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PLANS are in place in Kilrush for a state-of-the-art multi-purpose build- ing that will house an array of serv- ices and business in the west Clare Cree

The ambitious multi-million euro project has been described by the council’s Senior Executive Archi- tect, Ruth Hurley, as “very exciting and great to be a part of”.

Presenting the design of the new building, she said, “the campus en- capsulates a number of functions that are community and enterprise based”’.

Currently the council plans to de- velop the campus on the proposed new link road and at the edge of John

Paul Estate.

Town Clerk John Corry said the town council would be “strongly pushing for this facility to be consid- ered in conjunction with the second phases of the rejuvenation project in John Paul Estate.”

The local authority applied to En- terprise Ireland for a grant in Au- AU

The enterprise and business units are earmarked for street frontage in a building that must take into account the local streetscape.

There will be six enterprise spaces in total, designed to a brief worked out with Shannon Development.

The units will vary in size from 30 to 60 square metres with clients also having the option to extend verti-

cally.

Units and offices for community groups would also be provided at the opposite side of a general reception and shared area.

Kirush Town Council has already been in talks with organisations such as Clare Youth Services, Clarecare, Kilrush Family Recourse Centre, Eiri Corca Bascinn and Radio Corca Breentvee

As well as offices, it 1s also pro- posed that the new campus would house training facilities, meeting rooms and social and community space such as sports areas, play areas and a community garden.

The shared central reception and waiting area would also act as a evening gathering place for the peo-

ple of Kilrush for launches or exhibi- tions.

There are a number of limitations or challenges facing the council on this ambitious plan.

The current zoning of the proposed land will have to be changed by the council members if the project is to Kee eere ms

The current master plan for John Paul Estate would have to be re- viewed by the Department of the En- vironment.

The project would also take a cer- tain amount of space in the housing estate, but Ms Hurley explained that it was not taking away any space that had not already been dealt with in phase one of the regeneration pro- eramme.

ENNIS councillor Frankie Neylon says he has received countywide sup- port ahead of a public meeting on the future of Cusack Park, to be held in Ennis tomorrow night.

Councillor Neylon said the meeting, which takes place at 8.30pm in the West County hotel, was organised to address “growing concern” about the ownership of Cusack Park.

Cllr Neylon (Ind) says the title deeds for the grounds are in the name of the people of Ennis and not the County Board.

A letter written in 1935 by the En- nis Dalcassians Club states that the club “acquired” the grounds. The let- ter also states that the “grounds be-

long to the people of Ennis”’.

The councillor says he is also aware of other documents that further strengthen his assertion that when the Eire Og club left Cusack Park in 1959, the maintenance deeds were transferred to the County Board.

‘They never transferred the owner- ship to the County Board, it was just the maintenance” said Cllr Neylon.

Cllr Neylon refused to rule out the possibility of taking legal action, if the ownership issue was not re- solved.

“I have been getting calls from people around Clare. I’d say around 80 per cent of them are big GAA supporters. They see Cusack Park as the home of Michael Cusack and the GAA in Clare. It’s a case of re-

minding the County Board that Cu- sack Park is owned by the people. We want to get that in writing. If we don’t get that, we might have look at other options like going down the le- gal route.”

Cllr Neylon continued, “There are other letters in existance and I know there are other documents, legal documents, that prove that Cusack Park does not belong to the County Board.”

Last December the Aisling Chiosoig partnership offered to purchase Cu- sack Park (10 Acres) for €84.4M.

The proposed deal would see Clare GAA purchase a new site on the Quin Road. Aisling Chiosoig would prepare the site up to foundation lev- el, cover planning and legal costs and

any unforeseen expenses that accrue from the proposed deal.

The sale however is subject to the re-zoning of Cusack Park for re-de- velopment purposes and planning approval for the Quin Road site.

Cllr Neylon said, “This isn’t about opposing the re-zoning. The issue of ownership has raised its head again. There is a growing concern out there. Brendan Vaughan, when he was chairman of the County Board tried to purchase the deeds for the board, and he wasn’t successful. But he did acquire the deeds of behalf of the people of Ennis.

“Tm not worried if we get six or 600 people at the meeting, its about straightening out the ownership is- sue’, said Clir Neylon.

FEARS are growing in the Clare tourism sector that the overseas mar- keting budget, promised as part of the Open Skies agreement, will face the chop in this years early budget.

