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THE four-point losing margin cer- tainly flattered Clare, but Mike Mc- Namara gladly took it at the end of his debut league game in charge. An- yway, the result wasn’t of concern to Clare on this day, because winning isn’t everything in the earliest days of McNamara’s time at the wheel.

ed WaTompushiUN mm c-h0 Me mao orsl mm peel oe)me- 001 me McNamara told a posse of reporters after the game. “We were looking for character in players more than any- thing else today. We’re new and we’re on the road now and were looking for character and I think we found it.

“We went a little disjointed when we went down to 14 men. It was a new team, with new boys. An expe- rienced team would be able to cope with a loss like that. We haven’t that experience yet.

‘I would be extremely pleased with the manner of the performance and the character of the players. We’ll have to accept that it’s going to take a while to get a team game going. Individual performances all over the field were quite good, but you have to accept with Clare going forward that it’s going to take a while to put the team effort in place and play as a team, particularly this year when we have no ball-play done at all,” added McNamara.

Character then is going to be the template of McNamara’s steward- ship — his thesis being that only by throwing players in at the deep end will character emerge. Give me the boy and I’ll make the man could be- come a byword for McNamara’s first season in charge.

“We spoke during the week that if we all came through unscathed it

would be a miracle. If you put six or seven debutants on a team and five come through unscathed, you have a ereat day’s work done,’ McNamara revealed.

“We can take a lot of positives from it. don’t know what we scored but 3- 15 (3-17) or whatever, with five lads playing in the forwards who didn’t play league before. It’s going to take time to generate team play, team spirit and a team itself.

“We’re down the road now, we’re up and running and we can only look forward to getting better everyday. I’d be very surprised if the perform- ances don’t increase and the tempo doesn’t increase in Clare hurling and that players, individually and collec- tively, will increase their perform- ances,” he added.

Starting with Laois in Cusack Park this Sunday.

A YOUNG man was knocked down and killed by a car driven by his girl- friend, in Kilkee, a court has heard.

Ennis Circuit Court was told that Stephen O’Reilly (24), from Tallaght in Dublin, was on a week-long holi- day with his girlfriend and two oth- ers, in January 2007.

He and a friend were standing on a footpath on O’Connell Street, Kilkee, when his girlfriend Denise O’ Reilly – who was driving his Honda Civic car – approached the two.

Mr O’Reilly stepped onto the road and she struck him and knocked him oleae

Ms O’Reilly (20), of White Brooke Park, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty

to careless driving and drink driving, arising out of the accident, in the ear- ly hours of January 30, 2007.

Ms O’Reilly, a clerical administra- tor, entered the plea, just before she had been due to go on trial for dan- gerous driving causing the death of her boyfriend.

She was banned from driving for two years and fined €2,000, after the court was told that the parents of the deceased accepted it was a tragic ac- cident.

Garda John Convey said the de- fendant and another girl had gone for a drive in Stephen O’Reilly’s car, having been socialising earlier in the night.

As they returned to where they had been staying, Mr O’Reilly and his

friend were standing on the foot- ortaee

“Mr O’Reilly stepped out on to the road and was killed,” said the garda.

He said the accident occurred on a straight stretch of road and driving conditions were good at the time.

He said that the accused told gardai there was little she could have done to avoid the pedestrian. She was “very traumatised” by the incident and admitted driving the car when the accident occurred.

The couple had been together for several years and knew each other’s ie Teeb eR lony

Ms O’Reilly’s Counsel told the court that the parents of the deceased man accepted it was an accident and are supportive of the defendant.

The court was told that analysis of a sample of urine produced by the defendant showed a concentration of 116 mgms of alcohol per 100 mls of Vem alee

Judge Rory McCabe said the inci- dent was tragic. “I’m afraid we read about it every weekend, this type of event happening, a combination of youth, alcohol and possibly inexperi- ence,’ he said.

“A young man lost his life. No-one intended it to happen but it did,” he Sr AKOE

However he said he did not believe it would be appropriate to send the accused to prison.

