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CALLS for the resignation of Fianna Fail ministers, the holding of an Aer Lingus EGM and for councillors to protest at the airport with banners came from an emergency meeting of the council last night.

Councillor Madeleine Taylor-Quinn proposed a motion on behalf on the Fine Gael members at the emergency meeting called by Mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia McCarthy.

She called on the Minister for Fi- nance “to immediately call an EGM of Aer Lingus to discuss the matter and reverse this decision.”

She said that despite having a spa- tial strategy “the Government is about to allow the withdrawl of these critical slots which provide vital con- nectivity”.

Her colleague, Cllr Joe Arkins further proposed that if the slots are withdrawn that the Government lead a legal challenge to the decision.

He described news that a new route may be on the way to Paris as a “smoke and mirrors exercise’,

The Fine Gael members also asked that the council seek an immediate meeting with the Taoiseach on the matter, while Mayor Mccarthy told the meeting that she has made con- tact with all of the mayors in Tipper- ary, Limerick and Galway to seek a

joint meeting with the Fianna Fail leader.

Labour councillor, Pascal Fitzger- ald, called on the “mid-west minis- ters to state publicly that they will resign if these slots are taken from Shannon. People’s livelihoods are at stake and the Government is doing yatelee vb sree

Cllr Colm Wiley (FF) said that “calling does nothing. What I am proposing is that two members of this council go to the airport with placards and protest until we get what we want and rotate the protest so that there are members of this council there at all times until this 1s resolved.”

Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) accused the Government of having “no function- al regional policy” while Fianna Fail councillor, Richard Nagle, said that the “only satisfactory outcome to this is the retention of our slots into Heathrow”.

He said the Fianna Fail councillors have jointly sent letters to the minis- ters for transport, tourism and trade and employment outlining the poten- tial seriousness of the consequences of the decision.

He said that the council “should call on the Taoiseach to recall his minis- ters and set up and interdepartmental eroup to deal with what can only be described as a crisis for this region.”

A NEW law which governs how busi- nesses treat their emails has been in place since January but is still catch- ing a lot of people out, according to a leading mid-west business solutions provider.

Vincent Hely, who has recently joined the new Ennis office of PA- QIT Solutions, the computer support company in Ennis, said that the new regulations are “something a lot of people are not even aware of, despite the fact that they are now legal re- 6] USB aoseates pL Riae

The new regulations cover legal requirements for email footers and headers, said Hely.

Mandatory information which now has to be included by a pri- vate or public limited company or a Limited Liability Partnership on let- terheads, order forms and all business emails are the company registration

number, the place of registration (e.g. Ireland or England etc.) and the reg- istered office address

The information should also appear on the company’s website. Failure to comply with these requirements puts the company at risk of a fine. These details are not required of sole trad- ers or Standard partnerships.

Confidentiality notices come under the optional heading, said Hely.

“Some organisations add a confi- dentiality notice to every outgoing email. If the disclosure of the content of an email becomes the subject of a dispute, it can be argued before a court that the recipient should have known to not disclose the informa- tion,” he said.

THE summer may have been a wash out but that hasn’t stopped the En- nis Farmer’s Market from thriving. Located in the upper Market Street public car park on Friday mornings, the market is a hive of activity. Traders offer a wide range of foods, fresh produce, cut flowers and crafts. The Farmer’s Market has been up and running since 2004 and consists of a eroup of dedicated food producers and traders with a wide range of lo- cal, artisan and organic foods includ- ing meats, cheeses and local honey,

to name but a few. Most of the pro- duce is sourced in Clare with some coming from nearby Tipperary.

Market trader Aoife Ni Giollacudda said, “A special atmosphere exists on market day.

Customers love coming down to the Farmer’s Market as much for the atmosphere as for what’s on sale. It’s bright and cheery whether there’s rain, hail or sunshine’.

She added “the producers and stall- holders love to chat to customers and will answer any amount of questions about their produce. A lot of it is or- ganic but is not necessarily so. How-

ever, there 1s one common thread throughout, it is nutritious, fresh and completely traceable.”

Traders pride themselves on offer- ing a wide range of fresh and nutri- tious products that are directly trace- able back to producers. A wide range of products can be found at the Mar- ket. They include: local goat, sheep and dairy cheeses; organic beef and lamb; organic seasonal vegetables; free range pork, rashers and sausag- es; homemade breads and cakes; free range eggs; handmade chocolates; local honey; homemade jams; olives; sun dried tomatoes and pesto; fair-

trade tea coffee and crafts; pottery; cut flowers and garden plants.

Aoife said, “The experience of shopping in a farmer’s market is much more enjoyable than shop- ping in a supermarket. So take a trip down sometime to sample what’s on offer”.

