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COUNCILLOR Cathal Crowe has been given a commitment from one of the main contractors in the Shan- non Tunnel construction that they will carry out repairs to roads in east OE

After meeting with representatives of the Roadstone company last week, Cllr Crowe said he was “given a firm commitment that they will carry out repair work on the Woodcockhill Road. I requested the meeting to

discuss the much deteiorated Wood- cockhill Road. My meeting with the official lasted for almost an hour and during this time we drove the length of the road and surveyed it’s various bad points.”

The councillor said that he has been raising concerns regarding the state of Phairs Road and the Wood- cockhill Road for the past year. He had met with a number of residents in the locality on several occasions “and their frustration 1s palpable. Many people living in the area have

complained to me not only about the poor condition of the road but also the untold damage that heavy good vehicles are causing to their front boundary walls. There can be no de- nying that most of the damage caused to these roads has been inflicted by the countless trucks that carry sand and gravel from the Woodcockhill sandpit to the nearby construction site of the Shannon Tunnel.”

At a council meeting last Decem- ber, Cllr Crowe tabled a motion call- ing for a fund to be set up to provide

for the immediate restoration and ongoing repair of Phairs Road. “I believe that the financing of any re- pair work should be the responsibil- ity of the relevant authorities / bodies involved in the construction of the Shannon Tunnel. The Shannon Tun- nel is a project of national impor- tance and whilst nobody in Meelick wants to get in the way of progress we feel that something urgent needs to be done to ensure that our local roads are restored to an appropriate standard.”

RYANAIR, Aer Lingus’s largest shareholder, has confirmed that it has submitted a formal complaint to the Irish Financial Regulatory Services Authority (IFSRA) concerning the alleged breach by Aer Lingus of Irish Company Law and Stock Exchange Rules.

The low-cost airline says the breach was in the Aer Lingus “*’selec- tive briefings to one shareholder (the Department of Transport) of market sensitive information (the closure of the Shannon-Heathrow route) some eight weeks prior to the announce- ment through the Stock Exchange

notice.”

A Ryanair spokesman said it is of grave concern “that one shareholder (the Department of Transport) which only holds a 25 per cent interest in Aer Lingus was repeatedly briefed on this market-sensitive informa- tion…before the Stock Exchange an- nouncement of this route closure on August 7.

“This repeated and selective dis- semination of market sensitive in- formation to one shareholder up to eight weeks prior to making all oth- er shareholders aware of the facts is a clear violation of Stock Exchange rules and Irish Company Law,” he claimed.

A YOUNG girl has told a court that her father turned into an “unkind evil daddy” and hurt her a lot.

The girl was giving evidence in the trial of her father who is accused of sexually assaulting his two daugh- ters. The 36-year-old man, who is originally from Clare and cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of sexual as- sault on the girls on dates between September 2001 and December 2004 in a County Offaly town.

Dublin Circuit Court last week heard evidence via video-link from

one daughter who told prosecuting counsel, Una Ni Raifeartaigh BL, that she couldn’t remember how her father behaved when he was minding her while her mother was at work.

The man’s other daughter told the trial that her father used his penis to put cream on a rash on her bottom.

She said she was aged between four and five when the alleged offences took place. She said her father used to lie on top of her on the bed and push her head onto the pillow.

She said he would do this to her every night her mother was at work. She said she noticed that her father used to be kind to her, but that he

became “evil” and “turned into an unkind evil daddy”.

‘“He’d hurt us a lot and he didn’t used to,” she said.

She told defence counsel, Mr John Phelan SC, in cross-examination, that she had previously said her fa- ther used the cream when she was “a baby” and in further reply to counsel she replied: “A baby is until the age of two.”

The accused’s wife told the trial that both she and her children were petrified of her husband but that they loved him. When asked by counsel if she still loved him, she replied “Yes.”

She said she first went to gardai af- ter one of her daughters told her that her father “pretended to put cream on my bottom” but had hurt her. “She said, ‘Mammy, he really hurt me’.”

She explained that she then went to the Garda station two days later to make a report.

Ms Ni Raifeartaigh told the jury in opening the case that a medical examination was performed on the children and gardai took bedclothes from the house for forensic analysis.

The trial continues in legal argu- ment and will resume on Thursday, before a jury of five women and sev- eee

SUPERVALU Kilrush has displayed a decade of cleanliness and hygiene.