He imposed fines totalling €2,000 and disqualified her from driving for two years.

THERE was a large attendance of approx 120 people at the emergency public meeting of the Killone Group Water Scheme, held at the Commu- nity Centre, Ballyea.

Waters shortages have affected around 3300 homes, farms and small commercial businesses in recent weeks. Supply from the plant installed last year, at a cost of €900,000, on Killone Lake is not meeting the high demand in the area.

The plant was designed to meet a demand of 180 cubic metres per day. It is estimated current demand for water in the area is 300 cubic metres per day.

Arsing from the meeting, the Kil- lone Group Water scheme are seek- ing a meeting with the officials from EPS, the firm who designed, built and currently operate to station.

The meeting proposed and _ sec- onded local businessman Michael Sheedy to the role of Chairperson and Cllr. Paul Murphy was called upon

to take the minutes. Past and present committees were also thanked for all of their work throughout the years.

The current shortfall in water was then addressed. Murt Reddington outlined how at present only 288 m3 per day was being produced and that there was a need for 360 m3 per day. As a result the problem being posed is how the water is to be shared amongst the community.

Homes in Dara have also been af- fected by the shortages.

Deputies Joe Carey, Tony Killeen,

Pat Breen and Timmy Dooley all ad- dressed the meeting and spoke of the need for all parties involved to pull together and iron out any problems.

Joe Carey TD then proposed that meetings should be sought with of- ficials from the firm EPS who are in charge of the pump station and also with officials of Clare County Coun- cil to try and fast track a solution to this ongoing problem.

A number of volunteers were also appointed to the committee to spread the workload

RAIL services between Ennis and Limerick are not expected to resume for another “three to four days” be- cause of continued severe flooding of a section of the line near Newmarket on Fergus. ;

Last week, Iarnrod Eireann halted services between Ennis and Limer- ick “at least until Sunday” (February 10) due to flooding of the tracks at Ballycar. ;

A spokesperson for Iarnréd Eire- ann passenger services in Limerick said yesterday, “It will be at least another three to four days before the line can reopen as part of the track was still under 11 inches of water on Sunday.”

The company has said it is monitor- ing the situation daily.

An estimated 600 commuters from Ennis and Limerick use nine daily services on the line.

Residents in the Ballycar area are also suffering with the roadway out- side their homes submerged under more than a foot of water in at least three locations. The road remains impassable for cars with some locals now parking some distance from their homes and crossing neighbours’ properties to get to their own homes. Locals say flooding on this scale may not have occurred since 1955.

‘The water appears to be rising all the time. It is still coming off the land and crossing the road into the lake which I haven’t seen this high in many years. I can’t see the water dropping enough for trains to pass for a week or two yet,’ one local resi- dent said yesterday.

Local councillor Pat McMahon has accused Iarnro6d Eireann of short-sightedness in allowing past problems of flooding at Ballycar, of which they were aware, to affect services again.

“This area is prone to flooding at the best of times and I know larnrod Eireann has raised the line in this area in the past. I remember attend- ing meetings on this issue one of which was attended by the minister of the day but that was over 15 years ago,’ Councillor McMahon said.

“In a few years we will have an intercity connection between Lim- erick and Galway and we have to be sure that people won’t have to be ‘bussed’ from station to station be- cause of flooding on the rail lines.

“When Jarnrod Eireann upgraded the Ennis to Limerick line, they un- dertook to carry out a review of the flooding issues at Ballycar. As far as I know this has not happened and I would call on the company to do so as a matter of urgency,” Councillor McMahon said.

BY HIS own reckoning, this must be the year Galway deliver or his time across the border will be regarded as a failure. That Galway had enough in the tank to see off Clare on Sunday won’t send any tremors across the country, but condisering Cork’s cur- rent status, the time couldn’t be bet- ter for an attack on the super powers ome nlenabberee

Ger Loughnane come out of the dressing room on Sunday gushing about the present atmosphere in his new hurling home.

“It’s brilliant,” he says. “It com- pares to anything I have ever been involved in before. They want to suc- ceed. These are really, really great Feels

But there’s a proviso.

