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Element Six: ‘We can save jobs’

WITH senior status for 2010 at stake, a hard fought encounter was always a given. In that regard those in En- nistymon on Sunday for his high noon clash weren’t left disappointed.

It was a battle from throw-in to fin- ish. No surprise then that not all of this psyched-up aggression remained under control. Michael Rock was kept busy, flashing red twice and yel- low nine times in this fight for sur- vival in the top flight.

Ballyvaughan started this fight much the better — notching 1-1 inside five minutes that teed them up for a

1-4 to O-4 interval lead, but on the turnover it was St Joseph’s who re- ally came good on the back of Dav- id O’Brien’s 4lst minute goal that helped them turn a four-point deficit into a five-point victory.

Ballyvaughan’s dream start was the result of their renowned possession game — in almost rugby like fashion the Ballyvaughan players passed the ball across the field with John Mar- tyn finishing the move to the net when palming home from just out- side the square.

However, St Joseph’s did not lie down and responded excellently with three points in a row from Johnny

O’Brien (2) and David O’Brien to leave one between the sides after 15 minutes.

Ballyvaughan did regain control before half-time their own hat-trick of points, the pick of which was Ja- son McDonagh’s sideline effort, but it was St Joseph’s who really turned the screw in the second-half.

Cathal O’Sullivan’s point in the first minute had them on their way, while their vital score came ten minutes later. They stole the goal they desper- ately needed when David O’Brien’s shot crept under Damien McNamara in the Ballyvaughan goal.

Momentum had switched sides as

the Parish sneaked into the lead for the first time, but their good work looked to have been undermined when Keith Whelan received a red card for a striking offence, only for the game to be reduced to 14 aside five minutes later when Ray Casey got his marching orders.

The introduction of sub Colm Mul- len for Barefield was very effective as he totalled two points and created a number of other chances. This, in addition with fantastic free taking by O’Brien drove St Joseph’s to victory.

The five-point margin between the sides at the end may have been harsh but its intermediate football for Bal- lyvaughan for 2010 and another sur- vival act brought off by St Joseph’s.

ano profile some of the county’s leading agri-business success stories, start- ing with Brid and Roger Fahy of Lin- nalla Ice Cream.

Linnalla Ice Cream is hand-pro- duced on the Flaggy Shore of Fin- varra by Brid and Roger Fahy using whole milk and cream from their own shorthorn cows, native to the Burren, to create ice cream free from artificial flavours, colours or preserv- atives.

The farm has been a dairy yard since the 1800s, but by 2004 they knew that they needed to adapt to survive and build a viable future for their family, and give their children a chance to continue to farm the Bur- ren.

Linnalla ice cream started produc- tion in 2006 and the speciality ice- cream is now available in shops and

restaurants in the Clare and Galway areas.

In 2005, they met Pat Shannon from the Clare Enterprise Board who en- couraged them to develop their idea. Over the next two years they had planning approved, secured LEAD- ER funds, worked with officials from the Department of Agriculture and

soon were on the way to starting a new and innovative business.

A number of information evenings will take place at Teagasc Offices around the county over the next few weeks. This evening, October 20, an information evening will take place in Kilrush at 7.30pm, while tomor- row (Wednesday, October 21) a simi-

lar event will take place in the En- nistymon office at 7.30pm.

Information evenings also take place Ennis and Scariff on October 27 and 28.

Those attending the evenings will find out how to fill in the short appli- cation form and will hear about the other great prizes on offer.

A number of Clare farmers who started their own businesses will also be there to tell of their experiences to date as entrepreneurs. The Clare Farm Idea Awards is an initiative of Clare Local Development Company (CLDC) to promote entrepreneur- ship amongst farming and fishing Leyeevenleusieley

The top prize of €3,000 is gener- ously sponsored by Clean Ireland Recycling Ltd in Cree, while other sponsors include Clare Marts, Kerry Agri-Business, Conor Engineering, Clare IFA, BIM and FBD.

For more information contact Ger- ry McDonagh 086 8544036 or Hilary Ci TNey MO com Pe Reh Tee

A COURT has heard that a man who has been banned from all Tesco su- permarkets in Ireland stole a packet of rashers from Tesco in Ennis last month.

The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to stealing the rashers — valued €1.99 — from the store on September 25 last. Ennis District Court heard that he had paid for other items, but at- tempted to leave the shop without paying for the rashers.

Inspector Michael Gallagher told the court that a note on the file stated that the accused was banned from

all Tesco stores throughout Ireland. Asked by Judge Joseph Mangan when that order was made, he said he was not aware.

