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ANOTHER semi-final. One step away from their second successive All-Ireland Junior final but manager Colm Hanley thoughts are only con- centrated on Sunday. Although Clare are favourites to overcome the chal- lenge of rookies Laois this weekend, Hanley refuses to take their oppo- nent’s inexperience for granted.

“We are happy to be in the semi-

final and are almost back to where we want to be I suppose so we are back to basics for the week now to get ourselves prepared for Sunday. It’s going to be a good battle because Laois are a very tough side. It would be very easy to underestimate them but they are going to be physical, they are going to be dogged and the way this weather is going, if we get a bad evening, all of a sudden things are very level.”

Clare are unbeaten in both league and championship this year at their own grade, picking up the Division 2 league title along the way but the most striking aspect of the current side is their balance, richness in depth and blend of young and expe- rience that have propelled the side this far. And Hanley has nothing but praise for his players.

“The things is that there is more talent in this county, certainly com-

ing through the ranks, than there is in any other county. You could see it last year with the likes of Kate Lynch and Carina Roseingrave really ex- celling with the juniors and they are still hurling for the minors this year and really performing as well. Chloe Morey as well came through this year and if you add that to the likes of Laura Linnane, Deirdre Murphy, Claire McMahon and so on, then without a doubt it is definitely a more

balanced side. It’s a much fitter and stronger side than last year because the girls have bounced back really well from the disappointment of last September and have really put mas- sive work in. So overall we are de- lighted with where they are at at the moment and we couldn’t really ask for more. Hopefully that will stay the same for the next few days and be enough to get us over the semi-fi- nal.”

A MOROCCAN chef, who is in Ireland sending money home to his wife and five children, pleaded guilty before a court yesterday to throwing a glass at a barman and to criminal damage to a pub window.

The court heard that Jama Moukrim (45) with no address on record threw a glass containing beer at a barman in The Diamond Bar after the bar- man refused him any more drink on the grounds that he had had enough. The offence was committed on Feb- ruary 4, 2007, the court heard and the glass didn’t hit the barman.

On April 3, after being refused entry to Bar 26 on Abbey Street, he broke a window, causing ©50 worth of damage, Ennis District Court heard.

On September 14, he ordered and ate a meal at the Prince Dragon and

had no money to pay for it, Judge Leo Malone was told.

On September 6, a Garda witness said, Moukrim had to be taken into custody for his own safety. “He was very drunk and had to be rescued. He was asleep on the ground in Abbey Street,” the garda said.

Tara Godfrey, his solicitor said that the Morrocan national had been working as a chef but had been in custody since July 18.

After asking if he could pay com- pensation for the meal and the win- dow, Judge Leo Malone was told that he could.

“If he ever comes before this court again on any such charges, I will im- pose a prison sentence,” the judge Sr HKOR

THE Citizens Information Service ion Ennis is advising those who are working and have returned to educa- tion that they may be able to claim relief for eligible courses.

Tax relief for third-level tuition fees is available for approved under- graduate and postgraduate courses (full-time and part-time) that are in private or publicly funded third-level colleges in Ireland, in publicly fund- ed or duly accredited third-level col- leges in any other EU country.

Tax relief is at the standard rate of income tax (20 per cent). The max1- mum relief allowable for the aca- demic year 2007/2008 is €5,000

According to Paul Woulfe, manger

with the county wide information service many people who are not re- celving grants and paying for courses are not aware of this.

“When tax relief on third level edu- cation was introduced in 1996/97 it was quite restricted. However since then the relief has been expanded as the Celtic Tiger exposed this coun- try’s paucity of certain skills. So if you or a dependent are on a course costing €5,000 (excluding registra- tion and capitation fees) you can claim back €1,000 backs from the taxman.

The relief can be claimed either on the individual’s tax return at the end of the tax year or during the tax year when the fees have been paid.

Most undergraduate students in

publicly funded third-level courses in Ireland do not have to pay fees. For students who do pay fees, under- graduate courses must be of at least two years duration to qualify for tax relief. Tax relief is also available for approved training courses in the ar- eas of information technology and foreign languages.

The tuition fees must be paid by you on your own behalf or on be- half of your spouse, your child or someone for whom you are the legal eabe-Nueue-Nee

Application forms (IT 31) are avail- able from the Revenue Commission- ers’ website at www.revenue.ie, by telephoning LoCall 1890 306 706 or from the citizens information centres throughout the county.

