Category: Uncategorized

A PROLIFERATION of develop- ments in Shannon has led to prob- lematic flooding in various parts of the town.

That’s according to the mayor of the town, Councillor Gerry Flynn (Ind).

He made the claim as a public meeting on flooding in Shannon took place last night. The meeting was or- ganised by Green Party members in the town in the wake of bad flood- ing in parts of the town in recent TneKey ela etse

“We have had several meetings in relation to the flooding and plans are afoot to alleviate the problem,” said Councilor Flynn.

“When there is any quantity of rain at all in the town, some people in Ballycasey are unable to flush their toilets and that’s a new estate. Due to the proliferation of developments in NJT-NIDeLO) PMO SLemECD AI Ko0O BLOM Me-Le Core LE TKe and there are huge concerns.

‘2010 is the time penciled in for a revamp of the system in the town and upgrade the system,’ he added.

“There is an acknowledgment by officials in Clare County Council that we do have a problem. We need adequate funding to be made avail- able and prioritise it,’ added Cllr

aan

According to Damon and Karen Wise of the Green Party in Shannon, the town is unprepared for major flooding, due to climate change and storm surges.

“According to the Shannon town maps and from the Clare County Council, the flood defences on the Shannon Estuary banks are supposed to be currently at 2.75 metres high,” they said in a statement.

“We, the people in Shannon expect to know who has the plan for Shan- non, in Shannon, who the people re- sponsible are, and who is responsible for keeping it available.

‘Most of Shannon is on reclaimed land, in and around two metres above sea level, with some storm surges expected to reach six metres within just a few decades. According to the latest news, arctic ice is melt- ing even faster than before, and some scientists fear the Arctic Sea could be completely free of ice in summer by 2013,” added the statement.

“Results of the flooding could mean Sewers would overflow, fecal matter from human and animal would con- taminate the water supply and soil, not to mention property damage, and thus an economical and environmen- tal disaster, and outbreak of water- borne diseases,’ they added.

TWO YOUNG Shannon men will rub shoulders with one of the all- time greats in long-distance running in the world, this weekend.

Darren O’Connell and Alan Mullin will travel to Berlin, where they will run their ninth marathon in as many months on Sunday, as part of a 12- marathons challenge.

Along with taking another step to- wards history, the two will line out in a field that includes the prolific Ethiopian marathon runner Haile Gebreselassie.

After Berlin, their task will be completed with runs in Dublin and New York while the feat will come to a dramatic conclusion in Lisbon in December.

The two decided to undertake the

challenge in aid of cystic fibrosis, in memory of their friend Earl Duff who died from the disease in 1996, at the age of just 21.

Both men have overcome pains and aches to run the first eight mara- thons, but the next four races will be particularly tough.

“Our last marathon in Longford went very well. We both finished in three hours 57 minutes which for me was the best time of the year so far. The marathon before that, in the Swiss Alps, was an extremely tough race with the route going over two 2,500 metre mountains. It took me five hours 53 minutes and Alan six hours 13 minutes to complete but it was a great experience and definitely worth the effort,’ said Darren.

“I definitely feel the marathons are taking a bit of a toll on the legs.

Alan and I calculated that between the eight marathons and the train- ing we have probably run somewhere between 1,200 and 1,300 miles this year so far.

‘Alan is training very hard at the moment as he is hoping to run a good time in Berlin and 1s looking to run a personal best there.

‘“T’ve been slacking off a bit on the training lately as I will be playing in a county hurling final in the next cou- ple of weeks so I’m trying to keep the legs fresh. Once the hurling is over I would hope to up the training again and try to run a personal best in one of the remaining marathons,’ added DEE

The fundraising has been going well and a number of quizzes will take place over the coming weeks, both in Shannon and in Dublin

(where Alan is based), along with churchgate collections and bag pack- ing. They are optimistic that they can raise £20,000 by the end of the chal- lenge.

“We are both still optimistic that we will complete the 12 marathons. At this stage most of the hard work is done and barring injuries we should have no problem finishing the 12. At this stage we actually look forward to doing them. We’re both really look- ing forward to Berlin where there will be 40,000 competing including the world record holder Haile Ge- breselassie so that should be a great experience,’ he added.

They are appealing to people to support them in their efforts. Spon- sorship cards are available and people can still donate online at www.12marathons.org.

DR Noel Cawley was last week ap- pointed as the new Chairman of Teagasc by the Minister for Agricul- ture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith TD. Cawley will take over the reins of the Teagasc from Dr Tom O’Dwyer, who has completed two five year terms as chairman.

