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FARMERS organisations gave a lukewarm welcome to last Wednes- day’s budget with very mixed opin- ions of how Minister Cowen’s figures will effect farm incomes.

According to IFA President, Pad- raig Walshe, the increased capital allocation to the Department of Ag- riculture of €35m to help fund the major level of necessary farm invest- ment currently taking place is posi- tive.

“However, a significant shortfall still exists relative to the demand for the two main investment aid schemes, Farm Waste Management and the Farm Improvement Scheme,” he said on Thursday.

The IFA welcomed the Govern-

ment’s response to IFA’s proposal for relief from capital gains tax where joint ownerships of farms by family members are dissolved.

“However, no progress was made on the IFA proposal for targeted re- lief from CGT where a farmer sells and buys land for the purpose of farm consolidation.”

Macra na Feirme national president, Catherine Buckley, also welcomed the increased provision of €35 mil- lion for next year’s Farm Improve- ment Scheme, stating it was critical that young farmers and new entrants are supported in their farm develop- ment plans.

However, she said she was disap- pointed that the Minister for Finance hadn’t taken the opportunity to in- troduce a direct support for young

trained farmers to allow them re- structure their holdings without be- ing liable for transfer taxes.

‘“Macra had lobbied for changes in relation to Capital Gains Tax and Income Averaging issues for milk production partnerships. I welcome the fact that these issues are to be ad- dressed,” she said.

“The number of anomalies has acted as a significant disincentive for some people who wish to engage in Milk Production Partnerships and pointed out that all remaining bar- riers to genuine farm partnerships must be removed to allow farmers to gain economies of scale by farming in partnership.”

Reacting to Budget ‘08, ICSA Pres- ident Malcolm Thompson said that it contained little of any use to cattle

and sheep farmers.

‘‘A number of key issues still remain unresolved, such as the discrimina- tion against farmers and other self employed people arising from the failure to amalgamate the PAYE and persona tax credits,” he said.

“Although the additional money for the Farm Waste Management (FWM) scheme is necessary, many cattle and sheep farmers have been badly affected by the premature closure of the Farm Improvement Scheme (FIS).

‘Measures on farm partnerships are necessary, but the reality is that it is of no benefit to the vast majority of farmers. Most farmers who wish to expand their holdings will continue to pay very high levels of stamp duty on agricultural land.”

SPECULATION is growing that the proposed creation of a Marine Res- cue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) in Ennis will be put on hold because of increased local pressure in both Valentia and Malin Head.

Ennis had been considered the fa- voured location for the creation of the new station, to coincide with the phasing out of facilities at Malin Head and Valentia, with Cork and Galway also in the mix.

Last week Ceann Comhairle and Kerry South TD, John O’ Donoghue spoke out against the move. In an

open letter addressed to his Fianna Fail colleague, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey, O’Donoghue stated that closing the Valentia centre would not improve service and would have a devastating effect on the locality.

With a similar movement already in operation in Malin Head, Minister Dempsey in coming under increased pressure, both from within and out- side of Fianna Fail, to reverse the decision. This could mean the end to a possible Marine Rescue Co-ordi- nation Centre (MRCC) in Ennis and as many as 50 jobs that would have come with it.

The Minister for Transport is to

meet with representatives of both groups later this week to discuss the ongoing situation.

He has already given a verbal com- mitment that no jobs will be lost as a result of restructuring work which takes place within the Marine Res- cue Service.

Minister Dempsey’s decision to faze out Valentia and Malin Head represents a u-turn in Government policy, as in 2002 the then Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Dermot Ahern, gave commitments to the future of both centres and also funded a mas- sive upgrade of facilities.

A CLARE politician has vowed to go back to the streets to register the anger of women in the mid-west who may not be able to avail of the life- saving Breastcheck service in Clare or Limerick until 2009.

While eligible women can travel to Cork as of last week, mid-west TD, Labour Spokesperson on Health, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan has revealed there will be a two-year delay in roll- ing out the service here.

And Labour Councillor Paschal

Fitzgerald has pledged to go back on the streets of Clare to collect more signatures to add to the thousands he has already handed in at the Dail de- manding the service.

“Despite the news that the service will be available in Cork, it is still extremely disappointing that all eli- gible women in the greater mid-west will not be called for a screening service until the end of 2009,” Depu- ty O’Sullivan said.

Cllr Fitzgerald said that he and party colleagues “stood on _ the streets and collected thousands of

signatures calling for this service to be available in Clare and we will do ime: hex-0 00 ae

He continued, “The Government is ignoring the people of the mid-west. Broken promises are one thing but people’s lives are at risk here.”

The Breastcheck programme pro- vides a screening service for women aged between 50 and 64.

