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THE Government was left holding a very big baby after President Paddy Hillery’s state visit to Tanzania. The problem arose after Tanzanian Presi- dent, Julius Nyerere presented Presi- dent Hillery with a baby elephant during his visit.

The Tanzanian Government came looking for the transport charges to be paid for transporting the elephant to Aras an Uachtaran.

When the elephant arrived in Ire- land in September 1979, President Hillery contacted Dublin Zoo to find out would they be interested in pro- viding a new home for the elephant.

“I left a message to say that we would be very happy to receive the elephant,’ Dublin Zoo Director Ter- ry Murphy said in a letter to Presi- dent Hillery.

However, by this stage the Tanza- nian Government just wanted to be paid, with the Ministry of Foreign

Affairs in Tanzanian writing to the Irish Embassy in Dar es Salaam with a reminder that the Irish Government had undertaken to pay all air freight charges.

“It is in accordance with this un- dertaking that the ministry has the honour to request the reimbursement of the sum of 66,063 shillings, being the cost of transporting by air the live elephant as referred to above.”

By December, Irish officials were becoming frustrated about the fail-

ure to pay the bill. “Do you have £4,000 to spare,’ wrote one official. ‘None of the three departments we have had to contact in an attempt to sort out this mess has either. The up- shot of the whole affair is that we are left holding this weighty baby and PVCCMCIAUCG GRY GINO Nao RRo) Tana

The bill for President Hillery’s baby elephant was finally paid before the end of the year.

REVELATIONS that almost €10 million has been spent in three years protecting troops passing through Shannon Airport have caused outrage among groups opposed to the use of the airport by the US military.

Roger Cole, Chair of Peace and Neutrality Alliance, described the spend as “just the latest example of an Irish political elite wasting Irish taxpayers’ money and leading this country deeper and deeper into an even greater economic disaster.”

Department of Justice figures put the cost of protecting the troops and providing Garda security at €8.6 million between 2006 and 2008. This is in addition to the cost of Irish army patrols for the same period which came in at €964,702.

The figures also reveal that 243,000 US troops passed through Shannon in the first 11 months of 2009 – the equivalent of an army battalion a day. It’s believed that the business was worth €7 million to the airport bem Oet-lmm osu (eren

And one million military person- nel have passed through the airport en route to wars in Iraq and Afghani- stan since 2006.

It 1s too early to say whether there will be any impact at the airport from the recent decision by US Pres- ident, Barack Obama to deploy an extra 17,000 troops to Afghanistan in 2010.

Others who were critical of the spend include peace activist, former soldier and UN peacekeeper, Edward

Horgan.

He said there is “some small eco- nomic benefit in that it provides a small number of jobs at Shannon Airport. However, the fact that we are doing this, participating in or facilitating crimes against human- ity for economic gain, in my view makes it far worse than if we were doing it for free.”

He added that such use of Shannon “destroys any concept of Ireland as a neutral state”.

A spokeswoman for Shannon Air- port said that the airport is “not the only airport in Europe with this kind of business.”

She said the US military airline has “no real ties to the airport and can move to another location very easily. Therefore we do not see this business as providing the basis for long-term development of the airport. It is just an additional income stream.”

Justice Munister, Dermot Ahern said the annual bill for security for

the troops is more than justified.

“The deployment of Garda resourc- es 18 based on an assessment by the garda authorities of the measures necessary to ensure the safety and security of personnel staff, passen- gers and property at Shannon Air- port,” he said.

PRESIDENT Hillery’s twin passions of golfing and sailing were subject to strict protocol by the Government, State papers for 1979 have revealed.

The papers released under the Gov- ernment’s 30-year rule showed that specific procedures were in place, which dictated how President Hillery might be able to engage in leisure ac- tivities such as golf and sailing while abroad.

In 1979 he wanted to embark on a two-day yachting cruise outside Irish territorial waters, a move that had government advisers deferring to the attorney general and consulting with the Constitution about what law ap- plied to being outside Irish territorial waters.

Eventually, officials in the De- partment of the Taoiseach advised Taoiseach Jack Lynch that the Gov- ernment could give consent for Presi- dent Hillery’s yachting excursion un- der Article 12.9 of the Constitution which states “the President shall not

leave the State during his term of of- fice save with the consent of the Gov- ernment”.

However, when it came to President Hillery going on a golfing holiday to Boston in August of that year, the De- partment of the Taoiseach bunkered the invitation that came from the Lt Governor of Massachusetts. The in- vitation for President Hillery to golf in a tournament in Boston from Au- gust 16 to 18 came via a phone call to the Irish Consul General in Boston.

