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THERE was a mixed reaction to the third Milk Quota Trading Scheme announced by the Minister for Agri- culture, Mary Coughlan, last week.

Reacting to the new scheme, Macra na Feirme national president, Cath- erine Buckley, said she was disap- pointed with the imposition of a 3:2 ratio on the amount of quota a young farmer could receive from the prior- ity pool relative to category one sup- pliers.

Ms Buckley said this could reduce the levels of allocations to young farmers in some co-op pools.

“This could put a greater financial burden on progressive farmers who are trying to expand their business

by acquiring quota. On the exchange young farmers will find it difficult to compete for quota against larger and more established farmers who have ereater resources,’ she said.

“In certain co-op areas some young farmers did indeed receive high lev- els of quota compared to category one producers in the last two exchanges, however these allocations were the product of ring-fencing.”

The Chairman of ICMSA’s Dairy Committee, Dominic Cronin, wel- comed the changes to the exchanged describing them as ‘broadly positive’. Cronin said he was delighted to note that the minister appeared to have acted on some of the ICMSA’s rec- ommendations concerning the short- falls of the existing system.

“There were specific anomalies in the old system that we had identified and to which we suggested the rem- edies. Those suggestions appear to have been acted upon,” he said.

“We’re particularly happy that the category one suppliers will now have a better opportunity of receiving an allocation from the 30 per cent fixed pool with a specific allocation now allocated to them.

“We also believe that the changes announced will address the problems thrown up in the northern counties — problems which again we had high- lighted previously.”

The third scheme will again be run in respect of each co-op area, and will again be comprised of a priority pool and a market exchange. Howev-

er, the method of distribution of pri- ority pool quota will be refined and a mechanism aimed at increasing the amount of quota traded on market exchanges in particular co-op areas will be introduced.

“T have listened very carefully to the views of the farming organisa- tions and ICOS in the course of a Summer of consultation on the op- eration of the Milk Quota Trading Scheme,” said the minister.

‘The very clear message has been that the scheme has functioned ex- tremely effectively. However, some farmers have continued to experi- ence difficulties getting access to quota, and some co-op areas have experienced trading problems due to supply and demand factors.”

The former president of the IMO was referring to the HSE announce- ment about cancer care during the week.

“In one paragraph, they talk about the orderly planned transfer of pa- tient care which will take place over

the next nine to 12 months. And d1- rectly underneath it, they say that as a consequence the following hospi- tals are to cease these proceedures with immediate affect and a long list that includes Ennis.

“I fear for Ennis hospital and I am familiar with the ‘golden hour’ and the far reaches of west Clare,’ Dr Roan UAYARy-B (OR

““T don’t believe that when and if the centre of excellence is up and run- ning in Limerick that people will want to see the A and E close here in Ennis as I believe you are still going to have the geographical difficulties.

“And certainly there is a lot to be said at being able to stablise a pa- tient, intervene at a level if necessary and maybe oviate ther necessity to travel,’ he added. “Nobody would be reasured by what is happening in the health service.”

Dr Reilly said that the minister’s vi- sion of a GP-led accident and emer- gency could work but man power would prove problematic.

“And I haven’t noticed the towns of west Clare or Ennis overbrimming with GPs who are stretched to the limit to do what they are doing at the minute as it is.

“Now, if she was to double those numbers, I would have no problem. I would say yes, these are very skilled clinicians who are making a very valuable contribution,” he said.

ENNIS’ Valerie Hassett will fly the Clare flag on the Irish team that contests the Irish Seniors Home In- ternationals this week. Hassett won her place on the team after finishing joint-ninth behind Alison Murdoch in the Irish Seniors Strokeplay Champi- onship in Ennis early last month. Hassett was a member of the Ennis Senior Cup team that made history

in the centenary year of the club by winning the All-Ireland title for the first time thanks to a 3 1/2 to 1 1/2 win over Royal Portrush in the final at Miltown.

The Irish team in full that will compete in the Home Internationals at Royal Tara from this Tuesday to Thursday reads as follows:

Carmel Cahill (Hermitage) Valerie Hassett (Ennis) Marilyn Henderson (West Rhine)

Eileen MacMullan (Donegal) Mary McKenna (Donabate) Mary Madden (Ballinasloe) Sheena O’Brien Kenney (Grange) Reserve: Pamela Morgan (Lahinch) Team Captain: Rhona Fanagan (Milltown) Team Manager: Roma English CR Taite

Meanwhile, Gort were denied AlIl- Ireland glory at the weekend when they had to give second best to En-

niscorthy in the AA Insurance Jun- ior Foursomes final in Athlone GC. They were beaten by 2 1/2 to | 1/2. The scores were as follows:

Teresa Gill and Josephine Cummins halved with Ann Nolan and Joan Millar

Josie Collins and Celine Fahey

lost to Julie McCarthy and Pauline Byrne by 2 holes

Maureen Brennan and Margaret Whelan lost to Michele Browne and

Ursula Cousins 7&5

WHEREVER Anthony Daly’s ca- reer path has taken him over the years, success has invariably fol- lowed. Whether it was with his na- tive club Clarecastle or with Clare, Daly always led from the front and this weekend, he hopes to add anoth- er title when he takes charge of Kil- moyley in the Kerry County Senior Hurling Championship final against Lixnaw.