Since its inception, there has been an 80 per cent uptake by women of- fered the service to attend for screen- betes

Statistics have proven that where

a screening service 1S in operation, deaths caused by breast cancer have considerably reduced due to early de- tection.

The National Cancer Screening service spokeswoman could not say precisely when women from Clare might be called to avail of the serv- ice but said that the service is being rolled out as quickly as possible.

Deputy O’Sullivan welcomed the announcement that breast screening for eligible women started in Cork from last week, despite a delay of nearly five years since it was first

promised.

“T, along with my party colleagues, have been campaigning for a number of years to have the national free breast-screening programme extend- ed to the south and western parts of the country.

“While I welcome the announce- ment which will allow women throughout the mid-west to avail of the screening programme in Cork, the full roll-out of this vital service throughout the country must be pro- eressed without further unacceptable delays,” she said.

A DOOLIN-BASED ferry company has failed to provide to Clare County Council with documentary evidence of legal interest that it owns the land it has placed a temporary ticket of- fice upon.

Earlier this year, the council asked Cliffs of Moher Cruises to submit documentary evidence of the compa- ny’s legal interest to apply for plan- ning permission for the ticket office at Doolin pier.

The council pointed out that the land on which the site was located was an area zoned in the North Clare Area Plan where it is the objective

of the council to reserve these lands for the future development of the pier and land based facilities and to facilitate the development of water based commercial activities for tour- ism and leisure uses for a sea rescue oon auee

As a result, the council states that they are concerned that the proposed development for retention will repre- sent piecemeal development which will hinder comprehensive develop- ment of these lands.

In its latest response to the council, Cliffs of Moher Cruises state that in relation to “the evidence of legal evi- dence in the lands, please be aware that the council as well as other par-

ties have been unsuccessful in their many attempts to establish legal in- terest in the site”.

The company state: “This is a live issue being dealt with by Clare County Council and we believe that it is current and ongoing.”

They added: “We have previously acquired temporary planning per- mission from the council to operate our temporary ticket office at this location.

“We have paid all rates due to the Clare County Council. We have paid all harbour fees with full agreement with Clare County Council.”

The company state that the tempo- rary retention permission is sought

for a period of three years and is sought until such time as a perma- nent facility is erected by either a public body, a private enterprise or a public-private partnership.

The company states: “We are pre- pared to co-operate with others in the development of such an approved structure which would be fully com- pliant with the planning require- neon nSed

The company points out that the business has been operational from Doolin pier since March 2003 and was granted temporary retention permission in February 2004.

A decision is due on the application later this month.

ELEVEN learners in the East Clare Adult and Community Education Centre, Scariff, have been awarded Further Education and _ Training Awards Council of Ireland (FETAC) certificates, some after two years of study, others after one.

They undertook the Vocational Training Opportunities Programme (VTOS) which has been on offer at the centre for almost nine years and brought the number of successful students to 100 in that period.

The certificates represented vari- ous combinations of subjects stud- ied. VTOS in Scariff is a two-year full-time programme that accom- modates twenty students. It provides courses in ceramics, stained glass, painting, art, craft and design, com- puters, women’s studies and Spanish. Other ‘general’ studies programmes

offered include the National Univer- sity of Ireland Maynooth certificate in social and human studies and FE- TAC modules in enterprise, work ex- perience and communications.

The centre’s target group is unem- ployed people over 21 in receipt of a payment from social welfare or sisning for credits for at least six peeve etsy

The Scariff programme has devel- oped an excellent reputation for its very fine art, craft and design seg- ment and has had an excellent rate of progression for students moving on to study full-time degrees in the College of Art & Design in Limerick and other third-level institutions.

Resources within the centre con- nected with the arts and crafts in- clude the ceramics module for which a kiln and potter’s wheels are avail- able.

Deputy Timmy Dooley formally

presented the certificates and con- eratulated the recipients.

He was full of admiration for the work of VTOS co-ordinator Mike Hook and staff in the centre which he recalled was “the original voca- tional school and had happily being retained for further education for the local community”’.

Mike Hook paid tribute to tutors Lynn van Lintzgy, in information technology, Sarah Moore, in stained glass, Nona Saunders in ceramics, and Andrew Nuland, drawing and paint- ing, as well as Mary O’Shaughnessy in administration back-up. “Their expertise and dedication made it all possible,” he said.

Adult education, he went on, 1s “about changing lives and creating opportunities. It provides the social and cultural capital to achieve that change”.

