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THE decision by Aer Lingus to re-route its Heathrow flights from Shannon to Belfast will significantly inconvenience a Gort couple who are due to spend Christmas in Australia.

Former Clare FM _ sports editor Mike McCartney and his Australian

wife Fiona flew out from Shannon to Australia via Heathrow yesterday. The couple will spend Christmas with Fiona’s family in Melbourne. However, the decision by Aer Lingus to move its Heathrow flights from Shannon to Belfast from January | means that they will not be able to fly back to Shannon when they return

from their three-week holiday.

The couple are angered that they were only told of the change to their return flights just a fortnight ago, having booked their trip sev- en months ago. They have been informed by their tour operator, Aus- tralian Holidays, that they could fly back from Heathrow to either Dublin

or Cork, as Shannon was no longer an option. Reluctantly, they chose Dublin.

Given that Fiona is from Australia, the couple have flown over and back several times over the years. The Shannon option was practical for them as they only had to travel for an hour to the airport.

However, given that the changeo- ver from Shannon to Belfast occurs while they are on holiday, it means that they have to rely on _ public transport to get home from Dublin when they return on January 11.

The couple have no issue with the tour operator but with Aer Lingus. “We are not blaming the travel agent as they have been good to us down the years,’ said Mr McCartney.

““T heard all the stories about Heath- row, but we didn’t hear anything. We only got notified a couple of weeks ago. They should have notified us a lot earlier. We can’t leave the car at Shannon if we are coming back to Dublin. Our choice of airport is Shannon,’ added Fiona.

McCartney, who became a familiar figure on the airwaves in Clare as head of sport with Clare FM for four- and-a-half years, is disappointed with Aer Lingus’ decision on Heathrow.

“People living in south Galway now have to go to Dublin, the other end of the country, which is a huge inconvenience. The way Shannon has been downgraded is disgusting. It is our local airport,’ he added.

‘SERIOUS and abnormal’ flooding in the Drumgeely area of Shannon prevented people from getting into their homes earlier this month.

The problem was discussed after it was brought up by Independent councillor Patricia McCarthy, at a meeting of Shannon area councillors earlier this week.

She called for a report to be pre- sented on the case and solutions to be brought into effect, to ensure that there is no repetition of the situation, which caused grave concern to resi- dents in the Corrib Drive area.

“Entrances to some of the parks

were blocked, due to the flooding. When the flooding was cleared on the right hand side, it moved to the left hand side, so much so that people couldn’t get into their homes,” she Sr NLGe

“It was unusual and it was a long, long time since that happened be- fore,’ she added, pointing out that she wants steps to be taken to ensure there won’t be a repeat of the flood- ing.

In a response to her query, Senior Executive Engineer Donal Hogan said that the “prolonged intense rain” on December 6 resulted in road and land flooding, not only in Shannon, but across the county.

‘In most cases, the road flooding in urban areas occurs when gulley gratings become clogged with de- bris such as leaves, litter etc, which washes into the gratings of the gul- lies,” said Mr Hogan, in a written response.

‘In some cases the flooding occurs because the underground gulley or the pipework from the gulley to the main drain has reduced capacity due to build-up of silt.

“The road flooding, which oc- curred in Drumgeely, occurred from the same reasons as outlined above for urban areas, with the build-up of leaves being the main reason,” added Mr Hogan.

He stated that the council’s outdoor staff were all diverted to deal with the flooding problems on December 6 and again on December 7.

‘The council endeavours to ensure that all road outlets are opened, gul- leys and pipework cleaned out as much as is possible. In areas such as Drumgeely, gulleys are cleaned out once each year, while pipework is cleaned out as the need arises.

“Notwithstanding these measures it is inevitable that rainfall such as occurred in this case will result in Surface water run-off which will, es- pecially at this time of the year, bring leaves etc to the gulleys resulting in flooding at some of them,” said.

THE University of Limerick has issued a statement revealing that antibiotics have been issued follow- ing a suspected case of meningitis which resulted in the death of a Clare student.

Tuamgreaney teenager Stephen McGuire was found dead on Friday morning last.

