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MORE than 500 Clare farmers will be hit with interest charges and non- payment penalties following the Government’s decision to default on the payment of the Farm Waste Man- agement Scheme.

Farmers all over the county have taken out bank loans to fund the construction of storage facilities for farm waste following the introduc- tion of tight environmental controls in the 2007 EU nitrate regulations.

However, following the downturn in the public finances the Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith, has confirmed that the Government will not be able to fully fund a Govern- ment scheme to help cover the cost of some of the construction work.

These have left many Clare farmers with large bank loans that they can no longer afford to pay. It is feared in some quarters that banks will not be willing to extend more credit to farmers who cannot meet repay- ments.

“We would hope that things don’t get as bad as that. We would hope that any farmer with a decent credit history would be given some backing by the banks on this issue, especially as the banks are to blame for a good part of this situation,’ said Clare IFA Chairman, Michael Lynch.

“We will hope that the Govern-

ment will be able to help out in in- terest and charges from the bank as a result of this. The minister will be meeting with representatives from the bank later this week and the hope is that some sort of arrangement can be reached.”

More than 17,000 farmers through- out the country will be effected by the Governments failure to fully fi- nance this scheme.

IFA National President, Padraig Walshe, accused agricultural minis-

ter of abject failure and of “breaking his word” on the issue.

According to Walshe, Irish farmers who have carried out work have up to €500 million borrowed in bridging finance, which is costing them be- tween €2.5 million and €3.1 million per month.

DESPITE giving up home advan- tage, Tulla United came through a tough third round tie with Shannon Olympic at Lees Road on Sunday

morning. In a hotly contested affair, Tulla physicality saw them through a very spirited challenge from the Shannon side, who will rue not tak- ing the chances that came their way.

Tulla just about shaded an even first

half with Keith Lenihan and Alan Brigdale both failing to capatalise on good openings.

The vital breakthrough came with just over half an hour on the clock. A corner from the right was flicked

on well at the near post by Andy McMahon. Keith Lenihan then got a touch to the ball, which was goal bound when Olympic keeper Kieran McCarthy fisted the ball into his own net.

Olympic will have been dissap- pointed not to go in at half time on terms with Paul O’Connor shoot- ing wide when one on one with the Neale

Olympic had the better of much of the second half with Ricky Collins making a number of quality saves to keep the Shannon men at bay. The best chance of the half fell to Donnacha Kelly whose header went inches wide.

Best for Tulla were Alan McMahon, Keith Lenihan and Denis Murphy.

THERE is enough oil and gas re- serves off the Clare coast to pay off Ireland’s nation debt several times over and lift the country out of the recession – if the Government can renegotiate contracts with multina- tional exploration companies. According to a report by the Petro- leum Affairs Division of the Depart- ment of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources there is the potential for some 10 billion barrels

of oil to be recovered off the Irish coast, with an estimated 206 million barrels of oil located in the Spanish Point field. Even at current low mar- ket prices the total value of oil at this field would come to more than €1 billion. This is just a small fraction of the overall estimated value at the Spanish Point field however, which has a known reserve of one and a quarter trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

At present exploration at the Span- ish Point field, as well as the neigh-

bouring Burren field, is being man- aged by Providence Resources.

New legislation requires explo- ration companies to pay the Irish Government 40 per cent of their oils and gas finds in Irish waters – how- ever, older fields, such as the Spanish Point, Burren and Corrib finds, only require a payment of 25 per cent.

Fine Gael spokesman for Energy and Natural Resources, Simon Cov- eney said last week that the Govern- ment should renegotiate this deal – while local councillor Martin Con-

way (FG) believes that the Govern- ment should seek even better terms or even go into the exploration busi- ness themselves.

“The least that the Government should get from these resources should be 50 per cent. You have to make projects like this viable for pri- vate companies but I think that we need to get a better deal,” said Cllr Conway.

“In terms of employment we need to maximise everything that we have. I was in Doolin over the weekend and

it was shocking the number of build- ers who are unemployed.

