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LAST Sunday saw the Ennis Kick- boxing send its biggest ever contin- gent of fighters to the Irish Kickbox- ing Federation (IKF) tournament in Oranmore in Galway.

This is the most prestigious Junior tournament on the IKF calender and saw over 150 entrants under the age of 16 competing in four different cat- egories decided on the basis of Gen- der Age Height and Weight.

The Ennis Kickboxing Club under Chief Instructor Tony O’Donnell and junior Instructor Sarah Jane Ryan had 10 fighters competing across the 4 categories. These 10 fighters pro- duced an outstanding result of seven overall winners one joint winner and three runners up.

Overall winners for the Ennis club were Nikiata Doherty (7) who fought

in two different categories on the day winning both, Bonny Doherty, To- mas Mulpeter, Dan Sherlock, Darly Sherlock and Dean Cauley.

14 year old Robert Clair from Kil- rush was declared a joint winner and was unlucky not to get the decision of overall winner.

Jennifer Coote, Sean Ryan and Ju- lie Sherlock finished runners up in their respective categories..

This was a fantastic result for the Ennis club and it bodes well for the future of the club with Tony O’Donnell hoping to turn these tal- ented juniors into Senior all Ireland champions as they progress in their martial arts training.

Ennis Kickboxing Club will reopen after Christmas on Monday the 7th of January all are welcome please contact Tony O Donnell with any queries on 087 2796401.

SINCE its foundation in 1957, En- nistymon Vocational School, the town and the country have experi- enced much change but, for all of that, the school has continued to provide a much-needed and valuable education to many of the people of

the locality. That was the overview of Clare Vocational Education Commit-

tee’s chief executive officer, George O’Callaghan, as he took part in a 50th anniversary function in the Falls Hotel last week.

Former and present staff and pupils, with a host of others involved with the school, filled the banqueting room of the hotel for a night of celebration, nostalgia and a fresh look into educa- tion in Ireland as it stands today.

A multi-sectional exhibition of pho- tographs and other memorabilia of the school’s 50 years drew great at- tention in the function room through- out the evening.

Idols of the occasion were the two Surviving members of the original teaching staff, Norma Christie (nee Boland), now living in Edinburgh in her native Scotland, first teacher of home economics in Ennistymon, and Mamie Egan (nee Smyth), teacher of commerce subjects, now living in Ferbane, County Offaly.

O’Callaghan began by congratu- lating all present pupils, past pupils, parents, principal Enda Byrt and all teachers present and past, and a host of others associated with the school down through the years, embracing caretakers, secretaries and other sup- port staff.

He reminded the guests that in its mission statement, the school

firstly recognises the individual- ity of each student and through the comprehensive nature of its curricu- lum combined with the professional competence, initiative and caring of its staff, seeks to maximise each individual’s academic, practical and social talents in a safe and support- ive environment, to prepare them to cope with life after school, where they may better contribute to family, community and society in a positive per-peb Alea

Change was with them all the time and challenged them to rise to the

occasion when needed. The school continued to face the challenge of the future with vision and courage. The proposed new community school, of which the vocational school will be an integral part, offered the opportu- nity of new directions. The quality of teaching and learning that is so much part of the vocational school would be a significant building block in the community school.

Cllr Flan Garvey, as chairman of the school’s board of management, formally welcomed the guests to celebrate the wonderful past of the

school which had been achieved by outstanding principals, teaching and support staffs. It was a great pleasure for him to chair the board of man- agement of such an academy, he said, more so even than being chairman of the governing body of Tralee Insti- tute of Technology or vice-president of the Irish Vocational Education Association, the administrative body for county and city vocational educa- tion committees.

He continued by saying that the worth of vocational education was still not fully appreciated in Ireland,

nor what it had brought about for the country. For instance, the Celtic Ti- ger would not have emerged were it not for the business and profession- al men and women who had come through the vocational system armed with a practical and business back- eround that enabled them to succeed magnificently and provide example for others.

Enda Byrt had a special welcome for Norma Christie and Mamie Egan and informed the guests that another first teacher, Joe McCaw, who was called from this life earlier in the year, had been insisting, once the an- niversary began to be planned, that he had to be at the main celebratory function.

