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through the Freedom of Informa- tion Act show that a commitment to provide €20 million over five years was deleted from two earlier drafts and did not appear in the final plan that was published in January.

Drafts circulated within Govern- ment in September and December stated, “It is intended to provide ad- ditional funds, over and above ex- isting commitments in the National Development Plan, of €20 million over five years, for a targeted Tour- ism Ireland-led overseas marketing campaign for the wider catchment of Shannon airport from Kerry to Don- egal.”

However, the line was deleted from the plan that was published in Janu- ary. It is not clear why. However, a senior Department of Tourism offi- cial pointed out in an internal memo in November, “In estimates discus- sion with the Minister for Finance, I understand that there has been a pos- itive indication of funds for a special marketing push for the area in 2008, which, as you recall, featured in the plan considered by Government.

“However, there 1s no commitment from Finance for a multi-annual programme. In the circumstances, we are operating on the basis that approval for such marketing pro- gramme has to be obtained in the context of a Government decision on the wider plan.”

The strongest statement that the Minister for Tourism, Seamus Bren-

nan could make on the funding of the plan was in an accompanying press release last January when he said, “This initiative amounts to an anticipated €15 to €20 million over the next few years and will be imple- mented by Tourism Ireland.”

The plan was ready for publication last July with the department making plans to translate the plan into Irish.

It is not clear why it was delayed since not all records were released. The delay in publishing the plan also led to concerns within the De- partment of Tourism. In an internal memo last January, a senior official stated, “In the absence of any an- nouncement about the ‘plan’, there is a clear vacuum on the ground. This will be and is being filled by ad-hoc

eroupings driven by various organi- sational agendas.

“Despite all of the talk in the latter part of last year about the need to be nimble and innovative, there is little evidence of any new thinking from those who shout loudest about the need for it.

“Surveying the scene as it currently exists, I have little doubt that we will, within the very near future, see some other ‘group’ make a pitch for control of the marketing moneys.

They will, almost certainly, pro- duce their own marketing plan and demand funding for it.

In the absence of a decision to re- lease the funds and let TI get on with their job of putting together a cam- paign, in consultation with the in- dustry, the forces of incoherence will just gather momentum.

“The budget was about six weeks ago. That gave us the funds. What we don’t have is the green light to go spend them. this delay is most unfor- tunate. We have lost the winter. We stand to lose the spring also.

“With the best will in the world, it will be mid to late February before we can Start to roll out campaigns in the US. Given the loss of time, what we may end up doing there is seek- ing to build, incrementally, demand for travel next winter.

IT’S a well-known saying but now one Ennis man has found a way for married couples to physically tie the knot.

Sean O’Shaughnessy designed the Ennis wedding knot and is hoping that his idea will become part of wedding tradition.

The design is made up of a centre knot known as a true lover’s knot or cross knot or the shamrock knot.

This is encircled by a ring of twelve knots known as knots of faithful love and eternal friendship.

The last knot is made up of two

half-knots which, when the cords are pulled, unite to complete the circle.

Sean, a crafts enthusiast, had the idea after he went to the wedding of ARU(ONCe

“I got to thinking about the ceremo- ny and I suppose the whole thing of tying the knot and I though it would be nice for couples to have a way of physically tying the knot. It could be part of the wedding ceremony. It could be used to mark wedding anni- versaries. It’s quite a romantic thing and people see the knot in different FA

There has already been interest in Sean’s design from couples in Clare,

Mayo and Galway.

The knot is assembled and hand designed by Sean at his home in To- bartascain, Ennis. The knot itself is placed within a wooden frame. Some couples are looking for customised designs, with one Galway couple asking for the knot to be designed in the colours of their local GAA club.

‘There has been a good response. Everybody I have talked to about it so far has been impressed with it. We’ve got about 12 sold already and I’ve had people from Mayo and Gal- way asking about it. At the moment, there are only a few types and de- signs, but we are going to have cus-

tomised designs. Some people are looking for diamonds, or to have a silver case. I’ve had one couple who heard about it, and want it done in their club’s colours.”

