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INCOMING president of the INTO, Corofin native Declan Kelleher lashed out at budget measures which will affect class sizes in his presi- dential speech at the weekend and he was supported by Bishop of Killaloe, Willie Walsh.

Speaking to 450 delegates at the Presidential dinner in the Falls Ho- tel in Ennistymon, Kelleher said he “could not allow the week to go by without reference to the devastating, and savage attack on the education of

our four to 12-year-olds by Minister Brian Lenihan aided by Education Minister O’ Keeffe.”

He described a post-budget state- ment that cut backs would have no negative effects on primary school children as “mind boggling. What planet is the Minister for Education living on? Promoting four year olds from being in the second largest pri- mary classes on the entire continent of Europe to being in the largest and most overcrowded of all is a direct negation of all that the vital years of early childhood education in our in-

fant classes stand for,’ he said.

He asked how it would be possible to educate primary school children “in herds” and still get them to real- ise their potential.

“And how do you protect the child with special needs, with learning dif- ficulties or the child without English as a first language in the context of overcrowded, stifling, unsafe and un- hygienic classrooms?”’

Wishing the new INTO president well in his office, Bishop Walsh said that the “last week has radically al- tered the landscape in relation to the

economy .

‘The fear is that the budgetary con- straints will have a hugely negative impact on the provision of primary education. I am particularly aware of the immensely valuable work that our teachers have provided through language support for our new Irish. Our schools and teachers have of- ten been the first face of welcome to this country. Equally they have often been among the first providers of in- tegration into the local communities. I fear greatly that this work will be hampered and diminished.”

RESIDENTS of an entire terrace in Ennis have taken the unusual step of seeking to have their homes zoned for commercial development to in- crease their market value.

The owners of 33 homes along Steele’s Terrace, opposite the court- house and Fairgreen, have lodged a submission with Clare County Coun- cil to have their homes rezoned to

allow small-scale commercial activ- ity take place and have employed a planning consultant to advance their case.

In a comprehensive submission, the council has been told that when Steele’s Terrace was originally zoned for residential purposes, the houses were occupied by indigenous fami- Wty

This is not the case today as most of the houses are rented to transient

occupiers so the need to retain resi- dential usage for families is not as great. A small number of the houses are used as medical offices since the early 1990s.

“The terrace is now on the town- side of a substantial retail land use at Sheil’s and beside prime land at Kelly’s corner which will be redevel- oped for commercial purposes. It is also opposite the courthouse, which has been redeveloped.

‘The general pattern of the develop- ment has changed substantially over the last number of years and there is a local demand for small offices for solicitors, accountants similar to Bindon Street.

‘The houses in Steele’s Terrace are old and were built to different resi- dential expectations. They cannot compete with modern purpose built residential acccommodation from the point of view of bedroom space, toilet accommodation, general stor- age and living space.

‘The terrace is part of the archi- tectural heritage of the town and its use for office/residential accommo- dation would not adversely impact on this designation. A similar situa- tion obtains in Bindon Street and the character of the street has not been compromised by its commercial land use.

The planner’s report on the rezon- ing application states that “rezoning to permit commercial uses would in effect be extending the town centre along a 300 metre finger of develop- ment fronting the Gort Road. The draft plan has already rezoned two terraces on Carmody Street to permit commercial uses suited to this type of property”’.

The report concludes that the ter- race be retained for predominantly residential use.

SW elemnterDme(crersCoIROemseomerrlncu ens be made by members of Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council.

DESPITE an ancient tradition of us- ing herbal medicine in north Clare, the area has been without a practic- ing herbalist for many years now. All that is about to change however with the arrival of herbalist Lisa Guinan, who has just launched a new practice in Ennistymon.

A Dubliner by birth, Lisa has strong connections with the north of the county and will join the growing team of alternative healers working out of St Bridget’s Homeopathy and Healing Centre on Main Street.

‘IT have always had a great connec- tion with Clare. I have two sisters

living down here for years so I have been coming down here for years. It’s been in my mind to come here for years so I figured that now was the time to take the plunge,” she said.

“I am herbalist and I also do naturopathy. There is no-one else practicing as a herbalist in north Clare, in fact I think that I may be the only herbalist practicing in all of Clare at the moment. I work out of St Bridget’s Healing Centre in Ennisty- mon along with a whole host of other natural healers.”

A qualified herbalist and naturo- path, Lisa is registered with The Irish Register of Herbalists and the Association of Naturopathic Practi-

tioners.

She is also affiliated with The Na- tional Herbal Council responsible for the quality and standardisation of herbalist practitioners in the coun- try. “With herbalism you are treating the whole person and not the illness. So someone might come into me with a skin problem, but I wont just look skin because the root problem could be with the liver perhaps, they might have too much toxins in the blood,” she continued.

