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FAI chief executive John Delaney laid out the vision for underage soc- cer in Clare saying such programmes would a true reflection of the work carried out by the FAI. In his first visit as FAI supremo to Ennis Dela- ney officially kick started the proc- ess that will eventually see a full time County Development Officer appointed to Clare.

The officer will co-ordinate the development of soccer at grassroots level by working closely with clubs, schools, Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council.

Addressing league officials, play- ers, politicians and coaches Dela- ney outlined the vast level of work carried out by the sport’s govern- ing body. In total the FAI caters for 450,000 people a week. The number of coaches now stands at 17,500. By the end of 2007 it is anticipated that a 100 technical staff will bee in situ at the FAI’s new centre of excellence in Abbotstown.

He hailed the work being done by local volunteers as “extraordi-

nary’ and also heaped praise on the achievements of Clare’s Oscar Traynor team.

Speaking after wards Delaney ex- plained how the County Develop- ment Officer would lead to more fo- cused player development.

He said, “That individual will work with the club, the kids, schools devel- oping a mass participation level. The best players will come through at the top. Their role is very much based on getting participation and tackling anti-social issues like obesity, alco- hol abuse/ drug usage, getting girls active in the game. By doing that, the better players will come through always, but soccer in this country is not about the elite level, it’s about participation for everybody who lives TbO MO etemexelbbeL nm aes

Delaney has strong Clare connec- tions. His wife Emer is from Ennis. He counts Clare’s unforgettable All- Ireland win in 1995 as among his fa- vorite sporting moments.

“My wife is from Ennis. Her father was Paddy O’Dea, I think he played football for Clare. Her first cousins were Seamus and Colm Clancy who

won that famous game in 1992 when they won that Munster football final. Her aunty Kitty played in the Kil- fenora Ceili band. My father’s moth- er was a Darcy from Ennis. I used to spend two or three months of my summers in Kilkee. Every summer we’d go to Kilkee for maybe 16 or 17 years of my life. Probably one of my most memorable days outside of soccer would have been 1995 when Clare won the All-Ireland. I was there with Emer, her brothers and her mother and Dad. That was a fantas- tic day. In terms of a sporting occa- sion, to see Clare win an All-Ireland, I don’t think they’d won one since 1914. They’d won the Munster final in 1932 but got beaten by Kilkenny. I think when they won in 1914 Michael O’Hehir’s father was the manager”.

On qualification for the Euro- pean Championships the former St Michaels clubman was cautiously optimistic. He believes the public must be patient.

“You must remember we were a fourth seed going into the group so that means you should finish fourth de facto. That’s not what we are aim-

ing to do. I think everybody should realize we are in transition from where we were. Some of the older players have retired since 2002. I’m very much encouraged by, like I think everybody in the country is, by young Hunt, he scored again for Reading today, Shane Long, Paul McShane, Kevin Doyle, young Darren Gibson who is at Manchester United and on loan at Antwerp, Terry Dixon at Spurs, Billy Clarke from Cork who’s with Ipswich, young McCarthy who’s with Hamilton his grandfather was from Donegal. I think there are a lot of very good players coming through. I think patience is required as we bring those players through. The omens are good”’.

TWO shotguns, jewellery and a variety of electrical items which were stolen in a bur- glary in Ballyvaughan 16 months ago have been recovered, abandoned on land.

The discovery by gardai was made close to Ballyvaughan, on Saturday morning.

According to gardai, the guns were found in the same state they were taken, from a home in Ballyvaughan in December 2005.

The other items recovered were two televi- sions, radios, a computer, printer, scanner, flatscreen monitor and a significant array of jewellery, which is of sentimental value.

A substantial sum of cash, which was also taken in the burglary, has not been recov- Ksrn

The discovery was made a short distance from the house which was burgled.

Gardai believe the items have been ex- posed to the weather for several months.

Ennistymon Superintendent Noel Clarke said the items will be technically exam- ined.

“The find was made as a result of Garda investigations. They will be examined.

“Most of the items are of limited value, because they have been left out on the land,” said Supt Clarke.

DOONBEG was again the venue for the launch of the premier golfing tournament for businesses in Clare. Ennis Chamber of Commerce and sponsors Sherry Fitzgerald McMa- hon were in Doonbeg Golf Club last week to finalise details of the Golf Classic, which takes place at the prestigious club April 26 and 27. This is the premier social event for Ennis Chamber with over 200 golfers participating from the business com- munity in Clare. It is expected that colleagues and clients from around the country will also be attracted to

this opportunity to play at one of the world’s top links courses.

