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ENNIS Chamber of Commerce yes- terday (Monday) had its say in the General Election campaign with the launch of its manifesto.

It outlined issues of concern to the Ennis business community using feedback from its members.

Chamber President Michael Evans took the opportunity to express his disappointment with the level of re- sponse the chamber received from the candidates when the manifesto was sent to them and a meeting re-

quested four weeks ago.

‘To date, we have met with Timmy Dooley, Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, Brian Meaney, Pat Breen and Brendan Daly. We have received written re- sponses from Tony Killeen and James Breen as well as commitment for a meeting from Murt Collins.

“As the representative organisa- tion for business in Ennis, we can provide the candidates with a forum for important issues to be addressed. Strong businesses provide guaran- teed employment and are the only sector of society paying rates – both

commercial and water – which in En- nis accounts for over a third of the town council’s finances,” he said. Rita Mc Inerney, CEO added, “En- nis Chamber plans to meet with the four newly-elected Clare representa- tives immediately after the next gov- ernment is formed to emphasis again the issues of the Ennis Chamber manifesto and to receive firm com- mitments to action on the issues.” Among the issues highlighted were Shannon Airport, Ennis hospital, water in Ennis, the bypass, CCTV AVOCGMbOUBeAKinae GA bKes

IS it just me or is it starting to get crowded in here? Greek officials were in Clare last week to dot the I’s and cross the T’s for the twinning of the town with Shimatari in Greece.

Ennistymon is already twinned with the Pozzo Leone in Italy and this second twinning, or ‘tripleting’, takes place as a result of the Italians’ relationship with Shimatari as well as through the work of Clare County Council, Clare Tourism Council and Project Ennistymon.

A group from Shimatari, including the town’s mayor Evagelos Georgiou

with his wife Stella, were in Clare this week visiting the sites and get- ting to know the local people. Aside from Ennistymon, the group also visited the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren as well as parts of west and east Clare.

“Twinning encourages co-opera- tion between these old cultures. It also encourages people to visit areas of the world that they would not have known about otherwise,” said Mayor of Clare, Flan Garvey.

“Another big part of the programme is to encourage students to take part in the exchanges and visit other coun- tries. Twinning here in Clare has al-

ways had a good track record and we have always succeeded through our schools.”

Shimatari is a seaside town some 60 miles south of Athens, with a popu- lation of 8,500 people. The twinning could lead to more visits and ex- changes between the two towns.

A group of schoolchildren from Shimatari have already visited En- nistymon and the Vocational School is looking at making the return jour- ney in the future.

A delegation from Ennistymon will travel to Shimatari later this year, Where the final formal declaration will be signed.

‘It also makes people aware of plac- es that they never would have heard of before. It helps tourism grow and develop back and forth. It’s a great opportunity for us to show off what we have to offer,” continued Flan.

“It is of great benefit to the local tourism economy. When these peo- ple visit here, they spend money on food, drink and accommodation. It is an ongoing thing and something that will continue to grow as the years go on.

“Signing up to the twinning just copperfastens the programme and ensures that it will continue long into som RU IRUD Rome

THE Clare Junior football team trav- el down to Dungarvan this weekend with limited optimism following dis- rupted preparations due to injury and club commitments.

Clare have been struggling to get players together to get good qual- ity challenge matches recently after been hampered by a long list of casu- alties. Injury to Thomas Madigan in

last Saturday’s O’Gorman cup add him to Clare’s treatment table which also includes Brian Troy, Eoin Cur- tin (finger), Danny Lynch (hand) and Brian Curtin who sustained an in- jury playing for Clare in last friday night’s challenge match against Cork. Cusack, Garry and O’Gorman cup games also limited Clare’s ability to assemble for training and challenges. Nevertheless, Clare managed to play Limerick twice as well as Shannon

gaels and Cork in the run up to this game and had a final challenge game against Eire Og last night in order to make final adjustments for the big game on Sunday.

Waterford on the other hand, look to be quietly confident ahead of Sun- day’s Munster championship game. Senior Manager John Kiely also manages the junior side and he has been preparing the two sides togeth- er in order to get the best out of his

players.