THOSE who thought that Kilkee was the preferred place of Limerick people to just “hang out” and relax were forced to think again on Satur- day last as a group from the Limer- ick Masters Swimming Club hosted a 12-hour swimathon around Kilkee er MA

The 250-mile swimathon began at Qam and finished at 9pm, as water wrinkled bodies emerged from the salty water.

The day-long event was organised to raise funds and awareness for the charity Muscular Dystrophy Ireland.

The swimathon was also organised as a training session for eight brave swimmers from the Limerick Mas- ters Swimming Club, including one from Clare, who are preparing to cross the English Channel in mid- September, weather permitting. This is also to raise funds for the MDI OitTeIA

These channel swimmers were in the water of Kilkee Bay for a total of

four hours during the west Clare part of the fundraiser.

MDI Lily O’Brien’s_ chocolates were also sold on the day.

Philip Mudge, a member of the Channel Swim Team, said all the swimmers have been training ex- tremely hard over the past year and are “100 per cent dedicated to raising as much money as possible to fund Muscular Dystrophy Ireland’s Medi- cal Research Fund.”

The two relay teams of four people will be swimming across one of the

busiest shipping lanes in the world and facing seasickness, jelly fish and severe cold waters.

Joe T Mooney, CEO of Muscular Dystrophy Ireland, added, “we would like to sincerely thank the Limer- ick Masters Swimming Club Relay Team for organising the swimathon and their remarkable commitment to high endurance training really de- serves a huge amount of admiration as they raise awareness and money for medical research into the cond1- tion Duchenne MD”.

A LOCALLY-BASED environmen- tal group has instituted High Court proceedings against plans by Whelan Limestone Quarries Ltd to expand their flagship operation at Fountain outside Ennis.

This follows the Cairn Environ- mental Protection Group Ltd insti- tuting judicial review proceedings against An Bord Pleanala over deci- sions 1t made to give the go-ahead for three separate developments at the large-scale quarry.

In the proceedings, the Environ- mental Group of Bushy Park, Ennis, is seeking that decisions granting permission relating to the continu- ation of quarry operations; the up- grading of the road entrance and the extension of the landholding for the purposes of relocation and upgrading of the polishing area for the quarry, be overturned.

Already, An Bord Pleanala has dismissed one appeal by Cairn En- vironmental Protection Group Ltd and granted permission for two other AAA aed E-ReMeCoaKo) eo) eeToOL AE

It is not expected that the proceed- ings being instituted will have any material effect on the Whelan opera- tions prior to a court decision being made.

In an affidavit lodged to court, local resident and director of the company, Michael Halpin states that “since the date of its incorporation, the compa- ny and its members have been partic- ularly concerned with the activities of Whelan Limestone Quarries Ltd and the planning status of that com- pany’s quarry and source of stone”.

Mr Halpin states, ““We have made

numerous complaints to Clare County Council about the lack of planning permission for large tracts of Whelan’s quarry and partaken in a number of applications made by Whelans at both council and An Bord Pleanala level.

‘Moreover, we made a complaint to the Commission of the European Community about the manner in which the planning status of Whe- lan’s was being dealt with and the European Court of Justice delivered a judgement in our favour on July 3 last which dealt with the complaint.”

The environmental group are seek- ing to have the decisions quashed based upon an alleged procedural er- ror by Clare County Council in deal- ing with one of the applications.

Mr Halpin contends that An Bord Pleanala is precluded from consider- ing the appeals before it as the plan- ning application by Whelan’s must as a matter of law be declared and deemed to be withdrawn. Mr Halpin is also seeking that “pre-emptive cost orders” be put in place to ensure the company is able to bring proceedings at a cost which is not prohibitive.

IFA President Padraig Walshe has described the recent Teagasc farm income survey which concluded that Irish farm incomes increased by 18 per cent last year as no more than a “flash in the pan”.

The survey, conducted annually by the Teagasc Rural Economy Re- search Centre, found that the average farm income grew to £19,687 during 2007.

Higher milk and cereal prices were the main reason for the increase in average farm incomes last year,

while incomes on cattle and sheep farms actually declined.

Direct payments from the Euro- pean Union remained static in 2007, averaging €16,346 and contributing 31 per cent of farm output and 84 per cent of average farm income.

