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WHATEVER the north Clare elec- torate has in store in 2009, it’s doubt- ful if it will be anything on to the dogfight in the constituency the last time around.

And, it was a dogfight that served up plenty of shocks and no little con- troversy in the scrap for the six avail- able seats.

The shock came by way of Fianna Fail councillor of 19 years and former chairman of the council, Michael Hillery, losing his seat.

Of course, it didn’t end there for the Hillery clan, another former chair- man Sean Hillery also lost his seat in the Shannon electoral area, mean- ing that there was no Hillery repre- sentation on Clare’s premier decision making body for the 2004-09 term of office.

Michael Hillery’s defeat wasn’t the only reverse for Fianna Fail in the ul- tra-competitive constituency — Tom Burke also lost his seat, meaning that two outgoing Fianna Fail councillors were the big losers as the party’s representation slipped from three to AYfOP

It wasn’t all bad for Fianna Fail though – Michael Kelly’s exhaustive canvass of the length and breadth of the constituency over a number of years saw the then 60-year-old win back the seat he lost in the 1999 elec- tion with a poll topping performance that made him one of the real Fianna Fail stars of the 2004 poll.

Fine Gael were also toasting a fa- mous victory – the party organisa- tion rolled back the years when win- ning two seats in north Clare for the first time since Bill Murphy TD and Jimmy O’Brien were returned in the 1967 election.

‘Our success was due to a hard and quality canvass of the total area and to having several committed and well motivated young people on our can- vassing teams. There’s no doubt that we were dealt a helping hand by the present government,’ Cllr Joe Arkins said after Fine Gael’s success.

“The Fine Gael organisation in north Clare have proved that it is possible to win two council seats by dedication and hard work and this certainly will be mirrored in the next General Election when Fine Gael will take two seats,’ added Cllr Arkins prophetically.

Fine Gael have been loath to make predictions about how they might fare this time around, but presum- ably they’re of the view that once more they’ll be “dealt a helping hand by the present government”.

“It was a dogfight for sure,” said Cllr Richard Nagle after being elected in 2004 without reaching the quota. The fifth and sixth seats were filled by Nagle and Martin Conway of Fine Gael.

This time around the seven de- clared candidates have only five seats to play for, something that could yet turn the constituency into another dogfight, even if it falls well short of the drama provided five years ago at the Colaiste Muire count centre in J Syayevise

CLARE’S Kieren Fallon has pledged to become champion jockey in Brit- ain once he returns from his 18- month suspension for testing positive for a banned substance after a race at Deauville in August 2007.

‘People can look at me whatever way they like, it won’t bother me,” a bullish Fallon said as he continued with track work at Newmarket for his former training boss Sir Michael Stoute.

“Tl re-establish myself when I get on the track by riding winners and if you ride winners, trainers want to use you. I’ve always liked a challenge and I set my targets high. I would love to get back riding 200 winners. I’ve done it three or four times on the trot and I found it easy. If I can get back riding that many winners in a season, I am going to be there with a shot of winning another champion- ship, which I think I’m capable of.

‘I’m relaxed, the cloud is gone and I’m just really looking forward to getting back. I’ve got a few months to go, but I think it will do me the world of good. I know I’II be a lot fit- ter when I get back riding than I ever was. It’s just a matter of time now before I can get back on and see if I can prove myself again, get the sup- port of trainers and their confidence back and kick on from there,’ Fallon added.

Fallon is recognised as the greatest flat jockey of his generation, having won six British championships, three Derbys and two Prix de |’Arc de Tri- omphes in a glittering career.

SEAMOUNT College in Kinvara is at the centre of a row which threat- ens to cause a Serious split in the Fine Gael party.

According to insider reports at the party national Ard Fheis in Dublin this weekend, an argument relating to promises made by party leader Enda Kenny in relation to the school, as well as the surprise announcement that former Progressive Democrat leader Ciaran Cannon would be join- ing the party, are at the centre of the spat.

