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THE Government has begun work in the 2009 budget even before a firm commitment has been given to capi- tal health programmes for this year.

And among the projects still not signed off for 2008 is the €39 mil- lion for the development of Ennis (lor) elejopleve

Last May, Health Minister Mary Harney promised a Clare deputa-

tion including Oireachtas members and mayors that the Capital Works Programme for 2008 would be pub- lished within weeks and despite ear- lier reports to the contrary, she was confident the long drawn out Ennis Project would be included.

Fine Gael TD Joe Carey said essen- tial investments in healthcare in the mid-west must not be the first casu- alty of the economic downturn.

“The Department of Health have

yet to publish their capital works programme for 2008, despite the fact that we are now almost three quar- ters of the way through the year.

At the end of May, Minister Harney promised funds for the redevelop- ment of Ennis General Hospital as part of the HSE Capital Development Programme 2008.

Since then there has been little mention of the promised €39 mil- lion, which is essential for the rede-

velopment of the hospital. There is the real chance now that the funding will be deferred until the 2009 Cap1- 0m OKO sear: DOD ES LoMMNN OORT: BIG

“T would have huge concerns that funding of essential health services in Clare will not be delivered. This Government has procrastinated on this issue since before the 2002 Gen- eral Election. The continued fail- ure to deliver much-needed funds for Ennis General Hospital makes

a mockery of government commit- ments. How can we believe anything this Government tells us?” asked the elo) vi ate

“The fact is that the Government did not prioritise the redevelopment of Ennis General Hospital up to this point, and they could easily have done so in times of plenty. So it does not bode well in times of economic tightening, that funding is still not forthcoming.”

AS WORRY and thoughts of heart- ache turned to sheer relief, delight and eventually elation on this Mon- day, the work, sweat and tears that this bunch of girls and management have been through to achieve what has been a long time coming is slow- ly becoming a reality.

Twelve years have passed and only Catherine O’Loughlin survives that success. These have been twelve hard years though and the work that has gone in at all levels from county to clubs to schools is now coming to fruition. After many attempts at fall- ing at the final hurdle and a Minor All-Ireland final appearance, Clare have come back to Ennis as Junior All-Ireland champions.

For this team of girls (save for some) and management and myself, indeed this has been (maybe com- pared to others) a short journey. But one with as many twists, turns, lows and eventual highs as any road or journey may have.

Being with the girls in the early months of last year and to see the commitment which they put into the game and their preparations and the dedication which they gave to each other, the team, their management, clubs and all aspects of life, it was total heartbreak to see them defeated last year in the final in Croke Park. And how that broke their hearts.

There is always a flip side though and the character that these girls posess brought them through what was a dark hour. Through the depth- sof Winter, these girls got together and with steely determination re- solved with a frankness that they were going to get back to business and would do whatever it would take to bring back glory to the Banner and camogie.

This proclamation began to come to fruition as the team delivered the National League Division 2 Title, Munster U18 Title and an All-Ireland final appearance. Delivery came in the final two minutes of an agonizing game in Croke Park on Sunday. A

game that I will have to say I am yet to watch again and when I do, I may be able to enjoy it as each minute was sweated out with baited breath in the rafters of the Hogan Stand.

To say that the moment was enjoyed would be a stretch but each moment since has been a joy to the reaction of the players the management. The tears of relief and joy and the humil- ity behind it all and the work that they along with others have put in to become All-Ireland Champions. I can only salute the work and dedica- tion that they have because they have overcome many difficult obstacles and lost team-mates along the way to injury and other commitments and it is this huge family of players and backround staff that we salute.

Thanks for all the memories and well done!

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese paid tribute to the Brothers of Charity Services in Clare for helping to lead the way in providing services for people with intellectual disabilities.

Speaking yesterday (Monday) at the organisations conference enti- tled “Transforming Services – Our Journey so Far” the President said, “Treland has come quite a journey in terms of services for people with disability and, if we have, then the Brothers of Charity Services here in Clare can say with considerable jus- tification that they have helped lead the way.

“From a largely institution based approach to a community based ap- proach, from a patchy set of services designed from above, to a nation “nothing about us without us” proc- ess Ireland, thanks to your advocacy and experience, begun to grow up when it comes to dealing with dis- ability issues,” she said.

