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THE introduction of short-time working hours at the Element Six plant in Shannon, originally planned for January, has been deferred until opts)

Management at Element Six are meeting with workers’ representa- tives this week after workers staged a sit-in at the factory last Friday.

Workers were protesting against the planned introduction of short-time working hours, which they claim would cut the wages of up to 180 workers at the plant by 50 per cent.

A compromise 1s believed to have been reached, whereby short-time would be introduced for a defined period of time and not indefinitely,

The new working arrangements were due to be introduced earlier this year but workers rejected the propos- al on the grounds that no negotiation had taken place between manage- ment and unions. Workers believe cost-cutting measures are not being introduced on an equitable basis.

The company announced last De- cember that it was seeking 150 re- dundancies as part of a group-wide Savings programme and sustainabil-

Tava) e-b ee

That figure has been reached through a combination of voluntary and compulsory redundancies.

One member of staff, speaking anonymously, said workers remained confident that union representatives would be able to negotiate a package that will share the financial burden in an equitable manner.

“No members of the management have taken their fair share of the fi- nancial burden. It has all been tar- geted at floor staff and that is why we were protesting.”

A meeting between staff and gen-

eral management is expected to take ECO AN KIL c1o).@

Element Six manufactures and dis- tributes industrial diamonds and su- per-hard materials and its products are mainly used in the manufacture of tools for such applications as drill- ing, sawing, cutting, grinding and polishing of different materials.

Element Six, which was established in the Shannon Free Zone in 1960 as De Beers, currently employs just un- Caen eee

The company is co-owned by South African diamond giant De Beers and Belgian company Umicore.

IT’S only the second week of the sea- son but Ballyea are already making waves in their first ever minor league campaign. Last week, they surprised Newmarket to prevail by three points and on Saturday, they took another scalp in the form of St Joseph’s Doo- ra/Barefield.

Now it’s early days and most sides are still adjusting to the new season but the most impressive part of this Ballyea side so far is that they are a very young side. Half of their start- ing line-up on Saturday are still un- derage for Under 16 this year, having built up a winning mentality from their Feile na nGael excursion two years ago.

In contrast, St Joseph’s, off the back of a battling two point victory over Eire Og, were a totally different side and never got to grips with their livlier opponents over the hour. Bal- lyea were sharp and incisive while St Joseph’s, depsite having the physi- cal advantage, were unable to find space and appeared quite toothless Vom BKeysle

Even a lack of nets or lines couldn’t knock the home side off their stride and in fact, neither goalkeeper had to make a save, which made umpiring duties all the easier. Instead, Ballyea were content to pick off their points, with Tony Kelly’s unerring free-tak- ing punishing St Joseph’s repeated indiscipline. Wing-forward Kelly converted fourteen points, thirteen of those from frees and his reliability from placed balls was a real source of confidence for his side over the telene

St Joseph’s started with the aid of a significant breeze and in fact were Q-2 to 0-1 ahead after seven minutes with a great Niall Deloughery score on the run from halfway and a Shane O’Connor free cancelling out Kelly’s

opening free. However, it was to be Doora/Barefield’s last score for 44 minutes as Ballyea finally settled. Instead, the home side hit six suc- cessive first-half points, four from the stick of Kelly to lead by O-7 to Q-2 at the break and it could have

been much worse only for some good defending from Kieran Clune and Conor Lyons.

Ballyea were equally miserly in de- fence though and as Doora/Barefield totted up six first half wides, Ballyea had impressive displays from Paul

Flanagan, Jack Browne, Gearoid O’Connell, Martin O’Leary and Kel- ly. The second half continued in the same fashion with Kelly converting four more frees along with one from play through Martin O’Leary before St Joseph’s would score again.

The change came with Kieran Clune’s switch to the forward line but some last gasp defending from Cathal Doohan and Declan Keane ensured that Doora/Barefield could not pierce their defence. Leo Duggan did finally put over for the away side in the 51st but by then, the game was clearly beyond them and four more Kelly frees and some quick think- ing from Gearoid O’Connell to set up midfield partner Stan Lineen for the final score rounded off a hugely impressive afternoon for Ballyea.

With one foot already in the semi- finals, a win against Eire Og this week will guarantee their place at the penultimate stage. Considering that they were unsure of whether even to enter the tournament at the start of the year, it has certainly been a beneficial first foray into a Minor A competition.

Shannon’s Gallic flavour doubled

HAVING taken on board some north- ern influence last year in the shape of All-Ireland winning manager Mick- ey Harte from Tyrone and Seamus McEneaney from Monaghan, Clare football champions Kilmurry Ibrick- ane have already begun their quest to defend their county title by looking north once more.