Announcing the publication next spring of a school history, he invited as many past students and staff as possible to contribute. They could do so in a variety of small but 1m- portant ways, such as how they trav- elled to school, life in the school, what they did at lunchtime, involve- ment in sport or any other activities, fond memories of favourite teachers, school trips, what they did for recrea- tion in those times, what things cost at the time and so on.

Kevin Duggan, Corofin, of the class of 1969, rolled back the years as he recalled memories of his time in the school and spoke with great emotion of the wonderful teachers it was his privilege to have and how their ex- ample and advice stood him in such good stead throughout later life.

SEWERAGE Schemes for west Clare has been one of the most hotly contested topics this year and it again became part of the last council meet- ing of the year.

Fine Gael county councillor Oliver Garry asked for a progress report on the systems for the west. Campaign- ers have long argued that the delay in waste water systems for some of the smaller villages in west Clare has hampered development.

Now, the design and economic re-

view reports for the Carrigaholt/La- basheeda scheme has been sent to the Department of the Environment and local government.

An examination of the schemes is to be carried out by the department.

According to Walter Walsh, senior engineer with Clare County Council, “At our last quarterly meeting with the department, the DEHLG’s eng!- neering advisor indicated that he had not yet completed his examination of the submitted documentation.

“As soon as this examination is completed the council would expect

approval of the scheme and also an indication of the funding which the department are prepared to commit to the project.”

The Cooraclare Sewerage Scheme is at the stage where the consultant is about to be appointed to prepare contract documents for the scheme.

““Itis expected that this appointment will take place early in December,” said Mr Walsh.

The Quilty/Mullagh sewerage scheme network contract was signed on November 28. “The appointed contractor intends commencing con-

struction shortly after the Christmas. Works on the overall Quilty/Mullagh Feakle Scariff Sewerage Scheme will commence in Feakle. The DBO (treatment plant) for this scheme had its original closing date extended from November 23, 2007 to Decem- ber 19, 2007 at the request of the contractors.

“A report on tenders will be re- quired from the consultants fol- lowing the receipt of the tenders. This process will take three to four months before a preferred contractor emerges,” he said.

THE top event at Galway Track on Thursday night was race number ten for A2 graded runners and when the traps rose the trap four runner Every Ones Fancy was first to emerge. As expected he went in search of the rail berth but was held off on the run to the bend by the white jacketed Crag- brien Magic who led by a length from Flintstone Man with Guaire Motion a close third along the rail as they entered the back straight.

Down the back the order remained unchanged until Guaire Motion went for a daring run along the rail at the third bend but he was cut off by Cragbrien Magic forcing home to check and lose valuable ground as

the Martin Cronin/Jack Markham of Ennis owned Cragbrien Magic went clear for a three length success in a time of 29.58

The the Hennellys Bar And Off Li- cence A5 525 First Round Heats were also big on the eleven race card.

The concluding heat developed into a match from halfway with the Claire Donoughue owned Larchill Lite staying on tenaciously to keep out the dogged Millymay by a neck in 30.08.

In race number two the first of the night’s contests over the minimum trip saw the John Clune of Ballan- ruan owned Burren Magic (Micks Magic-Cable Sal) open his account at the first time of asking as he de- feated Attykitt Rainbow (T6) by a

length in 18.18.

The Geraldine Ryan of Kilrush owned Ferryside Miss (Droopys Vieri-Cranky Criss) ran out a deter- mined winner of the fourth contest for A4 graders over the standard 525 yard journey as she held of all chal- lengers to record a half length vic- tory over Clonreddan Lark with the fast finishing Bodyshop Direct just a further length adrift in third place in a time of 29.63.

The third contest for S6 graded sprinters was run in an absolute downpour that seemed to commence in tandem with the traps opening. But it failed to stop the Master Colm/ Oran Fitzgerald of Kilrush owned Ler Thisinthat finally record his maiden success as he defeated the

trap one runner Miss The Story by 1&1/2 lengths in 18.57.

The winner a son of Bucks Honcho and Moveen Dream was winning for the first time in ten attempts and he was away in second place as Miss The Story broke in her usual smart style but the winner readily went past at the opening corner and was always in control from that point to the line.

