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A SHANNON town councillor has come under fire for suggesting that the council should refuse to co-oper- ate with a directive which could see local authority tenants from Limer- ick being re-housed in the area.

Cllr Geraldine Lambert warned that the councillors would be branded as bigots if they pass a motion from Cllr Tony Mulcahy that the council “have no hand, act or part in any Regional Housing Policy that would include

the re-location of people from the Limerick City Regeneration Project on OE Kome

“Just think about it – if the words ‘people from Limerick city’ were re- placed with the words “Polish peo- ple” or “Nigerians” there would be uproar’, said Cllr Lambert.

The Fianna Fail councillor said that she is “totally opposed” to opening the door to any of the city’s feuding or criminal element “but you can’t put a blanket ban on an entire geo- graphical area. There are plenty of

decent, honest, hard-working people living in that area. What should be happening is that the three councils should sit down together to discuss housing policy”.

ClUlr Mulcahy will propose at to- night’s meeting “that this Council would ignore the Ministerial Direc- tive from Minister Gormley and have no hand, act or part in any Regional Housing Policy that would include the re-location of people from the Limerick City Regeneration Project to Clare and in particular to Shannon

Region. I would also request that this be communicated to Minister Gorm- ley in the strongest possible terms.”

And he said he is not deterred from speaking on the motion.

“This is a way of allowing Limer- ick to export a problem to Clare. If this goes ahead, it won’t just be a concern for Shannon. There will be people moving into all parts of Clare. We have enough people on our own housing lists and we have our own problems. I don’t see why we should be solving Limerick city’s problem.”

THE pressure was solely on New- market to perform. It’s been twelve weeks since they last played a championship game, an intermina- bly lengthly period to sift through the wreckage of their disappointing opening defeat to Wolfe Tones and the abject performance that baffled their supporters in the opening game of the championship.

In the interim, there had been several Clare Cup games but this was the first opportunity to rouse their championship aspirations and stake a claim for a quarter-final place that many took as a given at the start of the season.

Ballyea on the other hand had nothing to lose. Ever since the draw was made, nobody gave them a chance in a group that comprised of last year’s county champions Tulla, 2006 champions Wolfe Tones, 2006 finalists Newmarket and the newly amalgamated force of Inagh/ Kilnamona,

And they had this no-hopers tag affixed, despite possessing two- thirds of the side that reached the 2003 county final.

In the end, it played out as expected. Newmarket eased to a seven point victory despite not having to overly extend themselves but while the two points was all that was important on this occasion, they will need to be much more ruthless if they are to emerge from the group.

As expected, Ballyea threw everything at the Blues and indeed

made life difficult for them for long periods but what essentially separated these sides was the extra sprinkling of guile and experience that Newmarket possessed.

Their distribution was slicker, their hurling that bit faster and although this display won’t have © struck immediate panic into their group rivals who were well represented along the barrier in Clareabbey, it was enough to get them on the road and shake off any rustiness that a prolonged break inevitably brings.

Besides that, there was only one real striking aspect lacking in Newmarket’s armoury — the absence of sufficient clinical forwards.

Enda Kelly and Padraig Kilmartin’s movement and_ strength were important, Shane O’Brien impressed intermittently and Colin Ryan looked threatening when introduced but with Paudie Collin’s unerring accuracy propping them up for the majority, there was a distinct staleness to the forward line.

It appeared to hamper Newmarket’s performance over the hour and prevented them from making a real statement of intent in this demanding group.

Fundamentally, the game turned in first half injury time when Paudie Collin’s long free broke in the square and Enda Kelly was the first to react to pull to the net.

Up to that point, Ballyea had matched the Blues point for point despite playing into a slight breeze and if they had held that momentum until the break, it could have inspired

a real battle in the second period.

However, Ballyea tired late in the half and sandwiched by two superb Paudie Collins points from play, Newmarket also fired a warning shot in the 28th minute when a move involving Jim McInerney and Padraig Kilmartin fell to corner-forward Martin Murphy but although his pull beat goalkeeper Shane O’Neill, full- back Kevin Sheehan was on hand to block the shot.