Waterford have a total panel of 30- 35 players and it is felt that the junior team will be made up of the second string of this squad. Asked about the challenge of Waterford, Clare junior manager Micheal McDermott reck- Oy iTere Mm Aer: MmOA WE: TKou CORO MMA OOM Olomm EDO UN fit and extremely competitive. I thnk they have won two junior all-Irelands in the last ten years and any match down in Dungarvan will be a diffi-

cult match but hopefully we’ll do it”.

McDermott judges Clare’s prepara- tions “in the could be better catego- ry’ but he is hoping that some of his injured list could be available.

He admitted, “We haven’t picked our team yet but we will sit down to pick a team on Wednesday or Thurs- day night and see who we have that are free from injury. But hopefully we ll have a team that will be good enough to beat Waterford.”

yesterday that the rel- evant documents had been lodged in the case and that the claim against the council could amount to €20 million.

“Our legal advice states that we have a very good case,’ Mr O’ Regan said.

He added that he did not expect the case to come before the High Court this year.

Mr O’Regan’s company secured a deal to supply GAMA Construction with stone from a quarry in Ruan.

However, the council issued Mr O’Regan with a warning letter in Au- gust 2004 in relation to the expansion of the quarry at Ardcarney, Ruan.

In the warning letter, the council claimed that “there has been signifi- cant expansion of the quarrying area and an intensification of the use of

the quarry and considers that plan- ning permission 1s required for the Clee a ae

The council stated that a number of developments had taken place on the lands and that the council considered that developments to be unauthorised and required planning permission.

In a response, Mr O’Regan’s com- pany absolutely denied that there was any unauthorised development on the lands in question.

The response letter to the council stated, “There has been no expan- sion of the quarrying area in ques- tion, having regard to the historical planning unit, and whether signifi-

cant or otherwise and there has been no intensification of the use of such quarry on such lands.”

Mr O’Regan said that his company did not receive an enforcement no- tice.

He said that the council sent a letter to GAMA and their consultants al- leging an unauthorised development at Mr O’Regan’s quarry, but failed to forward on the company’s response.

As aresult, Louis O’Regan Ltd lost out on the deal to provide the by- pass project with stone and GAMA sourced rock for the project from an alternative quarry locaated in the Ennis area.

MONEY raised by the west Clare Mini-Marathon was recently distrib- uted to grateful charities including €25,000 to the Regina House Pallia- tive Care Unit at a recent ceremony.

Friends of Regina House, a newly formed group, was presented with the cheque in Keane’s in Carrigaholt at the end of April while other local cancer causes also benefitted from the €160,000 raised by the annual event.

Friends of Ennistymon Hospital received €25,000 while other funds will pay for cancer patients travel- ling for treatment, pilgrimage trips for patients, palliative aids for home

use, professional counselling for pa- tients and their families, the Night Nurse service and the national Life- line Ambulance Service.

This year over 700 participants braved the January cold to contest the race and parish priest Father Donagh O’Meara said that the event was invaluable to cancer sufferers and their loved ones.

“Cancer care 1s a fantastic cause because so many people are suffer- ing. This money means that patients from west Clare can stay in west GET eweleetomnder- bem om selon (onteademcomnsle hospital in Ennis or Limerick or to Milford Hospice. It 1s a great thing to have facilities locally so people can benefit and have visitors,’ he said.

Fr O’Meara added that the mini- marathon meant that funds will go towards getting an extra palliative care bed each for Regina House and Ennistymon Hospital, boosting the number of beds to three in both je eNerene

All of the money, over €1 million over nine years, stays in the area and is distributed between organisations and local individuals.

The idea for the event, held on the last Sunday in January, originally came from Willie and Mary Mc- Grath.

The McGraths are now on the trus- tees committee which distributes the mini-marathon proceeds with Fr O’Meara as vice-chairman and other

local people including Michael No- ete

“It all started with the McGraths because they wanted to do something for cancer patients in the area and it has just grown and grown since then. It is our major fundraiser of the year while different community groups do smaller things. It is always a won- derful day and to get that amount of money in one go is fantastic. Local people are brilliant,” Fr O’Meara said.

The next Kilkee parish fundraiser will be on May 26 with a Greyhound Night in Limerick to raise money for an astroturf pitch and playground.

EARLY May and the time to dream returns. For the Clare footballers – with the safety net of the backdoor now removed – only a win will pro- long a championship summer.

