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SPAN e DS ee Eli iael ance secait-leleye speech to Dail Eireann in 1992 sprang to mind. In that speech he famously quoted from Othello when saying, ‘I have done the State some service, and they know it, no more of ere

Simon Moroney could have used the line last Thursday night when he announced his own resignation — he has done GAA in Munster some great service over the past four years, something he is proud of.

“It was a great job to have and I was delighted to serve in the position,’ he

says. “The province is very success- ful on the pitch, but I feel that you have to have a similar standard off the pitch.”

“I’d like to think that I contributed to getting to that. I loved the job and I was the first Clare man in the job and only the sixth Munster Council secretary since the position was cre- ated in 1901.

“I thought I put a very good struc- ture in place. The headquarters wasn’t there when I came into the job and I was the first secretary to move into new headquarters.”

“I set up good systems there — it’s not very exciting stuff, but we have

a good financial system, we have a very good development grant system set up with clear guidelines. I would have said that the Munster Council was very well administered in my time there — that’s the first and fun- damental requirement of a good sec- retary,’ he adds

‘“We’ve been very fortunate that we ve had very little controversy and I would say that the ship was steered quite well over four years. The record will show that.”

“My successor, coming in, I would like to think will certainly have a system and a structure there that will be relatively easy to follow.”

A MAN who stole from a house in SIT VeTLOMPOMWZO OOM ome Bao lesetcm ert been jailed for six months.

Greg Tuite (31), of Herbert Grove, Castletroy View, Limerick, pleaded guilty to stealing a PlayStation, five PlayStation games, six DVDs, a mo- bile phone and €100 cash from a

house at Cronan Lawn, Shannon, on October 14, 2005.

Detective Garda Andrew Hayes told Shannon District Court that the owner of the house where Tuite was renting complained to gardai that Some items had been stolen from the house.

Dt Gda Hayes said as part of the investigation, he viewed CCTV foot-

age from a computer game shop in | Bibeeterale) Gy sen emcieledi ioe ma slom-lere nies selling the PlayStation and two mem- ory cards to another man.

He said the value of the items stolen amounted to €816 and €400 of this was recovered.

Defending solicitor Caitriona Car- mody said her client had been under serious financial pressure and needed

TCO) eLeAs

Judge Joseph Mangan asked was there compensation in court and was told there wasn’t.

The judge refused an application for free legal aid, after he heard Tuite had recently taken up employment.

He imposed a six-month jail term and fixed a bond – including Tuite’s own surety of €5,000; €2,500 of

which was to be lodged – in the event of an appeal.

However, the solicitor said her cli- ent had no savings and was not go- ing to be able to come up with the money.

Judge Mangan replied that the case had been before the court since April 2007. “My order stands,” said the judge.

ONGOING traffic congestion in Sixmilebridge is of a huge concern to locals, who fear that a major ac- cident will happen, unless the issue

is addressed.

That was the message delivered during a debate on a proposal to widen a bridge in the village, at a meeting of Shannon area councillors last week.

Clare County Council Senior Ex- ecutive Engineer Donal Hogan said he has asked the roads section to look at the possibility of widening the bridge.

He said there have been several new residential estates completed in

the area, while a major new commer- cial development is also mooted.

“The width of the bridge would be a major factor in the satisfactory operation of the bridge,’ said Mr Hogan.

“It is a protected structure. That is one of the issues,” he added.

Independent councillor Patricia McCarthy said that traffic conges- tion in Sixmilebridge “is actually dangerous. It is very hard to solve the problem. Maybe we should go for a ring road.”

CUlr Gerry Flynn (Independent) said the council has recognised that a problem exists.

“It would make a lot more sense if money was spent on the southern

Ring Road. I wouldn’t support what you are proposing. I think that’s wrong and would be a stop gap,’ said Cir Flynn.

Cllr John Crowe (FG), who lives in the area, said he had proposed the footbridge but “I don’t mind that be- ing put on hold.”

“I feel there should be an overall job done on it. A few years ago New- market was choked. That’s gone now to Sixmilebridge,” he said.