The concluding sprint of the night was named in honour of Mrs Eileen Gallery who was celebrating her eightieth birthday at the stadium with a wide circle of relatives and friends and the S3 graded contest was a cracker. The Michael Purtill owned Tarbrook Henry showed superb pace to the bend into the teeth of a gale as he came clear to defeat Presixty-

three by 2 lengths in 18.03. The son of Larkhill Jo and Tarbrook Kerry was away smartly and led by two lengths racing to the opening corner and once he grabbed the rail berth as he swung out of the back straight the only question was how far as he gal- loped to success.

The bumper was a graded contest over the 525 yard journey and racing down the back Got Derailed led by a length from Woodgift Supreme as the red jacketed Welton Sue began to close along the inside rail. As the rounded the penultimate corner the Eugene McNamara trained Welton Sue slipped through on the rail and the son of Roanokee and Glassford Dawn went clear for a 4é&1/4 length success over Got Derailed in 30.17.

A DEFENDANT asked a judge to hand him a sentence after spending four months in custody for what he claimed was the offence of taking a bottle of wine.

David Mulcaire, 31 St Senan’s Road, Ennis, told Ennis District court “you wouldn’t give it to a dog – the four months I mean, not the wine.”

The accused is in custody having been arrested on a number of counts relating to theft.

Previously, Judge Joseph Mangan had heard testimony from two psy- chiatrists on whether Mulcaire was mentally fit to enter a plea to the charges.

On his appearance in court of Fri- day, he asked the judge to allow him go home for Christmas to look af- ter his father. ““He’s never spent the Christmas on his own,’ Mulcaire told the judge.

The psychiatrists had a direct clash of opinion about whether Mulcaire knew what he was doing when he al- legedly committed the offences.

His own doctor said Mulcaire suf- fered a serious brain trauma in 1999, when he was hit in the head with a concrete block. He said it was his opinion that Mulcaire would not be fit to plead.

The psychiatrist who has been treating Mulcaire for Frontal Lobe Syndrome for two years said his “frontal lobe on the left-hand side of his head is wasted… this causes disturbances in mood, disturbances

in will, disturbances in understand- ing and changes in understanding of societal norms”’.

Another consultant psychiatrist, who interviewed Mulcaire on two occasions, said he felt Mulcaire was fit to plead.

He agreed that Mulcaire had a per-

sonality disorder “but his attention span when I spoke to him was rea- sonable except that he repeatedly be- came distracted by attractive nurses and tried to draw them into conver- renee ae

Judge Mangan told Mulcaire he would remand him to the last sitting

of the court before Christmas and make a decision then as to whether he could be released.

“Well, can you not just give me a sentence now then? I’ve already been in for four months,” Mulcaire said.

SPEAKING just before last Wednes- day budget, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mary Coughlan, announced the commencement of balancing payments under the 2007 Single Payment Scheme.

She explained that for the majority of applicants under the Single Pay- ment Scheme, these payments, worth in excess of €575 million, represent the balancing 50 per cent payment due under the Scheme. This brings the total amount paid under the 2007 Single Payment Scheme to in excess of €1.1 billion with a further €250 million paid under the Disadvan- taged Areas Scheme.

“Following my approach to the

Commissioner earlier this year, agreement was reached on a 50 per cent advance payment, payable from 16 October last,” she said.

“IT was particularly conscious that the difficult weather conditions for farming, which prevailed in the late spring and summer, had adversely affected farmers’ cash flows.”

Minister Coughlan confirmed that she is continuing to press the Eu- ropean Commission, as part of the CAP Health Check negotiations, to amend the Regulations in order to provide for an earlier payment date for the full amount of the Single Pay- ment in future years.

She also confirmed that payments will continue to be processed by her Department in the coming weeks.

Coughlan said that almost half of the payments under the Single Payment Scheme are being paid directly into farmers’ bank accounts.

Under current European Commis- sion requirements, from mid October 2008 all payments to farmers must be made to a bank account so this is effectively the last year that the Sin- gle Payment Scheme will be paid by cheque.

She pointed out that her Depart- ment has written to farmers, still be- ing paid by cheque, requesting the submission of the authorisation to make payments to a bank account in order to meet this requirement.

The minister urged farmers to re- spond to this request and return their bank details to the department as

soon as possible.

“Tam greatly encouraged by the re- sponse of farmers to the introduction of this facility, which was introduced on a somewhat restricted basis for the 2007 Schemes.”

