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LISCANNOR man Thomas Buckley, leads the way at the half-way point in this year’s Biland National Karting Championship. With five races under his belt, Buckley leads the standings by three points from second place David Yamamoto.

After winning the first race in the Series, Thomas has claimed three second place finishes and one fifth place finish. The season has taken a summer break but Thomas is hopeful of continuing his impressive second season when racing starts again in August.

“There are some hard-core racers taking part in this years. There are about 10 or 12 racers who are really in contention to win each race,” said Thomas.

“It’s very tight at the top. At the moment there is just two points be- tween myself and David but it’s even closer than that. At the end of the season each racer is allowed to drop his worst result from the final com- petition. So if we both drop out worst results at this stage I am only a point ahead.

“Tt’s quite now of the national championship for the next few months. There will be a number of

two day plate races taking place but they don’t count towards the national championship.

“Once August comes around again the races will be coming quick and Jeo me ex- 0 0

Thomas’ lead in this years compe- tition has been built on consistency. With four different drivers winning the five races to date his ability to get close to the front on a regular basis is paying dividends.

‘Three of the last four races are on tracks that we know well and have raced already this year so that is a good sign. There is only one really unknown track,” continued Thomas,

who represented Ireland in the World Biland Championship in Brazil last year.

“The good thing is that we have been on the pace in every track – we haven’t had any really poor results. In the last two races in particular, we have finished second but we were only a few hundreds of a second off the first place.

“We haven’t heard what is going to happen with the World Champion- ship yet this year but I’m sure it will be taking place later in the season. I would hope to get as far as the world final again this year.” Thomas is sponsored by Lahinch Surf Shop.

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The Irish Road Hauliers Associa- tion (IRHA) have set a deadline of June 27 for progress to be made on the issue or they will take to the Streets on protest.

One of the counties oldest haulage companies, Spa Transport, revealed yesterday that it has had to cut back staff as a direct result of the soaring cost of diesel.

“This is a huge issue, people have gone out of the business already and there are going to be more casualties. I myself had to sell two trucks and let people go because of this,” said Eu- gene Brennan of Spa Transport Ltd and the IRHA.

‘No matter how big or small you are this is savage. We have had a higher percentage increase in the last year and a half than has been felt over the last 20 years.

“It has affected us in many ways. The increases in diesel are really massive and we cannot be going to OUT MCLUT Kees RMAY ALO MUST KERA (OM ANCE RA

Besides that it has hit business gener- ally meaning that there is less busi- ness for us to compete for. Coupled with that we have been hit by a sur- charge by the shipping companies meaning a further increase in our overheads.

More than 100 years old, Spa Trans- port began life hauling produce from the west Clare railway using a horse and cart. The company now trans- ports high tech produce out of Shan- non as well as agricultural produce.

“It needs to be addressed in a two fold process. First we must go to the customer and look for a surcharge. We are going to have to do this to keep going. We are trying to meet with all the industry and get this idea across to them. We want a simple rate that does up and goes down with the price of oil,” continued Mr Bren- WE NOe

‘The other side of it is that we have to go to Government. They can either declare us an essential service like the buses and give us a special rate, they can rebate our fuel like they do with farmers, they can create a stable structure for a switch to using plant oil, they can assist us with the intro- duction of surcharging or they could help us to hedge our fuel and buy for- ward like the way airlines do.”

THE GOVERNMENT should do more to drive home the advantages of life outside the big smoke. That was the call from the Mayor of Shan- non after it was revealed that only 60 of some 402 public servants due to decentralise to Shannon had made the move.

Despite having been provided with state-of-the art new offices in West- park, just 60 En- terprise Ireland staff have de- camped the capi- tal for Shannon.

yaUie mmm letomme)ueyeet ised exodus of the Irish Avia- tion Authority to Shannon, a move which was seen as one that would lend support to the status of the airport, hasn’t happened at all.

Not one member of staff has made the move.

DIMOrO MU ENE or of Shannon, Cllr Sean McLaugh- lin said that the Government had not delivered on what it promised would be “the be all and end all”.

“It’s understandable that a lot of people won’t want to move because they have children in secondary school or partners working in Dublin but I can’t believe there aren’t more than 60 people who would be will- ing to come to Shannon if they fully understood the advantages.”

Cllr McLaughlin said that the Government needed to promote the work-life advantages of living and

working outside Dublin.

