach the rest of the world a thing or two about recy- cling. Nothing that finds its way into the care centre goes to waste.

Recycling allows the centre’s staff to buy bread every day for the feed- ing station.

The people who queue for food bring something which can be recy- cled and that in turn is sold on to pay for the bread.

They collect a half loaf of bread and a scoop of soup mix and at week- ends, some rice or potatoes and an onion, along with any meat donated to the centre.

The process serves the dual purpose of giving people the dignity of doing something in exchange for their food and making inroads into the mounds of litter which the authorities never collect.

Crumbs created in the cutting of bread aren’t swept into a bin, they’re added to the powdered soup mix which is given out to families.

The styrofoam lunch boxes that

contain the volunteers’ lunches are all saved and will also be recycled and every bit of leftover, including the tiny jams are taken down the site to give to the township people work- ing on the care centre.

When the volunteers leave, their clothes will be given to the centre.

The Summerstrand Hotel where the Irish are staying has opened it’s store cupbord to Missionvale and do- nated dozens of old but perfect tow- els, sheets and pillowcases.

On most building sites, bits of bro- ken brick and end pieces of timber are a problem. In Missionvale, the leftovers from the care centre which the Irish are building have been used to construct a little raised garden and a seat.

The most poignant bit of recycling of all happens outside the kitchen door each evening. After every batch of scones baked for the volunteers, the crumbs from the baking trays were tipped into a plastic bag and given to one of the township children who come to play in Missionvale’s ee N KOE

AT THE weekend, Bishop of Killa- loe, Willie Walsh, officially blessed a building that everyone in the know said couldn’t happen.

In just eight weeks — 28 labouring days — 165 volunteers and their work- ers from the Port Elizabeth township erected a new health centre and hos- pice against all odds.

For weeks, the activity on site was frenzied, with volunteers gulping breakfast, boarding the bus at 6.30am and working until 6pm or later in the evening.

The first crew to arrive were con- fronted with the daunting sight of the huge foundations and a mountain of blocks waiting to be laid.

Alan Carmody from Lisseycasey, the foreman with the first group, said he “got a shock when I saw the size 0) Mad otom obun Conberca

But everyone, including the locals, got stuck in and worked hard. It was so exciting to be involved. We’ll nev- er forget it.”

The teams pushed on through days of hard slog in punishing heat and before the first crew left, they had laid 130,000 blocks.

The next team cooked as the sun beat down on the silver, reflective material of the roof while they sealed the building.

The tradesmen did what they’re best at and everybody else did what they were told, whether it was painting, plumbing or carrying never ending supplies of water to labourers work- ing in puddles of their own sweat.

Each of the 62 windows had to have up to 16 panes of glass put in and gla- Ziers used half a ton of putty.

Workers laid 168 cubic meters of mortar and the volunteers downed 2,330 litres of bottled water .

In the scorching African sun, the builders of hope used 11 kilos of sun- block. And still they burned.

By the time the final team arrived, the structure had taken shape but there was still an enormous amount of plumbing, painting, plastering, til- ing, hanging ceilings and carpentry to do. And that was all before the massive clean up began.

Finally, everything was in ship shape, with the exception of the the floor covering which had to be put on the long finger because the floors had been laid so fast they hadn’t time to dry.

But the Irish carried the criac with them in their suitcases. Tin whistles, come all-ye’s, slagging matches be- tween teams of workers, ludicrous match making attempts and requests to fill the hotel swimming pool with aletoj mrs l MN eCom Ne OlMmNe Com abnE

As supervisor on site for the entire project, Jimmy Kenny from Dublin said, ‘We had a laugh’.

A MAJOR new project, designed to overhaul the Irish fishing industry, was launched last week by Minister Mary Coughlan.

The aim of the scheme is to perma- nently remove older fishing vessels from the fishing fleet, replacing them with more modern vessels capable of trawling for different types of fish.

