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THE majority of the 200 Polish workers at the centre of an indus- trial row at the ESB power station at Moneypoint are to remain employed elo Kon

The Poles will continue to work on the mult-million euro environmental changes being made at the plant.

The former ZRE Katowicz employ- ees voted unanimously to accept the settlement terms of their dispute with the ESB, its main contractor Lentjes and the subcontractor ZRE Katowicz (Ireland) Construction Limited.

The Polish subcontractor left the workers, all members of the Tech- nical Engineering and _ Electrical Union, with up to six weeks pay in arrears. It has now gone into liquida- tion.

All of the workers involved have now been offered jobs with the main contractor, Lentjes, at the Money- point site or with other contractors on site including the UK based com- pany AMEC which 1s taking over the ZRE contract.

Lentjes has made arrangements to make hardship payments worth about 50 per cent of the total due to the workers this week.

The State Insolvency Fund is to provide separate payments arising out of the inability of ZRE Katow- icz (Ireland) Construction Limited to meet its liabilities to the workers.

TEEU General Secretary Desig- nate Eamon Devoy said, “There are jobs available for all of our members who want them in Ireland and we ex- pect the uptake to be very high.

“We have also secured jobs with

ZRE Katowicz in Poland for those who wish to return home but most of our members are expected to take up the Irish offers.

‘Thanks to the steadfastness of our Polish members, the solidarity of our other members in the ESB power station at Moneypoint, who were ready to act in their support and the assistance of the Labour Relations Commission, we have managed to achieve a happy ending to a dispute that could have ended very differ- ently,” he said.

“T have no doubt that if these work- ers had not been in a trade union they would have received no arrears, pen- sion contributions or other payments to which they are legally entitled.”

The workers had all been employed on the €384 million environmental retro-fit at Moneypoint.

PLANS for a €10 million retail de- velopment for Miltown Malbay has come under fire.

Currently, Clare County Council is adjudicating a planning application by John Jones to construct a super- market, seven retail units, offices, 18 apartments and 148 car-parking Spaces on the Ennis Road leading into the village.

In the first two to three years of operation the venture is expected to create 100 jobs. However, business interests in the village have railed against the proposal.

Patrick Boland, who is the owner of five retail units on the Ennistymon Road has told the council in an ob- jection that “the scale of the project is so large that it threatens the exist- ing business ecology of the town”’.

He stated, “This development would constitute a new town cen- tre. It is on the scale and design of a modern shopping centre suitable for a large town or city but is not com- patible with a village.

“It is on the outskirts of the town, on a mainly residential street and would cause the centre of business and trade to shift away from the main Street.

‘The attraction to tourists of a bus- tling village with traditional shop fronts and small individually owned businesses would be lost.

“Currently, the shops in Miltown are owned and run by different families. Historically, this pattern of ownership and trade has sustained the economic and community life of small villages and towns in Ireland. This development threatens that d1- versity of ownership.”

Donnan Meade of the Mace Shop on the Main Street claims that the proposal “could take the soul out of the village with nothing left on the main street but closed businesses and properties. This is in nobody’s inter- est”.

Claiming that the proposal could herald the death-knell of new busi- nesses along Main Street, Mr Meade said, “I understand that there would be a short-term benefit to the com- munity during the construction of the proposal but over the course of time, it will have a negative impact on the community at large.

He added: “I am not against devel- opment, but the sheer scale of this particular one is daunting and I feel that Miltown could regret such a de- velopment over the medium to long term.”

A decision is due later this month.

CLARE county football cranks back into gear tonight (Tuesday) with the first training session of the new sea- son, a full two months ahead of last season’s return.

It’s the third manager in as many years for the footballers and while the exact make-up of the league squad won’t be known for a number of weeks, some new additions are likely to be included when the panel is pared down.

The early start brings renewed

Structure, a direction that has been welcomed by players involved under recent appointment Frank Doherty. “Players have had a rough enough time of it over the past couple of sea- sons, maybe they lost their way at times and we decided to get together to bring some guidance back,” said Doherty. “I want to get to know play- ers and know what they’re about. Put faces to names. There’s no point in starting out for the season a couple of weeks after Christmas and maybe a fortnight to go before a McGrath Cup game. The bottom line is that

we want to get belief back in Clare football that’s been missing for the past while.”