Sean hopes that his design will, over time, develop a similar reputa- tion to the world-famous Claddagh Ring. “It would be great if it became as well known as the Claddagh ring in the future. It would be a great thing for Ennis. It’s been popular so far, so hopefully that will continue.”

DOONBEG Golf Club has recorded sales of luxury suites totalling €68.8 million, it emerged yesterday.

The latest accounts for the US- owned Doonbeg Golf Club show that an operating loss of €2.9 million was recorded.

This has resulted in an accumulat- ed loss of €18 million. The company has received a capital contribution of €66 million.

In a statement yesterday, the club Stated, “Our enthusiasm for the future of Doonbeg Golf Club is mirrored by the 65 individuals who have to date purchased suites totalling €68.8m at Doonbeg. Indicative of the demand for these suites, even in the current climate, has been the closing of three sales in the past 30 days.

“The €2.9m ‘loss’ as stated in the annual corporate accounts for 2006, reflects continued investment into the facilities, the future and our ex- oo aCeI Dene Rm

“During 2006, Doonbeg Golf Club employed over 240 staff in the high season, of which 120 are full-time personnel. With our first year of operations in 2007, however, these numbers increased marginally.”

The accounts show that the size of the golf club’s business has increased from €27 million in 2005 to €39 million in 2006, resulting in gross profit increasing from €5 million to €11 million.

The accounts also show that staff costs dramatically increased in 2006

when €4.5 million was paid out, compared to €1.8 million in 2005.

According to the club, “Golf activ- ity remains very strong, with over 20,000 rounds played in 2006 and a 15 per cent increase to almost 24,000 rounds in 2007.”

For 2007, operating revenues have increased over 30 per cent. Our in- vestment in the facilities and our commitment to the future has con- tinued strongly.

“Currently we are in the final plan- ning stages for a 14,000 sq.ft.con- ference and banqueting facility that upon completion – which is antici- pated for 2010 – will be a wonderful addition to the existing facilities and which will afford us the opportunity to take on the many largescale func-

tions such as weddings and large dinners about which we are continu- ously being contacted.”

The statement continues, “2006 was an extremely important year for Doonbeg Golf Club and its US com- pany, Kiawah Development Partners (K DP). May 2006 saw the successful opening of The Lodge, Doonbeg’s first 47 suites, the Longroom restau- rant, Darby’s pub, the Whitehorses Spa and the golf club member ar- Crh

The company points out that the overall investment in the project, including the club, resort and suite facilities, is approaching €150 mil- lion.

THE director of Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) and the chairman of Shannon Development come out in support of a planning applica- tion for a multi million euro tourism project on Lough Derg.

Last month, the €100 million plan was lodged with Clare County Coun- cil to convert a health spa formerly jointly owned by Paschal Carmody into one of the country’s leading resorts. The former Killaloe doctor and his wife, Dr Freida Carmody, sold Tinarana House – on the shores of Lough Derg – to Limerick devel- opers Joe Hanrahan and John Shee in the summer 2006 in a multi-mil- lion euro deal.

In the largest single investment in the east Clare economy in a number of years, the developers have stated that 200 permanent and temporary

jobs will be created when the centre becomes operational, while a further 200 jobs will be generated through the construction of the development.

The plan includes that the refur- bishment of TJinarana House; an 18-hole championship golf course designed by designer, Jeff Howes; a spa and wellness centre; a 32-bed- room aparthotel; multi-purpose ban- queting and function/conference fa- cilities; 155 two-bedroom short-term accommodation units and an eques- trian holiday village.

An Environmental Impact State- ment is being lodged with the ap- plication and Tinarana Ltd are esti- mating that the resort will contribute €30 million to the regional economy every year and €8 million to €10 million for the local economy.

Despite of the scale of the project, the planning application has received no planning objections from locals.

Instead, the director of the SAA, Martin Moroney, has taken the unu- sual step of making a submission on a planning application offering the au- thority’s support. In the submission, Mr Moroney states, “I wish to support the integrated tourism development proposed for Tinarana House.

