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THE benefits of pre-clearance are:

For passengers: It will save time and potentially save money.

e Shannon and Dublin are the only European airports that will have full pre clearance facilities on offer to passengers.

e The US currently has no plans to introduce pre-clearance elsewhere in Europe.

e Once the new pre-clearance fa- cilities are in place US bound pas- sengers out of Shannon and Dublin airports will have uninterrupted pas- sage through US airports on arrival. e All customs, US immigration and agriculture clearance will now be completed before passengers leave Ireland.

e Flights from Shannon and Dublin airports will be treated like domes- tic flights in the US. Passengers will have no need to undergo further time consuming checks in any US air- jour

e Passengers will now be able to

check their baggage through from Shannon and Dublin to their final destination in the US even if this involves two flights with different airlines.

¢ Domestic airports are generally cheaper for airlines to use and this should be reflected in the ticket price – meaning potentially cheaper flights for customers.

For airlines: Faster aircraft turnaround which saves money.

e Transatlantic airlines using Shan- non and Dublin will now be able to fly into less congested and less ex- pensive domestic terminals at US airports. This means easier access to aircraft stands thereby minimis- ing the time between touchdown and passengers exiting the aircraft.

e Airlines will now also be able to offer passengers easily accessible on- ward connections.

For Shannon Airport and the mid- west region:

Shannon will be the first airport in Ireland to offer full pre clearance

facilities. This will give the airport authority a unique selling point in its marketing campaigns to attract new airlines to service the airport.

e The introduction of pre-clearance will be particularly useful in the ef- forts of Shannon Airport to retain and promote transatlantic services.

e Pre-clearance will provide the op- portunity to promote the mid-west region for high worth tourism from the US with the strong selling point that on the return leg all US clear- ance requirements would be dealt with before departure.

e Pre-clearance has the potential to Open up other economic benefits for the Shannon region particularly for firms dependent on the US market.

For private aircraft:

e Pre-clearance is also being intro- duced at Shannon for private US bound aircraft. Shannon will be the only airport in Europe to offer this service to private aircraft owners.

e Shannon can expect a significant increase in private aircraft landing to avail of the facility.

KILRUSH Superintendent Michael Comyns met with the members of Kilrush Town Council on Thursday last to discuss the future of the Joint Policing Committee (JPC) in the OD e0r

The Kilkee native told the mem- bers that they would drive the suc- cess and workings of the committee as the council makes up the biggest group in the 17 person committee.

JPCs have been set up nationally in accordance with the Garda Siochana Act 2005, which provides for such a committee in each local authority administrative area.

The purpose of these committees is to provide a forum where a local authority and the senior Garda of- ficers responsible for the policing of that area, with the participation of Oireachtas members and community interests, can consult, discuss and make recommendations on matters affecting the policing of the area. It is intended that the committees will be co-operative in nature and will Operate with the minimum of for- mality.

“One of the most important parts of the committee 1s the people from the community and people from the vol- untary organisations. The best thing is to pick from the widest spectrum

such as the youth group and older people,’ the newly appointed super- intendent advised.

“You can only have three from the voluntary and community sector. This is very small for an area like Kilrush so it 1s important to pick from a broad spectrum,” he added.

‘The town council will have a huge influence on the joint policing com- mittee. The biggest thing is that this is not a blame game,” he said.

“Things will go wrong but if every- one pulls together hopefully we will get it right.”

Supt Comyns told the council that the committee can have a huge input into law and order in the town.

“If there is a public premises acting outside the law we can discuss it here and we can send someone from the joint police committee to object to the licence,” he said.

While most committees are to be made up of three Oireachtas mem- bers, Kilrush will have just one due to the number of TDs in the constitu- ency.

Councillor Christy O’Malley (FF) pointed out to the meeting however that none of the four TDs in Clare could be considered local to west OE cer

The cost of this new committee is to be borne by the council and it must hold a public meeting once a year.

IF YOU don’t employ a dedicated ac- countant, a designated person within your company may wish to under- take some training in the area. The ICAI runs subsidised business skills courses relevant for start-ups in con- junction with Government-sponsored training body, Skillnet.

