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CLARE handball had a mixed week- end — defeat was the county’s lot at adult level, but there was glory for the underage brigade at under 12/13 and under 14/15 level.

Declan Frawley (Clarecastle) was defeated in the All-Ireland Junior Singles semi-final by the experienced Ollie Conway of Galway. After tak- ing the first game 21-19, Frawley, Clare’s last hope of big alley silver- ware this year, went down 6-21 and 9-21.

However, there was success on the double for Clare’s juvenile hand- ballers on Saturday at Tuamgraney as they claimed both the under 12/13 and under 14/15 ‘team-of-six’ Mun- ster titles against Tipperary opposi- nova

The under 12/13 squad consisted of Patrick Fitzgerald (Tuamgraney) Niall Bolton Colin Corbett (Tulla), Cian Crimmins (Newmarket), Fergal Coughlan (Clooney), Colin Crehan

and Padraig McNamara (both Kil- kishen). Despite a strong fight from Tipp, who won the first two games, the Clare lads powered back to take eto AUER

The under 14/15 team had a slightly more straight forward route to vic- tory and seemed to always be in control of the overall match with a team including Killian McNamara, Christopher Philpott (both Kilkish- en), Ciaran Malone (Tuamgraney), Evan Corbett (Tulla), Barry McMa- hon (O’Callaghan’s Mills) and Peter Duggan (Clooney). Both sets of Mun- ster Champions now face All-Ireland semi-finals this weekend at venues that have yet to be confirmed.

The Clare under 16/17’s will aim to make it a hat-trick of Munster team titles when they play their Munster final against Waterford this week.

Also this weekend, Clooney pair Paula Loughnane and Shaunagh O’Brien play their All-Ireland Girls Under 15 Doubles Final against Kilkenny’s Marie Walsh and Demi

Donovan. The final is fixed for this Saturday in Crinkle, Offaly.

The Girls Under 13-17 Inter-pro- vincial Championships were held in Roscommon on Saturday. Played on a ‘team-of-ten’ aggregate basis, Munster were eventually defeated by the Connacht team in the final. Representing Clare on the Munster team were Lisa Loughnane, Paula Loughnane, Shaunagh O’Brien and Alana O’Brien (all Clooney).

NOTE: The AGM of Clare County Handball Board takes place Monday October 13, at John Minogue’s, Tul- la, at 8.30pm sharp.

FOCUS in the mid-west needs to be on positive developments which the region has seen and building on those successes, the new mid-west president of IBEC says.

Despite a disastrous year for tour- ism, the Cityjet Shannon to Charles deGaulle route is so successful that the airline is planning to double it’s capacity and everything that can be done to boost tourism in the region must be done. This was the key mes- sage delivered by incoming presi- dent, Dr Maria Hinfelaar at the AGM of the regional body last week.

‘It has been an extremely difficult tourism season. The number of tour- ists on the ground and the level of spend and income in the region is down on last year. The region has witnessed a significant drop in bed nights with US golf business to the region down significantly. There is little doubt that access to Ireland, particularly for US visitors through Heathrow was very beneficial to the region and we have lost significantly there,’ Dr Hinfelaar said.

“In the midst of all these impeding factors, everything possible must be done to protect the industry. There are a number of positive develop- ments regionally, which give rise to

optimism for the future,” she said, pointing to the success of the twice daily Cityjet service.

But while it is recognised that this connection to Charles de Gaulle “is a major achievement more connectiv- ity is needed. We know that Shannon Airport and its partners are work- ing hard to achieve this and given the current difficulties in the airline industry this will be a challenging task,’ she noted.

Upbeat about the future of the re- gion, Dr Hinfelaar said, ‘We are looking forward to Shannon becom- ing the first airport in Europe with full US pre-clearance facilities. It will give us a unique and competitive advantage, which must be capitalised on,’ Dr Hinfelaar added.

The IBEC president also pointed to opportunities which could be de- veloped between Shannon and the Middle and Far East and the need to strengthen US relations.

“It is time to focus on what we have; several of Ireland’s top attrac- tions, major industrial players and educational institutions are based here. A positive attitude is needed and is one that will pay dividends,” Dr Hinfelaar said.

ALLEGATIONS of an odour ema- nating from the landfill site in Inagh are too serious to be heard in the dis- trict court – a judge has ruled.

Judge Joseph Mangan declined ju- risdiction in the case of the Environ- mental Protection Agency against Clare County Council.

