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IN THE face of increasing pressure from hunting groups the government has backed down on the proposed li- cence fee increase for hunters.

The National Association of Re- gional Game Councils (NARGC) this week welcomed the Govern- ment’s decision to postpone the pro- posed licence fee increases which was announced in early April.

These increases were described as ‘exorbitant?’ by NARGC Director, Des Crofton, and following a heated public debate, and subsequent con- sultation with the Department of Jus-

tice, it has been agreed to postpone WeLomB NL@)Rereksone

“In addition to the postponement, and even more important, the Gov- ernment has commitment to con- sult with NARGC over the next 12 months, when the matter will be discussed in detail and prior to any new fee structures being finalised,” said Mr Croften. “As matters stand, licence fees will be renewed at the current levels and in the normal Fh

NARGC stressed that this political back down should be viewed as posi- tive and a reflection of the Govern- ment’s on-going commitment to the

Irish shooting community and ac- knowledgment of the important role it plays in Irish rural life.

Instrumental in the governments decision was an announcement by the Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers (FISSTA) last week, pledging the support of its members to NARGC.

The Finance Bill 2007 reveals plans to increase licence fees by an average of 56 per cent without consultation with the representative bodies for shooting. “Shooting people all over the country are unbelievably angry with widespread threats to use their votes to punish the government,”

said a statement from FISSTA.

“The annual shotgun licence, which currently is €25, will rise to €115 for three years and the current annual rifle licence of €38 will rise to €170 for three years. Worse still, a new training licence for young peo- ple who wish to take up the sport, but which will not allow them to own or possess a gun, has been rendered un- workable because of the cost.

“For a young person to undergo proper training in the safe use and handling of a shotgun and rifle, the licence fee will be €285. Yet a fire- arms dealer’s licence will be only €340.”

A CLARE accountant who was un- fairly dismissed from a Limerick firm has been awarded a total of more than €18,000 in compensation.

Gerard White, from Woodbrook Lodge, Fountain, Ennis, took a case with the Employment Appeals Tri- bunal against the firm he had worked for for almost 33 years.

O’Hurley Blair Irwin, of Mount Kenneth House, Henry Street, Lim- erick, denied they had unfairly dis- missed White, citing gross miscon-

duct and breach of trust as the reasons for him losing his job.

The tribunal was told that in April 2005, the company received a call from a bank in connection with sub- stantiating a loan application. No- one in the company knew anything about the loan applicant and he was not a client of the firm. White told the partner in the firm who had dealt with the call that the person named was a friend of his.

The partner asked that copies of documents relating to the named per- son be sent to him and it transpired

that the bank had received accounts for three years relating to the person as well as a letter for the tax affairs of the person, which indicated that the company was representing him and that his affairs were in order.

The firm suspended the claimant with pay and, subsequently, White told them it had been his intention to intro- duce the person to the firm as a client. White told the tribunal that he had met with the business person, who was a friend, in January 2005. He called to White’s home with the papers neces- sary to apply for a bank loan. White

said he did not submit accounts.

White said the home visit was not unusual as he often brought work home. He had put a note in his diary as a reminder to set up an account with the firm for the man.

The tribunal determined that there was an unresolved conflict of evi- dence but the dismissal was unfair because of deficiencies in procedure on the part of the accountancy firm.

Under a claim for minimum notice, White was awarded €5,692.32 and he was awarded €12,500 in compensa- tion under the Unfair Dismissals act.

A CROSS which has been the loca- tion of numerous accidents is to be tackled — but the necessary safety measures will not be up for funding until next year.

Councillor John McInerney had put a motion before the the Killaloe area committee asking that something be done to reduce the dangers at Clancy’s Cross.

He told the meeting he was “not happy’ with the rate of progress on

the matter.

“IT put a motion down about this as far back as 2004 and myself and Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald organ- ised a protest at this location in De- cember. Why is the lining only going down now? It should have been done since 2005. At this rate it will be 2008 before anything is done.”

The councillor told the meeting that there have been “numerous accidents at this site — are we to have a serious accident before something is done?”’

Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald de-

scribed the cross as a “blackspot. There has been another accident there this year and I’m concerned that there will be a very serious crash”.

Senior Engineer, Sean Lenihan, told the meeting that a scheme of safety measures will be designed this year and put in for funding next year.

