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recalls Brian O’Connell’s own troubled relationship with al- cohol as well as looking at Ireland’s

attitude towards alcohol. From hang- ing out with daytime drinkers in a bar in Tipperary, to spending time with the ‘Forgotten Irish’ in London, talking to governments across Eu- rope, and meeting A&E workers and teenagers, Brian casts a sober eye on Ireland’s love affair with alcohol and the damaging consequences that can result from it.

Also, some well-known personali- ties recount their own struggles with alcohol throughout the book, from Des Bishop to Mary Coughlan to Ni- all Toibin and singer Francis Black.

Brian, who recently signed copies of his book at Ennis Book Shop, was

delighted to have been included in the listener’s poll.

He said, “I was amazed to get so far in the Liveline Listeners Irish Book of the Year poll. It was a thrill just to be included in the list with so many distinguished authors.

‘To come fifth in the top 10 books of the year is a testament to all the hard work my publishers have put in and also to everyone who contributed to my book and made it the success that it has become.

‘The response so far has taken eve- ryone by surprise and I’m grateful to everyone who has bought the book since its release.”

The top 10 books of the year as voted by Liveline listeners is as fol- Oy

THERE were no shortage of visits from the jolly man in red in east Clare this year as he popped in to see his little friends at lots of venues in the run up to Christmas.

Children were delighted to see him arrive last Sunday by horse and cart to the Wuthering Heights pub. Santa met his littlest friends and checked his list before heading off again to meet and greet more children

He visited the Smith O’Brien club- house last Thursday and in Kilk-

ishen, large numbers of children brought their parent to meet their favourite man.

The Santa clan are so fond of Kil- kishen that Mrs Claus came along as well to the clubhouse to meet the pees Co ae

More than 70 families turned out for the fun day and parents enjoyed a cup of tea or a glass of mulled wine while children enjoyed the bouncy castle, face painting and games. Do- nated items for the cake sale helped to fund the party.

Santa made a dramatic entrance by

chopper in Ballina when he arrived at the Ballina/Boher GAA clubhouse.

Among the other venues which Santa visited was Feakle. The hugely popular visitor was listening to lists at the Feakle community centre, where his visit coincided with the annual Christmas fair to raise funds for the upkeep and improvement of Neem ee Kee

The hall committee will be organ- ising a number of events over the coming weeks to raise cash for the up-keep of the facility.

The next will be tonight, December

29, in Bohans. Teams of four are in- vited to take part in the fund table quiz.

Santa also visited a number of other venues around east Clare before tak- ing off for Lapland and his biggest work day of the year and many of the events he attended raised money for good causes.

IT WAS truly Christmas on Wednes- day in Killaloe when the special market day brought together Christ- mas goodies, good cheer and a very special cause.

As it 1s a market run largely by producers of beautiful food, the stall holders’ thoughts turned to growers in other parts of the world where food is much scarcer.

To support families in the develop- ing world to become self-sufficient by keeping farm animals, the market held the special day with the aim of buying ten cows for the Oxfam Un- wrapped campaign.

Trader, Anthony Vincent, said the aim was to buy ten cows with cash raised on the day.

“We wanted to have a day when people could really get into the Christmas spirit, pick up some gour- met foods and enjoy the atmosphere as well as support a good cause,” he said.

The extra market day is organised delivery year but this was the first time it has been done for charity.

The local children’s choir sang car- ols, and there were face painters on hand and a live cow to remind people of what it was all about. There was a raffle for a super hamper of market produce, donated by all of the trad- ers with a specially designed piece of silver, a one-off from Anthony and his partner, Marianne. Traders also donated a portion of their takings from the day.

The special market day featured stalls selling gifts, speciality meats specially picked for the festive sea- son, plants, yummy artisan choco- late and much more.

The market in Killaloe will be back to its usual slot next week on Sunday morning, between the waters. The event has become one of the most popular fixtures in the market cal- endar week, with fresh fish, organic veg and delicious artisan chocolate on sale to name but a few items.

MEMBERS of Kilrush Town Coun- cil plan to go back to school in 2010.

