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WHILE much of the county ploughed along on the last embers of the Celtic Tiger, Clare farmers have been feeling the pinch for more than six months. The recession, and in particular the cost of petrol and die- sel, has been squeezing incomes for the county’s 3,267 full-time farmers since the later stages of 2007.

Increased cost of fuel, fertiliser and feed has raised the cost of fire inputs by an estimated 20 per cent in just Te.qseslonaecy

“There are three items that have

been impacting heavily on farming in Clare over the last six or seven months. One would certainly be the increase in fuel costs, there is also the increase in fertiliser and the in- crease in feed,” said Clare IFA Presi- dent Michael Lynch.

“All the farm work done these days is influenced by fuel costs and the chemicals used which are derived from fuel. That has all combined to put up our costs substantially.

“Treland has a pretty long wintering period for stock and all the cost asso- ciated with winterage, whether it be feed or fuel, will have a more detri-

mental impact on Ireland because of that. The other detrimental impact it will have is that it will put pressure on our markets which will limit their purchasing power for farm products.

“They will move to cheaper prod- ucts and away from higher quality products such as beef and lamb pro- duced by Irish farmers. So farmers will be hit on both ends – both at the input side and the output side.”

While Clare’s full-time farmers face tightening margins, many of the county’s estimated 4,000 part-time farmers find themselves in an even more perilous position.

“That is a very serious aspect for farmers in County Clare. So many farmers in Clare have to have second off-farm income just to stay afloat. With an awful lot of them losing their jobs in the construction indus- try its going to force a lot of people who could not earn a living in farm- ing back into full time farming,” continued Mr Lynch.

While last week’s expenditure cuts announced by the Department of Ag- riculture avoided cuts to major farm related schemes, fears are growing that any further cuts would have a catastrophic effect on farm incomes.

“It really does depend on how deep this recession goes. So far it appears that there is not too many curtailments, but if it continues then who knows? We have a lot of worry about the Farm Waste Management Scheme where the deadline has to be met by the end of the year,” said Mr Lynch. “Farmers are spending a lot of money upgrading premises to the standards required by the Nitrate Directive Regulations. It’s going to be difficult to get all of that work fin- ished in time and if farmers fail to meet the deadline then they will be places into even further difficulty.”

AS one chapter closes another always opens. Thus it will be in Kilnaboy this month as the last exhibition in the X-PO Project takes up residence. The project, which has brought the old post office back to life as a community space over the last nine months, will however continue into the future as a local committee has been formed to carry on the pilot be- gan by artist Deirdre O’Mahony. Fittingly, the last exhibition in the current series 1s a collect of Deirdre’s own work. The series, which is en- titled Surfacing – Viscaux, includes

a number of paintings and photog- raphy focusing on the increase and eventual decrease of algal-bloom on Lake Inchiquin since 2004.

“After studying the bloom I began to discover that it was a much more complex issue than I had ever imag- ined. It’s not just about farmers and phosphates, it had a lot to do with everyone’s personal responsibility with products such as washing pow- der and shampoo,’ said Deirdre.

“Over the past two years I have noticed a huge increase in the water quality of the lake and I know that last year there was much more fish. So my worked changed from being

didactic, or preaching about the lake, to looking at the changes and how they have come about.

“It ties in a lot with the whole no- tion of the X-PO in a lot of ways. It’s a good representation of the differ- ences between knowing the surface of an issue and then really knowing something deep about it. Bringing this work into the X-PO 1s like show- ing the people what my own work is about. The X-PO has been a lot about me helping local people to look at themselves and their own past where as this 1s me, as a new local person, saying here I am.”

While Deirdre’s work in the X-PO

is coming to a close, a group of lo- cals have come together to continue using the post office as a community Sey: (elon

“I think that it’s safe to say that this is not the end of exhibitions and ac- tivities in the X-PO,’ continued Detr- olien

“All the things that have happened in the X-PO over the last number of months really brought people in and got them to talk and exchange old stories. There is a real desire for a common place where all member of the community to meet.”

The exhibition will run until the end of August.

TWO Shannon men who are endeav- oring to run 12 marathons in as many months have reached the half-way mark and will take on their seventh challenge this weekend.

Darren O’Connell (32) and Alan Mullin (30) from Tullyglass, Shan- non, will run the Swiss Alpine marathon on Saturday. It is part of a challenge aimed at raising money for Cystic Fibrosis.

A friend of theirs died from the condition several years ago and they are hoping that the people of Shan- non will recognise their huge efforts in this challenge.

Over the past six months, the two have run in Zurich, Rome, Valencia

and Norway, along with a couple of runs in Ireland. After Switzerland, WEA SUUENiom alu IOM e(KIl ene stounbre Dublin, New York and Lisbon.