“We need to look at every way that we can think of for generating any jobs, whether they be low-skilled jobs or high-skilled jobs. I think that we need to look at ways that the Gov- ernment could go into partnership with oil companies and exploit the resources of the country together.”

The Spanish Point and Burren fields are located in an area known as the Porcupine Basin – located some 200 km directly off the Clare coast.

NEWMARKET Celtic edged past Bridge Celtic in this all Premier League clash on Sunday afternoon.

One of the stand out ties when the draw for the Clare Cup was made last month, there was always going to be little to choose between reigning league champions Newmarket and their predecessors, Bridge Celtic.

As such, it took a goal of immense quality to settle a tight affair in New- market. Damien O’ Malley produced a superb lob to give Newmarket the lead inside the first ten minutes.

After such an explosive opening and given the calibre of the sides in- volved, you might have been forgiven for anticipating a goal fest. That nev- er materialised.

Despite a better showing in the second half, Bridge struggled to find the spark that has been the hallmark of some of their better displays this season.

Instead they found Newmarket in stubborn mood. When you talk about calibre, it isn’t just confined to those who ply the trade further up the field.

It also refers to the men at the back. For Newmarketet, Mark O’Malley and Colm Treacy were utterly de- pendable in defence. Likewise for Bridge, Pat Murtagh can pleased with his display at centre back.

The omens weren’t too promis- ing for Bridge even before kick off. Without a natural goalkeeper, K1- eran Aherne, normally a defender,

stepped in to fill a problem position on Johnny Flynn’s team.

Within minutes of the start, Aherne was picking the ball out of then net. Though in fairness, there he was little he could have done to prevent Newmarket from taking the lead.

The ball broke on the right hand

side of the Bridge penalty area and found its way to the grateful Darren OVEN

Spotting Aherne ever so slightly off his line, the midfielder’s perfectly judged chip arced over and into the net. It was the perfect start for New- market. The home side went looking

for a second goal and with the pacy Eoin Hayes and Damien O’Malley looking dangerous, it looked a real possibility.

But Bridge stood firm, giving lit- tle away at the back and making it to half time just one goal behind.

Celtic passed the ball a lot better af- ter the break but will be disappointed not to have made more of the posses- sion they enjoyed.

Newmarket were not for moving though Bridge came close to equal- ising when Ger O’Connell’s fiercely struck free kick was well tipped over by Newmarket goalie Trevor O’Donnell.

A TRANSITION-YEAR – student from Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon will represent the county in the All- Ireland final of the Soroptomists Public Speaking Competition later this month.

Sharon Howley will pit her wits against some of the most talented young debaters in the country at the national final after winning the re- gional heat in Tralee last week.

“Both myself and my friend Niamh Brosnan made it through to the sec- ond qualification round in Tralee and

I was lucky enough to qualify from the national finals,” she said.

“The finals will take place on the 28th of this month in Athlone. You keep the same topic throughout each round so I will be using the same speech for Athlone as I used in Tral- ee. The judges sometimes tell you to change a few bits from round to round but after Tralee they told me to keep the speech that I have.

“There will also be an impromptu round in Athlone. This means that we will be given just two minutes to prepare a speech on a subject – it can be any topic under the sun – and you

have to speak on it. Everyone gets the same topic but no-one knows un- til exactly two minutes before you go on so it is very challenging.”

Sharon qualified for the final after winning in the last round of heats Where she debated on the subject of education. “I decided to talk on the subject of education. The main phrase of the talk was that “education is what remains’ so I spoke on the underachievers in education and how the system has to change. Things have been discovered but real chang- es need to be implemented to make it a success,’ she continued.

Both Sharon and Niamh were pre- pared for the competition by Scoul Mhuire teacher Mrs O’ Flaherty.

Meanwhile, Gort Community School’s under-15 public speaking team – which includes Francis Whe- lan, Amy Quirke and Meagan Mulcair – are also through to the All-Ireland final of the Women’s Business Insti- tute public speaking competition.

After winning the local heat by speaking on the subject of the envi- ronment, health and relationships, they will now represent the west of Ireland in Trinity College on Febru- Na PACe

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

WEN ohe

“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.