However, the findings were de- scribed as a flash in the pan by the IFA leader who said 2007 was the most favourable environment in the past 20 years, and already this year, input costs are up by 25 per cent and processors were driving product prices down.

The two best performing sectors in

2007 — milk and grain – have expe- rienced significant price cuts from their peak last year.

Mr Walshe said the Teagasc fig- ures confirm that average income for farmers even in a good year was less than half the average earnings in the public sector. Earnings by full-time farmers were completely inadequate to reward the investment in stock and machinery that is necessary to earn MOD R OES UD ESE

The highest annual level of invest- ment ever recorded on Irish farms occurred in 2007. Gross on-farm investment increased by a massive

76 per cent and amounted to an esti- mated €1.4 billion nationally.

The average gross investment on the farms that did invest in 2007 was €21,000, amounting to 80 per cent of their total farm income. Dairy farms accounted for almost half of WON Oon Reso

Commenting on the results Liam Connolly, Head of the National Farm Survey team, said the two main highlights of the 2007 results were the sizeable increase in dairy and tillage farmer’s incomes and the phenomenal level of on-farm invest- ment at €1.4 billion.”

BRINGING out children’s creative side is the aim of a series of new courses being run for after school hours in Killaloe.

On Tuesdays, nimble little fingers will learn how to make masks, pup- pets, paint glass and create wonders out of recycled materials.

And on Thursdays, older children will get to grips with still life, learn- ing observation to draw and paint, pen and pencil techniques and wa-

ter colours, all based on a simplified version of the art college’s founda- tion course.

Deirdre Grimes, who has a degree in fine arts, has been teaching young- sters since she graduated.

After working for several years full time as an art teacher in Killa- loe Boys National School as well as in Limerick and teaching art outside of that, Deirdre decided to take her teaching home.

She opened Art Farm, an after school care facility which specialises

in teaching children creative crafts.

‘A lot of parents were asking about art classes and particular courses for their children. I came up with the courses, which will start in Sep- tember and we’re going to limit the numbers so that they get lots of indi- vidual attention.”

Each lesson will be an hour and a half long and the lessons will run over six weeks, between 4.30pm and oy oye

And at the end of the course the youngsters will take part in a bigger

arts festival for young people which is being organised in the Killaloe area.

“Diane Daly who runs the Music in The Glen courses 1s putting together a festival of the arts for young peo- ple and these courses run right up to that, so they will be able to take part in the visual arts exhibition section of the festival,” said Deirdre.

For further information on Art Farm, Deirdre can be contacted on 086 2626525 or by email on artfarm. killaloe@gmail.com.

A FORMER award winning Clare FM presenter has claimed that he was not given a pay rise for ten years by the station.

The claim is highlighted in court documents lodged by the Ennis sta- tion to secure a “gagging order” against Tommy Kelly preventing him from speaking about his relationship with the company.

Mr Kelly (44) recently failed in his attempt to secure monies alleg- edly not paid by Clare FM for bank holidays or Sundays as he was “out of time” in bringing the case to the Labour Court.

The Labour Court case was the lat- est part of a long running dispute be- tween Mr Kelly and the station.

Clare FM secured the “gagging or-

der” preventing Mr Kelly from talk- ing about his association with the station and its affairs after a court hearing in October 2006 .

Documents lodged by Clare FM show that the source of Mr Kelly’s grievance is his claim that he was not given a pay increase by Clare FM over a ten year period.

Asked by gardai why he sent anon- ymous emails to the station’s chief executive, Liam O’Shea in 2001, the award winning presenter told gardai in July 2002, “I left Clare FM two years ago and I felt a little aggrieved at the way it ended and that I had been unfairly treated and I wanted to get some things off my chest.

Asked did he intend the emails or postcards to be construed as a threat to anyone, Mr Kelly responded, “No, it wasn’t a personal thing. It was

Clare FM and the whole experience that I had while I was there. I realise what I did was wrong, but again I felt like I was unfairly treated and I just wanted to get it off my chest”.

The station secured the court order at Ennis Circuit Court in October 2006 when Mr Kelly gave a sworn undertaking that he would not com- municate with third parties on the business of the station and Clare FM promised that they wouldn’t pursue Mr Kelly for costs. Clare FM has the option of re-entering the matter in court.