“It seems to me to be extraordinary that the Consul General in Boston should recommend favourable con- sideration of a suggestion that the President should go to America to participate in a golf tournament and it is even more extraordinary that the headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs should envisage that the President might accept such an invitation,’ a memo from the Depart- ment of the Taoiseach said.

SHANNON Airport’s commercial needs compromising Ireland’s neu- trality isn’t just a modern day phe- nomenon brought by US offensives in Iraq and Afghanistan – State pa- pers from 30 years ago have revealed that the Government wrestled with the same dilemma in 1979.

That year the US authorities sprung an informal request on the Govern- ment to allow 12,000 soldiers to transit through Shannon Airport en route from a NATO exercise in Ger- TneT-B ONY

The US proposal to land troops in Shannon only came to the authori- ties’ notice when the Department of Transport and Foreign Affairs were phoned to ask for facilities at Shannon for two customs officers to observe troop transports on the ground.

Allowing the troops land was worth £250,000 in revenue to Shannon in landing fees and duty free shopping, a request the Government acceded to in early 1979.

The State papers reveal that gov- ernment officials were concerned that allowing the stopover would compromise the country’s traditional policy of military neutrality and that the stopover request had not gone through the proper diplomatic chan- nels.

One memo relating to the stopover request suggested “checking with the US Embassy fairly courteously but firmly on the issue of principle in or-

der to ensure that it does not become general practice. “It is possible at least – even though

is a ‘try on’ to see how we react to such requests “It would be instructive to think

it seems unlikely – that the approach how we would react if the Soviet Un-

ion wanted to fly troops back from Cuba in Aeroflot planes and took us similarly for granted,” added the | Xe) Kes h:4 0a WOE: Nunc o nto eley

Officials from the Department of Industry and Commerce and _ the Department of the Taoiseach were concerned that refusal to accede to the stopover request could have a negative impact on US investment in Ireland.

However, another government memo wondered whether agree- ment would facilitate “even if only marginally, acts with which the Irish Government would not wish to be involved.

‘“Lobbies exercised about neutrality would exploit this situation and see it as a further indication of our alleged gradual and ‘de facto’ involvement with NATO.

“Tf it were allowed, even on a one- off basis there would probably be some public controversy or question- ing about or position on NATO and it would be well to be prepared for Wee

“Agreement would also indicate our goodwill to the US and our will- ingness to facilitate the defence of Europe and with that part of it which we were involved in constructing a new political entity.”

School enrolment numbers increase

A €22,000 NEW Year windfall in last Saturday night’s National Lot- tery Winning Streak television game show will enable a Clare youth sup- port co-ordinator to fulfill his dream of going on safari.

Eddie Keane from Quin, who works as with the Clare Vocational Education Committee as co-ordi- nator for the Ennis Youth Support Scheme, purchased his winning ticket at O’Keeffe’s Roslevan Stores in Ennis.

With his winnings, Eddie said he would like to upgrade both his and his wife Pauline’s car and go on a Sa- fari holiday. Eddie and Pauline have two sons Dean who is 18 and Luke who is 12.

WITH the Big Freeze set to contin- ue for days yet, Clare County Coun- cil is warning that they may have to shut off water to many areas to con- serve supplies.

The bad news comes after hun- dreds of homes were left for days on end with no supply due to burst mains over the Christmas period.

Council engineer, Sean Ward said yesterday that while supply has been restored to most areas, “There are

still several days of cold weather to come, and it is very possible that further areas may be affected by low pressure or loss of supply, and that further areas may need to have supplies shut off at night to allow reservoirs to recover. If we need to shut any areas off, we will advertise the fact on local radio.”

Mr Ward continued, “There was also a major loss of supply in the Loop Head peninsula due to a big main bursting on Blackweir Bridge, between Kilkee and Moyasta. As far

as can be ascertained at present, this burst was not directly related to the weather conditions.”

With the continuing cold weather, demand for water has increased in all the council’s water supplies throughout the county.

Effects of increased demand are currently being felt in Scariff and Tuamgraney, where supply has had to be shut off at night since New Year’s Eve, to allow reservoir levels to recover.

The council says that recovery

has been reasonably good, and it is likely that shut-offs can soon be er ere

Night shut-offs will continue in Tulla, however. Different parts of Cratloe are being affected at differ- ent times, and the council continues to seek leaks in the area and to bal- ance the pressures between the dif- ferent areas.

Also affected is the Ballybeg- Rockmount area between Ennis and Clarecastle, and higher areas off the Tulla Road in Ennis.

Parts of north Clare supplied by the Ballymacraven treatment plant in Ennistymon are experiencing re- duced pressure and loss of supply at various times.