The Kilrush councillors agreed that it was essential to get secondary school students more involved in lo- cal politics and to encourage them to get involved in the democratic proc- Se

Cllr Liam O’Looney (FF) even sug- gested that a meeting of the council could be held during school hours and the students invited to attend.

‘They could see then what they are about,’ he said.

The Fianna Fail councillor was re- sponding to a call by Cllr Ian Lynch (FG) who said involving young peo- ple in the council would be a great opportunity for the council to inter- act more with the community.

“Why not introduce more to the schools of what we do?” he asked.

He said it was time for the coun- cillors to ask the young people about their needs and what the council can do for them.

“We could ask them for suggestions So it is not just a meeting for old fo- gies,” said the councillor.

Cllr Mairead O’Brien (Ind) sug- gested that the students in the school be given access to council members numbers so that they could suggest motions for the meetings.

“T think it is an excellent idea,” said ste ov elem Oouas

He said that the agenda is currently circulated to the secondary school in the town.

Town Manager Nora Kaye said she was totally in support of interaction with the school.

She suggested drawing up a list of issues the council and the school could work on together.

“Maybe we could draw up a host of issues we could do for 2010 with the school,” she said.

The town council therefore plan to look to the students of the town to learn more about the needs of the area for 2010.

THE HEALTH Service Executive’s chief of acute hospitals in the mid- west said yesterday that absenteeism rates at the region’s main hospital will cost the HSE up to €3 million this year.

HSE Mid-West Director for Acute Hospitals, John Hennessy was com- menting on statistics that show ab- senteeism rates at Limerick’s Re- gional Hospital as one of the highest in the country.

During this year, the Limerick hospital took on responsibility for all acute surgery from Clare and for Clare A&E patients between 8pm ANeCe mor DeO MOC BENs

Out of 27 hospitals evaluated, the main hospital for the mid-west has the sixth highest absenteeism rate in the country.

Ennis General Hospital is not one of the hospitals evaluated by the HSE Healthstat office, but Mr Hennessy said that the absenteeism rates across the network of hospitals in the mid- west, including Ennis, “wouldn’t be unduly different” to Limerick’s ab- senteeism rates.

Figures show that the hours lost due to absenteeism at Limerick are run- ning at just under six per cent- down from eight per cent at the start of the year. Mr Hennessy said that the HSE target was to reduce absenteeism to four per cent by year end.

“There is a lot of disappointment that we haven’t achieved that and it represents a huge priority to make dramatic improvements on that. A lot of progress has been made and while there is something to show in terms of improvement, we are still a long way off the target figure of four per cent that is the norm for the health sector.

“We are happy there is progress, but not happy at the pace at which we are getting to grip with the problem. We have a fair bit to go yet to achieve the best in class, but we have a pretty vig- orous action plan to achieve that.”

The vast majority of sick leave at Limerick is certified.

Absenteeism rates by general sup- port staff that includes hospital por- ters, catering staff remain just under eight per cent, while other patient and client care that includes nurse assistants remains at 16 per cent.

Mr Hennessy said that absenteeism at the hospital last year cost €3 muil- lion to €4 million in direct replace- ment staff costs for nursing and gen- eral support staff.

“There is a slight reduction as we bring the figures back, but you are

still talking up to €3 million in lost opportunity as a direct result of sick leave and absenteeism this year.

He said that 16 per cent in absentee- ism rates “is unacceptable and run- ning at a level that no organisation can sustain and has to be brought back to a reasonable proportion as a matter of urgency. There is direct follow up by managers with individ- uals who are abusing the sick leave scheme”’.

“We have information on patterns of sick leave and that is telling us the issues of Monday morning and Fri- day sick leave patterns. The unions are quite supportive of the endeav- ours we are making on this, they are not unduly defending the indefensi- ble.”

Mr Hennessy said that absentee-

ism “is a huge problem and a regular feature of life for hospital managers of the disruption that this creates on a Monday morning or a ‘Tuesday morning”’.

With the levels of absenteeism amongst porter staff, Mr Hennessy said: “Typically, the services that are affected are the day wards, the thea- tres where delays getting patients into theatre. It is a very important cog in the system to keep the system going

“Tt results in a lot of lost productivi- ty and disruption for patients who are fasting for procedures,” he added.