He said that enquiries to the gardai showed they supported the council- lors claims that the cross has been the scene of many accidents.

‘Everyone is of the same mind on- this one,” he said.

He also told members that the road design office “is under serious pres- sure but | am pushing this one as a priority. All of the measures that might improve matters of safety will be looked at and considered,’ he Sr HKGe

He added that in terms of putting lining on the road, a meeting is being held with the contractor this week.

The senior engineer added _ that sometimes it is “easier to get funding for a project than to fit a small job in but I will do all I can to get it done”’.

FINE GAEL TD Pat Breen and In- dependent ITD James Breen have joined forces this week to highlight what they describe as a “major crisis that will hit the capital town of Ennis in relation to water and waste water esata oh iee

The two TDs plan to raise Ennis’ water problems at an adjournment debate in the Dail today. They are calling on the Government to sub-

sidise bottled water for children and people with weakened immune sys- caehe

Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn (FG) said that she was “very pleased” that the two deputies “have responded to the water campaign which I launched over the weekend”.

She distributed thousands of free bottles of water to people affected by the Ennis water system. Her high- profile move included a “contract” providing that if she was elected and

Fine Gael were in Government, the town’s new permanent water scheme would be delivered immediately.

She described it as an “unusual co- incidence” that the two TDs should bring the matter up at Dail level now. She added that she “would hope that Ennis will reap the benefits and I am calling now on Minister Tony Kil- leen and Minister de Valera to join with the deputies and raise the matter in the Dail with the Minister”’.

The two deputies say they were told

at a briefing of Ennis Town Council that the preliminary report on the main drainage scheme lodged with the Department of the Environment in 2002 was out of date. Consultants were needed to prepare revised fig- ures.

Deputy Pat Breen said that this would further delay the process and the “present water crisis will not have a permanent solution until at least the end of 2008.

“The new scheme will cost €1 mil- lion a year to run and will only cater for the existing population of Ennis of approximately 20,000 people, de- spite the fact that figures show that the population of Ennis could double by 2020 as Ennis is the fastest grow- ing town in the country,” he said.

“If there isn’t a quick response by the Department of the Environment, then further planning and develop- ment in Ennis could be sterilised,’ he said.

Deputy James Breen said that the last report cost €1 million in taxpay- ers money to complete.

‘Now we have to have another one because the minister has done noth- ing about it – what is that going to cost the taxpayer? The initial cost of a solution to the problem in 2002 was €50 million and what is that go- ing to cost now? It will at least have doubled.”

FORMER Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who died yesterday (Mon- day) at the age of 76, visited Clare last year. He spent his time shark fishing off the west coast and had hoped to return again in the future.

The skipper who took care of Mr

Yeltsin during his trip to Clare last August has expressed sadness at the loss of a “great man”.

Ennisman Willie O’Callaghan said, “I was saddened to hear of Mr Yeltsin’s death. I met him for the first time in Liscannor last August and he left a major mark on me and the area. He was such a big man and a gentle

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“It was an honour to be asked and trusted to take care of Mr Yeltsin for the day. It 1s something I will never forget. We had hoped the he would return again someday, I am sure he wanted to. I know he thoroughly en- joyed his time in Clare and Liscan- nor. He was definitely a very happy

man during his time here.”

Mr O’Callaghan, who runs Lis- cannor-based O’Callaghan Angling Cruises, had the task of organising a day of fishing for Mr Yeltsin. He had to be sure that the visit remained se- cret. Security personnel checked the skipper’s 42ft angler cruiser, True Bitedeie

‘Tam sure they checked my creden- tials first to make sure we were up to the job. They were onto us to tell us what they needed for the trip and everything was in place when they arrived,” he said.

During his visit, Mr Yeltsin trav- elled to the Cliffs of Moher and en- joyed a day’s shark fishing off the Clare coast, breaking for lunch on Inis Oir, the smallest of the Aran Is- lands.

Mr Yeltsin’s previous visit to Clare in 1994 was far more memorable. He made international headlines after he left Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, two ministers, a guard of honour and an army band standing on the tarmac at Shannon Airport. Yeltsin had agreed to make a stopover at Shannon on his way back to Moscow from the Unit- ed States but, as it turned out, it was more like a sleepover.

Mr Yeltsin returned to Shannon Airport last August for the first time since that diplomatic gaffe over 12 years ago. The former President was whisked off amid tight security to the five-star Dromoland Castle where he stayed for three nights.