AFTER three hours of heated discus- sion, Clare County Council adopted two compromise motions on the Shannon crisis following an emer- gency meeting of the local authority last night.

The emergency meeting had threat- ened to boil over into party bicker- ing, as a number of possible motions were discussed by Government and opposition councillors.

A number of motions, including one calling for a vote of no-confi- dence in the Minister for Transport proposed by Joe Arkins (FG) and another calling for a 24-hour, two- person council vigil to be set up at Shannon Airport proposed by Colm Wiley (FF), were rejected in favour of an all-party compromise.

The council adopted a motion stat- ing that Clare County Council would remind the Minister for Transport of his reponsibility to the development to the west of Ireland and the bal- anced development of the country as a whole.

A second motion called on the Minister for Transport, the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach to take immediate action to resolve the situ- ation in Shannon.

County Manager, Alex Fleming, emphasised the negative impact that a loss of business rates due to the Air Lingus pull out would have on the lo-

cal authority.

“Unlike most counties, this county really depends on the commercial rate base.

“Any impact on this will impact seriousely on the rate base in the county,” he said.

‘“T have invested very heavily on the assumption that things are coming together with connectivity. Our ex- pectation is that connectivity would increase, the fact that it might de- crease is a real surprise.”

Fleming also called on the council- lor to continue an approach of soli- darity and progress with a ‘simple and actionable objective’.

All 32 council members are also to spend a half-day in Shannon Airport, to show solidarity with the workers of Shannon and coincide with the visit of Air Lingus Chief Executive, Dermot Mannion later this week.

Meanwhile, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP), confirmed to the council that party leader and Minister for the Environment, John Gormly, would be travelling to Ennis on Thursday to meet with a council delegation on the subject.

North Clare Cllr, Martin Conway (FG), also told the council that he iS organising a meeting of all Fine Gael councillors in Clare, Limerick, Kerry and Tipperary to take place in Shannon later in the week and discuss a joint proposal to be put to party leader, Enda Kenny.

THE newly opened Shannon Re- cycling Centre is being hailed as an overwhelming success just two weeks after it opened to the public.

Clare County Council said it was “very pleased with the level of activ- UA Yaer: | Neocon A Kos

The facility has so far shipped out one 35m skip of clean timber each week since opening.

“The public have been very coop- erative in ensuring that the timber is clean of any glass or metal,’ a spokesperson for the council said.

As many as 24 cages of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and five boxes of used car

batteries have been filled in the two weeks of operation. “The cardboard and plastic bailing facilities are prov- ing very popular with the public with a daily production of one cardboard bale weighing half a tonne and one plastic bale weighing quarter of a tonne,’ she said.

‘Feedback from the public has been very positive.”

The majority of general queries currently being fielded by the coun- cil relate to the type of materials ac- cepted and opening hours.

Items accepted include glass bottles and jars, aluminium cans, steel or tin cans, plastic bottles, newspapers and magazines, cardboard, Tetrapak, waste oil, oil filters, batteries, metal,

textiles, waste electrical and elec- tronic equipment, and timber.

Composters are also available for purchase at the site.

Recyclable items are accepted from domestic householders only.

While the facility is closed on Sun- day and Monday it remains open from 10pm to 5pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, 12pm to 2pm on Thurs- day, 12 to 6pm on Friday and Yam to 3pm on Saturday. Please bring only those items listed above to the recy- cling centre.

The facility cannot accept domestic or commercial waste.

The Shannon Recycling Centre was completed at a cost of €1.2m.

At the official opening of the cen-

tre Mayor of Clare Cllr Patricia Mc- Carthy (NP) said, “Shannon Town Council and Clare County Council need to continue to support and en- courage everybody in the area to manage their waste. With the range of recyclable materials accepted at the centre it should significantly im- prove the already impressive recy- cling rates achieved by householders in the county.”

BUSINESS leaders in Ennis have welcomed the opening of the latest phase of the Ennis N18 bypass and called for a swift completion of the project.

On Friday, Clare County Council announced the opening of section two of the bypass. It is anticipated that up to 10,000 cars per day will use the road, significantly reducing traffic congestion in the town. The Skm wide single carriageway, which forms part of the N85 western relief road, runs from Clareabbey to Clau- reen and opens a new bypass to the south and west of the County Capi- re

In a statement, CEO of Ennis Chamber of Commerce Rita MclIner-

ney said, “the bypass has had a posi- tive impact on the town and Ennis Chamber welcomes the opening of the Limerick Road to Kilrush Road and Kilrush Road to Lahinch Road portion of the Western Relief Section of the Ennis N18 Bypass. The East- ern Section of the N18 Bypass has been a huge success since its opening in January in the movement of traffic as part of the Atlantic Road Network and the reduction of congestion in Ennis Town.”