Their last run was on flat ground in Norway. Alan finished in four hours and three minutes, while Dar- ren came home in four hours and 12 minutes.

‘The marathon itself was fine. Get- ting there and home was a bit of a nightmare. We had to travel to two airports and it was tough going,” said PETE

Both have managed to come through the mammoth challenge relatively unscathed and despite nig- gling injuries, have both been lucky enough to stay in good health. This is important, given the high level of

intensity involved.

“The Swiss Alps this weekend will be pretty tough. It is the highest alti- tude marathon in Europe. It will be either very hot or very cold,” added Darren. The rest of the runs will be city marathons,’ he said.

While Alan trains in Dublin, where he is based, Darren does most of his training in Shannon and Cratloe. He also took part in the 10k run in Bun- ratty two weeks ago, in aid of Our Lady’s Hospital for sick children in Sate

Allied to the running, the two have also been raising money for Cystic Fibrosis. They have collected up to €7,000 so far and hope to increase this substantially, as the final runs Zhe) Keene

“We had two days of bag packing last week in Dunnes Stores (Shan- non) and collected €3,500. We were delighted with that. All of the money is going directly to Cystic Fibrosis. We are playing all of our expenses out of our own pockets,’ he added.

The duo will approach businesses in the Shannon area later this year, with a view to encouraging them to help out with funds. They will also hold a number of fundraisers, in- cluding a table quiz in the Oakwood Arms Hotel, Shannon, in October.

PASCHAL Carmody told the trial that he was not aware of the existence of a company called PDT Ltd until February 2002, despite receiving 47 cheques from the company between February 2001 and February 2003.

Mr Carmody was cross-examined at length about the company PDT Ltd which he claims was set up by Dr William Porter and his wife Maggie and with which he had no involve- ment.

Prosecution Sree Denis Vaughan Buckley asked Mr Carmo-

dy if he only became aware of the ex- istence of the company in February 2002, how he received 47 cheques totalling €207,156 as well as an “‘ad- ditional payment” of €242,675 from that company between February 2001 and February 2003.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said, “You must have been aware the company existed.” Mr Carmody said he did not become aware of the company until February 2002.

The court was also told that an ex- amination of Mr Carmody’s bank ac- counts by a forensic accountant dur- ing the garda investigation revealed

lodgments of €240,000 in 2001 and €1.9m in 2002. The following year, (2003) there were lodgments totalling €2.359m while in 2005 the figure had dropped to just over €500,000.

Mr Carmody told the court that he had no issue with his finances being discussed in court and he wanted to be open about them.

He dismissed suggestions that he was a fraudster taking advantage of vulnerable people by shining lights on them to rob them of money. “I have never misguided a patient in any way, he said.

‘There was no need for me to make money from it. In the early stages of treating cancer patients, the ma- jority I never charged for treatment and later, I only charged to cover my costs.”

He said while he had “no problem giving hope to patients, false hopes I have a problem with.”

He added, “If it was a good result, then that was satisfactory to both parties and this and only this was my approach in my 36 years of medical practice.”

Asked by his counsel about how be- ing struck off as a doctor in 2004 im-

pacted him, Mr Carmody said, “‘It is the worst thing that can happen you bem bb Konee

Mr Carmody also told how had a dispute with Dr William Porter and his wife Maggie in 2002 and decid- ed then to end his association with WeoNee

He said that he was concerned they were just carrying out a commercial ey oer: lnleyee

He said the Porters wanted to de- velop photodynamic therapy as a commercial enterprise and he did not feel that this was in keeping with good ethical practice.

THE Clare branch of the Irish Road Haulage Association has criticised IBEC Mid West’s stance on the spi- raling cost of energy, describing it as “living the dream of a wishful tomorrow”.

Last week the IBEC Director for the Mid West, Chris O’Donovan, called for a number of actions to be taken to alleviate pressure on businesses due to the rising cost of energy.

These included fuel diversification, fast-tracking the Corrib Gas project,

supports for energy efficiency and in- creasing market competition.

However, the Clare Branch of the Irish Road Haulage Association has criticised these initiatives as too long-sighted, claiming that the haulage sector will be annihilated long before the impact of any of the changes are felt.

“The crisis at the moment is far more imminent than living the dream of a wishful tomorrow. This is so ur- gent it is unbelievable. We have felt the downturn in consumer spending three or four months ago. Coupled

with this downturn was an increased price in transporting the products to the customers. This is going to hit shops heavily now and after the summer. The hauliers are at the front door of this,” said Eugene Brennan of Spa Transport Ltd in Ennis and the Irish Road Haulage Association.

