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AS planning permission for a new hospital for the mid-west was lodged this week, a Clare County Council- lor was calling for work to begin on Ennis General Hospital, which has al- ready received planning permission.

Fianna Fail Cllr Bill Chambers, who is also one of Clare’s four rep- resentatives on the HSE Forum West, said that in order for work to progress, the long overdue review of acute health services in the mid-west region must be published now.

The Cooraclare man said the so- called Teamwork Report needs to be in the public domain so people can object to parts of it they disagree with and get on with securing acute health services for the people of Clare. It 1s widely believed that the report will suggest the closure of 24 hour A and E at the county’s hospital.

Meanwhile, a private company maintains that it can have a state-of- the-art hospital built on the grounds of the Mid-West Regional Hospital Limerick within 30 months of the start date.

The Beacon Medical Group (BMG) applied for planning permission to construct a co-located hospital on the grounds of the public hospital on Thursday. Plans for the €250 million hospital comprise 175 single rooms

with eight CCU (critical care) beds, six operating theatres, ambulatory surgery and full diagnostics incorpo- rating some €24.7 million worth of new generation equipment.

The hospital will mirror the case- mix of the public hospital, as all spe- cialities catered for in the public hos- pital will also be catered for in the co-located hospital – both medical and surgical, with the exception of national specialities. As recommend- ed by the SARI Report 2005, which made recommendations for infection control in hospitals, all rooms will be single occupancy, each with its own en-suite facility.

BMG is seeking the planning per- mission under the controversial Co- located Private Hospitals Project.

The project, which the Government claimed would free up additional beds for public patients in public hospitals, will see privately operated hospitals for the provision of health care to public and private patients on the grounds of public hospitals.

The new co-located hospitals will allow for 24/7 admission from the public hospital, the public Emergen- cy Department (ED), primary care centres and through GP referrals.

Critics of the policy have claimed, however, that this policy will further increase the divide in our two-tier health system.

NINETY-YEAR old Tom Casey from Sixmilebridge loaded the first piece of luggage on to the first Shan- non Heathrow flight fifty years ago.

Tom – who worked even before that laying drains on the site where the airport was to be built – was in Shan- non on Sunday to say goodbye to the Heathrow slots.

“It’s a very sad day but this airport could never close,’ an emotional

Tom said.

Among passengers checking in for the last flight, feelings were also run- uubereaseuhcaaw

Sharon McGann from London was a regular traveller on the route.

“Tm from Gort originally. I like to come home as often as I can. My fa- ther was ill recently and at the age my parents are, I want to be at home as much as possible. I live ten min- utes from Heathrow so it was very handy. I don’t know how often I’ll be

able to make it now,” she said.

Peggy Owers from Hampshire has a house in Clare and flies regularly. “It’s disgusting the flight is always fully subscribed. TV’ fly to Dublin now and travel down but I won’t fly Aer Lingus.”

Aideen Goggin from Shannon was flying out to Heathrow but will have to return from another airport. “And Pll have to stay an extra day. The course I’m doing finishes Friday but I can’t get a flight till Saturday.”

Bernadette Marren for London flew regularly to visit relatives in Clare and the west.

‘This is cutting off the west of Ire- land for everyone. Aer Lingus must have have got loads of money to move to Belfast but they shouldn’t have been allowed to leave Shannon Stranded,” she said.

Theresa and Tom Madden from North Tipperary say the loss of the flight means many lost family days.

Tom has to travel on business and

connect to a flight from Heathrow several times a month.

“IT could fly from here late Sunday or even early Monday – now I’II have to add the most of two days travel- ling to every trip,’ he said.

Thersa is angry that the move will mean more time away for Tom.

“Sundays are important days when you have small children – weekends are important. This is robbing us of time with our children growing up,” ORO KeKy Mr HUCe

THE need for more staff and equip- ment dedicated to maintaining the Killaloe and Westbury areas of east Clare has prompted two council- lors to take the matter to the local authority.

Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald wants to see a road sweeper dedicated to keeping the roads of east Clare clean while Councillor Tony O’Brien wants council road workers who were let go before Christmas put back on the payroll.

Cllr O’Brien said that there is cur- rently a shortage of staff in the gen- eral operative section “and it shows in the state of the roads in Killaloe, Kilbane and Broadford. We cur- rently only have about half our full complement of operatives”.