“If road design are coming in and doing an overall job and if it’s going to take that bit extra time to do it, at least do something that is going to be there for generations to come,” said Saver

Cllr Pat McMahon (FF) said the

problem exists and “will not go away. It will get worse. There could be a major accident”.

Shannon Town Manager Ger Dol- lard said there are issues in Sixmi- lebridge.

“The area engineer iS saying as Sixmilebridge develops, strategic decisions will be taken. There are is- sues which need indepth discussion,” he said.

Referring to suggestions regarding a relief road, he said, “It was devel- oper-led. I don’t think the council has acquired any lands in relation to that road. It is an issue that needs to be addressed. As Sixmilebridge de- velops further, the problem is going to get worse.”

SIMON MORONEY’S demand for the Munster Council to extend it’s full-time administrative capacity came to light in March 2007 in his third annual report to the provincial ruling body.

In presenting his report to delegates at the Munster Convention in Ballyr- after House in Lismore, Moroney outlined his vision for the fture that included the employment of a full- time assistant secretary.

In appealing for backing for this proposal, the Inagh man pointed to the increased pressures placed on him as secretary, which made it nec- essary for the council to come into line with both Leinster and Ulster that had put assistant secretaries in jo tleen

“The biggest single change which occurred in 2006, is the automatic presence of the provincial secretar- ies on the membership of a number of busy national committees — e.g the Competition Control Committee and National Infrastructure and Safety Committee,” he told convention.

“This is a most welcome develop- ment insofar as it enusres that the

provinces are immediately up to date on national issues and party to key decisions which can affect their own provincial activities.

“It allows for harmonisation of fixtures and uniformity in practices across provinces. However, this de- velopment does mean _ necessary absence by the provincial secretary from base for several days every year. There needs to be continuity at base and this challenge must be ad- Ore ethereb

“The staffing level in Munster, sim- ilar to Connacht is considierably less than in both Ulster and Leinster. Too much time as provincial secretary is spent on routine administrative mat- ters.

“The Council as an organisation must develop an inbuilt capacity to deal with changes — e.g. key staff changes over time, with serious disruption. In order to develop this capacity a Deputy Secretary is re- quired.

‘This person will have responsibil- ity for duties assigned to them from time to time — e.g. match arrange- ments, accounts etc., together with the management of affairs of the Council while the secretary is away

in Croke Park or on leave.

“A Deputy Secretary will also pro- vide continuity and perhaps a poten- tial successor when the erm of the secretary ends. It is prudent to plan ahead. I therefore make a specific recommendation, and seek the ap- proval from Convention to proceed immediately with its implementation on the adoption of the report, that the secretary proceed to manage the recruitment and appointment of the deputy secretary at a level consistent with similar posts in both Ulster and Leinster.

“The costs associated with the improvement will be borne by the Council and should not be out of line with that obtaining in the other councils,’ he concluded in his direct appeal to delegates.

However, delegates didn’t back his the secretary’s proposal — a move that set in motion a chain of events that have led to his resignation.

DECLAN Collier, CEO of the Dub- lin Airport Authority, came under strong criticism at the Dail Transport Committee as he defended his deci- sion not to inform the Shannon board of Aer Lingus’s plans to pull the Hea- throw route.

The DAA CEO said that when the Department of Transport contacted him in mid-June about Aer Lingus’s plan, the information was imparted in “strict confidence”’.

“At the time, Aer Lingus was the subject of a hostile takeover bid from Ryanair and it was critical that this

information was dealt with on a con- fidential basis,’ he said.

Clare Deputy Timmy Dooley (FF) asked, “What kind of action would Mr Collier take if he became aware that somebody was giving considera- tion to terminating a service 1f the sit- uation related to an airline other than Aer Lingus to Dublin Airport?”

“If I was given the information in the same circumstances as I received the information on Aer Lingus, I would have treated it in exactly the same way, said a defiant Mr Collier.

Deputy Dooley, however, did not accept the response.

“I do not think it 1s fair to view it

on the basis that the DAA is part of a large State organisation and that a hostile bid was in place. There are lines of demarcation. The Dublin Airport Authority 1s responsible for developing business at the airports. This was a commercial airline in a privatised environment and surely the lines of demarcation would not have put Mr Collier in that position?”’ he said.