PUMPS which would help solve the drought being experienced by Killa- loe residents have yet to be hooked up because there are technical prob- lems with the power supply needed.

Local councillors were told that after years of difficultites in getting water suppies to either end of the town and to homes up Convent Hill, new pumps have been bought which would bring water as required.

But the positioning of the pumps

was incorrect for linking them up to the necessary power supply, Sean Lenihan of the council’s engineering department told Killaloe council- lors.

Cllr. Tony O’Brien expressed con- cern that there are “a number of new housing developments coming on-stream in Killaloe and we are brining them on without address- ing what is a major deficiency in our infrastructure. People living in the town have no water. It is incumbent on Clare Councty Council to supply

water and the council needs to pro- vide the pumps which were prom- ised in 2005”.

The engineer told councillors that it is “just a logistical problem with getting the electricity connected up. We have to take some responsibil- ity in that the location given to the ESB may have been slightly in error. They are looking at it and coming back to us”.

Meanwhile, the members of the Killaloe area council were told at a meeting last week that the authori-

ties are to look again at the timing of the traffic lights in Killaloe.

Councillors complained that there were massive tailbacks and delays over the May and Easter bank holli- day weekends.

Officials told the members that what is needed in the long run to solve the town’s traffic problems is for the new bridge to be built. The problem is the volume of traffic and at the lights, the number of move- ments that have to be catered for, councillors heard.

has learned.

This follows last week’s announce- ment of the sale of the family-owned business to the North South Pig Company, with the loss of between 40 and 60 jobs. A delegation from the IFA met with the Duffy family last week and confirmed that in ex- cess of €400,000 was still owed to farmers.

The factory has refused to issue any form of payment to farmers, even though they are currently still trad- bate

“Many of these pig producers are family-farm operators, who are reli- ant on this money to remain in busi- ness,’ said IFA pig committee chair- man, Michael Maguire, who called on the AIB to mediate with the Duffys on behalf of the farmers.

“The most alarming aspect for these farmers is that bank cheques have not been issued for three to four weeks, despite reassurances that they would.

“Considering the asset value of the plant and surrounding land is valued 71 He eos ONO B(O)e mmr Te(G Mm Hs (omme-Celmm Oer-lmmre| high percentage of these pig produc- ers are AIB customers, the onus is on AJB to bring about a satisfactory solution to this issue.”

Meanwhile, it is now believed that North South Pig Company will con- tinue to use the facility as a slaugh- terhouse but will discontinue all de- boning and other processing work.

This would mostly likely mean job losses in the region of 60 people, as opposed to the 80 jobs reported in the national media last week.

Dutffy’s was the first company in the Gort area to start employing Brazilian workers who immigrated from the town of Anapolis. It is also likely that the majority of job losses will come from the Brazilian com- munity.

Plant owner Sean Duffy began Gort’s connection with Brazil after a trip to South America some 10 years ago, when he brought back three skilled workers.

In recent years, the population of Gort has climbed to more than 2,400 people, including some 600 Brazil- TE DaWDOObSOUESS eeDOT ASE

TWO units of the fire brigade were called to assist the crew of a Health Service Executive ambulance in Clare in the early hours of Saturday morning after smoke began to blow from its engine.

The HSE has denied, however, that the safety of a patient travelling in the ambulance at the time was in any way compromised by the incident or that the ambulance was “burned out”’ as had been reported on local radio.

The incident occurred near Bunrat- ty at around 3.20am as the Limerick City-based ambulance was. trans-

porting a patient from Shannon to the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick. The patient was not in any danger and the call was not an emergency.

According to a spokesperson for the Regional Fire Control Centre in Lim- erick, they received a call at 3.24am reporting a vehicle on fire on the in- bound lane of the Ennis to Limerick dual-carriageway near Bunratty.

Two units of the fire brigade from Shannon responded to the incident and were at the scene within min- utes. While originally reported as a vehicle on fire, no fire was found on arrival by the fire service.

The HSE has confirmed that one of its ambulances was involved in the incident but that safety of the patient or the two-person crew was never oyna one yeeb isle em

‘There was an oil leak in the engine and the oil splashed on to the engine manifold creating smoke.

‘The ambulance crew pulled over immediately and, in accordance with procedure, they notified the Regional Ambulance Control Centre in Lim- erick of the matter.”