Health experts believe that the young sports enthusiast died from bacterial meningitis although the final results of his post-mortem have not yet been completed.

The popular 18-year-old was a second year business student and the son of Scariff GPs Drs Manus and Genevieve (Jenny) McGuire.

Manus McGuire is also well-known in traditional music circles.

The tragic death of the Clare teen just weeks before Christmas has left an air of tragedy over his home and college community.

More than a thousand people attended the funeral Mass on Monday at St Joseph’s Church, Tuamgreaney, of the former captain of the Bodyke/ Whitegate GAA minor A team.

He also played hurling with Bod- yke’s junior and intermediate team.

His team-mates and GAA col- leagues were present at both his re- moval and funeral Mass with two guards of honour.

As well as wearing his beloved Bodyke jersey, Stephen also played underage soccer with Mountshannon Celtic.

This year the sporting teen ran the Dublin City Marathon for Milford Hospice with a number of his friends.

Stephen is survived by his parents and two younger brothers, Danny and Manus.

In sending its condolences to Stephen’s family, the University of Limerick said that the appropriate medical, chaplaincy and counselling support services have been made available to its students.

“In accordance with national euldelines for dealing with such cir- cumstances, all household and very close contacts of this student have been given antibiotic treatment as a preventive measure.

“The Department of Public Health in the Health Service Executive have advised that no further preventive measures are indicated for any other students or staff,’ a spokesperson for the university said.

“As normal, any students or staff members should contact their own GP or the HSE if acutely unwell. Any public health queries may be addressed to the Department of Public Health at 061 483337.”

The spokesperson said that a brief- ing of the case has been issued to the campus community. “This notifica- tion is being issued for the informa- tion of those students and staff who may have left the campus since Fri- day, December 14,” she said.

Meningitis is a disease that causes inflammation of the lining covering the brain and spinal cord (called the ‘meninges’). It can be caused by a bacterial infection or a virus, or more rarely, by a fungal infection.

Viral meningitis is the more com- mon form of the disease and is also much milder — people with viral meningitis rarely die from the dis- ease. Bacterial meningitis however, while relatively uncommon, is usu- ally a much more severe disease and oF TN lem rele

THERE have been calls for Ennis Town Council to provide a more detailed breakdown of expenditure after it was shown that €38,000 was spent on training and sending coun- cilors to conferences.

Expenditure figures for 2006 re- vealed in the council’s budget, also show that spending on expenses rose by €2,700, from an estimated figure of €27,000 at the start of 2007, to 29,700.

The amount spent on members training and conferences was also up on estimated figures from €35,000 to €38,000.

Green Party councillor Donal O’Bearra said the figure was too high and has called for the nine-members of the council to be provided with a breakdown of what the money was Spent on.

“If you divide €38,000 by nine, it works out at almost €4,000 and then add on the figure for expenses, which works out at €3,000, 1t means that €7,000 was drawn down by each councillor. I can certainly say that I haven’t drawn down €7,000 or any- thing near that figure. I would like to think that we will be provided with a breakdown and I will be looking for one”.

Cllr O’Bearra also questioned the

merit of sending the councilors to conferences, saying, in his experi- ence, they were poorly attended.

Speaking last week at Ennis Town Council’s budget meeting Town Man- ager Tom Coughlan said trips abroad and conferences allowed members to observe examples of best practice.

He said, ““When we went to Brug- ges, it was allowing us to see best practice in operation.

Meanwhile, each of Clare’s 3,000 plus rate payers will this week re- ceive an abridged version of the Clare County Council Annual Report for 2007. This moves comes after a mo- tion tabled by Cllr Martin Conway (FG) earlier this year calling for the

local authority to be more account- able to the people who fund it.

This is the first time that details of the council’s budget will be posted to ratepayers.

‘For too long now we have had a situation in this county and in this county where there is not enough accountability. It’s all been one way traffic and | think that the rate payers deserve to know what their money is being spent on,” said Conway.

“I felt like there was no feed back at all to the rate payers of the county. But this will help keep people in- formed about the positive things that are going on within the council as well as the not so positive things.”

