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IT EMERGED last week that the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) does not have a database in- cluding all food outlets in the coun- try, making it near impossible for any policing of the beef labelling legislation to take place.

It has also now emerged that the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, has signed off a further Statutory In- strument on beef labelling in the past three weeks, which should clarify any issues with the regulations.

The IFA President Padraig Walshe, met with the Chief Executive of the Food Safety Authority, John O’Brien,

in Dublin last week to express the “extreme dissatisfaction” that pro- ducers are feeling about the slow pace of implementation of country of origin beef labelling in restau- rants, pubs and catering outlets. ‘“Itis unacceptable that nine months after the legislation was introduced by the Government, no documenta- tion explaining the requirements and obligations under the law have been sent to the country’s 30,000 food outlets. Further delay in implement- ing this legislation cannot be toler- ated. The FSAI has assured the IFA that briefing material on the legisla- tion was now complete and would be sent to all establishments over the

next four weeks,” he said.

In addition to this, the FSAI said food outlets such as restaurants and hotels could expect to be inspected by Environmental Health Officers a number of times during the year and prosecutions will be taken if they are found not to be implementing the law on food labelling.

The FSAI also confirmed that they will be undertaking a comprehensive programme of advertising and infor- mation campaign for the public on country of origin beef labelling over the coming weeks.

Surveys conducted by the IFA last autumn indicated that up to two- thirds of restaurants, pubs and hotels

are not complying with country of origin beef labelling requirements.

The country of origin of beef reg- ulations state that a food business operator providing prepared beef to consumers shall not advertise the beef for sale or supply, present it for sale or supply, or sell or supply it un- less the country of or countries of origin of the beef is indicated at the point of advertisement, presenting, sale and supply in clear legible type on the advertisement, menu or other presentation used.

Concerns have been raised that beef from South American countries such as Brazil and Argentina is being sold as Irish beef.

ANOTHER defeat for Clare — three on the bounce after the morale boosting start to the Paidi O Sé reign with victories over Carlow and Lei- trim. Another cloud in a relegation dogfight, but the upbeat mood of the Clare contingent afterwards showed that it had something of a silver lin- ing.

Paidi was positive as he gathered his team around — barking encourag- ing words about commitment, deter- mination, pride in the jersey. Things taken for granted in a county with 34 All-Irelands; questioned after the 13- point drubbing at home at the hands of Monaghan.

Afterwards Vincent O’Connor made similar soundings as he took the players for a warm down. There

was no warm down after the Mona- ghan game — maybe it was because the team didn’t break enough sweat to warrant one.

It was different in O’Connor Park on Sunday. Another precious two points went the other way but Paidi still preached positivity for the fu- ture when fielding questions after the game.

‘“We’re very upbeat after today,’ he said. “We played very well and the lads gave a great account of them- selves. We were unfortunate to lose Frank O’Dea during the course of the day and before the game we hadn’t David Russell available to us. Apart from that we played very well.

“We should have capitalised a bit more with the wind. We’ve only our- selves to blame for that. It’s the sign of good character in a team that can

bounce back against Offaly, up here in Offaly, after the drubbing against Monaghan.

“There was a good bit more fight and while we’re disappointed in the manner in which we lost the game in the end but we’re quite happy with the way we played, just a little bit dis- appointed that we didn’t get a share of the spoils.”

As for the future, Paidi was already looking forward to the game against London this coming Sunday. Lowly London, the cannon fodder of Na- tional League football. Still a big game for Clare insisted Paidi, be- cause he says “every game that Clare play in is a big game. We’re looking forward to it.”

It’s the only thing Clare can do in their desperate attempt to avoid the ignominy of Division 4 football for 2008. That would be worse than the bad old days of Division 3 South.

REDUCING headline crime and increasing garda resources in tour- ist locations during the summer will be among the priorities for the new Kilrush Superintendent, Declan Bro- eee

The Kinvara native has just taken up the post as Superintendent of the Kilrush District, replacing Joe MckK- eown, who has gone to Dublin, after a year-and-a-half in Kilrush.

Supt Brogan has moved to Kilrush, having spent the vast majority of his years in the garda force, in Dublin.

Prior to moving to Clare, he worked in the regional traffic unit, based at Dublin Castle, for six years. During that time he was involved in some major infrastructure projects, includ- ing the development of the Port Tun-

nel and the Luas.