“I think IBEC needs to address this in a more relevant way. If we can ad- dress this then we can have a much more sustainable service. If they want to wait until more transport compa- nies go out of business and transport gets really expensive then we will

have another peak and trough situa- tion. IBEC should come and meet us and have relevant discussions on how we can fix this.”

According to the Irish Road Haul- age Association many Clare haulage companies are currently operating at a loss and face closure in the coming nee) eLdSLe

“Tt’s cruel to the world. They are still calling it a recession but I don’t know when they are going to start calling it a depression. It’s a vicious cycle. The downturn in the building industry came at the same time as

the huge increase in oil. We have far too many trucks there for the busi- ness. Customers either don’t want to or are not in a position to pay any- thing extra towards the cost of fuel,” continued Mr Brennan.

‘The cost of fuel is a definite – we can’t get away from it. But I think that it might take a few more hauliers to go out of business before they get the message.

Hauliers are doing jobs now with no profit margin or for a loss – they are going jobs just to keep a cash flow ticking over.”

FINAL preparations are being made for the 59th North Clare Show which takes place this Saturday, July 26, at the Parish Field and St Patrick’s Hall.

After weeks and months of frantic organisation everything is now in place for one of north Clare’s sum- mer highlights.

“The show will start at 9.30am with the pony and horse jumping in the Parish Field. At the same time things will be getting underway in the hall. People will be coming with exhibits for the hall from 9am or so for judging around llam,” said Mary

McMahon of the North Clare Show Association.

“The jumping section is always very popular and we have huge num- bers of entrants in both the sportsman classes. People would come from far and wide to take part in that. The jumping goes on until around 6pm including the horses, the ponies and the qualifiers.”

This year the North Clare Show will have three qualification classes for the Shannonside league and all- Ireland qualifiers in the filly/foal sec- tion and the sports horse section as well as a gelding qualifier in the pony section.

Like in other years the hall exhibi-

tions will be a great draw for many.

“The hall is always a site to behold. Between the flower entries, the home baking and the children’s categories which are bursting at the seams,’ continues Mrs McMahon.

‘The flower section and the vegeta- bles are looking particularly well this year as is the home baking. Our turf and poultry is strong as well; overall the hall section is very strong. We really try to have something for eve- ryone. This year we have put up the County Clare Home Baking Compe- tition and we will be sponsoring the Fergus View Cup for the best tray of baking.

“The Clare Limousine Club will be

hosting their calf finals in Corofin this year which is a very big coup for us. As well as that we also have a dog show which always proves to be very very popular with people.”

The North Clare Show Committee includes Maurine Roche, Joe Kil- leen, Mary McMahon, John Cahill, Thomas Carroll and John Beakey. Although the closing date in some categories has now passed, any re- POL-HUOUDOTSME SA OL OM oKMr-DOLO Ms DOLOLUUDMlonm Je COlUNCe! be directed to Mary McMahon at 065 6837795.

RESIDENTS in several housing estates in Shannon do not have ad- equate parking spaces, while oth- ers have a lack of vehicular access to the rear of their homes. That was the message delivered last week by county councillors in the Shannon area, who called for measures to be

taken to address the issue.

Councillor Patricia McCarthy (In- dependent) said there was “chaos” in O’Brien Park on occasions.

Councillor Gerry Flynn (Independ- ent) said that a similar situation exists in De Lacey Park and said that that estate, along with Purcell Park, Col- lins Park and O’Brien Park should be looked at.

“Every house now has at least two cars,’ he said.

Cllr Flynn said that some house- holders in Cill Cais were “crying out for an entrance to the back of their houses. These older parts of Shannon are isolated and for a lot of older peo- ple, they can’t get in the front or the back,” he said.

Clare County Council Senior Ex-

ecutive Engineer Donal Hogan said that communal parking is the way to go in future, in high density develop- Ne

“It would take an awful lot of funding to retrofit those particular situations. I can’t see myself getting money to put rear access roads to houses and there is a lot more than Cill Cais,” he said.

A MAN who attacked a neighbour with a knife in a dispute over music coming from his apartment has been told he could face three years behind ey ase

Judge Carroll Moran told Sean Moroney if he fails to liaise with the probation services, he will end up in jail.

Moroney (36), of Turnpike Road,

Ennis, has admitted assaulting Felix Simo, causing him harm, at Fairways Flats, Ennis, on June 27, 2006.

Moroney’s barrister Mark Nicholas told Ennis Circuit Court yesterday that his client has a drink problem.

Moroney addressed the court and said he was willing to go into Bruree for treatment for his alcohol addic- nove

The court heard previously that Mr Simo went to Moroney’s apartment

to complain about the noise coming from it, as he was unable to sleep. He told gardai that when he later re- turned to the apartment, he was at- TO) Coxe MSN OIE Kor

Judge Moran said to Moroney yesterday, “This was a bad assault, somebody complaining from a flat downstairs that the music was loud upstairs and was assaulted with a knife.”

