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CRUSHEEN GAA held their AGM on Saturday last. The meeting was well attended by players and sup- porters.

Both the chairman John O’Malley and secretary Tony McMahon gave a detailed report of the years proceed- ings including club and county. Both reports highlighted the great success of the U21 Clare team, which won both the Munster and All Ireland ti- tles for the first time ever.

The club was honoured and proud to be not only, represented on the panel by 4 of our players but to have one of those players as captain.

The captain was Ciaran O’Doherty and the other three lads were Donal Tuohy, Cian Dillon and Joe Meaney. Gerry O’Grady captained Clare sen- ior hurlers in the early part of the year when they won the Waterford Crystal trophy and Patrick Vaughan an Cathal Dillon were part of that panel also. Unfortunately that was

the only honour that came Clare’s way in 2009.

Seamus O’Sullivan outlined the club’s finances, which thanks to the supporters 200 club and the gener- ous sponsorship of our sponsor Pat O’Donnell, allowed the everyday running of the club to be in credit.

The successful promotion of the 200 club this year is a credit to the very hard work of the committee and the generosity of our supporters. However as was outlined last year the club is in debt due to the drainage project undertaken in 2008 and both the chairman and treasurer thanked and praised the enormous effort that the new fundraising committee, es- tablished at last years AGM, have been putting in to help pay off this debt.

Not only had they managed to re- duce the debt but also have hosted many enjoyable social events bring- ing the community together, very much in the ethos of the GAA.

A member of that committee

thanked all who had helped their work and that included young and old who volunteered (or were “volun- teered”’) their services. She outlined the upcoming events, which included a Christmas Fair, to be held on the 6th Dec and 2 social events over the Christmas period.

Managers of all teams reported on their competitions. Gearoid O’Donnell reported that Crusheen played in their first u21A final in 40 years and he felt that they should have won the competition. Gearoid was reluctant to return as manager again this year but was persuaded to think about it.

Gerry Kennedy, senior manager, said that though it was very disap- pointing not to have reached the later stages of the championship, he was proud of the team. He knew that they had put in a great effort this year and was delighted with the way they had played in the league and continued to the final of the Clare Cup in which they were beaten by Clonlara by one

point.

Crusheen won the senior B and though it was not what the team set out to do it was good to be finishing the year on a winning note. Gerry is unable to continue as manager this year for personal reasons, but Michael Browne, who was trainer last year, has taken over as manager.

Joe Mullins continues as manager of the Junior A hurlers. Colm O’Connor Junior football reported on their very successful year winning their league final and reaching the quarter final of the championship and they too were unlucky not to have gone further in the competition. Colm had requested last year that the team would enter the league in 2009 in order to better prepare for the championship not en- visioning winning the league on the way.

Election of officers: President: Tom McNamara Chairman: Colm O’Connor Vice chairman: Fr Ger NAsh Secretary: Tony McMahon

Assistant secretary: Joanne Meaney ‘Treasurer: Orla O’ Donnell

Child Protection Officer: John Mad- den

PRO: Catherine Brigdale County Board Delegate: O’ Donnell

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Tributes were paid to the outgoing chairman and treasurer for all the work they have put in over the years. Seamus O’Sullivan was on of the main forces behind the establishment and continuance of the very success- ful 200club.

John O’Malley has been an officer of the club for the past 10 years and took over as chairman four years ago when our then chairman, Michael Griffin got ill. Hopefully both he and Seamus will continue their as- sociation with the club in some other eal lon

The chairman John O’Malley fin- ished the meeting, wishing everyone happy christmas prosperous new year.

A MAN who admitted assaulting another man in Killaloe has been or- dered to compensate his victim.

Timothy Morris (21), of Bridget- own, O’Briensbridge, pleaded guilty to assault, arising out of a late night incident in Killaloe.

Inspector John Galvin told Killaloe District Court that Michael Carey was crossing a road in Killaloe in the early hours of the morning when he was approached by the accused.

He said that words were spoken and Mr Carey was assaulted.

“He caught him and pushed him,’ he said.

Mr Carey told the court that he had been to a nightclub that night. He said he approached a taxi, with a view to getting a lift home. The taxi

driver told him he would meet him outside the AIB bank 20 minutes later and he and others were halfway across the bridge when they met the RYO Isol6 ms

He told the court that the accused hit another man “a jostle.”

“We told him to stop and he kept walking. He did the same thing again. .. Then he grabbed me by the throat. I tried to shove him off. I was aware that the Shannon was on the other side of the bridge,” he said.

The witness said he blacked out and people came to his assistance.

