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that the last five he spent in the council were the tough- est yet.

“There is a big load after being taken off my shoulders. I never put down such a fives years as I did in the last five especially. If you knew the things that were going on under- neath,” he said.

So with the support and encourage- ment of his family, Jack has bowed out of local politics, which has changed significantly over five dec- AYalehe

“When I started first we had the town clerk James Clancy, we had Michael Harney – his assistant, we had Michael Miniter, rent and rate collector and we had Paddy Tubridy the engineer and that was the total staff in that Town Hall when I went 10

“They did everything and much more. There were house rates at the time and the rate collector had to collect all that in every house in the town.

‘There are 23 down there now – not saying that I have anything against anyone that has a job, that has noth- ing to do with it – the only differ- ence I see down there is what I got, is the tax office. But only a couple came over for that, I don’t know what the rest of them are doing in Clare County Council. I mean if there is that many of them here how many of them are in Ennis. Well anyway that is just a comparison of then and now,’ he said.

“And another big difference I no- ticed, is that when the manager of the day Joe Boland attended every meet- ing for every month for the five years we were there.

“And the comparison with the last manager when he was here, not say- ing anything against him now, three times I saw him – when he was elect- ed, he came to a function and when he resigned. Three times in the five years, Joe Boland, 55 times,” said the outgoing councillor.

“Oh this is a hot one for me, I hate this one – the executive function in

planning,’ he added, visibly an- noyed.

“Tt (planning) drives me mad that it goes out in our name, the result comes back in our name and it is not discussed with us. We don’t discuss it, at that time we use to get a note every month of all applications for planning. I haven’t seen one, I don’t know, in five years or so. My point here is we have more local knowl- edge.”

Jack Fennell followed his father into Kilrush Town Council, but not in party politics.

“My father was a Fianna Fail councillor before me, and they were saying go for Fianna Fail but they wouldn’t take us (Jack and William O’Looney). We knocked two of their fellas out,’ he recalled with a smile.

Cllr Fennell also joined the Pro- gressive Democrats for a short time, as the party tried to convince him to run for the county council election.

“The PDs wanted me to go with them. I joined them for a while, and I didn’t like it. They steered away from what Mr O’Malley intended them to looms Imo elem BDO tlomee

Among his many achievements Jack lists the work on the 150th cel- ebrations for St Senan’s Church, the twinning with Plouzane, and his chairmanship of the Shannon Har- bour Authority.

“IT was chairman of the harbour authority here for 12 years and they have let that slide away because no one seems to have interest in it any- more.

“Limerick authorities are claiming jurisdiction over the whole thing.

“When Moneypoint came I kicked up a row and asked Clare County Council or someone to back us here. Limerick came down and claimed the dues and they are getting millions out of our side of the county. And our roads are being torn asunder with the lorries taking the ash away from it, and all that money is going down to Limerick that should be coming into County Clare. The only one of the county councillors that backed me at the time was Christy Curtin – he was an Independent above in Miltown.

“The rest of them never thought about what was happening except around their own thing, they never looked down the River Shannon to see and we lost it. I had no one to back me at the time,’ he added.

Cllr Fennell also feels strongly about the expenses paid to council- Kevase

“I cannot see any reason why any- one should get a bonus. It is a vol- untary job for the good of the area you live in, and I cannot see why rate

payers money is used to pay bonuses for the mayor and deputy mayor,” he said.

“It is very easy spending somebody else’s money.”

“Then this travelling to conferenc- es – I proposed to suspend it for two

years while times are bad, but I got no backing,” he said.

A NEW purpose-built Dementia Day Care Unit at Clarecastle remains idle as sufferers await HSE funding to operate the service, a meeting in Clarecastle heard yesterday.

The unit was built in response to the growing number of people in the community diagnosed with the con- dition and anticipated future growth. It is designed to facilitate 25 people per day with mild/moderate demen- wee

According to management, the cen- tre was built at a cost of €850,000 with the Health Services Executive spending €486,000 on the project.

The remaining €364,000_ was sourced from a massive community fund-raising effort. It is planned to open the unit on a phased basis.