Kilmoyley, along with fierce ri- vals Ballyduff, are the aristocrats of Kerry hurling but despite winning four-in-a-row from 2001 to 2004, they have since fallen on hard times due largely to their ageing side. John Meyler was the man in charge dur- ing that successful era at the begin- ning of the decade, but after getting the Wexford senior job last year, the club went in search of Daly who had himself left the Clare position.

The way it turned out was ironic really as Daly’s Clare inadvertently played a part in the vacant position in Wexford after beating them in two successive All-Ireland quarter-finals, thus opening the door for Meyler.

Kilmoyley are firm favourites to

win on Sunday after comprehen- sively beating Ballyheigue in the semi-final, but Lixnaw managed by another former Clare manager Ea- mon Cregan, will be no pushovers and Daly feels that the game could ome aALoNe

“It’s going to be close. A lot of people are making us favourites on the basis that we have won our two games well, but they won the cham- pionship two years ago so obviously they have a good team as well. Now they haven’t had them together with the football and that, but they won the football semi-final with Feale Rangers last weekend so they will be totally focused on the hurling for the Leto

‘This is one to look forward to any- way because they are die hards down there, they are fanatical about their hurling,” he said.

Daly originally got involved with the club through his love of grey- hounds and as aresult, he knew some of the Kilmoyley board who invited him down last year to give their mi- nors a training session before the m1i- nor final.

When Meyler left, they immediately thought of Daly who had just vacated

the Clare post and from there, the el- ements just seemed to fall in place. However at first glance, the Kiul- moyley job was a huge undertaking as the side had suffered a few very lean years and had a number of play- ers who appeared to be approaching

their end but Daly came in and re- vamped the side, beating bitter rivals Ballyduff in the quarter-final which gave them untold confidence.

As Daly recalled, “It was more a question of trying to reignite the players. There were some of them

that were very good players but had just lost enthusiasm, they’d been on the road so long. But I suppose a new voice was a help and once you got them going and once they started to bind, it came together. But they do have a few new bodies as well.

“There are a few young lads com- ing through and they won last year’s Under 21 and they are in the minor final as well on Sunday. They are a very good club and they really look after their young lads. But I guess there were a few lads there alright that were around the 32-33 age group and were possibly considering chuck- ing it and just decided to give it a lash for the year and so far so good.”

In addition, if Kilmoyley win on Sunday, they will equal Ballyduff’s record of 21 county senior titles, a milestone which they are eager to reach on Sunday and with Daly at the helm, they will conceivably never get a better chance.

PAT COSTELLO stood in midfield — panting, out of breath but exhila- rated at the same time as his back was Slapped every few seconds. Men, women and children — all decked in black and red or black and orange slapped his back so hard that he was nearly out on his feet.

A standing count later and he fi- nally summoned up the words to explain his greatest day in Bally- vaughan’s football history that dates back to 1890. “F***ing brilliant,” he said. “Forgive my language but that’s the only way to describe it. It was rine brilliant by them.”

Fitting really. Primal stuff on a day when a football game went to the heart of what the little corner of Clare that is Ballyvaughan and Fanore is about. “It was guts,” said Costello after drawing breath again. “It was determination and it was be- cause of Michael Greene,’ he added.

Michael Greene was the man who died with his boots on, playing a jun- ior game for Ballyvaughan in Doon- beg five years ago. He was young, in

his early forties, and with many more years to give to football in his belov- ed Ballyvaughan and district.

But, that day he was called away, his work done. Immediately the ba- ton passed to those he had nurtured. Those kids just out of Ballyvaughan and Fanore National Schools, those coming up through the ranks of the club. Other officers and mentors in the club. Teachers in the schools too.

‘“Ballyvaughan always wanted to be Senior,’ roared Pat Costello above the din. “It was a vision Michel Greene had for Ballyvaughan. We’ve car- ried on that for Michael Greene and achieved what he set out for us.

‘Michael Greene started with many of those young lads at 12 years of age. We’ve been in 21 county finals — we’ve won 16 of those and drawn two. We’ve won another today day, but this is our greastest day. I can’t believe it.”

