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has revealed in a special investiga- tion into juvenile crime in Clare.

While gardai are satisfied that rates of crime committed by juveniles have not spiralled out of control, there are concerns that three teenage members of one family are creating havoc in Ennis.

Several members of the family have

been before the courts on a number of occasions over the past few years, for a variety of offences. One has ad- mitted to dozens of offences, includ- ing theft, damage to schools and cars and public order, while his two sib- lings are also facing several charges.

Their disregard for the law and their ability to continuously re-of- fend is a major cause for concern for gardai in the town.

The trio have come before the Chil- dren’s Court on dozens of charges, after they repeatedly came to garda

attention over a considerable period of time. Garda sources say that two other Ennis families also account for a significant amount of crime detect- ete aetomKOn 20

When it comes to young offenders, bullying, robbing schoolchildren of their money, shoplifting, damage to property and minor drug offences are the main problems identified by gardai in Clare.

Agencies that work with children at risk say poor family support is at the core of a large percentage of ju-

venile crime. Other prevalent factors include alcohol consumption, drug use, peer pressure and lack of edu- cation.

During the first eight months of this year, 41 young people were before the courts in the county. Many of those who appeared are facing a string of charges and all have come through the Juvenile Diversion Programme, which deals with young offenders by means other than prosecution.

A DELEGATION from the French seaside village of Arzon will be in Lahinch this weekend to help locals in the naming of a brand new street.

Years of development have seen the once small village of Lahinch grow into a bustling tourist town. In the process however, a number of areas have been left without a recognised name or title, as new houses and es- tates have created whole new streets and urban areas.

Earlier this year the Lahinch Com- munity Council, in partnership with Clare County Council, launch a pro-

gramme to give the poor postman a dig-out, and put some order an the Lahinch street names.

They began an extensive consulta- tion process where local were invited to suggest possible names for the unnamed streets. The first results of this will bear fruit on Sunday when a recently developed street, running parallel to main street, will be re- named Rue d’Arzon.

Lahinch has been twinned with Ar- zon for a number of decades and del- egations from both towns meet and hold regular exchanges.

‘There is a group coming over from Arzon who will be staying in Lahi-

nch for two or three days over the weekend. The big thing is happening on Sunday, we will be naming that street. We have all the signs ready for it So we are all ready to go,” said Gerry Hartigan of the Lahinch Com- munity Council.

“Besides the naming of the street there will also be an exchange of an Irish style post box for a French style post-box. That night then we will have an official twinning dinner in the Liscannor Hotel and we will be bringing them around to see some of the great attractions the the area has to offer.

“We will bring them into the Court-

house Exhibition in Ennistymon, up to Lisdoonvarna, they might want to go up to the Burren or up to the Cliffs of Moher. where ever they want to 20.” Besides putting names on previ- ously untitled areas, the council also hopes to sort out a number of con- fusing situations, such as two estates who both have the same name in the AUF TS

THE rugged surrounds of the Bur- ren may have been the very centre of financial and social activity in Me- dieval Clare, a new excavation has shown.

Early indications from an excava- tion, undertaken earlier this month at the Caherconnell Stone Fort near Carron, have revealed that the struc- ture was a much more important building than previously thought, and most probably the property of a wealthy landowner.

Following a 10-day archaeological excavation, undertaken during Herit- age Week ‘07, it has been discovered that Caherconnell Stone Fort is twice the size of the 300-500 standard cashels that are now under study in

the Burren.

The true size of the fort at Caher- connell is 40 metres in diameter, and with a thick stone walls rising to over three metres in places it would have taken considerable resources, both in manpower and finances to construct.

Artefacts uncovered included two disc-shaped quernstones of the ro- tary type, used to grind cereals while iron arrowhead, three inches in length and with barbs at its base, were also found.

“Both the arrowhead and quern- stone fragments are very fine ex- amples, and are not of a quality you would expect to find in the cashel of a normal farmer of the period,” said Dr Michelle Comber of NUI Galway, who is currently researching early medieval settlements in the Burren.

“All told, it seems very likely that the people living at Caherconnell were of the nobility. Wealthy farm- ers who ruled much of the land in the vicinity of their cashel. Work so far places the site in the upper ech- elons of the Early Medieval social system.”

A piece of sandstone was also found, which was probably used as a hearth stone and, as the Burren 1s predominantly limestone, the sand- stone is likely to have been imported Seer NUR

“The excavation has exceeded our expectations and has produced a lot of information that was previously unknown,” said excavation site di- rector, Graham Hull of TVAS ar- chaeological consultancy based in Sul te

The excavation was undertaken by a partnership of NUI Galway, TVAS and the Davoren family. The visitor centre incorporates Ireland’s first Stone Fort virtual tour and illumi- nates the historical and archaeologi- cal secrets of the more famous Bur- ren monuments. The centre on the family farm now attracts over 20,000 visitors per year.