“We would like to make sure that the overseas marketing budgeting for tourism is not cut back and maybe we can even add to it. We have been Shown before that at times of crisis, if we spend the money on advertis- ing oversees we do feel the bounce from it,’ said Michael Vaughan of the Irish Hotel Federation.

“We need to insure that the Shan- non Airport Catchment Area Mar- keting fund, which was part and par- cel of the Open Skies agreement, be maintained.

“We are due €5 million in a mar- keting budget for four years, we have only seen one year of this and the

government has not as yet said that they will be delivering on the re- mainder.

The Irish Hotel Federation has also called on workers to “share the pain” when approaching wage talks.

‘We have a concern about the ris- ing cost of service – spending gener- ally should be maintained. We need to insure that major infrastructure projects like the N18 corridor from Galway to Ennis are not held up,’ continued Mr Vaughan.

‘We need to have a very modest ap- proach to wages at the moment. Our industry has undergone serious wage inflation in recent times.

‘We don’t want to see people disad- vantaged but we do feel that wage in- creases would be at a very minimum. A pay freeze would be something that we would hope to achieve but it is anegotiation situation and we will have to see what happens.”

A POLISH man has been charged in connection with the discovery of a haul of €30,000 worth of cannabis near Sixmilebridge earlier this year.

Dariusz Ziontkowski (24), of Brack- voan, Bruff, County Limerick, is ac- cused of possession of cannabis and possession for the purpose of sale or supply, at Cloontra, Sixmilebridge, last February. |

Garda Sean O Murcht told Shan- non District Court last Thursday that he arrested the accused the previous day. He applied to the court to re- mand the accused in custody.

Defending solicitor Daragh Hassett applied for bail for his client. Howev- er the garda said there were a number of reasons for the application to re- mand the defendant in custody.

These included the seriousness of the charges and that there may be a flight risk. He said the accused is a Polish national with a temporary ad- dress in Bruff.

“These charges follow a search of a property last February. The accused fled to Poland three days after the incident and only returned in recent weeks,” he said.

Garda O Murchu said the quantity of the drugs discovered was two-and- a-half kilos, with an estimated value of €30,000.

However, Mr Hassett said his client has lived in Ireland for the past four years and has no previous convic- tions.

‘He can give his passport to the State and is prepared to sign on three times a day. He is prepared to have a cash surety brought before the court,” said Mr Hassett.

Judge Joseph Mangan then asked the garda did he observe the drugs being found on the premises and the garda said he had. The judge refused bail and remanded the accused in custody to appear again in court later this month.

Asked to clarify his reasons for re- fusing bail, he said, “Based on the gravity of the charges and the evi- dence given to the effect the accused was caught red-handed, caught in the act, and the reasonable apprehension of the State that the accused will not avbuemey one

IT was gold, silver and bronze for west Clare in this year’s Tidy Towns competition as the west of the county proved it was most definitely awake when it came to showing what is best about its towns and villages.

Kilrush was awarded a gold medal award in Category D of the National Tidy Towns Competition for the sec- ond year running.

The west Clare capital led the way by scoring 297 marks – just six marks behind the national overall winner. Kilrush has long since been progressing through the competition having won a bronze medal in Cat- egory D of the Tidy Towns Compe- tition in 2003 and 2004 and a silver medal in the same category in 2005 and 2006.

“Retaining the gold medal is a mas- sive achievement for everybody in- volved,’ said Mayor of Kilrush Cllr Liam O’Looney (FF).

He added that the award marks the

culmination of months of hard work by local volunteers and members of the Kilrush Tidy Town’s Committee to improve the appearance of Kil- Tatts ep

According to Murt Collins, Chair- person of the Kilrush Tidy Towns Committee, “The key to our progress in the Tidy Towns scheme has been the partnership approach that we adopted some years ago. There is a broad range of groups and organi- sations now involved in promoting and enhancing the appearance of the town including the local Tidy Towns Committee, FAS schemes, outdoor and clerical staff from Kilrush Town Council, the local business sector, and the community of Kilrush.”

He also paid tribute to Queally’s Supermarket Kilrush.

In Ballynacally the Tidy Town’s Committee were celebrating silver.

The village was third in Clare, after Ennis and Kilrush and got silver in Category B.

Chairman of the committee, John

Maher, described the silver medal win in the national competition as “an astounding result for Ballyna- cally”.