Senator Shane Ross accused the DAA of regarding Shannon as its future competition and the news that Aer Lingus was withdrawing the Heathrow flight “was music to the authority’s ears because it would land

Shannon further in the manure”.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority, Pat Shanahan, said Aer Lingus had been offered the same deal as Ryanair as far back as 2004.

Deputy Pat Breen (FG) asked if any incentive was offered after the Rya- nair deal?

According to Mr Shanahan, the air- line was made aware that, on the ba- sis of our restructuring programme in particular, costs at the airport would decrease.

‘Aer Lingus was aware of that but never engaged with us on a detailed level about it,” he said.

IRISH farmers have been told to re- main vigilant following the discov- ery of a fourth swan infected with bird flu in England on Thursday.

IFA National Poultry Committee Chairman Ned Morrissey said last week that reports of the bird flu in England reinforces the need for poultry growers here to maintain the highest levels of vigilance.

‘Producers here have implemented extra measures such as the installa- tion of water chlorination systems to ensure the health status of their flocks is protected,’ he said.

“Flock owners are safeguarding

their domestic flocks by having the highest levels of bio-security meas- ures in place, to avoid any exposure to wild birds.

“Poultry producers meet the high- est veterinary standards at all times, and are particularly vigilant at the moment to protect the health of their flocks.”

The new outbreak has renewed calls for the routine vaccination of all free-range, organic and hobby birds in the UK against the deadly flu virus.

The Elm Farm Organic Research Centre has been campaigning for such a preventive strategy for more than two years. The Defra institute

has a stock of 10 million does of vac- cine but so far they have been offered only for use to save rare birds and collections in zoos.

Richard Sanders, senior policy re- Searcher at the centre, said the latest outbreak at Abbotsbury was now “a trigger point” and gave a definite in- dication the virus was circulating in wild birds.

Sanders has urged Defra to release its stocks of HSNI1 vaccine to start an orderly programme of preventive acer eeeloele

However, a spokesperson from the British Department of Agriculture siad late last week that there was, as yet, no evidence of a large infection.

‘There is currently no evidence to Suggest widespread disease in the wild bird population but enhanced surveillance is taking place and poultry keepers in the area are re- minded to remain vigilant,” said her spokesperson.

Britain’s first case of the strain was in a wild swan found dead in Cel- lardyke in Scotland in 2006 and there have subsequently been outbreaks at poultry farms in eastern England, most recently in November 2007.

The virulent HSN1 strain has killed more than 210 people worldwide since 2003 and millions of birds had either died from it or been killed to prevent its spread.

CLARE and Limerick prepare for the McGrath Cup final with some striking similiarities. Both took the competition relatively seriously, nei- ther have played county opposition to date and a number of players have featured for both sides to date.

On Monday, the game was ten- tatively scheduled for Cooraclare pending the week’s weather and an- other home game for Clare should give them the advantage they need to take the honours.

The McGrath Cup may not be a sparkling, blue ribband competition on the bigger scale of things, but ask any of the Munster Final winning team of ’92 when they first started to believe they could make an impres-

sion and they’ll bring you back to the little-known All Ireland B title they captured before they won Munster.

That’s why Sunday’s match with Limerick is important. For all the players Frank Doherty has tried out and for all the information he has gathered, a medal from a tourna- ment that has so far thrown Clare up against well prepared — though physically weak — college teams, would not only be reward for a hard winter, it would tilt the confidence settings to the required level entering the league.

For the most part, Clare have been impressive over the past three games. Against UCC in Miltown, they start- ed well and kept the lead throughout the hour and in fact, they’ve never trailed a team in this competition.

Against LIT in the quarter-final they continued their composed, hun- ery attitude and strolled home in the second half. The thing is, they’ve yet to be put to the test late in a game. Should Limerick provide that test and should Clare come through it, then the signs are good for the league.

At the very least, Limerick will bring an added physical challenge for Clare. So far, Limerick have been highly experimental in their ap- proach to the competition but their forwards will have more consistent quality than anything Clare have come up against in 2008.

Against LIT in last weekend’s semi final, their full-forward line of Ger Collins, Ian Ryan and Johnny Mur- phy all impressed.

