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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.

WATCH your wallets folks, there’s pickpockets about as the staff and students of Mary Immaculate Sec- ondary School in Lisdoonvarna make final preparations to host their first musical.

The ultimate pickpocketers’ tale, Oliver! opens today in the school with two matinée and three evening performances taking place. With a long tradition of Christmas pan- tos in Mary Immaculate, this year the school decided to go one step further.

“This is our first musical at the school, usually we do a Christmas panto but this year we said we would

try out the musical and see how it Lele

“We have got a couple of first years who sing with the Lismourahaun Singers and we have a bit of talent in the senior classes, so we thought Ol- iver! would be a good show to look at because it has such a good mix,” said teacher Mark Mulqueeney.

“The idea is to establish it this year and maybe take it on then every second or third year. It’s a fairly big undertaking so we wouldn’t do it every year.

“We had been getting requests from parents to put on a show and when the talent is there you have to go for it. There is a great mix of male and female characters in Oliver! so it was

a really good show for us.”

The show will star Brendan Schol- und, Peter Lynch, Mark O’Donnell, Aishling Clancy and Evelyn Linnane in a production which combines tal- ented students from every age and class in the school.

“T was involved in our panto last year, when I was in transition year, and I got roped into auditioning this year because of that. It’s a good thing to do, a lot of fun,’ says Aisling Clancy from Kilfenora, who plays Fagan.

“Fagan looks after the runaway pickpockets, he trains them in what to do. They steal stuff for him and he sells it off. He’s a rogue but he’s a bit of a likeable rogue.

“IT feel grand about playing a male character. I played one last year for the panto so I don’t mind — you just have to wear a beard. I’d love to car- ry on with musicals beyond this, it’s something I’m interested in.”

The show takes place over three nights from Tuesday, December 18 to Thursday, December 20 in the school hall from 8pm. To book, you can contact the school on 065 7074266.

MARY Hogan outgoing county Sec- retary in her address to Thursday’s Camogie AGM told delegates of her privilege in having been involved with the county set up and how she was disappointed that Clare had yet again failed to win the Junior All- Ireland at the third attempt. She re- marked on the progress of the U14 Coilte Development Squad and the U16 Munster Title while the U16 and U18 teams also did quite well at national level. Deirdre Murphy and Claire Commane were congratu- lated on their All-Star nominations and all those who were chosen on the Gael Linn Inter Provincial team with manager Fintain McNamara. Congratulations were also conveyed to Vera Loughnane on the individual skills award and Denise Lynch who won the Long Puck. To all teams who won county titles notably Sixmileb- ridge who represented the county at the Feile Finals and Kilnamona who won Munster Club title. She noted that the difficulties with the fixtures is the most pressing problem for the Board and the secretary thanked all GAA clubs and referees who had as- sisted in the running of games during the year. She also thanked her fellow officers for an enjoyable year, and the sponsors of all club competitions and County teams.

Treasurer Michael Maher presented a detailed account of the Boards fi- nances which he is glad to report are in the plus after the year on end. The Board ran several fundraisers during the year and had an extremely posi- tive response to the All-Ireland final fund. The dog night in Galway pro- vided a profit to the board of €7,020, while the flag day earned €3,399, the bag packing €940 and the All- Ireland fund €15,340.

It cost the board €28,734 to look af- ter all teams in the county U14, U16, U18 Junior and Intermediate which is not too bad considering that they played in three Munster Finals, the U16’s reached the semi-final stage and the Juniors played in an All-Ire- land final. The board did have other

day to day expenses and medals etc to provide but at the end of year there was a surplus of €4,872.91 for year on end. The Treasurer thanked all gate collectors, fundraisers, clubs and GAA clubs for their support dur- ing the year and thanked Pat Fitzger- ald for his commitment to Camogie.

The Chairperson Maura Sheedy also congratulated all club win- ners for 2007 and recounted on the county teams exploits of the year. She expressed her disappointment at the Junior Teams loss at the All-Ire- land final stage, also the U16 teams loss at semi-final stage and the U18 loss at quarter-final stage which she stated was related to Kilmaley’s fail- ure to release players and the Junior Teams involvement. She expressed her disappointment at having to ask the County Junior management and some players to have to leave the November meeting of the Board and finally wished Deirdre Murphy well in her role as Munster Development Officer.

Kathleen McMahon as PRO thanked all clubs for their help and co-operation during the year and ac- knowledged the support of all media outlets in the county for their support in the promotion of Camogie in the county and wished for this to con- tinue in the coming year.

Sympathies were expressed to Michael O’Halloran of Corofin who attended the AGM. Michael is a pre- vious treasurer of the board and on the day of the AGM had the personal experience of burying his brother.

The board were told that the man- agements of the teams may be present at the January meeting to outline their wishes for 2008.

Tributes were paid to the officers on the jobs during the year and Michael Maher was thanked for his detailed report of the finances of the board and the hard job which it was to keep the accounts in the plus, which he was managing to do.

JOHN McGuire is lapping up the at- tention. The compliments are flow- ing and the man at the centre of it all smiles, shyly.

It is one year since John set up his own business and a mulled wine and mince pie reception for his friends and colleagues marks a milestone in his life.

The 37-year-old set up his own business “John’s Woodwork Shop’ at the Ballycasey Craft Centre a year ago. He specialises in assembling wood products, from rocking horses and chairs to cribs, birdhouses and purpose-built kennels.

John’s business has grown consider- ably since its inception and this is not unexpected. What stands out how- ever 1S the fact that John has fought the odds to progress in an industry he dearly loves.

The Quin native suffers from mus-

cular dystrophy, a progressive muscle wasting disease. He also suffers from mild learning difficulties and uses a wheelchair.

However his enthusiasm evidently shines through, thus ensuring his dream of operating his own business is fulfilled.

John was thrilled to have had the opportunity to display some of this fine works at the pre-Christmas craft fair, which was held at the Sean Le- mass Library in Shannon a fortnight ago.

He says that running his own busi- ness is “a dream come true” and has been working in the area of wood for 15 years. He tells me it would take him just two days to assemble a pur- pose-built dog kennel.

He was particularly thrilled to have been commissioned to do work for Eircom in Ennis.

The company sought a number of containers for monkey trees and John

designed and made the containers.

Such has been the demand for his woodwork that John is optimistic he will expand and recruit employees in the future.

John set up the business with the support of the Brothers of Charity in Shannon, where he is a Service user. While he purchases his own mate- rial, the day-to-day running of the company is backed by various bod- ies including Shannon Development, Friends of the Brothers of Charity in Shannon, staff at Ballycasey Craft Centre and ECAT (East Clare Ac- cessible Transport) which transports John to work from his home in Car- rigoran every day.

Julie Dickerson and her team at GE in Shannon gave time voluntar- ily to get the unit cleaned out prior to John setting up his business there last year.

A number of individual workers with the Brothers of Charity, includ-

ing Dermot Maguire and Trish Dil- lon also play a key role in John’s suc- IS

‘The business has really taken off in the past few months and John’s personality has also changed. He has grown in confidence as the business has advanced,” says Trish Dillon.

Brothers of Charity project co-or- dinator Helen Minogue says, “John was always interested in setting up his own business. He didn’t want to be an employee.”

Brothers of Charity team leader Tim O’Neill says, “John had a vision. He had a dream and he had people around him to help him achieve erehee