“The development will enhance the tourism product offering in County Clare and will increase the attrac- tiveness of the region to international visitors. The project will contribute to the growth of Shannon Airport.”

Chairman of Shannon Develop- ment, Kerry county councillor John Brassil (FF) has also offered his written support for the project in a separate submission.

Joe Hanrahan said, “I believe that our proposals are a vote of confi- dence in the future of east Clare and the Lough Derg area.”

A decision is due later this month.

A NEW report highlights the contri- bution of primary schools to the fight against litter in Ennis.

Ennis Town Council launched the Ennis Environmental Challenge in July 2007 with the aim of building on Ennis’s success in the National Tidy Towns competition.

One of the principal aims of the scheme was to generate commu- nity wide responsibility and owner- ship for the appearance and tidiness of Ennis. Along with community eroups and residents associations, schools in Ennis also took up the challenge.

Their efforts were rewarded at the Best Kept Schools competition where first prize was awarded to En- nis National School, second prize to Scoul Chriost Ri and third place to St Anne’s school. Both the Holy Family Senior School and the junior school were highly commended for their ef- forts.

The council’s report praised the fantastic work done by the schools and stated “as well as undertaking amenity projects in school grounds, children are now involved on an on- going basis on litter patrols within school grounds and various projects were undertaken during the year”’.

The report states, “The Best Kept

Schools competition continued to foster greater environmental aware- ness and education amongst primary school children which was evident es- pecially among those whose schools had acquired green flag status.”

The report also reveals that Ennis Town Council spent €784,000 on street cleaning in 2007 and that the council’s environmental programme had expenditure of €468,000.

According to the report, the en- vironment section of the council received a total of 570 complaints, enquiries related to litter and envi- ronment in 2007. 87 abandoned ve- hicle notices were served on vehicles on public spaces within Ennis and 35

of these were removed.

At the March meeting of Ennis Town Council, Fianna Fail council- lor Joe Reidy said a problem existed with cars for sale on public roads.

Town Clerk Eddie Power said, “If people persist to do that, then it is a prosecutable offence. We will con- sider our options and putting up signs to remind people is one of them.”

Fine Gael councillor Mary Coote Ryan said more needed to be done to remove litter from laneways in En- eh

Fianna Fail councillor Tom Glynn paid tribute to former Tidy Towns chairman Donal Griffin and congrat- ulated new chairman Noel Crowley.

in response to a Freedom of Information request show that there was never a prospect of the mid-west securing the €53 million sought since July 2006.

In January, the Ministers for Trans- port and Tourism announced details of an economic plan in advance of the ending of the stop-over the next month. The tourism minister, Sea- mus Brennan, stated that the monies involved would amount to €15 to €20 million over the next number of years.

A senior Department of Tourism official described the €53 million demand, made up of €44 million in Government aid over several years plus a once-off payment of €9 mil- lion, as “off the wall’.

“€44m over five years is off the wall. How much do we spend direct- ly or indirectly on marketing in Ire- land? Maybe that over four years?” he said.

He added that the Mid West Re- gional Authority demand for <€44 million “was always totally unrealis- tic and has done much to undermine the credibility of its broader case. If there are real marketing needs, these are likely to be far more modest. “The demands need to be tempered by realism and, of course, the strong possibility that major concessions to Shannon could give rise to copy- cat demands from other parts of the country. Throwing marketing money at Shannon is not the solution to the challenges facing it.” The memo, dating from early last year, goes on: “Also, the ongoing uncertainty about ‘open skies’ does mean that we have to avoid a situ- ation where we would embark on ‘open skies’ related initiatives only for them to go off at half cock due to delays in negotiations. “We understand that the Minister for Transport has a draft economic and tourism plan for Shannon, but the contents of that may not be earth Jerlaroowentee “If there are extra funds, this might allow for the implementation of the north American strategy in full, though in a convoluted way. “Our view is that marketing funds Should be for the wider catchment, be put through the super regions mecha- nism and be in accord with the north American strategy.” In March, an internal departmental memo stated that the proposed annu- al spend by the Mid-West Regional Authority “of €8.8m would actually exceed the entire marketing of Tour- ism Ireland in the US market which is, of course, to promote the entire island of Ireland”.