Over the weekend, Tony Scullion, an All-Ireland winner with Derry in 1993, visited the West Clare club and laid some foundations for what could be another hugely successful season. His visit came a week before the be- ginning of the Cusack Cup and re- inforces the fact that the West Clare side will be the obvious team to beat throughout 2009.

Scullion was widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers to play for Derry and is among the few play- ers who won four All Stars over the course of their career. It’s not as if Scullion lacks any sideline knowl-

edge though.

He was part of Ulster’s backroom team during last year’s Railway Cup and it was for this and for his well- known ability as a motivator that he made the long trip to the West of Clare to kick-start Kilmury Ibrick- ane’s season.

CITYJET is to double its capac- ity on the Shannon to Paris-Charles de Gaulle route. Transport Minister Noel Dempsey was in Shannon yes- terday to announce the new capacity and new departure times, linking up with 841 destinations.

Parent company, Air France will base its modern AVRO RJ85 aircraft in Shannon to serve the route. The aircraft will cater for 95 passengers in two classes.

Basing the aircraft in Shannon

means that the first flight will depart from Shannon earlier in the morning and the last flight will return to Shan- non later in the evening, offering a wider choice of connecting flights.

The Shannon to Paris-Charles De Gaulle flights will depart at 06.30 and 14.50 every day, arriving in Paris at 09.30 and 17.55, local time, while the Paris to Shannon flights will leave CDG at 11.00 and 18.45 local time, arriving in Shannon at 12.05 and 19.50.

Minister Dempsey said he very much welcomed the entrepreneurial approach

that CityJet and Air France have taken to ensure that the mid-west continues to have easy access to key European and international destinations.

Mr Geoffrey O’Byrne White, Cit- yJet’s chief executive, said that while this was a resounding vote of confi- dence on the part of Air France and CityJet for the hard-hit mid-west re- gion, the support of the community for this service was “vital for its sur- vival”.

Shannon Airport Director, Martin Moroney described the announce- ment as a major vote of confidence

and he called on industry and tour- ism in the mid-west to fully support it. “This is excellent news for the region as it significantly enhances one-stop connectivity options out of Shannon. We now have better access than ever to international markets from Shannon and, having fought so hard for this, we would call on the industry and tourism sectors here to take full advantage of it,” he said. Deputy Timmy Dooley said it will ‘be a boost to business in the region, providing excellent connection for business customers, despite the on- going global economic downturn. “It also shows that other interna- tional airlines view Shannon as a strategically important airport hub that is not just a destination in itself but that can also serve as a link to other flights travelling across the At- lantic and to other destinations.” Fine Gael’s Deputy Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Clare, TD Pat Breen has welcomed the news. He said, “This news 1s a vote of con- fidence in Shannon Airport and I am delighted that Cityjet has decided to follow up on their commitment to ex- pand and increase their services.” Vincent Cunnane, Chief Executive of Shannon Development, said the “development will bring significant opportunities to grow tourism and industrial business for the Shannon region and the west of Ireland.”

WITH a little over a quarter of the game elapsed, the task for Clare was beginning to become obvious. The trip to Emyvale to face one of the standard bearers of the game was an obvious step up in class for Clare and playing a simple and effective game, Monaghan had run through the visitors for a couple of well crafted scores.

The most crucial came after 17 min- utes when Therese McNally latched onto a breaking ball close to goal.

She drifted in from the left wing and once in possession, there was only one outcome. Goal. The thing was, this was Monaghan’s second goal of the game and it pushed them into an eight point lead.

It wasn’t as though Monaghan had things all their own way because Clare, after taking five minutes to settle, had begun to win some pos- session around the middle. The thing was, they were finding it more diffi- cult to come by scores.

Aine Kelly was working hard and winning ball and looked dangerous but after 20 minutes, she was with- drawn with injury. It wasn’t the only blow to Clare and by the end of the opening half, they were also with- out Grace Lynch and Aifric O’ Neill, through injury — all within the space of three minutes.

At the Monaghan end of the field, they simply ploughed on and contin- ued to heap pressure on Clare. Ni- amh Kindlon and Edel Byrne were causing particular problems, an ele- ment that was flagged in the open- ing five minutes, at which stage both had linked up impressively. By then, Kindlon had opened the Monaghan account with three scores, a well tak- en point in the opening seconds of the game, a close range free shortly after and a goal in the fifth minute.

Already, that difficult task for Clare had become all the more demanding. But they didn’t exactly back off the challenge and continued to attempt to claw back the growing deficit but against a tenacious defence and a competent midfield, Clare began to run down one way lanes and by the time the break had come, they were 3-4 to O-1 in arrears.

That third Monaghan goal came

two minutes before half-time when a Kindlon attempt at a point came back off the posts and the dropping ball fell into the hands of McNally and she had the task of easily slotting the ball into an empty net for her second

goal of the game.