With the addition of Kilkenny to the footballers league group, it means the spring will be action filled and if Clare can put together a decent McGrath Cup run, close to a dozen hours of competitive football could be played before the championship Torta DENSE

“It’s important to get some work under the belt at this stage,” adds Doherty. “All going well, the core fitness will increase and the lads

will be able to play at a high tempo throughout the league.”

Some dovetailing for those involved in the Under 21s is also expected.

“In all, I’m hoping for 28 to 30 lads at the first training. Some will be in- volved in Under 21 training and I’d expect a lot to be involved with us as well. On top of that, we have lads involved with Sigerson who won’t be available immediately and there isn’t any issue there. We want the entire panel to know what the game plan is and what’s expected in terms of physical condition.”

SOME of Clare’s most famous tourist landmarks could be used as locations for civil unions for gay and lesbian couples before the end of next year. Following a relaxation of the laws in relation to civil ceremonies, which came into effect yesterday, locations such as the Cliffs of Moher and even the Poulnabrone Dolmen are now free to host civil ares eOy Nee SUE COVuebeetoel have also commit- ted to putting in place legislation legalising — civil unions between same sex couples in 2008, follow- ing the defeat of a private members OJON MO) MEU elemnIUlo) (ore

put forward by Labour in the Dail ETM ioe)

“We are very pleased the Labour party brought a civil partnership bill back to the Dail last week and we welcome it as a major step forward that it is now part of the Government agenda to have legislation in place by March of next year,” said a spokes- person from the Gay Clare Group who asked to remain anonymous.

“We hope that this will be wide ranging legislation and not just to cover tax issues. It needs to tackle joint legal protection rights for gay parents and social welfare and will be enacted very quickly.”

The Labour Bill was defeated in the

Dail last week following fears that it would be deemed unconstitutional as a result of it’s reference to marriage rather than civil unions.

“Gay partnership would be fine as long as their rights are the same as married couple. The word marriage is achurch word more than anything else. We would just look to have the same legal status as married couples

and the word isn’t

important. We

would look to hav-

ing civil unions

or civil partner-

ships,’ continued

the spokesperson.

“At the moment

a lot of lesbians

have children so

it would be im-

portant for them

that this new bill

would give them

some sort of joint

legal protection.

So if, for exam-

ple, they are ina

partnership with children and some-

thing happens to one of the lesbians,

the other would be able to have cus- tody of the children.

‘That would be the initial step at the moment. The issue of gay adop- tion 1s something that could come farther down the line.”

There has been a huge growth in the number of civil marriages in Ireland over the past decade. In 1995, only one in every 10 couples married in a registry office while now the figure is more than one in five, with 22 per cent of all weddings now non-church events.

, Dr John McCavitt highlights the role of Clare nobleman Donagh O’Brien, who risked his life travelling on the boat from the continent which picked the earls up from Rathmullan and

conveyed them to safety abroad.

Having previously fled from Ireland himself following his escape from Athlone gaol, O’Brien, a trusted fol- lower of the Earl of Tyrconnell and a cousin of the Earl of Thomond, per- sonally delivered the message to the earl that his life was in danger should he remain in Ireland.

The publication features a wide range of contemporary images, pho- tographs of the surviving built herit- age and modern art.

The book contextualises the exodus

of the earls in terms of the northern peace process and reveals new in- sights into the reasons for the Flight of the Earls, not least the link with ‘Ireland’s Helen’, Mabel Bagenal, the Protestant beauty. Her elope- ment with the dashing Earl of Tyrone precipitated a family feud with the Bagenals over her unpaid dowry that unleashed a tidal wave of events that not only led to the Nine-Years War but arguably swept the earls of Ty- rone and Tyrconnell to the continent in 1607.

The book emphasises the impact of the imprisonment of Dublin aldermen following the Gunpowder Plot in Eng- land in 1605 on the way events un- folded at Rathmullan two years later.

While many who departed from the shores of Lough Swilly were Ulster- men, evidence shows that all four provinces were represented on the vessel that left Rathmullan.

Considerable attention in this 400th anniversary year has focused on who comprised the so-called ‘Noble 99’, those who departed from Rathmullan

in September 1607. A chapter tackles some of the myths that have arisen over the centuries in this regard.

The ‘fate and fortunes’ of those who took part in the exodus is also charted, with poignant details of what happened to the earls themselves and the leading nobles as well as exam- ining the adventures and misadven- tures of the women and children who took part.