Launching the event in Doonbeg Golf Club were Dermot McMahon and Diarmuid McMahon of Sherry Fitzgerald McMahon along with En- nis Chamber President John Mad- CF

Commenting on the occasion Mr Madden said, “Ennis Chamber is delighted to be back in Doonbeg for the second year running for our An- nual Golf Classic. We have received tremendous support and valued input from our sponsors Sherry Fitzgerald McMahon in order to ensure a suc- cessful event. Furthermore, this 1s

the ultimate links experience for all golfers and promises to be a hugely enjoyable event at a top quality resort – not to be missed!”

This year, Ennis Chamber has in- troduced a spa package for partners of golfers or for anyone who is not a golfer but would like to avail of the five-star treatment and comforts Doonbeg Golf Club, Lodge and Spa has to offer. All participants will enjoy a three course meal as part of their day, prepared by award-win- ning chefs. There is also an accom- modation package available for those who wish to savor the delights of the Doonbeg resort a little longer.

Teams of four will play for a range of executive prizes with the annouce- ment ceremony taking place at 9pm on Friday, April 27 in Doonbeg club- house.

Tee times are available late morn- ing as well as mid afternoon on both days. Teams of Four are €700; with individual players at €175 are wel- comed to be teamed up. Individu- als can avail of the spa package for €125.

Brochures and booking cards are available from Margaret Neylon, En- nis Chamber, 54 O’Connell Street, Ennis, 065 684 2988. Book early to secure your preferred tee time.

ALL-IRELAND glory came to Clare handball on the double on Saturday as Clare handball played the genera- tion game to stunning effect in Moy- cullen on Saturday evening last.

In the winners enclosure were O’Callaghan’s Mills doubles pair Conor and John Cooney while vet- eran John Kirby of the most famous handball clan of them all added an- other title to his name.

The Cooneys claimed the Under 21 Doubles titles with a hard-earned victory over Mayo’s Dara Reid and Ciaran Burke while Kirby’s latest hour of glory came in the Diamond Masters A Singles.

The doubles final went to a tie- breaking third game, after the open- ing two games were shared. The Cooneys won the first by 21-16, but were taken to a third game after go- ing down 21-16 in the second. How- ever, they came good again in the de- cider to win comfortably by 21-8.

Then Kirby showed that his skills remain undiminished by the years When beating Roscommon’s Pat Clarke by 21-7, 21-17. At the same venue, Lousie Hayes of Tuamgraney put in a fantastic performance in the All-Ireland Junior Ladies singles fi- nal but in the end was just edged out by the single ace by Mayo’s Pauline Gallagher.

Meanwhile, in the Girls Under 17 Singles, Kate Lynch received a bye into the All-Ireland final, as did Ais- ling Fitzgerald and Edel O’Grady in Under 17 Doubles. The coming weekend will be another big one for Clare handballers and handball fol- lowers.

Cappagh in Limerick will the be the place to be on Saturday at 5.30pm as Tuamgraney’s Niall Malone and Di- armaid Nash face Niall Smyth and Ger McGrath of Kilkenny in the All- Ireland Minor Doubles final.

At Crinkle in Offaly on Sunday at 2.00pm Louise Hayes and Ann- Marie Fitzgerald Tuamgraney are in action in the Ladies Junior B Dou- bles final against Roscommon’s Lin- da Connolly and Laura Mannion.

Also on Sunday at 2pm, John Kirby and Jimmy Walsh travel to Cashel for the Diamond Masters ‘A’ Dou- bles final against Kilkenny’s Paddy Reilly and Seamus Reade.

DOORA-BAREFIELD native, Martina Molo- ney, is to become the first female County Manager in the history of Galway, it was an- nounced last week.

The 47-year-old mother-of-two began her county council career as a clerical officer in Ennis and was, most recently, county manager in Louth for the last three and half years.

She is also a former director of services with Galway City Council and has some 20 years of experience working for local Government.

Although the appointment was announced last week, Ms Moloney is unlikely to begin work in Galway until later this summer.

She must also be ratified by the elected members of Galway County Council at their meeting later this month and will not be of- ficially appointed in her position until May.

Ms Moloney’s late husband, Jimmy Hick- ey, 1S also originally from the Ennis area. The pair met while they both worked for the county council in Ennis. Jimmy passed away in 1991.

“IT am excited about the challenge of being back in Galway and one of my main aims will be to do my best to help improve the county’s capacity to attract and accommodate new in- dustry,” she said.

“There is new main route through east Gal- way to Dublin, the many issues regarding the N17 and N18 and of course I am familiar with the Claregalway situation.”

While her career working with local authori- ties started out in Ennis, she has since got a lot of experience around the country.

She worked with councils in Limerick City, Donegal and North Tipperary before moving to Galway City and then to Louth.

SHANNON Airport could see an additional 100 extra military flights every month with an expansion of services by Omni Air International, one of several airlines contracted to carry US military personnel for the Pentagon.

While the new services were not ex- pected to start until next month, two Omni Air flights arrived at Shannon on Saturday afternoon prompting calls from anti-war group the Peace

and Neutrality Alliance to call for campaigners to step up their protests at Shannon.