SECTIONS of the Clare fishing in- dustry are on the verge of collapse as a result of the all-out ban on wild salmon fishing.

The ban, which was introduced last year, has already resulted in a number of fishermen leaving the industry, with many others being forced to switch to the already crowded lobster and crab sector.

According to one west Clare fisher- man, the Government has abandoned GET com ER ialouselosMO Om Asim ITI (on

“It’s affecting an awful lot of peo- ple, from Loop Head right up to Black Head. It’s very difficult for any of us to keep going. The salmon was our big thing. We had 32 days a year and in those days we were able to pay for the rest of our fishing for the whole year. But that is all gone now, said Quilty fisherman Michael Crane

“The compensation being offered by the Government won’t make one inch of difference to the fishermen in ETc

“The bottom line is that Govern- ment didn’t do its job on this. We have got no back-up here at all, we have just had to take everything on the chin and get on with it. We have no choice and the Government doesn’t seem to care.”

According to Mr Galvin, fishermen are being forced to either leave the industry altogether or switch to the already well served lobster and crab sector.

“The navy are out there checking us every day. When we come back to port, we are met every day by people going through our catch, checking all the fish. Everything we land is gone through,” he continued.

“There are lot of people who just can’t cope with it. People are leaving the business all over the place. The

only choice is to try and get into lob- ster or crab but there 1s enough peo- ple already doing that and it’s just putting more pressure on people.

“It just doesn’t pay anyone to get in a boat and go out there and fish. Peo- ple are walking away from it all over the county. They have no choice.”

Meanwhile, Minister of State and Clare, Tony Killeen last week said that the Government remained com- mitted to helping Clare communities to diversify and reduce the effect of the loss of income from wild salm- on.

His comment follows the announce- ment of an allocation by Minister Eamon Ryan and Minister Eamon O’Cuiv of €200,000 to Rural Re- source Development Ltd.

EXHIBITIONS and demonstrations of age-old skills will bring prehis- toric Ireland to life at the Clare Mu- Nol Uuse brat e eee

Heritage Education week will run at the Clare Museum from April 8- 11. The main purpose of the four-day event 1s to generate greater interest and encourage appreciation of Ire- land’s heritage in a practical and pu- Um Rule ICUAaae-NA

The event coincides with the dis- play at the museum of a rare 2500 year old Iron wooden bowl.

The bowl was discovered during excavations along the N18 bypass and the N85 western relief road.

Heritage education week kicks off

on Tuesday, April 8 when specialists Simon and Maria O’Dwyer will give a presentation and demonstration of prehistoric musical instruments of Ireland. Simon has been employed as a heritage specialist by the INTO and the Heritage Council for the past seven years. He has conducted stud- ies into prehistoric and medieval mu- sical instruments in Ireland.

One of the highlights of this event will be Simon’s playing of replica’s of Bronze Age and Iron Age horns.

Three such original Bronze Age horns are displayed in the museum and the event represents for the stu- dents present a unique opportunity to hear and experience these sounds not usually heard in these parts for over 2,000 years.

On Thursday, April 10, students from Clare will get the opportunity to witness a demonstration of the traditional Traveller craft of copper Seon ioperee

The demonstration will be per- formed by members of St. Joseph’s Traveller Training Centre in Ennis.

The copper craft group at the Train- ing centre have been showcasing their skills at festivals and events around Ireland for the past two years.

In March 2007, the centre earned national recognition, when three members showcased the art of cop- per craft at the fourth annual Cork lifelong learning festival.

Last year, the centre also donated seven copper items including buck- ets, pots and scuttles to the Cork

public museum for a permanent dis- eA

It was the first time a permanent display of Traveller culture had been showcased in a national museum.

Metalcraft instructor Brian Cros- sen explained the group were de- lighted to be part of Heritage Educa- tion Week.

“We were out in Barefield Nation- al School during the week doing a similar demonstration. It was a good idea by the school because it’s great for the kids to see the demonstration up close.