‘“‘However, given its success, I am determined that the facility will be vigorously promoted in advance of the closing date for the 2008 Schemes,” she said.

“It is my intention that all Single Payment and Disadvantaged Areas Scheme applicants will be written to in the coming weeks, outlining the benefits of the on-line facility for submitting applications and explain- ing the process of getting signed up to avail of it.”

WITH the older age categories of the Clare Juvenile Handball League now under way, last Thursday evening saw the start of the Under 11 age groups.

In action on the night were three Clooney teams held at the handball complex in Clooney. With action commencing at 6.00pm, Clooney | got off to a flying start when they overcame a very formidable Clooney 3 team on a 55 to 31 score line.

Next saw a real battle between Clooney 2 & 3 respectively with the former coming out on top to claim the win on a 52 to 45 scoreline.

Last but not least, Clooney 1, con- sisting of Fergal & Natasha Cough- lan, Barry Loughnane, Tadgh Shana- han, Emily Moloney and Luke Keane claimed full honours on the night by

claiming victory over Clooney 2 on a 57 to 45 scoreline.

In the under 13 A section, Tulla overcame Kilkishen on a scoreline of 60 to 45, while in the B Category Clooney | were victorious in their two matches, while Tuamgraney de- feated Tulla in their match on a win- ning score of 60 to 40.

Kilkishen 1 came out on top in an all club affair by defeating both Kil- kishen2 and Kilkishen 3 teams. Tua- mgraney also got the better of Kilk- ishen 2 team and ran off winners on a 60 to 19 scoreline.

Finally, but not least there was great news in The Munster Clare Schools Competion which was held at Tulla last Sunday, when Clare retained the A & B titles respectively. This is great news for Juvenile Handball in Clare and proves that handball is still strong at this level.

A SHANNON man who was found with a haul of cannabis resin in the boot of his car on the M50 in Dub- lin last year, has been jailed for 10 years.

Ernest Murphy (39) of Inis Ealga, Shannon, was caught with two bales containing 460 ‘nine-ounce bars’ of the drug in the boot of his car on the M50 at Ballymun. The drugs were valued at €815,000 and were des- tined for the Limerick market.

He had just picked up the haul from aman who arrived in a van at a near- by petrol station. The man advised Murphy it would be to his own ben- efit not to ask what was in the bales.

Murphy, who has worked as a bod- yguard for so-called ‘celebrities and dignitaries’, pleaded guilty to pos- session of the cannabis resin for sale or supply on March 4, 2006.

Judge Patricia Ryan at Dublin Cir- cuit Criminal Court suspended the final three years of the sentence hav- ing taken into account Murphy’s co- operation with the investigation and garda evidence that he was acting as a courier rather than a drug dealer.

She also accepted that a psycholo- gist report before the court indicated he was at a low risk of re-offending.

Detective Garda John Fitzgerald told the court that Murphy’s vehicle SE TOMm olocHOMMIDIC(OUMIIU ACUI DIGomEA-NEKOE

gardai were given a description of the car, its registration details and an indication of where it was going to be.

Murphy later told gardai he had received a phonecall earlier that day and was told to meet “a fella” at Port-

laoise. On arrival there, he was told to drive to Dublin and while en route he got other phonecalls which di- rected him to a petrol station on the Dublin-Belfast road.

Det Gda Fitzgerald said that when Murphy arrived there a van pulled in

and a man loaded the drugs into the boot of his car.

Murphy admitted to gardai that he suspected it was drugs but he didn’t know what type. “Your man wasn’t saying much,” he said.

Murphy had no previous convic-

tions and said he didn’t get paid for transporting the drugs.

Defence counsel Conor Devally said Murphy was “very far removed from those involved” and that as far as the hierarchy in drug operations went he was “as low as you can go”. “He was acourier,”’ said Det Gda Fit- zgerald.

Det Gda Fitzgerald agreed that Murphy was of the belief that the drugs were destined for Limerick. He said it would be “not too far off the mark” to describe Murphy as be- ing a vulnerable man who was easily ere

Mr Devally said Murphy had mar- ried at a very young age and his wife left him six years later to form ‘a permanent relationship” with his older brother. He was then effective- ly estranged from his two daughters but had since got back in contact wets aetss0eF

Mr Devally said he was “very re- morseful for finding himself as a cog in a very significant event” and added that he got sucked into some- thing that he should never have got into but he didn’t back out of it when he should have.

