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THE TRAGIC young father of three, who lost his life in an hor- rific road accident at Clonlara at the weekend, will be laid to rest tomorrow.

Shane Browne, from Ballycan- non Heights in Meelick, died after the truck he was driving was in collision with a four by four vehi- cle at Harold’s Cross in Clonlara, just after 1lam on Saturday morn- ing.

The passenger in the truck and the driver of the other vehicle were both injured in the collision.

One 38-year old man remains in a serious condition in hospital fol- lowing the crash.

Two units of the Limerick fire- brigade were called to the scene. Gardai at Ard Na Crusha station are investigating the crash.

Mr Browne was a driver by pro- fession. The 35-year old victim of Saturday’s crash had found new happiness in recent years with his partner, Maggie.

Sources close to his family said that he had been widowed several years ago, when his young wife died following an illness.

A native of Garryowen in Lim- erick, he had moved to the East Clare village in recent years, where he lived with Maggie and his three children. The youngest child is just 22 months.

Maggie and the three children were being comforted by relatives after hearing the shocking news.

A friend of the dead man de- scribed him as “a lovely man. This is a terrible shock and tragedy for his family, particularly with young children involved. No-one could believe it when we heard what had

happened.”

Mr Browne’s remains will be removed from Cross’s Funeral Home, Limerick, this evening at 7.30 and taken to St John’s Cathe- dral.

He will be buried in Mount Saint Oliver Cemetery after 10 o’clock Mass on Wednesday morning.

Mr Browne is survived by his partner Maggie, three children and his mother Toni.

Locals in the Clonlara area said that the spot where Saturday’s fatal accident took place, a cross- roads, was an extremely danger- ous location , where crashes had happened before.

One local man described it as ‘a blackspot for accidents. That cross roads is just deadly and there have been many crashes at that spot in the past.”

THE decreasing influence of the Town Council in the operation of Ennis Town has been criticised by the Town Mayor.

Councillor Frankie Neylon (Ind) made his comments after the council withdrew from its loss-making refuse service and ahead of its handing over of responsibility for the town’s water sup- ply to Clare County Council to comply with Government policy, in January.

Mayor Neylon said this week, “It is very disappointing. All the council will be left with is collecting rates, car-park- ing and provision of roads and we will be reduced to a parish council or form part of a regional council.”

Last year, the cost of collecting and disposing of Ennis’s refuse accounted for 15 per cent of the town’s overall

budget of €12 million.

Explaining the council’s decision to withdraw from the service, Cllr Neylon said, “If the council kept on the service for the remainder of the year, we would have been looking at a loss of €300,000 and next year a loss of over €1 million.

He added, “I made my feelings known to management on the issue as I have been fighting for years to retain the service, but they pointed out to me that they don’t have the expertise to run a commercial operation and that is ac- cepted.”

In 2003, the council spent €35,000 to market its refuse collection, managing to attract 35 new customers. Later that year, councillors ignored pleas by man- agement to abandon the service.

Cllr Neylon said, “The council have decided to hand the service over to a

private contractor after the Ennis trad- ers didn’t support the service. It is very disappointing.”

Cllr Neylon added that the small number employed by the council in the refuse service are being offered vol- untary redundancy or redeployment to other sectors of the council.

Cllr Donal O’Bearra (GP) said this week, “Ennis Town council needs to re- invent itself.

“Otherwise we will become a talking shop with the power to give out commu- nity grants on a very limited budget.”

He said, “We have become a begging bowl establishment and are too depend- ent on national government.

The issue over the water is a prime example where we are relying on Gov- ernment funding to solve the problem,” said Councillor O’ Bearra.

SCIENTISTS at Teagasc’s National Food Centre in Dublin are involved in work on the development of a gluten-free bread formulation that they believe is superior to anything currently available on the market. Indeed, a number of small bakeries in Ireland have taken the formula- tion and are working on it commer- ats

Work on the gluten-free formula- tion was undertaken because of the increasing numbers of people who are gluten-intolerant, as well as Coeliac sufferers. Dr Eimear Gal- lagher, who is head of the research team, also believes that gluten free products are of a poor quality and are often expensive.