The judge asked, “Was the property recovered or was it fried?”’

The inspector replied that it was recovered.

The defendant’s solicitor said the man suffered work-related injuries a number of years ago, but had not made good use of his compensation and has since developed alcoholism.

The judge adjourned the case for a year and ordered the defendant to stay out of Tesco in Ennis. He agreed to this condition.

SINGLE parents living in west Clare are waiting an average of four months for their one parent family payment after first lodging their claim.

According to Social Affairs Min- ister Mary Hanafin, single parents served by the Kilrush office have an average waiting period of 16.86 weeks for their first one parent fam- ily allowance.

Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) has called for additional staff at the Kilrush of- fice to deal with the backlog.

“It 1s important that these claims are processed on time. The most vul- nerable society must be looked after and that they don’t have to bear the burden. The necessary staff should be in place to ensure all applications are dealt with expeditiously.”

The average waiting period in east Clare is 13.43 weeks, while the aver- age waiting period by single parents served by the Ennis office is 9.60 weeks.

In a Dail response, Minister Hanafin said “Additional staff have been redeployed to local offices from other parts of the civil service and the department has identified a number of locations where the increasing number of claims for means tested payments warrants the allocation of additional Social Welfare inspectors. Arising from this, an additional 40 Inspectors are being assigned.

‘In some areas processing times are

unacceptably high but every effort is being made to bring these times back to acceptable levels as quickly as possible.

“Anyone suffering hardship can apply for Supplementary Welfare Allowance. The majority of SWA claims are processed within a matter of days.

The average processing times for claims decided in September was 3.63 weeks for Jobseekers Benefit and 7.53 weeks for Jobseekers AI- lowance.

In Ennis, the average processing time for jobseekers’ benefit is 2.3 weeks and 4.78 for jobseekers allow- ance, while the average processing time for jobseekers’ benefit in Kil- rush is 2.99 and jobseekers allow- ance is 5.5 weeks.

The average wait in Tulla for job- seekers’ benefit is 2.88 weeks and jobseekers’ allowance is 4.29 weeks

A RETIRED farmer lost his life after he was struck while crossing the road on his walking stick and then carried along on the windscreen of a car.

The tragedy occurred in the vil- lage of Ogonelloe, when John Coon- ey (89) was on his way home from Mass, an inquest into his death heard last week.

Ennis Coroner’s Court heard that Mr Cooney, a bachelor, died instant- ly, having sustained serious injuries when he was struck by a car, on Sat- urday, September 8, 2007.

John Lynch from Tuamgraney re- called how he had gone to 8pm Mass in Ogonelloe that evening. After Mass, he chatted to another man in the vicinity of the church. He was facing the road, when suddenly he heard “a screech of brakes, followed by a loud bang”.

He said he saw a dark coloured car and noticed that a person was being carried across the windscreen. “As the car veered to the right, the person flew off the car to the left. The car continued to come straight at us,” he Sr HLeB

Mr Lynch said that he feared for his own Safety, as the car approached him. “As the car came to us, I grabbed Tom McKenna and tried to pull him back a step to avoid the car,” he said.

‘‘T remember that he let off a roar as we both thought that we were going to be killed,” he said.

The driver increased the speed and drove off without stopping, he re- called. He said he felt the driver of the car would not have had any vision until the body fell off the car.

Mr Lynch said that the window on the driver’s door of the car was down and he saw “a young fella in his 20s with dark brown hair”. He could not see if there was anybody else in the ore

“While the body was on the wind- screen, I saw him (driver) looking out a small hole in the windscreen overhead,” he said.

As the car sped away, Mr Lynch ran to the body. He could see that it was John Cooney, a retired farmer who lived just 700 yards from the church. Mr Lynch and another man moved the body to the side of the road for SH IKAA

Garda Tim Sullivan from Killaloe was involved in the investigation into the accident. He said that he arrived at the scene at around 9pm. It was dark at the time and road conditions were good and dry. Several people were standing outside the wall of Ogonelloe church, having attended evening Mass. He said that a bro- ken walking stick — belonging to Mr Cooney — was found on the road.

Sergeant Deborah Marsh told the inquest she was informed that night that a car was found burnt out in Ca- herhurley. She went there and saw that a car was smouldering. The car, a Mazda 323, was identified from its TESS we leuse leo

She said that by 1lam the following day, three men had been arrested in connection with the incident.