Ballyea didn’t heed that caution however and three minutes later, Kelly grabbed the goal that gave his

side a five point half-time cushion and essential provided the foundation for victory.

Ballyea were always chasing the game after that and with free-taker Ivan Kilbane their main source for scores, they never really threatened Kieran Devitt’s goalmouth. Kilbane put over the opening score of the second period in the 33rd but settled by that goal before half-time,

Newmarket began to stretch their muscles and four unanswered points through Jim McInerney, Shane O’Brien, Dominic McMahon and a Collins free had them eight clear by the 42nd minute.

Ballyea had to reshuffle the pack and cleverly pushed Tony Griffin to full-forward and the county senior almost changed the game.

Griffin won two consecutive frees in a minute that Kilbane converted to reduce the deficit to six but crucially, Ballyea failed to take advantage of a goal opportunity only a minute later when Donal Chambers handpassed over the defence to the onrushing Griffin.

The pass was just too long and Brian Clancy got back to clear the danger and put the ball out for a ’65 which Kilbane converted.

That was as close as Ballyea would get as Newmarket regained control of the game and tacked over four more points to ease their nerves.

Ballyea did have an opportunity to grab a consolation goal deep into injury time when Brian Chambers was fouled and Shane O’Neill came up to take the resulting 21 yard free. However, the goalkeeper’s effort crashed off the crossbar and rebounded high to safety and Ambrose Heagney blew for full-time amid some obvious frustration from Ballyea who are now realistically out of the running for 2008.

Meanwhile, this result means that Newmarket expectantly throw their hat into the ring for qualification but they will realise that they will have to improve considerably for the mammoth impending challenges of Tulla and Inagh/Kilnamona.

The county champions are up next but the Blues shouldn’t require any extra motivation for that tie as it was Tulla who unceremoniously turfed them out of the championship last year. If that quarter-final clash is anything to go by, carrying passengers cannot be an option for Newmarket from here on in.

PLANS by Clare hurling star Davy Fitzgerald to construct a €4 million boutique hotel near Shannon Air- port could be rejected because of concerns over the privacy of people praying for family and friends at a nearby cemetery.

With only days to go before the Sixmilebridge man oversees Water- ford’s challenge in the All-Ireland final, An Taisce has lodged a sub- mission on his plans to demolish the

Bellsfort Inn pub and function room and replace it with a two-storey 23- bedroom hotel with a bar and func- tion room.

The proposed development is to take place three miles from the air- port on a country road linking New- market-on-Fergus and Shannon.

An Taisce state that part of the ho- tel will be overlooking an adjacent graveyard and feel that this would impose on the privacy of those pray- ing at graves.

The proposed hotel development is

located near a ring-fort and it is like- ly that it will be put on hold to allow Mr Fitzgerald submit an archaeologi- cal assessment on the likely impact oye aelomubercaKoyum

The Department of the Environ- ment is recommending that the archaeological assessment should define the buffer zone which would preserve the setting and visual amen- LAO) MAROC om Kee

“The proposed location of the ho- tel building may have a significant visual impact. If this is found to be

the case, then a change of design and a reduction in scale of development may be requested,’ the department stated.

With over 3.6 million people using Shannon Airport last year, the former Clare goalkeeper will be hoping that his new venture will be able to attract some of this traffic.

The plan is already facing an objec- tion from Seamus and Anne Ryan, Fairfield, Lemanaghmore, Newmar- ket who claim that “nothing in the development proposal indicates that

it makes any contribution to the lo- cal area, or presents a demonstrable need for this type of development”’.

The Ryans have asked the council to refuse permission for the hotel be- cause of overdevelopment of the site, which will “generate traffic hazards and give rise to serious negative im- pact on the environment.”

“The proposed development is monumental in the context of the site area and in the context of existing buildings.” A decision is due on the application next week.

THE Board of Shannon Swimming & Leisure Ltd must bridge a shortfall of €300,000 to finance a €1.3 mil- lion redevelopment of the Shannon SR icemereesl eo.

Board member, Councillor Patricia McCarthy is confident the shortfall can be met as €1 million has already been generated through National Lottery funding, local fundraising and a proposed loan.

