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THE Atlantic Connectivity Alliance has welcomed the announcement that Cityjet is to start a service between Shannon and Paris, describing it as a “positive result in our fight to secure vital air services for Shannon inter- national airport and the west coast”. John Brassil, Chairman of the At- lantic Connectivity Alliance (ACA) said, “This is a major win for Shannon

and a hugely important milestone in the ACA’s campaign to restore vital air connectivity to the business com- munity and the general public along the entire west coast of Ireland. “The ACA has campaigned long and hard on this issue and it is great to see what can be achieved when we take back control of our own destiny. Working closely with Shannon Air- port Authority, we are delighted to have played our part in securing this

critical Paris route,’ he said.

Kevin Thompstone, Chief Execu- tive of Shannon Development, de- scribed it as “great news for Shan- non and for the entire west coast… as regional tourism authority, Shannon Development will be working with City Jet and Shannon Airport to en- sure that this new route is successful and proves to be a significant boost for industry and tourism in this re- gion.”

Meanwhile, the Ennis, Limerick and Shannon Chambers of Com- merce have said the announcement “comes at a crucial time for the re- gion and is a key achievement in the campaign to retain and improve con- nectivity to and from Shannon ….of- fering connections, via the Skyleam alliance, to 841 cities, we believe the new flight schedule will be well sup- ported by the business community and will work to maintain and devel- op business links between the west of Ireland and the rest of the world.”

The Irish Hotels Federation also welcomed the announcement, stating it is an important new lifeline for the Shannon and western regions which will assist in protecting and boosting inward tourism.

After being informed by Cllr Pat Daly about the new routes, the En- nis No | Cumann of Fianna Fail wel- comed the airline’s announcement.

Describing it as “magnificent and very welcome news,’ Cumann Sec- retary Garrett Greene observed that Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport and Schipol Airport in the Netherlands are emerging as airlines’ preferred European hubs and expressed hope that this new route might well prove more valuable to the mid-west region than the very profitable route that Aer Lingus has seen fit to terminate.

, the airport boss said that the move by Cityjet “allows us to reinstate con- nectivity to a major EU hub. The

new routes will begin in February so there will be very little between this and the end of the Heathrow route.”

He added that both Heathrow and Charles De Gaulle “have their own advantages. Charles de Gaulle has very good connectivity to the Mid- dle East while Heathrow has better connection with the US. Shannon al- ready has good connections to New York and Boston so the Charles De Gaulle connection is a good fit for iS

‘We would like to have connections to at least two of Europe’s four main hubs. Now that we have the Paris

connection, we will continue to work towards a route into Amsterdam.”

Meanwhile, the authority has also revealed details of a “significant incentive’ aimed at securing year- round transatlantic service of the west of Ireland gateway.

The incentive provides for a reduc- tion in airport charges over a three- year period and is aimed at encourag- ing airlines to commit to year-round scheduled operation with a minimum of three weekly return services.

Qualifying airlines will benefit from a maximum 50 per cent in air- port charges over the five-month pe-

riod from November to March, which represents the winter schedule.

Commenting on the _ incentive, Martin Moroney, Airport Director said, “The purpose of this Traffic Development Scheme is to encour- age airlines to retain and further develop year-round services as these are critical for Shannon and the west of Ireland. While demand is quite strong in the summer months ow- ing to the attractions of the west of Ireland and industrial base in the Shannon region, it 1s more difficult for airlines to sustain service in the winter period.”

The standards commission will not CMR AYAMOsCommCCOlUvaCOsUOCOyMmY alle MEAIB KOIDOO bursement of election expenses until the issue has been resolved, accord- ing to SIPO.

The councillor is entitled to a reim-

bursement of her election expenses to the amount of €8,700.

In total, Cllr Taylor Quinn spent € 25,352.02 on her election cam- oenreane

First time elected TD Timmy Doo- ley (FF) not only topped the poll but he also topped the list of the big spenders in the Clare election de- claring total expenses of €26,676.77. James Breen (Ind) who lost his seat spent €26,148.21, while Cllr Taylor Quinn was next.

Returning TD and Minister for State Tony Killeen had expenses of €21,895.68, while outgoing Senator Brendan Daly (FF) spent €19,942.31.

Newly elected TD Joe Carey (FG) declared expenses of €19,940.14, while Clir Tony Mulcahy (FG) spent €17,297.02, and returning TD Pat Breen (FG) spent 15,161.02.