FOUNDED in the wake of the first ever Lisdoonvarna Festival, the Celt- ic T-Shirt Shop has become an insti- tution in north Clare.

Later this month, the Lahinch shop will celebrate three full decades of making some of the most unique clothes ever produced in the county.

To mark this anniversary, the shop has been hosting a competition to find the best picture of someone wearing A Ora Cem Koroma OPM MESA SCoMUe)e (Cn

“It was just after the first Lisdoon- varna Festival that we started. My husband Mike did all of the posters for the Lisdoonvarna Festivals and

after the first festival we got the idea of making tee-shirts. It was just an experiment to see would they work, because in those days people didn’t buy tee-shirts the way they do now,’ said Lisa O’Connor of the Celtic T- shirt Shop.

‘We did more the next year and they worked well again and then Mike got the idea of putting a Celtic design on the tee-shirts. There was noth- ing like that happening at the time, I think there was one other company making tee-shirts with Leprechauns and silly slogans, which was just for tourists really. So we made up a few tee-shirts and took them around to the shops at the end of the season an

they liked them.”

As the tee-shirts became more pop- ular, Lisa and Mike obtained their current shop, right on the promenade in Lahinch and soon people from all over the world would be wearing their iconic Celtic designs.

“It’s exciting to think that people from all over the globe have been into the shop. Printing cannot be re- produced automatically and I think that is what has kept us apart from the other artificial printers around. It’s great that customers can come in and see the printing being done in the shop. There has been a lot of big changes in the business over the years.

“At the start it was all wholesale to the shops and then we got the shop ourselves. In the last year, business has really changed in Lahinch. There are fewer people around and it is tougher for everyone, So we will have to see what comes in the future.”

There is still time to enter the 30th anniversary photo competition, more details are available from www.celt- ict-shirtshop.com.

THE HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) chief for acute hospitals in the mid-west has confirmed that they will press ahead with plans to close Ennis General Hospital’s in- tensive care unit next year.

John Hennessy also confirmed that as part of the HSE’s continuing reconfiguration of hospital services in the mid-west, certain aspects of acute medicine will be transferred from Ennis General to Limerick Re- gional Hospital.

He denied that the transfer of serv- ices from Ennis and Nenagh to Lim- erick Regional represents a further

downgrading of the county hospi- tals, which have already lost their 24-hour A&E and acute surgery ca- pabilities this year.

Mr Hennessy said, “Absolutely not. On the contrary, the opposite is the case.

“It is the opportunity to develop for the future at Ennis and Nenagh and provide a range of services that can and should be delivered locally to the highest possible standard.”

He said that currently, there are six intensive and coronary care beds at Ennis General.

As part of the reconfiguration, the HSE has made substantial progress in the past two months with the

development of a new critical care facility in Limerick for the entire mid-west.

“There are currently a total of 34 beds at the moment spread across four sites. The new facility will have 34 beds but capacity to go to 42 as resources permit.”

He admitted that the timescale for the transfer of critical care and acute medicine to be completed by the end of 2010 was “ambitious”.

“It may take a little bit longer than 2010, but the ultimate inten- tion would be to bring all critical care services into the one facility and adopt the same approach as was done in A&E and surgery.”

Stating that the transfer of acute medicine “is the most difficult”, he said: “You are talking a very broad range from paediatric right through to the care of the elderly.”

“Tt is a difficult one and the big- gest challenge is to only bring into the centre what’s needed and to de- lineate what can be done to a high standard in a remote location.

“That is what we are working De ROLUCSA a MrcIMmOsComman Copano Olmm-ba\e mmol AB DOTS help and assistance from clinical colleagues.”

Mr Hennessy said that there will be opportunities for more day case surgery and this would be developed in Ennis and Nenagh.

AS THE year draws to a close, the Burren Chernobyl Project can look back at 12 months of help and progress with some of the most needy people on the planet.

Work has continued at the chil- dren’s orphanages, where groups of volunteers have travelled throughout the year – bringing food, nappies and other invaluable resources.