“T still think we need something defensively, someone like Ollie Can- ning. I still think he could do a great job for Galway. But I am delighted to see Ger [Farragher] back. I said

to them all in the dressing room that he’s an example to all of us. He spent all of last year on the sideline and was up in the stand for the All-Ire- land quarter-final against Kilkenny and never came on. He could have walked away or he could have sulked. We spoke to him last October. We told him the talent he had and what he had to work on. He worked so hard over the winter and you see the results out there today.”

Like his old colleague Mike McNa- mara, Loughnane also had an opin- ion on refereeing.

“The problem is you can do any- thing you want with your body but any little tap with a hurley and you’re going to get a yellow card. And when you’ve got one, then it’s very easy to get the second. Referees are under fierce pressure. I thought Seamus [Roche] applied the rules as they are now. It’s not Seamus or any other referee that’s at fault. It 1s the peo- ple that are making these rules. They are going to destroy the game com-

pletely if they keep going like that. There will be no physical contact in it whatsoever.

“Seamus did nothing wrong. He is going by the rules. He has some guy up in the stand watching him and he has to try and not lose too many points. I understand he starts off with 100 points and then they are deduct- ed as he goes along.”

Galway’s poor end to the game and Clare’s late flourish also left him dis- appointed.

“People will go away and say Gal- way, Jesus, they gave away all their scores in the last few minutes. This is One monkey we’ve got to get rid of and we’ve got to get rid of it in the league. We have to face someone when it’s level with ten minutes left and we’ve got to fight out of that situ- ation and win the game. Unless we do that, you can’t really say that Gal- way have arrived.”

THE behaviour of a 16-year-old boy has deteriorated since leaving a de- tention centre due to lack of parental control at his Ennis home.

The boy, who has 33 previous convictions, was sentenced to two years at Oberstown Boys Centre in November 2006. He is currently on extended leave from the centre.

He admitted breaking into the bed and breakfast at Baron McQ’s, Low- er Parnell Street, Ennis, and kicking two wing mirrors on cars, close to his home, last Wednesday, February oF

Inspector Tom Kennedy said gardai found the boy on the premises on Parnell Street and CCTV footage

showed him breaking the window and going into the building.

He later went home with his mother and a short time later went down the street in his locality and kicked mir- rors on two cars.

The boy’s solicitor, Tara Godfrey, said since he was released home from Oberstown he had “very quick- ly deteriorated”.

‘His mother is not here today and that speaks volumes,” she said.

She pointed out that drink and drugs played a role in last week’s in- cidents.

‘He didn’t have control. When he’s not in Oberstown, or St Patrick’s In- stitution he doesn’t have the where- withal to look after himself,’ she PAG

“The concern from my point of view is that he could become insti- tutionalised and that he would be in- capable of coping outside an institu- tion,” she said.

“He’s a good boy under the right conditions,” added Ms Godfrey.

A member of staff at Oberstown told the court that the boy had “turned a corner’ while at the centre, but had “deteriorated” since returning home to Ennis. She said Oberstown could not take him back.

“We are under pressure from the courts to free up the bed. There’s de- mand for his bed. We want to release his bed within days,” she said.

“I think we have exhausted what we can do with him. We have effec- tively handed him back to his family.

There is only so much minding of him we can do when he is back in his own environment,’ she added.

An employee with Clare Youth Services – who has worked with the boy since his release from Obers- town – said the problem was down to lack of supervision at home.

“That is with due respect to the young man and the family,” he said.

Judge Joseph Mangan asked the boy, “Why are you so angry?”’. He replied “I am not angry at all.”

The judge said he had observed the boy’s demeanour in court and said, “You are obviously very bothered.”

The judge sentenced him to eight months in St Patrick’s Institution and fixed a bond in the event of an ap- peal.

THE work of staff and students at the Adult and Community Education Centre in Ennis has been described as essential to the success of the sec- ico) e

Speaking at the opening of the cen- tre’s new extension, Minister of State Sean Haughey praised the progress made by adult education providers in OE

Mr Haughey was in Clare to open centres in Shannon and Ennis, as part of the National Adult Learners Festival.