At today’s meeting of the Killaloe Area Committee of the council, Cllr O’Brien will be calling for the num- bers to be brought back up.

“We let part time workers go at the end of November. They should be taken on again immediately,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald will be raising the matter of clean- ing and sweeping at the same meet- ibahee

Currently, he said, a road-sweep- ing machine visits the Westbury es- tate about once a week.

“This is not nearly enough. The population of this area has grown so much in the last few years with Westbury, Shannon Banks and Ar- dnacrusha that we really need a dedicated sweeper that will be kept in east Clare and can come several times a week to each area that needs

it,’ the councillor said.

He pointed out that just over the bridge in the Limerick City Council controlled area “sweeping is done four times a week”’.

Cllr Fitzgerald is also raising the matter of the need for lights on the road between Ardnacrusha Post Of- fice and Barry’s Cross.

‘This is a very dark stretch of road but there are a lot of people walking and driving on it. It’s another area where the population 1s growing and we need lights from a safety point of view,’ Councillor Fitzgerald said.

IT Tralee enter unchartered territory on Wednesday as they contest their first ever match in the Waterford Crystal tournament against Water- ford – with four Clare players on- board. The game marks a huge step for the emerging college and it’s a testament to the work put in over the past few years that they are now seen as one of the top hurling colleges in the province.

Hurling in Tralee IT has steadily improved over the last few years cul- minating in Ryan Cup success last season.

The Ryan Cup is the second tier competition of the Fitzgibbon Cup and to win it last year definitely boosted the hurling profile of the college as GAA Officer Eamon Fit- zgerald explains.

“Winning the Ryan Cup last year was a great achievement and with only four changes from last year’s

team, it will give us a good boost going into this year’s competition. We could have chosen to contest the Fitzgibbon Cup this season, but we feel that our players need to establish a firm footing first and as there is still such a big gap between the Fitzgib- bon and Ryan cups, it would be easy to fall back 1f we weren’t careful.”

A benefit of this success has been the attraction of more hurlers to the college and in addition, there are currently four Clare natives on the IT Tralee side: Stephen Kelly (New- market-on-Fergus) at centre-back, Stephen Guilfoyle (Eire Og) and Ja- son Murphy (Sixmilebridge) lining out in the full-back line while Eire Og’s Thomas Downes will be based in the forwards. Fitzgerald is quick to compliment the hurling talent that is now being attracted to the college, including an increasing Clare contin- ele

“The fact that we have been invited to take part in the Waterford Crystal

Cup shows how much the standard of hurling has improved in the College. This year we have four Clare lads on our hurling panel and they have strengthened and brought valuable experience into the squad.”

IT Tralee’s debut in the Waterford Crystal competition couldn’t have been any harder by drawing Munster champions Waterford but rather than dwell on such daunting opposition, Fitzgerald sees the game as a ben- eficial learning experience for the young side.

“The Waterford Crystal cup is a fantastic opportunity for the lads to play against players of the calibre of Dan Shanahan.”

“It will certainly be a learning curve for the lads and more impor- tantly it will give them valuable ex- perience for the future”.

THE Director of Shannon Airport, Martin Moroney was upbeat and optimistic on Sunday despite a Lon- don-bound Aer Lingus flight leaving the airport for the last time.

While politicians and commenta- tors predicted devastating conse- quence for the mid-west airport, Mr Moroney was taking a more positive approach.

“We are quite happy with the Air France (City Jet) service starting up

in February. I think we will go from strength to strength,” he said.

“We also have very strong trans- atlantic services which we are very happy with, having come through the open skies challenge – a major challenge for Shannon, when many said we would have no transatlantic services. We see Aer Lingus as being very important for Shannon – crucial for Shannon in the future of transat- lantic and we support them fully and its business.

“It was a commercial decision and

we accept that,” he said of the air- line’s decision to pull the Heathrow slots from Shannon in favour of Bel- eRe

‘Heathrow broke down into three main areas. One-third of the traffic connected on to Europe and global locations and two-thirds to London. We have increased flights to London with Ryanair.

“We have the Air France service to Paris so we believe we haven’t lost any connectivity. In fact, we hope that in the near future City

Jet could begin a service to London City which is right in the middle of London’s financial centre, probably better than Heathrow for business connections to London itself. Once we get that, I believe we will have a superior product for business peo- ple,” he said. Mr Moroney admitted that a link into London City was not imminent, however. “It is unlikely to happen this year,” he said.

