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THERE has been a wide welcome in Clare for the announcement that In- tel will create 134 new jobs over the next four years.

Junior Minister Tony Killeen TD has described Intel’s decision to in- vest €50 million in a major expan- sion at its Shannon Free Zone op- eration as a “major boost” for the mid-west region’s information and communication technology sector.

““Intel’s decision to invest further in its Shannon operations confirms the Free Zone’s position as the flagship location for international industry in this region,” he said.

The Clare TD noted that knowl- edge was now the key to competitive advantage in smart economies.

“Growing the level of Research and Development investment by new and existing multinationals in Ireland is a key Government priority. Intel’s investment gives very real meaning to our ambition to develop Ireland’s smart economy, and is a wonder- ful testament to the highly talented skills base at Intel Shannon.”

Deputy Joe Carey(FG) TD said, “This 1s a welcome announcement, following a series of difficult closures in the region over the past twelve months. These are the types of jobs which will sustain our economy in

the future. The announcement today hints at the region’s potential for fu- ture development.”

Deputy Pat Breen (FG) said that “it is now very important for the Government to refocus their atten- tion on investing in R&D projects”. Deputy Breen went on to say that “if we invest today, we will reap the benefits tomorrow” and he is urging the Government to provide the nec- essary resources to the Third Level Institutions in this region so that they can “continue the production line of science graduates”.

Attending the formal announce- ment, IBEC Director for the mid- west region Chris O’Donovan com-

mented,

‘This is a significant investment by a successful and ambitious company, which is among Ireland’s most 1m- portant business sectors.

“The announcement today, gives a clear signal that Ireland continues to have the skills and strengths re- quired to support global technology businesses.”

He added: “The expansion was secured by Shannon Development and I want to commend the agency for their efforts in this regard. Over 7,000 people are employed in over 100 companies at the Shannon Free Zone, which is managed by the De- velopment Agency.”

TANAISTE and Minister for Enter- prise, Mary Coughlan paid tribute to the workers and the organisations in the Shannon Free Zone when she came to announce a €50 million in- vestment at Intel last week.

“It is down to the calibre of the people on this site in Shannon that they have been able to get this invest- ment…investment in our people and our skills is how we are going to re- main competitive.”

She added that the gain of up to 134 jobs in research and develop- ment are the result of the “smart economy building on the knowledge economy .

Intel will invest more than €50 mil-

lion in a major expansion, supported by Shannon Development, over the next four years, bringing the total employment to approximately 300. Congratulating Intel on theirinvest- ment the Tanaiste said, “Knowledge is now the key to competitive advan- tage in smart economies. Growing the level of R and D investment by new and existing multi-nationals in Ireland is a key Government priority. Today’s investment announcement by Intel gives very real meaning to our ambition to develop Ireland’s smart economy, and is a wonder- ful testament to the highly talented skills base at Intel Shannon.” Welcoming the announcement Vincent Cunnane, Chief Execu- tive of Shannon Development said,

“This major investment at the Shan- non Free Zone is a further vote of confidence in Shannon as a competi- tive location for high tech knowledge based investment on a global scale. We are delighted to have secured this expansion for Shannon, in collabora- tion with IDA Ireland.”

“We are delighted with the expan- Sion decision,’ commented Jonathan Walsh, General Manager of Intel Shannon. “It comes as the result of our world class track record of R and D over the last eight years, the highly developed technical market- ing competencies and also our suc- cess in attracting the highest quality research talent, domestically and in- ternationally.”

He predicted Intel “will emerge

from this downturn stronger relative to our competitors than we were go- ing into it”.

The investment is in further de- veloping leading edge 32 nanometre design capabilities for embedded processors.

Intel predicts that there will be 15 billion connected devices by the year 2015. The Intel investment will in- volve two separate R and D projects. The first is a new hardware project involving advanced 32nm _ silicon design and validation, which aims to enable the next generation of products for small- to medium-sized businesses. The second project is a software development project, which will benefit sectors including the au- tomotive and security sectors.

between June 2007 and No- vember 2008.

Police property applications in re- lation to them were made before En- nis District Court on Friday, where Judge Joseph Mangan ordered that the cars be surrendered to the Min- ister for Justice, who would decide how to dispose of them.