PaXCeOcennery Ke) management, €150,000 will be required to oper- ate the new service in year one. This will rise to €300,000 in the year two while €420,000 per annum will be required thereafter when the unit is functioning to full capacity, the meeting heard.

However, the HSE have disputed these figures and say that funding for the project was never guaranteed. In a statement yesterday, a spokesper- Son said,

“It is incorrect to state that the HSE has spent €486,000 on the Clarecas- tle ‘dementia centre’ project. Con- sistently, from late 2006 when the

project was being proposed up until the present date, the HSE has repeat- edly advised the Clarecastle Board that it was not in a position to provide revenue funding for any proposed new service. They were further in- formed that any increase in revenue provision would depend on develop- ment resources becoming available and our service priorities”.

The spokesperson — continued, “They have also been consistently advised that those individuals requir- ing specialist dementia services will continue to receive these services from the HSE provided specialist services or through the Alzheimer’s Society. Clarecastle and District Day care Centre Ltd receive substan- tial funding from the HSE (€481,000 in 2008) to provide daycares services for the elderly and we will continue to support these day centre activities. We have no new development funds and given the existing financial situ- ation do not expect to receive any in the foreseeable future.”

Reacting yesterday, Mary Morris- sey, Chairperson of the District Day Care Centre said she was disappoint- ed with the HSE’s response and that management stood over their state- ments.

The Dementia Unit is designed to complement the existing District Day Care Centre at Clarecastle, which was established in 1999. This community project provides services to older citizens in 12 parishes with

a population of 50,000 and within a ten-mile radius of the centre.

250 people per week currently avail of a broad range of services, which are provided by dedicated profes- sional staff and volunteers. About 25 of these suffer from some form of dementia. Yesterday’s meeting heard

that opening the new unit will also free up spaces in the existing day CP TCM OC NISK OMA. Y ONO UN ST-Ker- Mac UL ODOToMN DRE of 40.

“It is incredibly frustrating to see this state of the art building lying empty while there is a queue of peo- ple waiting to use it. Our day care

services with their high voluntary input save the State a fortune,” said Mary Morrissey.

A FORMER businesswoman is fighting blindness with the help of the people of north Clare.

Aine Mahoney, who is_ severely visually impaired, has organised a 10-kilometre walk from Lahinch to Ennistymon in aid of the research and counselling charity.

Well aware of the difficulty of those facing blindness the 27-year-old hopes to raise much-needed funds for the charity Fighting Blindness.

The ambitious young woman had taken over Cascades Cafe in Ennisty- mon during the summer of 2005. She was healthy and happy, with no eye- sight difficulties.

At the beginning of 2006 she de- cided to put her own stamp on the café and closed for renovations.

Shortly after she lost almost all of her sight, despite medical interven- tion, including laser treatment. Ms O’ Mahoney even believed that some of the treatment added to her sight difficulties.

She has never lost hope of a cure being found for her condition, and in the meantime is determined to love TUK KOM seem ALONE

Despite being almost completely

blind, the brave young woman has now got her life back on track, and is working hard with the charity in a bid to help others.

Fighting Blindness funds world- leading research into cures and treat- ments for blindness.

It also provides a unique profes- sional counselling service for people with visual impairments and their families.

Providing such services requires a lot of support from the public, in- cluding financial support.

Ms O’Mahoney is hoping to raise as much money as possible for the charity this June bank holiday week- NF

The 10-kilometre walk will take place on June 1, from the Lahinch car park on the Liscannor Road.

Those taking part in the summer walk will enjoy the scenic route of the by roads from Lahinch to En- nistymon and back again.

Registration for the walk will take place on the day at 12pm and costs just €10. The walk will begin at aeye0F

IN 1999 Rineanna Rovers were sec- onds away from winning a cup final only for Michael Devitt to score a Bunratty equaliser in the final minute of their clash in the County Grounds. Ten years on five of that beaten Rine- anna Rovers team finally landed the cup medal they craved.

For Hugh Kelly, Pa Fahy, John Earls, Brian ‘Joxer’ Kelly and Dec- lan Devitt it was worth waiting for — they more any other members of the Rovers squad seemed to appreci- ate what this meant.