A second ambulance was sent to the scene while the local fire brigade was also notified as a precaution.

The HSE spokesman also con-

firmed that there was no danger to the patient or the crew and that the patient was transported on to Lim- erick in a second ambulance a short time later.

“The ambulance crew remained with the patient at all times and a short time later that patient was transported to the Mid Western Re- gional Hospital in Limerick on board another ambulance.

‘There was no fire and the vehicle was not damaged.”

It had been reported on one radio station that the vehicle was burned out in the incident. However, the HSE denied this.

KILLALOE and O’Briensbridge are the next two areas in east Clare which will benefit from the local authority’s cash for playgrounds scheme.

Clare County Council has set aside ۤ3,000 for the two areas, both of which had applied for grant funding under the scheme.

A meeting of Killaloe area council- lors was told last week that the prob- lems which have dogged the grant- ing of planning permission for play facilities in Parteen and Meelick are Aledo Ob

Planners met with the developers to discuss concerns about public light- ing and other matters.

The councillors were told that both schemes can now move ahead and it’s expected that work should begin be- fore the end of June.

The meeting heard that proposed sites had been identified in both ar- eas. Area engineer, Sean Lenihan, said that there is “strong community support” behind each proposal, with a local group pushing for the facility.

Killaloe councillor, Tony O’Brien, said that the “two projects are com- mendable. It’s great to see _ that communities are willing to be- come involved and undertake these projects”.

Councillors were asked how they wanted the available money divided. Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald said that it

should be given equally to both com- munities.

But, he added, he would “like to see the planners meeting with the developers and getting it right from the start, unlike Meelick and Parteen and one and a half years on, there are still no playgrounds in these areas”.

Community and Enterprise Admin- istrative Officer, Catherine O’Hara, said that the local authority is en- couraging all community groups to ebgage in the pre-planning process.”

She added that the grant, while it assists communities to provide fa- cilities, “never covers the entire cost which is usually more in the region of €120,000. It’s just a contribution towards it”.

Cllr O’Brien asked that should one or other of the groups being unable to draw down the grant, because of something unforseen such as a site falling through, that the money should then go to the remaining eroup and not out of the area.

The planning stumbling blocks holding the Parteen and Meelick fa- cilities back were resolved last week at a meeting organised by local coun- cillor, Pascal Fitzgerald, between planners and members of the two Loy eaveenlAKoieky

Almost €500,000 a year is divided between six electoral areas in the county and nine playground develop- ments are due to be part funded this yeasr from the 2006 grants scheme.

LISDOONVARNA Failte is facing a race against time to secure €1.27 million in Government grant-aid funding towards the provision of a new theatre for the north Clare Ke e0k

Currently, Clare County Council is deciding on the group’s plans to restore the existing Park Pavilion building, which will accommodate a theatre and community uses.

“Grant funding of €1.27 million has been set aside for the realisation of this project. However, we are re-

quired to satisfy the Department of Tourism of the project’s feasibility by June 30,” said architect for the project, John O’Reilly, in a letter to the council.

“To achieve this, we would greatly appreciate the council’s efforts in progressing this application within the two-month decision date dead- line.” The work proposed involves the carrying out of works to a pro- tected structure or a proposed pro- Kee Kore MID MUCOLAU TKO

Mr O’Reilly said that the project was for theatre and community use for such events as the Lisdoonvarna

Matchmaking Festival and it would encourage tourism in an area zoned for tourism development in the Clare County Development Plan 2005.

The Department of Tourism states that Lisdoonvarna will have to pro- vide evidence of matching funding to enable completion of the project and to comply with all conditions set down by the council and the Office of Public Works (OPW).

The letter also states that the pro- moters will have to provide any addi- tional funding required to complete the project. The letter states, “If the above conditions are not met by June

30, the grant will be withdrawn.”

Independent councillor Martin Lafferty said last night that “the res- toration of the theatre will provide a valuable asset for Lisdoonvarna and itis being driven by chairman of Lis- doonvarna Failte, Joe Garrihy.

“The building itself has a rich his- tory. It has a huge hall and massive floorspace and should be of great use to the people in the local area.”

The original grant was made by former Heritage Minister, Sile de Valera. Lisdoonvarna Failte success- fully applied for an extension to the erant approval.