“We are going to be doing the same thing for Heritage Week, in the mu- seum, so yeah, I think it’s a good idea because it brings to life for the jae Kae

THE European Commission is to launch a pan-EU public survey of invasive flora and fauna species. These invasive alien species disrupt local flora and fauna and cause con- siderable damage to nature and the economy.

The findings will feed into an EU framework for invasive alien species to be adopted by the end of this year. In Clare, the invasion of rhododen- drons, Japanese knot weeds and hog- weed are having a particular impact on the local flora.

Parts of west and north Clare have been infested with Japanese knot weeds while Lough Corrib in Galway has been invaded by Lagarosiphon, a

weed native to southern Africa that suffocates the lakes ecosystem by creating a dense canopy impervious to light.

Ireland’s biodiversity is also under attack from non-native grey squir- rels, who compete with native red squirrels.

“Europe is committed to halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010. We know that invasive species are one of the major threats to biodiversity, and that economies often suffer as a result, but we lack a harmonised system for tackling the problem and assessing its impact,” said EU Com- missioner Dimas.

“A strong public response to this survey will help Europe define the problem more clearly, and ultimately

help us develop a suitable mecha- nism to halt it altogether.”

The European Commission is tack- ling this problem by launching an internet consultation on the issue until May 5. Interested parties, in- cluding individual citizens, industry and consumer representatives, inter- est groups, the NGO community and other organisations are all invited to contribute information and opinions. The results of this consultation will be used to inform the development of EU policy in the field of invasive alien species, the options for which will be presented in a communica- tion from the commission at the end of 2008.

Ecosystems are dynamic by nature, and many species become estab-

lished far from their place of origin.

These new introductions are often the result of human action — Europe’s rhododendrons originated in the Himalayas, and staples of the Euro- pean diet such as tomatoes, potatoes and maize originated in the Ameri- cas.

But while many introduced spe- cies bring considerable benefits to local economies, others upset the balance and proliferate in ways that are highly destructive to the environ- ment and to economic and human interests. This consultation is a first step to address this problem on a Eu- ropean scale.

You can take part in the survey. Simply check out www.invasivespe- ciesireland.com

A THREE-year building project to construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal on the Shan- non Estuary is to begin shortly.

The EPA report attached to the €400 million project in Tarbert and Ballylongford states that the danger to the people living nearby and to the environment is very low.

The report said, “The resident im- pact of the proposed development on human beings will be a positive eco- nomic and employment effect.

“Results from the quantitative risk assessment show that the risk to in- dividuals living and working around the facility would be very low when compared with other ‘everyday’ risks.

“The existing residence around the terminal lie outside of the Health and Safety Authority’s respective land use planning zones.”

Once up and running, the natural gas will be pumped from tankers to storage tanks, then converted to natural gas before being piped to end users.

The terminal will include a ma- rine berth, jetty and secure mooring, LNG offloading facilities, storage tanks, and vaporisers to turn LNG from a liquid back into a gas.

The gas will then be connected up to the national gas grid.

The terminal will be built on 281 of the 600-acre land bank owned by the State for large-scale maritime-re- lated industry.

Shannon LNG, which is an Irish subsidiary of Hess LNG, outlined a number of reasons as to why the terminal was first proposed for the

Shannon estury. Among these was the exhaustion of gas fields.

“The Kinsale Head Gas Field is now nearly exhausted” and the “UK North Sea reserves are rapidly de- pleting,” it stated.

In an outlining brochure on its plans, Shannon LNG claimed that its natural gas is one of the safest and least environmentally hazardous en- ergy sources.

“LNG has had an exemplary oper- ating history and all these facilities have been operating without seri- ous public safety incidents, some for

more than 30 years.”

It stated that the construction and operation of the facility would be regulated by Government depart- ments and agencies including Kerry County Council, An Bord Pleanala, the Environment Protection Agency, the Health and Safety Authority, the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and the Commission for Energy Regula- tion.

“Trish and international regulations and standards will govern the design and operation of the facility.”