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SHANNON-based industrial dia- mond manufacturing company Ele- ment Six Ltd increased the size of its business last year by almost 20 per Cone

According to accounts filed to the Companies Office, the company — whose principal activity is the manufacture and sale of industrial diamonds — also returned to profit last year after recording a loss of $9 million in 2005.

The accounts show that Element Six recorded a profit before tax in 2006 of $2 million. The company — formerly de Beers — increased its turnover from $279 million to $331 million in 2006.

According to the accounts the com- pany had a gross profit of $160 mil- lion up on the $131 million in 2005.

During 2006, the company an- nounced 75 job losses as part of a restructuring programme with two- thirds of the redundancies coming from support staff, and the balance coming from production operations.

The accounts show that the numbers employed at the facility at the end of 2006 was 580 — up from the 567 em- ployed at the end of 2005. Staff costs in 2006 came to $43 million. How-

ever, sales and administrative costs have significantly increased.

The costs of sales increased from $123 million to $147 million and administrative costs went up 67 per cent from $74 million to $124 mil- |bTeyee

The company paid a dividend of $89 million in 2004, however, no dividend was paid last year.

The company supplies products all over the world and the markets main- ly served with industrial diamond and related products are the United States of America, China, Japan and all countries within the European Union.

The statement accompanying the accounts show that “currently the company is investing in continuing research and development into new products and technologies and it is hoped to increase market share and profitability in the foreseeable fu- ture.

“Taking into account Element Six’s long and established history in the manufacture of industrial diamonds, it is expected that the company will at least retain its market share in the foreseeable future.”

The company has no major devel- opments planned for the manufactur- ing side of the business.

UP to 15 books of evidence which are due to be served for criminal tri- als have been lost — they were inad- vertently deleted from a computer in the State Solicitor’s office in Ennis. The “human error” was made by a

Staff member in the office, who was in the process of creating a back-up of files on a computer.

An incorrect key was accidentally hit and the loss was incurred 1m- mediately. The computer was sent to Dublin in an effort to retrieve the data. While some indexes have been

recovered, the books of evidence have been lost and will have to be reassembled.

COUNTY Councillors from the Kil- rush area are to discuss again the proposed extinguishment of a right of way through Doonbeg Golf Club at Caherfeenick Cree, amid claims that the elected representatives have reneged on a previous agreement to postpone any decision until after an upcoming high court judicial review.

In a heated meeting last evening, the members were told by Clare County Council’s_ solicitor, John Shaw, that any decision they made on the proposal to hand over a right of way to Doonbeg Golf Club Limited in exchange to alternative access to the beach would have “no effect” on the judicial review.

The judicial review taken by the golf club against An Bord Pleanala relates to claims by the golf club that

the planning appeals board acted outside its jurisdiction.

During last evening’s meeting, while councillors often resorted to raised voices and accused each oth- er of making personal attacks, the county solicitor also advised that, if

the high court upholds the decision of An Bord Pleanala, he has been in- structed to prosecute.

In February of this year, the Kil- rush councillors agreed to postpone any decision on the right of way until after the review.

Cllr Tom Prenderville (FF) pro- posed that this agreement signed by the councillors would stand until Doonbeg Golf Club is “compliant with all planning conditions” relat- ing to developments at the club, has “removed and dismantled all unau- thorised developments” and all par- ties involved are consulted.

Cllr Pat Keane (FF) offered an amendment to the motion that dis- cussions on the right of way be de- ferred until the December meeting of the councillors.

Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn asked what would happen at the December discussion and did he expect a deci- sion to be made.

Three councillors – Christy Curtin (Ind), Oliver Garry (FG) and chair- man Bill Chambers (FF) – supported Cllr Keane’s amendment.

Cllr Taylor Quinn (FG) did not vote,

explaining to her colleagues that she understood the meeting was called so that they could get legal advice and no decision was to be made.

Cllr Prenderville and Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) voted against the amendment and asked councillors Keane and Curtin if they were “wriggling out” of the February agreement.

Cllr Keane argued that the council had a right to discuss the matter.

“What is the status of that docu- ment then?” asked Cllr Prenderville.