“We started to develop a gluten-

free bread with no wheat starch or gluten presence, working with rice flour and potato starch. We used a lot of statistical and mathematical models to give us the best formula- tion,’ said Dr Gallagher. *”Taste tests were done with panels from the Irish Coeliac Society, which has given the new formulation its approval.”

As yet the unnamed formula- tion has yet to come on the market, however, all going well it could be in commercial use before the end of next year. Meanwhile the research group has focussed their attentions functional ingredients, such as pro- teins, dietary fibre, calcium and mi- cronutrients to the formula.

One of the problems that people with gluten intolerance have is that they are not able to absorb some of these important nutrients properly.

SAU Sa item om aleriucmrmeNom\yE-Dade| Insurance A3 Sweep which got under- way at the Limerick track on Saturday night last. Race four went to ‘Redzone Run’, owned by Mrs Kathleen Carroll of Newmarket on Fergus running from trap 6 returned in a winning time of PIA Y

Heat seven of the stake went to ‘Scratch it Mac’ owned by Aaron Car- roll of Cratloe with a winning time of 29.26. Both dogs are expected to ad-

vance in the second round heats which take place this weekend.

‘Student Pass’ bowed out of the Irish Laurels at the Cork track during Sat- urday nights semi-final. The Cathal O’Doherty and Vincent Meaney owned dog did not enjoy much luck, finishing fourth after getting into trouble at the first bend.

Paddy Conlon of Cree made a wel- come return to the winners enclosure at Galway on Friday night ‘Cragaknock Vierl’ winning race two. The race was a sprint over 325yds and Vieri recorded a

good time of 17.94 out of box 1.

Race 10 on the same night went to ‘Buffalo Buddy’ owned by Ann Carey of Cooraclare who record a time of 29.17 running out of trap 1. Through to the final of the Tote A6 525 stake this coming weekend is “Clouncaheen’ Boss owned by Anne McGuire of Mullagh.

The dog won his semi final heat on Thursday night in a time of 30.03. Di- ane Shallis of Kilmihil also collected on Thursday night when ‘Greygrove Billy’ was a winner in race 9 with a time of 29.50.

THE tourism subsidiary operated by Shannon Development increased its profits by 50% last year, accounts filed to the Companies Office reveal.

Shannon Heritage and Castle Banquets Ltd. increased its profits to €117,040 in a success- ful year for the company.

Prior to an exceptional cost of €60,000, the company, which employs 200 people, made a profit of £69,073 in 2003.

Last year, it made a turnover of €11.3 miul- lion, which was up 5% on the 2003 figures and attracted 625,000 visitors to its attrac- tions, an increase of more than 6%.

According to the accounts, “the 2004 year has been a difficult year for many in the Tour- ism industry particularly the latter half, due to a combination of factors. These include the downturn in US visitors due to the value of the dollar against the euro. However Shannon Heritage has managed to attract over 625,000 people to its range of day visitor attractions and evening entertainments.

‘Most of this increase was achieved in the first half of the year when trading conditions were much better.

The most popular visitor attraction remains Bunratty Castle & Folk Park which attracted 324,903 visitors in 2004 — an increase of 17,000 on the 2003 figure of 307,145.

A PROPOSAL by Clare County Councillor Michael Kelly (FF) to lower the speed limits in Crusheen and Corkscrew Hill was turned down last Tuesday, three days before five peo- ple were hospitalised following accidents at both locations.

Cllr Kelly’s proposals were among nine al- terations to speed limits made by councillors for the North Clare area, none of which were recommended. In each case, Inspector Kevin Moynihan, Head of the Garda traffic unit in Clare, and Sean Liddy, Senior Executive Engi- neer of the Clare County Council, advised that a speed change would be contrary to the De- partment of Transport’s policy and would also

be impossible to enforce.

Several councillors raised concerns about their role in deciding speed limits, consider- ing that none of their proposed changes were recommended. Inspector Moynihan and Mr Liddy stressed that they were only making rec- ommendations and the final decision would be made at the council level.

Four people were hospitalised following a serious two car accident at Tubber cross in Crusheen at 7.30am on Friday morning. Three were Americans, who were travelling in one car. Two people were hospitalised after a two vehicle crash just after 5pm on Friday evening at Corkscrew Hill.