Former Irish Army Commandant and well known anti-war campaigner Ed Horgan said the passage of US troops through Shannon is becom- ing accepted custom and practice because not enough Irish people care about the killing of ‘foreigners’ in places such as Iraq.

News of the expansion in services by Omni Air will, however, be a sig- nificant boost to the airport after the

biggest carrier of US military per- sonnel for the Pentagon pulled out last year.

World Airways shifted its military technical stops to Leipzig, Germany citing economic reasons.

With the loss of World Airways, there has been a dramatic drop in US military traffic at Shannon.

Almost 15,000 more troops passed through the airport in January 2006 than in the first three months of this year combined.

26,817 troops stopped off at Shan-

non on 268 flights in the first quarter of this year, representing a drop of almost 77 per cent on the figures for 2006.

The Dublin Airport Authority, which still governs Shannon, has al- ready warned that Shannon Airport should not rely on the military transit nee nelen

DAA Chief Executive Declan Col- lier said that Shannon’s losses are “only slightly camouflaged by the military transit traffic which is not a sustainable business.”

Shannon has earned an estimated €8m a year for the past six years from US military traffic and its loss- es would be far greater if it did not have the military business.

A spokesperson for the Shannon Airport Authority confirmed that Omni Air are putting a programme of flights through the airport from next month.

This new business is expected to see up to 100 flights a month carry- ing as many as 10,000 troops.

MICHAEL Considine was an ani- mated figure on the Gaelic Grounds sideline on Saturday afternoon.

It was a combination of trying to get his team going, exhorting them to ereater heights and venting his anger at some of the decisions that didn’t go his team’s way.

The latter is something that Con- sidine was thinking about after the game – the injustice done to Clare twice in the first half when they were playing catch-up after Limerick scin- SD UE-lenerea eva

“T’m not making excuses but I thought the refereeing was a dis- grace, said Considine about Mau- rice Condon’s handling of the game.

‘The decisions that went against us were unbelieveable. Gary Leahy was pulled up by the referee after he took a free, while Enda Lyons should have been awarded a penalty. He was defi- nitely pulled back. When those things gO against you it makes it harder. We needed scores badly at that stage but didn’t get them,” he added.

However, the refereeding aside, Considine admitted that it was a very disappointing display by his charges after they play some fantastic foot- ball in the drawn game three days previously.

“We were flat, very flat,” he admit- ted. “The start killed us, to concede 2-3 of a start to Limerick meant we were chasing the game and it was al- ways going to be very hard to come oye) que ueyeemset.le

“But we battled hard and I can’t fault the lads for the effort they put in the game. They got it back to four

points with four minutes remaining which showed the character that’s in this side,” he added.

This character will be needed in spades on Wednesday when they re- turn to the Gaelic Grounds to take on a Tipperary side that went down by 3-7 to Q-10 in their opening round tie in Limerick.

“lve watched the DVD of Tip- perary’s game against Kerry last Wednesday. They are a typical Tip- perary team – they’re big and strong and will be very hard to beat. We know that they will be hard to beat, Tipperary teams always are at under- age level,’ said Considine.

‘“We’re hopeful that the lads will lift it now but it’s crazy that they’re being asked to play a third cham- pionship game in seven days. The GAA have established a committee to look into player burn-out yet they wouldn’t consider putting back this game by a few days.

“But were going to get on with it. We have injury worries that we carried into Saturday’s game, Dav- id Connole has a rib injury while Michael McDonagh has ankle trou- ble. Your midfield is crucial and we ll just have to wait and see how they are on Wednesday.”

Clare’s preparations for the tie started after their defeat on Saturday when they had a pool session in The Bunratty Shannon Shamrock Hotel. “We’ll have another pool session be- fore Wednesday and then take our chance,” said Considine. “If we can get over Tipperary, we have Water- ford to look forward to and we could yet reach a semi-final against Cork. That’s what we have to aim for.”

MORE than 45,000 passengers trav- elled through Shannon Airport over the course of the Easter Bank Holi- day weekend, according to airport management.

But none of them found their way to one of the most scenic areas in the county, because of a lack of direc- tional signs, it is claimed.

Around 300 flights landed and took off over the weekend. This was an in- crease of 10 per cent on last year.

“With more than 50 destinations on offer, the European market generated the largest volume of passengers this Easter, as many people take advan- tage of the long weekend to soak up some sun or fit in a short city break”, an airport spokeswoman said.

But Teresa Browne of the East

Clare Tourism group said that the Lough Derg end of the county would see no benefit from increased num- bers of visitors to the county unless the council erected the directional signs which they promised.