AN OUTBREAK of measles in the county has led the Health Service Ex- ecutive to issue a warning to parents to have their children immunised.

There has been one confirmed case of measles in Ennis and two other suspected measles cases in Clare in the past few weeks.

According to the HSE the parents of children in contact with the con- firmed case of measles have been advised to ensure that their children have two doses of MMR, which offers 99 per cent protection against measles.

The MMR vaccine is part of the routine immunisation from GPs. It is usually given when a baby is 12 months old and again when the child is four to five years of age.

The HSE is now asking all parents in Clare to ensure their children have oreo eMDOSDOSIUNOD ILO D

“Tf your child has not had the MMR vaccine and is over 12 months of age, please contact your GP. If you have public health queries in rela-

tion to measles, please contact the Department of Public Health on 061- 483337 and one of the doctors will be able to help you,” a spokesman said.

According to the VHI website, measles is an acute, highly infectious viral disease that attacks the respira- tory system, eyes, gut and skin.

It mainly affects children between two and five years of age, although it can occur at any age. In Ireland, the number of cases tends to rise in win- ter and spring.

In recent years some _ parents have delayed having their children vaccinated against measles due to reports suggesting a possible link between the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine and autism and bowel disease.

Uptake levels have remained low in parts of the country. In the year 2000 over 1,500 new cases of the disease and two deaths due to complications associated with measles were report- ed to the National Disease Surveil- lance Centre. This compares to 147 cases the previous year.

THE business community has criti- cised as unfair Ennis Town Coun- cil’s decision to increase commercial rates to 4 per cent.

The council approved the 4.8 per cent rate hike at its annual budget meeting last week.

Explaining the decision, town man- ager Tom Coughlan said in his re- port to the council that rates may not come down for a number of years.

‘The increase in the rate on valua- tion in 2007 of 4.8 per cent continued a downward trend in the rate on in- crease over the previous three years. The proposed increase of 4 per cent

in 2008 continues that trend for a fifth year. While it is an objective of the council to reduce the rate of increase, as has been achieved in re- cent years, it must be acknowledged that a future economic downturn, a reduction in central funding, increas- ing energy costs, increase in interest rates or unanticipated events may not allow this objective to be achieved in future years.”

However, in a statement, Ennis Chamber of Commerce said, “While Ennis Chamber acknowledges the proposed reduction in the increase of the commercial rate to 4 per cent, it is still an increase nonetheless. The business community funded 39 per

cent of the council’s expenditure in 2007 and this will increase to 40 per cent this year. Ennis Chamber will continue to reiterate that this is not a fair Share and reflective in the number of businesses that have ceased trad- ing in Ennis in recent years’.

Figures in the budget project that businesses in Ennis will pay €4.9 million in rates next year.

In his report, Mr Coughlan said, “The budget does not make provi- sion for any increase in car-parking charges. This measure will benefit members of the public who wish to conduct business in Ennis and also businesses which are dependent on the public. Provision is made for an

increase in parking permits, which have not increased since 2005, this increase is less than €1 per week.”

Parking permits are set to increase by €50 to €400 per year.

Ennis Chamber stated the increase was “not justified, given the fact that there has been a decrease in public car park charges for customers in En- nis. The increase in car permits for businesses is not justified given the fact that there has been a decrease in public car park charges”.

The chamber welcomed the coun- cil’s statement on its “continued com- mitment to the promotion of Ennis in partnership with the private sector and other agencies in 2008”.

CALLS were made yesterday by a number of shareholders set to benefit in the €7.2 million from the pro- posed sale of Clare FM that the sta- tion’s 30 staff should also profit from the sale.

Yesterday was ‘D-Day’ for the sta- tion’s shareholders to decide on the acceptance of the Radio Kerry offer for the station.

The offer values individual shares at €20 each — almost 20 times what shareholders paid for the shares in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

A cross-section of the Clare public is set to benefit following a success- ful share drive in the early 1990s and three of those who opted for minor shareholdings, Cllr Christy Cur- tin (Ind), Cllr Pat Keane (FF) and Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) yesterday called on the Clare FM Board to en- sure that the station’s staff share in the anticipated windfall.

