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TWO Aer Lingus jets were ground- ed for a short time on Saturday after they were both struck by lightning shortly before they landed at Shan- non Airport.

The Airbus A330-300 aircraft were operating scheduled services be- tween the United States and Ireland when they encountered bad weather about 30 miles west of Shannon.

The planes were struck by light- ning, with both sustaining damage to their nose-cones. Thunder and lightning storms were reported over a wide area of the west coast on Sat- urday morning, as well as inland in many parts of Clare.

The flights were the EI-132 from Boston and the EIJ-110 from New York JFK which landed at Shannon at 5.45am and 6.10am respectively. Neither plane declared an emergen- cy, and it is believed that most pas- sengers were unaware of the strike.

After landing at Shannon, the pas- sengers disembarked normally while the aircraft were taken to the air- line’s own hangar where engineers carried out a detail examination of all electrical systems and a visual inspection of the exteriors.

A small hole was discovered in the nose-cone of one jet, but its electri- cal systems were not damaged.

The hole was repaired before both

planes were allowed continue their journeys. The second jet also sus- tained damage to its nose and some scorching on the fuselage.

As aresult of the incidents, neither aircraft was able to continue onto the Dublin leg of their journey.

An extra aircraft was provided to take passengers from Shannon to Dublin. Others due to travel from Dublin to Boston and New York were flown to Shannon to join their flight at that airport.

Both aircraft were allowed return to service on Saturday evening.

The Boston flight continued its journey at 5.45pm more than four hours behind schedule while the New York service, which was due to depart at 2pm, left Shannon at ope LO} oyeek

Itis widely believed that most large commercial aircraft are struck by lightning at least once a year.

Although passengers and crew may see a flash and hear a loud noise, nothing serious should happen be- cause of the careful lightning pro- tection engineered into aircraft and their sensitive components.

Initially, the lightning will attach to an extremity, such as the nose or wing tip before travelling through the conductive exterior skin and structures of the aircraft and exit off some other extremity, such as the ene

CONDITIONS at Ennistymon Courthouse have been criticised by the district court judge, almost two years after he vowed not to continue to sit there.

During this month’s sitting of the town’s district court last Wednesday, Judge Joseph Mangan concluded the sitting at lunchtime and adjourned several cases, citing the cold in the courtroom as the reason.

He again referred to the poor con- ditions in Ennistymon at a sitting of Ennis District Court two days later.

“I just don’t feel well. That’s thanks to Ennistymon the other day, and I’m sure there are solicitors equally in- disposed,” he said.

In March 2006, Judge Mangan said he would not sit at the Ennistymon court venue after September of that

year, due to the conditions.

The court has sat at the Teach Ceol venue for the past 10 years and acoustics are poor. At the time of the judge’s comments in 2006, the Courts Service set about finding a suitable alternative location, but the issue has not yet been resolved.

A spokesperson for the Courts Service told

EAST Clare virtuoso violinist, Eliz- abeth Cooney, hit the right note when she called in a political promise of

help to scale musical heights.

The 29-year old — one of the bright- est stars in the classical music world — set her heart on a 300-year old vio- rhe

The only problem was the price tag, which read €427,000.

But Elizabeth picked the instru- ment by Venice musical craftsmaster Matteo Goffriller in a London show-

rooms over 14 other violins, some with pice tags of a million Euro.

‘I just loved it the moment I played it. But I had to rack my brians to see what I could do,” Elizabeth told

SHANNON’S 19th Munster Senior Cup win last week against Highfield was not only their eighth in the last nine years but it was also an historic personal milestone for flanker Colm McMahon. For the Ardnacrusha na- tive, it was his tenth Munster Senior Cup medal in twelve years, a re- markable achievement in the modern game but he also feels quite fortunate to have actually reached that tally.