“Shannon is a beautiful place. The Enterprise Ireland offices have the most amazing facilities – a fabulous view over the river, a restaurant and a gym. And people who are now com- muting from as far out as Kildare and spending three hours a day in the car could be from their house to the office in a fraction of that time with no jams.”

The region was promised 300 En-

terprise Ireland staff and 102 Irish Aviation Authority staff.

The Irish Avia- tion Authority has said that it does not expect to see the full quota of jobs de- camp to Shannon for another three years.

The one Clare success story for decentralisation was in KlIlrush, Where the move of 57 revenue employees was

completed last year.

Mayor of Clare Patricia McCarthy (Ind) described the lack of progress in Shannon as “extremely disap- joreypalansteaae

“Decentralisation has had some success but this isn’t one. It’s hard to understand, given that the same work at the same level is involved. And it’s also hard to understand why the IAA not decentralised as it was supposed to.”

DETAILS have been announced of the third annual Ennis Street Festi- val, which takes place from July 5 to 6. The festival, based in various loca- tions around the town centre, offers a wide programme of events, organiz- ers are confident will appeal to young and old alike. Saturday will kick off with a performance by the interna- tional award winning Mr Toons in O’Connell Square at lpm.

Other events on the Saturday will include the Cork Street Circus, dance workshops at Glor theatre. Live mu- Sic 1S an integral part of the festival and this year’s event offers every-

thing from eastern European classi- cal music to heavy rock.

All events over the weekend are run on a completely voluntary basis and rely on support from Businesses and Individuals in Clare.

On Saturday, Ennis also plays host to the 2008 International Pipe Band Championship. The event takes place in the Showgrounds Ennis and is expected to draw big crowds to the Oi e0k

The championship venue is tradi- tionally alternated between counties on both sides of the border. Ennis beat of stiff competition from Kil- kenny and Limerick to be selected as the 2008 venue.

The event will host pipers from the thirty two counties of Ireland and further afield including USA and Scotland.

On Sunday the gig rig, at Market Street car park, serves as the festi- val’s centerpiece with performances from local band Billy, Clare Youth Centre and a traditional music ses- sion.

Other events in Market Street will include the Ennis farmer’s market and a vintage automobile exhibition.

Brogan’s Bar will host a barbeque with all donations going towards the running cost of the event. Sunday will continue with music from Sam- barrada, Dog and String and street

comedy from the intriguingly billed West Kerry, Italian, Fancini Broth- ase

The evening continues with a string of live performances with the main event, a Cabaret competition hosted by Mr Toons and the Fanzini Broth- ers in the West County Hotel.

The street festival concludes with a performance by Latin music col- lective Armada Latina in Brandon’s bar.

Anyone interested in providing assistance or requiring further in- formation on the event can contact www.ennisstreetfestival.com, email ennisstreetfestival@eircom.net or phone 065 6893966.

THE IFA has already set its sites on the next round of the social part- nership talk with President Padraig Walshe putting the Farm Improve- ment Scheme (FIS) as number one on his wish list from the Government.

With more than 5,000 farmers ef- fectively locked out of the scheme al- together Walshe is looking for urgent action coupled with the introduction of a flexible arrangements to allow farmers to complete work under the Farm Waste Management Scheme (FW MS).

Speaking after last week’s first bi-lateral partnership meeting, Mr Walshe said many farmers who ap- plied for the FIS between October 21, 2007 and the closure date of Oc-

tober 31, 2007 had not been approved by the Department of Agriculture to proceed with much-needed invest- ment.

“Most of this work is linked to other investments under the FWMS as well as investments to modernise and improve efficiency on farms,” he Sr NIGe

“In relation to the FWMS, as many as 33,000 farmers had yet to com- plete work under the scheme and the December 31 deadline to finish work is totally unreasonable.

“We need a flexible arrangements to be put in place to allow any farmer who has started work to be eligible for the 60 per cent grant when work is completed.”

Mr Walshe raised IFA’s serious concerns over the failure of the De-

partment of Agriculture to increase standard costs in line with the in- creased cost of structural steel, con- crete and labour.

“I would like to remind the Gov- ernment of their commitment in the charter of rights that costings would increase each year in line with gener- al building costs. Failure to do this is imposing higher net investment costs on farmers,” he continued.

A further meeting of partnership is planned for next week when IFA expect a Government response to the farm grant issues, and other demands set out in IFA’s submission.

Meanwhile, IFA countryside chair- man David Wilkinson has reacted angrily to Department of Commu- nication confirmation through the Freedom of Information Act that the

National Broadband Scheme was not getting priority attention.