The council faces two summonses alleging that an odour emanated

from the landfill site between August and November 2007. Solicitor for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Gearodid Williams told En- nistymon District Court last week that the issue was whether the court would accept jurisdiction.

He explained that the case related to odours emanating from the land- fill site in Inagh.

“The council is operating a landfill on foot of a licence from the EPA,’

he said. One of the conditions was that there would not be any odour from the facility.

Mr Williams said the EPA was of the view that the matter be dealt with summarily, in the district court, where fines of up to €3,000 and/or a year in prison could be imposed in the event of a conviction.

“The allegations of odours are on a level that the EPA did not consider sufficiently serious to be tried on in-

dictment (in the circuit court), added the solicitor.

He said the EPA does not have the power to prosecute matters on indict- ment, in the circuit court. If jurisdic- tion were to be declined in the district court, the order would be for the case to be struck out and then referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“The question is, is this sufficiently Serious for the matter to be tried on indictment? . . . The EPA believes it

is not. If jurisdiction is not accepted, the EPA does not have a role in pros- ecuting it,” said Mr Williams.

However, Judge Joseph Mangan said he was declining jurisdiction. “It is too serious of a nature to come un- der the ambit of the penalties stated,” said the judge. He then struck out the matter.

The matter is now out of the hands of the EPA and will be referred to the DB) ae

IT WON’T be launched by cracking a bottle of champagne on the stern and the people who built it won’t need to spend their life savings to get afloat, but the currach which was un- der construction in Scariff last week is a model which has served coastal fishermen for thousands of years.

Nine enthusiastic amatuers have come together to learn how to make a sailboat that can take to the waters without having to spend a rock star’s ransom.

Instructor, James Madigan from

Lissycasey learned currach building at his grandfather’s knee and now he is passing on the skill to the mixed bunch, which includes people with physical and mental challenges and CE scheme participants.

Brother’s of Charity worker, Rich- ard Collins explained that the boat is ‘a currach on the style of the Don- egal Dunfanahy boats. It’s a project that gets people together, talking and working towards a common aim. At the end of it there will be a boat built for about ©250 that you can take in and out of the water easily and drive away with it on the roof-rack of the

car rather than having to spend thou- sands to have a bit of sailing time on the lake.”

The money for the project came from the Adult Community Educa- tion Grants scheme and when fin- ished, the vessel will be 16 feet long and covered with canvas and tar in the traditional way.

“We got the timber and picked wil- low for the ribs. We’re going to put a sail on it as well. Although currachs are traditionally sea-going boats, there were certainly some types used on lakes, usually covered with cow or horse hide,’ explained Richard,

whose passion is building boats in the ancient tradition and who has started a club in west Clare which 1s now entering and wining races inter- nationally.

When the boat is finished, a grand launch is planned and “possibly a bit of a pilgrimage to Holy Island”.

So far, the group hasn’t decided what will happen with the finished boat. “We’ll probably sell it back to the people who built it for a nominal fee and then they will all have use of it but I’ve a feeling there may be more of these boats built in Scariff,”’ said Richard.

TULLA had a big day out in Galway on Friday as the card included the semi-finals of the local Community School’s Al 525. Carhugar Bobsie, own by the Clare Connection Syn- dicate got home in the first heat in Oe

History was also made on the night when the first race to be run over the maxi marathon trip of 1010 yards was held. The event was the Tarmon National School Buster Stake and it saw the Conor Flanagan of En- nistymon owned Flandy (T1) run out a most authoritive winner by nine ited debe eelo Roe

Proceedings commenced with an N3 graded 525 yard contest in which trap one was vacant but it was the outside drawn runners that occupied the first three places as the Francis Browne of Quin-owned Mine Cash (Velvet Cash-Jumeirah Jess) came home three lengths clear.

Race number three was an S5 graded sprint over the extended trip

of 350 yards and the Mrs Mary and Michael Liddane of Kilrush-owned Gowerhass Hill took the spoils by three-parts of a length in 19.49.

Race eight at the Galway venue on Saturday night was an A3 525 yard contest and once again the Bridget Hehir owned and Michael Malone trained Friskey Whiskey(Crash- Knockdine Lady) from Miltown Malbay led his rivals a merry dance home in 29.05.

Race number three was an A5 grad- ed contest won by the Mary Callinan owned Blue Loof in 29.70.