“Your signature 1s worth nothing so,” Clir Kelly told councillors Keane and Curtin across the table.

“We have done nothing to enhance public confidence here today. We have wriggled like worms out of an agreement,” said Cllr Prenderville.

THE majority of the 200 Polish workers at the centre of an indus- trial row at the ESB power station at Moneypoint are to remain employed elo Kon

The Poles will continue to work on the mult-million euro environmental changes being made at the plant.

The former ZRE Katowicz employ- ees voted unanimously to accept the settlement terms of their dispute with the ESB, its main contractor Lentjes and the subcontractor ZRE Katowicz (Ireland) Construction Limited.

The Polish subcontractor left the workers, all members of the Tech- nical Engineering and _ Electrical Union, with up to six weeks pay in arrears. It has now gone into liquida- tion.

All of the workers involved have now been offered jobs with the main contractor, Lentjes, at the Money- point site or with other contractors on site including the UK based com- pany AMEC which 1s taking over the ZRE contract.

Lentjes has made arrangements to make hardship payments worth about 50 per cent of the total due to the workers this week.

The State Insolvency Fund is to provide separate payments arising out of the inability of ZRE Katow- icz (Ireland) Construction Limited to meet its liabilities to the workers.

TEEU General Secretary Desig- nate Eamon Devoy said, “There are jobs available for all of our members who want them in Ireland and we ex- pect the uptake to be very high.

“We have also secured jobs with

ZRE Katowicz in Poland for those who wish to return home but most of our members are expected to take up the Irish offers.

‘Thanks to the steadfastness of our Polish members, the solidarity of our other members in the ESB power station at Moneypoint, who were ready to act in their support and the assistance of the Labour Relations Commission, we have managed to achieve a happy ending to a dispute that could have ended very differ- ently,” he said.

“T have no doubt that if these work- ers had not been in a trade union they would have received no arrears, pen- sion contributions or other payments to which they are legally entitled.”

The workers had all been employed on the €384 million environmental retro-fit at Moneypoint.

ANIMAL rescue services have been working overtime this Hallowe’en to help pets who have bolted in terror of fireworks.

Clare dog warden, Frankie Coote said that this had been one of the busiest seasons ever and in just two nights last week, he dealt with 30 dogs that had lost their way in fright.

“It just gets busier every year. I worked through the night on Hallowe’en and Hallowe’en doesn’t just last for one night anymore. There’s nearly a whole month of it, with fireworks being let off and bon- fires being lit every weekend in Oc- tober.”

Stray dogs are still being brought in to the pound and Mr Coote is doing all he can to re-unite them with their owners.

“We’ve got about half of the ani- mals back to their homes but there are still a lot of dogs whose own- ers we haven’t found. We would ask people whose pets have gone miss- ing to contact us – we can’t get your dog back to you if we don’t know it’s TOD Estoy 0 roa

Good weather has exacerbated the dog warden’s difficulties as people have more opportunities to be out-

doors, letting off fireworks.

While most animals are acciden- tally strayed, having bolted in fright at an exploding rocket, one of the more sinister practices of Hallowe’en is for owners to abandon their pets under the guise of them having strayed.

“Some people use the night as an excuse to dump pets and then they are brought in to us.

“It’s a terrible thing to do but there are people who will do that,” he said.

The animals taken in by the dog warden vary from thoroughbreds to cross breeds. Some people who find animals keep them in their homes until the original owner has been found while other dogs are brought straight to the pound.

In the run up to Hallowe’en, pet owners were warned to keep their pets indoors to stop them running away or worse, being snatched by people with cruelty in mind.

“When an animal is lost, it’s very important that owners contact us so that we can help them look for it. We may already have the dog but we can’t keep animals indefinitely so we would appeal to people to contact us as soon as possible,” he said.

Frankie Coote can be contacted on 087-6225253.

MAKE the new Northern Distribu- tor Road big enough to solve grid- lock in east Clare – that was the message to the Clare and Limerick County Council’s from an elected representative for the area. Councillor Cathal Crowe said that he wants the two local authorities to give “strong consideration” to the width of carriageway for the proposed Northern Distributor Road. In June of this year the elected members of Clare County Council gave the green light to Limerick County Council to proceed to the planning stages for a section of the Northern Distributor Road from Coonagh roundabout to

Knocklisheen, Meelick.

