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TWO aircraft confirmed to be in- volved in prisoner rendition activities by the CIA in reports published by the European Parliament, the Coun- cil of Europe and Amnesty Interna- tional, continue to use Shannon Aiur- port to refuel but are still not being searched by gardai.

The Gulfstream IV jets, registra- tion numbers N4/5LC and N478GS, owned at the time by Centurion Avi- ation Services, a shelf company for

the CIA, have been identified by the EU’s “Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners” published in November 2006.

N478GS landed at Shannon on July 26 andN475LC refuelled at the air- port in the early hours of October 30. A formal request for the airplane to be searched by gardai was made on the night by well known anti-war campaigner Edward Horgan from Limerick. Mr Horgan, a retired Irish

Army Commandant, was aware that the plane was due in Shannon and was there when it arrived.

His request to have the plane searched was refused and he made a formal complaint and two days later, received a letter from An Garda Sio- chana stating that “the gardai will not be taking any action on the informa- tion contained in your statement.”

Ata recent conference in Ennis, Mr Horgan asked guest speaker Kath- leen O’ Toole, the head of the Garda Siochana Inspectorate, whether

she would investigate the failure of gardai to prevent the use of Shannon for torture.

Stating that she had no personal or professional knowledge of the situa- tion at Shannon, Ms O’ Toole said that OS DENA OComDOOUUOUKI (cs mmc(oco wm OLE Li-DOhVAES Ro) f| time to assign us to look at anything throughout the country involving garda practices then of course we will do that.”

Centurion Aviation Services was also named in an Amnesty Interna- tional report on rendition last year

and the registered owner of both aircraft 1s now listed as L-3 IS LLC, Great Falls, Montana.

According to the European Parlia- ment report, “Aircraft N478GS and N475LC belong to the company Cen- turion Aviation Services. This compa- ny is relevant, within the framework of CIA flights, as a beneficiary of the so-called “landing permits” in the US military bases all over the world. The Civil Aircraft Landing Permit (CALP) authorizes aircraft to land on US military bases worldwide.”

UP TO 500 elderly people from east and south east Clare are to lose their local HSE centre that provides serv- ices such as home help, physiother- apy and other aids for independent living.

Staff at the care and case manage- ment provision centre in Raheen who had 500 east Clare people on their database are now being centralised to Ennis.

Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Carey has written to the HSE General Manager in Ennis expressing his concern at the withdrawal of direct care and case management provision from the residents.

“Care and case management is vital in allowing many elderly resi- dents receive the home help and care they require. The plan to centralise services in Ennis will mean that resi- dents in east Clare will have longer journeys to travel for assessment and consultation appointments,’ he said.

“This project has been running suc- cessfully in Raheen for many years,” said Deputy Carey.

Care and case management is in- volved in many areas of home assist- ance from arranging physiotherapy sessions, assessing clients for home help, providing aids for independent living and organising respite in day-

care centres.

‘This scheme has provided eld- erly people with invaluable resources since its inception in 2001,’ said Deputy Carey.

“It is not acceptable that elderly people will now be asked to travel to Ennis for these services. Trans- port will be a major issue for many of these elderly residents. In my view

the system wasn’t broken, so why is there a need to fix it?”

“What we have here is another ex- ample of the HSE using the current recruitment freeze to rush needless changes through the backdoor of our health service. Front line patients will be most affected.”

A ROW is brewing over the post of- fice field after wildlife experts be- came the latest group to express con- cern over plans for the site.

The Clare Regional Game Council has expressed its opposition to plans to build a new state of the art public library in the centre of Ennis. Ac- cording to the Council, any develop- ment at the site would have a negative impact on the abundance of wildlife inhabiting it.

The proposed development in the Ennis Post Office field will incor- porate a new Public Library, Head- quarters, Local Studies Centre, per- formance arena, community meeting

facilities and a range of ancillary exhibition areas for Clare County L1- brary and the Clare Arts Office.

Council secretary, Jimmy Allard said the post office field is an impor- tant breeding ground for birds.

He said, “We are objecting to any building or development on any part of the field. We stopped a builder building a hotel there before. That field is a wildlife sanctuary, from there out to Doora. There are a lot of ducks and geese in the area where they want to build that use it to nest”.

One of Ireland’s most successful fishermen, Mr Allard is a three time All-Ireland fly fishing champion and international gold medal winner.

He was the first person to introduce ducks to the River Fergus at the post office field in 1990 and the popu- lation has thrived since. He fears though that construction work would damage the delicate eco-system that has developed in the field.