IN what is being heralded as a major moral victory in the campaign to ban imports of Brazilian beef, the Oire- achtas Joint Committee on Agricul- ture last Thursday backed the Irish Farmers Association’s (IFA) Brazil- ian Beef plan.

The IFA plan received unanimous Support from the cross party com- mittee.

“The latest EU Commission Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) report on Brazil contains irrefutable evi- dence that Brazilian beef imports fail to meet EU standards on that critical animal health and consumer issues of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and traceability,” said IFA President,

Padriag Walshe, addressing the com- mittee.

“Commissioner Kyprianou now has the detailed evidence of serious deficiencies in Brazilian controls from his own veterinary experts. He cannot continue to expose the EU to unnecessary risks and has no choice but to impose a ban on Brazilian beef into Europe.”

Mr Walshe told the committee that the primary focus of the IFA cam- paign is about the failure of Brazil to meet European Union production standards and food safety controls.

He said there must be a level play- ing field on standards for European producers and the current policy of double standards on imports was un- tenable.

“In fact, if the Department of Ag- riculture found the Brazilian failures on an Irish farm, the animals would be destroyed and removed from the food chain; the farmer could face court proceedings, and a possible jail Sentence,” he continued.

The IFA President said the FVO report fully vindicates IFA’s own findings and our insistence that there should be a total ban on all Brazilian beef imports into Europe.

In the European Parliament in Oc- tober, the EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou stated, if the situation in Brazil did not improve, then ‘the EU will take the necessary action includ- ing the implementation of a ban on beef imports by the end of this year’.

In presenting the detail contained in the latest FVO report, Walshe said the Brazilian FMD controls are total- ly inadequate and their vaccination is haphazard, jeopardising certification of beef exports to the EU.

He said the Brazilian traceability and movement controls are a sham- bles. Regionalisation has failed and the FVO found “meat from an animal declared non-EU eligible formed part of a consignment exported to the EU’.

Environmentalists have linked the five-fold increase in beef exports from Brazil in recent years with the rapid destruction of the rainforests in the Pantanal and Amazon regions that is a major cause of global cli- mate change.

THE keynote address to the Bord na nOg Convention in the Auburn Lodge Hotel on Thursday night by chairman Sean O’Halloran carried with it a veiled attack on high profile county managers who have criticised underage hurling in the county.

And, it could be that Ger Loughnane was the main target in the line of O’Halloran’s fire, given that earlier this year the former Clare manager lowered his blade on underage struc- tures in Clare.

“When you see a coach with an under 14 team and he’s putting fellas over hurdles and he’s running long laps,’ said Loughnane in a broadside before Galway’s All-Ireland qualifier against Clare in Cusack Park.

‘“There’s no staged development here in Clare. When young lads go from under 14, the next thing they’re

doing senior training. Next thing they’re totally pissed off with this kind of stuff.

“IT see a coach in north Clare and I saw a team he’d been coaching for three years and a least half of them were holding the hurley with the wrong hand on top. This is madness. There is no supervision whatsoever so how are you going to have devel- opment,” added Loughnane.

It wasn’t his first time to launch a scathing attack on underage struc- tures in the county, as he famously told The Clare People in 2005 that “they’re running off games. I think it’s absolutely scandalous that an un- der 14 club team beaten in the cham- pionship in May will not be playing again until next year. It’s a complete joke.

“The worst thing is this — the hurl- ing officer, who is elected in Clare, can be totally incompetent and has

been for the past 10 or 15 years and yet this officer is elected year after year just because he wants a position on the executive.” ;

Two years on, the Bord na nOg Con- vention was when Sean O’Halloran hit back. “It is regrettable in the high- est echelons of team management see fit to castigate underage hurling in this county on a regular basis,” he said in his annual report.

‘Their undoubted ability and exper- tise would be much better served by adopting a more proactive approach to the promotion and development of our games at this tender age.

O’ Halloran the evoked an old Irish proverb when saying “Mar a deir- eann an sean-fhocail ‘Is are scath a

ye]

chéile a mhaireann na daoine’.