Perhaps most revealingly of all, the book chronicles the fate of those who managed to make it back to Ireland.

A SHANNON-BASED aviation leasing firm secured pre-tax profits of $36 million, according to accounts filed to the Companies Office.

Underlining the buoyancy of the aviation sector in the Shannon Free Zone, GE Commercial Aviation Services Ltd experienced a 24 per cent increase in turnover from $146 million to €177 million.

The company — owned by US giant, General Electric — is engaged in the leasing of aircraft and engines and the provision of management serv- ices to the aviation industry.

According to accounts filed with the Companies Office, “both the lev- el of business and the year end finan- cial position were satisfactory and

the directors expect that the present level of activity will be sustained for the foreseeable future”.

The accounts show that profits be- fore tax dropped from $46 million in 2005 to $34 million in 2006.

The profits last year by GE Com- mercial Aviation Services Ltd have resulted in the company accumulat- ing $377 million.

The company’s accounts show that itemployed 141 in 2005 with a salary bill of $24 million. This increased to OM Odom MIs TIE IA Mme tl mem ele million last year.

The company’s operating profit dropped from $47 to $15 million. However, the company’s profits were boosted through $21 million received through the sale of assets.

The accounts show that the di-

rectors’ remuneration increased to $3.562 million. This included a bo- nus of $1.891 million and salaries of OI PSB reTe Ub COee

EArlier this year, the company ord- ared 15 Boeing 777s — a mix of seven 777-300ER (Extended Range) pas- senger jetliners and eight 777 Freight- ers — and 24 Boeing 737-800s.

Deliveries of both the 777s and 737s will begin in 2008 and extend through 2010.

GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS) is the commercial aircraft financing and leasing business of GE and part of GE Infrastructure. GECAS has a fleet of 1,450 owned aircraft it leases to more than 230 airlines in some 70 countries, and it manages nearly 300 aircraft for oth- ae

focused on how schooling

was very different many years ago. Over 800 children attended the third annual FIS festival, which cel- ebrates outstanding achievements by primary school children involved in the FIS (Film In Schools) project. The FIS project is an initiative de- sisned to introduce the medium

of film as a support to the Primary School Curriculum.

Commenting on the awards, Minis- ter for Education and Science Mary Hanafin TD said “Children from Dun Chaoin, Kerry, to Sligo and from Wexford to Louth and many schools in between have made films using the FIS methodology. This year there is such a wide range of films – historical, comedy, horror and cinn as Gaeilge freisin.

“A special thanks to all the teachers involved in FIS who have risen to the challenge by providing such wonder- ful creative learning opportunities for their children.”

As part of the curriculum for pri- mary schools, children in over 100 primary schools throughout Ireland wrote, directed and produced their own five-minute films. Their ef- forts were supported by the National Centre for Technology in Education which provided training in film mak- ing techniques and digital and film editing equipment.

Anne White, National Coordinator with the National Centre for Technol- ogy in Education said, “FIS touches every nerve of the primary curricu- lum. It brings alive the immense cre- ativity of children and their ability to apply the technology in a collabo- rative way in filmmaking. It simply makes learning great fun.”

DESPITE a disappointing perform- ance, Clare League chairman Jim Madden remained upbeat after Sun- day’s four nil defeat to East Cork / West Waterford.

The concession of two first half goals and the failure to exert sus- tained pressure on their opponents saw Clare suffer a costly defeat.

This was Clare’s only home game in the group stages and they now face tough away assignments against the Munster Senior League and the Lim- erick League.

There were a number of new faces on the Clare side and Madden was pleased with the performance and attitude of the younger players, most of whom were making their debut in the competition.

He said, “It was disappointing, we conceded a few soft goals in the first half. But a good feature of the game was that we were able to introduce so many new young players. There were a number of players missing through injury and others were unavailable because of prior commitments. We brought 22 players to a meeting in Newmarket and of that 22, six were missing on Sunday. It was disap- pointing but I was pleased with the attitude, they worked hard”.

Clare suffered an early blow with the loss of promising left back Eoin O’Brien through injury and believes this had an unsettling effect on Clare’s performance.