The argument is reported to have started during a parliamentary party meeting which took place in Dublin last Tuesday, March 1. During the meeting, party leader Enda Kenny is reported to have exchanged heated words with south Galway TD Ulick Burke.

According to party insiders, Burke was unhappy with Cannon – who is currently a senator – being effective- ly announced as his running mate in the constituency for the next elec- tion without him being warned in BYORI DaGor

According to reports, the party leader is said to have become very angry when confronted by Deputy Burke and said he had “gone out on a {***ing limb for you” in the past.

The limb that the party leader was referring to was his personal backing for a campaign for the construction of a new school in Kinvara to replace

Seamount College, ahead of the last general election.

The party’s backing for the group to save Seamount College was one of the main issues in the south Gal- way area ahead of the last election and is credited with helping Burke, as well as party colleague Paul Con- naughton, get elected.

With the future of Seamount Col- lege still in doubt, the argument is likely to re-surface over the coming weeks and months.

Following an announcement in Jan- uary that the proposed new school in

Kinvara would be delayed as a result of the slowdown in the economy, the Sisters of Mercy, who own the land on which the school is built, threat- ened to pull the plug on their current deal with the Department of Agricul- Ub Ken

However, the religious Order has agreed to lease the land to the gov- ernment and is currently in discus- sions with the Department of Edu- cation on a number of outstanding conditions.

Meanwhile, Clare is now the most represented county on the National

Executive of the Fine Gael party, fol- lowing the successful election of Cllr Martin Conway and Leonora Carey, sister of Clare TD Joe Carey, to the national forum at the weekend’s Fine Gael Ard Fheis.

A MAN telephoned an east Clare garda station stating he was going into the Shannon to “end it’, an in- quest into his death has heard.

Ennis Coroner’s Court heard that the body of the 36-year-old unem- ployed man was taken from the water just hours after the telephone call.

The inquest heard that the man telephoned Killaloe Garda Station shortly after midnight last October and identified himself.

‘He said he had enough and his nerves were at him. He had suffered with his nerves for years. There were voices in his head to do good things and bad things,” recalled the garda, last week.

“He said he was going into the Shannon to end it,” he said.

The garda said the man gave him his brother’s mobile phone number. He felt that the caller sounded in- toxicated but he told the garda that he had not drank for more than 10 (era

The garda tried to encourage the man to call to the garda station, but

he said he was going into the river. Asked where exactly he was, he evaded the question and hung up a short time after. The garda tried to call the man back, but the call went directly to his voicemail.

The garda said he directed a patrol car to search for the distressed man. They found clothing and a mobile phone beside a river and the man’s body was taken from the water some hours later by Killaloe/Ballina Search and Rescue.

An autopsy carried out on the man’s body at Limerick Regional Hospital showed there was no alcohol detect- ed in his system. His death had been consistent with drowning.

Clare County Coroner Isobel O’Dea said she was conscious of the fact that the man had telephoned the garda station and said an open ver- dict was appropriate.

She acknowledged the efforts of the garda who had received the phone call at Killaloe garda station that morning.

She also paid tribute to the rescue Services, “who come out in all sorts of weather to carry out searches.”

FOR Ennis native Tony Morgan, the biennial pilgrimage to the Fine Gael Ard Fheis is the very first date etched in the calendar. A veteran of more party conferences than he’d care to remember, the former chair of the Ennis branch of Fine Gael is in a unique position to judge the current crop of Fine Gael talent.

According to Tony, despite some shortcomings, Enda Kenny is the man to lead Fine Gael back into Government.

“Enda is not a great man to think on his feet – if I could put it that way. But if he is in a situation where he is dealing with a problem that he is well briefed on, then he can really talk about it,” he said.

‘He 1s inclined to hum and haw a bit when faced with the general cut and thrust of politics but maybe that’s no bad thing. Other people can be too bloomin’ glib altogether sometimes.