Bernie Treacy, who was asked to

speak about her experience of the VTOS programme, said that four years ago her husband, Caimin, died and she felt at the end of life. But in time, she signed up for the pro- gramme and has not left it since. She is now a voluntary tutor on the nu- meracy and literacy course. “Every- one gets individual treatment here,” She said, “and the tutors are brilliant in a lovely atmosphere.”

BOTH entrances to the town were lined with signs of encouragement for the Gaels. ‘Beware of the girls from the Gaels’ was one such notice and as a sea of blue and white sup- port huddled in the main stand, the atmosphere was building towards eaCeCOh Ver. Caiconsoele

Unfortunately for the crowd, aside from a battling first fifteen minutes, the Gaels were always playing catch up and when they went 10 behind with less than twenty minutes to go, they could sense that it was not going to be another famous Gaels win.

The inexorable nature of the elec- tronic clock system gave the likely- hood of defeat a more definite time- line and as the seconds ticked away so did any hope of a recovery.

The goal they craved never came and the Dublin side held out for their first All-Ireland title.

As the wind and rain blew through

the ground after the game, the play- ers gathered around the centre of the field and after consoling his players, co-manager James Troy attempted to voice his obvious sadness.

“It was disappointing. We thought that we had played a good first half against the wind but things didn’t go right for us in the second half. The goal came at a bad time because we needed to get it at that stage.”

The murmurs of the crowd after the game were all about referee Eamonn McElroy and his handling of the game. At several stages throughout the match, the supporters chanted and sang of their displeasure to his bizarre decisions and manager Troy was equally as irritated about the Down offical.

“The ref didn’t help things at all. He made things very hard for the whole game and made a lot of stupid decisions. But we can’t be blaming the ref at the end of the day but we were just unlucky and things didn’t

O Our Way.”

This result aside, it has been a great run for the Clare side who won both Clare and Munster titles in style and Troy was quick to praise the efforts of the girls durling the year as well as the quality of the Foxrock/Cabint- eely side.

“They are a good team and they were handpassing well out of defence in the second half. They played well against the wind but we are proud of the girls because they had a great year. They deserved to be in the final anyway but it was just disappointing on the day. But they deserve great credit for the work they have put in all year.”

SHANNON Airport is ideally placed to exploit the vast opportunities aris- ing from the EU US ‘Open Skies’ Agreement which will come fully into effect at the end of March next year.

That is the view of the transport minister, Noel Dempsey, who de- clined to answer directly questions from Clare’s two Fine Gael TDs, Pat Breen and Joe Carey, on the Aer Lingus commitment to retain serv- ices on its transatlantic routes out of

SJerveveceyee

Minister Dempsey’s predecessor, Martin Cullen, stated that he had received assurances that Aer Lingus would maintain transatlantic passen- ger levels to 400,000.

However, rumours abound that Aer Lingus may reduce or even withdraw completely its transatlantic services for the winter 2008-09 period.

In a written Dail reply Munister Dempsey said: “It is understood that Se eV U OUD M ae fort to ensure that year-round trans- atlantic services are maintained. I

would be confident that the airport authority, with the continued support of business and tourism interests in the region, can respond to the chal- lenges and opportunities presented by Open Skies.

“I understand that several studies have projected that the Open Skies agreement will lead to considerable economic benefits for Ireland, for the business sector, for the tourism industry and for the air transport in- dustry itself.

“On 7 November, Aer Lingus an- nounced that it would for summer

2008 maintain daily direct flights between Shannon to New York and Shannon to Boston and a daily flight to Chicago via Dublin. This re- flects a continuation of the schedule now being operated over the winter 2007/2008 period.

“In comparison with the 2007 sum- mer schedule the difference in the 2008 schedule is that the Chicago service 1S Operated not on a direct basis but indirectly via Dublin.”

In relation to the appointment of a further two appointees to the Aer Lingus board, Minister Dempsey

said “the State’s appointees will seek to ensure that all future decisions of the company, that have significant implications for wider government, aviation or regional development policies, including issues impacting on the mid-west regions, are consid- ered at board level”

On the business plan for Shannon airport, Minister Dempsey said that “I await the DAA’s overall consid- ered views on airport separation to enable the plans to be examined by the Minister for Finance and myself,’ the minister said.

A THERAPY that promotes the prin- ciples of relaxation is now available in Clare with Mountshannon man Wolfgang Wiesmann at the helm. Originally from Germany, Wolf- gang moved to Clare a number of years ago and Mountshannon be- came his new home. After working for various organisations and groups like the Council for the Blind, the Brothers of Charity, St Anne’s School

in Ennis and the Steiner school, he branched out into the relatively new field of therapy autogenic training.

The core of autogenic training is a training course during which clients learn a series of simple exercises in body awareness and relaxation de- signed to switch off the stress-related ‘fight and flight’ system of the body and switch on the ‘rest, relaxation and recreation’ system.