This voluntary scheme will remove older and larger fishing vessels with mixed catches of fish such as cod, haddock, monkfish, mackerel and herring thus increasing the quotas available to the more modern com- petitive fishing vessels.

This investment in the future of the

catching sector will permanently re- move some 75 boats from the Irish ji stol

“The aim of this scheme is to bring about a viable future for the fishing sector and support the economies of those coastal communities depend- ent on fishing,’ said Coughlan.

‘The Government has invested a €21 million budget for the scheme in 2008 with a further €2] million committed in 2009. I will pursue further funding, in line with the rec- ommendations of the Cawley report, as required, taking account of the take up under the scheme.

“This programme represents a very substantial commitment to bringing the Irish fishing fleet into balance

with available resources and ensuring that those remaining in the industry can be assured of a profitable future. The recently published Finance Bill contains a number of measures spe- cifically designed to reduce the tax burden on fishermen taking up this scheme.”

The scheme is open to vessel own- ers in respect of fishing vessels 10 years or more 1n age and 18 metres or more in overall length. Vessels must be operational at the time of decom- missioning and have a recent track record of fishing.

The level of payments under the scheme are determined based on criteria including the age of the ves- sel and its catch history but will not

exceed in any case €7,500 per gross oy ey ator

“The Seafood Strategy sets down the road map for the development of the sector. We must focus on sustain- ability of fish stocks and maximising the return from the fish catch.,” con- tinued the minister.

‘Already good progress has been made, in line with the Cawley strat- egy, on delivering a more innovative and co-ordinated approach to the marketing and processing of seafood in order to maximise the value at every stage from the sea to the ta- ble.”

The closing date for receipt of all applications under this scheme is Spm on Wednesday April 30.

FARMING representative and poli- ticians have welcome the changes to the Forest Environment Protec- tion Scheme (FEPS) announced last week, hailing them as a major oppor- tunity for Clare farmers.

Speaking following the announce- ment, newly-elected IFA Farm For- estry Committee Chairman, Pat Hennessy, welcomed the changes.

“The new package includes land- owners now being able to receive a FEPS premium of €200 for each hectare of woodland planted, regard- less of farm size, and will encourage larger farmers to plant,” he said.

“The scheme has also been made

more attractive for farmers with small holdings as the minimum planted area allowed has now been reduced from eight to five hectares for farmers with less than 30 hec- eho

Meanwhile, Clare TD Tony Killeen has also welcomed the announce- ment, saying it will be of benefit for both small and large Clare farmers.

“This is a major development in the forestry schemes and it should be particularly suitable for farmers in Clare. It is good news for both small and larger REPS farmers with en- hanced incentives in all categories.”

“Clare farmers that plant eight hectares or more will now receive a FEPS premium of €200 for each hec-

tare of woodland planted, regardless of farm size. For owners of farms of 30 hectares and less, the minimum plantation size has been reduced to five hectares.

“In this case the FEPS payment will be €150 per hectare. The FEPS premium 1s payable in addition to the existing Afforestation Scheme grants and premium available meaning that a farmer planting eight hectares could, for the duration of FEPS, earn an annual tax-free forestry premium of up to €6,000 without affecting his/her Single Payment.”

The FEPS Scheme was introduced on a pilot basis in early 2007 to pro- vide a new option for farmers look- ing at forestry. FEPS offered an ad-

ditional premium, to the existing LOO per cent planting grant and yearly premium payments available under the Afforestation Scheme, of up to €200 per hectare for five years de- pending on farm size.

The scheme was targeted at partici- pants in REPS and was designed to encourage farmers to establish and maintain high nature-value forestry through a number of different meas- ures, particularly in the area of en- hanced bio-diversity and water qual- ity protection.

All forestry payments are tax-free, providing less than 50 per cent of a farm is planted, will not affect a farmer’s single payment entitle- ments.

show that district court judg- es received on average €23,436 in expenses last year.

Judge Mangan, appointed in July 2001, is likely to be in the upper half of the list as he has a large area to ad- minister, stretching from south Gal-

way to south-east and west Clare.