“Richard Bruton is great – he has a great financial brain on him. He would make a great minister for fi- nance. I think he should be left in the position. Enda Kenny is a good leader and he should be left where he is too.

“I know that a lot of people say that Enda Kenny can’t cut the mustard but I think he is doing very well. He rescued the party after the last gen- eral election. It’s a good team and a young team. They are all excellent people who would make good min- isters.””

As with many who attended the Fine Gael Ard Fheis over the week- end, Tony believed that the state of the economy should be the main fo- cus for the party going forward.

“I watched a few of the debates there this morning and Fine Gael is certainly putting across their poli- cies and what they want to do. They are also well able to elaborate on all the ills that Fianna Fail have created over the years,” he said.

“The economy and the banks is a really big thing. I think a lot of peo- ple feel totally let down. It wasn’t just the Government alone, but the banks, the regulators, the central bank.

“The banks were shovelling money out to the people. If someone came looking for a 100 per cent mortgage, they gave them a 105 per cent mort- gage. It was totally ridiculous. They borrowed billion and millions from the international money markets and now the whole thing has collapsed.”

TOM McNamara is hoping to end a Kilmaley famine on Clare County Sees

The first candidate from the area in 30 years, Mr McNamara declared as a Fianna Fail candidate last week when he was put on the ticket by the party’s head office.

With the change in the electoral area boundaries coming into affect in June, Mr McNamara can but ben- efit from the addition of even more of Kilmaley into Ennis West.

The former Assistant Director of Nursing with Clare Mental Health Services is well known for his com-

munity involvement and work with eo OraVae

A life-long member of Fianna Fail, he comes from a long political pedi- eree. He is a nephew of Joe Ryan from Inagh who was a member of Clare County Council from 1944 to 1984 and is the first person from Kul- maley Parish to contest an election since Martin Cahill in 1979.

Married to Mary, with two teenage sons, he played a leading role in the development of community services for mental health in Clare and was involved in setting up ‘Meitheal’ Kilmaley Development Associa- tion in 1995. He was chairperson of Meitheal for seven years.

In recent years, he has coordinated the training of 35 parishioners in CPR and installed two defibrillators in the parish.

In the new four-seater area of Ennis West, he will be running on the same ticket as Fianna Fail candidates Cllr Peter Considine and Garett Greene.

With just four seats for the taking he will also have to see off strong can- didates such as former Fianna Fail councillor and Independent TD James Breen and Cllr Brian Meaney (GP).

Chamber of Commerce CEO Rita McInerney is also running in the area as an independent candidate as is Tony Mulqueen for Fine Gael and Sean Hayes for Sinn Féin.

THE old ways of managing both the economy and the health system need to be totally scrapped and rebuilt from scratch if Ireland is to over- come the current economic crisis.

That was the message from Clare TD and newly re-elected member of the Fine Gael Executive Council, Martin Conway, at this weekend’s Fine Gael Ard Fheis in Dubllin.

“The economy has now entered centre-stage and Fine Gael, as a party, have a great asset in its deputy leader Richard Bruton – who is seen as being 100 per cent strong on the economy,” he said.

‘The Fine Gael party certainly be- lieve that Richard Bruton as finance minister would take a blank sheet and start from scratch and, at this stage, that is probably what is required. We need a new Government with a new strategy and a mandate to start from scratch and rebuild the economy.

‘There is a feeling that the people at the top seem to get away with eve- rything. We are now faced with a sit- uation in next week’s budget where the people at the bottom are going to have to fund it.”

Health also dominated much of the debates at the Ard Fheis, with Fine Gael announcing details of a univer- sal healthcare system.

“The other major thing that Fine Gael have announced is its health

policy, where we are going to have universal healthcare. Fine Gael will put in a system if they get into Gov- ernment where we will have a uni- versal health insurance which will eliminate the two-tier health system which currently exists,’ continued Conway.