He has also spent almost 18 years working in the Special Detective Unit, based at Dublin Castle, while he has spent three-and-a-half years working overseas, mainly in Croatia.

‘IT have been looking at issues that have been happening here (in west Clare) over the past year. I will be fo- cusing on decreasing headline crime, like public order and assaults.

“You have to look at where public disorder arises from and try to ad- dress it, through CCTV and enforce- ment,” he said.

“Coming from a road traffic back- eround, I have particular interest in the Road Traffic Act,” said Supt Bro- eee

“The legislation is there for the guards to implement random breath testing and it is up to us to do it.

Since its introduction last year, it has had a huge effect on the number of road fatalities. If it works… great,” he said.

He also plans to increase garda re- sources in areas where populations dramatically increase during the summer months.

“You have a summer issue and a winter issue. The population of plac- es like Doonbeg and Kilkee increase during the summer and we have to look at putting extra resources out there,” he said.

While he is not opposed to alcohol, its abuse and that of drugs, lead to many problems.

“The abuse of alcohol and drugs leads to public disorder and people have to be responsible,” he said.

Additional resources have recent- ly been pumped into the detective

branch in Kilrush, on a temporary basis, and Supt Brogan is hopeful that these may remain in place, to tackle drug use and other serious crime in west Clare.

The Brogan name is well-known in Clare – Declan’s brother Paddy, an Ennis publican, is a prominent spokesman with the Vintner’s Feder- ation in Clare, while another brother, the late Enda Brogan, was County Registrar for Clare, prior to his death four years ago. Their father Michael was a garda based in Kinvara for many years.

Declan is happy to be back near his roots in Kinvara. “I am looking forward to it. It is great to be able to drive to work in the morning and not be stuck in traffic jams. Rural po- licing has a lot to offer and is more community-based,” he said.

A FIRST in a series of information evening about the use and potential benefits of IFA Broadband in Clare will take place this week. The meet- ing and demonstration will take place at the Doonbeg Community Development Centre on Wednes- day March 28 at 8pm and is aimed

at people from the whole Loophead area.

IFA Telecom is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Irish Farmers As- sociation which is dedicated to pro- viding the best possible value in telecommunications to members and associates. All profits made as a result of IFA Telecoms goes to help fund the work of the association on

behalf of its members.

“This is a service that rural com- munities have been crying out for. People are tired of waiting for Eir- com to update their local exchange to receive Broadband. The fact of the matter is that approximately 80 per cent of rural homes and businesses cannot get Broadband over their telephone line and this is not going

to change anytime soon,’ said Ray Breen, IFA Broadband Development Manager.

The IFA currently has a number of wireless access points around the Loophead area as well as Corofin, Kilfenora and Ruan. A new service is now in Kilmaley. For more info contact IFA Telecom by phone at O01 4265512.

THE different reaction afterwards provides a baromoter of sorts to guage who had gained a point and who had just lost one. A win had its own significance for both sides. Hav- ing already lost to Cork and Wex- ford, Offaly were on the rack, star- ing down the barrel of Division Two hurling next year. A win would keep Clare flying near the summit of the group, a playoff place in sight.

Clare came here expecting two points, but it was John McIntyre who felt disappointed at the end.

“I felt desperately unlucky not to have won the game and I make no apologies for saying that,’ he said. “It’s a big step in the right direc- ney na

There was a different take on it for Clare. Three or four times in the second half, Tony Considine said, he felt as though the game was slipping away from his side.

“I thought at times we’d never get anything out of it. The one thing, sometimes you find out about a team what they’re really made

of and a day like today I think we found out Clare have a lot of charac- ter in them. They fought at the end. They never gave up on the game.”

At times, particularly in the sec- ond half, he re-jigged his forward line and mainly to good effect. Niall Gilligan was brought to the front of his attack then moved in front of the goal, Fergal Lynch was used as a bat- tering ram at centre-froward. Yet the bulk of the re-deployment was done through necessity.

“You swap around and you do things especially when there’s emer- gencies all over the picth. When we made the changes it worked well for us. But all of the lads fought hard and they got their reward. I’d like to have got the win but half a loaf is better than no loaf at all, as they say.”

Clare started with a_ physically strong full-forward line, one that on paper, given the size of the three, was capable of making their presence felt. McIntyre picked up on this from the start.