Referring to some last minute prep- arations for his visit to Ennis, Mr Haughey quipped “I was told to be late because there was sign to go up. If I have achieved nothing else by my visit to Ennis, then I have achieved Werelaae

The extension and _ re-develop- ment of the Adult and Community Education Centre in Clonroad, Ennis means more services can be provided as part of the Clare back to education initiative.

The centre provides learning op- portunities in reading and writing, language support, youthreach pro- gression, the Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS) and family learning. Services include a creche, night classes, e-learning and adult learners guidance.

In Clare, there are currently 2,000 learners availing of adult basic edu- cation and a further 700 engaging in community education.

Mr Haughey said the centre provid- ed valuable learning opportunities. “This is particularly evident here in Ennis, where your Adult Basic Edu- cation Service provides great assist-

ance to adults returning to education, particularly those who did not get the chance to complete their secondary education. Work undertaken on the ground is absolutely essential to the success of the sector, and I am very much aware of this”.

“This expanded adult education centre will provide additional and valuable opportunities for learners in the Ennis area to create a better life themselves and their families”.

He added, “The Ennis Adult Edu- cation centre does a great job in providing that crucial support and I know that with your capabilities extended, many more opportunities will be available to you in this re- een Ke ae

Dr Sean Conlan, Education Of- ficer for Clare VEC, said significant strides had been made in the area of adult education.

‘Adult education used to be called the cinderella of education, because we were never invited to the ball. Now things are different, and in GET ucee tree or Dus CGUIT Dem Ne uome sr KMmolon significant investment in services”

Mr Haughey met with students, programme leaders, tutors and co- ordinators and received a painting from VTOS student Malcom Gay. Youthreach trainee Shirley Price and her daughter Brooke, who attends Cuan Aire Creche, presented Mr Je Ft tea teas

Music was provided by VTOS tutor Andrew Newland and the Founda- tion Ministry Choir.

CLARE has come near the bottom of a survey showing the number of IDA jobs created in a county by county basis last year.

Enterprise, trade and employment minister Micheal Martin confirmed that Clare came nineteenth on the hha

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment figures show that 22 jobs were created in IDA- backed companies last year.

The figures show that counties mainly located in the midlands trail Clare in the number of IDA jobs cre- ated. More IDA jobs were created in Clare than Carlow, Laois, Longford, Monaghan, Roscommon and north Tipperary.

Only nine IDA jobs were created in north Tippeary. However, Clare lags behind its two neighbours, Limerick and Galway.

The figures show that 264 IDA jobs were created in Limerick and 383 in Cr ELA

Last night, Fine Gael TD, Joe Carey said that the figures relating to Clare were matter for concern.

He said: “The IDA need to work to ensure Clare workers are not be- ing left behind in job creation terms. These figures, when examined, show cause for concern. For example,

counties with a similar sized popu- lation to ours are faring significantly better in terms of job creation.

“Waterford, Louth and Mayo, all have populations close in number to County Clare. Between them they created 674 jobs. In Clare, the IDA managed just 22. Cavan, which has half the population of County Clare, still managed to create three times more jobs.

He added: “Those statistics are not impressive, and as we move into a more uncertain economic climate, we need to focus our minds on ad- dressing the apparent job imbalance in the mid-west.”

The IDA has a strategy of regional development and 64 per cent of in- vestments in 2007 were located out- side of Dublin last year.

Also, the IDA played a strong role, in conjunction with Shannon Devel- opment, in securing 250 new jobs for the Shannon Free Zone with last week’s announcement that a medical services company, Zimmer, 1s to 1n- vest €50 million in Shannon.

However, the IDA has failed to date to secure an anchor tenant for the In- formation Age Park in Ennis.

The authority has the responsibility in securing foreign direct investment in Clare outside the Shannon Free Zone. But so far the park is home to indigenous start up companies.

