Category: News

AN ENNIS-based company is pioneering a novel new online dating service – lovemelovemySPORT.com is a specialist dating agency for sports fans. The free service offers people the chance to share their sporting passions and make new friends online. The service is the first of its kind in Ireland and England. Margaret Keane runs lovemelovemySPORT.com from her home on the Tulla Road, Ennis.

“I had been looking for an Internet business and there has been this huge buzz around social networking in the dating industry. It’s not just about romance but about extending your circle of friends.”

Since the website was launched earlier this year it has attracted sports fans of different ages. Hurling and football games have been the most popular venues with sports lovers followed closely by rugby.

“The GAA has been the biggest draw so far but Munster rugby is very popular. We are a sports mad nation and I think it’s a better way for people to meet its more relaxed and not as contrite as other ways. I have been married for ten years so I know how important it is to have something in common!”

Other sports to feature on the website include equestrian games, body building and surfing.

The website is currently running a competition for new members who register between now and August 31 who will be entered into a draw for a signed Paul O’Connell jersey.

For further information:

lovemelovemySPORT.com.

LANDLUBBERS, water sprites and high-flyers will all have their tastes catered for in this year’s line-up for the Scariff Harbour Festival.

Locals and visitors will converge on the East Clare town over this coming August Bank Holiday weekend to sample a varied assortment of land, water and air spectacles.

For those who like to keep their feet firmly on dry land, there’s a 12mile guided walk of the Cappabane section of the East Clare Way or strollers can opt for the less-strenuous six mile guided walk, with prizes for identifying wild flowers along the way. Drawn tours of Scariff Harbour will be provided by a pair of beautiful Clydesdales or visitors can browse the arts and crafts and organic food stalls.

For those who want to run away and join the circus, the Galway Circus Project will conduct circus-skills workshops for youngsters participants aged 8-11 and for spectators of all ages.

Or children can explore their artistic talents under the expert guidance of Killanena-based artist, illustrator and teacher Julie Douglas.

Frank Moynihan, the Kerry-based author, broadcaster and chef instructor, will prepare tasty edibles that can be sampled on the day.

The water theme will be very much to the fore this year. According to Harry O’Meara, Chairman of the Festival Committee, “the lake and the river amenities are central to the weekend activities and are an important part of our community celebrations.”

On the opening evening of the Festival, five East Clare Communities will come together in a spectacular torch-lit, water-borne parade Riverside Park. Hourly waterbus tours of the Scariff River and Lough Derg are offered free of charge by Waterways Ireland.

High-flyers will have a chance to take to the air with Alpin-copters for a bird’s-eye view of the East Clare countryside, Lough Derg and Holy Island, weather permitting. Flights cost €50 but there’s also a raffle for a free flight.

Rebecca Storm is one of the music highlights, while there will be free concerts on the main stage on the Fair Green with Brush Shiels, Jazz Lite, the Fire Kings, Meat Loaf Tribute Band, Eoin O’Neill and Friends, Omagh Community Choir and the Emerald Céili Band.

The festival kicks off on Friday evening.

PLANS are to be lodged with Clare County Council for a “world class” €20 million greyhound stadium in south-east Clare, it emerged yesterday.

Bord na gCon has lodged plans with the council for the 3,000 capacity stadium in close proximity to the Two Mile Inn Hotel, on the fringes of Limerick city.

The plan is to construct the five storey stadium and a three storey office building at Meelick, which will employ 100 people.

The plan is to also include betting facilities, two restaurants and four bars with a dance floor and function areas.

The Irish Greyhound Board has lodged an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) with the application.

According to PR and Marketing Executive with the Irish Greyhound Board, Patricia O’Grady, the project is to be funded through the sale of existing assets, tote profit and a government grant.

Ms O’Grady said that the breakdown of the numbers employed would be 30 per cent full-time and 70 per cent part-time.

“We expect the stadium to be operational by 2008. The anticipated annual turnover in relation to the development is €8 million to €10 million.”

Ms O’Grady said that the Meelick site was chosen for a number of reasons, including excellent road access from all areas, proximity to an urban centre, good profile, high visibility and competitive pricing.

The stadium has been desgned by Hamilton Architects and Ms O’Grady said: “we would like to thanks all the owners, breeders, trainers and general public in Limerick and Clare for their patience on this matter and we look forward to providing the people of the Mid West with a world class greyhound stadium.”

Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) said: “I’m fully in support of the application. It is a great boost in terms of employment. I am assured by Bord na gCon that there will be a very positive spin-off for the local community.

“I am absolutely thrilled. It allows Meelick to progress forward, while allowing the village to retain its rural character.

“It will provide employment for the area as well.”

“There are several dog breeders in Meelick area who are thrilled at the prospect of the stadium. Clare has a strong tradition with dog breeding and dog-racing and I know from speaking with Limerick dog breeders that they are also looking forward to racing their dogs in Clare.”

A decision is due on the application later this year.

ELEVEN Clare soldiers continue to play an important role with the United Nations mission in Liberia.

The 11 are serving with the 95th Infantry Battalion’s Quick Reaction Force (QRF) in the United Nations mission in the African country.

The QRF is a rapid deployment armoured force, capable of being deployed as the situation demands. It is composed of 330 Irish and 230 Swedish personnel.

The 330-strong contingent is currently the largest deployment of Irish soldiers in a foreign country.

The battalion provides backup and assistance to other contingents when the operational situation demands it. Soldiers also undertake humanitarian missions deep in the Liberian interior.

The 11 Clare soldiers serving in Liberia are Pte Ross Tierney (Drumcliffe), Pte Michael Devine (Kilmihil), Pte Brian Bergin (Shannon), Pte Eamon Troy (Shannon), Pte Rachel O’ Hanlon (Parteen), Pte Roger Comte (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Pte Aidan Browne (Clarecastle), Sgt Seamus Coffey (Carrigaholt), Lt Ronan O’ Halloran (Clarecastle), Capt Gillian Collins (O’Briensbridge).

The Officer Commanding 95 Infantry Battalion is Lt. Colonel Michael McMahon, a native of Tulla. He commands the Quick Reaction Force of over 500 Irish and Swedish troops.

A MAN with 25 previous convictions who pleaded guilty to a string of charges has been jailed for six months.

Eddie Sherlock (26), of 15 Aughanteeroe, Gort Road, Ennis, admitted a number of offences, including public order and road traffic matters, in Ennis.

Garda Ronan Higgins told Ennis District Court yesterday (Monday) that the accused drove with excess alcohol in his urine, at Ballyalla Road, Ennis, on October 26 last year. He was disqualified from driving at the time.

Inspector Tom Kennedy said that the accused was involved in an altercation with another man, at Abbey Street, Ennis, on March 5 last. He pleaded guilty to being intoxicated in public and engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour, in relation to that incident.

On another occasion, October 22 last, the accused pleaded guilty to engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour, at Turnpike Road, Ennis. On that occasion he told gardaí to “f*** off.”

The court heard the accused has several previous convictions, including convictions for Road Traffic matters, assault, possession of a knife, possession of drugs and public order.

Sherlock’s solicitor John Casey said his client has a very serious drink and drug problem.

“Everything is related to substance abuse,” said Mr Casey.

“I know Mr Sherlock since he was 12 or 13. He was in trouble when he was young, then he quietened down to an extent. . . .He got married and has three young children.

“On the scale of things, the road traffic offences are not that serious, but the accumulation of them makes them serious,” he said.

He said his client had persisted in driving, despite being disqualified.

“He drives around the town. You might say it is a finger up to the gardaí. It’s not . . . he cannot take it on board,” said Mr Casey.

The solicitor said that various professional reports compiled, relating to his client, were positive.

“If he is not drinking or taking drugs, I don’t think you are going to see him in court again. If he can stay clear of drugs and drink, there may be some hope for Mr Sherlock,” he added.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed sentences totalling six months and disqualified Sherlock from driving for six years and one month. He fixed recognisances in the event of an appeal.

TWO of the county’s tourist hotspots are to get extra Garda resources, amid concerns regarding public order issues.

The Clare People has learned that an extra garda is to be allocated to Lahinch and another to Miltown Malbay on a full-time basis from within weeks.

This follows local anger and claims that insufficient Garda resources have been made available to the areas, where populations increase dramatically during the summer months.

Householders in Lahinch were terrified after what they described as a “near-riot” broke out in the early hours of the morning a month ago.

Rocks were thrown through windows, bottles were smashed on the streets and several rows took place on the town’s Main Street, as revellers spilled out of the discos.