“When this road sees the lights of day it is vital that it tackles traffic congestion in south east Clare and suburban Limerick in a meaningful way, the councillor said.

“A lot of forward thinking is re- quired if this road 1s to be effective.”

The councillor pointed to the road system built 15 years comprising of the Clonmacken Ring Road and Condell Road on the north side of Limerick City.

“These roads were built with the aim to alleviate traffic congestion in the city hinterland. The present re- ality is that this road system is one of the most congested routes in the mid-west and in order to escape the

city and suburban traffic, motor- ists are forced to take a detour on the south east Clare ‘rat-run’ from O’Briensbridge to Meelick. I feel that a wide carraigeway, or better still, a carraigway routed several miles north of suburban Limerick would best deal with the current traf- fic problems.”

John Fitzgerald has been appointed by the Government to head a task- force to deal with matters of social exclusion in the Moyross area. His report included a proposal to have a road running north of Moyross from Coonagh roundabout to the Knock- lisheen Road in Meelick.

Whilst the entire Northern Dis- tributor Road will take a number of

years to come to fruition, the section from Knocklisheen to Coonagh will be fast-tracked.

“IT hope that ultimately this road will do a lot to alleviate the daily congestion on roads in the south east Clare area. The road system from Clonlara, through Parteen and Ar- dnacrusha and on into Meelick has become a rat-run for commuters,” SO voy (our bee

He added that it is “important that all efforts are now made to build on the positive momentum around John Fitzgerald’s report. I hope that both local authorities, in conjunction with central Government, will now try to advance the entire Northern Distrib- utor Road project”.

PLANS for a €10 million retail de- velopment for Miltown Malbay has come under fire.

Currently, Clare County Council is adjudicating a planning application by John Jones to construct a super- market, seven retail units, offices, 18 apartments and 148 car-parking Spaces on the Ennis Road leading into the village.

In the first two to three years of operation the venture is expected to create 100 jobs. However, business interests in the village have railed against the proposal.

Patrick Boland, who is the owner of five retail units on the Ennistymon Road has told the council in an ob- jection that “the scale of the project is so large that it threatens the exist- ing business ecology of the town”’.

He stated, “This development would constitute a new town cen- tre. It is on the scale and design of a modern shopping centre suitable for a large town or city but is not com- patible with a village.

“It is on the outskirts of the town, on a mainly residential street and would cause the centre of business and trade to shift away from the main Street.

‘The attraction to tourists of a bus- tling village with traditional shop fronts and small individually owned businesses would be lost.

“Currently, the shops in Miltown are owned and run by different families. Historically, this pattern of ownership and trade has sustained the economic and community life of small villages and towns in Ireland. This development threatens that d1- versity of ownership.”

Donnan Meade of the Mace Shop on the Main Street claims that the proposal “could take the soul out of the village with nothing left on the main street but closed businesses and properties. This is in nobody’s inter- est”.

Claiming that the proposal could herald the death-knell of new busi- nesses along Main Street, Mr Meade said, “I understand that there would be a short-term benefit to the com- munity during the construction of the proposal but over the course of time, it will have a negative impact on the community at large.

He added: “I am not against devel- opment, but the sheer scale of this particular one is daunting and I feel that Miltown could regret such a de- velopment over the medium to long term.”

A decision is due later this month.

SEVERAL firemen had eggs, fire- works and bottles thrown at them as they attended bonfires on Hallowe’en night.

The fire services in Clare had 23 call-outs last Wednesday night, 18 of which involved bonfires. This com- pares with an average of three or four incidents on a normal day.

According to the acting Chief Fire Officer, Denis O’Connell, it was a very busy night. Although there were no hoax calls, he said that the behav- iour of a number of individuals cre- ated trouble for firemen.

“Ennis and Shannon fire brigades ran into a lot of difficulty trying to carry out their duties. Fireworks, eggs and bottles were thrown at crews and many firefighters received a lot of verbal abuse over the evening. Ennis fire brigade had bottles and fireworks thrown at them at a bonfire near Oak- wood Drive, Ennis. They received a lot of verbal abuse and had fireworks thrown at them at a bonfire in Quin Gardens, Quin,’ said Mr O’Connell.