“We gave a lot of new players a run out. Guys like Derek Fahy, Eoin O’Brien and Evan Glynn. The injury to young O’Brien, I thought made

it hard for us. We had to make an early substitution and move our back line around. Because we were miss- ing a few players, we had to draft in a few new lads. Three of the back four were making their debuts in the Oscar Traynor and there were a few others who were making their first appearances as well. We couldn’t re- ally start David Russell because he is only on the way back from injury”

Though he admits preparations for Sunday’s game could have been bet- ter, Madden said it was important for new players to gain experience.

“We had a bit of experience in midfield with Mike O’Malley there. Gary Browne did well; he was an- other lad new to the scene. A lot of the squad that was there last year had been playing since 2003 and have given tremendous service to Clare. This year we needed to bring in a few new lads and we have been able to do that.

In advance of their meeting with the Munster Senior League, the Clare League will play two friendlies, one against Limerick side Hill Celtic on November 6 and another against the Desmond League on November 13.

WHEN Jim Gully took charge of Clonlara two years ago, they had just been relegated from senior and there wasn’t a large queue of candidates willing to take over the side. Their focus since then has been firmly on getting the club back to senior and even though they went out of last year’s championship at the semi-fi- nal stage at the hands of Killanena, Gully knew that his young side were heading in the right direction.

More than anything else, it was that drive and focus which brought them victory last weekend. Their deter- mination on route to this final was a major factor in their success but they brought that tenacity to a whole new level on Sunday with a huge second half display which epitomised their strength of character and never-say- die attitude.

This all stems from the manage- ment’s commitment and belief in their team which manifested itself on Sunday in Jim Gully’s post-match celebrations. As the final whistle sounded, Gully’s elation was obvi- ous for all to see as he lept and ran around Cusack Park, even dropping to his knees at one stage, to thank the man above.

Still out of breath, he still had time between handshakes and hugs to pay tribute to his side who won their first intermediate title in eight years.

“It’s a great day for the club. This is the culmination of two years work. Relegated the year before last, we took it on last year with a very young team and we were a bit unlucky to

lose the semi-final by a point to Killanena. But today just makes it all worthwhile. It was a long, long slog.”

Fifteen points in the second half was a reflection on how much this

final meant to Clonlara but Gully admitted it took a while for them to really get on top after half-time.

“TI thought at the start of the second half, things were going slow and we didn’t seem to be able to get the lead

down. We went down and scored two points and then they went and got two back and I thought ‘Christ it is going to be another one of those days’. But then we scored five points without re- ply and | think that really gave us the

impetus to go on. Our lads have great belief because even in the semi-final, we lost the lead with four minutes to go and we still came back and won it by four. So that belief probably car- ried through today as well.”

Six points down at half-time after leading by five midway through the half, Clonlara’s challenge looked to be petering out. Half-time could not come soon enough and as Killanena remained on the field for the inter- val, Clonlara retired to the dressing rooms to reflect on what had gone wrong. But Gully confesses there were no tea-cups thrown around, just a reaffirmation by the management of the team’s abilty and belief.

“Those guys are all well able to hurl so we just said “believe in your- selves’. | mean we were only five or six points down with a big wind so we said ‘don’t panic and the scores will come’. Probably five minutes into the second half, if I had a chance I would have withdrawn those words but anyway, they didn’t panic and kept it going and they got there in the end.”

They certainly did and they will have to do it all again next weekend as they enter into their first Munster intermediate campaign. Jim Gully reckons they won’t think about that until maybe Wednesday. Ampel time to digest this win first.

, Mr McDonagh, outlined a zero tolerance policy against dirty play, if the match

official in charge names and shames those guilty of bringing any game into disrepute.

“We’re never slow to act,’ said Mr McDonagh. “If something is reported to us there are disciplinary measures in the board to deal with them.”

The board chairman attended the final act of the Clare senior football year in Quilty, but arrived at Pairc Naomh Mhuire after the fracas in the first minute of the game that resulted in the sending off of Lissycasey’s

Michael O’Rourke and Doonbeg’s David Downes and Frank O’Dea.

“I was late going to the game,” he revealed, “because I was delayed with work commitments and when I arrived at half-time all the alleged incidents were over with. I didn’t see any row.

“The board will examine Rory Hickey’s report when it comes in — that will determine what action is taken. It’s a matter of waiting and seeing what’s in the report.”

Rory Hickey’s version of events is expected to be with the county board later this week. This will give the disciplinary arm of the executive time to study it before the November meeting of the county board.