The sixth contest at the College Road venue on Thursday night was an A6 affair in which the James & Frank Casey of Newmarket-on-Fer- gus owned Stonehall Mist held off the late challenge of Rathorpe Jim (T1) up the straight to win by a neck in 29.98.

Race seven was an A5 graded con- test went to Master Jack – the Luke Browne of Ballyea owned runner stayed on well for a two and a quarter length win from Whatwasilike (T4)

hel OR OSE

The opening contest on an extreme- ly cold evening was an A& graded 525 in which the Paddy Madigan of Killimer owned Clune Honcho (T1) broke her maiden tag at the eighth attempt in winning by four lengths from Moving Up (T3) in 29.88.

In the A7 graded fourth contest over 525 yards the Anne Carey of Cooraclare owned Buffalo Bash gained ample compensation for an unlucky debut effort when he came home eight lengths clear of Fast Fit Bertie (T6) in 29.59.

CLARE finance professionals have given a guarded welcome to the Gov- ernment’s decision to become guar- antors for the banks.

Some are welcoming it as a means to make borrowing money easier while others hope it will reinstate confidence in the economy.

Mortgage adviser, Iggy Duffy of IFG Mortgages in Ennis described the decision as “one of the best re- sponses in the EU to the problem. It was vital to keep the economy

working and functioning. The conse- quences of letting a bank collapse are unthinkable. It will bring confidence in the economy and will make it a bit easier for ordinary people to access credit to buy a house or a car – the ordinary things”.

Duffy is also hopeful that an eased credit situation “will allow business- es to borrow and expand. That means more jobs and that’s good news for the economy.”

Financial advisor, Donal Carey be- lieves the real impact of the decision will be seen someway down the line.

“The banks won’t change their lend- ing criteria until they have seen the full implications of the legislation. But there is still money available if you meet their criteria. That criteria might be a bit tighter but that may not be any harm”’.

He feels that what is needed now is a confidence boost and hopefully the budget will bring that. It’s good the Government has stepped in to pro- tect the ordinary punters’ savings but this is the second time that the State has moved to save at least one of the banks and they should respond by

giving something back to their cus- tomers and taking a smaller profit’.

He says that a move which would help the building trade in the budget would be one that would benefit the wider economy.

‘A lot of people are employed in the building trade and anything which will put confidence back in the prop- erty market is good. There has been a fall in house prices but that is re- ally putting house prices where they ought to be. A couple on a reasonable income can now get a loan to buy a house in Ennis’, he said.

AN Taisce has joined the campaign to stop Dublin taking water from the Shannon.

North Tipperary branch spokes- man Paddy Mackey – who is also a member of the Save Our Lough Derg (SOLD) group – has warned that ex- tracting water for Dublin could seri- ously threaten fish plants and other species.

A controversial proposal to extract water from the Shannon system to help meet the capital’s needs has met with mixed reactions.

Last week, when Clare County councillors discussed the proposal, ClUlr Colm Wiley(FF) said that Clare should “help Dublin out if the water is needed. We could use any compen- sation money paid to drain farmland that is under water and put as much back again into the system”.

Mr Mackey described the proposed water extraction as “a smash and grab raid..while we are the ones left with the responsibility of trying to protect the ecological quality of Lough Derg and achieve good water quality by the 2015 deadline set under the EU water Framework Directive.”

THE little students and their teach- ers at Tuamgraney National School will this month be celebrating hav- ing room to breathe with the official opening of their new school exten- sion.

Schoolwork last year was often a bit of a squash for the youngsters, who were attending classes squeezed into what had been the library and computer room. The teachers had to dismantle the library and stow away the books and computers because the school was so stuck for space.

That was before the new extension went up, giving Tuamgraney two new classrooms and a full-time re- source room.

“It was funded by the Department of Education and cost more than €200,000 but it has really made a huge difference to the school,’ said Board of Management treasurer and parent of pupils at the school, Regine Roskam.

The school has 80 pupils, three full time teachers and a resource teacher and the extra space in the two storey extension will also be used for after- school classes in speech and drama

and French.

But while the spatial challenges have been largely solved for the present, parents, teachers and pu- pils are looking forward to next year when they will have an teacher allo- cated to them.