“The ducks hatch along the area Where they are proposing to build. There will be hatching boxes going in there in the spring. You couldn’t start building there. There are a lot of people in the town that aren’t happy with it. Everyone would like to see a new library in the town, but we feel that there is plenty of space on the present site that could be re-devel- oped”

Mr Allard said the Council is also

planning to call a public meeting to discuss the issue.

Last week Minster of State Tony Killeen announced the appointment of a project design team to explore the development of a three-story 45,000 sq ft library building and arts centre.

However members of the arts com- munity in Ennis have questioned the merit of the project given Ennis al- ready has two major arts and cultural venues in glor and the recently rede- veloped Cois na hAbhna.

Library and Council officials have said the need exists for a new library in Ennis and that re-development of the existing De Valera library site is unfeasible.

BELIEF, structure and organisa- tion were the predominant threads which emerged from the “Together, Raising the Banner’ camogie forum on Saturday. Held in the conference room of the Auburn Lodge Hotel and chaired by Sponsorship and Finance manager of the Camogie Associa- tion, Sinead O’Connor, the five hour seminar was the most ambitious and Open camogie discussion ever to take place in the county and boasted a distinguished and legendary line-up from the GAA and camogie world. First to address the large attend-

ence was secretary of the Clare county board, Pat Fitzgerald who outlined the need for camogie to regularly interact and communicate with all county boards in Clare in order to ensure fixtures can be ar- ranged smoothly. The Sixmiulebri- dge man also stressed that equitable competition was needed along with a firm fixture list and that fairness was a priority when dealing with clubs across the county.

Trust, belief and honesty was Cyril Farrell’s advise to Clare camogie. Speaking openly about his past ex- periences as manager of both the Galway senior hurling team who won two All-Irelands under his leadership as well as the St Raphel’s schools camogie side who captured eight All-Ireland Senior A camogie championship titles, the current RTE pundit entertained the crowd with stories and guidance emphasising the need to find the right blend of tactics suitable for the team in order to pro- duce the best results.

Former All-Ireland winning player and manager Donal O’Grady high- lighted the importance of the role of the coach and manager in manufac- turing successful teams and advised the use of a liason officer to ease the burden placed on current managers in the modern game.

After a break, the forum then switched to the past experiences of currnet players and managers in cam- ogie and GAA. Dual Cork player and director of camogie Mary O’Connor spoke about what ingredients are

necessary to become an inter-county player while also dwelling on her background as a dual inter-county player which is particularly relevant to the current crop of Clare players. Five time All-Ireland winner Emily Hayden compared Tipperary’s rise through the ranks to Clare’s present situation while current All-Ireland winning Wexford manager Stella Sinnott spoke of Wexford’s march to the title this year after several fruit- TASS (ore Dace

Former Clare player Seanie McMa- hon drew upon his experience with the Clare senior hurling team while Catherine O’Loughlin and organiser Deirdre Murphy spoke of Clare cam- ogie’s immediate future and provided suggestions for the progression of the game in Clare.

The closing address was provided by the President of the Camogie As- sociation, Liz Howard who along with summarising the main points of the seminar, highlighted that or- ganisation and belief were key to success and reiterated Seanie McMa- hon’s statement that if the county is to move forward that everything has to take a back seat to the Clare team winning. A fitting end to an original and successful venture and more improtantly, major food for thought ahead of the Clare camogie AGM in mid December.

US TRIPS from North America to Ireland show a drop for the second month in a row, sounding alarm bells for Shannon Airport in the aftermath of Open Skies.

Figures for September show a drop of 8,900 in the number of trips from North American to Ireland. The Au- gust figures showed a drop of 4,100 such trips.

Fine Gael TD, Pat Breen has warned that this fall-off in visitors from North America this September, compared to the same period the pre- vious year, Should sound alarm bells for Government and for Tourism Ire-

land.

“It is not sustainable to have a trend of decreasing trips from the impor- tant North American market,’ he said. *“These individual figures come in the context of slowing growth in the number of overseas visitors to Ireland. Comparing year to date fig- ures, numbers of overseas visitors erew by 2.8 per cent in 2004, by five per cent in 2005 and 11.2 per cent in 2006. But the level of growth has dropped back to 4.1 per cent so far in 2007. This is becoming a trend and one which we must arrest,” he said.

“CSO figures relate to the number of trips only and do not address other industry concerns about declining

length of stay and average spend, as well as the regional imbalance in vis- itor spread. Figures for the summer of 2008 indicate that transatlantic seat sales into Shannon from North America are projected at 355,226 another significant drop. Yet no Gov- ernment initiatives have been put in place and promises and guarantees given have been reneged upon.

“The previous Minister for Trans- port Martin Cullen told us that he had sought and received guarantees that Aer Lingus would deliver 400,000 passengers post Open Skies. Shan- non Airport will be the real loser if yet another Government promise is broken,” he said.