In her address to the conference she added, ““We have come to see clearly that people with disabilities can and do make a major contribution to the social, artistic, sporting, political and economic life of their communities and of our nation.”

During the past four to five years, the Clare services have been under-

going a radical change in how we provide supports and services to people with intellectual disability. The traditional approach to service provision created a ‘disability world’ Whereby individuals with intellec- tual disability were placed with ‘one of their own kind’ resulting in little chance to experience life opportuni- Wee

In order to change from support- ing people with disabilities in con- eregated, segregated settings The Brothers of Charity in Clare under- took a number of initiatives to enable people to have valued and inclusive lives with meaningful relationships in their local communities.

It no longer builds special day cen- tres, group homes, training centres and respite facilities and instead uses its resources to create opportunities for people to build, create and main- tain lifestyles of their choosing and self determination.

From the conference in Ennis President McAleese, escorted by her husband Martin, made her way to In- agh where she officially opened the Annagh Duin and Inagh Ark Com- munity Creche.

This state of the art creche was built by Inagh Development Ltd and ac- cepted its first children in November. It caters for 64 children and employs eight staff.

Annagh Duin is a social housing scheme of 12 houses, which have been built purposely for the elderly.

The President then made the short journey to Miltown Malbay to of- ficially open the Spraoi Family Re- source Centre.

The brainchild of a number of lo- cal women, Spraoi Family Resource Centre, has the capacity to care for 80 children in total.

The centre contains a baby sleep and awake room for nine babies, 20 ‘“waddlers” for children aged from nine months to two years and pre- school facilities for 40 children and after school facilities for 20 more Obi lehnone

FARMERS in north and west Clare are being offered a second chance at a formal education with a new free course to be hosted in Ennistymon. With an uncertain future for both the farming and construction sectors, it’s hoped that a number of locals will take the opportunity to broaden their own levels of skills.

The new course is aimed at people who have not completed their Leav- ing Certificate and who feel at a dis- advantage when seeking off-farm employment.

The new 30 hour Career Op- tions course is being provided free

of charge by the North Clare Farm Family Support Service.

It is aimed at low income farmers and family members who are seek- ing part-time employment, those who have recently been made redundant and those who would like to move on from their present employment.

A key component of the course will be one-to-one advice. Guidance counsellors will carry out an assess- ment of participants interests and abilities and identify the most suit- able job opportunities as well as edu- cation and upskilling courses.

Participants will also come away armed with a top class CV which will make them stand out from other

job applicants in a competitive and UbSdaLKey ODO NTSaN LO lONw eet-NU Colm

Furthermore, they will learn how to improve their interview skills which will give them an edge in getting that job or promotion.

Rural Development Officer and course organiser Gerry McDonagh says that the course will also help participants to discover the skills that are unique to them.

‘Many farmers underestimate their range of skills, believing that they do not have those skills required by employers.

“Yet skills such as tractor driving, machinery maintenance, upkeep of buildings, dealing with government

departments such as _ agriculture, maintaining farm records, indeed farm management in general are all important transferable skills,’ he SrNLOE

“While a farmer or family member may have never worked outside the farm, nonetheless they already have the basics upon which to build new skills.”

The course will commence on Oc- tober 13.

A limited number of places re- main which will be filled on a first come, first served basis. To book a place, contact Gerry McDonagh im- mediately on 065 7072467 or 086 COL AO OR

BUSINESS interests in Ennis have welcomed the Government decision to bring forward the 2009 budget in a bid to deal with the economic crisis.

Last week, Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan announced that the 2009 Budget will be revealed on October 14 and a number of initiatives de- signed to boost economic activity will be announced over the next few weeks.

Ennis Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer, Rita McInerney said that businesses will welcome the Governments’ action to take the reins to try and restore economic ac- tivity and consumer confidence.

“T believe this is a very positive move. There is a feeling that some- thing needs to be done.

“This shows that the Government

is taking control, it shows them in a pro-active role and will increase confidence.”

But the CEO warned that there are concerns about what measures will be announced to balance the public books.

“IT would be cautious in terms of cutbacks or reneging on things that have been promised for this region. I’m thinking in terms of things like the water supply and other infra- structural items. If these are not in place, then Ennis will not grow’, McInerney said.