The Tommy Murphy Cup, the sec- ondary and often ignored champion- ship sibling, will be all that’s on offer for whoever crashes out of Munster this weekend.

It’s an unthinkable fate for a county with Paidi O Sé at the helm, but it’s the result of a league that began well and finished poorly.

Since the beginning of the season,

interest among a number of play- ers had amazingly waned and the withdrawal of Ger Quinlan from the camp last week will be another blow for Clare.

After selector Vincent O’Connor appealed to the cream of Clare talent to come on board for the county team, he didn’t get a positive response.

“Clare are not blessed with a lot of quality players and they need every good player that’s available,” he said TOMEI aAe

Back then, he couldn’t have fore- seen the withdrawal of a player of Quinlan’s standard in the immediate lead in to Clare’s Munster campaign,

but that’s the deck Clare have to play with now and O’Connor isn’t getting or Neu cemr hue W

“We’re going to pick the team on Thursday night and see where we are but bar one or two niggling problems that we should get sorted out, things aren’t looking in bad shape.”

Even with a few bends in the road, Clare will still expect to get past Waterford when they meet in Dun- eee Ne

Should they do so, a trip to Kerry for the next round, televised live, is the prize. The opportunity for Paidi O Sé and his fellow west Kerryman O’Connor to field a team in front of

their native audience would be ap- pealing.

“The prospect of playing Kerry is something which we’re not worried about right now. Waterford went to Kerry this time last year and gave them a real fright. If they hadn’t missed a penalty they’d have pushed Kerry, so they’re a decent team. We can’t contemplate anything else but Sunday’s game. Waterford are in the frame for us, they’re a tough team and that’s all we can see.”

Over in Waterford, manager John Kiely is upbeat about his side’s prospects. They had an even poorer league run than Clare but that hasn’t

dampened his spirits.

“We’ll be ready to give Clare a right good game when they come here,” he said. “It’s fair to say we had a bad run of things in the league but we’re not worried about that right now. We ran Kerry and Longford close last year and we’ve shown the kind of football we can play. We want another big performance against Clare.”

Two teams coming at it from a sim- ilar standpoint. The summer opens and judgement time is looming. It’s May and there’s everything to play oe

CLARE County Council’s payroll costs last year jumped to €38 mil- lion, with the county’s rate-pay- ers contributing €29 million to the council’s coffers.

According to its annual financial statement, the council last year spent €103 million on revenue related items.

The local authority spent €32 mil- lion on wages and salaries. €2.4 mil- lion was spent on “other costs” under the heading of payroll and €4 mil- lion on pensions and gratuities.

The statement — presented to coun-

cillors at yesterday’s May council meeting — also records that €647,000 was spent on “communications”.

The statement shows that the coun- cil’s finances have improved with the local authority’s revenue deficit de- creasing to €2.9 million.

The figures show that the council’s income at the Cliffs of Moher visi- tor was higher than expected. Gate income at €300,000 was higher than 4 rel KerO

However, the figures show that rev- enues at the council’s waste manage- ment facility were €750,000 down on the 2006 estimate.

Reflecting the economic buoyancy

of the county, the council’s figures show that planning application in- come was €700,000 above budget.

The figures show that the coun- cil expenditure on work in progress projects stood at €248 million com- pared to €149 million at the end of 2005.

The main projects contributing to the total are the Ennis by-pass (€175 million), house construction projects in progress (€11 million), Water Projects (€25 million) and Cliffs of Moher (€29 million).

SW ilommieclioelnlmmeevepu sek MmOet:lmmnele council capital debt stood at €83 million at the end of 2006, compared

to €79 million at the end of 2005. The increase related to the final draw down of the loan to fund the Cliffs of Moher project, voluntary housing loans.

The figures show that the council last year spent €26 million on the provision of local authority housing. €67 million was spent on roads. The major element of this was the Ennis by-pass project.

The report states that the largest variance was on roads where ex- penditure was greater than budget by €5.9 million

This reflected mainly the extra grant income in the year.

LITTLE feet in Miltown Malbay will take on a big charity feat on May 22 when kids from Forever Friends Pre-school do a sponsored toddle in aid of Barnardos.

The Danone Big Toddle for Bar- nardos will kick off at 9.30am when the 18 three- and four-year-old par- ticipants will take off on their half mile journey from St Joseph’s Na- tional School.