“When the company was estab- lished in 2003 one of our long term goals was to see the fort dated and preserved,’ said Sean Davoren. “We are very grateful to Dr Comber and Graham Hull for volunteering their time and resources to begin this V0) 0.e

“The work they have carried out has been amazing and their enthusi- asm infectious.”

IRISH companies are being urged to enter the European Business Awards 2008, the competition that show- cases Europe’s business skills and competencies.

Companies only have one more month to enter the awards as the deadline for entries is the October 18.

“European business is innovative and talented and it is important that

we showcase examples of this bril- liance. For the rest of the world the European Business Awards is an ad- vert of our abilities and for Europe, an example for all of us of what is possible,” said Adrian Tripp, Chief Executive of the European Business aN LAU Ke ce

This opportunity follows the suc- cess of an Irish company in the European Business Awards 2007, Diageo, a Dublin-based company drinks business with a collection of

brands including Guinness, Baileys and Smirnoff, which was selected to compete in The AXA Award for Corporate Sustainability.

For short-listed and winning com- panies the recognition and exposure is very powerful as the European Business Awards has extended its partnership with The Wall Street Journal Europe and has set collabo- rations with important national Me- dia Patrons.

“Every business day The Wall

Street Journal Europe reports on business issues and companies across the region.

Our association with the European Business Awards allows us to honour the best of these companies and the vision and energy of their leaders,’ said Jonathan Wilson, director of marketing and business development, The Wall Street Journal Europe.

The names of the winners will be revealed on March 11, 2008, at the high profile awards ceremony held in

the InterContinental Paris Le Grand in Paris and attended by Europe’s business elite. The entry deadline 1s 18 October 2007.

The European Business Awards is supported by organisations, CMS Legal Services EEIG and Société (os ilore- 8 oe

To obtain further information or to enter please visit www.businessa- wardseurope.com, telephone 0044 O 20 7234 3535 or email info@busines sawardseurope.com.

THE first work area recovery centre in the west of Ireland has been set up by Work Area Recovery Solu- tions Ltd. (WARS) in Shannon. The recovery centre offers businesses in

the western half of the country a pro- fessional, secure and cost-effective world-class recovery solution within easy access of their existing opera- tions.

Pat Hannon, IT Manager of Avo- cent International based in Shannon

and a client of the WARS facility endorses the centre stating “this new work area recovery centre is long overdue and provides a very valu- able back-up for business continu- ity support in the event of business disruption. It also gives publicly-

traded companies extra assurance and security to conform to corporate governance regulations outlined in Sarbanes-Oxley (US) and Turnbull (EU ) requirements, which states that they must produce timely, accurate and complete corporate financial re-

ports regardless of any type of busi- ness interruptions’.

The new WARS centre is fully equipped with resilient and redun- dant telecoms connectivity, back- up power, telephony and computer hardware.

THE plight of hundreds of unmar- ried Clare fathers who have no legal rights to custody of their children under the Irish Constitution took a dramatic step forward last week fol- lowing the Mr G case in the High Sous

According to the local representa- tive of the Unmarried Fathers of Ire-

land Organisation, pressure 1s now on the Government to propose an election to change the constitution. “Our main objective is towards the fundamental right of a child to have both parents involved in its life. We are not about fighting parents against parents. It’s about the kids. We love our kids and we want to have a life around our kids,’ said Andrew White, Munster Spokesperson for

the Unmarried Fathers of Ireland. ‘This is so widespread, there are so many cases of unmarried fathers. Un- married fathers don’t have any rights to their children in this country. “The case last week will have a massive impact. It brought out the problems with the constitution in this country when it allowed a mother to take two kids out of this country and completely take them away from

their father, without the father having any say in the matter at all.”

According to the Unmarried Fa- thers of Ireland, the lack of contact between fathers and their children is having a massive impact of Irish so- ciety as a whole.

“Look at the suicide rate among young men in Ireland. In 2005, eight out of 10 male suicides were fathers who were being denied access to their

kids or young children who were be- ing denied access to their fathers,” he continued.

“T have been fighting for the last four years for this to happen. It’s a disgrace that two kids were essen- tially abducted away from the father before this has become an issue.”

For more information on the Un- married Fathers of Ireland, contact Andrew White on 086 1641513.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern could lose more than nine county coun- cillors in Clare less than two years ahead of the local elections.

Clare County Councillor Richard Nagle is chairman of the Clare tour- ism forum and one of the nine gov- ernment party county councillors contemplating leaving their parties if the government fails to ensure con- nectivity between Shannon and Lon- don-Heathrow.

Aware of the implications the 1s- sue has on his tourism brief and the economy of the western region, Cllr Nagle said, “I would have to strongly consider my position if that were to happen.”