“Clare had big men. We mightn’t have the height to match them in certain positions

but you’ve got to hand it to Clare. At stages in the second half it looked like they were in big trouble but they hung in at the end. You’ve got to give them credit for that.”

It sets things up neatly for next Sun- day’s clash with Cork. A helping of soup to warm the gut before the real banquet of summer.

“At the end of the day we want to qualify,” says Considine. “We go out to win every game if we can. Clare have lost games before and it wasn’t the end of the world. It’s not going to be the end of the world again.

“We’re trying out things with the team. We’re learning all the time. Next Sunday we’ll learn some more and maybe we’ll learn a bit about Cork as well.”

Learning and discovering. The time to turn toil into victory is ap- proaching.

The 20-year-old woman was work- ing outside a florists at The Square, Sixmilebridge at around 10.45am on Saturday when a masked man tried to force her into a van.

A man wearing a balaclava tried to pull her into a green van in which he was travelling. A struggle ensued and the young woman managed to escape, before the van was driven at

speed in the direction of Kilkishen.

It is understood that two other men were travelling in the van.

The same woman, a third-level Student in Limerick, was robbed at knifepoint in Limerick on March 15. Her purse was stolen. Gardai set up an identity parade, but she didn’t identify anyone.

Gardai say they are not ruling out the possibility that both incidents are linked but are also investigating the possibility that Saturday’s incident may have been sexually motivated or could have been an attempted rob- Ae

Gardai are keen to establish if the

victim was specifically targeted, or if it was a random abduction attempt on the young woman who had re- ceived a lift to Sixmilebridge earlier derlmpeslevwennntcs

She was said to be deeply trauma- tised following the incidents, but did not sustain any serious injuries.

Gardai have spoken to a number of people who were in the Sixmilebri- dge area early on Saturday, includ- ing one person who saw a green van. However, they believe others may have vital information, or descrip- tions of the three men.

Inspector Tom Kennedy is appeal- ing for anyone who may have seen

a green van in the area on Saturday morning to come forward.

“We are appealing for anyone who may have seen a green Citroen or Peugeot van at The Square, Sixmi- lebridge at around 10.30am to come forward. We believe it was parked outside The Old House pub and was driven across the road when this girl emerged,” he said.

“The van left in the direction of Kil- kishen, but could have turned right for Broadford or Tulla,” he said.

Gardai are also appealing for a woman, who comforted the victim at the time of her ordeal, to come for- ward.

IT’S NOT often you can say this, but Bono may have been talking sense, at least when he sang about the streets having no name way back in 1985. This certainly seems to be the case in Lahinch at the moment as the development of recent years have left many new areas of the village with no recognised title.

For the sake of tourists, not to men- tion the poor postman, Clare Coun- ty Council have decided to tackle the situation and plan to introduce a number of new street and estate names in the coming months. The Lahinch Community Council have come on board to help people bring

suggestions on possible names to the council.

“The idea is to allow everyone to have their say. We just want to help facilitate people, but they can submit their ideas directly to the council if they like,” said Mary Comber of the Lahinch Community Council.

“It’s all about the people who live in the area getting an input. A name is going to be picked and if they can come up with something local, his- torical, in Irish or in English, then all the better.

“People might know some histori- cal fact about their street that has been lost. Like William Ellis who used to live in the house beside the Church, he raised the money to build

the wall and the prom. So maybe that might be a good name for a spare corner here or there.”

Besides putting names on previ- ously untitled areas, the council also hopes to sort out a number of con- fusing situations such as two estates who both have the same name in the AUN E:TSxen

“There is an estate called Sandhill Lodge on the Ennistymon Road but there is also an estate called Sandhill Lodge down opposite the Golf Club on the Liscannor Road. There are a lot of houses down there as well. So there are two sets of Sandhill Lodges at the moment,’ she continued.

“We also have the back lane which runs parallel to main street. This has

always been there but it is a proper street now. The only name that has been proposed to the council for that so far is to name it after Arzon, the French town that Lahinch is twinned with. It 1s all coming about because of the expansion of Lahinch. It’s no longer a case of the old fashioned postman who knows where everyone lives. When you build a new housing estate people have to come up with a name. So they are taken care of but there are other areas that don’t have any names.”