While he would not reveal the economic loss of the link, as it was “commercially sensitive’, he said that the loss of 320,000 passengers was a “commercial challenge’. He said, however, that the new service to Charles de Gaulle and added serv- ices from Ryanair would counteract the loss.

“Obviously it is a blow and we would prefer if it did not happen but certainly it is not a major issue for the airport. And our strength in terms of financial contribution is coming from the fact that we restructured our cost base. We have saved 10 million off the cost base. We will expand our commercial activities. You will see improvements in retail and catering this year in Shannon and you will see additional car parks so we have no problem facing the future despite this loss,’ he said.

The airport director said while there will be no Heathrow service from Shannon in 2008, the airport would continue to work to restore it.

THE blueprint outlining the devel- opment of Kilrush during the next six years will come before Kilrush Town Council next month for its seal of approval.

The public consultation process for the Kilrush Development Plan 2008 to 2014 closed on January 4.

Five submissions were received from members of the public regard- ing the plan.

Concerns have been expressed however that the 2006 Census may hamper development in the town and the development plan must counter- act this and encourage development.

“There are those of us who dis- pute the Census 2006 figures which

show a slight three per cent decrease in population from the census 2002 figures,’ said Cllr Tom Prenderville (FF).

“The inaccuracy of that Census 2006 short-changed our town in terms of investment in that it pre- sented a false account on the state of economic planning and develop- ment of Kilrush. Yet we note in the Kilrush Town Development Plan a projected population increase of 11 per cent over the next six years and a 25 per cent population increase to 3,245 by 2020.

“It 1s interesting to note the projec- tions of the last Clare County Coun- cil Housing Strategy 2007-2012, which predicted that Kilrush would only need an additional 274 housing

units in 2020. Present figures availa- ble from planning applications would appear to refute that assertion.”

The Kilrush councillor said the pro- posal for a multi million-euro water- front development at the marina adds confidence to the town, but the town plan must set an overall strategy for proper planning, sustainable devel- opment and gainful employment.

Cllr Liam Looney (FF) said, “I do hope we get a lot more support from national organisations and agencies than we have been. We haven’t got a lot of support from the IDA or other bodies,” he said.

Acting Senior Planner, John Brad- ley reassured the council that there were sufficient zoned lands in the new plan to provide for the needs

of the town. He said the plan seeks to improve services and attractions within the town so as to maintain the town’s vibrance and curb urban drift to the adjoining countryside.

The senior planner also said the plan could stimulate the competi- tiveness of the local economy, pro- vide upgraded services, promote ur- ban renewal and the regeneration of brown field sites, complete the regen- eration of John Paul Estate, optimise the benefits of the MANS Broadband service, and facilitate and promote the development of the marina.

“If the above objectives can be achieved during the lifetime of the new Development Plan, Kilrush town will face a very positive fu- ture,’ he said.

ANOTHER ledge climbed and the summit of the McGrath Cup is com- ing into sight. Flanked by Kieran Kelliher and James Hanrahan, Frank Doherty, the leader of this group of men with the future of Clare foot- ball in their hands, is making for the dressing room in Cooraclare.

Alone on the plains of West Clare, the Galwayman says he’s satisfied that things are moving in the right direction.

“T hope people can see a little im- provement as we go along,” he says. “You have to remember that these players have been kicked around the place for the past number of years and their own self-worth was at an all time low. When I came in at the start, lads were fumbling the ball and it was difficult to get through even some basic drills. They’re train- ing hard now, there’s a smile on their face and there’s a buzz amongst them. They’re a good bunch of lads, a genu- ine bunch, but they’re been through the mill over the last few years. Now, hopefully, things are turning slowly and gradually.”

Doherty is transparent and honest. Unveiling the manager’s opinions on his team’s progression isn’t laced with the cryptic (football) or dismiss- ive (hurling) post-match comments that pockmarked Clare’s early GAA season last year. For that alone, let us be thankful.

‘The mindset at the moment is 1m- proving. You could see lads not want- ing it at the start, but having won the last two games, lads are starting to show for the ball and that’s great. The longer we can stay in the McGrath Cup the better, it brings us closer to Carlow in the league.”

As that game on February 3 edges closer, Doherty’s aim is to pin down a starting 15.