Locals in Miltown Malbay signed a petition earlier this year calling on Justice Minister Michael McDowell to allocate extra gardaí to their town.

The recently reformed Active Retired Association (ARA) pointed out that that the number of gardaí in Miltown Malbay was less than half the figure stationed there 20 years ago.

One garda retired three years ago and had not been replaced, they said.

Gardaí in the Clare Division have been invited to apply for the new posts, before the closing date of August 10, and the appointments will be made within days of this date.

Clare Chief Superintendent Liam Quinn confirmed that the gardaí being deployed to those areas will be taken from existing resources in the division.

“We are monitoring the public order situation on an ongoing basis.

“It is always a concern to us. We are responding to the need,” he said.

Residents in both areas have called for at least two extra gardaí, to which Chief Supt Quinn said, “in relation to peak times, extra gardaí are drafted in.

“It is not a case of one extra garda.”

Lahinch Community Council chairman Donogh O’Loghlin welcomed the announcement, but said, “we need more than an extra garda.”

He is calling on gardaí and fire officers to liaise when taking into account the amount of people permitted on licensed premises, given that the main problems emerge at closing time.

“It should be part of planning that fire officers should consult with gardaí, if they can increase numbers, taking into account the numbers that can be policed on the streets.

“Unfortunately somebody is going to be killed,” said Mr O’Loghlin.

THE Irish Farmers Association (IFA) yesterday confirmed that there remained only 10 objections from farmers against the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for the €204 million Gort-Crusheen by-pass.

75 objections were lodged against the CPO for the scheme, which will lessen drivetimes between Ennis and Galway and extend the Shannon Airport catchment.

Galway County Council is seeking to compulsorily acquire almost 500 acres of land contained in 103 farms along the 22km route. The scheme is to also involve the severance of 845 acres of farmland.

On the first day of the An Bord Pleanala oral hearing in Gort last Tuesday, 37 objections against the CPO for the €209 million by-pass were withdrawn.

At the hearing, board inspector Danny O’Connor raised questions over the impact the proposed new road could have on the reopening of the €74 million Ennis-Athenry line, which runs very close to the road for a stretch of four kilometres.

Mr O’Connor also asked whether the road would impact on any plans by Iarnrod Eireann to put in place a second track to run parallel to the existing track.

In response, John Haughey, on behalf of Iarnrod Eireann, said that the roadworks proposed would not impact on the ability of Iarnrod Eireann to reopen the line at the four-kilometre stretch, while any plans to lay down a second track would not be affected as it lay further away from the proposed road, in the land owned by Iarnrod Eireann.

In his evidence, Dr Brian Madden told the hearing that, as much of the road passes through a karst landscape, disruption of underground watercourses could impact negatively on habitats such as turloughs.

Dr Madden said that the route would pass within 300 metres and three kilometres of nine designated Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) or National Heritage Areas (NHAs).

He said, “None of the sites identified as of conservation value will suffer a major hydrological impact as a result of the construction of the proposed road. . . However, 15 of the 23 sites will possibly or likely suffer a significant impact on their hydrology.”

Some of the mitigation measures proposed to prevent disturbance to areas of ecological interest include the road corridor being kept to a minimum width that is feasible in such areas.

Dr Madden acknowledged that there will be significant impact on habitats due to the scheme.However, he said that none of the sites identified are of national importance.

MANY CLARE households are getting twice the national average dose of radiation, a survey on the presence of Radon gas in homes has revealed.

The cancer-causing gas was found to be above the safe level in 15 per cent of homes surveyed in Clare in comparison to a national average of 7 per cent of homes.

But, the level found in the Banner county was nowhere near the highest level, which was found in a home in county Kerry, where occupants were being exposed to forty times the safe level of the gas.

The National Survey of Radon in Irish Dwellings was conducted between 1992 and 1999 by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII).

Radon was measured, over a 12month period, in a random selection of houses in each 10 x 10 km National Grid square throughout the country. The results were used to predict the percentage of houses in each grid square in which the radon concentration was in excess of 200 becquerels per cubic metre (Bq/m3), the National Reference Level.