These operate under the name “SME Growth Skillnet” and ICAI members and non-members can at-

tend. Basic Bookkeeping — Part One takes seven hours and takes students through the bookkeeping cycle from source documentation to preparing a trial balance. Next comes Basic Bookkeeping — Part Two, also last- ing seven hours. This module builds on part one and explains how to prepare financial statements from the trial balance. There is a shorter course too (3.5 hours) called Finan- cial Awareness for Administrators aiming to “dispel the mystery of fi-

nancial jargon” and explain the prin- ciples of business finance.

The Institute is also holding con- ferences 1n Dublin, Cork and Gal- way throughout November entitled ‘Members in Business”. The goal of the one-day events is to provide participants with key updates in im- portant areas of Financial Reporting, Tax and Commercial Law, as well as other topical issues. The cost of at- tending is €500, less 10 per cent for ICAI members.

YOUNGSTERS taking part in the Mountshannon based Alpha Project were getting a chemistry lesson last week which had nothing to do with fusty diagrams of molecules and eve- rything to do with real life.

Instead of watching dust motes dance in the classroom, the five stu- dents were out in the field, building a limestone kiln, learning about the chemistry involved in producing lime and also getting a lesson in traditional craft and history into the bargain.

“Traditionally, cottages were paint- ed with lime and lime was also used in mortar for buildings. It’s been

replaced now with cement but lime was a much more breathable sub- stance and more ecofriendlly”, said Alpha Project development officer, Caroline Kelly.

To learn about the versatile mate- rial which our grandparents would have used, the youngsters first built a lime-kiln from wattle and daub which they collected and made them- selves, under the expert eye of tradi- tional craftsman, Bernard Graves, who travels the world teaching crafts which are all but lost.

Having collected the ash for wattle and the wood to make charcoal in the Tuamgraney Community Woodland, the students were given limestone by McGrath’s quarry in Tulla. They lay-

ered the lime and charcoal, heated it to 900 degrees which left quicklime then slaked it with water to produce lime.

“They are anxious to use the lime and we will be doing some painting with it as well as letting some mature to make mortar’, said Caroline.

The project was funded by the Her- itage Council.

The Alpha project provides educa- tion through experience and the five students who took part in the lime kiln building have already gained Fetac certification in six subjects af- ter three years on the project.

“these are the first group to ask us to continue their education. Usually, when they reach 16, the students go

to do their Leaving Cert’, said Caro- line.

Established for seven years, the Alpha Project has put many students through and into the world of further education and work and they have just been awarded a research grant.

“We will use it to see where our students have gone and what has happened with them, so we will have a better picture next March’, said Caroline.

EXPERIENCE told in the end. That added touch of guile and know-how that two previous All-Ireland titles have given Laois champions The Harps. Their inter-play was slick, their movement elusive but some- times it is the smaller things that prove the difference in a tight con- test. For instance over a dozen times throughout this decider, The Harps got themselves out of trouble when surrounded, by dropping the hurley and handpassing to another player. In contrast, when Kilmaley were pre- sented with a similar predicament, nine times out of ten, their players opted to try and strike and invariably they were blocked down.

Those little differences are all part of a learning curve for Kilmaley who were only competing in their first national final and pride was just as evident as disappointment at the final whistle as manager John Carmody shrugged off the rain to reflect on his players’ performance.

“On behalf of Tommy Keane, Pat Lynch and myself, we were abso- lutely proud of the girls. Every time they have taken the field this year, they have fought to the last inch and they did the same today. Going into injury time, we were still only a puck of the ball behind but it just wasn’t to be today. They were just that small bit ahead of us.

“I suppose when you are playing teams like this, that you don’t see every week, it may take ten or fifteen minutes to get to grips with a side. We made moves and they worked and we stormed into the game. We had a tremendous last ten minutes of the first half and we felt that at half- time we were in a great position, not having hurled well, to be going in on level terms. But you have to credit the Harps because we threw every- thing we had at them in the second half but they just seemed to have that bit extra on us.

“We had a few half chances just af- ter half time that just went narrowly wide and you never know, if we had

gone ahead or got that point up, we might have seen a few mistakes in their game. But they got the scores and pushed home.”