Clare, last Sunday, were caught

once or twice with swift moves through the centre. Gordon Kelly at centre-back may not the most physi- cally imposing of players, but he is Clare’s most consistent defender. His reading of the game is superb and he broke up several CIT attacks. The feeling here is that he will grow into the position.

The pattern of Clare’s play has now developed. Short at the back and long once it reaches midfield. With Frank O’Dea’’s effective distribution it’s a decent approach. And inside, there are options. With their height, Timmy Ryan and Colm Dillon pro- vide depth and width, though it now looks like a straight choice between the two with Ryan expected to shade it. In the corner, David Tubridy has been exceptional and the second

corner needs to be filled. Elsewhere, David Russell will be accommodat- ed and can fill a number of positions and Doherty is now beginning to see the pieces click.

Expect Sunday’s starting line up to be Clare’s strongest to date, though they are expected to be without a player or two. With Garry Brennan, Greg Lyons and John Hayes all due back for the league, competition for places is developing.

Mickey Ned O’Sullivan has already stated that Limerick are interested in taking the McGrath Cup across the Shannon. They won’t do that, but they’ll provide the required chal- lenge for Clare who next week will have Carlow on their minds.

WITH a predicted 10 per cent de- crease in transatlantic traffic this April, chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority, Pat Shanahan be- lieves that the best way forward for the international airport 1s full inde- pendence as soon as possible.

The SAA chair told the Dail Trans- port Committee that Shannon Air- port’s maximum potential could only be achieved as an independent com- mercial State enterprise.

“We believe transatlantic traffic will decrease by 10 per cent this year, with fully open skies in April. However, we believe traffic will grow from that

level and have been proactive in try- ing to retain transatlantic carriers. A number of significant factors will help us to achieve our aims. We have intro- duced a winter incentive 50 per cent discount scheme on landing charges which has been well received by our year-round carriers,” he said.

This winter, there are four direct transatlantic services, as well as a fifth through Dublin Airport.

“Shannon Airport’s marketing role is to attract airlines,’ he added. ““We expect the Open Skies tourism mar- keting fund will help the marketing activities of those agencies to make it attractive for US customers to travel to the west of Ireland.”

Mr Shanahan said the full imple- mentation of the US customs and border protection (CBP) facility in Shannon, which provides immigra- tion and customs clearance, will also be an advantage.

During the period 2000 to 2004, traffic growth at the airport stagnated while costs escalated, but since the ap- pointment of the board of the authority in September 2004 and with the active Support and investment of the Dublin Airport Authority, traffic has grown by 50 per cent, a major restructuring programme has been implemented, annual cost savings of over €10 mil- lion have been secured and the airport is now trading profitably.

Mr Shanahan said, “We believe that if the airport is transferred debt-free and with finance to meet the initial capital infrastructure deficit, it will be able to operate profitably and cov- er its Ongoing capital requirements from cash flow. This means the air- port will be financially viable as an independent entity.”

He added that the key elements of the Shannon Airport plan submitted to the Departments of Transport and Finance last December have been independently validated and clearly demonstrate that the airport will be viable and profitable as a standalone business in the next 10 years and be- yond.

IN WHAT proved to be a turbulent week for the meat Industry in Ireland, Glanbia finally removed themselves from the once lucrative involvement in the meat industry.

A deal, reported to be worth less than €10 million, is in place to sell the remains of the company’s inter- ests in the meat industry to a man- agement-led consortium.

The company will instead focus more heavily on areas such as cheese, nutritional ingredients and consumer foods with a nutritional emphasis.

Glanbia’s meat business was one of the leading pork slaughterer and processor in Ireland and it processed

1.2 million animals last year. That represents almost half of all the port slaughtered in Ireland in 2007.

Employing 850 people, the busi- ness operates from four facilities in Ireland, including two modern slaughtering plants at Roscrea and and Edenderry.

It also operates the only pork-head boning facility in Ireland in Offaly and a bacon curing and processing facility in Leitrim.

Along with the slaughtering of animals, the company 1s also one of the largest pig-farming operations in Ireland, with 4,500 sows across six ie Nesny

Meanwhile, Teagasc last week an- nounced details of development plan

to strengthen the pig industry in Ire- land.