“We have 80 children enrolled at present. If we had just five more, we would have got another teacher but with 80, we won’t get that new mem- ber of staff until next year. To solve the problem for now, the eleven chil- dren in third class are floating. In the morning they join the first and sec- ond classes, so there are 36 children

in the class and in the afternoon they switch to go in with the fourth and sixth classes which gives us 31 kids in one room. It’s not ideal but it’s the best we can do until next year when we get another teacher,” said Regine

The board also had to get busy on fund-raising ideas as the original 1895 school building needed re-plas- tering and repairs to roof and win- dows when the new extension was ene im

‘“We’re very happy to have the new space and now the teachers can re-es- tablish the library in the room which they had to use for classes,” she said.

FOLLOWING on from Frank Lo- han’s decision to retire from inter- county hurling, tributes were paid to the Wolfe Tones native at last week’s County Board Meeting. Ruan del- egate Ger Lyons, Wolfe Tones’ Joe Kelly and current senior manager Mike McNamara all spoke at length on Lohan’s contribution to Clare hurling and football throughout his distinguished career.

Wolfe Tones delegate Joe Kelly re- flected on Lohan’s career from his early days winning Féile titles with Wolfe Tones to his county senior

career which spanned 14 years from 1995 to 2008. Kelly also promoted Lohan as the perfect example for young players to follow and outlined that his biggest attribute was his ea- gerness to keep improving.

Clare manager Mike McNamara was then asked by County Chairman Michael O’Neill to say a few words about Lohan and along with echoing Kelly’s glowing tribute, the Scariff publican spoke of his admiration for a player who made huge sacrifices to play for his county and had won eve- rything in the game.

McNamara also agreed that Lohan had everything required to be a top

player. “Frank had steel, determina- tion, pride and desire, four great at- tributes that made him great and he is one player you would always want in your corner.”

SWilowrberVepuseler-Uelmevan sso pale Ireland winning side, Lohan won two All-Ireland titles and three Mun- ster medals in his county career and even had the distinction of playing in a Munster football final in 1997, becoming the first Clare player since Tull Considine in 1927 to play in a Munster senior football and hurling final in the same year.

SCR NINO Bch (oer Ti aU GIO E-D mr RUE DKe! in 1999.

SHANNON’S 300 Aer Lingus work- ers are to be asked to ballot on all out industrial action after hearing they are to be axed from the company Or NeRO ee

Responding to management plans to outsource all ground operations and introduce a pay freeze, SIPTU National Industrial Secretary Gerry McCormack said the plan “repre- sents a fire sale of good quality jobs by a management that can see no fur- ther than the next quarter’s profit and loss sheet”.

“Nobody in the company will emerge unscathed from this exercise. Even those who keep their jobs will have to sign up to new contracts, ‘a merit and performance based cul- ture’ and a pay freeze until the end of 2009. The company has also told us that it will continue to seek further savings so that surviving staff face the prospect of further reductions in pay and conditions.”

SIPTU representatives were offi- cially informed of the clean sweep of eround staff at a meeting with man- agement yesterday. It will mean 1,500 people being axed from the company payroll, 300 of them at Shannon.

The core of the package will see all ground operations, including ca- tering, cleaning and check-in out- sourced to third-party agencies.

Cabin crew based in Heathrow and Shannon are also victims of the cuts which are part of a plan to stem mas-

sive losses experienced by the airline in the last twelve months.

All staff will be subject to a pay freeze until late 2009.

“We are perfectly willing to discuss savings with the company and will be

entering the process to be chaired by Kevin Foley of the Labour Relations Commission. But, as we have made clear from the start, we are totally opposed to outsourcing. That mes- sage does not seem to have gotten

through to the management team and therefore we are in the place we are in,’ Mc Cormack said.

Meetings with shop stewards were on-going last night as the details of the jobs carnage were clearly out-

lined.

A SIPTU spokesman said that cab- in crew are the only ones who will be offered the direct option of taking up other employment with the airline.

“Everything on the ground is being cut. There will be a voluntary redun- dancy package on offer, where staff can decide to take a lump sum and then seek re-employment with the new agency, but there is no guarantee that they will be taken on. The other option is to stay on and to transfer to the new employer but there is no guarantee with that of how long it will be before the new employer re- negotiates contracts, probably with lower wages.”

Clerical staff will largely not be facing job losses, but it’s thought that they will have to enter talks on new contracts with pay being perform- ance related and possibly a change in the pensions scheme which will pos- sibly be contribution driven.

The company has told the unions it wants the deal wrapped up by No- vember 30 and the new scheme ready to go by December 1, a dateline that would allow the airline to carry out the changes during the traditionally flat business period in January and onarles