Six of the 1,710 homes surveyed in Clare were found to have more than ten times the safe level of the gas. A total of 1,446 were under the level considered to be safe. 238 homes had levels of between 200 and 999 becquerels and 20 had levels of between 1,000 and 1999

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas which originates from the decay of uranium in rocks and soils. It is colourless, odourless and tasteless and can only be measured using special equipment. When radon surfaces in the open air, it is quickly diluted to harmless concentrations, but when it enters an enclosed space, such as a house or other building, it can cause health problems.

Since July 1998, every new house is required to incorporate some degree of radon preventive measures at the time of construction.

The institute provides a radon measurement service to householders at a price of €50. A radon measurement is usually carried out by placing two small testing devices in the house for a period of three months. The detectors are then returned to the testing laboratory for processing. The procedure is carried out entirely by post. The RPII has produced a set of maps, available on its website, www.rpii.ie, showing high radon areas where more than ten per cent of the houses have levels of the gas above the norm.

A LONG-SERVING Clare politician has said his position in relation to the upgrading of the hospital will be vindicated.

West Clare senator Brendan Daly (FF) was responding to claims that his candidacy “must now be in question”, following revelations that the upgrading of the hospital would need a substantial financial injection if it were to succeed.

Making the claims, chairman of the Hospital Development Committee, Peadar McNamara, pointed out that the senator had said he would not run in the election unless he was assured of investment in the ailing hospital.

“What value have these assurances now?” he asked.

Last week, The Clare People revealed that the design for the upgrade of the hospital had been delayed as the HSE and the Department of Health debated who would pick up the tab for the estimated €16 million shortfall.

The Department of Health has allocated €20.8m to the project, but it has since emerged that this will not cover equipment or the extra staff required as a result of the upgrade.

The design for the first phase of the hospital redevelopment has been with the financial director of the HSE in Naas for almost two months.

But Senator Daly remains adamant that the hospital will be upgraded and the work will begin before the election.

He said that to avoid “unnecessary delays and complications later, it is far better to get these matters resolved now.”

The senator said he had been further assured by the Minister for Finance that “the issues that are being dealt with now are in the long-term interest of the development.”

“If I wasn’t convinced by the assurances from the Minister, I definitely wouldn’t be a candidate.

“I would like to assure the action committee that the discussions that are ongoing at the moment are best for the hospital.”

But Mr McNamara maintains that “it is a clear prospect come the next General Election that no building will have started and the independent review (on hospital services) will not have reported and no decision made on its recommendation.”

The lobby committee chair said he would be asking all candidates and parties to state clearly their plans for the future of the hospital.

“We will convey this to the people of Clare. At this point in time, we are not running a candidate,” he said.

THE Irish Government has said that it will not allow any US flights carrying weapons or munitions for use in the Israeli/Lebanese conflict to land at Shannon Airport.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern has confirmed that “in light of the present conflict between Israel and Lebanon, any request to transport weapons through Shannon for use in that conflict will be refused. Those flights will not be allowed land in Ireland.”

The department has also dismissed suggestions that it has already refused permission for flights to land at the mid west airport.

“The department has received no request from the US authorities to transport munitions bound for Israel through Shannon and has therefore not refused any flight permission to land here.”

It was reported at the weekend that US charter airlines, transporting tonnes of military munitions to Israel, had been refused permission to use Shannon as a technical stopover on their way to the Middle East and had instead landed at Prestwick in Scotland. It had been claimed that since the conflict in the Lebanon began almost three weeks ago, the Irish Government had refused requests by the US military to transport consignments of 600lb “bunker buster” bombs through Shannon Airport.

The Department of Transport has confirmed, however, that it granted permission for a flight carrying troops and munitions to Israel to land here on May 11th last, but the spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said, “That has no bearing on this policy, it was long before the conflict between Lebanon and Israel began.”

It has also emerged that Prestwick Airport is in negotiations with charter companies that transport troops for the US government to secure some of the lucrative business Shannon Airport has enjoyed in recent years.

Prestwick is understood to be ready to employ a further 80 staff if it manages to strike a deal for the extra troop carrier business. It is known that at least one US carrier is reviewing its operations at Shannon.

It was reported last month that North American Airlines, a sister company of World Airways which pulled out of Shannon in favour of a better financial deal in Leipzig on July 1st last, is also looking at alternatives to Shannon.

According to a company spokesman, “ No decision has been made regarding changes for North American but we have the same economic concerns as World Airways.”