“Again I think we need to take a blank sheet, start from scratch and build a universal health system that BUN Mores eles eUmrU 0B

“James Reilly, the FG spokesperson on health, has been to Ennis Hospi- tal. He has spoken with the people who are involved in the implementa- tion of the Teamwork Report and he had made it clear that it is Fine Gael’s policy to retain 24-hour consultant-

led accident and emergency services at Ennis General Hospital.

‘There are examples in other coun- tries and even in Northern Ireland where small emergency centres like Ennis are properly funded and do save lives.

“At the end of the day, if you are coming from Loop Head into Limer- ick in the middle of rush-hour traffic, then you have a problem.

“It may not have been mentioned directly but it certainly is uppermost on the minds of the delegates from Clare and the party health spokes- man.”

THE top brass in Clare County Council may have to go without their bonuses on a permanent basis as a new opposition proposal to scrap all non-pay or expenses related pay- ments gathers steam.

At present the position of county manager with Clare County Council carries with it a salary of just under €150,000. This income is also sup- plemented by a number of perform- ance-based bonuses which are paid on reaching a number of different performance targets.

However, a new proposal which would see the performance bonuses for the county manager as well as the council’s five directors of services being abolished is expected to come before a general meeting of Clare County Council before it breaks up for the local election this June.

Mayo-native Tom Coughlan is ex- pected to be formally ratified as the new county manager at next week’s April meeting of Clare County Coun- cul. As aresult of the current embargo on recruitment in the public service, Mr Coughlan will only be appointed in the €146,845 a year position on a care-taker basis.

“County managers and directors of services are more then well remuner- ated for the responsible job that they carry out. Their positions are guar- anteed and so are their pensions,” said Cllr Martin Conway (FG), who is proposing the scheme.

“I do not see the point in having a bonus scheme in place which would appear to be self-audited, payable ir- respective of results and costly in a way that could not be sustained in good times never mind bad times.”

According to Cllr Conway, this scheme could save millions if im- plemented in all local authorities na- tionwide.

“We have a very tight budget situa- tion at the moment and the payment of bonuses across the civil service 1s something that we should seriously be looking at. It you consider that the bonuses paid in an average-sized

council could be between €50,000 and €100,000 – this proposal could lead to millions in savings if it was introduced throughout the country,” he continued.

“The people who have to pay for the current economic situation should be those at the higher levels. It is the people at the top levels of employ- ment who should have to carry the

major burden in the current situation, not those on the lower levels of pay.”

According to Cllr Conway the scheme could also be spread to other Government agencies such as Bus Eireann and the ESB.

AY LMER’S Rest bar and restaurant, together with the award-winning Rose Cottage Guest House, is on the market with Leyden Auctioneers at €2.5 million (negotiable).

Located at the top of the Turnpike, close to the Limerick Road, the bar has been recently renovated and modernised to a high standard. Fea- tures include stained glass windows, flag floors and solid oak counter. It also encompasses an off-licence and has a good trade, serving bar food seven days a week.

Upstairs is ‘O’Donaills Restaurant’, which has been newly renovated. It is

a 50-seater restaurant with bar facili- ties and comes fully furnished. It is an ideal venue for private parties and functions.”

The characterful Rose Cottage, which has its own entrance, 1s situat- ed next door to the bar and restaurant and it comprises nine en-suite bed- rooms. It is well designed and main- tained and is in constant demand, by its loyal and regular clientele, as well as those holidaying or visiting the area. Together with the nine en- suite bedrooms, Rose Cottage also includes a spacious breakfast room, reception area and two luxury bed- rooms with feature baths.

There is a garden to the rear of

Aylmer’s Rest, with decking and a patio area, plus a separate smoking area.

In addition, there is a car parking area to the front and side of Aylmer’s Rest and Rose Cottage.

Occupying a 1.2 acre site, selling agents Leyden Auctioneers believe ‘‘Aylmer’s Rest and the adjacent Rose Cottage guest house offer excellent development potential”.

For further information, telephone 065 6820555

Bonuses for council top brass may be scrapped