“I can see probably 11 or 12 guys from last week and this that will start the league. There’s maybe three plac- es that I haven’t seen enough of to make my mind up on. We’ve brought on a lot of young lads and nobody can say we’re not giving them a chance. We’re over two thirds of the way there with the team that played last week and this week and that’s down to games. It’s about filling in the rest of the spaces now.”

And on Sunday’s performance?

“UL beat Clare by a few points last year so you’re talking about some- thing like a twelve point turnaround. I believe we could have won it by another four or five scores with a bit more composure in the final third of the field.

“We were going well enough and lads got into the comfort zone again and lads started trying out these silly 40 50 yard screamers. I’d rather be more productive in the last third and use the ball properly to get ourselves into a scoring position, but you’d have to be satisfied overall.

A good solid performance in the first half is what did it for us and against a fairly strong wind that was positive. Lads took their scores clini- cally and we were well on top.”

POOR load factors on the new Shan- non-Dublin route have prompted Ry- anair to pull the service less than six weeks after it was launched.

The new route was launched on No- vember 28 last but passengers were yesterday informed that the service is to be abandoned from February 4 next.

All passengers who have booked tickets on or after that date are to be fully refunded, with a brief Ryanair

statement confirming that the route has been pulled following “an opera- tional review”.

Mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia Mc- Carthy (Ind) said, “The decision is not unexpected as the load factors on the flights were low.”

She added, “One wonders about all the talk from people wanting the route as it was not supported. Ryanair doesn’t hang around when routes are making losses.”

Fianna Fail TD, Timmy Dooley said, “It is a blow at one level but I

understand that it hasn’t been utilised in any real way. This has happened with every other carrier who has tried to make a success of the route.

“There is a good train network in place now and people obviously fac- tor in the time spent in the airport at either end and I’m not sure that the flight times were convenient to peo- ple.”

Passengers are now greeted by a large billboard erected by Ryanair saying ‘Welcome to Ryanair coun- try’ and on Sunday, Ryanair chief ex-

ecutive, Michael O’Leary denied that Shannon was becoming over-reliant on Ryanair.

In place of the Dublin route, Rya- nair has launched a_ three-times weekly service to Palma in Majorca, ensuring that the number of Ryanair routes served from Shannon remains at 31. Two million people are expect- ed to fly on Ryanair services out of Shannon this year.

At the airport on Sunday to give out free flights to all passengers on the final Aer Lingus Heathrow flight

out of Shannon, Mr O’Leary said, “If you look at some of the coverage of the Shannon issue, you would swear that Shannon is closing today. It is not. In six months time, no one will even notice that Aer Lingus is gone.”

He added, “Shannon is going to finish up with more routes and more traffic after the Aer Lingus pull-out and we have to get that message aCrOSS.””

He said, “Closing a profitable route from Shannon at a time when the air- line is losing money 1s nuts.”

SURFS up in Miltown Malbay for hundreds of international surfers as the seaside town has become on of the newest and coolest places in Eu- rope for surfers.

So good are the waves at Spanish Point that Ennisman and long time surfer Pat Keane along with his wife Orshlaith (sic) have moved there to live and open a surf shop.

The owner of “White-water Surf Company” lays the popularity of the area with the quality of the waves and the fact “it is less hectic than La- hinch”’.

The high price of property in Lahi- nch is also benefiting Miltown Mal- bay as keen surfers are buying homes

and moving there instead.

The town is also lively throughout winter making it attractive for those keen on the sport that is at its peek during the cold windy months.

“IT know a number of people who have opted for Miltown because of the price of houses,” said Pat.

Surfers traditionally ride the waves around the reef near the Armada Hotel. This area remains popular as it has middle and outside reef and a very good point break.

“If the swell is from the north, coming from Iceland, it bypasses La- hinch to Spanish Point. So you could have a flat day in Lahinch and good waves here,” explained Pat.

While the reef remains popular a number of other “obscure waves”

have become popular with top surf- ers especially at White Strand Point and have featured on the cover of a number of English magazines.

There is a budding body board scene also in Spanish Point.

“There are plenty of waves around Spanish Point that would rate with the most challenging,” said the keen Uae

As all the well known waves have become crowded surfers who com- pete at a higher level, and are not content with regular waves seek deleyenmelelm

The top surfers will challenge themselves on these waves but will not go past their own ability and risk their lives, according to Pat.

“It 1s extremely rare to see a surf-

er in difficulty, I don’t think I ever have.”

