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NO excuses. That was the message coming from Clare co-manager Joe Garry after Saturday’s crushing de- feat to Tipperary.

Clare’s poor showing, particularly in the first half, when they leaked three goals was the source of 1m- mense disappointment in a sombre dressing room afterwards.

Clare fans travelled in more expec- tation than hope following the stir- ring quarterfinal victory over Kerry but then watched on in abject frustra- tion as Clare capitulated.

“It was bitterly disappointing. I know that a lot of people travelled down and were very frustrated watching in the stands but if you can imagine that disappointment and multiply it by ten that’s the way it was in the dressing room afterwards. It was no way reflective of the talent that’s in that team. We hadn’t done ourselves a bit of justice. It wasn’t that we underestimated them in any way. If anything we had prepared

more diligently than the Kerry game. We had a free reign in terms of inju- ries, we knew Conor Howley wasn’t going to make it”.

The physical nature adopted by Tipperary certainly upset Clare’s rhythm but Garry said he had no complaints about the robust nature of the contest.

“We have no problems whatsoever with the ref. There’s no excuses, none at all. We were just that bit flat on the day. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. We made too many mistakes. There was a great bounce around Clare football in the last week or so, and it’s all down to those lads. There’s quite a few of the lads underage for next year, but that’s a poor consolation right now.”

She is ott: that people who made

their Holy Communion on that fate- ful or even faithful day on June 16, 1957, would be able to meet up again on Saturday, June 16, 2007.

Now living in Cork, Mairead said that many of the girls from that class are scattered throughout the country and beyond and she is hoping that family members who may still be living in Kilrush would make them aware of her plans.

As many as 34 girls for the Convent of Mercy School made their holy communion that day. They were in senior or high infants at the time and were just about to enter first class.

While Sr Alacoque was their class teacher, Sr Mary Carmel was the nun responsible for religious instruction and the months of preparation that

went into the event. At 8am the chil- dren went to their Holy Communion Mass after fasting for the requested wneeles

Afterwards they went to the con- vent where they had jelly and trifle to celebrate. It was home then, meeting the neighbours on the way who had a half crown, or if you were extremely lucky, a ten shilling note to give as a present.

Some boys from the boys school joined the girls on the day.

Mairead has had mixed results in tracking people down so far for the reunion. The following is a list of names of the girls that made their communion that day.

They were Ann McMahon, No- reen Twomey, Teresa Whelan, Nuala

Chambers, Mairead Walsh, Clare Houlihan, Ita Lowe, Mary Guerin, Assumpta Kelly, Mary Kemp, Chris- tina O’Brien, Patricia Enright, Imelda Blunnie, Betty Keller, Marie Walsh, Margaret Keane, Kathleen Shannon, Maeve McGuane, Marie Brennan, Marion Shannon, Concepta McMa- hon, Dorothy Humphries, Carmel Cahill, Ann B McMahon, Taimse O’Leary, Kathleen Gorman, Mary Flanagan, Phyllis Flynn, Ena McMa- hon, Mary Kennedy, Mary MclIner- ney, Siobhan Keating, Kathleen Fitz- patrick, and Eileen Sullivan.

Mairead can be contacted on 021 4244797 or 086 0533073.

More information on the night can be found on the Kilrush Connect website.

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.

WARNING bells have been sounded about rogue recruitment agencies who lie to applicants about why they didn’t get a job, send on their CVs without per- mission and bill employers for ‘ghost’ staff they never employed.

A major agency with offices in Gal- way, Cork, Sligo, Dublin and Athlone this week lashed out at, “falling stand- ards, unscrupulous behaviour in an already fragmented and unregulated Th eveLbrsiam Yaa

SUeteBrceuelianets sme ClUbamlOm bKorTN OMI: booming under a national skills short- age in a range of professions and indus- tries. Now the managing director of one of Ireland’s longest established recruit- ment consultancies, Collins McNicho- las, Colman Collins, has been lobbying for nearly seven years for the industry to pep Ker MUI IKeen

“I firmly believe that new legislation is urgently needed if the recruitment industry is ever to be recognised as a provider of professional services.