The highest amount received by a judge was €82,240. It is likely that the judge concerned does not have a designated court district and instead moves from district to district to cov- er for judges who are on leave.

The court sittings over which Judge Mangan presides include those in Ennis, Ennistymon, Kildysart, Kil- kee, Corofin, Kilrush, Tulla, Gort, Athenry and Killaloe.

Judge Mangan’s expenses payments comes on top on his newly increased salary of €158,000, awarded on

the recommendation of the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in Public Sector. Judge Mangan’s sal- ary increased by 18 per cent from €134,124.

The figures show that country’s District Court judges spent €596,828 on mileage and €701,391 on subsist- ence.

The figures also show that the judg- es spent €14,211 on judges’ attire in- cluding wigs and gowns.

The FOI Unit has, however, refused to state how much each identified district judge received due to secu-

rity concerns.

The FOI officer states, “Both their security and the risk that any threat to the safety of their families may be used to threaten their judicial inde- pendence may effect the security of the State, particularly those in po- litical cases and those in the Special Criminal Court.

‘There is a genuine concern for the personal security of judges and their families … The disclosure of infor- mation sought on an individual basis will identify those judges who are away from home frequently.”

FIGURES for 2007 show more young listeners in Clare are tuning into new station SPIN South West.

The Joint National Listenership Re- search figures for the period January to December 2007 show that Clare FM remains the most listened to ra- dio station in the county.

The figures show a 42 per cent “‘lis- tened yesterday” figure for Clare FM

and that the station has a 37 per cent market share.

The findings also show that Clare FM’s weekday reach figure for the 12-month period remained static at 42 per cent. Clare FM’s weekday share figure, calculated between 7am and 7pm, was down I.1 per cent to 37.7 per cent placing the station sev- enth out of 16 local radio stations.

The JNLR/TNSmrbi_ study re- vealed Clare FM’s weekly reach fig-

ure to be 65 per cent, a drop of two per cent from last year. In its first five months on the airways, SPIN South West made inroads into the youth market in Limerick, Kerry, Clare, North Tipperary and South Laois. The JNLR figures show the station, along with Today FM, are the most listened to radio stations in the re- gion for 15-34 year olds. The figures were calculated over the period July to December 2007.

Reacting to the station’s first JNLR figures (July to December, 2007), Chief Executive of SPIN South West, Aevann Upton said that the re- sults indicated a successful first five yneloyaleatcy

“We anticipated a strong showing but nothing like this as we were on air for just five months of the year. This is a remarkable achievement and testament to the mix of youth music and talk that we have here at SPIN South West. It is a real boost to our shareholders, hard-working staff and, indeed, our advertisers.

“It is very early days for us yet, of course, but we couldn’t have hoped for better than this.”

The JNLR figures for the “listened yesterday” rating showed that 31 per cent (49,000) of 15 to 34 year olds across the region tuned into SPIN South West. This puts it joint top with Today FM in terms of listener- ship in the region. The station leads in the 7pm to midnight category with Rw mete

SPIN South West shareholders include former Lions, Ireland and Munster rugby star Keith Wood, Clare Community Radio Holdings, Liam O’Shea (Managing Direc- tor Clare FM and Chairman SPIN SouthWest).

REIGNING All-Ireland Minor Dou- bles champions Niall Malone and Diarmuid Nash bowed out of the 2008 race on Thursday night last. They were beaten in dramatic cir- cumstanaces by Limerick’s Seamus O’Carroll and CJ Fitzpatrick.

The tie started in Tuamgraney, but finished in Tulla. The Clare pair led 19-17 in the first game, but lost it 21- 19. In the second game it was Nash and Malone who enjoyed a good start and were leading 12-7 when damp- ness started to show in the alley.

After a Limerick objection, referee

Mike Kelly ruled the alley unfit to continue and the large crowd headed to Tulla, where the Limerick pair eventually turned the tide. Nash and Malone held serve at 19-17 and again at 20-18 only for the Limerick pair to snatch the game and the match, 21-20.