She added, “The opening of these links is particularly welcome in ad- vance of the Tour of Ireland Stage End arriving in Ennis on Friday, Au- gust 24.

“Furthermore, Ennis Chamber 1s urging the completion of the Ennis Interchange on the Eastern Section

to the Limerick Road portion of the Western Relief Section as well as the Tulla Road link as soon as possible”.

According to Paul Moroney, Project Resident Engineer, Clare County Council, “The completion of this section of the Ennis Bypass fin- ishes another part of this large road project. The remaining section will see the completion of the whole of the works and is currently scheduled for mid-autumn of this year.”

He continued, ““This section of the bypass ties in to the old N18 at the Limerick road in the vicinity of Clar- eabbey. The roundabout at this tie in is called Clareabbey roundabout. The new bypass will provide relief to traffic wanting to bypass Ennis to the south and west of the town. It will in particular provide welcome relief to

traffic wanting to travel to Kilrush, Kilkee, Ennistymon and Lahinch and to the people of west Clare.”

“Roundabout junctions are pro- vided at the Rocky road and Kilrush road, at Beech Park and on the exist- ing N85, at Claureen. New bridges are provided over the N68 Kilrush qO}-(6 MHOC MN OSM OAM GNEALUNKC oI eOO)IE cluded Mr Moroney.

The Ennis Bypass project is funded by the Irish Government and part-fi- nanced by the European Union under the National Development Plan and Transport 21.

The scheme is co-financed at 85 per cent by the cohesion fund of the Eu- ropean Union. This project is help- ing to reduce economic and social disparities among the citizens of the Union.

ALL senior citizens in the Newmar- ket parish have been invited to come along for a day at the seaside as part of the Newmarket Senior Citizen Organisation’s last ‘trot out’ of the year.

The senior’s day out will take place on Saturday, August 25, where a eroup of up to 80 people from the parish will spend a day on Kilkee strand. The day out will also include shopping in Kilrush before heading to the beach and will end with high tea at the Boree Log being entertained by PJ Murrihy in the evening.

“The people come along, meet up

and have great craic. They make new friends and meet up with people who they haven’t met before, maybe from the other end of the parish, and meet with people who they probably wouldn’t meet except for on these outings,’ said Michelle Quigley, Committee Member of the Newmar- ket Senior Citizen Organisation.

“It gives them a sence of being somewhere else and not sitting at home all day every day. The out- ings are great for getting them out of themselves — they go to the seaside, put their feet in the water, eat peri- winkles along the promenade and things like that.

“Some of them might be a bit immo-

bile too, they mightn’t have the use of a car or be able to drive and travelling in a coach is much more comfortable for them than getting public trans- port. So they may not necessarily do these things themselves, but with the day out they go with their pals and have a great time.”

The Newmarket Senior Citizen Organisation host around four trips away each year. Most recently a group from the parish made their way to Knock last May.

“We have a fairly good group, the parish is quite big so we would get a good number. Normally at any of the outings that we would have had in recent times we would have up-

wards of 60, 70, 80 people,’ contin- ued Michelle.

“We organise regular outings maybe about four times a year. We had an outing to Knock there a few months ago and we would like to have one last trot out before the end of the year.

“We get people from all over the Newmarket parish, which extends down to the wells, Drumline, Bal- lycar and the full of the Newmarket or bursys mae

The trip to the beach departs from the Green in Newmarket at 10.30am on Saturday, August 25 and costs €5. Please contact any senior citizens committee member if interested.

DAYS after the announcement of the new REPS 4 package, the Min- ister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan TD, has come under fire from the ICSA farming organisation because of alleged shortcomings in the scheme.

ICSA President, Malcolm Thomp- son, attacked the REPS 4 package on Friday, saying that it does not pro- vide anywhere near enough money for farmers whose lands have been designated as environmentally sensi- tive.

“There are many extra costs and inconveniences associated with hav- ing your land designated as an SAC /

SPA,” he said.

“Although the overall REPS 4 pack- age, which provides for a 17 per cent across the board increase, is attrac- tive to farmers in general, farmers such as those in the Shannon Callows or commonage areas have gotten no special recognition.

“The REPS 4 payment structure is Set out in a way whereby in real- ity, the compensation per hectare is at maximum €77 extra and on the higher acreages is less than what is available under the basic REPS package.”

Earlier in the week Minister Cough- lan launched the €3 billion Rural Environment Protection Scheme to protect the rural landscape, increase

biodiversity and improve water qual- ity.

The new scheme was approved at the EU’s Rural Development Com- mittee on July 24 as part of Ireland’s Rural Development Programme af- ter long, detailed and challenging negotiation with the European Com- mission.

‘For generations, farmers and farm families have been the keepers of Ireland’s rural landscape and rural environment,” she said.