Cllr McCarthy was speaking yes- terday after the publication of the Shannon Centre’s latest accounts show that it is the only community- owned leisure complex in Clare with

a positive balance.

Lahinch Seaworld has accumulated losses of over €500,000 while Kil- kee Seaworld is also in the red.

However, the Shannon Swim- ming & Leisure Ltd accounts show that turnover increased by nine per cent in 2007, rising from 55,000 to ol) 01007

While costs increased from €515,000 in 2006 to €527,000 last year, the leisure centre was still in a position to report a profit for the sec- ond year in a row.

A surplus of €74,000 allowed the centre eliminate its accumulated losses and return an overall surplus of €49,000.

The accounts show €139,000 cash at bank and equity funds of €244,000.

The company has 13 employees and Staff costs are €293,000.

Commenting on the figures, Cllr McCarthy said that the performance of the centre over the past year has been brought about by a lot of hard work.

“Finances are reasonably healthy, but we are going to have higher costs with electricity and oil prices going up. The centre is a valuable resource for the entire community.”

Commenting on the redevelopment plans for the centre, Cllr McCarthy Said it would include tennis courts, a

skateboard park and a gym, as well as the retiling of the pool.

She said the National Lottery had provided €350,000 in_ funding, while €250,000 has been generated through fundraising with a further €400,000 to be raised through a bank loan.

Construction will take place on a phased basis and the board will de- cide which part of the project will be first developed.

Cllr McCarthy the shortfall in fund- ing for the new development would be bridged through fundraising.

WHERE David Fitzgerald and Kil- kenny are concerned, the Sixmile- bridge man has had no luck what- soever this decade. Just look at his track record. The senior All-Ireland final of 2002, the quarter-final replay defeat of 2004 and the semi-final loss in 2006 that was to be his last championship game in the saffron and blue. He did return this year to a heroe’s welcome in his native Sixmi- lebridge in March, again against the Cats but it was the same result as Richie Power (2) and Eddie Brennan grabbed three goals to narrowly sink the Banner.

The ‘Kilkenny factor’ followed Fitzgerald into management as well

as WIT edged out his LIT side after extra, extra-time in the Fitzgibbon Cup Final with Ballyhale Shamrocks forward Eoin Reid grabbing the de- cisive winning goal after twice drag- ging his side level earlier on to send the game into extra-time.

That streak continued on Sunday as Kilkenny claimed their third suc- cessive Minor A camogie title at the expense of Clare and while trainer Fitzgerald admits that Kilkenny deserved the win, he still feels that there is a lot of potential in this Clare side.

“They were the better side alright on the day. I don’t think we played to the potential we can play to and may- be the day got to us or whatever but certainly Kilkenny have won three

All-Irelands and are a fantastic team. There is more in our girls for definite and we showed that in patches there today.

“Listen, the referee wouldn’t have made a difference at the end of the day but she was an absolute disgrace out there. We wouldn’t have won the game but all you want is fair play at the end of the day and she wasn’t acer

“In saying that, I have to hold my hands up and say that I am delight- ed with our girls. They battled well and we came back and probably the second goal killed us. We were ab- solutely just battling back to within five points and we were unlucky not to get a break for a goal but they got one up the far side of the field and

that was it. The game was over after Were

Despite his obvious disappoint- ment, the two time All-Ireland win- ner is adament that these players are destined to lead Clare camogie to the next level.

“Let’s be honest, Kilkenny were winning senior All-Irelands a few years back for fun. Clare are Jun- ior. A lot of these girls are coming onto the Junior team and they will bring Clare up to senior, I’m posi- tive of that. And we will be compet- ing at senior level in a few years if they are handled properly. And that’s very important that they are handled properly and not overtrained or over- worked. These girls deserve to play in their own age group and given a

right chance at that, that’s very im- portant and they will progress then WAC oo mn ee: |e

Fitzgerald has the perfect opportu- nity this weekend to quash his Kil- kenny hex when his Waterford side take on Kilkenny in the All-Ireland senior hurling final. A game that has the Sixmilebridge man buzzing with anticipation.

