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CLARE County Council have de- fended the amount of money spent on the new Lahinch Lifeguard Centre, saying that the state of the art facil- ity will be looked upon as value for money by future generations.

The centre, which was officially opened last Friday by Mayor of Clare, Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn (FG), cost the local authority €340,000, almost €110,000 more than the con- tracted price signed with the devel- oper in March of 2008.

The overrun is believed to have come about as a result of the cost of creating a suitable ESB connection to a sub-station at the far end of the Lahinch promenade, the installa- tion of a speaker system for public announcements and the addition of CCTV cameras at the station.

The increased cost of the facility was criticised by a number of local politicians with north Clare council- lor Martin Conway (FG) calling for a full breakdown of the costings of the facility to be produced by Clare County Council.

“We are getting fantastic value for money with this facility and I think that this facility will be a blueprint that other councils will follow when the overall financial situation 1m- proves,’ said Liam Griffin, Water Safety Officer with Clare County Council.

‘There is a huge investment in fa- cilities like fire stations around the country and I think that centres like

the one here in Lahinch will become more common. There is no putting a cost on human life and I think that in 30 or 40 years from now people will look back on this investment and see that we got good value for money. The new centre was constructed by Ballinasloe based contractor Mota Engil Ireland Construction Ltd and features an observation room, an external viewing deck, a wet room, medical and first aid facilities, a toi- let, store room, shower room and an

external shower. It is being described by the builders as Ireland’s largest lifeguard centre.

“It’s a fantastic facility, it’s the first of it’s kind anywhere in the country,” continued Mr Griffin.

“Tt will allow the lifeguards to do their job using the best facilities and will be a comfortable place for anyone who will need to use it or be treated in the first aid centre. The lifeguards do a very professional and very important job. This centre has a

fantastic overview of the entire beach and an excellent PA system for crowd control situations.”

The Clare senior footballers’ championship countdown came into sharper focus at the weekend when Limerick emerged as their Munster semi-final opponents after surviv- ing a second half rally from Tipper- ary in Semple Stadium on Sunday. Having avoided Kerry and Cork in the Munster championship draw this year, this appears to be Clare’s best Opportunity in a number of years to reach a Munster senior final and that encouraging draw was heightened on Sunday as Limerick’s win ensured their semi-final meeting will take place in Cusack Park the first week of June, with a high possibility of the game being played on Saturday evening June 6.

Clare and Limerick last met in the 2006 Munster championship when the Shannonsiders edged home by 2-5 to 0-8 in the Gaelic Grounds. In- cidentally, Co-manager of Clare that day was Kerryman Donie Buckley who is now part of Limerick’s back- room team under manager Mickey Ned O’Sullivan.

Meanwhile, the Clare hurling team also stepped up their Munster championship preparations last week ahead of their semi-final meeting with either Cork or Tipperary, when they played three challenge matches in five days against Antrim, Offaly and Waterford as the new look Cork squad under Denis Walsh trained at the Clarecastle facilities on Satur- day.

THE baby of local authorities in Clare, Shannon Town Council is just 27 years old.

As Ireland’s only created town and the second largest town in the coun- ty, Shannon received town status on January 1, 1982 when Minister for the Environment Peter Barry signed Shannon Town Commission into be- ing.

Prior to its statutory status, a group called Shannon Alliance represented the concerns of the residents of the fledgling town in negotiations with Shannon Development and Clare County Council.

This Alliance group was made up of two representatives from political parties including Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin. These representatives were nominated by their respective political parties.

On December 19, 1980 26 house- holders signed an application to have statutory town commission status granted to the town.

Then county manager Joe Boland, on the bequest of the then Environ- ment Minister Ray McSharry, con- vened a public meeting of the elec- torate of Shannon on April 10, 1981. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the implications of Shannon being granted town status and to out- line the proposed boundaries of the OD e0r

The boundaries excluded the air- port, the Industrial Estate and Smith- stown Industrial Service Area. Fol- lowing numerous and _ protracted negotiations, the Smithstown In-

dustrial Service Area was included within the proposed Shannon Town boundaries.

A poll for the consent of the elec- torate of Shannon to have town sta- tus conferred on the town was held on October 21, 1981. The majority favoured the application.