Cllr Brian Meaney’s (GP) ex- penses ran to €12,651.76, latecomer Murt Collins (PD) to €9,806.08 and Labour’s Pascal Fitzgerald to €8,358.21.

Anna Prior (DEF) has the smallest expenses at €4,316.39.

Among the other interested groups registering their expenditure was the Ennis General Hospital Development Sroyenveabiacen

They spent €13,606.59 on newspa- per advertising, posters and the dis- tribution of a newsletter.

THREE Clare organisations will benefit with a 25 per cent increase in funding for animal welfare organisa- tions, the minister for agriculture an- nounced on Friday.

The Clare Animal Welfare in Ennis, the Clare SPCA in Clonoghan and the Second Chance Animal Res- cue will receive €15,000, €10,000 and €3,000 respectively from the new funding.

The total number of organisations being supported by her department has now been increased by 13 to 107, representing every county in the Coe as

Payments totalling some €1.46 million will be paid immediately

to the 107 organisations to assist in their work in 2008 and brings the total amount of assistance provided by the department to animal welfare organisations since 1995 to more Wer Ne temom mses esONF

‘These bodies do tremendous work in rescuing, rehabilitating and pro- viding new homes to neglected and abused animals.

“While the grants being announced today do not cover the full costs of the increasing demands being placed upon these organisations, the sub- stantial increase in the level of fund- ing was in recognition of the vital role played by such organisations in animal welfare, particularly in respect of small animals,’ said Min- ister Coughlan.

‘Animal welfare organisations still require the ongoing generous finan- cial support of the general public to enable them to fulfil their mission to promote animal welfare and relieve animal suffering in Ireland.”

Other local organisations to gain funding were the Avalon Greyhound Sanctuary in Galway (€10,000); the East Galway Animal _ Res- cue (€3,000); the Galway SPCA (€25,000); the Limerick Animal Welfare (€20,000); Limerick SPCA (€15,000); MADRA in Galway (€3,000); the Renvyle Animal Res- cue Group in Galway (€3,000) and the Whiskers New Park Animal Sanctuary in Galway (€15,000).

Minister Coughlan said that, given her new fisheries’ responsibilities,

she was particularly pleased that among the first-time recipients of funding is the Irish Seal Sanctuary which has, for many years, been pro- viding welfare support for rescued marine wildlife found in difficulty around the Irish coast.

“A pet is for life, not just for Christ- mas. I am appealing to parents and others to think responsibly when considering giving a pet as a Christ- mas present and reminding people of the numbers of animals that are abandoned every year as soon as the Christmas novelty has worn off,” she said.

The minister urged people to heed the warnings and advice offered by the animal welfare organisations in this regard.

THE ICSA has joined a host of farm- ing organisations who are predicting a mass exodus from the beef and lamb markets if prices don’t rise in the coming months.

Speaking last week, ICSA president Malcolm Thompson told farmers that unless beef and lamb prices rise in line with recent cereal and dairy increases, then farmers will have to switch enterprise or get out.

Thompson was addressing the ICSA AGM and National Confer- ence, where he focused on significant differentials opening up between ce-

reals and dairying on the one hand and cattle and sheep on the other.

He argued that Ireland should look for as much extra milk quota as pos- sible with a view to facilitating new entrants and existing small and me- dium quota holders to grow substan- tially as quickly as possible.

“We need to reverse this trend. We need more people, not less, in dairy- ing. We cannot accept that by 2015 there will be only 8,500 viable, full- time farms out of a total of 125,000 farmers currently claiming the Sin- gle Farm Payment,” he said.

“The practical realities are that Ireland has the competitive advan-

tage to be the most efficient dairy farming country in Europe.

“We need to maximise the amount of competitive farms ready and able to compete when quotas go. We would like to see the entire addition- al quota targeted at helping farmers, including existing dairy farmers and new entrants to get at least 300,000 litres as quickly as possible.”

Mr Thompson also took time out to take a swipe at Minister for Ag- riculture Mary Coughlan, who had opened the congress. “The days of lazily accepting that the future for 116,500 out of 125,000 farms is via part-time farming and full-time slav-

ery must be consigned to the dust- bin,’ he said.

“Higher product prices can best be achieved by having full mobility between the different farm sectors. It requires innovative thinking with regard to marketing. It means not seeing GM as a quick-fix solution to cutting costs but rather as an impedi- ment to our clean, green image.