The plan was compiled after an ex- tensive consultation process with all the main stakeholders in the sector.

The key issues facing the Irish in- dustry are addressed including the competitiveness of Irish pig produc- ers and how it compares to the in- dustry in other European and inter- national countries.

The report found that around 7,000 people are employed in the sector in- cluding about 1,200 on farms. Cur- rently, close to 500 pig producers in Ireland produce 3.6 million pigs annually. The Irish industry exports approximately 60 per cent of its pro- duction and is worth €250 million

annually. The report also states that pork is the most consumed meat in the world accounting for 38 per cent of meat consumption worldwide.

‘“Ireland’s position as a world leader in pig productivity has recently been overtaken by a number of its main competitors,’ said Brendan Lynch, Head of the Teagasc Pig Production Unit.

“A key factor in improving produc- tivity in future is to improve skill levels at farm level.”

During 2007 feed ingredient prices worldwide soared. Typically feed ac- counts for about 70 per cent of the cost of producing a pig and high feed costs in Ireland require very efficient use of feed on the farm.

THE real value of the McGrath Cup, for manager Frank Doherty, came with the opportunity to familiarise himself with the raw materials he has to shape.

At the start of the competition, he stood outside a dressing room in Miltown and said games were what mattered, that getting the most out of January was the target.

Clare have achieved that and are one game away from picking up

some silverware, the target has only SIUESA STON VASSOU BA KoLe

“What we’re getting is four games in January and in reality, 20 training sessions wouldn’t be as valuable as that,’ he says. “But I’m a great be- liever that winning is the best habit you can form. There’s are only four trophies that any county in Ireland can win from one year to the next, and the McGrath Cup is one of those. So it’s important that we go out in the right frame of mind — and we will.”

He’s aware, too, that Limerick will

prove to be more of a block in the road to success than the college teams Clare have faced so far. Colleges, by definition, don’t have the team spirit or ethos that define county teams and Sunday will allow Doherty gather more knowledge.

“Limerick will be a different ball game for us and we’re hitting them at a good time for us. Right before the league starts, it’s no harm to get a good, hard game under the belt.

“We want to win the McGrath Cup and in fairness, Mickey Ned

[O’Sullivan] will be just as anxious to do the same. So you’ll have two competitive teams going out on Sun- day and that’s useful for us.”

Doherty asked to run his mind over the campaign in general and pick out the positives. He points out enough to find some satisfaction in the three games So far.

“From what I’ve seen so far, the hunger seems to be coming back. That’s important and for us, the at- titude from the first game was right. Players were focused. On top of that,

a certain amount of passion that mightn’t have been there is starting to come as well.

“Lads are pushing themselves and pushing each other hard in train- ing. There have been a lot of pluses throughout the competition. The habit of winning is something that we want to develop. If we can keep in that zone, then that’s going to be a big boost going into the league.”

The hunger he speaks of is obvi- ous. Generally, his players have been starved of success on the county scene and he reckons that the vast majority of those involved in the squad will have something to prove on Sunday.

“Of the 33 lads we have in the panel, 25 or 26 of them have never contested a senior final for Clare. So that’s something. They’ll want to mark their first final with a win.

When I got involved I made it clear that I’d try and use as many lads as possible in the games and I think I’ve lived up to that – so we’re making full use of what’s available.

“There have been debutants and there have been lads that people might have thought weren’t good enough to make senior footballers. They’ve come in and done well. But we re learning a lot.”

Is he close to his team make-up for the league?

“I’d say we’re 90% sure of it now. A lot of the team that will start on Sunday will feature in the league. We might be without one or two lads against Limerick, but the team you’ll see won’t be too far off the mark.

“We have tinkered around with it from game to game and we’ve had to because we’ve got a small pool of players compared with other coun- ties and that brings positives and negatives. If we pick up injuries, we won’t have the reserves but lads get close to one another, they work well together and they know one another’s game. If you’ve a big pool of players, sometimes guys can shy away from things. They can duck down. That doesn’t happen with Clare.”

So far, the Doherty tenure has been a success. Getting something tang!- ble to go with the positive start is the next step.