Court documents show that Mr Kelly admitted sending anonymous emails and postcards to the station in 2001 alleging fraud at the station. Clare FM states that there is no basis for the allegation of fraud.

No further emails or postcards were

sent until 2006 when Clare FM was part of a consortium seeking a re- gional licence that is now Spin South West FM.

However, in his affidavit, Mr Liam O’Shea said that in or about Septem- ber 2006, Mr Kelly “commenced communicating by email with a wide variety of organisations and indi- viduals in the world of broadcasting making allegations of fraud and oth- er allegations against Clare FM”’.

Mr O’Shea said that Mr Kelly’s attempts to generate adverse public- ity or to stir up resentment amongst unsuccessful bidders for the new li- cence and or to alienate Clare FM’s potential advertisers was calculated and without justification.

When contacted yesterday, Mr Kel- ly said, “I would love to speak about how I was treated during my time at

Clare FM but I’m not able to because of the court order”’. In an emailed query from

THE housing slowdown in Clare continues with new figures from the Department of the Environ- ment showing that there were just eight new house registrations for the month of June.

The figures show that there were 98 new house registrations this year compared with 98 new house regis- trations for all of June last year.

[Hustrating the downturn, last year’s figures show there were 145 new house registrations in February; 167 in March and 129 in May. The mas-

sive drop in new house registrations is expected to feed into the number of new house completions next year.

There were 95 new house comple- tions in June and this compares with 159 completions for June 2007. For the first half of this year, there were 1,095 homes completed while there were 1,452 homes completed in the first six months of last year.

The June performance was not the worst return for the year to date in terms of new house registrations. In April, there were just two house registrations while in January there (tom UNL oe

The collapse in new house registra- tions coincides with an Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council embargo on new housing develop- ments in Ennis and its environs be- cause of the inadequate sewage in- JG u-F OMe CeLAUD Kes

In spite of the downturn and the drop off in demand for new houses, developers have warned the council of the economic impact of the failure to accommodate new housing.

In a submission to the local author- ity, local developers claim that de- spite more than ten years of unprec- edented development and growth in

and around Ennis, we are now left in a situation that the area is being choked by a chronic lack of capacity in the wastewater treatment system.

“Although the Ennis main drain- age is being progressed, the obvious deficiencies in the current infrastruc- ture, which include storm water in- filtration into sewer network, lack of treatment capacity and capacity in the pump station network have been ignored for far too long.

“The effect of no development op- portunities caused by this infrastruc- ture shortfall will be widespread,” the developers warn.

THERE was music ringing around the hills of east Clare last week as upwards of 6,000 people came to the town for the six days of events.

Workshops were high on the list this year for visiting musicians sing- ers and dancers.

Gary Pepper, one of the driving forces behind the annual Feakle event, said that enquiries about this year’s musical extravaganza came from all corners of the globe.

“We had people from Japan, which has happened before as there are a couple of local people married to Japanese people. We’ve had people on from the continent and this year

we’ve had enquiries from Denmark and Holland too.”

Every other sector dealing with US visitors has reported a complete slump this year and, said Gary, the festival is no different.

“We saw very few Americans. Other years, there would be a lot of them interested in traditional music, but they don’t seem to be travelling this year,” Gary

But for foreign visitors and Irish people alike, the six days of music proved to be a huge success.

It was officially opened last Wednesday and the organisers used the event to pay tribute to renowned local flute player Paddy O’Donogue. A well-respected musician and com-

poser Paddy recently released a cd of his music with his son Cyril.

Eurovision winner Eimear Quinn performed in the community cen- tre while the concert in St Mary’s Church featured Frankie Gavin and Roisin Elsafty.

TG4 Musician of the Year and lo- cal legend Martin Hayes together with Dennis Cahill were a big draw and the gala concert featured Ceide, Tulla favourite Andrew McNamara and Rob Stein. The workshops con- tinue to be very popular and attend- ance has increased yearly.

As well as the usual classes, for the first time this year, there were four new workshops, for whistle, begin- ner’s concertina, sean nos dancing

and a one-day workshop in tradition- al song writing.

And there was plenty for those who came to listen rather than perform music, with sessions all week in the marquee and in the bars.

“It went very well and we were pleased with the turnout. We’d ex- pected the biggest numbers ever and it’s great to see that the Feakle Fes- tival is getting a name in even more countries abroad,’ said Gary.