She added that “infrastructure 1s the one area that is causing most con- cern and there can be no cutbacks in that area.”

The Chamber is ‘strong in the be- lief that if the infranstructure is there, “investors won’t be slow to do their job.”

FOR a team that has been on the brink of All-Ireland success so many times this decade, finally winning the title was understandable a flood of emotion for all involved. Howev- er, the dramatic manner of the win brought a mixed bag of both relief and elation as the players attempted to take in the achievement.

After the heartbreak of last year’s defeat to Derry, another defeat would have been almost unthinkable but fortunately Clare persevered and fi- nally got their hands on the elusive New Ireland Cup after a intermina- ble gap of twenty two years.

And there was no-one more re- lieved than manager Colm Hanley.

“Tt’s unbelievable. After all that has happened over the last couple of years, the fact that it’s done now and

we have achieved what we set out to do is fantastic and full credit to the girls, they were absolutely amazing so I’m delighted.”

Despite being behind for the major- ity, Clare never gave up the ghost and kept chipping away at Offaly’s lead but even near the death, Hanley nev- er felt that the game was lost.

“No. To be honest with you, we kind of felt that we always stuck in WeKeEoe

“They didn’t really pull away from us at any point. They went four points up and five points up but we stayed hanging in there and got the few important scores. They never got away from us so as long as that was the case, there was always a chance. I suppose with two minutes to go, It was more out of hope than anything else that we were thinking but we did feel they were capable of pulling it

out of the bag and thankfully they did.”

Tactically, Clare’s switches were all important with Shonagh Enright and Fiona Lafferty playing an important role in the decisive goal and Kate Lynch dominating from centre-back but Hanley feels that it was the whole side’s second half effort that earned Oca heulaoay

“At the end of the day, you make decisions and thankfully they went right yesterday but there is no guar- antee of anything.

‘“Shonagh in fairness to her obvi- ously made a massive impact, Kate Lynch moving to centre-back really turned the tide and deserved to get the player of the game award but the whole team really put their shoulder to the wheel for the second half and pulled out the result so we are de- lighted.”

UP to 90 per cent of teenagers in west Clare feel that there is nothing for them to do.

That was the finding of the West Clare Youth Ministry Group who carried out a survey of a cross sec- tion of the county’s teenagers, to see what it could do to reach out to young people.

Two years ago almost half a dozen people signed up to be part of the youth ministry group in Kilkee. They are currently coming to the end of a two-year diploma course, which they undertook with the Redemptrist’s or- der to prepare for their work.

Parish Priest in Kilkee, Fr Donagh

O’Meara, said the group initially carried out a survey among students in first year through to third year in schools in Kilrush, Kilkee, Kilmihil and Kildysert.

The survey asked the students what were the positive and negative aspects of being a teenager in west Clare. It also asked about the difficulties they faced, if faith was important and if they felt they belong to their parish.

Up to 35 per cent of students said that exams and study were major as- pects of their lives. A total of 34 per cent admitted that drugs, alcohol and smoking played a major part, while 19 per cent said peer pressure had a huge role in their lives.

As many as 15 per cent of the teen-

agers said that bullying is the biggest problem currently facing teenagers, while 11 per cent said dangerous driving was the biggest problem.

The majority – 90 per cent – said there was nothing to do.

As many as 58 per cent of the young students surveyed believed that faith was important, while 28 per cent be- lieved it was not.

When asked what was best about their lives they said freedom, sport, lack of responsibility, family and to be “fit and able”.

Following the survey the West Clare Youth Ministry Group made a bookmark with all of the support services and their numbers on it.

The bookmark also contains words

from scripture “I’ve carried you on the a palm of my hand.” Some lines from REM’s

MEMBERS of the Ennis Chess Club will travel to Greece in October to represent Ireland at the European Club Chess Championships.

The eight strong team of Ray Quinn, Kieran O’Brien, Gerry Casey, Lorcan O’ Toole, Gawain Jones, John Cassidy, Mick Larter and Jan Sodo- ma, will compete against Europe’s best over seven days from October 17 to 24. The tournament will be staged in the Greek town of Kalithea and brings together the continent’s top grandmasters. Ennis will be flying the flag for Ireland in Greece along with Dublin club Phibsboro.