“It’s certainly an achievement to be very pleased with and I was de- lighted to be involved. It’s great to get ten medals and it’s something you never really think about but it just happened. After the event you think ‘Jesus, it’s a fair auld achieve- ment alright’ but I kind of only came out of retirement recently. I finished up playing at the end of last season and I said I would go back to play a bit of seconds and the firsts called me up there when there was a few inju- ries. That’s how I got involved so it was very fortunate that I was playing at all.”

To highlight what an accomplish- ment this actually was, it is interest- ing to note that only two other players have ever achieved this feat before — Jack O’Connor with Garryowen in the late 1800s and early 1900s and Shannon manager Mick Galwey. The significance of this is not lost on the Shannon and ex-Munster player.

“IT am absolutely proud of that fact and no disrespect to Jack O’Connor because his achievements stands for itself as he did it at a time when none

of us can really tell what the game was like. But just to be on a List with Mick Galwey is something to be very proud of.”

Colm won the first of his ten medals

in 1996 as an early replacement for Alan Quinlan in what was his first season with the senior team. He went on to win a total of eight medals that year from the Under 20s up, a unique

feat that has never been matched, but McMahon feels that this win will have little impact on their priorities for the season.

“It won’t really change things too

much. The team would have targeted the Munster Senior Cup and also would hope to go a long way in the All-Ireland League.

“IT suppose it shows that when we play well we can certainly compete in the competition. I wasn’t involved in the semi-final but it was a fantastic win over Cork Con. There was also a very good win over Garryowen in an earlier round so credit to all the guys involved. They did come up against some very good opposition on the way to winning it.”

Although this is McMahon’s 12th Season with Shannon, he 1s still only 31 and while the commitment involved has taken it’s toll on the Clareman, he is not totally ruling out another medal.

“I couldn’t really see myself get- ting an |lth because I would never have thought that I would win 10. As I said, I had decided that because of the commitment involved with the firsts, | wasn’t able to give anymore and I had 11 seasons done with them which I felt was enough. I don’t even know how much I will be involved with them for the rest of the year but I wouldn’t see myself being around next year to have a go at it.

‘Andrew Thompson keeps telling me that he has nine and he is look- ing to match it and even go ahead of the record. So he is telling me that I can’t give up or he is going to pass me out.”

THE Bishop of Killaloe has defended the role of the immigrant population in the diocese, amid suggestions that they are abusing the welfare system.

Speaking at Mass in Ennis on Sun- day to mark Immigrant Day, Dr Wil- lie Walsh said views that non-nation- als are abusing the welfare system are simply not true.

He said that a small number of immigrants do use the system and suggestions — that this figure was sionificant were exaggerated.

He said he be- lieves that many

foreign nation- als will return to their native

Shores, as the economy experi- ences adownturn. Those working in the construction industry in Clare, holm oy Dus (CUUE- TOMMY BOE RMUUM OM OLO)eeloMm EEE ing lost their jobs, said Dr Walsh.

He made his comments as people from 20 nationalities took part in a Mass at Ennis Cathedral on Sunday, to mark Immigrant Day.

‘There is no doubt a small number have come to use our welfare system. No doubt a small number of Irish people abuse the welfare system too. Any suggestion that a large propor- tion of the immigrant population are here to abuse the system is simply not true,” he said.

“Immigrants have made an enor- mous contribution to the economy over the past 10 years. The vast ma- jority of them, of the age, are work- ing. There is solid evidence there to indicate that the vast majority of our immigrants have made a solid con-

tribution to the economy,’ Dr Walsh told

THE WEALTH of new cultural influ- ences which have poured into Ireland since the expansion of the European Union has not bypassed east Clare.

More than a hundred Polish people are now living and working in and around the Scariff area.

To give the new east Clare residents a place to meet and socialise, a new Polish association is being mooted while there is already a Polish coffee morning at Brian and Joe’s Cafe in the village. The coffee morning takes place every Sunday morning from around 10am.

Coffee and tea are served, along with home-made Polish cakes.