“T didn’t think P’d be around when Rineanna finally landed a big one,” said Hugh Kelly seconds after the fi- nal whistle. “It’s huge for the club. A couple of years ago, it was touch and go whether the club would go on, but Colm Ryan came in as manager. He told us what his plans were and we all went with it. Everyone got togeth- er and decided to give it a real go. To get arun out was brilliant. Colm did that for me. That’s what I think any- way. I’m off to Newmarket now and then to the Honk. We’II keep it in the parish and celebrate.”

Kelly, a bit of a cult figure in Rine- anna Rovers’ 25-year history, had an army of volunteers at his shoulder.

THE global downturn in the ship- ping industry could provide an un- likely windfall for County Clare as plans are being devised to use some of the deep water in the Shannon Es- tuary as a temporary holding space for mothballed large ships.

According to research carried out by shipping experts Howe Robinson, the projected over-supply in shipping capacity between Europe and Asia this year will be a massive 450,000 TEU in 2009 or almost half a million twenty-foot equivalent unit.

With a large over supply in vessel capacity also projected between Eu- rope and America, the demand for deep water storage docks for large boats has increased dramatically.

According to north Clare local elec- tion candidate Paddy Kenneally (Re- publican Sinn Féin), County Clare is

uniquely placed to take advantage of this situation.

‘At the moment the major interna- tional shipping and transport com- panies are cutting the size of their fleets because there is a downturn in business. These ships and tankers will have to be placed in safe anchor- ages and now is the time for the local agencies concerned with promoting the Shannon Estuary to make the case for a ship storage facility utilis- ing the deep waterway,” he said.

“There is nothing stopping Ireland making the case for safe anchorage to the international shipping com- panies. The benefit to Clare would come in anchorage fees, supplies and care and maintenance of the stored Sebo

“In the event of an economic up- turn the ships will be re-deployed for international services by their own-

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CELEBRATIONS have begun to take place all over Clare to mark the 125th anniversary of the GAA. Nowhere are these celebration more fitting than in Carron, birthplace of Michael Cusack. Last Sunday Michael Cusack’s GAA club held a community fun day for all the local children at their newly developed

clubhouse in the heart of the Burren.

Major changes have taken place at the club over the last number of years as, led by former club chairperson Christina Glynn, the club has over- seen a major redevelopment of the clubs facilities and the introduction of a state of the art flood-lighting AYA K 008

The clubhouse and grounds are lo- cated not far from the birthplace of

Carron’s most famous son, Michael Cusack.

PERSEVERENCE was the key to St Caimin’s latest trophy haul as they weathered a rousing Ennistymon challenge before finally claiming victory. Ennistymon, led by a tiger- ish display from wing-back Ciaran Monaghan who grabbed 2-1 over the hour, were four points clear at the turn of the final quarter despite fac- ing into a stern breeze but they were only to add on one more point for the remainder as St Caimin’s hit back with an impressive purple patch of 1-7 to take the title.

It was hard on Ennistymon who had already suffered defeat at the final hurdle only twelve months pre- vious but overall, St Caimin’s better balance and hard work against the breeze meant they they deservedly shaded the honours.

For their part, Ennistymon missed too many chances with the breeze at their backs, kicking eight first half wides, many of which were hit from distance when working the ball inside could have paid more dividends.

St Caimin’s tactics against the storm worked to perfection for the majority with Padraic Collins con- trolling matters in his role as a third midfielder and that influence led to two early points for the Shannon side when he teed up fellow Cratloe clubmate Dean Deloughery and then started the move for captain Sean Hynan’s score to give St Caimin’s an unlikely 0-2 to 0-0 lead by the 7th minute.

It took Ennistymon ten minutes and four wides to find their range but after Cathal Malone opened the scoring for the north Clare side, Sean McConigley won the resulting kick- out and moved the ball through Mark Burke before ending up with David

Davenport who made no mistake.