Cawley was Chief Executive of the Irish Dairy Board until 2006. He also served as Chairman of the Irish Horse Board, and more recently chaired the Government-established Seafood Strategy Review and Imple-

mentation Group.

A native of Sligo, he also served as chairman of the Farmers’ Charter Monitoring Group set up by the De- partment of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and is a Director of One 51 PLC.

“Dr O’Dwyer leaves Teagasc hav- ing set out a clear structure and mis- sion for the organisation for the years ahead most recently with the initia- tion of the Teagasc Research Vision programme and with the launch of the Teagasc Foresight report which identifies the research, innovation and support priorities for the next

quarter century for Ireland’s agri- food sector,” said Minister Smith.

In addition to the appointment of a new chairman, Minister Smith has appointed two other new members to the Teagasc Authority. Padraig Gibbons from Bullaun, Mayneen in County Mayo has been appointed and will be the ICOS nominee on the Teagasc board and Frank O’ Mahony from Ballyorban, Monkstown in County Cork has also been appoint- ed for a five year term to the Teagasc aUULeNOuIAYs

The appointments were welcomed by Clare TD, Tony Killeen. “Dr

Cawley’s wealth of experience will ensure that the excellent work car- ried out by Dr. O’ Dwyer in develop- ing the organisation will be main- tained,’ he said.

“I have every confidence that Dr Cawley will help to drive the devel- Opment of one our most important sectors during the challenging times ahead.’

The Junior Agriculture Munister paid tribute to the outgoing Chair- man saying that he leaves Teagasc having set out a clear structure and mission for the organisation for the years ahead.

‘STORY Sack’ courses have become a wonderful means of parent-child interaction to help develop the read- ing habit early in life.

Devised by Clare Family Learn- ing Project (CFLP), a new series of courses 1s about to be launched in the county’s six public libraries, with an introductory workshop to which par- ents and their primary school chil- GieNm-DucmUIN AI Koree

Frances O’Gorman of Clare Li- brary Service is supporting CFLP to attract parents to the courses so they

can encourage their children to read more. A week after each workshop, a six-week course begins when each parent gets two free books, a cloth bag and background information.

The deValera Library in Ennis, Kilrush library and the Sean Lemass Library in Shannon will kick off the workshops on Tuesday, September 23. Next day it is the turn of Killa- loe followed on Thursday, September 25 by Ennistymon and Scariff. All workshops get under way at 3.30pm. The succeeding courses are delivered on the corresponding weekdays from 10.30am to noon.

CFLP co-ordinator Mary Flanagan explains, “Participants create their own ‘story sack’ made up of props related to a specific book.

“This is developed week by week as a different part of a book is focussed on and the appropriate items are made and collected together in the sack. The process gives participants an opportunity to think about what elements there are to a book, the val- ue of sharing books with children, all in a fun and creative milieu.”

She describes the aims of the cours- es, firstly, as encouraging parents to improve their confidence and stimu-

late an interest in books and stories. Going on from there, they can identi- fy a good book, choose suitable ones for their children and be aware of use of voice and tone when sharing/read- ing stories.

Next step is to realise that there are opportunities to extend vocabu- lary when sharing books; that books have component parts and come to understand there are different sorts of books.

Creating games that complement the stories is a further aim.

More details are available right now at each of the libraries.

CELEBRATIONS to mark the 40th birthday of the oldest soccer club in Shannon are being planned.

Shannon Town United AFC will celebrated four decades in existence next year and the club has taken the decision to improve the club’s facil1- ties, increase its profile and set up a website, to coincide with the mile- Stone.

The website, Shannontownuni- tedafc.com, has just got up and run- ning and contains useful information on the club, including details of the teams, fixtures and the notes on the club’s lengthy history. An archive section will also be added, as the

website becomes more popular.

There are 14 teams on the club’s books and its members range in age from just five years of age, through to senior level. All teams line out in the Limerick division.

Club PRO Andy Legge – who was instrumental in setting up the web- site – said the club will get a facelift, to mark the 40th anniversary.

“We had been playing catch-up with the rest of the teams in Shan- non. We are taking on board what other clubs have done. The idea is to get the information out there, to give us a mechanism to get kids involved and also to sell merchandise via the website,” said Mr Legge.

“A lot of work has gone into the

website, which was designed by En- nis web design company Ennisoft,” he added.