Those who help out at the coffee shop event stress that it is not just for Polish people and lots of local people drop in for a hot drink and chat too.

Part of the attraction for Polish workers are the numerous work op- portunities in the locality. Finsa is a major employer, as is AJ Precision in Tuamgraney, as well as Gala super- market and various building sites.

Ola and Tolek Szostak came to Ireland from Poland 18 years ago. They are now well established in east Clare, and their children have grown up here.

Ola is the driving force behind the initiative and is in the process of set- ting up a formal association to cater to the needs of the Polish commu- nity.

‘We want to do some research first to determine the needs and aspira- tions of this group, as at present we know very little about them,” she says. “One of the first issues to ad- dress is language. Many Eastern Europeans arrive with little knowl- edge of English, so we would like to provide English lessons to help them integrate professionally and person- rN A

The coffee shop has been going for

more than six weeks and has gener- ated new ideas for providing activi- ties and entertainment that will both bring Polish people together and pro- vide opportunities to socialise with local people. Possibilities include showing Polish films and setting up sports and other activities.

A “continental” disco has also been going for some time in Ryan’s on Saturday nights, with DJ David, a member of the Polish community.

Plans for the future include putting together a float for St Patrick’s Day and also to become involved in the prepaprations and celebrations in the Scariff Harbour Festival.

WITHOUT doubt the huge success story of this year was the re-emer- gence of Sixmilebridge as a dominant player in underage camogie. Should this development continue they will also be vying for senior honours in the not too distant future.

The ‘Bridge made a clean sweep of underage titles from Ul11l ground camogie through UI12A, UI4A, Féile, Ul16A and UI8B. The club will now have an all A grade status next year which is something they are very pleased about. Great struc- tures have been put in place and this year, undoubtedly, all their hard work paid off. A fitting tribute to all these girls, mentors and club of- ficials was paid recently in the Old Lodge Hotel in Shannon when the camogie club joined with the minor club in celebrating their youngsters achievements. Niamh Mulcahy of Limerick, this years underage player of the year, presented the Sixmile- bridge girls with their huge medal haul. Many of the girls were on the U14, U16 and UI18 panels and had great cause for celebration. This is definitely the club to watch out for in the future and in the next year or two players like Aiveen O’Shea, Ni- amh Corry, Chloe Morey and Aine McNamara will certainly be pushing for their spot in the county set-up. In addition, Rachel O’Halloran, Ciara

Whelan, Tricia Fawl, Ellen Roche, Alison Quinlan and Sinead Tuohy are just some of the younger talents to watch out for in the future.

Kilmaley have been moving up through the ranks in recent years and this season that push came to fruition When they had a narrow win over Newmarket-on-Fergus in the UI8A final. This will help herald a new dawn in Clare camogie as new clubs emerge and press for honours. These two clubs are steeped in talent at this age with Shona Enright, Eimear Considine, Sarah Reidy and Orla Keane of Kilmaley all improving with each encounter while Newmar- ket can boast Iris and Carol Kaiser, Carol O’ Leary and Roisin McMahon amongst their ranks. Deirdre Cassidy was in fine form also and if they can continue their progress in the com- ing years, the Senior Championship will be far from an obvious outcome in two or three years time.

Clooney have been knocking on the door of winning an underage title in the last number of years and this year they overcame that hurdle in fine form with a win in the U14B cham- pionship over Whitegate. They have exciting players coming through the ranks in Orlaith Duggan, Said- bhe and Aisling Corbett, Rebecca Kennedy and Hannah O’Sullivan. This club are putting a lot of work into their underage at the moment

and in another few years will hope to see the benefit of this as they retain their senior status.