Meanwhile, also in the Munster Mi1- nor Doubles Championship, Trevor Vaughan (Tulla) and Gerry Cooney (O’C. Mills) had a massive 21-2, 21- | win over Tipperary opposition on Friday night last.

In Minor singles, Niall Malone will play Ballina’s Fergal Collins at Nenagh (TBC) and Diarmaid Nash

will face Cappagh’s CJ Fitzpatrick at Tuamgraney (TBC) in their Munster Ist round games next week. In Mas- ters B Singles last week, there was defeat for John Moloney but John Nihill progressed and will tonight (Tuesday) take on Cork’s John Mc- Donagh at Galbally in the Munster semi-final at 8.00pm.

Mike Baker (O’C. Mills) will play Limerick’s Pat Doody in the Munster Novice Singles quarter-final in Cap- pagh this Wednesday (18th) at 8.00. Baker teamed up with Clarecastle’s Finbarr Sheridan to play Limerick in the Novice Doubles but were defeat- ed 21-15, 21-15 on Friday last in Gal-

bally. In the Dalkia Senior Handball Championship, there was defeat in the round of 32 for Clooney’s Fergal Coughlan against Cork’s Tony Healy in Tuamgraney.

Meanwhile, anumber of Clare play- ers are involved in the All-Ireland Schools championships this weekend in Kilkenny and Cavan. Tulla’s Alan Leamy and Trevor Vaughan take on St. McCartan’s College Monaghan in the Intermediate Doubles semi-final.

In Intermediate Singles Tuam- eraney s Diarmaid Nash (Cistercian College, Roscrea) plays the Leinster final against Kells CS, with the win- ner playing the Connacht champion

while in the other semi, Nash’s club- mate Niall Malone (Scariff C.C.) plays the Carrickmore, Tyrone rep- resentative.

At Kingscourt, Cavan on Satur- day (11.00am), Clooney’s Paula and Lisa Loughnane (Rice College) play St. Patrick’s, Armagh, in the Junior Doubles semi-final.

Also at Kuinsgscourt, Sarah O’Donnell (Tuamgraney, Scariff C.C) plays St. Mary’s, Newry in the CISCO DENTS CoO OV EIOUSTDEMAU AONE CoMmEN| Senior Doubles, Ashling Fitzgerald and Edel O’Grady (Tuamgraney, Scariff C.C.) also play Newry oppo- sition in their semi-final.

THIS is neither the time nor the place to throw some balls of mud and play the blame game. This is, as Frank Doherty said on Saturday evening, time to look at the bigger picture.

It’s time to wonder why and how Clare, who were at least competitive in the championship less than three years back, have slipped so grace- lessly over the past couple of sea- Sons.

Taking 2007 and 2008 into consid- eration, Clare have played 11 games in championship and league. They’ ve lost all but three and one of those wins was against London in Cusack Park. So it’s over a year since the county footballers have had any result of sig- nificance — a five point win against Leitrim in the second round of the 2007 league on February 10th.

Just 20 months ago, Clare travelled to Casement Park in the first round of the All Ireland qualifiers and beat Antrim by one point. That day, they played with appetite and courage. On Saturday, Antrim came to Ennis and Clare were made look like a team that belong in another compeition.

Only three of those who lined out in Casement Park started in Cusack Park and that alone tells the story of an unforgiveable and unsustainable turnover rate.

Throughout Clare, players have reg-

ularly turned their back on the county jersey — an incredible fact to compre- hend for anybody from a county with any sort of football tradition. But it’s an inherent fact of football in this county. It’s bred into player’s psyches from early on and the results of that

indefensible approach were laid bare on Saturday.

Last summer, an underage develop- ment county team was shorn of play- ers because some clubs decided to withdraw their players on favour of club games later that week. What sort

of message does that relay? Where’s the love of the county that has kids in other places dreaming of wearing their own county colours?