Still with County and Munster hon- ours already secured, it has been a real whirlwind adventure for Carmo- dy and his side this year and he en- visages a bright future for his young Kilmaley side.

“Ya it’s been a great year. We are county and Munster champions and we only beaten by a puck of the ball in an All-Ireland final so they are a young team and hopefully they will stay committed and improve as time goes on.”

In a year of firsts that reaped so much, coming back even stronger will be a bigger test of this side in the coming year.

A FIVE-FIGURE sum of money and valuable pieces of jewellery, stolen during a spate of burglaries in Ennis over the past two months, have not yet been recovered.

This revelation emerged in the case of an Iranian refugee who is charged with three counts of burglary and one of handling stolen property. A total of 55 homes in Ennis were bur- gled between September and last week, prompting a major garda in- vestigation to be sprung into action. Jewellery, valued at €100,000, was recovered last Saturday week, as part of Operation Ennis, which was set up to investigate the matter.

Ali Reza Velayati (39), of Avondale, Kilrush Road, Ennis, 1s accused of

four alleged offences, on four sepa- rate dates in October and November.

The burglary charges relate to houses at Tobartaoscain, Ard na Gréine and Limerick Road, Ennis. Jewellery, valued at €1,950, was taken from one of the houses, while jewellery, worth €500, was taken from another house.

He is accused of handling assorted stolen jewellery, at Oakwood Drive, Ennis, on November 8 last.

Defending solicitor Daragh Has- sett was granted free legal aid for his client, who he said is a refugee. However, an application for bail was refused, after gardai objected.

Inspector Tom Kennedy said the charges in court formed “part of a whole plethora of charges relating to the burglary of 55 private residences

in Ennis between late September and November.”

‘He has been interviewed in rela- tion to all of these offences. While we have not brought charges in rela- tion to all of those, we are consulting with the DPP,” he said.

Mr Hassett said his client has been in Ireland for the past six months, having previously lived in China, under a refugee programme. He said the accused could not return to either Iran or China and effectively had “nowhere to go”.

‘He is not at flight risk, if that’s the State’s concern,’ said Mr Hassett.

However Inspector Kennedy dis- puted this and said the accused was at “enormous flight risk. His position in the country is very tenuous.” He said if bail was granted, there would

be concerns that the defendant would disappear.

“Despite the fact that a huge amount of property has been recovered, there is still a huge amount of property outstanding,” he said, adding that the State would be concerned the ac- cused could turn this into an “asset for himself.”

Detective Sergeant Michael Molo- ney then told the court that the “more valuable pieces of jewellery’, along with a five-figure sum of cash, were still outstanding. Dt Sgt Moloney said that the accused’s wife was no longer living at their address at Avondale.

“He has no direct links to this country. He is here on a travel docu- ment as opposed to a passport, under a refugee programme. I don’t believe he will turn up for a subsequent hear-

ing (if granted bail),” he said.

Mr Hassett said that his client’s wife is heavily pregnant and was staying with a friend, as she did not want to stay at their home on her own. He said his client could not leave the jurisdiction without the rel- evant documentation. However, Dt Sgt Moloney replied, “We all know if you want to leave the jurisdiction it can be done.”

Inspector Kennedy said that back- ground checks were still being proc- essed in relation to the accused. ““The State has a responsibility. There is overwhelming evidence against the accused,’ he said.

Judge Joseph Mangan refused bail and remanded the accused in cus- tody to re-appear in court later this month.

A MEMBER of Kilrush Town Coun- cil has accused the ESB of snubbing the council as a meeting between the electricity supply board and the local authority failed to materialise.

Councillor Collie Sweeney (Ind) also asked if the electricity supply board was in breech of its contract with the council.

He told Thursday evening’s meet- ing of the council, “We invited repre- sentatives of the ESB to address this council and to account for its neglect of the public lightening system in OTT ab ss e

“This council pays a premium rate to the ESB for the contract to supply and maintain a decent public light- ening service in the town. I think we should call in our legal adviser and ask if the ESB might be sued for breach of contract as it has failed to fulfil its obligations. But then the ESB enjoys a monopoly and can snub and ignore anything we say in this council chamber,” he said.