“We are up 43 marks in two years,’ he said paying tribute to all the vol- unteers, schools, residents, local business, clubs and FAS.

“It is very much a team effort. It takes a lot of long winter night plot- ting and planning to achieve this,” he said.

The seaside town of Kilkee secured a bronze medal in Category C.

The committee’s hard work paid off with an extra 15 marks this year, that is 29 extra marks in the last two years.

The committee under the chairper- sonship of Cllr Lilly Marrinan-Sul- livan and Secretary Pauline Barry paid tribute to the residents for the work on their homes, and the busi- nesses, schools, town and county council workers, different groups and organisations and FAS for their support.

While Lissycasey may have been new to the competition it started its career with the tidy towns on a high by securing the best new entry AMEN EOR

Fine Gael TD Pat Breen paid trib- ute to all of those that took part in the Tidy Towns competition.

“The work of Tidy Towns requires a dedicated group of volunteers in our communities; these people are the unsung heroes/heroines of our various parishes without whom we would not have achieved this suc- cess,” he said.

IT started off as a bit of friendly ban- ter between old friends yet ten years on the rivalry remains as keen as oe

Avenue Ramblers and the Chelsea Supporter’s club have been playing for the Marian Avenue Cup for al- most a decade.

The rivalry has always been a friendly one and the game has al- ways been about highlighting the good work of a particular charity or cause. The results have swayed back and forth and each side has enjoyed their share of the bragging rights.

The latest chapter unfolds in the Fair Green in October when the sides

meet to mark the fixture’s tenth anni- versary. The winners will play Moro- ney’s Bar in the final for the cup.

Jacko McMahon lives in Marian Avenue and has been involved with the fixture from the start, donning the jersey of Avenue Ramblers.

He’s already on the lookout for play- ers who have been involved down the years and is calling on them to lace up their boots again.

“There are a lot of guys out there that would have played in the last ten years. I’ll be hoping to get them out on the pitch again,’ explained Jacko.

The game may have originated as a kick-around between friends, but aligned to the fun of competition, is a more serious side. Over the years,

the game has raised money for a wide variety of charity groups and organisations, both local and nation- al, including Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin and local adult education projects.

“Tt sort of started off like that,’ ex- plained Jacko. ““We wanted to raise a bit of money for charity. Over the years we’ve raised a bit for different groups. The lads have always been generous about it. The game is al- ways a bit of craic, but its good there has been that part to it too.”

Side by side with Jacko on the foot- ball and the fundraising front, has been Jim McMahon. Jim, like Jacko has been involved with the fixture from the start, but on the pitch, Jim

wears the blue of the Chelsea Sup- porters Club.

Jim recently took on the Reeks Challenge – climbing ten peaks of the McGillycuddy Reeks in Kerry – to raise money for St Luke’s Hospi- tal, Dublin. As part of the fundrais- ing drive, Avenue Ramblers took on the Chelsea Supporters Club. It was close that day with the Ramblers just edging it on penalties. Both sides are already looking forward to the re- match.

THE government should use the budget to intervene in the ailing housing market, according to a Clare property expert.

Philip O’Reilly, Managing Direc- tor of Philip O’Reilly Property Plus, says that while any upswing re- mains largely dependent on market conditions, certain areas, including the large amount of vacant hous- ing stock, must be addressed in the forthcoming Budget.

Mr O’Reilly says financial incen- tives should be provided to first time buyers to restore confidence in a housing market where values have fallen. “One area they should be looking at and doing something about is encouraging first time buy- ers to purchase unoccupied housing stock. This could bring a lot of new entrants into the market’, he said.

“If you take any house that costs €300,000, included in that is VAT of €39,000. Why not introduce a

scheme whereby €10,000 of that fig- ure would be made available to first time buyers. It could be limited to a certain time period, say for people who sign up for it before June 1”’.

Any interference on a micro level must also be balanced against mar- ket conditions and other macro-level events, said Mr O’Reilly.

“At one level, with the housing market under pressure, there are cer- tain things that need to take place at a microeconomic level, because if something isn’t done, it could have substantial implications for employ- ment and other areas”.

‘There is a limit to what kind of in- terference could take place that would have a positive impact on the hous- ing market. There are a lot of other forces at work, the credit crunch, the difficulties faced by the building trade. We shouldn’t be talking about €5,000 or lower figures, it has to be €10,000”, said Mr. O’Reilly.

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.