St. Joseph’s won the U14B title last year and followed that up with U16B this year so expect more from this team. Louise Woods, Niamh Martin, Catriona Hennessey, Michelle Mc- Mahon, Marie Bell and Emma Casey are all promising players for the fu- ture. Inagh, though, had some say in this and Patricia O’Loughlin, Helen Hehir and Gillian Lafferty will all have something to offer camogie in Clare. Corofin were UI16C win- ners and this title will boost the club who have been very close in the last number of years and were the ones who ran Clooney closest in the U14 competition where Jessie Jordan, Doireann Hanrahan, Aoife Davoren and Brenda Lee made a huge impact teauee

Ballyea are a relatively new club and added to their promise of last year when they won the UI4C title this year. This is a huge boost to cam- ogie in the county to see new clubs emerging and doing well and if they can hold the interest of their young- sters, this will surely help in the fur- ther promotion of the game.

Tulla, who enjoyed huge success of- nthe hurling field this year, will hope that some of their glory will continue to bring new families to the field and

this will benefit the girls also. They won the U12B title this year and that in itself will help in this matter. Where the emphasis is on the youth, the rest will somehow manage to take care of itself and although they didn’t field at senior level, hope is high for the future and the work being car- ried out from the ground up will pay off. As every successful club knows, you must persevere with this even in KFAVOM Oba elon ers DOCG MAO Tom MO) aKo) MAU OT-Lm Br-hYAs most dividends in the long run.

The town of Ennis has been going through a lean patch in recent years and it’s often hard to compete with the more high profile sports but the Eire Og club are fighting back and now look to be back on the road to success. To their benefit they won the U12C competition this year and had a magnificent turn out at the camogie fun day in the week after the All- Ireland Junior Final where up to 100 girls turned up and enjoyed a great day’s camogie. It’s hoped that this SAUD ated OM UeComO UO MDDOMBLAMBKecerm UU LBesTo ILI of girls to the Ennis cause and also some more eager adults who will give of their already hard pressed time to the benefit of these young girls.

With every winner there’s a loser and while Sixmilebridge came out well in the winners enclosure, Feakle will be wondering what they have to do to make the breakthrough. They’ve been knocking on the door of success

over the last two years, reaching sev- en finals but having won none. A club that has worked very hard in keeping camogie alive with very small popu- lation to work from and in need of a break along the way, winning the B section of the U11l ground camogie this year may just be that helping hand that they need.

The breed of young players on the way up in Clare camogie is very strong and more and more clubs are erowing increasingly stronger and will have much to offer in the future.

This year a huge step forward was taken in the U8 and U10 Go Games for girls. There were organised out- ings in O’Callaghans Mills, Lees Road and Gurteen where teams from all over the county got involved. Giv- ing girls a chance to play the game and enjoy it without the pressure of winning was of huge benefit and the emphasis was on all the girls being winners and the game was the big- gest winner of all.

Forward moves like this and the in- troduction of the U13 league – albeit in its infant stages – will benefit the game and credit to all those who are entrepeneuring new ideas into cam- ogie in Clare.

have predicted.

Recent developments in Limer- ick city will present an even greater challenge to Clare, with the green light being given to the €250 mil- lion Opera Centre shopping complex as well as the opening of Tesco at the massive Coonagh Cross facility, which will open fully in April.

Marks and Spencer have announced they will come to the Crescent while a €150 million Parkway Valley retail development is planned on the Dub- lin road, along with major refurbish- ments of the Parkway and Arthur’s Quay shopping centres.

Clare businessman Tom O’Callaghan, who has extensive business interests on William Street, Limerick and who 1s now involved in the building of a new shopping centre for that area, believes the improve- ments are good for both counties.

“My thinking is that anywhere there is progression, that’s a step forward,” said the Kildysart businessman.

“If we have strong developments in both Ennis and Limerick then every- one benefits.

“The important point is that Lim- erick City Council is now working positively with the traders to rejuve- nate the heart of the city.

People still want to go into town to do their shopping and that’s true eve- rywhere,” he said.

Meanwhile, East Clare Fianna Fail councillor Cathal Crowe has asked county manager Alex Fleming to consider a park and ride facility which would reduce traffic and allow people on that side of Clare easier ac- cess to Limerick.