Sergeant Paul Slattery told the court that during one of the incidents, the occupants of the car fled the scene, leaving the vehicle behind.

“The car was hot-wired at the time,” he said.

He said he was applying to have the vehicle destroyed.

Another of the cars was seized by gardai last August, as part of an in- vestigation into a burglary, while an- other car came into the possession of the gardai in connection with a crimi- nal damage incident.

That car had been extensively dam- aged, said the garda.

The fourth car had been abandoned in January 2008 and was seized by garda

A FRIGHTENING escapade, on im- pulse, was how a judge described an attack on a van by a man wielding an iron bar, during the Willie Clancy music festival.

As a result, a three-month jail term was imposed on Shaun O’ Hare (29), who pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage to a motor van and also to producing an iron bar, at Spanish Point, on July 8, 2007.

Garda Ian Kelly told Ennis Cuir- cuit Court that three young men were sleeping in their van in a car- park when the accused approached. Initially he went away but returned a short time later – around lam – with bottles of drink, which he offered to

them. The garda said he banged and kicked at the van, in an attempt to ee RSME

He said the occupants of the van told him they didn’t want drink and he then broke a bottle outside the van. O’Hare – of Newtown, Clon- lara – who was barefoot at the time, jumped from the van and stood on the glass bottle that had broken.

The incident eventually settled down. However, at Yam the follow- ing morning, O’ Hare returned to the van with an iron bar and damaged the van. Gda Kelly said the damage to the shell of the van was almost €600 and this did not include dam- age to the windscreen. None of this had been paid by the accused, but it was presented to the court.

Asked what gave rise to the in- cident, Gda Kelly said, “It was a drink-related incident. Shaun O’ Hare approached these youths. I got the impression from the witnesses they didn’t want to be in his company and they were only in his company through fear.”

The court was told O’Hare has a number of previous convictions, in- cluding one for assault and some for public order.

Defence counsel Michael Fitzgib- bon, BL, said his client had no previ- ous convictions of a similar nature to what was before the court.

He said his client lost his temper af- ter his partner had pointed out his foot injury to him the following morning. He reacted “very badly and disgrace-

fully. It was in a fit of temper.”

“If there was any misfortune, Mr O’Hare was the author of his own misfortune. He dropped a bottle of beer. He stepped on it. . . He decided to take matters into his own hands,” Jntemncy-HK6b

He said the accused has acquired employment and his employer would give him a glowing reference. He said he has attended a treatment cen- tre and also attended a programme to address his anger issues.

‘He has been making trojan efforts to deal with his alcohol problem and his anger problem,” he said. He said his client recently lost his brother, in tragic circumstances.

Judge Raymond Fullam said when O’Hare banged and kicked the van,

the occupants were in fear and said it was a “frightening escapade”.

“Tt was an inexcusable and outra- geous offence. The iron bar that he wielded was, clearly with the amount of alcohol that he had, a dangerous weapon,’ said the judge.

However, he noted that a guilty plea had been entered and that the offence was committed “on impulse”.

“While these men were in fear, they didn’t suffer any personal injury, which was a blessing,” he said.

The judge said he gave a consid- erable discount for the accused’s circumstances and imposed a three- month jail term. He granted an ap- plication by the defence to postpone the commencement of that term for a fortnight.

AFTER a trial which lasted three days, a jury took less than 30 min- utes to find a Ballyvaughan man not guilty of assaulting an off-duty garda, knocking him unconscious and breaking his nose.

Brendan d’Arcy (22), of Glenfort, Bally vaughan, had pleaded not guilty to the charge of assaulting Adrian

Cosgrave in Ballyvaughan on Janu- ary 1, 2008, causing him harm.

Ennis circuit court heard various witnesses say that the accused had either kicked or headbutted Mr Cos- grave after the injured party went to remonstrate with him about his driv- bite

It was claimed Mr Cosgrave’s pas- senger was sitting on the door frame with his hands on the roof of the car

as he drove through Ballyvaughan.

Mr d@’Arcy denied that Mr Cosgrave produced his Garda ID before he tried to take the keys of the car out of the ignition.

He said in a statement to gardai that Mr Cosgrave was shouting and was very aggressive and he feared that Mr Cosgrave was about to attack him.

