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AN Ennis man who was jailed for four years last month for a drugs of- fence has been handed an additional jail term for criminal damage.

Michael Clune (24), of John Paul Avenue, Ennis, pleaded guilty to a criminal damage charge arising out of an incident a year ago.

Ennis District Court was told on Friday that an apartment door was damaged. The accused admitted to gardai that he had been in the apart- ment.

The court was told that Clune is currently serving a four-year sen- tence, handed down in the circuit court last month for a drugs offence.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said that her client was “acting un- der the influence of controlled sub- stances and alcohol” on the night in Ltn Coyne

“Unfortunately my client forced open the door,” she said, adding that the accused believed this was the apartment he had been in, earlier that night.

‘He had been drinking and had been anxious to get back into the flat where the party was on,’ she said.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a four-month jail term, to run consecu- tively to the four-year term Clune is currently serving.

He fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

THERE was All-Ireland handball success last week for Tulla’s Co- lin Corbett and Niall Bolton in the 60×30 Secondary Schools Junior Doubles Championship.

Representing St. Joseph’s Tulla, the Tulla pair had a hard-fought semi- final win (21-11, 14-21, 11-7) over Pol Clarke and Niall Allison from Omagh on Wednesday last in Mull- baheea

Then in the final, the Clare pair came from behind to beat Wexford’s Galen Rioradan and Padraig Foley in a classic encounter — winning thee a breaker to claim the title on an 8-21, 21-20, 11-9 scoreline.

In the Intermediate Doubles event, Jamie Lynch and Christopher Phil- pott of St. Joseph’s Tulla qualified for the All-Ireland final also, with a relatively straight-forward semi-final win in Abbeylara, Longford on Sun- day week last.

The Kilkishen duo beat Christopher

McKenna and Terry McElvanney (St. Macartan’s, Monaghan) 21-7, 21- 8 to qualify for the decider, but went down in that final by 11-21, 18-21 to Cian Connolly and Mark Nally (Ros- common CBS) on Sunday in Ballina, Tipperary.

At Primary Schools level, there was further Munster success for the Banner County in the Cumann na mBunscoil team championships. Clare took both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ team events on Staurday at Dungarvan and Cappagh respectively to further un- derline the county’s current strength at this grade.

The *A’ team won a round robin event beating both Cork and Water- ford and the team consisted of Fergal Coughlan, Brian Fahy,Jamie Keane, Kevin Conlon, Clodagh Nash, Gary Cooney, lan Murray and Shane Hunt.

The ‘B’ team had an 84-76 win over Cork and the winning team was Cathair Agnew, Jake Kearney, Eoin O Hara, David Sheedy, Barry

Loughnane, David Gleeson and Eoin Wnts Ene

Away from the court, County Hand- ball Board Treasurer Willie Roche was recently recognised for his great work in Clare and Munster handball over a long period. Willie was a re- cipient of a Munster Handball All- Star Award as ‘Official of the Year’, a very well deserved accolade for one of the mainstays of Clare hand- ball, especially at underage level. A national handball promotional/fund- raising event was held in Croke Park last week. The “Ultimate Showdown’ saw prominent handballers from across the country team up with a leading hurling, football or camogie player from their county. Clare were represented by Diarmaid Nash and county hurling goalkeeper Philip Brennan.

PARKING charges in Ennis have been frozen at the current level of €1.20 under Ennis Town Council’s budget for 2010.

Announcing the decision at last Thursday’s budget meeting, Town Manager, Ger Dollard also signalled the council’s intent to carry out a “major review of parking arrange- ments and charges in 2010”.

In his report, Mr Dollard stated that while parking income for 2009 is ahead of budget, “income from traffic fines is substantially down on anticipated budget levels for the year’.

He continued, “This would sug- gest a higher levels of compliance with parking regulations despite the temporary reduction in spaces due to works on the Ennis Flood Relief Scheme. These spaces will again be available for 2010. It 1s proposed to undertake a major review of park- ing arrangements and charges in 2010 and present separate proposals for consideration of council. No ad- ditional income has been assumed in the draft budget from such a re- aoa Ale

A proposal from Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) to reduce parking charges and to introduce free parking on Fridays from 2pm onwards was rejected.

Describing the budget as “very dif- ficult”, Cllr Flynn said new parking initiatives were needed to halt what he called the “drain” of shoppers from Ennis to Limerick and Gal- way. He claimed that the creation of 60 extra car park spaces in Parnell Street would generate a turnover of €1,100 per space.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said Cllr Flynn’s proposal could not be in- troduced as councillors seeking to alter the budget had to also identify

matching proposals that would either raise revenue or reduce costs.