“So because we are treating the whole person we can always make an improvement, no matter what is wrong. It can also be good to treat

people who don’t have any specific illness, they just don’t have much en- ergy or are feeling lethargic.

‘They may have some smaller di- gestive problems that we could help with. I treat people by giving them a herbal formula. A patient will come in and I will spend an hour or more with them going through their his- re ays

“Depending on what they say I will put together a liquid herbal formula for them. These formulas are unique to each person and targeted to give them exactly what they need.”

For more information contact Lisa at 0877531023 or lisahar@gmail. one

A BLISTERING attack has been launched on budget measures which will see disability allowance cut for people aged 16 to 18 and taxes which will increase the cost of disabled peo- ple using a vital link to the world.

The Clare Network of the People With Disability in Ireland pointed out that a disability severely hampers young people in their efforts to get 00 .e

‘This is an outrageous decision that marks a u-turn on disability policy,” said PwDI’s Network Support Of-

ficer Dermot Hayes .

“Rather than cutting away the in- come of the most vulnerable in Irish society the Government should have moved to implement the 12-year-old recommendation of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabili- ties to introduce a Cost of Disability payment, based on the fact that peo- ple with disabilities have higher fuel, transport and general cost of living expenses than the rest of the com- munity.”

He added “The cut is a mean spirit- ed, penny pinching move that should be rescinded.”

Similarly, people with disability are worse affected by the hike in motor fuel prices, he said.

‘The increase in motor tax on all non-electrical cars may adversely af- fect people with disabilities. Those with adapted cars who live independ- ently heavily rely on their vehicles as a means of transport. We would call on the minister to introduce special exemptions from this measure,” he SrHKG

Hayes added that the budget deci- sions “reflects a deep lack of under- standing of the needs of individuals with a disability and their families

and it is in direct contravention of the Government’s promise to protect those most in need,” he said.

On the basis that the minister has said that the Disability Allowance is under review at present, “it makes no sense whatever to cut the allowance before that review is complete,” the PWDI representative said.

He also expressed concern on med- ical cards changes. “If all those over age 70 are going to be means tested then the Government must allay fears and guarantee that there will not be a backlog of people waiting to be tested.

FINE Gael Town Councillor Johnny Flynn has been nominated to contest the Ennis East electoral area in the upcoming county council elections.

Initially it had been suggested that Cllr Flynn, who is also nominated to contest the Ennis Town Council elec- tion, would be nominated to contest both Ennis East and Ennis west.

At the Fine Gael convention on Fri- day night, sitting Fine Gael county councillors Sonny Scanlon and Paul Murphy were also nominated unop-

posed to contest the election in Ennis west.

Cllr Scanlon is no stranger to the hustings, but it will be the first coun- ty council election contested by Cllr Murphy who was seconded to the local authority last year when Joe Carey was elected to the Dail.

Tony Mulqueen is currently the sole campaigner in Ennis West for Fine FTO E

Sources close to the party have said that once all of the conventions are over, Fine Gael hopes to add another name to the Ennis West ticket and

the Shannon Electoral area.

Meanwhile, Mr Mulqueen is look- ing forward to representing the party in the new electoral area of Ennis west.

“TI will stand for the interests and needs of the people of the Ennis area, be it Ennis Town, Inch, Kilmaley, Toonagh Kilnamona or Barefield,” he told delegates.

This Government needs to get a clear message from the people of Ennis West and Clare that we have had enough. We have had enough of empty promises, we want action not

spin,” he added.

Last night in Killaloe under the chairmanship of North Tipperary Counciller Phil Butler, newcomer Pat Burke from Whitegate was nominat- ed beside the two sitting councillors – Joe Cooney and John McInerney to contest the Killalloe area for Fine FTO E

On Monday, November 3, the En- nistymon area Fine Gael convention will take place. Sitting councillors Joe Arkins and Martin Conway were the only names put forward when nominations closed.

AS the Ballyvaughan/Fanore Walk- ing Club prepare to bring their year to a close at this weekend’s AGM, members have been looking back at one of the most busy and successful years in the club’s history.

From Las Vegas to Ben Nevis, the club have taken on some of the world’s most challenging walks in the year the culminated in the staging of Clare’s first ever walking marathon.

The walking year started back in November of 2007, with a new pro- gramme of weekly walks and a trip by some of the club members to Las Vegas, where they took part in the

Las Vegas Marathon. While there the group also walked the Grand Canyon and visited Monument Valley and Navajo Tribal Park in Arizona.