‘Modern farmers are very con- scious of their responsibility for this heritage and they want to maintain it and pass it on to future generations. REPS helps them to do is. While the payments are made directly to farm-

ers, the benefits are for society as a whole.”

The scheme is co-funded by the EU and the Irish taxpayer and Minister Coughlan highlighted the record level of funding – some €3 billion – provided for REPS over the seven years 2007-2013.

“IT am particularly pleased that the European Commission was able to accept my proposals for a mixed grazing measure which will benefit sheep farmers.

‘IT had also been anxious to extend REPS to the more intensive farming sectors, including dairying, and I am very happy that this will now be pos- sible under REPS 4,” the Minister said.

TWO west Clare communities have been awarded with Local Heritage Grant Awards from the Heritage Council.

Celebrating the good news are Doonbeg Community Development Limited and the Leon XIII Commit- tee in Quilty.

SWRI MCCA ioeMmENITUIGT Um EeestT nition for its “Leon Walking Trail” which is being created as part of the Leon XIII commemoration year.

The work will encompass a seven- kilometre walk around the Quilty area of west Clare.

In supporting the new initiative the Heritage Council awarded the group a research-based grant to help gather the folklore and facts associated with locations along the proposed route.

Led by researcher Cora O’Grady,

the data gathered so far is producing an insightful look at the area over the last 100 years. Once the research is completed, a guide to the Leon Walking Trail will be published which will coincide with the official launch of the trail in September. According to Caroline Egan of the Leon Committee, “Developing a walking trail associated with the Leon XIII, was a priority for our group. The area is beautiful and we wanted visitors to the locality to have a guide that not alone showed them some interesting places off the main roads, but also a guide that would give them a flavour of the area. There are a lot of interesting stories asso- ciated with the place, and it’s these types of stories that visitors love to hear about and talk about when they go home. Developing the Leon Walking Trail is part of our plan to

put Quilty on the tourism map in Clare and we are delighted to have received the support of the Herit- age Council. The walking trail is one of several developments we will be rolling out throughout 2007 and 2008 with the Leon XIII Festival from September 28 to 30 being the big event this year.”

In Doonbeg the Heritage Council were keen to support the work of Doonbeg Community Development Limited that are currently develop- ing a biodiversity park.

“In Doonbeg we have a very fertile territory. Many species of wild birds are coming in and feeding in that area,’ said Paddy Murrihy from the development committee.

The group plan to develop a wild- life park in a commonage area that will allow people to watch the rare birds that feed in the area.

While the group plan to make very few changes to the land, so as not to disturb the wildlife, plans are in place to construct a bird watching hut close to the water where the birds feed.

The Heritage Council provided a grant that will allow the develop- ment committee to erect two colour display boards that will illustrate the different species of birds.

“The birds are unique to the area due to the vegetation,” explained Mr Murrihy.

The group must also convince REPS that the land will continue to be left fallow.

AFTER one of the most worrying weeks in recent years, farmers all over Ireland are breathing a sigh of relief as the Foot and Mouth threat appears to have subsided.

After a brief halt in animal move- ment, the live export trade resumed through France on Friday with French authorities satisfying them- selves about the safety of Irish beef.

Even a short cessation of the live export trade through France could have had a huge effect on the beef market in Ireland as nearly all of the countries 138,000 head of live-ex- port cattle travel through France.

“We all know that live exports are essential and the resumption of nor-

mal conditions shows that the health and quality of our herd is recognised by all the relevant authorities,” said Jackie Cahill, President of the IC- MSA.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Ag- riculture and Food, Mary Coughlan TD, has described Friday’s confir- mation of a second case of foot and mouth disease in Surrey as ‘disap- pointing but not surprising’.

Minister Coughlan has been hold- ing daily Foot and Mouth update meeting with her chief advisers and confirmed that a complete ban was being maintained on the importation from Great Britain of cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, meat – including fresh and minced meat as well as meat preparations and meat products

from such animals, milk and dairy products and some other animal products.

In certain circumstances, some meat and dairy products as well as other animal products may be ex- ported from Great Britain 1f accom- panied by a health certificate and, in Some instances, an endorsed com- mercial document.

The ban on British beef and other products will remain in place until August 25 at the very earliest. This was confirmed by the European Commission, who now have the power to extend the ban even further, in the event of new cases.

It has been confirmed that tests on two farms in Surrey, where foot and mouth had been suspected, have been

returned negative.

It is as yet still unclear where the outbreak originated but a deliberate leak from the nearby Pirbright labo- ratory has not been ruled out.

The British government moved to relax conditions for the movement of animals over the weekend

Animals within the UK can now be moved to slaughter in all areas except the 10km protection zone around the affected farms in Surrey.