That dozen point lead at the break came despite some decent defending from Clare, including three qual- ity blocks that prevented a trio of scores.

Afterwards, Clare almost pulled that lead back to nine when Eimear Considine hit the post with a shot from 20 yards out. That effort even- tually resulted in a Clare free when Niamh Keane was fouled, with the

free converted by Majella Griffin.

If this looked like some respite for Clare, it didn’t turn out that way. Monaghan continued to run hard at Clare through the middle of the field and sixty seconds later, Kendlon and Aoife McAnaspie had extended the Monaghan lead.

It could have been more when Ni- amh Kindlon and Edel Byrne linked up once more, but Byrne’s shot was brilliantly saved by Denise Walsh in the Clare goal.

Midway through the second half Clare managed a goal themselves when Majella Griffin, now playing at full-forward, ghosted inside the full-back line and picked up a long pass from Considine. In between the Monaghan goal effort and the Clare green flag, the home side had man- aged to rack up four points to safe- eAut-Nue Ostomy ene

With the writing on the wall, things fizzled out during the last quarter and deservedly, Monaghan eased to victory.

For Clare, the true task of top flight football became more vivid but all things considered, this is almost as tough as it gets.

CLARE County Council has been told that the adoption of the Ennis and Environs Development Plan may have jeopardised the level of future “infrastructural investment” in the county.

The Department of the Environ- ment has also stated that in its cur- rent form, the plan may fail to meet certain statutory obligations and could be open to legal challenge by the European Commission.

The warning is contained in a let- ter written by Eddie Kiernan, private secretary to the Minister for the En- vironment John Gormley to Berna- dette Kinsella, Director of Services at Clare County Council.

Members of Clare County Council passed the Ennis and Environs De- velopment Plan last December.

In doing so, they ignored Minister Gormley’s request to de-zone large tracts of land and to tighten controls on one-off housing.

In the letter Mr Kiernan said that the minister acknowledged the con- cerns of councillors over the “financ- ing of water services infrastructure” for the Ennis area.

However, Mr Kiernan said _ that land zoned in the plan catered for a population jump of “30,000 to over 100,000 although the expected pop- ulation growth over the period of the plan is only of the order of 6,500”.

He continued, “In such circum- stances and without any clear phas- ing of lands for development, the plan provides for an ad-hoc and de- velopment led approach to planning, making the efficient and orderly pro- vision of physical and social infra- structure more difficult to achieve.”

Mr Kiernan said, “In the current climate, departments and agencies must consider how they should pri- oritise their resources to deliver best value for money and provide a sound basis for improving economic per- formance and competitiveness.”

“However, without a development plan that is coherent and consistent with regional and national policies and priorities and indeed with strong forecasts set down in the County De- velopment Plan and Housing Strat- egy, the Ennis and Environs Plan as adopted fails to provide the neces- sary framework underpinning the delivery of value for money for in- frastructural investment. It is likely that infrastructural investment deci- sions at central government level will take account of that in allocation of scarce resources.’

Mr Kiernan said the European

Commission may also challenge the ene

‘The plan as adopted has also sig- nificant issues relating to appropri- ate assessment under the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and Strategic Environmental Assessment and the potential impacts of zoning deci- sions on the designated sites around the environs area, including the zon- ing of 25ha of land from open coun- tryside to industrial at Beechpark, which was recommended against under the Appropriate Assessment.

“Given the serious implications for designated areas and possible legal challenge by the European Com- mission, the department will have to consider whether the plan has met it’s statutory obligations and has been made in accordance with EU directive requirements,” said Mr Ki- ere

AS the players ambled out of the dressing room in Casement Park on Saturday, there was an understanda- bly muted atmosphere. After all, this was a rather forgettable defeat but instead of being able to put it behind them, they still had the unenviable task of having to make the five hour trip home, where introspection and a post mortem were inevitable.

Clare selector James Hanrahan epitomised Clare’s disappointment and as he attempted to express his views on the night’s events, he cut a figure of frustration as to what went wrong.

“It’s hard to know. The way the game started, it opened up at a hun- dred miles an hour and there were chances at both ends. Our retention of the ball was very poor, we kept giving the ball away whereas Antrim made more use of their possession.

“Anytime they came down the field, they kind of punished us whereas we were going back up and giving the ball back to them. Our whole centre seemed to open up, our midfield was gone and our half-forward line were attacking and the next thing they were coming down and attacking in

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“So we are disappointed, we were very poor last week on the breaking ball and I though we improved that in the first half and the next thing, we went up the field and kept handing it back to Antrim.”