“There is an urgent need to carry out a survey of the public lightening in the town.”

“T walk the town every night of the week and can tell you that many lights are out of commission. Some

housing estates have no proper light- ing and this has security considera- tions for the residents living there. Maybe the town engineer will con- duct this survey and redden the ears of the ESB as to their contractual ob- ligations,” said Cllr Sweeney.

The Independent councillor said that on November 12 there were 42 lights out in the town and asked if the council was getting a sufficient Service.

Executive Engineer Derek Troy in- formed the councillor that all public lights are checked on the first week of each month by the town general Services Supervisor.

‘Following the monthly check a re- port of all defective public lights 1s sent to the ESB. Under the council’s contract with the ESB, any defec- tive public lights are required to be repaired within two weeks of this report,” the reply said.

‘An overall assessment of the pub- lic lighting system is carried out reg- ularly in conjunction with a member of personnel from the ESB. This as- sessment sets outs areas in need of upgrade to existing public lights and areas for the provision of additional or new public lights where street lighting does not currently exist,” he NCO

MAINTAINING the Roche _ phar- maceutical plant in Clarecastle as a world class site is critical to ensuring the company’s future status in the area, a meeting has heard

That was the view expressed by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) at last week’s meeting of councillors representing the Ennis Electoral Area.

Cllr Meaney stated that Roche, Clarecastle, was in competition with other Roche facilities around the world, to develop new and high quality product lines. As such, said Cllr Meaney, effort must be made by Clare County Council to ensure that a “valuable employer” like Roche re- mains in Clarecastle.

“Clare County Council needs to work with significant emphasis to make sure that Roche is a world class site. The entrance to Roche will have to be significantly improved”, said Cllr Meaney.

He added “We are at a critical juncture with dealing with Roche…. If they are not successful, it could effect the future of the plant. Clare County Council must do everything it can”.

The matter arose following a mo- tion put forward by Cllr Bernard Hanrahan (FF). Cllr Hanrahan asked when work at a junction at the entrance of Roche was expected to be completed.

Work at the site, at the corner of Clarehill and Patrick Street, was

delayed after a derelict cottage there was deemed to be a protected structure. A report carried out two years ago by then Conservation Of- ficer Risteard Ua Cronin found that the house was an 18th or early 19th century dwelling that appeared to be of “high architectural and heritage interest”.

Speaking at last week’s meeting, Cllr Hanrahan said that permission had been given to demolish half of the cottage. He said that work on traffic calming measures at the en- trance should be completed as soon as possible.

‘The issue of the junction has been dragging on and on for too long now’, said Cllr Hanrahan.

He added, “The worst thing about

this now is that they will probably have to put in traffic lights and a roundabout there to keep residents rN Koh

Cllr Meaney urged the Council to contact Roche with an effort to 1m- prove site access to the facility. He said the company were willing to contribute to the cost of carrying out the works.

Cllr Hanrahan said Roche were eager for the work to be completed. “Its important we get this moving,’ added Cllr Hanrahan.

Responding to Cllr Hanrahan’s motion, Declan O’Regan, Senior Ex- ecutive Engineer stated ‘Roche have not approached this office in recent times to advise that they intend to go ahead with these works.

TEAMS of amateur journalists and photographers from Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon have taken it upon them- selves to report all of the schools ac- tivities on the Internet.

A new website, located at www. scoil-mhuire.ie, is being updated dai- ly with news and information from the school by this budding group of young reporters.

“Up until last year we had no web- site in the school at all so I came up with the idea more as something for incoming first years to have a look at and find out what the school was like. But since it was set up it has

turned into much more than that,” said teacher Laura Cullen.

“Any event that takes place – wither it be a sports event or a retreat – some- one will write a report about it and we also usually have a student who will take some nice pictures. Most of the work is undertaken by the transi- tion year students but everyone helps out in some way.

“It’s updated pretty much every day which makes it something different from other school website which never really change.”

Besides the news section the web- site also includes a regularly updated school calander and a separate tran- sition year calendar which included

deadlines and reminders on all up- coming assignments.