The station’s only two employees set to profit from the sale are chief executive, Liam O’Shea and the station’s Head of Operation, Susan Murphy.

Mr O’Shea set to receive €407,300 through his 20,365 shares and

Ms Murphy is set to receive over €200,000.

Details of the sale circulated to shareholders show no indication of a bonus scheme for the station’s 30 employees.

Cllr Curtin is to receive €2,000 through his 100 shares and he said yesterday, “I believe that the station’s staff should share in the money from the sale and their interests should be protected.

‘This must be done to ensure that there is continuity and stability in the station’s staff so there must be a mechanism in place to allow the staff access a share of the money.”

Cllr Frankie Neylon is set to receive €4,000 and he said: “I would hope that the staff will profit from the sale and there jobs would be secured.”

Kilkee-based Cllr Pat Keane said: “IT would be disappointed if there wasn’t in place a scheme for staff to purchase shares. They should have been given that opportunity. Staff play an important role and if they were given an opportunity to pur- chase, they would take additional interest in the station.”

Other politicians set to benefit from the sale are Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn (€4,000), Cllr PJ

Kelly (€2,000), Cllr Martin Laft- ferty (€1,000), while retired Fine Gael TD, Donal Carey is to receive €2,000.

Cllr PJ Kelly quipped yesterday,*! thought it was a subscription I was buying back then. It was done with a sense of patriotism. It 1s a fairly good return on the investment made and better than some of the other invest- ments I’ve made.”

The figures show that the Ennis Chamber of Commerce Is set to re- ceive €50,000 from its 2,500 share- holding, while prominent Ennis busi- ness man, Oliver Moylan is to receive €10,000 from his 500 shares.

Cllr Keane said that is glad that he did not take up on the €2 buy-back offer from the Clare FM Board two years.

The share-offer was not widely tak- en up after founding chief executive, Caimin Jones dismissed the offer as “much too low”’.

The move comes against the back- eround of growing profits and listen- ership for Clare FM.

The annual returns for 2006 show that the company increased its annu- al profits to €240,000 on a turnover of €1.9 million.

YOU can show your support for the poorest of the poor on Christmas Day by taking part in the annual Goal Miles event at the Fairgereen in Ennis.

This fun-filled, worthwhile event is an integral part of the season of giv- ing for many thousands of generous people everywhere.

This is the 26th year of the event, with Goal Miles taking place at an unprecedented 65 locations na- tionwide — including nine brand-

new locations. The main event will take place in Dublin’s Belfield and is expected to attract 3,000 people on Christmas morning. But it is the impressive spread of Miles across the country that is the real source of pride for Goal.

Goal’s John O’Shea, who will at- tend the Belfield Mile, as always, says, “I’m urging every single person up and down the country to find their nearest Mile and take part.

“All you have to do is to turn up on the day, complete the Mile in your own time and style and then

make a donation to Goal. You can either make a personal donation or you can line up sponsorship from your friends and colleagues — it is entirely up to you what you do. The Goal Mile is a great opportunity to do something practical for the poor this Christmas,” he said.

Events this year hold a special sig- nificance, as the charity is celebrat- ing 30 years in operation.

Since 1977, the aid agency has spent more than €400 million in 50 countries, responding to virtu- ally every natural and man-made

disaster and implementing massive development programmes during ercLMm ab ealee

Goal’s outstanding success down through the years has been entirely dependant on the unflagging support of the Irish public.

This Christmas, the charity’s Goalies (volunteers) are working around the clock in 12 developing world countries throughout Africa, Asia and Central America, includ- ing Bangladesh, where the organi- sation is responding to November’s devastating Cyclone Sidr.

THE Clare Schoolboys Soccer League, the Munster Football Asso- ciation and the FAI have been writ- ten to this week by the St Pat’s club in Kilmihil, who have lodged a series of complaints over Saturday under 11 Clare Cup semi-final against Money- point.

In a hard-hitting letter, St Pat’s of- ficials Tom Egan, Derek Dolan and Tony Quinn have said when they travelled to Kilrush for the match they “had no idea of the horror which was to unfold”.