As part of the 40th celebrations, the club is also eager to increase its TpeKosesloresacieul on

“We are looking for new people to join and we are also looking for sponsors to get on board. We are approaching local businesses,’ he added.

The club holds training every Fri- day at the Wolfe Tones GAA pitches and plays its games at its own pitch in Corrib Drive. However, there are also plans to improve facilities for the club’s players.

“As part of the bigger picture, we plan to develop facilities. We have

planning permission for a clubhouse. Hopefully we can build that next year and we are hopeful of getting grants to help us with this. There is a lot of work to do,” added Mr Legge.

The club has a very active commit- tee at its disposal and hope that the community in Shannon will help out with the plans to improve the club, whilst taking part in the 40th cel- a) e218) IIe

IT MAY not be the all out lifting of restrictions that farms had sought, but the farming organisations have given a measured welcome to the an- nouncement last week that the age limit for BSE testing was being risen once again.

The decision was welcomed by the ICSA, who had earlier last week branded the 30 month threshold for BSE testing a “scandalous rip-off”.

Following the announcement by Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith, that the EU Commission had agreed to raise the minimum age for

BSE testing from 30 months to 48 months, ICSA president Malcolm Thompson pointed out that BSE test- ing was still costing Irish farmers €20 million per annum.

“T welcome the news that the EU Commissioner for Public Health, Androulla Vassiliou has recognised the sense of what ICSA has been say- ing for some time,” he said.

“Over 8 million tests were car- ried out in Europe last year, some $25,000 of which were carried out in Ireland, and the incredibly low number of cases found show that this was a complete and utter waste of farmers’ money. So far in 2008, we

have just 12 cases of BSE, and these cases are easily dealt without having recourse to the compulsory testing of over 800,000 animals.

“Older cows will continue to be checked, and it is our belief that this will become unnecessary over the next few years.”

The decision was welcomed by IFA National Livestock Commit- tee Chairman, Michael Doran, who said that it would remove prime cat- tle from the testing requirement and abolish the unnecessary ۩20 per head costs. The decision was also welcomed by Clare TD and Minister of State at the Department of Agri-

culture, Tony Killeen, who said that an increase of the minimum age for testing to 48 months would deliver significant savings to farmers.

“The current testing requirements are unjustified when one considers the significant progress made in re- ducing the incidence of the disease in Ireland, from a high of 333 cases in 2003 to 25 last year and 12 to date in 2008,” he said.

“Tam confident, based on the reduc- tion in the disease in Ireland and the extensive controls in place, that Ire- land’s application will be approved and that the new testing regime may even be in place from early 2009.”

A COURT has heard allegations that a young woman tried to assault a bouncer during a late night incident in Ennis.

However, the allegation against C1- ara Mahony was disputed in court and the case was adjourned for fur- ther evidence to be presented.

Mahony (22), of Waterpark Heights, Drumbiggle, Ennis, was accused of public order offences at Abbey Street, Ennis, on September 7 last.

Inspector Michael Gallagher told Ennis District Court that gardai ob- served her attempting to hit a bounc- er at 2.35am.

The court was told that she was convicted of assaulting a garda in Kilkenny three years ago, for which 150 hours community service was handed down. She was also convict- ed of a public order offence, on that CF Kee

Defending solicitor Siobhan Mc- Mahon said the previous convictions all related to one incident, when the

defendant was aged 18.

“She is now 22. She has not come to the notice of gardai since that time,” she said.

She said the accused was in a night- Clem sls Welo mole seu (NOM ss RSCORWETS approached by a gentleman.

“The bouncers came and removed the accused and her boyfriend and not the other gentleman,” said the solicitor.

“She was trying to remove her boy- friend from the area. She was trying to prevent an incident,” she added.

Judge Joseph Mangan said, “I’ve been told by the inspector she tried to assault a bouncer. Does she accept or not she tried to assault a bouncer?”

Ms McMahon said her client did not accept that allegation.

Inspector Gallagher then told the court that the bouncers did not make a complaint about the incident. The case was adjourned for further evi- dence to be presented.

The accused was remanded on continuing bail to re-appear in court jater.q ip esleyniaee

KILRUSH’S longest serving public representative has called for the res- ignation of the CEO of Aer Lingus.

Clir Jack Fennel (Ind) was back in the council chamber on Thursday – quiet literally fighting fit after a short illness.

The father of Kilrush Town Coun- cil had one opponent in mind – Der- mott Mannion.

“T thought we would never reach this day again,’ he told councillors at Thursday night’s monthly meeting, referring to the current recession.