‘“Let’s see what happens this week. I’m looking forward to it and I’m more motivated than ever. You can’t say what will happen because you are standing on the sideline and you are helpless so let’s see. We are not given a chance but you never know.”

After his luckless past against Kil- kenny, it’s almost become a personal mission.

ALTHOUGH it may have won the title of Ireland’s Information Age Town, Ennis is being left behind in the latest high tech development af- ter missing out on an €18 million fibre optic network which is to be installed around Limerick City and eight towns in the mid-west region. Clare Green Party councillor, Bri- an Meaney has highlighted the major contradiction in the fact that Ennis and Shannon have been overlooked

in a Government initiative to bring broadband to the masses in the mid- west.

In recent days, Shannon Broad- band Ltd, a public sector consortium led by Shannon Development, an- nounced the completion of a fibre optic network in providing world- class telecoms to eight towns in the mid-west.

Local authorities in the mid-west and Offaly were also involved in the initiative but Clare County Council has fared worst with only Kilrush in-

cluded in the present scheme.

Two Offaly towns, Birr and Ban- agher are in the scheme, along with Roscrea and Templemore in Tipper- ary while Abbeyfeale and Newcastle West in County Limerick have also been provided with the infrastruc- aOR Kom

The latest expansion of the fibre optic network covers 52 kilometres and follows the earlier provision of 57 kilometres of fibre optic cable by Shannon Broadband at a cost of €6.5 million around Limerick City.

Cllr Meaney yesterday expressed his anger that Ennis was excluded from the initiative.

He said there has been a failure to build on the Information Age Town designation. The most recent cen- sus figures show that Ennis has now been eclipsed by Shannon in terms of homes that own a home computer, while almost half of Ennis homes have no access to the internet.

“It is already proving difficult to at- tract industry to Ennis and this will place the town at a further disadvan-

tage. Broadband is now as important as laying train tracks or new roads for the county’s infrastructure and I find it mystifying what Ennis and Shannon were not put forward as candidate towns in Clare,’ he said.

A spokesman for Shannon Devel- Opment said that the Department for Communications nominated the towns concerned. However, Shannon Development would be pressing the case for the inclusion of Ennis, Shan- non and Thurles in the next expan- sion.

A CLARE TD has warned that school children in the county could be left on the side of the road as the cost of school transport reaches an all time high.

The cost of uniforms with special- ised crests, and the cost of books, which are constantly changing, 1s also putting added pressures on par- ents’ coffers.

Fine Gael TD Pat Breen has claimed that parents will have to dig deeper into their pockets this September with the cost of sending children to school on the increase once again.

‘The reality is that the cost of get- ting children ready to go back to school is expensive and while the Back to School and Footwear Al- lowance is in place, many families find that the allowance is not enough. Parents also face the problem of having to pump out more on school transport charges this year,’ he said.

‘Indeed the entire school bus trans- port system is facing a year of uncer- tainty due to the Government’s mis- handling of the removal of the fuel rebate scheme.”

“Children will be left at the side of the road if school transport opera- tors have to withdraw their services

mid-term due to unexpected costs. If private operators start pulling their services it will have a devastating impact on rural school children and their families.

“The government already increased school bus charges due to arise in fuel costs, these have not been passed on to the companies which operate the school bus routes. The government needs to state clearly if there will be a replacement fuel rebate scheme for school transport services.”

He said he was disappointed that the Minister Mary Hanafin refused to review the grant aid available to families to meet the cost of school

clothing and footwear.

“She fails to understand the fi- nancial difficulties facing families. School transport alone has risen by a whopping 70 per cent,” he said.

In response to a parliamentary question in July, the minister said, “The adequacy of back to school clothing and footwear allowance payments will be kept under review. Any changes to the structure of the scheme would have cost implications and would have to be considered in a budgetary context and in the light of resources available for improve- ments in social welfare payments generally.”

CLARE manager Fintan McNamara felt this defeat more than most. The Killanena man along with Maura Sheedy and Eamon O’Loughlin have been with this side for four years now and has witnessed their development at first hand as they reached their first ever All-Ireland final.