“It needs us to put more farmers into cereals and dairying because these are the sectors where we have competitive advantage. Above all, it requires an acceptance by supermar- kets and other retailers that the days of screwing farmers must now end.”

THE recently held AGM of the Clare Camogie Board reinstated the en- tire out-going committee of Maura Sheedy (Chairperson), Mary Hogan (Secretary) and Michael Maher (Treasurer). Orla Hayes again takes the position of Registrar, Bridie O’Looney will continue as Munster Delegate and Orla Considine who acted as Assistant PRO takes over as PRO.

All assistant positions are also now filled with Kevin Halpin (Newmar- ket-on-Fergus) taking Vice-Chair, Mike Griffen (Clarecastle) as Assist- ant ‘Treasurer and in the bid to grow the coverage of camogie, Kathleen McMahon and Marie McDonald will

assist as PROs.

In a positive move, Patricia O’Grady has taken over as Integration Officer which will be important to camogie as it attempts to build links across the codes to ensure the full availabil- ity of all girls at all stages of each campaign. Bridie O’Looney also ac- cepted the office of Child Welfare and in a new position Kate Lynch of Kilkishen will take the position of Youth Officer, a role which will ex- press the views of young players in the county and 1s specifically aimed at those under the age of 18.

The role of Irish Officer was not filled as Anne-Marie Arthur who was nominated for the position was not present and therefore was not permitted to take the role. This posi-

tion was left over to the next meeting as Chairperson Maura Sheedy stated that it would be nice to have some- one who would be able to address the board meetings in Irish.

Fr Murray of Whitegate was again elected to the position of president in his absence to the meeting due to cir- cumstances in the parish of White- ee

The contest for Chairperson in which Bernie Ryan of Clarecastle had expressed an interest did not materialise as due to circumstances he was unable to attend the meeting. He had, however, sent a letter to the county board expressing his interest in the position and wishing that his name go forward. This was not per- mitted by the meeting though as it

was stated that to be elected you had to be present.

The Clarecastle delegates stated that they had checked this with Ard Comhairle and that it was permitted that you could run for a position in your absence. This was not permitted but Mr Ryan had not been informed of such on receipt of his letter by the County Board.

The meeting also elected a Fixtures Committee, Discipline Committee, Finance Committee and Field & De- velopment Committee. Again there were nominees for these committees who were not able to attend on the night and these were not permitted to be elected to the committees.

The fear with this is that people who are interested in helping out and

getting involved might not wish to do so in the future as in the past officers and committee members have been elected without being present at the eVGA E

The meeting went on to discuss the motions for the AGM these were some 59 in number but not all were dealt with on the night as the meet- ing was adjourned after |!lpm with- out having the matters of the meeting finished.

The meeting was also to attend to the matter of team management for 2008 which the meeting was in- formed would come up under AOB. As the meeting did not get this far, the issue was not dealt with and will now have to wait until the reconvened meeting in January.

MARY Hogan outgoing county Sec- retary in her address to Thursday’s Camogie AGM told delegates of her privilege in having been involved with the county set up and how she was disappointed that Clare had yet again failed to win the Junior All- Ireland at the third attempt. She re- marked on the progress of the U14 Coilte Development Squad and the U16 Munster Title while the U16 and U18 teams also did quite well at national level. Deirdre Murphy and Claire Commane were congratu- lated on their All-Star nominations and all those who were chosen on the Gael Linn Inter Provincial team with manager Fintain McNamara. Congratulations were also conveyed to Vera Loughnane on the individual skills award and Denise Lynch who won the Long Puck. To all teams who won county titles notably Sixmileb- ridge who represented the county at the Feile Finals and Kilnamona who won Munster Club title. She noted that the difficulties with the fixtures is the most pressing problem for the Board and the secretary thanked all GAA clubs and referees who had as- sisted in the running of games during the year. She also thanked her fellow officers for an enjoyable year, and the sponsors of all club competitions and County teams.

Treasurer Michael Maher presented a detailed account of the Boards fi- nances which he is glad to report are in the plus after the year on end. The Board ran several fundraisers during the year and had an extremely posi- tive response to the All-Ireland final fund. The dog night in Galway pro- vided a profit to the board of €7,020, while the flag day earned €3,399, the bag packing €940 and the All- Ireland fund €15,340.