Great work has also been achieved at some of the adult asylums, where teams of builders and painters have made the place a much more com- fortable one to live in.

“Tt been another really busy year,

with volunteers going out to Goro- dishche and Cherven and more vol- unteers going to Tarasiki for the building work and painting. We are particularly thankful this year given the changed economic circumstanc- es that so many people did volunteer for Burren Chernobyl – particularly the builders, who have had a very bad year. But we still have had build- ers going out to finish some of the building works in the Internats or asylums,” said Cormac McCarthy of the project.

‘Belarus never would have had the best economy anyway, but the eco- nomic downturn does effect every- one, SO we are very conscience that

we need to maintain the fundraising and the donations that people are so generous in giving. It’s always the more needy people who suffer most in a downturn.”

The project has currently a number of Christmas fundraising projects on the go and are also hoping to recruit an experienced pediatri- cian to travel to Belarus in the New Year. Any interested doctor should contact Brian O’Sullivan at medical @burrenchernobyl.ie.

“At the moment we are selling the Burren Chernobyl Christmas cards in all the towns and villages around Clare but if anyone can’t find them they can get them from the main

office. People can also go onto our website and get bank details there or they can donate through our site on my.charity.1e where people can do- nate using their Laser or credit card,” continued Cormac.

“If people want to put on their own fundraising event we can create a page for them on my.charity.ie. We are also looking for a doctor with pediatric experience to head out in the New Year in January with the head of our medical team.”

For more information on any of the projects being run by the Burren Chernobyl Project contact the main office on 7071130 or check out www. burrenchernobyl.ie.

A PLANNED TESCO four island petrol station for Kilrush could result in the loss of a significant proportion of the 100 people employed in inde- pendently owned petrol stations in west Clare.

That is the view of the Irish Petrol Retailers’ Association (IPRA) who are once more opposing plans by the Supermarket giant to construct the petrol station adjacent to its recently opened store in the west Clare town.

Earlier this year, An Bord Pleanala turned down a previous plan by TES- CO due to traffic considerations.

Now, in response to a new plan, the

IPRA, independent retailer group, RGDATA and independent petrol owners are opposing the application.

In its objection, the IPRA states that petrol stations and associated shops provide full-time and part- time employment for some 100 peo- ple in the area, a significant number of which could lose their jobs based on the UK trend being replicated in Ireland whereby half of all petrol stations will have closed within a 15- year period.

The objection states, “We submit that such an impact is unacceptable in a period of economic recession in an area that has already a high un- employment rate. The evidence from

the UK is clear and unequivocal whereby the UK supermarkets have increased their market share from 11 per cent in 1992 to 40 per cent to- day in a market where the number of operators has over halved. The link therefore between supermarkets en- tering the petrol filling station mar- ket and offering discounted fuel and the closure of other petrol filling sta- tions cannot be questioned.

The objection states, “The open- ing of Kilrush Tesco petrol filling stations will result in preventing communities from accessing food supplies in station shops, remov- ing a critical and regular reason for residents to visit a location, therefore

reducing the critical mass of the area and affecting local traders, motorists having to travel further in order for petrol and in reducing the viability of west Clare as a place to live.

‘The closure of petrol stations will have an adverse and negative impact on the provision of retail services to vulnerable members of the commu- nity, who currently rely on access to retailing facilities associated with, and existing filing stations in the ru- ral area and from where there are no public transport links to Kilrush.

“We request the Council to con- clude therefore that the proposal is contrary to the provisions of sections 90-95 of the Retail Planning Guide-

lines and therefore not in the proper planning and sustainable develop- ment of the area nor in the interest of the common good and that the pro- posal will endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard.”

In its objcction, RGDATA state that the application should be refused as it is not consistent with the proper planning and sustainable develop- ment of Kilrush.

Others to make submissions include David and Colette of Colleen Bawn, Texaco Station, Killimer; John and Vincent Crowley, Crowley’s garage, Kilrush; Michael Fitzpatrick, Fitz- patrick’s station, Killimer and Mar- rinan Oil, Cappa, Kilrush.

Credit Unions to help bail out flood victims