Cllr Flynn countered by rejecting Cllr Meaney’s claim that his propos- al was a “populist” one.

“T’m not being populist. I’m trying to be positive to promote the town,’ he said.

Mr Dollard told the meeting that the council has allocated €210,000 from its own resources to the 2010 roads programme.

He added, “The overall situation regarding roads will need to be re- viewed when road grants are notified in 2010 as there is evidence of sig- nificant work required as a result of the serious flooding that occurred in mid-November.

On the issue of the Ennis Inner Relief Road, Mr Dollard stated, “An arbitrator has been appointed under the Compulsory Purchase Order for the acquisition of the land required. It is expected that the arbitrator will report in mid-2010. Provision has been made in the draft budget under the provision of loan charges for this project. Loan approval will be required from the department to progress this scheme.”

RALLY co-driver Grainne McEnery from Ennis has had a fantastic sea- son so far this year culminating re- cently when she was presented with the Dunlop National Rally Champi- onship Awards in Galway where she was honoured with the fastest two wheel drive car in the 09 Dunlop Na- tional Championship.

Grainne, a service manager with O’Sullivan & Hansbury Motors has had rallying in her blood from a young age having travelled as a spec- tator with her father Joe to events all over the country and also being in- volved with her brother Charlie who navigates with Anthony O’Halloran.

She began co-driving in 2006 in the Clare Stages Rally with British based Galwegian, John Reddington (Ford Escort) where they finished eleventh overall. Her first big acci- dent came in the 2008 Clare Stages where she co-drove for Eddie Cogan in a Peugeot 205

Just before the beginning of the 2009 Dunlop National Rally Cham- pionship Grainne was asked if she would be interested in co-driving with Kerry’s Mike Quinn in a Mk 2 Escort. Naturally, she did not hesi- tate and so far its turning out to be a

very fruitful partnership. Mike from Listowel in Kerry has been rally- ing his escort for about fifteen years and has had many a battle with local driver Anthony O’Halloran down through the years when Anthony was driving his Opel Manta. This bat-

tle continued in the ‘09 season with Anthony driving his Mitsubishi Evo and Mike still in the Escort and with a great brother sister rivalry devel- oping in the McEnery family it was Grainne who came out on top on the recent Auburn Lodge Clare Stages Rally back in September.

After swapping times all day on their home event O’Halloran and Quinn were second and third overall behind Niall Maguire’s Subaru Imp- reza but on the last stage O’Halloran’s Mitsubishi developed a puncture af- ter picking up piece of steel on the road and this put them out of the event leaving Quinn and Grainne to finish second overall.

The 2009 season started in The Birr Stages Rally where Mike & Grainne finished 12th overall. Next was The Kerry Stages rally which was based in Tralee where they finished 3rd overall and the first two wheel drive car.

The Circuit of Munster in Limerick proved more difficult as they crashed

out hitting a pole and this put them back to 92nd place. After getting back on the road they fought their way back up tp 21st overall and they won Class 14.

Grainne and Mike crashed out again on the next round The Ravens Rock Rally in Carlow where they hit a wall, after getting back on the road they finished 35th overall and another win in class 14.Next was the Stonethrow- ers Rally in Clonmel where they fin- ished sixth overall and the first two Wheel drive car. They repeated this result in the next round The Galway Summer Rally, sixth overall and first two wheel drive. Grainne and Mike are now lying second overall in the championship with one round to go in Limerick on December 28. After a fantastic first season for Grainne and Mike they will be hoping to hold this position after Limerick and if they can secure some sponsorship for they hope to be back in 2010.

ENNIS Town Council has main- tained commercial rates at the current level of 65.45 per cent in its budget for PAUnTeR

It follows similar moves taken by Clare County Council and Shannon Town Council to also freeze rate lev- els.

Town Manager, Ger Dollard an-

nounced the decision at Ennis Town Council’s annual budget meeting last week. The decision is expected to serve as a boost to local business representatives who had _ lobbied the council to cut or freeze rates at present levels.

Mr Dollard also announced a reduc- tion in council spending for the year ahead and stated that there had been a significant reduction in income lev-

els. In his report, Mr Dollard stated, “The budget as presented provides for commercial rates to be maintained at the 2009 level and for parking charg- es also to remain at 2009 levels. The current rate for Ennis is at the lower end of the scale relative to similar sized towns around the country.