It’s understood that Israeli tourists were among those involved.

A SMART security system which allows security guards to speak to criminals about to commit a crime has been brought into play by a Clare firm.

John O’Dwyer, Clare’s biggest hardware company and a member of the National Hardware Group has bought in the Netwatch secu- rity technology system, to prevent losses from vandalism and theft at its premises in the Westgate Business Park in Ennis.

Since its inception in 2003, Net- watch, the remote visual monitoring security company, claims to have prevented nearly 800 crimes against businesses throughout the country.

Netwatch is an intelligent security system which allows the Netwatch Command Centre to watch in ‘real time’ any intrusion taking place at a premises and to speak directly to the criminals before they commit a oamnneles

John O’Dwyer has been in busi- ness for 21 years in Quilty, Miltown Malbay, and more recently in Ennis employs 44 people.

“Like many businesses, the com- pany has had its share of theft and vandalism over the years. Generally these have been break-ins to the com- pany’s premises where stock of con- siderable value is stored. The compa- ny previously protected the premises by traditional means, but due to the distance to the Ennis site from the headquarters, response time in the event of an alarm was too long,” a spokesman for Netwatch said.

‘Traditional security methods act as a deterrent, but they do not stop intrusions from taking place. A 24- hour security presence on the premis- es was too expensive but we needed a system that would give us the benefit of 24-hour protection without the cost. Since installing the Netwatch system almost two years ago, we have suffered no loss or damage at our Ennis site.”, said John O’ Dwyer, Managing Director of the hardwear

eyeal er TENA

“The new system installed, Net- watch, 1s an interactive system em- ploying satellite technologies which allow our premises to be watched 24-hours a day for a fraction of the cost of employing full-time security men and allows us to be aware of any attempted intrusions immediately. There have been occasions when

thieves have tried to gain access to our premises, which covers a 10,000 sq.ft. site, but the fact that the system provides an immediate response is critical. Intervention from the Com- mand Centre as an event is happen- ing means that we are successful in preventing acts of vandalism or theft occurring”, said John O’Dwyer.” The system can also help record

what happens iduring the day.

‘For example if someone walked O)ULMAY a LHe COLUL Mm oychYAn rca LO) mnLeseelelODNIToMAWYe would be able to identify them from the recorded footage,” said John.

When a break-in takes place, the Netwatch system sends live pic- tures of the area where the security breach has occurred to the command system. The command centre then

speaks directly to the intruder, in- forming them that they are on private property and that the Gardai have been called. “Knowing that they are being watched and that the Gardai have been notified is a huge deter- rent — in 99% of cases recorded the intruder leaves the premises without committing a crime,’ the Network spokesman said.

IN THE MIDST of news that the Shannon stopover is to end, there was good news for the airport.

Delta airlines have announced that they are planning a major expansion of its services out of Ireland, a move which will see 100,000 extra seats for Shannon on Transatlantic routes.

As well as a new scheduled daily

service between New York’s JFK and Dublin and Shannon from May 15 and there will also be expanded summer services between Atlanta and Shannon and Dublin.

Shannon management said the ex- panded routes will be a major boost for the West of Ireland gateway and the region in general.

“As we approach the end of a record-breaking year for Shannon,

Delta’s plans to add a New York serv- ice and a dedicated Atlanta-Shannon service in 2006 will help ensure and even better traffic performance next year.” said Airport Director martin Moroney.

He added that it is “estimated that capacity on the Shannon-Atlanta service will double to 120,000 seats and that the airline will add 45,000 seats to the Shannon-New York ca-

pacity.”

Delta has also announced new routes between the US and Edin- burgh, Venice and Budapest in an effort to overtake British Airways, American Airlines and Continental Airlines as the biggest Transatlantic operator.

The announcement marks one of the most significant expansions by a US airline since the September 11

attacks on New York and Washing- Keer

US airlines have seen domestic profits fall by 1 per cent so far this year, while profits on Transatlantic routes have increased by 6 per cent.

The figures suggest that while Delta may be the first operator to switch the emphasis to Transatlantic business, they will probably not be the last.