“Rural homes and businesses are already years behind the rest of Eu- rope when it comes to the availability of affordable broadband. It is totally unacceptable that at times there was nobody working on ensuring that this essential initaitive is rolled out across the country,’ he said.

“It is vital that this Government investment in rural broadband is prioritised so that every rural home and business has access to affordable broadband as quickly as _ possible. The Minister for Communications, Eamon Ryan, must ensure that this scandalous neglect within his depart- ment of a vital initiative 1s addressed and now has an obligation to deliver the rural broadband scheme ASAP.”

yesterday WeTLOD LMR MMA DM RETUO RY, impossible for small businesses to get off the ground in Ire- land today.

“This situation 1s really tightening up our margins and that means that there is very little left for reinvestment and all businesses like this need to be able to invest in order to Survive,’ he said.

“If we were just starting now, there is nO way we would be able to get going. The entry cost for new busi- nesses is just too high. Smaller busi- nesses like ours are just not getting off the ground.”

Despite healthy sales, the Burren Smokehouse has already been forced to stop exporting to America because of high production costs and volatile exchange rates.

“It could get to the stage that we

will have to stop exporting to main- land Europe because the price would just be too high. It hasn’t got to that stage yet but it could do,” he contin- ued.

“There is no sign of the price of oil going down and if it goes up fur- ther, it will impact even more. You’d

wonder in the future, with the increasing price of oul, will it be competitive to ship abroad at all. “There is a real feeling of uncer- tainty in the mar- ket. Nobody seems to know what is coming next but

everyone _ thinks that it is not going to be good.

“The cost of dis- tributing the prod- uct has gone up and

that is having a serious impact on the business. The cost of the raw mate- rial has gone up and the cost of ship- ping the product has also gone up.

“We ship all over Ireland and into Europe. We used to ship into Ameri- ca but, because of economic factors, we have had to stop doing that.”

ENNIS Town Council has raised a number of questions over plans by an Ennis builder to establish a private members club in the centre of Ennis.

Earlier this year, Jack McCarthy lodged plans with Ennis Town Coun- cil for change of use of office on the third floor of the former Central Buildings at the Abbey Street car-

park to a private members club.

A decision was due on the applica- tion last Friday, however, the council has put the plan on hold, requesting further information on the proposal.

In putting the plan on hold, the coun- cil ask ‘what kind of ‘private mem- bers club’ is proposed here? What will it facilitate? During what hours will it function? Will it function as a live music or nightclub venue? Will

it be rented out for parties, functions, gathering? Will sale of alcohol take place? Is it proposed to provide an outdoor smoking facility?’

The council state that under the En- nis and Environs Development Plan, proposals for development involving evening and late night commercial retail and entertainment uses will only be permitted within, or immedi- ately adjacent to Ennis Town Centre

or the local centres and where it can be clearly demonstrated that there will be no detrimental impact on the character and function of the area. The council are also seeking that the proposal will result in no adverse effect on the character of a conser- vation area or other place of special architectural or historic character; will not result in adverse transport or environmental effects; no det-

rimental effect on the amenity en- joyed by neighbouring uses or where the proposal relates to ground floor premises, a shop front or appropriate ols 0F

Mr McCarthy is of McCarthy Bros, which has built hundreds of houses in Ennis and other parts of Clare in re- cent years. Already, a private mem- bers club exists in a building opposite Ennis Community College.

CLARECASTLE rerun John McLaughlin and 17 others will travel by dog sled across 200 miles of snowbound Norwegian country- side in August to raise money for the Clare branch of the Diabetes Federa- tion of Ireland (DFI).

John’s trek is just one part of the Clare branch’s summer fundraising drive, which will be launched in Tes- co’s shopping centre next Saturday, Ut eae

The other major event is the annual 10k sponsored walk, which takes place on August 31 in Lees Road sports and amenity park.

“This year promises to be even

better than last year, although to give credit to the participants of last year’s walk that will be difficult,” said Grainne Flynn, secretary of the branch.

Both the sponsored walk and the dog sledding expedition will help raise much-needed funds that will enable the DFI to improve the lives of people living with diabetes in this country.

John, who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2006, said: “I realised that while most treatments for diabe- tes are covered by the HSE, there is very little funding for research, edu- cation in self-management and for early detection and prevention pro- grammes for diabetes in Ireland.”

The money raised will go towards helping the DFI run CODE – Com- munity Orientated Diabetes Educa- tion and more local programmes.