The supermarket owned by Queal- ly’s was awarded for its polished performance at a special ceremony in Dublin.

The supermarket won the prestig- ious Excellence Ireland ten year Na- tional Hygiene Mark Award at the annual National Quality and Excel- lence Awards which was organised by the Excellence Ireland Quality Association (EIQA).

The Excellence Ireland Hygiene and Food Safety certificate pro- gramme provides independent veri- fication of the highest standards of hygiene and food safety in the food sector, so for SuperValu, Kilrush to

receive this award for the past ten years was no small achievement.

The supermarket had to excel through the most rigorous of audit and assessment programmes de- signed to produce long-term under- standing and commitment to quality in every aspect of the business.

The award was presented to Paul Queally and Denis Nolan by Paul O’Grady, Managing Director, and Excellence Ireland Quality Associa- nee

Mr Nolan was in no doubt who was due the credit for such an achieve- ment.

“Winning the National Hygiene and Food Safety award is one of our key business objectives each year and everyone who works here plays a part in striving for this. The bar for

excellence is raised each year and the team have certainly responded to the benchmarks put in place. Our customers have very high expecta- tions, which we work hard to ensure they are achieved on a daily basis,” he said.

Congratulating the Kilrush super- market Donal Horgan, SuperValu Managing Director, said that quality and hygiene were top priorities for Supervalu Kilrush therefore, it was no coincidence that it consistently received awards in retail hygiene and food safety.

“It 1s a tremendous achievement for Queally’s Kilrush to receive the 10 years National Hygiene Award. It demonstrates their consistent at- tention to detail and commitment to putting in place top class quality

and hygiene systems. Quality is and always will be at the heart of every- thing we do. Queally Supervalu in- vest hugely, both time and money, in ensuring the highest possible hygiene standards and food safety measures. For SuperValu, Kilrush to maintain such high standards ten years in a row takes an enormous amount of hard work and dedication from the owners, managers and staff,’ he SrHKOe

TWO young men who stole cider from an apartment in Ennistymon have been warned if they offend again they may face time behind bars.

The warning, from Judge Michael White, came at Ennis Circuit Court as Noel Mullane (25) and Robert Molloy (19), of Ardnaculla, En- nistymon, pleaded guilty to stealing a guitar bag and cans of cider at an apartment in Ennistymon, on August 17, 2006.

In the district court last April Mul- lane had pleaded not guilty and opted to have the case heard in the circuit Co) U ae

Garda Colm Collins told the court that Andrew Hertz left his apartment in Ennistymon at 6am with friends. He didn’t lock the door of his home, but had assumed that the main door of the apartment block was locked.

His neighbour woke at 8am and heard noise from the apartment block. She saw the two accused walking into Mr Hertz’s apartment and then leaving it, with what she thought was a black bag. She alerted the owner of the apartment and the ee KOre

When gardai arrived at the scene, the two accused were sitting on a bench near the apartment block. They were highly intoxicated, said Garda Collins, and he arrested them under the Public Order Act.

“I conducted a quick search of the area and found a black guitar case

on top of a shed close to where they were sitting. It was full of cans of Bulmers,” said the garda.

The guitar case was used to hold the drink, the court heard.

Mullane’s barrister Lorcan Con- nolly said his client was “heavily intoxicated” that night, having been

on a “complete drinking binge in La- hinch and Ennistymon”.

Molloy’s barrister, Michael Fitz- gibbon, said his client had also been drinking for several hours.

“The burglary was solely todo with drink. It could hardly be regarded as a sophisticated crime. The gardai came on the scene. They made no at- tempt to make a getaway. They were caught drinking the cans of Bulm- ers,’ said Mr Fitzgibbon.

Addressing the two accused, Judge White said, “Mr Mullane, this is your fifth conviction since 2002. You are skating on thin ice. There’s one way you will go if you offend again. You’d want to be very careful. Drink isn’t an excuse for this type of behav- elu e

“Molloy, you’re only 19 years of age. You’re in a similar situation. A judge is going to have very lit- tle choice but to send you to prison. That’s the direction you’re going.”

He imposed a one-year jail sentence on Mullane and a one-year detention term on Molloy. Both sentences were suspended for two years.

ON FRIDAY night next, 15 commu- nity games participants from west Clare will be among those honoured at the Clare Community Games All Star awards.