He noted that Moroney had several

previous convictions, including for assault, criminal damage, theft and public order.

“You have a very bad record,’ he HOE

He adjourned the case until later this year and ordered that a proba- tion report be carried out.

“If you are not co-operating with the probation services, you are facing three years. I couldn’t put it plainer,” said the judge.

NON-EU migrant workers face be- coming the first victims of the reces- sion with reports that many have al- ready been let go without being given their legal redundancy payments.

The Director of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, Kilrush woman Siobhan O’Donoghue, has called on the government and the media to take a leadership roll and prevent the spread of racism by not making mi- grant workers into economic scape- goats.

‘There is a real difficulty that these people will fall between the cracks. We are hearing about lots of people

from foreign countries who are be- ing made redundant and are not been given their rights in terms of redun- dancy pay. If you are here on a work permit from outside the EU it can be really difficult to access your rights,” she said.

“We are definitely finding an in- crease of people being laid off and not getting any redundancy. There are often times in sectors which are poorly regulated and if you are not Irish and are here under a work per- mit scheme then the consequences can be dire.

“If you are undocumented you are particularly at risk and very vulnera- ble. We have done some research and

it seems that a lot of people become undocumented through no fault of their own: through being on a work permit and having an employer not renew it for some reason. They can be left with massive debts, depend- ence at home and no choice but to continue working without docu- ments. Often times this leaves them in a position where they have no choice but to continue.

“Racism is something that we are very concerned with. The way in which the media in particular and our leaders scapegoat migrants as a distraction of the real issues and how the economy is being managed can make the migrants into easy scape-

goats. Migrants are an easy target but the leadership need to come from the government. When the economy is on shaky ground the last thing that we should do is turn on each other.”

The Irish Migrant Rights Centre has stressed that while migration is on the wane from areas within the EU zone, including Poland and Lithuania, migrants are continuing to come to Ireland.

“Migration helped to create the boom and they will be a very real part of us getting out of this current slump. Migration is not like a tap that you can turn on and off,” continued Ms O’Donoghue.

“They are not coming in the same

volumes as they were six months ago, indeed it appears that numbers are down, especially those coming from within the European Union. But there are migrants who are part of Irish society, this is their home and they will stay here.

“Nobody can come into Ireland and claim unemployment. It’s actu- ally very difficult to come in and claim social protection in this coun- try – especially if you are coming in from outside the EU. You must be able to prove that you have been in full-time employment for at least a year and there are very real barriers if you ban here working for less than two years.”

KILNAMONA locals and some of Ireland’s most notable public figures come together last Thursday to cel- ebrate the life of one of the small vil- lage’s illustrious sons.

Just over 100 years to the day since his birth, a plague in memory of Br Thomas Keane was unveiled in Kil- namona church last Thursday.

Family and friends were joined at the ceremony by former GAA President Paddy Buggy and Fr Eoin Haughey, brother to former Taoti- seach Charlie Haughey.

“It seemed like an appropriate time considering that it was the 100 year anniversary of his birth. I have met sO many people over the year who has spoken so warmly about him that

we felt that we had to do something,” said family member Thomas Keane.

‘He continued to teach until he was 64 and he brought a certain ethos to all of the schools which he went to. He encouraged great leadership within the students and had a knack of getting the best out of people.

“He had a different way of teach- ing. People might have looked into his class and thought it was chaos but it was just a different style. He loved group work, he loved working together and opening up peoples ho- rizons.

‘He always pushed them to do the best that they could. Even the weaker students, he would cycle around the town on his bike trying to get them jobs.”

Br Keane’s eulogy was delivered by

Paddy Buggy while the plaque was unveiled by Annraoi O Beollain.

While renowned in many secondary schools for his unique teaching skills and dedication to hurling, Brother Thomas never lost touch with his na- tive parish. For many years he was an honoured guest at the annual din- ner of the Kilnamona hurling club.

Educated in Ennistymon CBS, the Irish Christian Brothers, UCD and UCC – his first assignment as teach- er was to Portlaoise CBS primary school in 1926.

Over the years he served in many schools including Baldoyle Noviti- ate, Mount Sion in Waterford, St Josephs in Marino, Dungarvan CBS and Templemore.

In all his time away Br Keane would always return to Kilkee for

his annual holiday in July. He also liked visiting Kilnamona as often as the Order allowed in those strict pre- Vatican II years but quite frequently in later years.

The death in fairly quick succes- sion of his brothers, Miko and Mar- tin in the States in the late 1940’s and Andrew and Pat in Kilnamona in the early 1950’s in the prime of his voca- tional career challenged greatly his reserves of strength.