WHILE the Minister for the Envi- ronment maintains that there would be no useful purpose in meeting the councillors of Clare about their budget allocation for 2008, he said he would next time he was in the constituency.

Deputy Pat Breen (FG) has attacked the minister for his stance much to the annoyance of Clare County Councils only Green Party member.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) has ac- cused the Fine Gael deputy of using “unhelpful comments” and trying to score political points.

‘The spin put on it by Deputy Breen hasn’t helped the situation. The min- ister will meet with Clare County Council when he is in the constitu- ency. Deputy Breen’s use of this to score political points is a disservice to the electorate of Clare,” said Dep- uty Meaney.

Deputy Breen had accused the Green Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley TD of distancing him- self from another crisis.

‘This 1s another typical example of the Green Party’s change of colour since they entered Government last May. Minister Gormley is distanc-

ing himself from another crisis. The reality is that he does not recognise the crisis we have here in County Clare. The current funding arrange- ments are simply inadequate. Clare County Council avoided the axe this year, as a result of which we will see a reduction in the budget for roads, housing, planning and environment together with an increased burden being placed on the business com- munity. County Clare is at the bot- tom of the pile when it comes to the allocation of funding from Central Government,” he said.

“The long-term ability of Clare County Council to deliver basic fa-

cilities including water and sewage treatment plants is threatened.”

The council had asked to meet with the minister to voice their dissatis- faction at the general-purpose grants allocations for 2008, and make a case for a larger allocation.

Minister Gormley argued in the Dail however that Clare County Council’s allocation for 2008 was€16,476,569, an increase of 5.13 per cent over the 2007 allocation.

“General purpose grants to Clare County Council have increased by some 460 per cent since 1997 which is more than twice the average in- crease to local authorities over that

period,” he said.

“In summary, and recognising that the council has recently agreed its budget for 2008, I am satisfied that the funding available to it from all sources, including general purpose erants, will enable it to provide an acceptable level of services to all its customers. In the circumstances, while no useful purpose would be served by meeting the proposed del- egation in the context of the 2008 general purpose grant allocations, I will take an opportunity to meet with the council as part of a programme of visits to local authorities during the year.”

A MEMORABLE 12 months for Ennis Track Club was crowned on Saturday when the club was named Munster Cross Country Club of the Nae

2007 was the most successful in the club’s 17 year history with the club taking home major honors at all lev- els in both track and field and cross eo) t nem mea Lo) TLE

The efforts of athletes and coach- es were recognised on Saturday in Dungarvan, Waterford at the Mun- ster Athletics awards.

The occasion held extre signifi- cance for Tom and Vera Dullaghan

who accepted the award on behalf of Ennis Track Club.

The Dullaghans are both founding members and are still actively in- volved with the club.

Ennis Track Club made history at the Munster Championships last year by becoming the first club to win the ladies novice title, ladies intermedi- ate title and ladies senior title at the Munster Championships.

The club also won the national men’s title and there was also success in the national under 12s champion- ships.

In total, the club won an aston- ishing 163 medal in track and field events and 275 medals in cross coun-

try events.

Club PRO Michael O’Brien said the year reflected the commitment of athletes and the huge contributions made by coaches and volounteers through the years.

“We are just small club that came from humble beginnings but have been lucky in that there has been a ereat group of very dedicated and talented people whop have been with the club since the start.

“Last year was definitely historic for us’. Ennis Track Club was formed in 1991 with the first committee meet- ing taking place in O’Keefe’s Bar Lifford.

That committee was made up

Gerry Hayes (president), Tom Casey (chairman), Maeve Casey (secretary) and Tom Dullaghan (treasurer).

The club made an instant impres- sion by finishing first in the women’s 4×400 relay at the Munster Champi- onships in Waterford.

Over the years the club has also produced athletes who have compet- ed on the international stage.

Rory Chesser and Liam Markham both represented Ireland at the U23 championships in Scotland.

The club now has over 100 mem- bers and six coaches Gerry Hayes, Pat Hogan, Deirdre Cahill, Mar- ian O’Loughlin, Jim Donnellan and Michael O’Brien.