The north Clare councillor was not alone in his sentiment.

Green Party councillor Brian Meaney has already informed party leader John Gormley of his intention to step down if the Government does not fight to acquire or retain the re- quired slots into London Heathrow.

Cllr Bernard Hanrahan was one of three councillors who did not want to give a definite yes to the answer, opt- ing for probably instead.

He said he would “probably resign” but under serious consideration.

“I would have to seriously consider it. | can’t fight from the outside. I can only fight from the inside.”

Cllr Bill Chamber said, “There is no point in leaving the Fianna Fail party. I am not in the Dail.”

If the councillors were to uphold their promise that Fianna Fail will be sending, at most, seven sitting county councillors on the hustings in 2009.

Even among those that gave a nega- tive answer to

THE Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern could be facing outright revolt in Clare if the feelings of his county council- lors are an indication of the mood within the party.

Though the majority of Clare county councillors from Fianna Fail and the Green Party would not only expect the Government TDs from the western region to resign the whip, many are prepared to see the Government fall over the issue.

Just six of Clare’s county coun- cillors from the government par- ties said they did not believe that the TDs of the area should resign their seat 1f a link between Shannon and London-Heathrow is not main- tained, and one of the councillors answered no only because the sug- gestion did not go far enough.

West Clare councillor Bill Cham- bers (FF) said the TDs should be prepared to resign before a vote of the issue is even taken and let Ber- tie Ahern know they are prepared to vote against the government on the issue of Shannon.

“That is letting them off the hook, there is no point resigning after.

They need to force the vote on the S)areveb ae) sm Re one

The issue of using the Govern- ment 25 per cent Aer Lingus share was not as clear a resigning matter for the Clare councillors.

Ennis councillor Peter Considine said it was not a yes/no answer and felt that the other two questions on

KILRUSH Town Councillors have been accused of “not caring about” the Shannon crisis, and the loss of Aer Lingus’s London-Heathrow slot from the airport.

Mayor of Kilrush, Tom Clyne (Ind) said he is aware of comments that the councillors have been very quiet on the issue and “did not speak out in public’.

At this month’s meeting of the town council, Cllr Marian McMahon- Jones (FG) said while the council may not have been there as a unit, members of the council did attend.

‘Maybe we should have had a state- ment out by now,” she said.

“T think we as a council need to be a lot more aware and a lot more vo- cal,’ she added.

Independent councillor Deirdre Culligan told the members, “It has been noted that councillors were TPO Basso be roa

In addressing the meeting, Cllr Tom Prenderville (FF) said, “a lot has been said about the issue. We at- tended a lot of meetings, we are four- square behind the airport.”

“We are a sinking ship and there are people out there who can throw us a life raft and that is the Govern- ment,” said Cllr McMahon-Jones.

“Tf small councils, big councils and our politicians stand united, disre- garding political parties, and call

Bertie out, we could force his hand,” she said.

She said it was time that the TDs and Government stood up and were counted.

“They were not elected to roll over for Aer Lingus. They are elected to represent the people.”

Fianna Fail councillor Liam Looney agreed with his council colleague.

“T am beginning to question my own membership of Fianna Fail,” he told the meeting.

WOODSTOCK’S hopes of All-Ire- land glory perished in Belfast on Thursday afternoon as they bowed out of the Pierce Purcell Shield at the semi-final stage to a crack Warren- point side.

The semi-final clash was played in Shandon Park, just outside Belfast, but the local knowledge of the War- renpoint club from nearby Down was crucial in driving them to a compre- hensive 4-1.

Woodstock failed to win any of the five matches in the foursomes competition. Indeed, the semi-final bid of the 2002 champions started on the worst possible note when the lead pairing of Michael Kelly and Stephen Spencer went down by 6 and 4 to S Sands and D Flanagan.

Woodstock then gave themselves some hope for the remainder of the tie when Jimmy Kelly and Jason Dor- mer played out a halved match with S Colgan and P Devlin. They were one up with five to play, but then found themselves one down with three to play. However, they battled back to Neu kommer DEe

Match three then became a cru- cial rubber for Woodstock, but the

pairing of Noel Dinan and Liam O’Connor bowed out after putting up a brave battle against N Devine and A Campbell. They were four down after five but battled back to be only one hole adrift by the 16th. However, Devine and Campbell held firm and closed out the match on the 18th to win by two holes.

It meant that Martin Nolan and Michael O’Brien had to win their match — they made a bold bid but had to be content with a half. It was the all-important half-point for Warren- point that put them through to a fi- nal meeting with Donabate who beat Bearna in the other semi-final.

The final match out on the course also went Warrenpoint’s way with M Redmond and M McGivern beating Tony Lawlor and James McMahon by 3 and 1.