In April, club chairperson, Kevin McCormack, led a group of mem- bers on the challenging Camino De Santiago pilgrim route in Spain. The 550 mile trek over the Pyrenees saw walkers move through snow, rain and blistering sunshine until they reached Santiago after 29 days of walking.

Back in Ireland however, the other member were not idle. Weekly walks around the Burren proved very suc- cessful with the club also venturing farther afield to the Aran Islands, Tory, Mt Errigal in Donegal, Croagh

Patrick and Carrauntuohill.

Inspired by the this success 26 club members decided to take on Ben Ne- vis, the highest mountain in Great Britain and Ireland, as the groups last challenge of the year.

Led on this occasion by Gerry Rei- dy, all members of the club reached the top of one of the most challeng- ing walks in northern Europe.

During the year club members took part in a marathons in Cork, Galway, Longford, Inverness, Miami, Vegas and Dublin as well as the first ever Clare Burren Marathon Challenge.

This marathon, organised by the club, attracted 1,000 participants to the Burren to take part in the big-

gest event organised by the club to date. It attracted walkers and runners from all over Ireland, as well as par- ticipants from UK, Norway, Nether- lands and USA.

The club have just announced that they will be staging the marathon again next year with May 23 already earmarked for the event.

The Ballyvaughan Fanore Walking Club will host it’s AGM on October 25 in the Conference Centre, Bur- ren Coast Hotel, Ballyvaughan from ool] 0) 008

Anyone interesting in joining the club should contact www.bally- vaughanfanorewalkingclub.com for more details.

CLARE bookmakers will be forced to close up shop because of the hike in betting duty imposed in the budg- et, the [Irish Bookmakers Association (IBA) has warned.

The association spokesman was commenting on what he described as the “irrational and disastrous de- cision to double the rate of Betting Duty” from one per cent to two per cent in last week’s budget.

“This move will immediately force the closure of sole trader bookmak- ers and make it extremely difficult for small companies to survive,” he HOR

The IBA is seeking an urgent meet- ing with the minister to discuss the matter and has called on him to re- verse the decision.

While understanding the difficult situation facing the country, the spokesman said, “it must be recog- nised that far from being in the na-

tional interest, this anti-business and anti-consumer move will result in even greater losses to the Exchequer and the economy. It penalises small independent businesses to the benefit of online and telephone gambling which is operated through offshore companies making no contribution whatsoever to the State.”

The IBA pointed out in it’s state- ment that since 1999 the bookmak- ers’ share of the Irish gambling market has fallen from 91 per cent

to about 50 per cent. By contrast, an analysis of Paddy Power’s most recent financial data shows that 53 per cent of its operating profit comes from non-retail sources like online and telephone gambling – with no contribution to the State.

“Betting Duty is unique in Ireland as the only double taxation levied on any business in any sector,’ the spokesman added.

Irish Bookmakers Association Chairperson Sharon Byrne said,

“The IBA is fully committed to the national economy and the support of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund, but increasing an already un- fair tax which will drive small opera- tors out of business is not the way to achieve these objectives.

“We have proposed a number of measures including the capture of online gambling revenues and the introduction of modern technologies to allow independent bookmakers to compete on a level playing field.”

BLACK and amber as well as blue and gold colours have been affixed to the Canon Hamilton Cup this week.

All in readiness for the big day out When the senior championship cup will sit on its perch in Cusack Park’s Ard Comhairle, waiting to be taken home by either Newmarket-on-Fer- gus or Clonlara.

The colours will have an extra sig- nificance this year — all because of Canon Michael Hamilton, the col- ourful cleric who in a long, distin- guished and sometimes controversial

GAA career ruled the Clare County Board with an iron fist, commentated on an All-Ireland football final for Radio Eireann and famously brought the 1947 All-Ireland football final to New York.

It’s 39 years since Canon Hamilton fell 11] during a county final between Clarecastle and Newmarket-on-Fer- gus in Cusack Park and later died in Ennis General Hospital, but he’d loved to have lived to see the day when Newmarket-on-Fergus and Clonlara clashed in a county final.

You see, Hamilton was a man of both Clonlara and Newmarket-on-

Fergus. Born and reared in Clonlara; parish priest in Newmarket-on-Fer- gus for many years. He was in Trea- cys Field in O’Callaghan’s Mills when Clonlara beat Scariff in the °19 final; he was there for most of New- market’s triumphs from the ‘20s to the ‘60s; he would have seen the East Clare final between the two in Fr Murphy Park in ’36, but the day he would have yearned for most of all would be Clonlara v Newmarket-on- Fergus for his cup in Cusack Park. On leaving Clare to take up a new clerical post in Nenagh in 1956, Hamilton showed that modesty

wasn’t part of his make-up, by buy- ing acup, naming it after himself and presenting it to the county board for the senior hurling championship.