“It’s great for the girls – they get a nice training in writing and photog- raphy and they get to have their work published as well. We are actually going to set up a photo section in the future where we will able to upload photo albums,’ continued Laura.

“Or aim by the end of the year is to have a team of journalists and a team of photographers who will have es- sentially built this website since the start of the year.

“We are still working at it and try- ing to improve it all the time and the hope is that we can keep make it bet- ter and better throughout the year.”

Some for the recent news items on the site include a presentation by the school Taekwon-Do team to Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin, a third year trip to the Merchant of Venice, a report on a first year basketball match and a heartsaver AED train- ing course for students.

In addition to all of this the website contains a career section with dates for up coming career events, a full prospectus for new students and de- tails for the school parents council.

MUNSTER finals may not be a new experience for Danny Chaplin but this is groundbreaking and unchar- tered territory for his young Broad- ICO) KO MILO (oR

After giving almost a quarter of a century of service as a player and mentor for his native Sixmilebri- dge, his move to Broadford saw him take over the reins in the local club in 2005 and he set about remoulding the then recently relegated side into a senior force once more.

Broadford finally realised that aim three weeks ago against his former side in the incessant rain of Clare- castle but having witnessed what a Munster run did for fellow Clare sides in recent years, his side weren’t just content with county honours.

Two years on from their Munster success, Clooney/Quin were within a whisker of the senior quarter-finals this year and subsequently reached a senior B final while Clonlara’s whirl- wind journey to county senior suc- cess this year proved what a boost a Munster intermediate title can be.

Successive battling displays against Templederry Kenyons and Bruff fol- lowed and now Broadford are only

sixty minutes away from emulating their neighbours achievements over the past two years.

“Our aim at the start of the year was just to win Clare but everything has taken off since. We had three weeks in a row of great results and the whole parish is literally gone mental here. There are flags outside every house and there are kids com- ing down watching training. It has done so much and it has given a lift to everyone.

“I think the character of the team really came to the fore last time against Bruff. We were playing up the hill against the wind and they were after pulling back a seven point lead down to a point and I think that is when the boys really stood up and were counted.”

It wasn’t all plain sailing for Broad- ford this year, however. Twice in the group stages, Parteen had the indian sign over the east Clare side to put their championship ambitions in real peril but if anything, it was the jolt they needed to up the ante and be- come a more resiliant outfit.

‘I said a few things in the dressing room after the Parteen game that day that they didn’t like. They didn’t like hearing them and I didn’t like say-

ing them but in fairness to them, the following Tuesday night, there was twenty eight of them down at train- ing out of twenty nine and that other player was away. You can’t ask for any more than that and they realised that they were the ones who had to do it. We could do no more for them on the sideline, it had to come from the players and in fairness to them, the commitment they have given since that day has been phenomenal.

“They are now like one big unit. I mean we tried to bring in a family aspect to the squad where you are playing for the fella alongside you as much as you are playing for the par- ish and yourself.”

Blarney are Broadford’s opponents in Sunday’s decider after receiving a bye in the semi-finals as the Wa- terford championship was not com- pleted in time.

The Cork side accounted for Antho- ny Daly’s Kilmoyley in the quarter- final, a team who were fancied to go far in this year’s provincial race and while Chaplin admits to not knowing too much about Blarney, he acknowl- edges the significance of this unique opportunity for his Broadford side.

‘There are 32 teams in the interme- diate championship in Cork so you

don’t win it easily. The only thing I know about them is that they have been in the semi-final three years in a row so they have been knocking on the door for a while and they are a very good side I believe.

“But we are concentrating on our- selves. Ninety per cent of our players will probably never be in a Munster final again. This is our chance and they don’t come around too often so we are trying to stress that. Not to get too overawed by the occasion but keep their feet on the ground and give their all. We would just like to emu- late Clooney-Quin and Clonlara.

“IT was involved with the ‘Bridge years ago and I remember we won a Munster club in 1995 and different Clare clubs won it in 796, ’97, ’98 and “99 and we were back in it in 2000.

“IT remember before that game, it was the one thing we said that we were not going to be the club that loses it for Clare and in that respect, Broadford don’t want to be the club that loses the Munster intermediate championship for Clare and that is not to put too much pressure on the players as the same time.”