Asked by defending solicitor Chris Lynch had there been history be- tween him and the accused, the wit- ness replied, “None whatsoever.”

Mr Lynch said it was his instruc- tions that there had been a previous incident and that Mr Carey had ver-

bally abused his client on the night. He denied this.

Mr Lynch said, “There was more than a bit of history between the par- Weal

Garda Edel Crowley told the court she attended the scene that night and saw Mr Carey bleeding from the eye- KOA

Judge Joseph Mangan ordered the accused to pay €500 in compensa- tion and adjourned the case for two months.

“If that is paid, I will not impose a custodial sentence, full stop”’.

“That is not to say I will not talk about community service,’ said the judge.

DATA released today by the Motor- check.ie Car Index shows that new car sales in Clare have dropped by 66 per cent since the beginning of 2009 while imports from abroad to the county have only dropped 35 per oom

Diesel vehicles have now firmly replaced petrol as the fuel of choice for 2009 with 59 per cent of Clare buyers opting for the alternative fuel. Nissan appears to be the favourite for Clare drivers with the Nissan Micra topping the table for petrol cars with 52 registrations whereas the Nissan Quashqai has the lead in the Diesel segment with 59. Spot a 2009 Audi TT with a Clare registration and you’ll probably find a leprechaun driving it as only one has been reg- istered in the county so far this year!

By comparison imports have not declined to the same extent with a drop of 35 per cent for Clare (No.11 in the country for used imports). The most popular import was the Toyota Corolla with 122 registrations while the Volkswagen Passat came in sec- ond at 102.

With a decline in new car registra- tions of 66 per cent, Clare was just above the national average of 63%. Counties with the greatest declines were Meath at 67% and Wicklow at 66%.

IT’S better to have the GPA inside the GAA tent that outside it — that was the verdict delivered by county board delegates at a special meeting that took place in the West County Hotel last Wednesday night.

The was near-unanimous backing for the draft document of agreement between the GAA and GPA that was subsequently endorsed in Croke Park on Saturday by Central Council del- egates 35-5.

“My view would be that I’d rather have these guys inside in the tent do- ing you know what out, rather than having them inside the tent,’ Mun- ster Council delegate PJ McGuane told the meeting.

“By having them inside they have authority, but they also have respon- sibility to us the GAA, the supreme body in the association.

“It’s something that’s been inevita- ble the last few years. My view is that they should have been brought in a long time ago.

“But if they want to do what it says on the tin, the name GPA is a mis- nomer — it should be the IPA (Inter- county Players Association) or the EPA (Elite Players Association), be- cause that’s what it is at the moment.

“I welcome the proposals but I would put in a caveat — everything should be agreement in principle and strict and certain criteria are going to have to be laid down for these peo- ple,” he added in what was the long- est contribution to the meeting.

The debate was opened by Central Council delegate, Tom Downes, who admitted that “for the past ten years they (the GPA) have been a thorn in the side of the association.

In the early years the assocation thought that they would go away, but this group have had firm ideas and their proposals were to look after in- ter-county players. They set up an of- fice, appointed a chief executive and were here to stay,’ he added.

“What about all the volunteers who are trying to maintain grounds but who can’t get money,’ wondered Clarecastle’s Martin Reynolds. “The money from Munster Council is way down this year — when the rugby and soccer goes out of Croke it will be down further.

“It has been stated by Tom (Downes) and you Mr Chairman (Michael O’Neill) that Clare County Board always looks after its players well. If that’s so why is Croke Park giving €1.6m in this calender year to an elitist group that’s just talking about county players.

“What about the under 21s who are getting their medals on Friday night. Are they not entitled to the same as senior players? What about the jun- ior footballers? They train as hard as everybody else.

“It’s an elitist group. In 2011 or 2012 when Lansdowne Road is open, where is all this money going to come from. What kind of money is the chief executive going to be paid?

Are we going to be paying for a fella who has been agitating against us for the last six to eight years?

There are an awful lot of questions that need to be answered here,’ he added.

“There are a serious amount of questions that need to be answered,” admitted chairman, Michael O’ Neill, while Smith O/’Briens_ delegate agreed that the GPA was “an elitist oy eee av isr-Ln eye lee

“In principal I agree with it,’ he added, “but something has to be done to protect the club players.”

“I think they have joined up now because Christy Cooney wants to make a name for himself in his first year,’ said Jackie McHugh of O’Callaghan’s Mills. “If he didn’t do it in his first year, he’d never get a chance to do it. He’d be snowed un- der if he didn’t do it this year.