It was as important to him as the the Polo Grounds All-Ireland — but a contest between Clonlara and Newmarket for his cup would have definitely put Polo Grounds men like John Joe O’Reilly, Joe Keohane, Mick Higgins and Paddy Kennedy in the shade.

Clonlara have never been Canon Hamilton contenders, apart from the contribution from Colm Honan and co to the St Senan’s team beaten by

Newmarket in the 1972 final; the Blues meanwhile filled their former parish priest’s cup 13 times from 1963 to 81.

Sixty minutes on Sunday will see where the Canon Hamilton gets its first fill of drink. Clonlara? Newmar- ket-on-Fergus?

Wherever it is, it’s true to say that the Canon Hamilton will be going home.

TULLA fundraiser extraordinaire, Kitty Leyden, is celebrating having hit the €100,000 fundraising mark by taking off for South Africa to- morrow to walk miles in the blister- ing sun to help sick children.

72 year old Kitty – who has raised the massive amount for charities over the last 25 years – says she is going to hang up her walking shoes after this trip.

But she admits, she’s said that be- fore!

Kitty will walk 60 kilometres in

Capetown to bring in money to fund equipment and research in Crumlin Children’s hospital in Dublin.

‘It’s bad enough to get sick in your 50’s or 60’s – at least you’ve lived and done things. But when you see these poor sick children, who have seen nothing of life yet.

‘The money people give so gener- ously is needed to keep these chil- dren alive’, said Kitty.

Kitty has raised €9,400 for this trip alone but her one regret about the trip is that she “can’t fly from Shannon – I have to go to Dublin’.

In her time, Kitty has raised money

for numerous causes through mara- thon step dancing, walking, organis- ing music sessions and even shavea- thons, one of which is coming up in December.

‘People and businesses have been sO very, very good to me. They’ve given me pennies when that was all they had and they all mount up and they’ve given me huge amounts as well. I remember when I started rais- ing money for Crumlin, a man from Tulla came up to me in the street and handed me €300 – I ran after him, I thought he had made a mistake, but he said no, that was what he was giv-

ing me.”

But even while she says she’s plan- ning to hang up her shoes, the deter- mined Tulla woman is plotting more fun and fund-generators.

She is organising a night in Novem- ber in Cois na hAbhanna in Ennis, where the Kilfenora Ceili Band have offered their services free of charge and the above-mentioned shaveathon will see several hairy sons of the soil have their limbs shaved.

“It’s all good fun and the important thing to remember are the people who need every penny we can raise”, SJ aTomcy BOR

ALARM, chaos and anger. That was the reaction among residents in Shan- non as word filtered through that the components of a bomb were discov- ered at a house in the town last week. The very idea that somebody in the town could consider, and worryingly, get their hands on such deadly equip- ment has caused grave concern.

Gardai have made no secret of the fact that this find was related to crim- inal activity in Limerick and was in- tended for use in the city. This is not the first time that concern in Shan- non in relation to Limerick has been aired in recent weeks.

The people of Shannon, through their elected representatives, have vehemently opposed the relocation of criminal elements from Limerick into Shannon. A debate by Shannon town councillors last month later danced its way into the national me- dia. The message was clear. Shannon would not play host to criminal ele- ments from Limerick.

A priest in Moyross took exception to comments from some councillors and wrote to Shannon Town Coun- cil to voice his concerns. But Shan- non councillors held firm: they will accept non-locals – as the town has regularly done for decades – but only those without criminal connections.

Troublemakers are not welcome.

Fuel was added to the fire when a riot broke out at a birthday party in a licensed premises in Shannon a number of weeks ago. Punches were thrown, glasses were fired at random and regulars at the pub were forced to flee for their own safety as all hell broke loose.

The people of Shannon do not want to see this type of activity in their back yards. People who have lived in the Slaney Park and Fergus Road housing estates for several years were scared when the area became a maze of Garda vans, patrol cars and detec- tive branch cars on Thursday night of last week.

They were initially unaware of what was going on. As the significance of it emerged, locals were horrified. Al- though reservations have been aired about unsavoury elements moving in to the area, nobody could have envis- aged what took hold last week.

As the Garda investigation into the startling discovery continues, lo- cal fears intensify; they are fearful that further incidents will take place in the immediate vicinity of their homes. The safety they have enjoyed in their homes for decades has been transformed to terrifying fear. As Limerick’s problems spread to Clare, it is the people of Shannon who are forced to bear the brunt.