He agreed that he punched the in- jured party but said that he did so in

self-defence.

In the witness box, Mr Cosgrave said he and a large group of friends had gone to Ballyvaughan for the night to celebrate.

After summations, Judge Raymond Fullam sent the jury home on Fri- day and told them they could begin their deliberations on Tuesday. They returned a not guilty verdict on Tues- day morning.

A GROUP of five councillors are de- ciding the future of 25,000 people in Ennis, a local protest has heard.

Fine Gael councillor and local businessman Johnny Flynn hit out at a party colleague and four other En- nis councillors at yesterday’s march organised by the Ennis Forum.

He alleged that Tommy Brennan (Ind), Peter Considine (FF), Joe Rei- dy (FF), Mary Coote Ryan (FG) and Frankie Neylon (Ind), are controlling policies that are “anti business and anti-jobs”.

“T’m four and a half years over in that chamber. I’m sick to the teeth of listening to five people who are running this town,’ Cllr Flynn told protestors outside the offices of En- nis Town Council.

“A group of five people are deciding the future of 25,000 people. There are nine councillors, five of them hold power. They are Tommy Bren- nan, Frankie Neylon, Mary Coote Ryan, Joe Reidy and Peter Consid- ine. Those five people are deciding on policies for the last four and a half years of my experience in the cham- ber. Five people are voting and con- trolling the policies of this town.”

Cllr Flynn, a member of the Ennis

Forum, addressed representatives from 150 businesses.

Architect and Ennis Forum com- mittee member Michael Leahy told the crowd that the protest was taking place because “businesses in Ennis are tired of not being listened to”.

He said the forum was established in response to the perception that En- nis 1s “losing its status as a county town”.

Mr Leahy said increases in com- mercial rates put forward by the council in its 2009 budget were “un-

acceptable”.

DRIVING around a roundabout on the incorrect side or driving through a red light could be potentially fatal, a judge stated yesterday.

Judge Timothy Lucey made the comment in the case of Ali Lynch (31), of Marlee House, Keevagh, Quin, who was charged with failing to give a sample to gardai and also two counts of dangerous driving, arising out of the incident on Octo- ber 16 last.

Inspector John O’Sullivan told En- nis District Court that a garda came across the defendant who was driv- ing a Mitsubishi Colt at 2.30am.

He said the car appeared to be sway- ing on the road at one stage. The garda activated the patrol car’s blue lights and siren and a pursuit took place.

The defendant’s car crossed to the incorrect side at the Maid of Erin roundabout and proceeded around the roundabout on the incorrect side.

The car drove through the red light at Club Bridge and the driver nearly

lost control, before being apprehend- ed by gardai on Abbey Street.

Lynch’s solicitor said there was not much traffic around at the time. “It’s accepted that this was appalling, bad driving. It’s accepted he should have stopped,” he said.

‘He panicked and started digging a hole for himself. In these cases, you make one bad decision and this leads to another,” he said.

He said that the accused had at- tempted to blow into the machine on a number of occasions but was

unable to provide a sample as he has chest problems.

Judge Lucey said it appeared there was a litany of mistakes and bad driv- ing. “It was a particularly bad series of events. Going around roundabouts the incorrect side and through red lights are all potentially fatal situa- tions,” he said.

He banned the accused from driv- ing for four years and imposed fines totalling €1,200. He postponed the commencement of the driving ban until September 1.

THE county’s roads have claimed their first life of 2009, as a 35-year- old man was killed when his motor- bike collided with a ditch on the out- skirts of Ennis at the weekend.

Michael McInerney, a native of Caher in east Clare, was killed in a single vehicle accident, on the Kildysart road, just two miles from Ennis, shortly before lunchtime on Saturday.

He was pronounced dead at Ennis General Hospital at 1.55pm.

It is understood that the driver lost control of the vehicle, before hitting the ditch. He had been travelling to- wards Kildysart at the time of the crash.

Mr McInerney, a_ father-of-one, lived in the Cahercalla area of En- nis. He hailed from a much respected family in Caher.

A tradesman by profession, he had an extensive interest in motorbikes. He will be laid to rest tomorrow.

Mr McInerney was one of four peo- ple to loose their lives on the coun- try’s roads at the weekend.