While September, October and November are popular because the waves are high and the water reason- ably warm there are a group of surf- ers that will surf all year around.

Surfers in the area also avail of Doughmore in Doonbeg, and it be- comes a haven of long boards in the summer.

‘In the summer when the rest is flat you would get small waves there. It picks up waves when other places don’t,” said the surf shop owner.

ANYONE who travelled to Meelick on Sunday expecting to see Mike McNamara and Davy Fitzgerald pro- duce some public display of affec- tion would have been disappointed. Last week, when it became appar- ent that Cork would not be fielding a team against LIT, the media focus switched to Davy Fitzgerald and his return to the Clare panel under Mc- Namara.

In order to counteract this and to nip the hype in the bud, the two men spoke on radio on Friday to publi- cally announce their intentions.

While the result overwhelmingly favoured LIT, after the game, both managers expressed opinions that were contrary to the scoreboard.

Firstly, McNamara was positive in defeat, recognising that LIT are in a far more advanced state of prepara- tion as they bid to defend their Fitz- gibbon title next month.

“It’s their August now. In our Au- gust I think we will be snapping them balls up nicely as well. So you would also have to look at that. On the bright side, some of the better players on the opposition today were members of the panel so that’s some brightness in a bit of gloom.

“You probably learn more from losing than you doing from winning. Last week, everything was flying and points were going over from differ- ent angles but we tried a whole new bunch again today. It’s particularly up to the younger members to show what they have or haven’t in January, February, March and April so in that sense all wasn’t lost. It’s nice to see Tony Carmody back in the frame, way off the pace of course but he has to be shoved out at this stage and get ready for the months ahead.”

Due to some college involvement from a Clare perspective and opting to experiment with the new players, Clare were clearly understrength but

McNamara believes that the young players have to be given a chance if Clare are to unearth new talent for the season ahead.

‘Everybody who takes part in the training regime has to get games and has to show what they have. So it’s just another step along the way and it’s going to be a long and a difficult task. There is a hump there which is high and we have to get to the top of that mountain through thick or thin and days like this along the way are a help.”

On the other side, despite a compre- hensive victory, LIT manager Davy Fitzgerald was not completely satis- fied with his side’s performance.

“That was OK but we won’t win a Fitzgibbon playing like that because Clare were poor today. Clare know they were poor today, very poor.

“Saying that, our goalie made three ereat saves. He made three saves he mightn’t have made on another day and if Clare had got any of those chances, it would have been a dif- ferent game. There is no point in fooling ourselves. Mattie [Ryan] did make two or three good saves and our backs were good but the chances we got we took them while they got chances and they didn’t take them. That would have been a different refelction on the scoreline and I think it’s very important that we say that. They had three or four good chances and our goalie brought off two saves and I don’t know how he pulled them off but he did.”

LIT’s first half performance provid- ed the foundation for their ten point victory. Not daunted by the county opposition, they exposed Clare’s in- experience repeatedly, carving open the defence. Still, Fitzgerald conced- ed that Clare more than matched his side after the restart.

“Clare probably came out and thought that they would take care of us easily enough and it’s hard to change your attitude halfway

through the game. When you are out- side in the field and you are playing a college team, you think that you should be beating them. But when the college team is ripping into you, it’s very hard to change and maybe When Mike got them at half-time, they were a different team. As you saw in the second half, it was way more even and as | say they got a lot more chances in the second half. So I would agree that in the second half, Clare more than held their own.”

Fitzgerald wasn’t thinking about his impending return to the county set-up on Sunday, his immediate fo- cus 1s on his LIT side who are look- ing to win back-to-back Fitzgibbon titles for the first time in the college’s history. So while a ten point victory over Clare was significant, he under- stands that they still have a lot more work to do before they are ready to defend their Fitzgibbon crown.

‘The result didn’t bother me today. The thing I liked about today was the way we played and the fight. We had fight and determination and the lads threw themselves into it. But I know going down playing WIT in Water- ford in the Fitzgibbon, we are going to have our work cut out and I know from this performance we’re going to have to up it again. So don’t, even for one minute, think we’re happy with that, we’re not because I know we could have conceeded two or three goals easily.”

Now that Clare are our of the com- petition, the focus shifts to the league campaign starting with Galway in Salthill on February 10. Before that, they have challenges with UCG and Portumna, two additional opportuni- ties to test more players and experi- ment before the panel is reduced.