It will also help the Clare branch to provide free support groups for peo- ple with diabetes and their families.

Services currently provided by the branch include diabetes screenings and education and awareness meet- Tb eae

CODE was developed by the Dia- betes Federation of Ireland as a re- sult of the organisation identifying that many people living in Ireland had poor access to community dia- betes services.

Anna Clarke, Health Promotion and Research Manager of the Diabe-

tes Federation of Ireland, said: ““The philosophy of the CODE programme is based on empowerment, empathy and self-efficacy; it supports people with diabetes through group learn- ing and participation.

“CODE encourages participants to become confident in their diabetes self-care management and aims to improve quality of life through in- formed decision making.”

Sponsorship cards for the 10k walk are available from Peggy Scholdei by calling 087 6415747 or by email- ing clarebranchdfi@ gmail.com.

Those wishing to pledge sponsor- ship to John McLaughlin for the Dog Sledding Trek can do so by calling 086 6142203.

WITH diesel prices continuing to Squeeze farm incomes the farm or- ganisation came out fighting this week, attacking ministers and call- ing for pressure to be put on the co- Ops.

First up was ICSA general secretary and Cratloe farmer Eddie Punch who attacked environment minister John Gormley, describing the Green Party leader’s comments that farmers may have to cut their livestock numbers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as “ridiculous”.

“On the one hand we have Minister Smith at the UN World Food Sum-

mit in Rome discussing global food shortages, while on the other hand Minister Gormley is suggesting we reduce our beef production,” he said.

‘“That’s just ridiculous. The beef in- dustry is vital to the Irish economy and any attempt to undermine it will be resisted by ICSA and all farmers.

‘Farmers have been to the fore in protecting the environment, through- out 15 year participation in REPS schemes, as well as implementing the Nitrates Directive. This veiled attack would not be tolerated by any other sector in Ireland and it won’t be tolerated by farmers either.”

Next up was Deputy President and Chairperson of ICMSA’s Dairy Com-

mittee, John O’ Leary, who called for co-op boards to face into making a decision on milk price as quick as possible.

‘Co-ops must at least maintain the April milk price as farmers will sim- ply not absorb a further cut in milk price following the massive drops in April,” he said

“Markets are now beginning to strengthen with dairy product prices increases in the UK, the EU and at world market levelling. In addi- tion, co-op boards simply cannot ignore the fact that input costs have increased substantially this year in particular fertiliser, feed and energy costs.”

ICMSA estimates these additional variable and fixed costs in 2008 at over 4 cent per litre of milk which is equivalent to over €9,000 for a full year’s milk production for a 50,000 gallon milk producer.

“It should be noted that this figure does not include depreciation nor the massive nitrate related investment costs taking place on farms at the present time,” said O’ Leary.

‘Taking account of the increased costs and the drop in milk price for April, farmer margins have been cut by about 10 cent per litre which, for a full year’s milk production represents an income loss of nearly €23,000 for a 50,000 milk producer.”

CLARE manager Joe Garry was left to rue a string of missed chances fol- lowing his side’s defeat to Kerry in the semi-final of the Munster junior championship on Sunday.

Clare trailed by six points at half time after passing up two glorious opportunities to take a decisive lead early in the first half. Kerry made no mistake in front of goal Mike O’Donoghue and the impressive Ni- all Fleming finding the net.

Brian Donnellan’s late penalty re- duced Kerry’s lead to five points with eight minutes remaining. Clare were awarded a second penalty two min- utes later but this time Donnellan’s

shot struck the foot of the post and Pat Nagle was unable to convert the rebound.

Standing on the pitch at Fitzgerald Stadium shortly after the final whis- tle, Garry paid tribute to his side’s resilience in the second half.

“In fairness to the lads, it didn’t look great going in at half time two goals down. But they stuck into it”, said Garry. “We spoke about it at half time, its easy to play football when things are going well, when the going got tough and it got tough here today, they deserved more out of the game. We had plenty of chances and in fairness you have to take your hat off to everyone of them. They fought manfully in the second half.”

Garry felt his side shaded the second half but acknowledged that against a side like Kerry, with three members of the Kingdom’s All-Ireland under 21 wining team in their ranks, Clare needed to take their chances.

““T thought we were the better team in the second half but unfortunately it comes down to chances. We creat- ed maybe five or six chances during the course of the game and we come of with I-7 or 1-8 whatever it was and you have to better than that when you take on Kerry.”