Category: Uncategorized

KILRUSH Town Councillors have been accused of “not caring about” the Shannon crisis, and the loss of Aer Lingus’s London-Heathrow slot from the airport.

Mayor of Kilrush, Tom Clyne (Ind) said he is aware of comments that the councillors have been very quiet on the issue and “did not speak out in public’.

At this month’s meeting of the town council, Cllr Marian McMahon- Jones (FG) said while the council may not have been there as a unit, members of the council did attend.

‘Maybe we should have had a state- ment out by now,” she said.

“T think we as a council need to be a lot more aware and a lot more vo- cal,’ she added.

Independent councillor Deirdre Culligan told the members, “It has been noted that councillors were TPO Basso be roa

In addressing the meeting, Cllr Tom Prenderville (FF) said, “a lot has been said about the issue. We at- tended a lot of meetings, we are four- square behind the airport.”

“We are a sinking ship and there are people out there who can throw us a life raft and that is the Govern- ment,” said Cllr McMahon-Jones.

“Tf small councils, big councils and our politicians stand united, disre- garding political parties, and call

Bertie out, we could force his hand,” she said.

She said it was time that the TDs and Government stood up and were counted.

“They were not elected to roll over for Aer Lingus. They are elected to represent the people.”

Fianna Fail councillor Liam Looney agreed with his council colleague.

“T am beginning to question my own membership of Fianna Fail,” he told the meeting.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the future of Shannon Airport, ten per cent of Munster employers ex- pect to recruit more workers by the end of the year, according to the lat- est Manpower Ireland survey.

This is the most optimistic figure of all regions nationwide and shows a three per cent increase 1n quarter- over-quarter results. In year-over- year comparisons, Munster also saw a four per cent increase and was the only region which reported an 1m- provement in year-over-year com- parisons.

Nationally only 12 per cent of Irish employers say they expect to hire

more people during the fourth quar- ter of 2007. These results are down a disappointing eight per cent on the corresponding quarter for last year and down three per cent on the Q3 results for 2007. The survey also shows that seven per cent of Irish em- ployers expect to reduce their work- force while 81 per cent anticipate no change over the coming quarter.

Conducted quarterly, the Man- power Employment Outlook Survey measures employers’ intentions to increase or decrease their work- forces over the forthcoming quarter. Ireland’s Net Employment Outlook for the final quarter of the year is just five per cent, down six percentage points from Q3 2007.

A DELEGATION from the French seaside village of Arzon will be in Lahinch this weekend to help locals in the naming of a brand new street.

Years of development have seen the once small village of Lahinch grow into a bustling tourist town. In the process however, a number of areas have been left without a recognised name or title, as new houses and es- tates have created whole new streets and urban areas.

Earlier this year the Lahinch Com- munity Council, in partnership with Clare County Council, launch a pro-

gramme to give the poor postman a dig-out, and put some order an the Lahinch street names.

They began an extensive consulta- tion process where local were invited to suggest possible names for the unnamed streets. The first results of this will bear fruit on Sunday when a recently developed street, running parallel to main street, will be re- named Rue d’Arzon.

Lahinch has been twinned with Ar- zon for a number of decades and del- egations from both towns meet and hold regular exchanges.

‘There is a group coming over from Arzon who will be staying in Lahi-

nch for two or three days over the weekend. The big thing is happening on Sunday, we will be naming that street. We have all the signs ready for it So we are all ready to go,” said Gerry Hartigan of the Lahinch Com- munity Council.

“Besides the naming of the street there will also be an exchange of an Irish style post box for a French style post-box. That night then we will have an official twinning dinner in the Liscannor Hotel and we will be bringing them around to see some of the great attractions the the area has to offer.

“We will bring them into the Court-

house Exhibition in Ennistymon, up to Lisdoonvarna, they might want to go up to the Burren or up to the Cliffs of Moher. where ever they want to 20.” Besides putting names on previ- ously untitled areas, the council also hopes to sort out a number of con- fusing situations, such as two estates who both have the same name in the AUF TS

WOODSTOCK’S hopes of All-Ire- land glory perished in Belfast on Thursday afternoon as they bowed out of the Pierce Purcell Shield at the semi-final stage to a crack Warren- point side.

The semi-final clash was played in Shandon Park, just outside Belfast, but the local knowledge of the War- renpoint club from nearby Down was crucial in driving them to a compre- hensive 4-1.

Woodstock failed to win any of the five matches in the foursomes competition. Indeed, the semi-final bid of the 2002 champions started on the worst possible note when the lead pairing of Michael Kelly and Stephen Spencer went down by 6 and 4 to S Sands and D Flanagan.