Three people died in two separate road accidents in County Tipperary Oye LUN ACer-NA

can reveal. The hotel, which has been closed

since early 2008, will be reopened later this month under the guidance of local hotelier Noel Mulhaire. The business will now be known as the Woodstock Hotel, Golf and Spa Re- sort and will open following a deal brokered by Wyndham Worldwide on behalf of one of their largest UK-

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While a franchisee has yet to be announced, Wyndham Worldwide are reportedly in discussion with a number of interested parties.

“The Woodstock Hotel is a magnif- icent property that should never have closed. It is ideally located on its own beautiful grounds, houses an 18-hole championship golf course and has all the facilities you could possibly want from a four-star property. The tim- ing is good to make long-term deals for hotel properties in Ireland,” said Jason Wischoff, Development Man- ager for Wyndham Worldwide.

Recruitment for 50 positions will start immediately, with the hotel set to reopen on March 27. A further 20 positions will come online during the summer months.

“When times are hard, it’s all about

the product offering, the service and the value you offer. If you look after your customer, the business will look after itself,’ said Mr Mulhaire.

“IT would also add that our UK partners have a great track record in staging large events and spectacular banqueting.”

Meanwhile, the Shannon Branch of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) is warning that hotel opening on Sun- days may soon come to an end as bosses struggle to pay higher rates to staff.

“Current wage costs of over €20 an hour for Sunday working are un- justified and completely out of step with other countries,’ said Lahi- nch hotelier and chairperson of the Shannon Branch of the IHF, Michael Vaughan.

“Hoteliers have now been forced to

curtail services on Sunday as a result of the statutory requirement under the archaic Joint Labour Committee SAKURA OOM cerca DIE NUN ASN E: lore lished back in 1946 – and requires hotels operating outside of Dublin and Cork cities and Dun Laoghaire to pay double-time for work per- formed on Sundays.

‘There is no doubt that a more rea- sonable wage arrangement would re- sult in increased employment oppor- tunities on Sundays. Hotels simply cannot bear these high rates in the current market.

“It is jeopardising the viability of hotels which cannot sustain this level of cost and find themselves curtail- ing services on a Sunday,” added Mr WET ted athe

MEMBERS of the Ennis Forum are set to protest outside the offices of Ennis Town Council next Monday, WW ETKe see

Businesses are to gather at Guar- anakilla in the upper market area of Ennis at 2.30pm before marching to Waterpark House. The March month- ly meeting of Ennis Town Council is due to take place 3.30pm.

Prior to that meeting, representa- tives of the business lobby group will also deliver a letter outlining a number of issues that they insist the council must immediately address.

The forum is calling for commer- cial rates to be frozen at 2008 levels.

Members of Ennis Town Council agreed last December to increase commercial rates by three per cent.

Selo Coacreem-UNOMyc-VelRMN eke ttbate es to be phased in gradually and not levied as one large payment.

Public parking and taxi rank serv- ices are the other main issues ad- dressed in the letter.

‘All businesses are looking for a re- duction in the cost of doing business and an improvement in services,” said local Fine Gael councillor and Ennis Forum committee member, Johnny Flynn.

He continued, “We are asking that Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council step up and play their part to lower costs and retain

jobs in Ennis. Because that’s what’s its all about, keeping jobs in Ennis.”

CEO of Ennis Chamber and En- nis Forum committee member, Rita McInerney, said the forum had met regularly since a committee was es- tablished two weeks ago.

She said the objective of the protest was to publicly raise the concerns that have emerged in the business community over the past number of years.

“We want to sit down and find a way forward with the council. We are looking for an immediate reduction in rates and an immediate suspension in water charges. We understand that we have to pay for the interim treat- ment plant but there has been a huge

increase in water charges. It makes it difficult for any business trying to budget for the year ahead,” she said.

Ms McInerney said the forum was eager to meet with councillors and council officials but warned that all parties would have to be equally rep- resented at meetings.

“We want to make sure that all businesses have their voices heard,” she said.

Of the prospect of the Ennis Forum fielding a candidate in the forthcom- ing local elections, an option put for- ward at a Forum meeting two weeks, Ms McInerney said that the elections was not an “immediate issue’ and had not been discussed by the com- Hep LAK Lon