It was true though, as the slaps con- tinued to rain down on Pat Costel- lo’s back as he moved from midfield across towards Cusack Park’s Ard Comhairle for the presentation of the Talty Cup.

“The winning of this was two years hard work,” said Costello on his jour- ney. “I said it on the radio that we had a five year plan and | wasn’t bluffing. That’s the truth of it. We had five- year plan but after two years of hard training at intermediate we made it.

‘Today what did it for us was that we kept it. They missed a few chanc- es at the start of the game but we never panicked at all today. We had a younger team with an average age of 22 years and they’ve been training with two years for this.

“We’re going to celebrate this one. It will be the party of all parties.”

The party had already started — it will go on for the rest of the year and beyond thanks to the bragging rights that go with beating their neigh- bours in the biggest game in Bally- vaughan’s history.

Some of the Cusack’s players will join in as they drown their own sor- rows.

ST COLMAN’S Church in Gort will be the venue for a_ special charity concert which will bring together the talents of the Gort based Coole Voic- es and the legendary Lismourahaun Singers for the very first time.

The concert, which is in aid of the Tractors for Africa Project, will unite two of the regions most talented vo- cal groups for an evening of heavenly singing

Coole Voices was started in 2002 by Katharina Baker, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and founder of the Coole Music School. The Lismourahaun was founded by Archie Simpson and

has gained national and international renown in recent years because of the quality of their method and per- formances.

All proceeds from the evening will go towards the provision of a tractor, to aid in the construction and mainte- nance of a Christian Brothers school in the Zambian village of Kasama.

“T went to Africa to visit a friend of mine a year ago. Out there I met with the White Fathers and a Christian Brother called Brother Dominic. He was sent out there by the Christian Brother to set up schools. All he had with him was what he was able to carry himself,” said Pat Canavan of the Tractor for Africa Project.

“He had a group of blocklayers

from Waterford who built a shed for him for the school. But he said that if I was able to get him a tractor that it would be a great help to him.

“When I got back in Ireland I came across a guy who was repairing old tractors. He had a small tractor, a Massy Ferguson 135 I think, and he agreed to give me the tractor and I told him I would pay him something KOvms DOO som ab ine I Rone

There are many children orphaned in this area of Africa due to the Aids epidemic and other diseases. These children depend on education as a means of living a happy and full Tate

A friend of Mr Canavan arranged for the tractor to be transported to

Zambia where it will now be used for essential building work and farming.

‘They have no machinery out there whatsoever,’ continued Mr Canavan. “They have to do almost everything by hand. When the tractor arrived in the shipping container they had no way of taking it off the lorry. So they had to tie the container to a big tree and slowly drive away. That was the only way of getting it off the truck.”

The concert takes place on October 6. Tickets, at a cost of €15, are avail- able from the post office in Gort or on the door on the night.

FOLLOWING calls from all the main farming organisations, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan, has announced that a request that provision be made for an advance payment under the 2007 Single Payment Scheme was ap- proved.

Speaking following a meeting of the EU Management Committee on Direct Payments in Brussels last week Coughlan revealed that she was pleased by the decision.

“T am particularly pleased at the Support our proposal received from the Commission and the other mem-

ber states,’ she said.

“This decision allows us to make advance payments, at a rate of 50 per cent, to those applicants whose ap- plications are confirmed fully clear, with effect from October 16, with balancing payments being made with effect from December 1.

“T am also encouraged by the com- mitment given by the Commission to examine payment arrangements for subsequent years in the context of the forthcoming Health Check on the CAP. My objective will be to en- able full payments under the Single Payment Scheme from October 16 in future years.”

Coughlan explained that her ap-

proach to the Agriculture Commis- sioner had been prompted by the very wet summer, which seriously NBCeKe meu NUDE

“T was particularly conscious of the difficulties caused for farmers, with crop growth being impeded, signifi- cant delays in production of winter fodder, fodder intended for use next winter being fed to animals and some animals being housed early, as land is too wet to graze,’ she continued.

The minister also announced the commencement of payments to farm- ers under the 2007 Disadvantaged Areas Scheme (DAS).

“These payments are worth in the region of €250 million and are pay-

able to over 100,000 farmers. I ex- pect that a very significant propor- tion of eligible farmers will receive their payments in the coming days,’ she said.

‘However, there are some who ap- pear ineligible under the stocking provisions; these farmers can submit appropriate evidence to my depart- ment’s Portlaoise office, following which their payments will then be released.”

The minister again urged farmers to reply quickly to any letters from her department in relation to Single Payment or DAS problems.

For more information call 1890 252 235 or 1890 200 502.