This is the fourth year that the pre-

school has taken on the Olympian task but according to owner, Kate Looney, if they decide not to run be- fore they can walk the mini-athletes can take to their buggies.

“All the kids have great fun and it is areally exciting event for them be- cause it breaks from the normal rou- tine. We invite the parents to come along and they can bring extra kids if they like. As far as I know we are the only place locally taking part.”

Proving that charity can begin at a young age, Kate said that sponsor-

ship cards were filling up fast.

“We sent a little one home this week with a sponsorship card and it came back full the next day. That’s €135 straight away. We normally raise around €/00-<€800. We try to aim for the previous year plus a little extra,” she added. ‘We do the shoe box appeal as well at Christmas. The children can do something for other children and that makes the cause real for them.” Forever Friends, open for four years at St Joseph’s, will hold its first sum- mer camp for three to six year olds for a week this July. If any créche, playgroup, montessori or family wants to take the baton from Forever Friends, information on the Big Tod- dle is available on www.barnardos.ie or O1 7080442.

PUPILS and staff at Scariff Com- munity College are preparing to take on a brave new world, with the start- up of a subject that will see students abandon copy books for lap-tops.

The school is preparing to intro- duce the latest subject to be added to the Leaving Certificate programme, Design and Communication Graph- ee

The new subject will come on- stream next September and _ the school is currently in the process of acquiring the necessary lap-tops and

preparing course materials.

“Tt’s an exciting challenge and we’re looking forward to it,’ said Deputy Principal, John O’Donovan.

The new subject is not the only new start at the east Clare community college.

Last week, students, teachers and parents representatives gathered for a rededication ceremony after the school building got a €2.5 million re-vamp.

When it was discovered last year that there was asbestos in the roof, it was decided to replace it.

The Office of Public Works stepped

in to do the work and this gave the school an opportunity for a complete overhaul, including new flooring and decor.

And now they have also been given a Department of Education grant to re-equip rooms for practical subjects such as engineering and woodwork.

“We’re very pleased that the OPW paid for the work on the roof. The school could never have afforded it and now everything has been done to the highest standards of safety and design,’ Mr O’Donovan said.

At the rededication ceremony, school chaplain, Fr Brendan Quinl-

livan lead the prayers. School prin- cipal, Sean Daly acted as mc and traditional music was performed by Students from the school, with solo singing from student Edel O’Grady.

Local politicians attended the cer- emony as guests along with students, teachers and members of the Board of Management and the Parents Council.

KILRUSH Farmers’ Market is hoping to prove that the egg came before the chicken in attracting local producers and customers to the weekly collec- tion of stalls every Thursday to 2pm.

Fresh eggs (organic of course) are just one of the products available at the market along with seasonal veg- etables, flowers, plants, seedlings, jams, dairy products, baked goods and local crafts.

Michael Gleeson, market organiser and rural development officer with community initiative EIRI Corca Baiscinn, said that “without a market

and a demand” farmers are less likely to produce goods for sale.

“We just decided that we could cre- ate a new outlet for farm produce and started making enquiries. Location 1s a key thing and we are blessed to have the market square in Kilrush. It gives farmers somewhere to sell and the cost to them is low. It started with six stalls and last summer we had more than 15 stalls at peak times. For the most part, people tend to be sold out at the end of a day which is quite good.”

He added that by reducing the scale and cutting out the middle man, farm- ers can really benefit from the mar- oe

“The main thing is that they’re sell- ing direct so the producer gets 100 per cent of the retail value. Most people who sold to restaurants or suppliers before still do that but now they can use the market to get good prices and profits on a local level.”

Mr Gleeson does not think that the arrival of large supermarkets in west Clare has affected local schemes like the farmers’ market.

“It doesn’t apply too much because the market supplies different prod- ucts. The goods here are about quality rather than quantity. There are super- markets, like Supervalu in Clonakilty in Cork, that network with local pro-

ducers to get something different but no-one is unduly worried because it’s a separate market.”

The market is no spring chicken- it has been running from April to De- cember every year since 2003.

An annual membership costs €20 and €8 is paid for a stall every week. The costs are deliberately low to en- courage new producers and stalls.

Mr Gleeson said that everyone in- volved is pleased with the success of the project.

“It has grown gradually. The prod- ucts are good value and quality and the people care about what they’re do- rhea