It isn’t the first time that the Ennis

chess club has competed at this level. The club will be aiming to replicate the success of last year when finish- ing in a highly creditable second place, in it’s category, at the Euro- pean Championships in Italy.

John Cassidy was part of the team that travelled to Italy. He acknowl- edges a stiff challenge awaits the team in Greece but is hoping Ennis can again compete with the best.

“It’s going to be very tough alright, we know that from last year,’ he SIBKeAI SLO

“But we’re lucky in the sense that we’ve got come very good players. Jan Sodoma, 1s one of the new lads. He’s from the Czech republic and he plays to a very high standard. The

teams that will be there are of a very high standard. We’re looking for- ward to it alright.”

He added, “Lorcan is originally from Galway and he has been play- ing with us for a good while now. Gawain, was in school in Flannans here for a few years. He’s only 18, but he’s already a grandmaster. We have some good players going with us over there.”

There was touch of good fortune about Ennis’ qualification attempts for Greece. Ennis were granted a place after three teams that finished higher ahead of them at the National Championship’s in Dublin in June, BLASTN KeAL A

John explained, ““We were asked to

fill in and take the spot in Greece and we were happy to do so. It is ourselves and Phibsboro from Dublinwho’ll be representing Ireland.”

Ennis will warm up for the Euro- pean Championships by competing at the Galway Chess Tournament on October 4.

A series of table quizzes are also being planned in advance of Octo- ber’s trip to Greece. The next one takes place in Brandon’s Bar, Ennis on Thursday October 2 at 9pm. The cost of entry is ©20 per team.

Good prizes, finger food and raffle on the night and all are welcome to attend. The Ennis Chess Club meets in Brandon’s Bar every ‘Tuesday night.

THE transport sector is preparing itself for what could be a crippling blow should October’s budget bring an increased tax burden for the in- dustry. According to the Irish Haul- age Association, companies are currently operating on the brink of collapse and any further loss of com- petitiveness would spell disaster.

“T cant see how this budget can do anything at all to help the haul- age sector. They didn’t do anything when they had a surplus so I cant see how they are going to do anything now that they haven’t,” said Eugene Drennan of Spa Transport Ltd in En- nis and the Irish Road Haulage As- sociation.

“We would seriously hope that our cost are not risen either by excise on fuel or on VAT. We are caught very badly by the recession that is effect-

ing the world and also the recession that has crippled the building sector here in this country.”

A number of haulage companies in the region have already stopped trading, while others are operating on much decreased fleets.

“If our competitiveness is decreased anymore the trucks on the road will take a serious hit. This is not a profit- able business at the moment – there are people surviving right on the margins, there are people going out of business,’ continued Drennan.

‘Every business is struggling, peo- ple are just trying to cope as best they can, and if we get another set back from the government it will be a disaster. People are very worried that the government is going to take their feet out from under them with this budget.”

has learned that the track is likely to be ready ahead of this.

“We are fairly confident at the mo- ment that unless something goes really badly wrong that we will op- eration in May. At this point it looks likely that it will be early May rather WTO E-IKom\U ENYA

“In fact we are working to a dead- line even before that and if we finish ahead of time we will use to extra time to undertake some shadow run- nings of the train,” said Jim Gallivan from larnrod Eireann.

‘‘At the moment we have some infra- stural work left to complete and a few bridges still to work on. The weather this winter is unlikely to delay us, we have all the heavy work completed and what is left to do should not be held up by the weather.”

Work on the track restoration has been ongoing this year and some 18 miles of track has been relayed.

Construction work is also under- way on a number of the reopening

stations. It has been more than 30 years since the last scheduled service on the line.

The new trains will serve Limerick, Ennis, Athenry, and Galway, as well as new stations at Gort, Ardrahan, Craughwell, and Oranmore.

Meanwhile, Iarnr6dd Eireann have confirmed a time and location for a public meeting on issues relating to the general operation of the Western Rail Corridor.

The meeting will take place next Tuesday, September 23, from 5pm to 8pm in the Old Ground Hotel in En- nis. The meeting has been organised to allow local people to have input OBE BE Tan em rOm dM Leics Ot BASED Corridor. Iarnr6d Eireann have com- mitted to running eight services a day but it is as yet unclear when these will take place.