“The current situation is reaching crisis point. What we have now is a erowing number of agencies — 707 by December 2006 — chasing a reducing number of candidates.

‘This is a recipe for disaster, with em- ployers and job seekers both being short changed in the process.”

Among the horror stories which are brought to the agency are those of cli-

ents whose CVs are sent to firms with- out their permission and who are then bullied by the agency, which demands to represent them.

In other cases, employers complain that some agencies lie to clients about why they didn’t get a job, falsify refer- ence checks or change the client’s email address to get around employers’ IT tracking systems that would otherwise recognise that they already have a cli- ent’s CV.

Several employers have complained that some agencies present invoices for fictional candidates who were never hired by the employer.

One employer who contacted Col- lins McNicholls said that submitting an invoice in excess of the agreed agency rates was a regular tactic of one particu- lar agency.

While many agencies maintain scru- pulous dealings, Collins said, “Every week, one of my consultants tells me a horror story of an employer or a job seeker, about the unprofessional behav- iour and practices of some recruitment agencies.’

Collins said that a “recruitment agen- cy in Ireland can be established with great ease by anyone really, with no formal qualification required and very little monitoring of activities, so the re- sults of the present situation are not only predictable but inevitable…Legislation is the only answer and the sooner the eres wae

RESIDENTS near Sixmilebridge are angered by the practice adopted by a refuse collecting service in Wales buAN Gore

A number of households at Cl- onnanass have been told that the refuse collector, Mr Binman, can no longer collect their rubbish from outside their homes as the road in the area 1s too narrow.

The four householders, who are customers of Mr Binman, say they are now being forced to bring their wheelie bins a half mile from their homes, or use an alternative method

of disposing of their refuse.

One resident, Richard Cahill said he now has no option but to store his waste in a shed.

“I have no way of bringing it down the road. One man physi- cally brings his bin down the road and another lady tows the bin on the back of her car,” he said.

Mr Cahill said he joined Mr Bin- man, as a customer last December. At that stage, he said he was led to believe the bin would be collected outside his gate.

“We clarified at the point of order of the service that the bin would, indeed, be collected from our gate.

We were assured that this was not a problem, and took them at their word,” he said.

‘Transporting the bins is not a possibility for some and is a danger to those who are already doing so under duress. We feel we deserve to have our rubbish collected at our own homes,” he added.

Pat Neville, who also lives in the area, said he has been forced to change his family’s method of dumping rubbish. He has stopped using a wheelie bin and has re- placed this with a small bin.

“We have decided to get rid of our Wheelie bin and get a normal bin

and drop it down to the head of the road, every two to three weeks. That is Our way around it. We shouldn’t have to do it,” said Mr Neville.

“IT don’t see why we should have to bring the bins down. There is no real danger on the road and there is no reason in the world why they can’t come up the road. It is a total inconvenience. When I was build- ing my house, there were 40 foot trucks coming up the road,” he added.

Despite numerous efforts, at the time of going to print

THE Labour Relations Commis- sion (LRC) is set to put an improved ‘survival plan’ for Shannon before unions this week that is expected to secure the approval of the 550 work- ers at the airport.

The talks between union and man- agement at Shannon continued until 4am on Friday morning, with steady progress made on agreeing a deal.

Negotiations commenced on Wednesday and continued all day through Thursday.

Chief executive of the LRC, Ki- eran Mulvey is expected to present a package to unions possibly as early as today (Tuesday) at Shannon.

The deadline for any progress be- ing made in the current round of talks is this coming Friday, when the first round of lay-offs will commence among the airport’s 90 temporary SENeR

Twenty-three staff are due to lose their jobs in the first round and the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) has also told a second group of tem- porary workers that they will lose their jobs next month.

However, the lay-offs and industri- al action promised if they go ahead, will be diverted if the LRC — as ex- pected — produces a deal that 1s ac- ceptable to both unions and manage- ment.

Executive Chairman, Pat Shana-

han and Airport Director, Martin Moroney along with Head of Hu- man Resources (HR) at the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), Damien Lenagh headed up the talks on be- half of management, while Pat Fit- zgerald and Tony Carroll represented SOF A source close to the talks told