“The increase in demand is due to a combination of factors, mainly burst and leaking pipes both in the council’s own network and in pri- vate houses and other premises, and some people’s practice of letting taps run continuously in an effort to avoid freezing of pipes,’ said Mr WET UGE

SYNCREON, an Irish company which bought into a Clare concern in the 1990’s has bought a US group for $35 million.

Syncreon, a specialized provider of integrated logistics services and highly customized supply chain solutions to global industries, an- nounced today it has acquired NAL Worldwide Holdings, Inc. The terms of the transaction are not be- ing disclosed.

Syncreon was the name given to the new merged company, follow- ing Walsh Western International’s acquisition of TDS Logistics in March 2007.

One of the founders of Walsh Western is Drumline man Michael Enright who helped build the logis- tics company during the 90s, suc- cessfully tapping the development boom by supplying just-in-time materials to Irish plants of US com-

puter giants, Intel, Dell, Digital and Apple.

Enright sold the majority of the firm for €51 million in 1999 with the Enright family retaining a quar- ter of the business. Michael Enright is listed as Chariman of Syncreon while his son, Brian, is President and CEO.

Addison, IL-based NAL 1s a third- party logistics (3PL) and supply chain services company providing solutions to the telecommunica- tions, retail, hi-tech and healthcare industries. The transaction pro- vides Syncreon six additional US facilities, a national network of 150 service providers and more than 550 people.

In addition, this transaction strengthens Syncreon’s service of- fering and expands end markets served to include telecommunica- tions and retail.

NAL Worldwide had revenues of US$75 million in 2009 and had

been majority owned by Chicago based private equity firm Lake Capital. Brian Enright, said, “We are very pleased with this transac- tion. NAL considerably adds to our capabilities in the key US market and brings us access to new sec- tors, customers, capabilities and human talent.

This acquisition builds upon syn- creon’s core differentiator – flexible and customized solutions for our customers”.

Syncreon is a global contract logistics and supply chain man- agement company that uses its asset-light business model to pro- vide specialized transportation, inbound, outbound, and fulfillment logistics services.

These services are fully inte- grated into their customers’ supply chain and final end-client delivery. Syncreon is a global business with its operational HQ in Auburn Hills, MI.

Syncreon has activities in 20 countries, with over 50 facilities and approximately 9,000 employ- ees. Syncreon is owned by Irish businessmen Michael and Brian Enright and New York based pri- vate equity firm, GenNx360 Capi- tal Partners.

Walsh Western International, headquartered in Dublin, had been one of the fastest growing and most successful supply chain service providers in Europe.

Specializing in end-to-end lo- gistics and supply chain solutions, WWI provided a broad range of services that closely complimented those of TDS including fulfillment, reverse logistics, dynamic in-tran- sit merge and distribution, freight management and transportation so- lutions for the technology industry. W WI] established a strong presence in the electronic and technology sectors, servicing customers such as Dell, Epson, and HP.

Lifesavers lose out on funding

MORE than 500 people are expected to turn out for the annual sponsored walk organised by the Clare Branch of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, which takes place next Sunday, Janu- Tear

Now in its eighth year, the walk has become a charity institution in the north Clare area each January.

Sponsorship cards are still available locally or from the Alzheimer Socie- ty office in Ennis, but people are also encouraged to come along on the day and donate what they can.

“We have had great support from people in Clare, Galway and Lim- erick and all over getting behind the

walk for the last eight years and it’s been a pleasure to do it.

“It’s a very nice walk. It goes from main road to the green road and then it goes to the grassy green road up in Fanore. There is a lovely view out over the sea and over all the Burren,” said walk organiser, Gerry Howard.

“We let people off individually or in small groups – we don’t have one big group moving off at the one time. We say 12 or half past for the walk but some people come a little bit ear- ly and some people come a little bit later. We had more than 500 people last year which was brilliant.

“It’s a nice relaxed walk. We have a great celebration on the day with tra-

ditional music, dancing and singing in O’Donoghue’s Pub after the walk. We have a great evening.”

As in previous years, all proceeds will go to improve and extend both daycare, homecare, and _ respite services for the Clare Branch of the Alzheimer Society.

‘There are very few families who haven’t have some sort of brush with it, either Dementia or Alzheimer’s.

“When you are organising some- thing like this, you are very much pushing an open door with people. Anyone who has had experience of it is always great when it comes to OIRO AU AMD MM CONDOR Gums

“Every bob we make goes into the services in County Clare. There isn’t

anything at all spent on administra- tion or anything like that.”

The 1OK Walk will start from O’Donoghue’s Pub in Fanore at 12.30pm on January 3.

For sponsorship cards or more in- formation, contact the Alzheimer Society Office at Unit 17, Clonroad Business Park in Ennis on 065 686 8621 or call Gerry Howard on 087 2346750.