“The GPA are finding it very diffi- cult to get sponsorship now — the cold winds are around and they’ve gone into the tent and Christy Cooney has facilitated them,’ he added.

“We should have had this meeting ten years ago,” said Tubber delegate and former vice-chairman of the board, Michael Lee.

“We were willy nilly, bits and piec- es — one county in trouble this year, another county in trouble another year. We should have been collec- tively looking after players.

“It’s better to have them inside that outside causing trouble, but I would have reservations. We have to trust people going forward, but having seen the leadership at the top over the past ten years, I am not too confident that they are firm enough or strong enough.

“The important thing is to pull the handbreak now — this is the limit of what we’re approving,’ he added.

AN EAST Clare woman who was a passenger in a stolen car was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,’ a court has heard.

Carmel O’Donnell (23), of Curra- kyle, Caher, was charged arising out of an incident on February 28 last.

Inspector John Galvin told Ennis District Court that a car was spotted driving through Ennis with no reg- istration plates.

He said it was travelling at high speed and it turned out that the car

had been stolen. “The accused was a passenger in the car,” he said.

Defending solicitor John Casey said his client was collected at her home and was driven in to Ennis. He said that after a chase began, the accused begged with the others to stop and said she co-operated fully elses NuOr ne

“She has distanced herself entirely from the other three involved. At the time she was hanging around with people who wouldn’t have led her down a correct path.

“She knows nothing about the situ-

ation of the other three parties in- volved. A criminal conviction will pose difficulties for her,” he said.

Inspector Galvin agreed that the accused was very co-operative and said she has no previous convic- tions.

He said it appeared she was “in the wrong place at the wrong time and took the wrong option.”

Judge Joseph Mangan ordered the defendant to pay €100 to the court poor box and dismissed the charge under the Probation of Offenders Xam

THE GRANDMOTHER of a fam- ily which has been pleading to be allowed take up residence in a Clare Traveller accommodation scheme is in intensive care today after taking ill in her caravan.

The woman – who is in her 50s – her husband, two sons and her son’s wife and seven children have been asking to be allowed move into some of the 14 free units in the Traveller accommodation in Quin.

But in a letter in answer to the accomodation application, Clare County Council refused to cater for the family in the Quin facility “in accordance with the Traveller Accomodation Programme.”

Heather Rosen, a Traveller advo- cate and friend of the family who has been campaigning on their behalf said, “The position now is that this lady, who suffers from Epilepsy, Asthma and Vasculitis has had seizures in her caravan and has had to be brought into in- tensive care,’ Heather said.

The family – who have asked not to be named for fear that it might hamper them further in finding privately rented accommodation – have been repeatedly moved on in their caravans from various areas along the by-pass.

“When they were on the bypass they knew where they were and they could tell the emergency serv-

ices how to get to them. But they had been moved off it again on Saturday night and they were on a small road and couldn’t describe to the emergency services how to get to them when she took ill.

“They could only stay with her until the seizures had passed and then brought her to Ennis Accident and Emergency on Sunday morn- ing, where she is now.”

Ms Rosen said that the family had been given the go-ahead for rent allowance if they could find private accommodation.

“She found a house and after meeting the landlord, he agreed to let it to them last week. But the day afterwards he rang to say he had let it to someone else.

“It’s very, very difficult for Trav- eller families to find private rent- ed accommodation even when they have the allowance.

Heather described the collection of woes for the Traveller family as “a litany of despair. This woman desperately needs housing that is warm, dry and has proper sanita- tion.”

“She is a very ill woman. Even her medications are damp in the caravan. The wind howls through the skylight.”

Heather said the family have written to the council seeking clarification of the original letter.

There was no-one contactable in Clare County Council to comment on the matter last night.

A MAN made phone calls of a sex- ual nature to a woman in the wake of a relationship breakdown, a court heard yesterday.

Floriano De Faricus (23), of Fer- gus Park, Ennis, pleaded guilty to sending a message or other matter which was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character by means of the telecom- munications system, between Feb- ruary 13 and 27 last.

Inspector Michael Gallagher told Ennis District Court that a woman complained to gardai that she was receiving regular phone calls of a sexual nature from an unknown number.

He said there were five phone calls in total, over a period of a month. After gardai were alerted, an inves- tigation was set up and the defend- ant was traced and subsequently charged.

“I think it was something to do with a relationship,’ said Inspector GPU ET aoe

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey

said the recipient of the phone calls had been in a relationship with the accused’s brother-in-law.