Among the All Stars is Kieran Magner from the Cross/Carrigaholt area. The 14-year-old student at St Joseph’s Community School Kil- kee could not find his niche in the running section of the community games, but determined to compete he took up the shot putt just two years ago.

During his first year of compet-

ing he won the county final, so this second year he was determined to go one step further.

The young teen trained under the watchful eye of Kilmihil man John Devine and practiced every day dur- ing the summer.

All the hard work paid off when he won Silver in the All Ireland in Mos- eae

A keen rugby player and talented musician Kieran was also part of the Naoimh Eoin under 14 team that won the county championship.

Three of his four brothers also play for the GAA club.

The 14 other west Clare communi-

ty game participants to be honoured on the night include Marathon run- ner Liam Markham from Kilmurry McMahon/Labasheeda and under 16 basketball player Sally Glynn from Kilrush, who also holds an All Ire- land U/16B Ladies football medal with her local club.

Laura Egan from Kilmihil who is now a member of the Under-12 team will be honoured for her cross-coun- try running as will Conor Madigan from Kilrush who was part of the County U/12 football winning team.

Harp player Grainne Harvey from Cross/Carrigaholt will be _ recog- nised for her football playing abili-

ties while Becky O’Donnell from Kildysart is a talented gymnast. Kilmihil has four more sporting heroes in the line up including Bri- an Waters, Michael Keating, Dean Cleary and Pauric O’Gorman. Seamus Collins is from Ballyna- cally/Lissycasey and 1s a talented set dancer, while Laura McGuane and Niamh Cahill both from the Kilma- ley/Inch/Connolly area are receiving an All Star for their soccer playing. The last in the west Clare list is Doonbeg’s Sean Conway. Although he is a fan of soccer play- er Wayne Rooney he is being hon- oured for his swimming talent.

IT WAS justified. It was relentless. And most of all, for Lissycasey, it was historic.

The game itself wasn’t a pretty thing to watch, but with the cloak of success falling over them for the first time, that won’t matter to the new champions.

Perhaps the familiarity bred the dour nature of the game or maybe Lissycasey just got it right on the day. This was the third champion- ship meeting between the two in only twelve months and it was clear who had learned more in that time and who hungered more over the past year.

From the start, Lissycasey were

like lions targeting a gazelle. They sped out of the dressing rooms with- out a care for the usual pre-match sit down and smile for the camera. And coming back out after the half-time breather, their substitutes lined the entrance and roared their 15 back onto the field.

It was a frenzied approach and they compressed the life out of their op- ponents, pythonesque.

Throughout the field, the focus re- mained constant. With a couple of minutes left, Martin Daly turned to the umpire and asked how long till the final whistle. Daly believed there was still a quarter of an hour to ride out and couldn’t understand the game was nearly over. That was the sort of concentration and application

Wd eLoavaer-KOn

“Last year was a massive motiva- tion,’ said Declan Conway from a perch underneath the stand. “The pain we felt standing here last year, looking up at Alan [Malone] lifting the cup. That hurt us. It’s been on our minds ever since. But these boys stuck with it. They gave it everything, had the belief and got their reward.”

For those who gave the breakaway club life back in the early ‘60s, this was a day to savour. A day they de- To Mio1em

Men and women had _ travelled home from far afield to watch this one, undeterred by the county final of 2006. They’ll go back to their new lands later in the week happy with the knowledge that the club is

in good hands. Progressive and ready to be fed by the new breed of young- sters who fill the homes on their side of the parish.

Just after he held the Jack Daly cup over his head, the first Lissycasey clubman to do so, James Kelly said this band of footballers were no long- er the whipping boys of Clare.

To be fair, they never were, but Sunday’s win puts them among the county’s elite and now, they’ve a de- cent chance of scalping Kerry side Kilcummin in the Munster champi- onship at a Clare venue on November oF

AS THE development of a school playing pitch comes to a conclusion, the people of Quin are being asked to dig deep and help fund the project.

Local primary school, Scoil na Mainistreach, is currently raising €200,000 for the extension of the school and the purchase and devel- opment of a school field.

The field has been acquired, adja- cent to the school, and the work has been completed. Half of the funds have been raised. In an effort to drive

the fundraising effort, the board of management is appealing for finan- EVE SR eUIeron

The parents of all 174 students at the school have been asked to pay €50 per month, for three years, to- wards the project. Further funds will also be required.