Woodstock then gave themselves some hope for the remainder of the tie when Jimmy Kelly and Jason Dor- mer played out a halved match with S Colgan and P Devlin. They were one up with five to play, but then found themselves one down with three to play. However, they battled back to Neu kommer DEe

Match three then became a cru- cial rubber for Woodstock, but the

pairing of Noel Dinan and Liam O’Connor bowed out after putting up a brave battle against N Devine and A Campbell. They were four down after five but battled back to be only one hole adrift by the 16th. However, Devine and Campbell held firm and closed out the match on the 18th to win by two holes.

It meant that Martin Nolan and Michael O’Brien had to win their match — they made a bold bid but had to be content with a half. It was the all-important half-point for Warren- point that put them through to a fi- nal meeting with Donabate who beat Bearna in the other semi-final.

The final match out on the course also went Warrenpoint’s way with M Redmond and M McGivern beating Tony Lawlor and James McMahon by 3 and 1.

CLARE County Council is to circu- late a questionnaire to every house in Ballyvaughan over the com- ing weeks, asking the local people for their opinions on how the town should be developed in the future.

That was one of the major decisions arising from a public meeting hosted by the local authority at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan last Veto

The meeting, which was chaired by

Risteard Ua Croinin, conservation officer for Clare County Council, was an introductory public meeting hosted in preparation for the creation of a Village Design Statement for Ballyvaughan.

“It was a very positive meeting. There was a great turnout and we heard a lot of relevant concerns from the Ballyvaughan people, mostly about the local infrastructure. Eve- rything that was said was very posi- tive,’ said Ua Croinin.

“One of the major issues raised was

about water and the quality of water in Ballyvaughan. They were prob- ably the most controversial areas. There were also worries raised about the capacity of the sewerage system in Ballyvaughan and the density of future developments.” Ballyvaughan, along with Carriga- holt in west Clare, has been selected by Clare County Council’s Planning Policy Unit as an ideal candidate for this initiative due to its size and loca- tion. The project will be undertaken by officials of the Planning Policy

Unit in line with a series of public consultation workshops and meet- ings with local interested individu- als and groups. The unit will also be seeking the input of local public representatives at these meetings and workshops.

“The opinions of the local people will have a huge impact on how this policy is formed. This is a plan that will be developed by the local people and treated by the council as a Local Area Plan,” continued Ua Croinin.

“We didn’t get to address all the is-

sues on the table so there will be an- other meeting in the coming weeks. It was decided to circulate a ques- tionnaire to all the local people and we decided exactly what questions to ask at the meeting. The question- naire should be circulated locally in the coming weeks.”

Clare County Council hopes to ad- dress a number of issues during the drafting of the Ballyvaughan Village Design Statement, including the pro- tection and conservation of impor- tant buildings.

THE rugged surrounds of the Bur- ren may have been the very centre of financial and social activity in Me- dieval Clare, a new excavation has shown.

Early indications from an excava- tion, undertaken earlier this month at the Caherconnell Stone Fort near Carron, have revealed that the struc- ture was a much more important building than previously thought, and most probably the property of a wealthy landowner.

Following a 10-day archaeological excavation, undertaken during Herit- age Week ‘07, it has been discovered that Caherconnell Stone Fort is twice the size of the 300-500 standard cashels that are now under study in

the Burren.

The true size of the fort at Caher- connell is 40 metres in diameter, and with a thick stone walls rising to over three metres in places it would have taken considerable resources, both in manpower and finances to construct.

Artefacts uncovered included two disc-shaped quernstones of the ro- tary type, used to grind cereals while iron arrowhead, three inches in length and with barbs at its base, were also found.

“Both the arrowhead and quern- stone fragments are very fine ex- amples, and are not of a quality you would expect to find in the cashel of a normal farmer of the period,” said Dr Michelle Comber of NUI Galway, who is currently researching early medieval settlements in the Burren.

“All told, it seems very likely that the people living at Caherconnell were of the nobility. Wealthy farm- ers who ruled much of the land in the vicinity of their cashel. Work so far places the site in the upper ech- elons of the Early Medieval social system.”

A piece of sandstone was also found, which was probably used as a hearth stone and, as the Burren 1s predominantly limestone, the sand- stone is likely to have been imported Seer NUR

“The excavation has exceeded our expectations and has produced a lot of information that was previously unknown,” said excavation site di- rector, Graham Hull of TVAS ar- chaeological consultancy based in Sul te

The excavation was undertaken by a partnership of NUI Galway, TVAS and the Davoren family. The visitor centre incorporates Ireland’s first Stone Fort virtual tour and illumi- nates the historical and archaeologi- cal secrets of the more famous Bur- ren monuments. The centre on the family farm now attracts over 20,000 visitors per year.