SOMEWHERE out there could be the next Roddy Doyle or Enda O’Brien and, if you think you have even a spark of that kind of genius, then the Killaloe writers workshop is the place for you.

Just started up again after a sum- mer break and now in a new location at the Family Resource Centre, the free and friendly workshop sessions are open to writers of every experi- ence and none.

On the third Tuesday of each month, the group meets between

Spm and |lOpm to read, exchange views and opinions, offer construc- tive criticism, advice and pool in- formation in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

“People are very welcome to come along and just have a listen and see what’s going on initially but we would hope in the end that every- one would have a go and read their work,” said Mike Durack, one of the founder members of the group since ie

The evenings feature short stories, poetry, works in progress, magazine articles and writings for radio.

“We have people who have been published in magazines or featured on radio and people who are just starting to write but everyone can learn something,’ said Mike.

Numbers in the group vary and there are currently up to eight people attending.

As well as reading and making sug- gestions to improve writing skills, the group shares experiences on the best styles for different disciplines as well as contacts and methods of get- ting published or broadcast.

“We are open to every level of ex- perience and any suggestions made

are made in a friendly way that will encourage people so there’s no need to worry.”

The evenings give fledgling writ- ers a chance to share their work in a sympathetic environment and new- comers to the art blossom under the encouragement and constructive ad- vice given by the more experienced scribes.

Anyone interested in taking part in the workshops should contact Mike at 087 7810577 or Sean O’ Donohue on 061 375384.

Alternatively, just come along on the night.

THE Munster Rugby Supporters Club and An Post are carrying out separate probes in to the apparent disappearance of around 300 tickets for last Sunday’s Heineken Cup clash between Munster and Clermont Au- vergne at Thomond Park in Limer- ae

The club had to cancel and reissue the tickets when as many as 10% of tickets dispatched to members were not delivered. The club received its ticket allocation on Friday Novem- ber 9 and posted the tickets to almost

3,000 members on the same day.

Late last week however, when their tickets had not arrived by post, con- cerned members began contacting the club’s Cork office prompting an immediate investigation of the mat- ae

In an email to members last Thurs- day, the MRSC said, “Following concerns earlier this week, we had hoped that tickets would be delivered later in the week but that does not ap- pear to be the case. An Post has been contacted and the concerns of the club regarding delivery have been expressed.”

A meeting took place in Cork early on Friday morning to finalise details for the cancellation of the estimated 300 original tickets and the re-issuing and collection of replacement tickets prior to Sunday’s game at Thomond Park which, although still under re- construction, had been passed to ac- commodate 12,000 fans. Extra staff were also drafted in deal with phone calls from concerned members.

Members were then asked to col- lect their tickets at Musgrave Park in Cork or at the Munster Rugby Store on Sunday morning. Some fans had to queue for up to an hour in O’ Con-

nell St in Limerick and some still did not receive tickets in time for the game which Munster won 36-13.

The MRSC was unwilling to com- ment any further on the issue in the absence of the full facts but it is known that on Friday staff retraced their steps on the day the tickets were dispatched in an effort to locate the tickets.

Several people who had not been in a position to check their emails dur- ing the week were not aware of the problem and were too late applying for replacement tickets.

An Post has confirmed that all the

items posted by the Munster Rugby Supporters Club last week were processed for immediate delivery. “A thorough investigation was initiated following a call to a local Cork de- livery office Thursday afternoon and a senior An Post manager worked closely with the customer concerned. Everything we received, we deliv- ered’, a spokesman said.

In a follow up email to members, the MRSC said, “We wish to thank members for their co-operation in this matter and assure you we are looking into the matter in conjunc- tion with An Post.”

THERE was anger and aggression in the air as missiles were hurled and glasses and bottles smashed in a ‘life threatening’ Traveller riot, which

caused €14,000 damage to an Ennis pub.

Up to 40 men and women fought each other, at a double engagement party at Brandon’s bar, O’Connell Street, Ennis, on May 3, 2006.

Arising from the fracas, nine members of the Travelling commu- nity – aged between 19 and 29 – were charged with violent disorder. Anoth- er individual was charged with pub- lic order offences. All pleaded guilty

at Ennis Circuit Court.

One of the 10, Patrick Quilligan, (19) of Knockane, Newcastlewest, who held a bottle up to the owner of the bar, Declan Brandon, was re- manded in custody for six weeks, be- fore the sentence 1s finalised.

The other nine were fined various sums, totaling the €14,000 cost of the damage.

Additional garda reinforcements had to be brought in from Shannon and Ennistymon to deal with the juke)

When gardai initially arrived at the scene, one Traveller had his t-shirt torn off and had his fist clenched.