‘“There’s not one sign for east Clare, not even for Lough Derg. North Clare and west Clare have got their signs from what we hear and the council is still talking about putting a design

team in place for East Clare. There’s no hope that they will be ready for this season. That’s another season gone with nothing being done’, she SrHKOe

The East Clare Tourism secretary said that the NRA was responsible for signs on national roads, but that “ours are non-national roads. The re- sponsibility for this lies firmly with the council. I’m delighted to hear

there are increased numbers of pas- sengers moving through Shannon but none of them are going to be able to find their way here. There’s nothing to say we even exist.”

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the airport authority said that passengers needed to remember to give them- selves plenty of time to comply with check-in and security regulations at Shannon.

ENNIS Chamber of Commerce has urged the Government to make em- ployment legislation more _ under- standable and accessible to small businesses.

The call came as Minister for La- bour Affairs Tony Killeen launched the Code of Practice for Employer and Employees on the Prevention and Resolution of Bullying at Work.

The code is an update of the Health And Safety Authority’s existing code of practice, bringing it in line with

the 2005 Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act.

The Act requires employers to manage work activities in such a way so as to prevent, as far as reasonably possible, improper conduct or be- haviour at work.

The code will come into practice on May 1. Launching it during the week, the minister said the code, “emphasises that the best place to deal with a complaint of bullying is at the level of the company work- place. A significant element of the code places an emphasis on the reso-

lution of incidents of bullying using an informal process and professional mediation services.”

The code explains what bullying means and deals with the responsi- bilities of employers and employees to prevent or resolve it. It also reflects the legal requirement that employ- ers carry out a risk assessment and where bullying is identified as a haz- ard, they ensure that it is included in the safety statement.

Welcoming the publication of the code, Ennis chamber chief execu- tive, Rita McInerney, said that it was

essential that workplace bullying be tackled.

But she added that it was to be hoped that the code was presented in a way which could be understood and incorporated into businesses jo e-le18 (een

“There is such a a high amount of new legislation coming out and it needs to be communicated and de- livered in a consumable fashion,’ she said.

Such is the confusion among busi- ness people about interpreting leg- islation which they are obliged to

implement that the chamber has run courses for its members on under- standing employment legislation.

The code also provides guidance on identifying bullying and gives advice on how to prepare an anti-bullying policy for the workplace.

The code requires all employees and employers to be vigilant of their own behaviours. promotes a “sys- temic and robust method for dealing with cases of bullying as the best way to prevent the behaviour being re- peated and reduce the health effects for those who have been bullied”.

THE people of Clare strongly be- lieve that one issue will dominate the general election – 47.49 per cent of those polled last week expressed the view that health 1s the single biggest factor.

While Shannon Airport, jobs, im- migration and farming all featured among the main concerns for people in Clare, health stands out head and shoulders above any other issue.

Ongoing disquiet over the future of Ennis General Hospital, allied to the escalation of the nurses’ dispute this week, are to the forefront of the minds of the electorate.

The publication of the Hanly report has created major negative reaction over the past four years and a failure by the government to show definite commitment to the future of Ennis General Hospital has created bad taste in Clare.

The Ennis Hospital Development Committee has highlighted its con- cerns on a continuous basis and has pledged to continue its fight for the future of the hospital. They want to ensure the hospital retains full status and also want to preserve the a & e unit.

Chairman of the committee, Pea- dar McNamara said he would expect that more than 47 per cent of people would list health as their chief con- cern.

“T would like to see the figure high- er,’ he said.

“T expect that any alternative ad- ministration would be an improve- ment. The government has been in power for 10 years. The Hanly report has been there for four years. The three Fianna Fail Oireachtas mem- bers have been ineffective. The pro- posal to close the a & e units in Ennis and Nenagh is ridiculous,” he said.

“The Health Service in many re- spects has been riddled with faults and difficulties. The Hanly Report was published without the electorate being asked and Ennis was to lose its a & e,’ said Mr McNamara.

Two consultancy groups – Team- work and Horwath – are currently compiling reports on hospitals in the mid-west, but Mr McNamara does not believe that these will be com- pleted until after the General Elec- wove

Meanwhile, former Labour TD Dr Moosajee Bhamjee believes that the figure of 47 per cent of people – who list health as their main bone of con- tention – is accurate.

“47 per cent is a good indication of health being the primary issue. If Ennis General Hospital closes, there would be more concern. Maybe some Fianna Fail supporters are be-

ing indoctrinated to think there is no health issue,” he said.

“The Hanly report is still the pri- mary report and that is not good for Ennis General Hospital,’ said Dr Bhamjee, who is a consultant psy- chiatrist.

He said he believes that Fianna Fail could lose a seat, solely on the hospi- tal issue, if the electorate assess their performance seriously enough.

“If people look at it in a serious way, that Fianna Fail is not serious about retaining Ennis General as an acute hospital for the people to stay overnight, over the next couple of years, they can lose a seat,’ he said.