““T know two families at the moment

whose members are working in Lon- don, and come home every weekend. The only way they have back into Shannon is at 12 midnight on Friday night,” he said.

“You have to go to Cork on Monday to leave Ireland for London,” added Cllr Fennell.

The Independent councillor said that the afternoon flight from Lon- don into Shannon was no good to workers as they could not work a full day and get that flight.

‘“T would like to see them fly out on Monday morning from Shannon and back in early Friday evening to see eles Dam e-NOe ND Blon ie

The Independent town councillor criticised Aer Lingus’s decision to move the Shannon-Heathrow slots to Belfast for what it described as com- mercial reasons.

“It is in Belfast now and at the stage where it is offering free flights,” he HOE

“T call on Mr Mannion to resign for coming out with a statement that it was a commercial move,’ he said.

Cllr Fennel told the meeting that the economy in the county had been damaged significantly, and a lot of non-national workers that had lived in Kilrush had now gone to London to find work in the build up to the

2012 Olympics.

“If you look in the shop windows you will see how many apartments are for rent,” he said.

He proposed a motion that Kilrush Town Council call on the Miunis- ter for State Tony Killeen (FF) and Deputy Timmy Dooley (FF) to put a motion to the Dail that would recall at least two daily flights from “our national airline, Aer Lingus to Shan- non Airport”.

He also asked that this motion be sent to the other local authorities in the county for support.

The motion was supported unani- mously.

THE Clare Area branch of Alcohol- ics Anonymous (AA) is holding the 19th annual Clare Area Convention at the Auburn Lodge Hotel, Ennis from October 3 to 5.

The primary aim of Alcoholics Anonymous is to help members, through mutual support, to achieve and maintain sobriety, and to carry our message to the still suffering al- coholic.

SRoYer:hiapasleyccmssr-vimmAycompesveleleys meester and women worldwide, through the

help of the unique fellowship of Al- coholics Anonymous are demon- strating by their personal example that alcoholism as an illness can be treated.

AA members share their experi- ence with anyone seeking help witha drinking problem; they give person- to-person service or “sponsorship” to the alcoholic coming to AA from any source.

The AA Twelve Steps programme is the suggested format for recovery from alcoholism.

It offers the chance to develop a

satisfying life without alcohol. This programme is discussed at AA group meetings. Open speaker meetings are open to alcoholics and non-alco- holics.

At speaker meetings, AA members “tell their stories”. They describe their experiences with alcohol, how they came to AA, and how their lives have changed as a result of Alcohol- ics Anonymous.

Open discussion meetings are where one member speaks briefly about his or her drinking experience, and then leads a discussion on AA recovery or

any drinking-related problem any- one brings up. Closed meetings are for AAs or anyone who may have a drinking problem.

Closed discussion meetings are conducted just as open discussions are, but for alcoholics or prospective AAs only. Step meetings involve dis- cussion of one of the Twelve Steps.

The organisation does not keep membership records or release in- formation on members but it is esti- mated that there are over 750 groups and more that 13,000 members in Ireland, north and south.

JAMES Hanrahan’s return to his na- tive club this year has had a profound effect on the footballing fortunes of St Joseph’s. Last year, uncertainites over the senior management struc- ture left their footballers with little preparation approaching the champ1- onship but his switch from Eire Og, after a successful stint both on and

off the field, has given St Joseph’s much needed guidance this year.

The emphasis at senior level was on youth and bringing through the un- doubted underage talent that exists in Wome bee

Ten of that senior side were eligi- ble for Saturday’s replay against the current holders Kilmurry Ibrickane and it was that added experience and balance that Hanrahan felt eventual

won the club it’s first Under 21 cham- pionship.

“I thought we played well and de- served it on the day. We played some excellent football.

“We probably knew coming in that fellas were disappointed from the last day and I don’t think it was that we didn’t win the game the last day, I think they were more disappointed that we didn’t play well so we turned

that around today.

“We moved the ball a little bit quicker. A lot of fellas have played Under 21 games when we haven’t played well whereas in the senior, we have been playing at a different pace so I think we brought that pace into the game tonight and I think that was the difference.”

Hunger was a key factor in Satur- day’s victory. An appetite that Han-

rahan explains has accumulated from being on the losing side too many times at underage level

“We have had so much heartbreak in the last few years losing underage finals so maybe if they had won a couple of those they would have been as hungry as they were out there to- day but you could see that they want- ed to win and that was the difference between the teams.”