“When the company was estab- lished in 2003 one of our long term goals was to see the fort dated and preserved,’ said Sean Davoren. “We are very grateful to Dr Comber and Graham Hull for volunteering their time and resources to begin this V0) 0.e

“The work they have carried out has been amazing and their enthusi- asm infectious.”

MUNSTER rugby fans in Clare have expressed mixed feelings following confirmation that London Wasps have moved the venue for their Heineken Cup “home” clash with Munster in November to Coventry forcing supporters to change travel and accommodation arrangements at extra expense.

HEC champions Wasps were ex- pected to host 2006 cup winners Munster on November 10 in London however it has now been confirmed that the Round 1, Pool 5 clash will take place in Coventry, 100 miles from the capital. A spokesperson for the Ricoh Stadium has confirmed that the venue has been booked for the game at 5.30pm on November 10 next.

It was always unlikely that the game would be played at Wasps’ home ground at Adam’s Park as the

capacity there is only 10,000. The club had been considering a number of options including Twickenham, the Emirates, Wembley Stadium and other venues outside London, how- ever none of these options material- There

PRO of the Munster Rugby Sup- porters Club, Glenn Flanagan said yesterday, “Whilst initially we were disappointed that Wasps chose to move the game from London to Cov- entry, we do understand that Wasps exhausted every possibility, to stage the game in London. We understand that venues from Southampton, Emirates Stadium, MK Dons Are- na, Stamford Bridge, Wembley and Twickenham were all considered but for one reason or another, these ven- ues were not available.

As soon as the draw for this sea- son’s championship was announced during the summer, hundreds of Munster fans quickly booked flights

to London but will now have to take a two hour train journey from the capital to Coventry’s Ricoh Stadium for the clash or make alternative ar- rangements.

A spokesman for the European Rugby Cup (ERC) has said, “As the tournament continues to grow several Clubs are now moving pool matches to larger venues to cater for demand following a trend that started with quarter-finals like Munster’s last year at Lansdowne Road and Bourgoin who moved their clash with Munster to Geneva.”

“If Wasps stayed at Adams Park, Munster would get less than 1,500 tickets for their fans for what must be one of the biggest and most antici- pated pool games for either club and the tournament. Their move to the State of the art 32,000 Ricoh Arena will mean that thousands more fans will be able to attend the game if they wish.

‘The venues for the Pool stages are decided by the home clubs, and they must confirm the venues at least sev- en weeks before the game to ERC. This is a new deadline introduced this season,” according to the ERC.

MRSC PRO Glenn Flanagan add- ed, “of course, with the game being moved to a bigger venue, it gives the Opportunity to have more Munster Supporters at the game. Although many of our members have booked various flights into London for the game, we will endeavour to help show them the best way to Coventry from all London Airports.” Informa- tion is available from www.munster- rugbysupporters.com.

THE west Clare capital has seen much prosperity and development according to the Tidy Town judges.

So impressed were the judges with Kilrush they gave the Heritage town 49 marks out of 50 for its overall de- velopment.

The majority of the infrastructural improvements were in keeping with the original landscape according to the judges, but such development had come at a small price.

While Kilrush secured almost maximum marks in all categories to secure a gold medal in the hotly contested tidy towns competition, tidiness remained an issue receiving just six marks out of 30.

“There is still a major amount of construction work going on in Kil- rush and in the environs. This leads to messy site areas and developers

should be encouraged to keep these areas as tidy as possible,’ said the adductors, who were also aware of the hard work of the local people in keeping their area tidy.

“Outside of the above there is goodwill on the part of the local community to contribute to keeping areas immediate to their properties in good condition and free from Itt- ter and weed growth.”

The judges were full of praise for the hard working tidy towns com- mittee especially in its efforts to mobilise people to contribute to the aeue

They paid tribute to the built envi- ronment of the town with its many attractive shop fronts and well pre- sented public buildings.

The standard of the landscape was described as excellent.

“The visual effect of colourful hanging baskets, window boxes, nu-

merous potted planting and roadside planting was exceptional,’ the judges said, who agreed that the planting undertaken throughout the town if of benefit to the wildlife of the area.

“The interesting Cappa Pier area and the Millennium Bridge Amenity are all suitable for wildlife conserva- tion. The Heritage Council will help you to identify wildlife pockets in the area,’ the judges told the Kilrush Loyeabasnianeron

The town of Kilrush has its litter under control according to the judges – “a testament to the great work of the committee 1n advancing the mes- sage of good litter control”.