Autogenic training has been used by people of all walks of life to en-

hance healing, performance and creativity.

It has been taught to international sports men and women to enhance performance, to airline pilots and crew to combat jet lag and fatigue, and in the business environment to optimise performance and concen- tration and reduce stress. It has even been used to help astronauts make the necessary environmental adjust- ments in space travel.

Wolfgang teaches autogenic train-

ing and emotional freedom tech- niques at his office at Bank Place in /Syaebay

‘“Autogenic training comes from re- laxation without exercise,’ explained Wolfgang. “It is particularly helpful for people who might not be able to exercise, like people who might be disabled or in wheelchairs.”

He continued, “For physical health your mind needs to be relaxed fully. It is used a lot in England where it 1s a fully recognized therapy.”

ONE final scrum developed out on the field after the final whistle, then it morphed into a rolling maul that went up the steps to the presentation area in the Gaelic Grounds. It where David Kennedy joined his team mates in celebration.

Before that he had broken away from the scrum to be feted as TG4 man- of-the-match — it was an easy call for match analyst Donal O’Grady, such was Kennedy’s dominance of this game from centre back.

Kennedy more than anyone else was responsible for Loughmore- Castleiney’s Munster final victory — the impenetrable wall in their de-

fence who swatted Tulla attackers out of his way all day.

He caught more ball high ball than everyone else on the field put togeth- er, Something that moved some sages of Tipperary hurling in the stand to it was Kennedy’s greatest ever per- formance on a hurling field.

If so, he picked a great day to pro- duce his very best. Maybe it was the level of his own performance and the significance of Loughmore- Castleiney’s victory that left Kennedy slightly shell-shocked after the game. Certainly he was stuck for words.

“T don’t know what to say really,” he said seconds after Cathal McAI- lister’s final whistle. “It’s very hard to believe that we’re Munster cham-

pions. A year ago we were nowhere, we had nothing, that’s where we’ve come from.

‘This means everything for Lough- more-Castleiney. This is going to se- cure hurling in the parish for a long number of years.

‘We’re a very small club and win- ning this title is great going into the jaUiaet Ken

“It’s way beyond winning an All- Ireland. With Tipperary every year, no matter how bad things were go- ing you expect to be in Croke Park. With Loughmore you don’t expect anything.

‘This year we didn’t expect to win a county title and a Munster title — we didn’t expect to be hurling at

this time of year. This is a different universe,’ added Kennedy warming to his subject.

Then he turned to vanquished Tul- la. “They gave it everything and were really attacking us near the end, but our defence held firm.

‘We knew it was going to be a real battle out there and with the condi- tions there was never going to be pealecelemsneme ie

“We knew at half-time that the game was far from over, even though we were only a point up having played with the wind. It was almost as difficult to play with the wind as against it. We showed something in us today — I don’t know where it came from.

“It was important that we didn’t concede a goal, while the goal we got in the first half from Evan Sweeney was very important.

We missed a few other chances in the half but in the second half really played well at the back and got the crucial scores to win the game.”

With that Kennedy rejoined his team-mates — Munster Council chair- man Seamus O’Gorman presented the cup to Loughmore-Castleiney captain Johnny Gleeson. The singing started in the Mackey Stand.

It was cold, wet and miserable, but no one in the green and red of Loughmore-Castleiney minded. It was theirs and most of all David Kennedy’s day.

DEPUTY Joe Carey (FG) has called into question the commitment of the minister of transport to the people of the mid-west, following the min- ister’s response to Dail questions by Deputy Carey last week.

On ‘Tuesday last, Deputy Carey raised the issue of the designation of the Shannon-Heathrow route as a public service obligation route (PSO).

Deputy Carey said that the minis- ter’s response confirmed that “the Government is continuing to treat the Shannon-Heathrow issue with a slight hand, laden with political am- bivalence.

The designation of Shannon-Heath- row as a PSO first needs to be raised with the British authorities, and then a case made to the EU and for the ap- plication to be published in the EU

Journal,” said Deputy Carey. “The response | got from the minister was to the effect that contact with the EU has been requested at an early stage. There was no sense of urgency in the minister’s response, just further fob- bing and prevarication.”

Deputy Carey is now calling for contact with the British authorities to be made, and a genuine and pressing case made to the EU within weeks.

The Fine Gael deputy said that “Both industrialists and tourist bod- ies in the mid-west are facing an un- certain new year as the Government continues to drag its heels on this.

He added: “If this route were to be designated as a PSO, it could facili- tate continued connectivity for the west of Ireland to the world’s largest hub at Heathrow.”