Shannon’s first town clerk Tomas MacCormaic was appointed on March 4, 1982 to a position he re- tains to this day. Just one week af- ter Mr MacCormaic was employed the first election for Shannon Town Sree OMI eRe lor

There were 26 candidates in that first election and of the nine elected just one remains a member of the council today — Cllr Patricia McCa- MN OWs

While some things have remained constant for the local authority in Shannon there have also been sig- nificant changes, not least its change from Shannon Town Commission to Shannon Town Council under the Mere eounilolmatae

Within the last year changes have also been made that will have a major affect on the upcoming town council elections. On January 1, 1,000 more people became part of the electorate as the boundary was extended from 1,105 hectares to 1,274 hectares.

As well as implications for the elec- tions and increased election quota, the extended town area will also have a huge affect on the local budget.

Last year, in its application to have the boundary extended, Shannon Town Council, supported by Clare County Council, stated that the ex- tension to the existing town was logi- cal given that the residents of the area strongly identified with the town.

The extension means that approxi- mately 350 residential homes and 20 commercial businesses are now add- ed to the town as the boundary has

been extended to include Ballycasey -ViCemoy-Varseeleumectea 0p

Despite its extension Shannon Town Council still does not have the same powers as Ennis and Kilrush town councils.

Among the powers still retained by Clare County Council is that of plan-

ning and planning decisions.

For those involved in the ever in- creasing and developing town coun- cil it is hoped that this change 1s soon on the horizon.

DURING his first ever visit to Clare as Taoiseach yesterday (Monday), Brian Cowan received a vote of con- fidence from an unlikely quarter.

Fine Gael councillor and mayor of Clare, Clir Madeleine Taylor Quinn welcomed the political leader to Clare saying, “May I, on behalf of the people of Clare, welcome the Taoiseach Brian Cowan, whom I know is in a very difficult situation at the moment, but I have every con- fidence that he has the ability to do what is required to bring the nation and the country back on its feet.”

Despite opinion polls and Green Party calls for a redrawing of the programme for Government, a defi- ant Mr Cowan was rallying the party troops and speaking of winning con- trol of Clare County Council.

, and sponsored by Microsoft. Prizes were presented by the Taot-

seach and TG4 star Sile Ni Bhraon- ne

“The competition is open to all Leaving Cert students during the school year and there was a very good response last year. We are de- lighted with the interest being shown in the Irish language by students and the very high quality of the entries,” a spokeswoman for the competition said.

Speaking at the event, the Taoi- seach said he was very encouraged by the standard of Irish-writing tal- ent among young people.

Naming Eimear and the other con- testants individually he said their talents “give great hope for the lan-

guage in the future”’.

The annual overall prize went to Eibhlin Ni Fhionnlaoigh from the Brigidine Secondary School, Moun- trath, County Laois.

A spokeswoman said that staff and fellow-pupils of Eimear’s are “de- lighted for her and very proud of her achievement”.

A LANDOWNER along the route of the €200 million Ennis by-pass received more than €4 million from Clare County Council for 12.5 acres of land.

The landowner is one of nine mil- lionaires created out of the compul- sory purchase of land along the 21 kilometre route.

A second landowner received €3/7m for 9.25 acres and the most expensive land along the route was a two acres plot that sold for €1.8mil- lion.

In all, landowners along the route Shared in a €37 million bonanza, according to figures obtained from Clare County Council through the Freedom of Information Act. The purchases were completed during the property boom when the price of land remained high.

A fourth landowner received €2.1m for 16 acres while a fifth received €1.5m for 20.5 acres.

Others to receive more than €lm include one landowner who received €1.5m for 11 acres; another who got €1.1m for 21.5 acres and one other received €1 million for 7.5 acres.

A ninth ‘millionaire’ received €1.2m for 16.25 acres and 3.7 acres of severed land. Three other land- owners received over €900,000, while a further five got in excess of ml OOK OOF

17 landowners received between

€250,000 and €500,000. Thir- teen landowners received between €200,000 and €250,000, while a further 26 landowners received be- tween €100,000 and €200,000.

The by-pass removed 20,000 vehi- cles from Ennis each day and work is continuing on the next phase of the Atlantic Corridor with the by-pass- ing of Gort and Crusheen.

The firm who constructed the En- nis by-pass, GAMA Construction told the Labour Court last year that the company’s loss on the scheme could be as much as €45m.

The figures also show the fees con- sultants and professionals received for their work with Jacobs Engineer-

ing Ltd totalled €6.7 million. Ennis auctioneering firm, Paddy Browne & Co which negotiated with the hun- dreds of landowners along the route on behalf of the council received €1.33 million.

Council solicitors, Michael Houli- han & Co received €1.2 million.

Coffey Construction Ltd received €787,311, while Crusheen-based ar- chaeological firm, TVAS Ireland Ltd received €721,797 for the extensive digs along the route.

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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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

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.