‘“Moneypoint managers and a large number of their fans invaded the pitch and verbally abused the referee in front of both sets of teams.

‘Foul and abusive language flowed

unchecked and disregarding the children listening. We gathered our children together to shield them from deh

‘“Moneypoint’s team seeing their parents managers etc abuse the ref- eree themselves began aiming foul language at him to cheers of encour- agement.

“Was this supposed to be a game for kids to enjoy or was it as Money- point’s supporters seemed to think it was life or death,” the letter adds.

Moneypoint won the game 4-3, but according to St Pats’ correspondence, the game descended into a farce in the second half.

“What followed was disgraceful. Our children some as young as eight were being threatened from the side- nase

“Two of our supporters who had children on the team were assaulted by a woman and were told to stand on the opposite side of the pitch.

‘The referee had to stop the game to try and restore order. Some of our boys were now in terror and had tears in their eyes.

“We had to bring any of our players playing on Moneypoint’s supporters side into the middle for their own safety which effectively meant that channel was now fully exposed.

“Having little regard of what was happening on the pitch and listening to foul threatening language from the sideline our team fell apart to howls of derision from Moneypoint Supporters.

“Trailing 4-3 and with ten min- utes remaining the referee told me

he would support us if we wanted to abandon the game. Under normal circumstances I would have said yes but my primary concern was to get our kids off the pitch safely and un- injured and abandoning the game would not have been well received and could have led to even more seri- ous scenarios.

“I agreed that at the games end we would gather our children over to our side straight away and wait for the supporters from Moneypoint to leave. At the final whistle we gath- ered our children and tried our best to comfort them. Losing is a part of growing up but losing like this is nothing short of disgraceful.

“One of Moneypoint’s club officials apologised for the terrible behaviour of their supporters to our lads. Did

he not have a duty to stop this type of behaviour?

Did he not realise that the Code of conduct for players, managers and supporters had all been broken. Were these Codes ever issued and if so were they not understood?

“Soccer at underage level is all about teaching kid’s basic skills and encouraging them to enjoy the game while maintaining good discipline and respecting their fellow players and opponents. When did that change to a win at all costs attitude regard- less of who you hurt in the process? Soccer suffered a terrible blow on Saturday,” the letter added.

The Clare Schoolboys Soccer League are awaiting the referees re- port on the game.

ENNIS woman Imelda King Kennedy has been appointed the national pub- lic relations officer for Soroptimist International in Ireland.

In her new role with the group, Ms Kennedy will be responsible for promoting the work carried out by the organisation around the country.

A long-time member of the Sorop- timists, Ms Kennedy has been in- volved with voluntary work for over 28 years.

Two years ago she released a CD entitled ‘Amazing Grace’ to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society

of Ireland. Apart from performing regularly with the Cathedral Choir in Ennis and the Clare Music Circle in Newmarket-on-Fergus, she practices a form of musical therapy known as Spirit of the Voice.

Ms Kennedy was elected to the position at the 2007 Soroptimists International Conference held in Harrowgate in Britain.

She explained that she is really looking forward to the challenge of the new job.

“There is a lot to the role and I am hoping that I will be up to the challenge. As public relations of- ficer I will be expected to project a

positive image of Soroptimist Inter- national as a professional, caring, committed and aware organisation. I will be working closely with the national association at all times. A big part of the job involves lobbying local politicians and businesses and talking in schools, community and voluntary groups,” she said.

Through international partnerships and a global network of members, Soroptimists aim to create opportu- nities for women and girls by advo- cating for equity and equality.

Ms Kennedy also expressed her support for the women affected by the breast cancer scare at the Mid-

land Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.

She said, “We would like to sympathise with the women who were involved in the recent breast cancer investigations. We sincerely hope that all their results will be favourable.

“It is our firm hope that proper breast check facilities will be rolled out to cover all areas in the country as every woman has the right to have a proper breast check service provid- ed as soon as possible,’ she added.

Soroptimist International has been in Clare for over 40 years and is actively involved in the promotion of education throughout the county.