He added, “The draft budget pro- poses expenditure of €12,143,853 million, which is a reduction on the

amount provided in the budget for 2009. Overall income shows a sig- nificant reduction with a fall in in- come levels evident in many service areas and in Local Government Fund Grant Allocation. The provision for the County Demand in the budget is €2,983,000 which is a one per cent increase on 2009.

Welcoming the budget, Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) urged the council to

pursue government funding in order to purchase land for the development of local authority housing.

Cllr Michael Guillfoyle (Ind) urged people to recognise that the council did not have “pocketfuls of money” to spend in the year ahead.

Cllr Mary Howard (FG) acknow- eldged the difficult financial circum- stances in which the council had pre- pared its budget.

THE acquisition of a county field for camogie was the main thread of the Clare Camogie AGM that was held in the Auburn Lodge Hotel last Wednesday evening. While the 2008 equivalent was a timultuous affair that spanned over two meetings and saw significant change at the top ta- ble, this time the executive presented an united front in the pursuit of their main goal, based on a long standing commitment from the Clare County Council to provide the organisation with a playing field.

In her annual address, Chairperson Orla Considine stressed the need to “continue to develop our game and the numbers of those that are play- ing.

“While this is relatively within our control, I also must appeal to those who can assist in this process.

“T call upon the Council to uphold the promise made to Clare Camogie all of 20 years ago to provide a play- ing field at Doora. This field has now been developed, there is a playing surface with goal posts and also a small all weather training facility attached. The field will be ready for the final touches and for playing in the new calendar year. I ask those in the position of realising this to now do so and be seen to stand behind their commitment and not let down the female population of this county yet again. Be assured that we will

not stand for anything less than the fulfillment of commitment already acknowledged. You the councilors and council management can be seen as the people who have looked at the development and appreciation of Clare Ladies in the important man- ner it deserves.”

Treasurer Michael Maher, along with announcing an annual profit of €490.89 in his report giving an over- all healthy balance of €5,695.94, also threw his support behind the iniative.

‘“T suppose one of the main reasons that you are not electing any new of- ficers, barring perhaps the PRO, 1s because of our expectation that we are going to have a pitch by this time next year. I think the people that are working in Clare camogie deserve to have the pitch and as far as I’m concerned, the only one that has to sign the dotted line is the County Manager. We have one hundred per cent support from all the County Councillors and I think that is a great achievement. It’s a great achievement for yourselves the fact that you are thought of so highly by the people that you have elected and I would ask now that the County Manager deliver the pitch.

“The promise was made, it’s there and ready to play on in early spring and it would be a great boost for eve- rybody who has worked so hard and get very little credit. So I’m asking the County Manager to deliver.”

LOW incomes families have been singled out by the Government and targeted for extra harsh treatment be- cause they don’t have a coherent voice within Irish society.

That is the opinion of Treasa Dovan- dor, founder of the Protest Against a Child Unfriendly Budget (PACUB) organisation, who believes _ that families have borne the brunt of last week’s budget.

The group, which gathered more than 16,000 signatures for a petition against the budget, feels that the deci- sion revealed last week will create a new poor in Ireland.

“We have had feedback from a lot of families who feel that on top of the loss of the Early Childcare Sup- plement and the 10 per cent cut, they have suffered a 50 per cent cut in the Government support for families. We don’t feel that any sector within so- ciety has been hit as hard. No one is

there to speak up for families and in particular low income families, there isn’t really a voice for people like us and that is why we set up this organi- sation in the first place,” said

“This budget mainly hit middle and low income families and will create a new poor in Ireland. It is a blunt instrument and something like a 10 per cent cut can send people spiraling below the poverty line and they won’t be caught.

“We are an easy target. Parents have

childcare issues and we have work is- sues. It is not easy for us to down tools and head off marching to Dublin like the pensioners did. For us parents who are carrying the shoulder of much of the cut, we seem to have no-one fight- ing our corner except for PACUB,”’ she continued.

“T think that maybe families have been beaten down and conditioned to accept cuts for the benefit of the coun- try. There is very little fight left in families. We have already taken our

hit – we have already paid our share. The public sector have seen levies and now a loss of pay and people in the private sector have seen large reduc- tions in pay and many have lost their jobs – myself included.

‘““We have paid more than our share for this mess that we had nothing to do with creating. Child poverty is now a massive concern in this country. One in seven children are on the poverty line in this country and that is before this cut in child benefit happens.