Kilrush received an amazing 19 out of 20 marks under the “waste minimisation” category, loosing a mark for the “poor condition” of the recycling centre on the Plouzane Car Ane

“Evidence of bottles, boxes, rub-

bish bags were left by the recycling centre. This situation needs to be ad- dressed,’ said the judges.

Private residental areas were sin- gled out for praise, as were the roads, streets and back areas and all en- trances to the town.

“Kilrush has made great strides in the National Tidy Towns Com- petition to date. Despite its major transformation over the last number of years it retains its rural/maritime character. We look forward to even further progress in the competition,” said the judges.

IT was a day for hurling in Corofin on Saturday. Hundred of young sharp shooters from six clubs turned out to show their stuff and prove once again that hurling is alive and well in north ETc

Teams representing Ruan, Crush- een, Lisdoonvarna, Corofin, Kilna- mona and Inagh all competed in the first ever North Clare Hurling Cham- pionship. The competition took shape through the course of the year, developing from a few challenge matches into a fully fledged regional competition.

There was much to play for on Sat- urday with a Cup, Shield and Plaque all up for grabs for the winning Rere betsy

Home side Corofin took the Burren Cup, seeing off a spirited Kilnamona side in the final. Tubber/Crusheen beat an enthusiastic Lisdoonvarna side to take the Plaque while Inagh beat off Ruan to win the Shield.

“The competition was a= great success. We had a situation where there was no hurling being played in Corofin once the teams had been knocked out of their competitions. I rang around some of the local clubs to try and arrange a challenge and it seemed that there were playing little hurling up there too,” said organiser Vincent Maloney, of Corofin GAA Sitios

“They were mad to get involved. Within a week we had five match- es played, and it just took off from there.”

The popularity of hurling has been spreading in north Clare in recent years with young people becoming involved in the sport in traditionally football areas such as Ballyvaughan and Lisdoonvarna.

“The interest is there from the young people but they need match- es. A lot of the north Clare teams would tend to be knocked out at an early stage of the championships and that leaves them with no matches throughout most of the summer,’ continued Vincent.

“There are a lot of people in north Clare who are putting in great efforts to keep hurling alive in the area. Peter Casey has hundreds of kids playing hurling in Lisdoonvarna and Alex Ferguson would not be more professional.

‘Johnny O’ Rourke did the same for Inagh years ago and there are people in every club doing the same. I must thank Corofin GAA Club and John Malone for managing the tournament on the day, Gerry Quinn who pre- sented the medals, Ambrose Hagney for his refereeing and all the manag- ers and trainers for all the teams who took part.”

Saturday’s competition was such a success that it now looks likely to be- come an annual event with Ennisty- mon and Clonbonny set to join from next year.

A KILRUSH town councillor has questioned central governments pri- orities when it comes to providing essential services to the people of west Clare.

Cllr Marian McMahon Jones (FG) said that by law the people of Kil- rush are entitled to a public lavatory, but a laboratory for the nearest acute hospital does not seem to be a neces- sity.

The Kilrush town councillor also questioned why a busy Accident and Emergency service and a mammog- raphy unit was not considered a ne-

cessity, when an under utilised public toilet was an essential requirement.

“You are entitled to a lavatory but not a laboratory,” she said.

Cllr McMahon Jones was compar- ing the stark realities of government policies that threatens 24-hour Ac- cident and Emergency Care at Ennis General Hospital and the closure of the busy laboratory at the hospital.

“You are not entitled to breast screening in Ennis because the government could not be bothered spending money on it,” she said.

In contrast a public toilet must be provided in Kilrush town, at a cost of €34,000, according to Cllr McMa-

hon Jones.

This public amenity is underused and brings in just €2,000 to the council coffers every year.

This is €32,000 of taxpayers mon- ey going down the toilet according to the annoyed councillor.

It is compulsory for the super loo to be provided by local authorities, whether or not it is covering its own cost when people spend a penny.

“We are entitled to a public toilet, paid for by the tax payers, but we are not entitled to a mammography unit paid for by the people of Clare, an A&E, a laboratory, or even a basic hospital,” she said.

“You will not have a hospital in 20 months time, but don’t worry you will have a toilet – at great expense to the taxpayer,” she warned.

Cllr McMahon Jones has been sup- ported by her council colleagues in her call for Minister for Health Mary Harney and CEO of the HSE Professor Brendan Drumm to be in- formed of the councils concerns at the withdrawal of breast screening services and laboratory facilities at Ennis General Hospital. A second letter, proposed by Cllr Deirdre Cul- ligan (Ind) is asking for clarification from Proff Drumm as to the future of A&E at the county hospital.