All that after Clare got an early boost with Steven Moloney’s op- portunistic goal after only forty sec- oy aTekse

“Well of course Antrim could have got the perfect start too, they missed a goal chance before we went back up and we got a good chance. The way the game opened up, it was end to end really, there was no marking, no defending, no nothing, it was just a pure open game. They made more use of their chances definitely but there was a lot of space.”

The Doora/Barefield man was open and frank in his appraisal of the per- formance but also questioned the logic of fixing the game for 7.30pm when an early throw-in time on Sun- day would have facilitated the play- ers better.

“We were five points down and we had a couple of chances to bring it back to three but we didn’t take them while every time that Antrim at- tacked, they seemed to score. As I

say, our ball retention was very poor, we kept handing ball back to them and most teams will punish you if you keep giving them enough ball. That’s the most disappointing part of it. Chances-wise, we ran out of steam and Antrim were way sharper, they were flying it but at the same time, we still had our chances.

‘The fitness levels of our lads, even from the McGrath Cup, especially late on were noticeable. Unless it was the travelling, they had a long day to- day and you would have to question having the game on at half seven of a Saturday evening.

“The team travelled up last night and it’s a long day waiting to play the game. We are travelling down to- night and it’s going to be a long night and you would have to question the wisdom of the game being played at this time. Sligo wouldn’t agree to play us last week in Cooraclare at half seven but I suppose if you look at the game, Antrim were the better team and were way sharper, their sideline was very good and they got some great scores.

“We just didn’t have the legs for

them and you can put that down to maybe a lack of fitness or you can put it down to maybe having to hang around all day waiting to play a game. They are only amateur players and arriving home at four o’clock in the morning, is that the right thing? If the game was fixed for one or two o’clock tomorrow, it would have been better but we are not making any excuses, the better team won on the day.”

Emmy nomination for Inagh

AS both sets of players warmed down on Cusack Park on Sunday, Clare manager Mike McNamara and selector Alan Cunningham stood in a huddle in front of the dug-outs. There were no visible signs of head- scratching but there was no doubt that they were picking through the bones of their second successive league defeat.

Clare were puzzlingly sluggish and were made to look distinctly average against a Somewhat expermental Wa- terford side. It was a weariness akin to a veteran boxer on the ropes and as Mike McNamara embraced the wait- ing media, he didn’t pull any punches either.

“What can you say after watching that? Waterford were much sharper and much hungrier and obviously had a bit of homework done. I sup- pose they really caught us napping. There are no excuses for a perform- ance like that, it was below par and not what you’d expect in your own home grounds.”

Neither was he willing to fall back on any alibis for his side’s display.

“IT suppose we lost a lot of last week’s team. We lost Carmody, Con- lon, and Gerry Quinn yesterday in a training ground accident so if we were looking for excuses, maybe that would be it. But we are not looking for excuses and we have to knuckle down now and have a look at the

rest of the league and make sure that we get some points fast. We go to Thurles next and it is not the easiest place in the world to get them (Tip- perary) but we will go there looking for a win and see can we lift our sea- son. Realistically there is no excuse for it – it was a bad performance, a poor performance all-round.”

Murmurs of a stringent two hour training the day before were also dis- missed by McNamara as justification for the seven point defeat.

“We did a two hour session yes- terday as well as Thursday and Wednesday. But that really wouldn’t have been an excuse for a lacklustre performance like that in front of your own crowd.

“It would be something that every team is doing so I’m aware that we have to look a bit further ahead. | suppose if there is some brightness from today it’s that the full-back line were solid all the way through. Our middle eight struggled to make any headway but you must remember that Waterford were in last year’s All-Ire- land final and while they may not have acquitted themselves as they would have liked, they are still All- Ireland finalists, although we looked a bit light as well.”

Can he pinpoint the reason for the lethargy and lack of spark currently enveloping his side?

“As I say, I’ve never been into the excuses game. When you are beat- en, you are beaten. I mean you can

have an excuse for everything but it’s something we have to look at and address. We have a large panel of 37 people and we are trying to figure out which are the 20 that can assault the championship. Along the way, we might take some players back as maybe we will find out that some may or may not be good enough for it. We have about ten players who have not featured yet and you know, they have to feature and get a chance. Some of them came through the underage ranks and look good so we have to look and see what our best 20 or 21 players for June 21. But before we get there, we have to straighten the camp and get it right. It’s not right and we are ragged. Look at the six forwards out there in the second half and there was none of them playing in the post- tion they were supposed to be play- ing in. They were being dragged and pulled and sucked all over the place so there is an anxiety in their play that shouldn’t be there. You are talking about experienced players and even the younger players, there is a nervousness and excitement with them that shouldn’t be there. That isn’t part of modern sport.” The head scratching continues.