THE Interprovincial Championships, that have been sponsored to the tune of over €500,000 by Clare’s Martin Donnelly over the past seven years, are on a “stay of execution” from the GAA’s top brass.

That’s the verdict of Clare’s county secretary Pat Fitzgerald, whose an- nual report praises Donnelly’s sup- port of the series, but hits out at the failure of the GAA authorities’ dedi- cation to the inter-provincial con- cept.

“Through Martin Donnelly’s un- flinching support the Interprovincial Championships are a competition that seems to have been drawing its last breath for the past few years has, almost miraculously, continued to

Survive, says Fitzgerald.

“But [I’m fearful that the compe- tition, which once had supporters streaming through the turnstiles in their droves, is on a stay of execu- tion.

“The GAA at national level has emphasised repeatedly that they are fully behind the inter-provincials but actions do speak louder than words. What it now needs to do is decide on dedicated dates for the competition and then, with sufficient time on their hands, press ahead with a proper and sustained marketing campaign.

“If that is done, the public might start voting with their feet once more and turn out in large numbers as in the days of yore,” adds Fitzgerald.

under the Free- dom of Information Act, of the 11 staff members dealing directly with Traveller issues, seven have been transferred to other areas of the local authority since 2004, with two other retiring during that time.

No details were given on why such a high number of staff members re- ceived transfers to areas of the coun- cil which do not deal directly with

Traveller issues.

According to Traveller rights cam- paigner, Heather Rosen, this is part of a wider campaign to erode the stand- ing of Travellers when dealing with the local authority. She claims that the local authority have failed to replace a dedicated Traveller social worker even though the position has been va- cant for more then nine years.

“It’s not a good situation. When Clare County Council are issuing court proceedings against a Traveller family they can easily get the Envi- ronmental Health Officer out to say that the accommodation is not fit to live in, but, when Traveller families are desperately in need because of problems with accommodation, no-

one is ever sent out. All of a sudden they say that they don’t have the per- sonnel to examine the homes or they are not qualified,” said Rosen.

“There was a dedicated social worker in the Traveller Accommo- dation Unit until 2000 and when she left she was never replaced.”

According to Rosen, Clare County Council have begun a process which will bring to an end all local author- ity positions which deal only with OBE NON mp EoKe

‘From what I have heard there is not going to be anyone dealing directly with Travellers anymore. Travellers will be dealing directly with the gen- eral council staff even though their situations are drastically different

from anyone else who will walk into LoLeTaTeopmoLUbN Cen Dercamae

Clare County Council were con- tacted in relation with this story but no comment was received at the time of going to press. However, according to the the information received under the Freedom of Information Act, a number of the positions mentioned involved dealing with both Traveller and non-Traveller issues.

Meanwhile, a grandmother in her 5Os was rushed to hospital again this weekend after taking ill in her caravan. The woman, who suffered from epilepsy and asthma, has been engaged in a long running dispute with Clare County Council in search of accommodation.

FEILE na nGael coming to Clare for the first time in 23 years in 2010 has to be the spur for a new referee recruitment drive across the county, according to referees supremo Kevin Walsh.

The Clare Referees Administration Committee chairman will use this Thursday night’s annual Conven- tion to issue a challenge to the clubs

of the county to answer the Féile na nGael call, but providing referees for the under 14 hurling spectacular to be played next June.

The call comes following the ad- mission from Walsh that, on the back of apathy and lack of interest from clubs, 2009 was a disastrous year where recruitment of referees was oy sleroru sleree

“In this the 125th anniversary year of our association it is disappointing

to be reporting that we failed to have a referees course in the county this year,’ admits Walsh. “Due to lack of interest and numbers we were unable to run a foundation course in 2009. “It is intended to rectify this situa- tion for 2010. Every club, but espe- cially those with no referee, or who didn’t bother for the past five or six years will again be given the op- portunity to put their shoulder to the wheel and help. At the end of Febru-

ary and into the beginning of March we hope to run a course and we will need at least 30 recruits for this.”

Walsh is hoping that the carrot of Feile na nGael will be spark new in- terest among clubs.

‘Everyone knows the huge task and undertaking this (Féile na nGael) will requirement,” he says. “Now is the time for your club to step up to the plate and play its part in this ven- melden

“We will need referees and a lot of them. Every club will be taking part in Féile and every club should strive to have a referee and play their part in making this Féile as successful as previous Féiles.

‘The eyes of the country will be on us in every aspect of the game and can your club afford to be the one who is not contributing to the area of refereeing,’ Walsh’s annual report adds.