Gardai heard roaring and shouting coming from the laneway, while sev- eral glasses were smashed.

Recalling the incident to the court, Garda Shane O’Connell said, “You could see people hitting each other and there were glasses smashing.

“Td call it a riot, something that I’ve never seen before, highly dan- gerous,’ he said.

One young man fired a bottle in the direction of the gardai. It skimmed over a garda’s head and hit a door. Another bottle hit the squad car which was parked outside the door, while other missiles were thrown at the

gardai. A stool was smashed and part of it was also hurled at the gardai.

Garda O’Connell said he took out his baton. He told one drunk young man to put down a piece of wood and, when he refused twice, he struck him on the arm with the baton. The baton broke in two.

“It was a volatile situation. There was no point staying there. It was too dangerous,” said the garda.

Later that night, two young men at- tempted to rob the same bar.

One of the two, who has never been identified, pointed a piece of timber at Mr Brandon and threatened to put it “through your f***ing neck”’.

Another, Patrick Quilligan, held a bottle to Mr Brandon’s head.

Judge Michael White said the ac- tions of a small minority of Travel- lers impacted on the wider Travelling community, most of whom are law abiding citizens. He said the incident was “life-threatening” and someone could have been seriously hurt.

Those fined were given varying lengths of time to pay.

A NEW committee is to be established to advise on the future development of sporting facilities in Ennis.

Ennis Town Council is seeking to restructure the current committee, set up in 2003 to facilitate communi- cation and discussion on the develop- ment of sporting facilities in Ennis.

At the November meeting of Ennis Town Council Town Clerk Eddie Power stated that the council was also looking to hear from other sporting clubs and associations not currently represented.

The present committee is made up

of Ennis Town Council (three elect- ed members), Clare County Council (three elected members) and a rep- resentative from the GAA, athletics and Clare Soccer.

It is known that the Clare school- boys/girls soccer league is looking to have a voice on the committee, as are representatives from the Ennis Rugby Club.

SW slommere)cebeeDUnCcroMmmn Oelo(o1B00Tcs mmr: Dus attended by council staff and the senior staff officer and corporate services provide administrative sup- port. Nominations by both local authorities were made after the last local elections in 2004.

In his report, Power said, “One

of the county council representa- tives has been elected to the Dail in the 2007 General Election and consequently a vacancy has arisen on the committee. Other sporting codes use the council’s sporting facilities in addition to the associa- tions represented.”

“A skateboard park was opened re- cently which attracts a large number of skaters. It 1s important that there is a continuation of the successful communication links with the skat- ers. Participations in the committee would be beneficial in this regard.

“IT am proposing that the number of sporting bodies representatives be increased and that each body

be asked to confirm their existing representatives to the committee. Clare County Council should also nominate a member to fill the cas- ual vacancy referred to above. The sports facilities committee has a rep- resentational role through which the sporting bodies using the facilities have a structured communication fo- rum,” he added.

“The committee has an important promotional role to play in high- lighting the nature of the facilities available among sporting clubs and associations.

“The committee can further pro- mote additional facilities as these become available to use.”

SELINA Moylan confirmed her rep- utation as one of the brightest talents in American college soccer when she was named Daktronics Inc Women’s Soccer Division Two Northeast Re- gion Player of the Year.

It is just the latest accolade for the Ennis woman who has also won the 2007 East Conference Women’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Year

aE TKee

In 2006, The University of New Haven midfielder became the only two time all-American in the pro- sramme’s history and also a First Team All-Region and Third Team All-America pick, in the NSCAA (National Soccer Coaches Asso- ciation of America)/adidas coaches’ olan nts

These are major achievements when you consider the geographical

area involved (nine universities) and the high profile of the women’s game in America.

22-year-old Moylan has made a serious impression on the wom- en’s game since moving to study in America in 2003.

Statistical analysis is a major aspect of American sport and a quick perus- al of Moylan’s 2007 season quickly reveals why she is rated so highly.

The midfielder was second in the

league scoring charts on 17 goals and tied for fourth with eight assists.

She helped lead UNH to 12 wins this season, the fourth year in a row that the team has won 11 or more neTeWke s(erce

In her debut season in 2005, Moy- lan wrote her name into the record books when her winning extra-time goal lifted UNH to its first-ever WiGraVae sarees

She is currently pursuing a major in

Management of Sports Industries. A former captain of the Ireland under 19s, Moylan was the eircom ladies under 18 international player of the year in 2002.

She spurned offers from some of the major colleges in America at the time instead choosing UNH because it was an up and coming college that she hoped to accomplish great things e180 8