It cost the board €28,734 to look af- ter all teams in the county U14, U16, U18 Junior and Intermediate which is not too bad considering that they played in three Munster Finals, the U16’s reached the semi-final stage and the Juniors played in an All-Ire- land final. The board did have other

day to day expenses and medals etc to provide but at the end of year there was a surplus of €4,872.91 for year on end. The Treasurer thanked all gate collectors, fundraisers, clubs and GAA clubs for their support dur- ing the year and thanked Pat Fitzger- ald for his commitment to Camogie.

The Chairperson Maura Sheedy also congratulated all club win- ners for 2007 and recounted on the county teams exploits of the year. She expressed her disappointment at the Junior Teams loss at the All-Ire- land final stage, also the U16 teams loss at semi-final stage and the U18 loss at quarter-final stage which she stated was related to Kilmaley’s fail- ure to release players and the Junior Teams involvement. She expressed her disappointment at having to ask the County Junior management and some players to have to leave the November meeting of the Board and finally wished Deirdre Murphy well in her role as Munster Development Officer.

Kathleen McMahon as PRO thanked all clubs for their help and co-operation during the year and ac- knowledged the support of all media outlets in the county for their support in the promotion of Camogie in the county and wished for this to con- tinue in the coming year.

Sympathies were expressed to Michael O’Halloran of Corofin who attended the AGM. Michael is a pre- vious treasurer of the board and on the day of the AGM had the personal experience of burying his brother.

The board were told that the man- agements of the teams may be present at the January meeting to outline their wishes for 2008.

Tributes were paid to the officers on the jobs during the year and Michael Maher was thanked for his detailed report of the finances of the board and the hard job which it was to keep the accounts in the plus, which he was managing to do.

AT A WELL attended AGM of Eire Og GAA, many tributes were paid to both the senior hurling and football championship teams and manage- ment.

After 17 years without a trophy, the hurlers won the Senior B champion- ship, while the footballers who were the 2006 county champions went down at the final hurdle to a superb Lissycasey outfit.

On club development, the new pitch which has an estimated cost of €300,000 will be officially opened next May, while thanks were given

to St Flannan’s College for accomo- dating the club with pitches on many occasions throughout the year.

There was a long debate on the future of Cusack ark and the unani- mous decision of the club was to sup- port the sale.

It was felt that the further develop- ment of Cusack Park would run into millions of euros but would not be adequate for the present and future generations.

Outgoing Chairman, Pat Fitzpatrick did not seek re-election and the in- coming Chairman, Oliver Hanrahan, was selected unopposed. tributes were paid to both Pat Fitzpatrick and

Pat O’Halloran who had served his term as President and his successor, incoming President Bobby Gray.

The new Executive for the coming year Is:

President – Bobby Gray

Chairman – Oliver Hanrahan

Vice Chairman – Frank Daniels Secretary – Martin O’Donnell Treasurer – Larry Hally

PRO – Pat Daly

Registrar – George Dilger

Other members of Committee – Tony Brohan, Pat Fitzpatrick, Brian O’Connell, Kevin Brennan, Mark Fitzgerald and Alan Malone

CLARE GAA will be plunged into debt unless it goes with the county board proposal to sell Cusack Park and develop a new stadium out of its financial windfall of €66.4 million.

That was the stark scenario placed before delegates to Thursday’s meet- ing of club delegates in the Wood- stock Hotel.

“Refusing this would mean we have to redevelop the existing Cusack

Park, and that would means incur- ring serious debt,’ chairman Michael McDonagh told the county board gathering.

Niall Fitzgerald of Horgan Lynch Civil and Structural Engineers ham- mered home this point when address- ing delegates on the new Cusack Park proposal.

“Four or five years ago we were asked to put together a proposal for the redevelopment of the existing stand at Cusack Park,” Fitzgerald re-

vealed.

“The costing was €5 to €6 million for the stand and an administration building. That’s €5 to €6 million on a stand that would only accommo- date 3,000 people. Given how build- ing costs have gone in the meantime that would be around €10 million now.

“And, you can appreciate that there are other parts of the ground that need to be redveloped. The terrace on the far side and other works.”

Under the county board proposal for the Quin Road site, there would be €66.4 million to build a new Cu- sack Park, two training fields and carparking for over 1000 cars.

“The 32-acre site will be fully serv- iced to foundation level,’ revealed Michael Curtin of the Cusack Park Committee.

“This land is already commercially zoned and any special contribu- tions in relation to the site will be the responsibility of the consortium.