Sgt Marsh told the inquest that the car had skidded for 22.7 metres, hav- ing impacted with the pedestrian. She said that the car had travelled at speeds between 74.9 kph and 88.6 kph, in a 60 kph speed limit. She said that the driver was later convicted of dangerous driving causing death, while the passenger was convicted of perverting the course of justice. Both were handed custodial sentences in the circuit court.

Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis, who carried out the post mortem examination on Mr Cooney’s body, said that he had sus- tained several fractures, including to the spine, skull, rib and elbow.

Mr Cooney, he said, had suffered ‘severe catastrophic injuries, as a re- sult of being run over by a car.” The cause of death, he concluded, was multiple injuries, consistent with be- ing struck by a car.

The jury recorded a verdict in ac- cordance with the medical evidence.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea extended sympathy with the family and friends of the late Mr Cooney and compli- mented gardai on the speed at which they apprehended those who were travelling in the car. Inspector Tom Kennedy echoed her sentiments and said the late Mr Cooney was “in no

way to be faulted as to the circum- stances of the accident.”

MEMBERS of Shannon Town Coun- cil have expressed deep sadness at the passing of a woman who had a close connection with the town.

Jane Rice (right) was responsible for initiating a link between Shannon and New Jersey, back in 1996.

Jane, who was prominently in- volved with the New Jersey Emer- ald Society, died in New Jersey two weeks ago.

Retired Shannon ‘Town Clerk Tomas MacCormaic said that news of Jane’s death was met with sadness in Shannon. He recalled the link that had been set up by Jane.

“Shannon Town Council was rep- resented at every one of the Union County Parades each year; fourteen in all.

“Jane and (her husband) Jay ar- ranged each year to have the Shan- non representatives collected by lim- ousine at the airport and delivered to a reception by the President of the NJ Emerald Society. The limousine also took them back to the airport for departure, all compliments of the Emerald Society,” he said.

‘She was very special to those of us who met her,” he said.

“During the Shannon representa- tives stay in New Jersey, Jane and Jay escorted them to all formal events

and arranged for the mayor to be in- terviewed by television, radio and the print media. They delivered them to their hotel each night and collected them each morning for breakfast,” he added.

Jane was in good health when Mr Mac Cormaic and Councillor Geral- dine Lambert (representing the May- or, Councillor Gerry Flynn) visited New Jersey for the St Patrick’s day parade earlier this year. However, she took ill after Easter and passed away a fortnight ago.

The Emerald Society Pipe Band , 90 of who took part in the opening of the Rose of Tralee Parade this year and who spent several days in the im- mediate Shannon area, played at her funeral Mass and burial in the US.

RESIDENTS say a fence along the river bank at Willow Park, Ennis needs to be replaced and improved to prevent “‘loss of life at the estate”.

In a letter to Ennis Town Coun- cillors, Michelle Hanrahan, Chair- person of the Willow Park residents committee, outlines a series of health and safety concerns.

Apart from the danger posed by the

river to children, residents also have concerns over a 400-volt ESB trans- former, traffic volumes and street lighting.

The letter states, “Our green area 1s adjacent to the river bank with very poor fencing. There is an urgent need to replace and improve this fencing in order to ensure that there is no loss of life at the estate. The residents feel that the fence requires to be at least six feet in height (similar to other

estates along the river banks) Our estate has a large number of house- holds with young children”

It continues, “Due to the filling of the green area, the ESB 3 Phase mains transformer (400 volt) is too low. This requires it to be raised or appropriately fenced off to ensure that our children are safe”.

Ms Hanrahan continues, “With the increase in housing along the Watery Road. The impact has been that the

junction of Sandfield/Watery Road, poses many dangers. Access to main roads leads to traffic congestion.

This is due mainly to the fact that a two lane traffic ease of access only occurs at the top of the road – we would ask that consideration be given to removing some of the grass verge in order to accommodate and lengthen the two lane access,’ the leter concluded.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) has wel-

comed Ennis Town Council’s plan to improve pedestrian access in the area.

‘IT wish to welcome plans to put in place pedestrian traffic lights follow- ing discussions over the last couple o) mp ssleynlaatce

“I raised the remainder of these issues at the October meeting and I acknowledge your commitment to review them,’ the Fine Gael council- lor stated.

CLARE based catering company, Corporate Catering Services Ltd. joined in the celebrations in Dublin last week to hail the return of the Q Mark, the recognised symbol of quality for all consumers and busi- nesses.

Corporate Catering Services Ltd. joined the EIQA in celebrating the ‘Q’ in a fantastic parade on Grafton Street featuring music legends U2, colourful fire dragons, carnival queens, the iconic James Joyce and a host of other quirky characters from renowned entertainment group, Ar- cana.