It wasn’t to be however as Kilkenny, just as they had done two years ago at Under 16 level, proved too strong for the Banner girls but as he consoled each player at the final whistle, he spoke of his immense pride in his players despite defeat.

“Kilkenny were flying it today and they had their homework done on us but the girls gave it everything and

that’s all I could ask and I’m very proud of them for that.

“They got a lead on us and even- tually when we got into the game it rather evened out. I think in the sec- ond half we got the start we wanted and I thought we were getting on top at that stage and things were begin- ning to turn.

“But they got a lucky goal again and

I think that flattened us and pushed them on again.”

From a Clare perspective, the biggest aspect was the use of two Kilkenny backs to mark Clare’s top-scorer Carina Roseingrave, a tactic that McNamara admitted they ToLtIeTs am NeUUbE AYA

“T think Kilkenny had two players on her for nearly the whole game.

They had their homework done on us and fair play to them.

“We thought we had enough to counteract that but you have to credit GU antine

“They weren’t going for three-in- a-row for no reason but as I say I’m proud of the girls to get there and I couldn’t ask for any more. We’re dis- appointed but we’ll be back.”

A PROGRAMME aimed at improv- ing the skills of young drivers that began in Ennis has now been extend- ed to 140 schools around Ireland

Ennis man Kieran O’Brien estab- lished the Irish School of Excellence, which he piloted two years ago in St Flannans’ College.

Now, through an ongoing exten- sion of the programme, students in schools from Letterkenny to Bray, are being made aware of the impor- tance of safe driving.

O’Brien explained that the aim of the programme has always been to ensure that when drivers take to the road, they are fully qualified to do

so, and are aware of their responsi- YUH CoE

He said, “Some schools invite a lo- cal driving instructor to come and take their students in large groups and let them drive the car around. This is the type of driver education that we at the Irish School of Excel- lence condemn as it is like handing a gun to somebody and without giving any education in safety and common sense will tell you that this is danger- Othe

All participating students receive a certificate of achievement on com- pletion of the driver education pro- eae NONDONOR

Only after students become fully aware of the rules of the road are

they allowed to sit into a car with a fully qualified driving instructor, ex- plained O’Brien.

‘The Irish school of excellence pro- gramme format is educational and safety orientated and only after the students pass their theory test and a driver education test regarding insur- ance, penalty points and much more, only then do they get to take their lessons with a fully approved driving instructor”’.

Over the next six weeks, O’Brien has been given seven in-service train- ing days to teach up to 150 teachers how to run the programme.

This is the first time that a driver education programme has been so fully embraced by schools in Ire-

land.

O’Brien hopes that with more and more schools coming on board, the programme will eventually receive backing from the Department of Education.

During the summer months the programme was given to youthreach ovcescae-besveslenw-NUMe(o) mAs eO NINA A

Developed voluntary in 2005, the Irish School of Excellence has grown from one school to 140 schools na- tionwide with Toyota among the high profile companies lending their sup- port.

AS classroom sizes and adequate school accommodation remains an issue throughout the county, two east Clare schools received planning per- mission for temporary accommoda- tion.

Just over a week ago Clare County Council granted Scoil Seanain Nao- fa, Clonlara, permission to install two prefabricated stand-alone class- rooms.

The permission was granted sub- ject to a number of conditions in- cluding that all surface water runoffs generated by the proposal shall be collected and disposed of within the site, and shall not be disposed of to public sewers.

The conditions also outlined that in the event that the proposed prefab units become obsolete, the Board of Management shall at its own expense remove them and return the site to its original condition. Otherwise the

planning permission is valid for five years.

The planning authority also or- dered that and existing pipes beneath the structure would be encased in 100 mm concrete.

Likewise, Scoil na Maighdine Mhu- ire in Broadford received permission last week to erect two portacabins to the south of the existing school building.

The first portacabin is to provide a classroom, resource room and two

toilets of approximately 120 me- tres squared. The second temporary building is to provide a resource room of 16 square metres.

Once again Clare County Coun- cil gave permission to the Board of Management to proceed with its plans subject to some conditions, including its request to remove the temporary building if it is no longer needed.

The permission had also a shelf life of five years.