CLARE farmer and Chairman of ICMSA’s Beef & Cattle Committee, Martin McMahon, has welcomed as ‘a move in the right direction” the EU Commission’s new proposals for changing the currant age limit at which animals must be tested for BSE.

The Commission has _ proposed that the age limit for the BSE test be raised from 30 months to 42 months for healthy slaughtered animals pro- viding that the member state wish- ing to avail of the new age limit has declining or consistently low BSE prevalence and has implemented, for

at least six years, a full BSE testing scheme based on traceability and identification of live animals.

As well as this, each individual member state must also have en- forced, for at least six years, the com- munity legislation on total feed ban for farmed animals.

“We definitely meet all those crite- ria and ICMSA will be pushing hard for the Government to expedite the matter. he said.

“We think it’s unacceptable to be talking about dragging this matter into the next year when a bit of de- termination and the full deployment of the facts should see the European Commission accepting the incontro-

vertible facts that there is no need for any Irish animal to be tested before 42 months.

“We regard this movement by the Commission as a move in the right direction and we consider these pro- posals to be a testament to the pres- sure we’ve brought to bear on both the department and the Commission on the question of BSE age-limit testing, which, quite frankly, has been illogical and pointless for some considerable time now.”

Meanwhile, ICSA President Mal- colm Thompson, last week called for BSE testing in Ireland to be finished. The President of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association 1s call-

ing for the ending of BSE testing to be phased out over the next couple of years.

According to Thompson, the inci- dence of BSE is rapidly declining, with just 41 positive results returned in over 850,000 tests carried out in cattle in 2006.

Thompson met with the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Cough- lan, last week and requested that she establish a timetable for the phasing out of BSE testing which he claims is costing farmers money while it is now unnecessary.

The ICSA President also claimed that the BSE testing sector had be- come an industry onto itself.

MINISTER for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheal Martin TD has announced a €/million R and D investment by UCB Schwarz Pharma, supported by Shannon De- velopment.

The announcement took place dur- ing a visit by the Minister to anumber of companies located in the Shannon Free Zone. The Free Zone has more than 7,200 people employed in 110

companies generating over €3.3 bil- lion in annual sales.

During the visit Minister Martin was briefed at the UCB Schwarz Pharma plant on the capital invest- ment the company is making in 2007.

Total investment volume by the company is expected to be in excess of €100 million.

The company is currently rede- veloping a manufacturing plant on its site to manufacture a new drug

which they have recently developed. The investment also includes a major upgrade in facilities and infrastruc- ture.

Minister Martin said “This is pre- cisely the sort of activity and invest- ment that will secure Ireland’s pros- perity into the future.

It is through bringing innovation and our creative intelligence to in- dustry that Ireland will mark out its ground and gain competitive advan- eee

Welcoming Minister Martin to the Shannon Free Zone, Mr Kevin Thompstone, Chief Executive, Shan- non Development, said, “The Free Zone continues to be a location of choice for global businesses across a variety of industries. Shannon De- velopment is currently preparing a comprehensive master plan for a ma- jor regeneration programme at the Free Zone to guarantee its continued competitive edge into the future”.

Minister Martin’s visit to the Shan-

non Free Zone also included visits to aircraft leasing company, Genesis Lease; financial securities company, Genworth Financial; and. underwear manufacturer, Maidenform Interna- nlOyerNe

Speaking at the official opening of their new offices by Minister Mar- tin, Chairman and CEO of Genesis Lease, Mr John McMahon, said ‘We are grateful to Minister Micheal Martin for officially opening our new offices.

CLARE athletes Jennifer Tuohy and Marie O’Connor were special guests of President Mary McAleese in Aras an Uachtarain as members of the Irish team that recently brought home a record haul of medals from the World Transplant Games.

President McAleese told the ath- letes they brought honour and glory to the country at the World Trans- plant Games in Bangkok earlier this month as part of the team that won an unprecedented 39 medals.

The President was so impressed by their triumphs that she invited the

team to a special reception in iNet an Uachtarain, where she compli- mented the Clare athletes for “bring- ing the issue of organ donation to a level of national prominence it never before enjoyed.”

“You should feel very proud of yourselves,’ she addded. “You have shown people that there can be a creat life after getting a transplant, and you have touched the lives of more people than you realise.

‘Maybe somebody was waiting for a transplant recently when they read about your exploits and it may have given them a lift, shown them what can be achieved after receiving a

transplant.”

Team manager Colin White said the reception at Aras an Uachtarain was the highlight of a roller-coaster month for the team. “We came home on a high to a great reception, but this is even better,’ he said.

The team, which has its own web- site www.lransplantTeamIreland. com, will compete in the 2009 World Transplant Games in Australia, and Ireland will host the European Trans- plant and Dialysis Games in 2010.