Anyone interested can submit sug- gestions to Donogh O’Loghlin or Gerry Hartigan of the Community Council or directly to Clare County Council on 6821616.

CONSTRUCTION on the multi-mil- lion euro development of the Lahi- nch Prom is likely to get underway in August, it was revealed yesterday.

Members of Clare County Council met with representatives from con- sultant engineers Malachy Walsh and Partners yesterday to discuss the final plan for the development.

Responding to a question raised by Ennistymon Councillor Martin Con- way (FG) at yesterdays local area meeting, it was revealed that the final planning stage for the development is likely to continue for six months, with tender to be sought in late Sep- tember.

Funding of up to €800,000 has

been secured from Clare County Council to facilitate the development of toilets, showers and other tourist- related facilities on the town’s sea- front promenade.

This funding was made available as a result of the decision to double the cost of parking on the promenade and Liscannor Road car parks.

The money will go towards devel- oping toilet and shower facilities for visitors and the town’s expanding surfer population, as well as the re- development of lifeguard facilities on the beach.

While the main construction work will not begin until September at the earliest, work on the development of the new lifeguard hut is expected to commence in August.

IT’S been the Information Age town, it’s recently been named Ireland’s largest tidiest town — but can Ennis become an Olympic village’?

The prospect of the world’s top athletes coming to Ennis to fine- tune their preparations for the 2012 London Olympics is a proposal cur- rently being explored by Ennis Town Council.

The council is being urged to put forward the Lees Road sports facility as a possible training venue for Ol- ympians training ahead of the sum- jas ueee-B bal ea

Town Manager Tom Coughlan

confirmed the proposal 1s under con- sideration and that any application would be carried out in conjunction with the University of Limerick. “We have given it our considera- tion. Athletes coming over are more than likely to use UL as a base and, if were doing anything, it would probably be to feed off that. Before putting ourselves forward, we would have to have specifications for what would be available in Lees Road, I’m thinking about the running track in particular. It would certainly be a huge boost to the town to be recog- nised on the international stage.” Councillor Frankie Neylon (Ind) requested the council explore the

possibility, given the proximity of Ennis to Shannon Airport.

“There will be great interest in coun- tries looking to use facilities. There is a great drive to provide facilities and, with Shannon on our doorstep, we could offer a huge package.”

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) agreed any Olympic link-up would bring mas- sive international recognition to the OD eer

“It is great to see Lees Road contin- ue to be so popular but if we were to get the Olympics involved, I wouldn’t like to see locals being pushed out as a result. I do know there is terrific interest in Lees Road from sporting eroups, from Galway to Tipperary.”

ORDER, order in the school. The transition years students from Lis- doonvarna’s Mary Immaculate Sec- ondary School have been opening up their minds to the Irish legal system in recent weeks through their par- ticipation in the Public Access Law Day.

Indeed, the school was one of just 25 schools from all over Ireland picked to take part in the latter stages of the competition which took place in Dublin’s Four Courts over the weekend.

They placed sixth of the 25 schools narrowly missing out on a place in the final.

Eighteen students from the school travelled to Dublin where they pit- ted their legal wits against other schools.

“We were given three differ- ent cases to contest with the other schools. We had to be the prosecu- tion on the first case, but for the other two we were defending it. The bar- risters have to make opening and closing arguments and question two witnesses,” said transition year stu- CCS al me-b aXe Moy DUR Ki Ko) mm COME MCE Dh Aa WI EDITS STi

“Each school put forward 18 stu- dents to take part in the trial. These include two barristers, four witness- es, the jury, solicitors and reserves.”

The students have been working

overtime over the last number of months and have been well prepared by Galway based solicitor James Fahy.

‘Firstly, we had a barrister in talk- ing to us about the legal system and how it all works. It was really very educational and very very interest- ing. He thought us about a lot of things and helped us to prepare for Dublin,” continued Aisling.

‘He spoke to us about how the legal system works here in Ireland, about our own rights and how the consti- tutions works. We also had a mock trial and learned how all the differ- ent parts of the court work.

‘In the court it’s about having basic manners, knowing how to conduct

yourself and how to express yourself without being biased.

“We have learned an awful lot. Not just about the legal system, but also about our own legal rights. I have also learned a lot about speaking in public and expressing myself clearly to other people.”

Four schools go forward from the competition to compete in the All- Ireland Final which takes place in the Four Courts on April 21.