Planning applications and fire certi- fication fees and costs will also be covered by the consortium.

“The GAA will initially negoti- ate the construction contract with Michael McNamara and Co, but is free to take another course of action while we will also get a non-refund- able deposit of €650,000 to cover le- gal and professional fees. If clubs of Clare agree to this deal, the approval of Croke Park will be required,” add- ed Mr Curtin.

THE speed at which the linesman ran towards the referee at the final whistle demonstrated how much he realised his colleague was in for a tongue lashing. The Waterford of- ficial seemed to frustrate both sides over the hour but it was the con- troversial penalty decision which caused the most anger amongst the Mills players, management and sup- Oda ay

It was a bewildering decision really as it was very difficult to see what in fact the penalty was for. Eventu- ally the referee signalled that it was a foot block much to the annoyance of the Mills following. Several Mills players vented their frustration to the official at the time but he had to be escorted off the field after the game as the players and management sur- rounded him once more in an effort to get an explanation for his deci- sion.

Afterwards, the Mills players stood in a understandably trance-like state near the tunnel where manager Mike O’Brien voiced his frustration to the waiting media and inevitably referee Tommy O’Sullivan was at the top of his list.

“It was unbelieveable really. At half time, we knew we had a problem with the referee and I said it to him. We had been awarded just four frees to 16 for our opponents but he made light of it. The second half wasn’t too bad but the penalty decision was the worst I’ve seen in all my time involved in the game. From where I stood it wasn’t a penalty. I would give him O out of 10 for his perform- ance there today. At the end of the day he won it for Canovee and that shouldn’t be the case.”

It was testament to the Mills’ per- formance that the Canovee players and management all remarked that the East Clare side deserved some-

thing out of the game. That wasn’t much consolation to Mike O’Brien and his players but he did reserve special praise for his players for a superb hour’s football, arguably their best performance of the year.

“We couldn’t have asked for any- more. They really came at us in the first half. They probably settled faster but we got into the run of it and maybe we got a fortunate score with the goal. But we were unfortu- nate for a second one as well. Was it a square ball? maybe yes maybe no. Some days they are given but it was definitely as much of a goal as the penalty was but that’s the way it goes. We are very, very, very proud of what the lads have done this year and I’ll you, I couldn’t say enough in deoDumE-NZOloue

“We said we weren’t coming down to make up the numbers. We knew that we had a good team, we knew we were fit and were well capable to keep of keeping the game going for as long as it took. The defending was excellent and I think only for the penalty we had it. You can never be sure of winning but we thought we had it.”

The post-match confrontation with the referee was certainly a talking point but as the photographers rushed to take photos of the incident, Clare Champion photographer John Kelly appeared to be struck by one of the Mills players. It was a bizarre and unsavoury incident that happened in the heat of the moment but O’Brien was quick to stress that he didn’t ac- tually witness the event.

‘Well I had words with the referee after the game and I voiced my dis- pleasure with him once again. While I was talking to him, I noticed some- thing happening behind me but I didn’t see what happened. I don’t know what happened.”

Afterwards, Mr Kelly lodged an of- ficial complaint with the Gardai after

his camera was also damaged in the incident. When asked if the photog- raphers were too close to the play- ers, the Mills manager conceeded that they had been a bit too close for comfort.

“Well they were stuck in our face to be honest and there was two pho- tographers in my face straight away when I was having words with the ref. | mean you don’t have to come that close to get a photo. Now saying that, nobody deserves a belt of a fist or an assault if that’s what happened. That’s what I’m told happened but I haven’t seen it. Now if it is true, it shouldn’t have happened and I would apologise on behalf of the club if it did happen.”

It was obvious by his lowered head how much this defeat was eat- ing away at the Mills manager and O’Brien saved his final tirade for referee Tommy O’Sullivan whom he felt cost his side the Munster title by awarding the controversial penalty.

“IT don’t know how anyone could see it as a penalty but that’s the way it goes. Its gone now so we can’t do anything about it. We are county champions and we had a good run in Munster but we would have no problem being beaten by 12 point today if we were beaten fairly. Full credit to Canovee, I have no problem with them whatsoever. They played a good sporting game, they are a good team and I wish them all the very best. But as I say the performance of that ref today was an absolute dis- grace and I don’t care if I am pulled before any disciplinary committee, I will stand by what I am saying. I will take whatever punishment is going because that’s how I feel.”