Commenting at the launch, Grace Lefroy, Operations Manager, Cor- porate Catering Services Ltd. said: “Quality is at the core of everything we do. In the catering industry, our standards are the yardstick by which we are judged. Participation in the Q Mark programme provides the ulti- mate assurance to our customers that our services reach the highest stand- ards of quality and excellence.”

With over 30 years industry expe- rience, Corporate Catering Services Limited is a 100 per cent Irish owned company with extensive experience in all aspects of the catering industry. They offer a comprehensive range of Quality Assured services to all sec- tors of the catering industry, ranging from full in-house catering to spe- cialist consultancy services.

The Q Mark is awarded only to companies who achieve the highest standards of quality and excellence, with Q Mark criteria ensuring that clients exceed legal requirements rather than simply adhering to them. This further assures consumers that companies who hold the ‘Q” are committed to continuous improve- ment and best practice.

Speaking at the launch, Irene Col- lins, Managing Director, EIQA said: “We are delighted that so many of

our customers were able to join us at such an exciting event in celebration of the Q Mark. The launch of Q Mark is effectively a return to a recognised symbol that guarantees consumers that when they purchase a product or service that carries the Q Mark sym- bol; they are purchasing a product or service of the highest quality. The Q Mark is a must for any business or oyeee-episrs 1m (eye nam

All certification and awards offered by EIQA will now come under the Q Mark umbrella and include Q Mark

for Hygiene and Food Safety; Q Mark for Quality Management Sys- tems; Q Mark for Nursing Homes, Q Mark for Leisure Centres and the recently launched Q Mark for Acces- sibility (ABLE Business Excellence Award).

The EIQA offers its programmes across all sectors, with customers in retail, food service, manufacturing, institutions, prison services, govern- ment, healthcare, business and pro- fessional services, financial institu- tions, nursing homes, leisure centres

and not for profit organisations.

The new Q Mark awards and cer- tifications will be officially unveiled at this year’s EIQA Quality & Excel- lence Awards on Friday, October 30, 2009 at the Burlington Hotel, Dub- rhe

TROUBLEMAKERS from Limerick are not welcome in Shannon — that’s the overwhelming message delivered by town councillors.

The issue was raised at a meeting of Shannon Town Council last week, where Councillor Gerry Flynn (In- dependent), called for the council to condemn the decision by the county council to participate in the regional aLOLeRSbaveanie eel Ko ate

He made reference to a debate a year ago. During that debate, Shan- non town councillors voted to have no hand, act or part in any decision to

move undesirable people to the town, after concern was expressed about an upsurge in anti-social behaviour in the area.

“We got a fair old roasting when we said we wanted no hand, act or part in the regeneration programme,’ said Cllr Flynn.

“In Shannon alone we have 495 on the housing list and not too far off 2,000 in the county. I don’t think we should be expected to deal with problems in the neighbouring coun- ty,’ he said.

““€’750,000 has been made available to buy dwellings in County Clare, for people from the regeneration areas.

I didn’t support it then (last year). I don’t support it now,” he said.

Labour councillor Tony McMahon said that those on the social hous- ing waiting list in Shannon should be given priority in the event of any houses becoming available.

‘We have had experience in Shan- non of tenants coming out from the Limerick area. The havoc they have wreaked in Shannon was absolutely frightening. We have all been fright- ened of what happened in the past. I’d rather if they bypassed Shannon and found accommodation in the area where they come from,” he said.

His party colleague Greg Duff said

he would not get involved in gener- alisation or scapegoating the people of Limerick.

Fine Gael councillor Tony Mulcahy said that in the past, Clare County Council sold 17 houses and the elect- ed members had nothing to do with i

“I’d prefer a scenario where we have some control. Twelve months ago we didn’t have any control,” he reiterated..

Shannon Town Manager Bernadette Kinsella said that the €750,000 was ring-fenced. “We can’t use it for any other purpose. We can only use it to rehouse families from the Limerick

regeneration area.

“Limerick City Council purchased 17 houses in Clare. We weren’t con- sulted in any way. There isn’t large scale interest at this stage from fami- lies from the regeneration areas mov- ing to Clare,” she said.

Three families, she said, had ex- pressed interest by the middle of the year, but one of those since changed its position.

Asked by the mayor of Shannon, Councillor Sean McLoughlin was there interest in Shannon, she said, “We are not looking at acquiring the three or four houses in the Shannon area.”