“That relationship had ended. My client was concerned by the attitude adopted by the recipient of the phone calls, to his brother-in-law. It had created terrible upset,’ she said.

‘He, in very poor judgment, made telephone calls to this lady. He was acting out of concern for his wife and her family. He had no right to make those phone calls and he ac- cepts that,’ she added.

“He acted out of extreme emo- tional strain of he and his family,” SI NTomT BOR

Ms Godfrey said her client has lived in Ireland for the past two years “without having committed any offence”.

Judge Eamon O’Brien ordered the accused to pay ©200 to the court poor box and said if this is done the matter will be struck out.

‘The State can re-enter it if there are any other problems,” he said.

THE Citizens Information Service will hold An Information Session on the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act, 2009, also ‘known as Fair Deal Scheme’ on Tuesday, December 15, in the Temple Gate Hotel, Ennis, at ro) NOE

The session will be presented by Marie Keane, Partner with John Callinan & Co Solicitors who has extensive experience in the area of Family Law and the emerging area of Mental Health Law She is a mem- ber of the Family Law Civil & Legal Aid Committee of the Law Society of Ireland and has contributed to a number of reports and publications undertaken by the Committee

The Nursing Homes _ Support Scheme, A Fair Deal, began on the 2/th October 2009.

From that date onwards, people may apply to the HSE for the new scheme.

The Nursing Homes Support Scheme is the single funded means of accessing long-term nursing home care for new entrants.

“We have been receiving a lot of queries fron the public and I’m urg- ing those wishing to avail of the financial support towards nursing home costs under A Fair Deal to familiarise themselves with the ap-

plication process so as to be ready to apply to the HSE,” added Paul Woulfe Manager with the Citizens Information Service

The Nursing Homes _ Support Scheme will equalise State support for public and private long-term care recipients.

It will ensure that there 1s one, trans- parent system of support towards the cost of care that will be fair to all, irrespective of whether they are in public, private or voluntary nursing homes.

It also aims to render long-term

care affordable and anxiety-free, and ensure that no-one has to sell their home during their lifetime to pay for their care.

Finally, the Fair Deal will replace the existing Nursing Home Subven- tion Scheme. However, it is impor- tant to note that individuals already in receipt of subvention may retain their existing arrangements or may opt to transfer to the new scheme if they so wish.

For further information you can con contact The Citizens Informatio Centre in Ennis at 065 6841221.

A COURT HAS heard allegations that a gate was thrown at a woman as part of an ongoing dispute in north ETc

Arising out of an alleged incident, Joe Scales, of Callura, Ennistymon, is accused of assaulting Anne Ma- digan causing her harm at Callura West, Ennistymon, on May 14 last.

Solicitor Jim Finnegan, represent- ing Mr Scales, told Ennistymon District Court that the case would be defended.

Superintendent Declan Mulcahy

told the court it would be alleged that gardai went to Callura West as a re- sult of a call.

He said they met the husband and a son of Mrs Madigan. He said it was alleged that the accused threw a gate at Mrs Madigan.

Supt Mulcahy said Mrs Madigan sustained injuries and was taken to hospital.

The Supt explained that this was part of an “ongoing dispute.”

Judge Joseph Mangan accepted ju- risdiction of the case in the district court. The case was adjourned until early in 2010.

THERE was great excitement in Tulla this week, as the community council took delivery of not one, but four life saving machines.

The four defibrillators were do- nated to the people of Tulla by John and Brid Littleton and will be placed at the strategic locations in the town. The first will be placed outside

Vaughan’s shop in the middle of town, the others will be placed at the GAA pitch, the soccer pitch and the last one will be placed at the primary School.

Training took place over the last month and the Red Cross were hap- pily surprised when more than 50 people turned up for training. The group was so large that it had to be split up into two for different train-

ing sessions.

The campaign to secure the vital machines and to train local people in their use produced an amazing response, said Jim O’Sullivan Chair- man of the Tulla Community Coun- ote

“It was a very generous gift to give to the people of Tulla but hopefully something that we will never have to use. And we had great interest from

local people in being trained to use the machines. There were four dif- ferent groups at the training so now there are people trained from the soc- cer club and the GAA club, teachers from the primary school and a group of people from the community.”

Tulla is one of many communities across Clare where defibrillators have been provided locally.

The move towards having the life-

saving equipment available has, in many cases, been prompted by fear- ful statistics which show that 6,000 people a year die from sudden car- diac death in Ireland. Two per week will be under the age of thirty five. The defibrillator provides a vi- tal link in the chain of survival as speedy combination of CPR and the defibrillator can often restore life which would otherwise be lost.