THE highlight of the underage bas- ketball year in Ennistymon took place last Friday with the final of the Lorcan O’Connor Cup.

The cup, which is contested each winter between mixed U12 teams from the Clare Cascaders Club, is played in memory of the late Lorcan O’Connor who was one of Ennisty- mon _ basketball’s biggest support- ers from its early days back in the Toes

This years final was won by the Celtics, who scored a dramatic ex- tra time victory over the Cobras. The winning team included Laoise

Bucholz, Ciara O’Connell, Aisling O’Connell, Shane Doyle and John Dillon and was coached by U17 play- er Sean Devitt.

“Lorcan would have been one of the original founders of the club, that’s going back 53 years now. In those days they used to play all of their basketball in the old market house which is where the Holywell is now. It was the old market house where people would bring their pro- duce but when ever it was empty they would be inside in it playing basket- ball,” said Vincent Leigh of the Clare Cascaders.

‘From the early 60s right the whole way along Lorcan would have been

a great supporter of the club. He was heavily involved in getting the com- munity centre up and running and was a great supporter. He especially loved getting young people involved hie ned

Meanwhile, on January 5, the club will invite outside teams to take part in the Frank Kilkenny Cup for the first ttme. Clubs from Shannon, Lim- erick and Galway will make their way to Ennistymon for the UI7 com- petition which has up to now been contested by teams from the Cascad- ers Club.

‘Frank was a member of the Ad- mirals National League team back in the ‘80s and was a great club worker

over the years. This is the first year that we are inviting outside teams to take part.

“It will be good to open up that competition and hopefully it will catch on and we could invite more clubs next year and the year after.”

On January 20, the girls U14 and U16 teams will host a series of matches in Ennistymon. A number of boys involved in the U17 team are also now half way through a referee qualification course being hosted in Dublin.

All going well members of the eroup will be fully qualified referees before the summer comes around again.

THE welcome mat is being dusted down and celebrations planned for the army of Clare volunteers bound for South Africa to build a hospice.

On board are 180 of the 200 vol- unteers needed for the Building of Hope project for Lissycasey nun, Sr Ethel Normoyle.

Thousands of South Africa’s poor- est people live in the Port Elizabeth township mostly in huts and shacks made from waste corrugated and tin sheeting.

Unemployment runs at more than 70 per cent while seven in ten people are infected with the AIDS virus.

The hospice will give township residents a place to end their days in dignity as well as providing a centre where people can learn positive ways of caring for their own health.

Builders, plasterers, carpenters, electricians, and general helpers will be working flat out for ten-day stints at a time to get the project sorted in 40 days.

People have been hard at work fund raising the €3,000 per head neces- sary for the trip and in Purcell’s Bar, in Ruan on January 6 there will be a special night of trad and the auction of a valuable painting.

The ever popular Sharon Shannon will be joined by the famous Begley

family from west Kerry, including Brendan, Cormac, Niall and Owen. A fantastic night of traditional music is guaranteed.

Hot food will be served on the night and a painting by local Artist Peter Daffy of Corofin will be raffled dur- ing the night along with many more fabulous prizes.

Tickets costs €15 and are available from Purcell’s Bar or by calling An- nette at 086 3294982 or Mary at 086 3332780.

There are still places available on the trip for people willing to travel between February 14 and 25 and de- tails of accommodation, flights and transfers have now been finalised, said Olive Halpin, one of the Clare organisers of the trip.

“We would appeal now to anyone who has money outstanding to get it to us immediately,’ added Ms Halpin.

“The people of Missionvale are so excited about us coming to give them some help,” said Maureen McCarthy, another of the Clare organisers of the vale

Bishop Willie Walsh and Ennis priest Fr Tom Hogan will be along to lend support to the crews.

Anyone who would like to fund raise or even come along on the trip should call Olive on 087 6994599 or Maureen on 087 7803808.