Pat O’Brien, who is a parents coun- cil representative on the Board of Management, said the support of the local community is imperative.

“We did not receive any grant for this project and have been fundrais- ing. We are hoping to hold *Who

wants to be a thousandaire’ in Janu- ary, said Mr O’Brien.

He said that while the field is owned by the Diocese of Killaloe, it will be available to the entire community.

“It should be a great benefit to the community. The community will be able to use it, with permission from the Board of Management,” he said.

Previously, there was no pitch avail- able to the school and local parents are delighted with the development, which will benefit their children.

Mr O’Brien believes that the addi- tion of two local sporting heroes, to

the school staff, should augur well for sport in the area, in the future. ‘Along with experienced sports co- ordinator Eleanor Gallagher, Fergal Lynch and Sile Daffy, both from Clooney, are teaching at the school. All three are of major benefit to the school. It 1s important that the chil- dren are playing sport,’ he said.

THE gloves have come off and it’s starting to get personal. The ICMSA launched an incredible attack on Teagasc last week, describing their plans for a massive increase in the milk quotas as ‘half-baked and glo- rified pub talk’.

ICMSA president, Jackie Cahill, bashed Teagasc’s call for a massive expansion in milk quota and called on the organisation to weigh up the different quota options open to Ire- land and make a recommendation based on the best interests of Irish dairy farmers and the dairy sector

which those farmers underpin.

“This is unfortunately typical of the kind of half-baked theorising that Teagasc has lately chosen to describe as ‘research’ and which always seems to obscure a question rather than throwing some light on it,” said Cahill.

‘Proper research 1s needed and this is precisely what we’re not getting. Today’s statement might be charita- bly described as useless and could more accurately be described as con- fused nonsense.

“Dairy farmers will be veering be- tween amusement and bewilderment as they try and work out how a three

per cent increase in milk quota would depress milk prices and lead to an overall loss to dairy farmers while a 20 per cent increase in quota would leave many farmers better off.

“Can Teagasc tell us how many farmers and how much better off they’d be? What we’re seeing here — yet again — 1s Teagasc’s inability to give direct answers to relatively straightforward questions. [If it’ll help them, Ill happily set out here the questions to which dairy farmers need a direct answer from Teagasc.

“What will be the impact of milk price for every one per cent increase in quota, what will be the likely

price in Ireland for every one per cent reduction in the tariff protec- tion in WTO and what will be the likely price of milk if there was no quota?”

Last week Teagasc had called for a large expansion of the EU milk quo- ta, which they claimed would benefit the Irish dairy sector in advance of milk quota abolition, but may not suit all dairy farmers.

Teagasc economist, Trevor Don- nellan, said that if a large quota increase was agreed as part of the upcoming CAP Health Check, few other EU Member States would have the potential to increase production

CLARE County Council is to pay tribute to one of the county’s most decorated sporting heroes.

Gymnast William Loughnane from Knockanovra, Clooney/Quin won six gold medals and one bronze at the Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai, China last week, and the local authority has agreed to pay him the ultimate local hour — a civic reception on November 12.

Loughnane also won bronze in the vault beating stiff competition from Russian gymnasts.

Councillors Pat Hayes (FF) and Pat Daly (FF) proposed that the man who won gold for Ireland in five cat- egories — including rings, pommel horse, parallel bars, horizontal bars and floor — be honoured.

“It is a huge achievement for Wil- liam and his family, continuing on from his success in the 2004 Olym- pics in Dublin,” said Cllr Daly.

William’s medal haul at the 2007 games equals the number of med- als he won at the 2004 games, which were held in Ireland.

William’s parents, Liam and Rose joined him in China and were among

a large Irish representation at the games.

Cllr Daly and Hayes also paid trib- ute Patrick O’Leary from Inagh who was a member of the five-a-side soc- om cre b eee

The team just missed out on a medal as they were beaten in the third place play-off by Mauritania from Africa.

The Irish contingent in Shanghai consisted of 141 athletes, 55 coaches, 200 volunteers and over 400 family members.

William qualified for the games in Belfast just over a year ago. Since then he concentrated on his prepara-

tion for the challenge in China.

The champion gymnast hopes to coach gymnastics himself in the fu- ture and puts a large part of his suc- cess down to St Clare’s School in Ennis where he learned his trade as a gymnast.