There’s a spiritual aspect to the game that just isn’t being stoked in Clare and after the Antrim game, Frank Doherty was beginning to see that at first hand.

For sure, Clare played horribly. From the first minute that they walked out onto the field, the player’s body language was all wrong but in a way, it’s understandable given the lack of interest that surrounds them.

Walking around Ennis on Saturday, there was nothing to say the county footballers were facing a must win game to keep their league hopes alive. The same faces, the Clare Football Die Hards, as they’ve come to be known, were the only ones fly- ing the flag at Cusack Park. Do most people in Clare even care about in- ter-county football?

Selection-wise, the make-up of the team didn’t work either and at least three players were operating out of position. It all means the Clare management will continue to scour the county for willing footballers, though with no club games pencilled in over the next fortnight, the task could prove futile and any selection will have to be based on past per- formances.

If, as Doherty said, the McGrath

Cup covered cracks, then other, more intrinsic ruptures were also covered up in the wake of this season’s club championship. Bar a handful of exceptions, most games were sub- standard and the scoring, in particu- lar, was below-par. The county final was woeful and was papered over by Lissycasey’s historic win and the two best clubs in the county over the past two years have between them, two inter-county representatives.

Just prior to the hurlers taking off in 1995, Ger Loughnane correctly identified that the lacklustre nature of club games was contributing to the county under-performing. He deduced that the intensity of match days had to be replicated in training and that’s the task now facing the Clare footballers. Nobody expects a miracle 2008, but the least the 200 Clare supporters who showed up on Saturday deserved was the best team on the field and every man giving a committed performance.

There are no easy answers to games like Antrim, but it’s time to wake vhOR

The long term affect on the confi- dence of Clare football — particularly on the younger players — means the rot has to stop.

FRANK Doherty walks out of the Clare dressing room looking like a man who signed up for a 10 kilome- tre jog but has just been told he’s got two marathons to run.

The job is big, Frank. Bigger, may- be, than anybody ever expected.

For now, he’s still hopeful of entic- ing one or two more players onto the panel and though they’re needed, that invitation after three straight league defeats looks increasingly less se- ductive with every passing week.

That the panel has to be looked at with a sharper, more critical eye is now obvious and Doherty says it’s time to re-assess the value of some of it’s members.

“There are guys who’ll have to be released after today,” he says. “From my own point of view, I’m totally down after that performance and so are the two selectors involved. And so are the players as well.

‘“There’s a lot of cracks out there to be quite honest. There’s no point

painting a rosy picture. People have already spoken about where we are right now and at the moment, we’re down at the bottom. We’re going to have to try and lift the lads and get them up for Waterford on March 2.”

He’s asked about some of the mis- takes Clare were responsible for and says he’s struggling to grasp the quantity of fumbles and dropped or nR

‘The amount of turnovers were un- believeable. I couldn’t count them all myself at times. We haven’t been un- der lights every night of the week to do certain things, but we have trained hard. It’s not an excuse because these are basic errors. We’re talking about club lads at underage, taking balls into tackles with a solo. Hopping a ball in front of a player when you’re about to go into a tackle. It’s basic, basic stuff.”

The cracks that Doherty saw on Saturday are one thing but the length of the road ahead of Clare becomes clear when he speaks of the need to revert to grassroots coaching.

A manager takes a job and expects the base skills to be available, he shouldn’t have to worry about an in- ferior legacy.

“I’ve always said that these guys need to be taught at an early age but we re talking 10 and 12 years of age to be addressing this. If the fututre is going to be bright for Clare — which I hope it will be — then these are things that need to be addressed. The skills have to be there if the next few crops will improve. But from a technical point of view, to be honest, some of the errors out there were schoolboy errors.

“Let’s look at the bigger picture. I’m not here to criticise players. I wouldn’t do that. The guys have abil- ity and they’ve played to the best of their ability. When it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. That’s sport and it’ll knock you on your back every now and then.”