“Shannon fire brigade had timber and eggs thrown at them at a bonfire in Rineanna, Shannon and they re- ceived a lot of verbal abuse and had bottles thrown at them at a bonfire in Newmarket-on-Fergus,” he said.

“It is very regrettable that firefight- ers should have to deal with this type of behaviour while carrying out their duty. Fortunately, there were no inju- ries received by any firefighter on the

night,” he added.

In Ennis, a garda was assaulted as he intervened in a dispute in the Mar- ket area of the town on Hallowe’en night. The garda had to receive stitches to a wound on his face, after he was struck.

Gardai say that a number of nui- sance calls were made over the course of the evening. Overall, how- ever the night was “no busier” than any Hallowe’en night.

Meanwhile, locals in Kilkee were angered after 22 steel rims of cars and trucks were left on the beach after bonfires there on Hallowe’en night. While the rims have since been removed, there are still remnants of

car tyres lying on the beach.

Former Mayor Manuel di Lucia said the situation is not acceptable.

‘There are something like 100 coils of wire still there and they are going to cause problems if they are not moved. Some years ago, a young girl cut her hand after the wire became embedded in the sand and she was playing with the sand,” he said.

“It happens every year but this is the worst I have seen it,” he said.

AS OF yesterday, council officials and elected representatives in east Clare have a new home to go to. Staff began the move yesterday from the courthouse to the new coun- cil offices at Mountshannon Road. The Tulla Courthouse, which was home to the council in recent years, is now being leased to the local com- munity development group which will be using the building for various

community activities. The Court will also continue to sit in the court- house.

The new offices in Scariff will also be home to a branch library, and will offer a range of services for the public including payment of house rents, loans, rates, water rates and planning contributions, receipting and processing of all road opening licence applications and distribution of information, application forms and contact details relating to all

Clare County Council services.

The public will also be able to view documents such as County Develop- ment Plans, area plans, register of electors and there will be a planning clinic at which the Local Area Plan- ner will attend on the morning of the fourth Tuesday of each month for pre-planning consultations.

Motor tax online service will be available in the very near future and elected representatives will hold their meetings in the new offices.

“These range of facilities should be a great asset to the people of the east Clare area in availing of services lo- cally,” said Area Officer, Michael McNamara.

The new branch library will be Open as and from the November 12 and will have increased opening hours.

The official opening will take place on Monday, November 19 next and will be performed by the Mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia McCarthy.

CLARE county football cranks back into gear tonight (Tuesday) with the first training session of the new sea- son, a full two months ahead of last season’s return.

It’s the third manager in as many years for the footballers and while the exact make-up of the league squad won’t be known for a number of weeks, some new additions are likely to be included when the panel is pared down.

The early start brings renewed

Structure, a direction that has been welcomed by players involved under recent appointment Frank Doherty. “Players have had a rough enough time of it over the past couple of sea- sons, maybe they lost their way at times and we decided to get together to bring some guidance back,” said Doherty. “I want to get to know play- ers and know what they’re about. Put faces to names. There’s no point in starting out for the season a couple of weeks after Christmas and maybe a fortnight to go before a McGrath Cup game. The bottom line is that

we want to get belief back in Clare football that’s been missing for the past while.”

With the addition of Kilkenny to the footballers league group, it means the spring will be action filled and if Clare can put together a decent McGrath Cup run, close to a dozen hours of competitive football could be played before the championship Torta DENSE

“It’s important to get some work under the belt at this stage,” adds Doherty. “All going well, the core fitness will increase and the lads

will be able to play at a high tempo throughout the league.”

Some dovetailing for those involved in the Under 21s is also expected.

“In all, I’m hoping for 28 to 30 lads at the first training. Some will be in- volved in Under 21 training and I’d expect a lot to be involved with us as well. On top of that, we have lads involved with Sigerson who won’t be available immediately and there isn’t any issue there. We want the entire panel to know what the game plan is and what’s expected in terms of physical condition.”