It was a shortlived lead however as within a minute Aaron Leahy had cancelled it out after taking ad- vantage of Sean Hynan’s effort for a point that held up in the breeze to steer home a shot at the near post. That seesaw pattern continued for

the remainder but St Caimin’s would have been extremely satisfied to have held Ennistymon against such a strong gale. However, just before half-time, the north Clare side got a significant boost when wing-back Ciaran Monaghan weaved his way down the left flank before hitting an

unstoppable shot to the net via the crossbar to give his side a 2-3 to 1-3 advantage at the break.

Now with the breeze at their backs, St Caimin’s began to chip away at that lead with points from Shane McDermott and Aaron Leahy but yet again they were to be stunned

by Monaghan who crept around the back to grab his second goal. It was a four point lead that they would hold heading into the final quarter but in- evitably St Caimin’s rallied and af- ter Aaron Leahy converted another point, the Wolfe Tones man imme- diately set up Simon Malone for the equalizing goal that would swing this tie decisively towards Caimins.

Malone and Michael Houlihan swapped points soon afterwards but with the wind still blowing strong, Ennistymon couldn’t afford to gift St Caimin’s the leading point that Col- lins punished.

It was the momentum the Shannon side needed and further scores from Wesley Deloughery (2), Malone and Leahy sealed the win.

PLANNING permission has been granted for a new 138 unit housing development in Ballyhugh just out- side Gort despite the recent down- turn in the local population.

Reddington Construction received the official go ahead last week for the construction of a development including 132 houses and six apart- ment units on the Tubber Road in Gort.

According to figures released in the last census, the population of the town had been increasing rapidly up until 2006.

This increase was brought about in

the main by the massive increase in foreign nationals coming to live in the town.

According to the 2006 census, al- most half of the town’s total popula- tion was made up of foreign nation- als, with 83 per cent of these coming from Brazil.

However, locals believe that the number of foreign nationals living in Gort has dropped in recent times with many members of the Brazilian community leaving Ireland in search OM WON .e

According to housing website, my- home.ie, more then 70 homes are currently on the market in Gort with the capability of accommodating

more than 300 people between them POM KOlecde

The Ballyhugh development was granted planning permission subject to a number of conditions including the construction of a creche and a number of shops in the area and the extension of the public footpath and lighting along the Tubber Road to Ballyhugh.

County planners have also stipu- lated that an archaeologist be em- ployed by the developer during the construction phase.

During the planning application process, environmental group, An Taisce had expressed concern about possible flooding in the area.

has learned that a team of runners will carry a flame from the birthplace of Michael Cu- sack in Carron to the birthplace of the GAA in Thurles for the Munster hurling final on July 12.

The torch will be handed to the Munster GAA chairman Jimmy O’Gorman on the pitch before the senior decider. O’Gorman will then light torches for all the heads of the

GAA in the province who will bring back the flame of Cusack back to their own county.

“In association with the Munster Council and the Clare GAA board we have planned the relay torch run- ning from the Michael Cusack Cen- tre to Thurles for Munster Final day. This would be symbolic of Cusack’s own journey to Thurles to found the GAA,” said Martin O’Loghlen of the Michael Cusacks Centre.

“The torch will then be taken from Thurles to all the counties in Mun- ster, again symbolic of the idea of the GAA spreading out from Thurles and the impact of Michael Cusack.”

The Cusack Centre was developed by Michael Cusack Development

Company, a not-for-profit voluntary group formed in November 2003 to restore Michael Cusack’s cottage which had fallen into disrepair.

“We feel passionate about the con- nection between the GAA, Carron and Michael Cusack. We feel that it is important to remember his legacy to the country, not just the foundation of the GAA but his entire legacy,” continued Martin.

‘We have a number of events com- ing up in the next few weeks to mark the 125th anniversary celebrations. We are trying to encourage as many people as possible into the centre during the anniversary so we are providing a special offer for all GAA clubs over the summer months.

“We are working closely with Clare GAA and the Munster Council and on June 20 we will also have a number of activities up at the centre as a special commemoration.”

The special offer will see all GAA clubs being offered a special reduced admission fee of €3 for adults and €2 for children between six and 16 years throughout the summer.

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