MOST Irish companies choose be- tween the .ie and the .com domains for their email address. Now their choice 1s to be widened, with a new top-level domain (TLD) scheduled to become available for companies, bodies and individuals based within the European Union. A TLD is basi- cally the last bit of an email address.

Anyone wanting to be able to use the .eu TLD, should start making plans now.

EURid, the European registry of Internet names, has fixed December 7 as the start of a “sunrise period” for filing applications. Although any person or company within the EU is eligible to apply for names, it’s not going to be a free for all.

Top of the queue will be owners and licencees of registered com- munity and national trademarks, national and community public bod- ies, and the holders and/or licensees of a geographical indication or des- ignation of origin. They have been given a preferred two-month period from December 7, 2005, to Febru- ary 6, 2006, during which they can apply for registration of .eu domain names. All applications have to be

made through a registrar accredited by EURid.

Registered and unregistered trade mark owners then come next line, with a further preferred period of two months, from February 7, 2006,

to April 6, 2006.

Then, once this four-month sunrise period is over, .eu domain names are to be available on a first-come-first- served basis for everyone, with the proviso that applications are subject

to a dispute resolution procedure.

The Irish Internet Association (IIA) has issued a warning about queuing. On Tuesday, October 18, the Chair- man of the IIA Working Group on Domain Registration and Hosting, Eoin Costello, said that potential ap- plicants should be aware that queuing of applications cannot guarantee that the desired domain will be awarded.

The EURi1d’s website states, “First- come-first-served will be determined by the time/date at which the appli- cation is received into our database after it opens”.

The European Commission has been warning for some time about companies offering to “pre-register” or “reserve” domain names. It points out that pre-registering a domain name within the .eu TLD is techni- cally impossible.

“These companies can only com- mit to keep the application for reg- istering a domain name and to for- ward them to the Registry as soon as it opens its doors to accept applica- tions,’ it says. “This however cannot be considered a real pre-registration inasmuch as it does not guarantee to the applicants that their applications will indeed reach the registry prior to other registrations.”

THE chances of the father of a Fianna Fail member of Ennis Town Council becoming a multi-millionaire moved a step closer this week, with the publication of the proposed rezoning to the Ennis and Environs Develop- ment Plan.

As part of the review of the Plan, coun- cillors from Clare County and Ennis Town Councils have agreed to rezone 70 acres of land owned by Damien Reidy on the outskirts of Clarecastle.

As a result of the move, Damien Reidy, father of Fianna Fail councillor, Joe Reidy

could be in store for a windfall of €16.8 mil- lion, following recent land-sales which valued housing land at €240,000 an acre.

As a result of the plan, 22 separate parcels of land are to be rezoned and the largest par- cel of land is the one owned by Mr Reidy at Clarecastle.

The rezoning of Mr Reidy’s land has also received the backing of the Council’s Plan- ning Department.

The rezonings also contain contentious pro- posals to extend residential clusters at Bally- maquiggan and Reaskaun on the outskirts of Ennis. The council’s Executive Planner, Bill Samsum warned councillors during the Sum-

mer that the areas in question had an area eroundwater vulnerability rating and were a zone of source protection for the public water supply for the Ennis area.

He said that if there was a move to vary the plan, due to the area having a groundwa- ter vulnerability rating and being a zone of source protection, the risk to human health would be increased. The rezonings also make provision for a train station at Clarecastle in response to the continuing growth of Ennis and its environs. The council proposes to re- zone 8.75 acres of land adjacent to Skehanagh Bridge at Clarecastle, along the main Ennis to Diiloueeesicansey

The rezoning of the land is expected to add significantly to its value.

Ennis councillor, Cllr Donal O’Bearra ex- pressed his dis-satisfaction with the entire process. He said, “I would be concerned about the whole scenario. It is a rezoning re- view, not a review of the plan as it didn’t look at any other objectives in the plan. Before engaging in any other rezoning, the Council should have determined whether there was a shortfall, or not. I don’t believe that there is a shortfall, and no rezoning should have taken place.”

The public has until Friday, November 1 Ithe 11 to make submissions on the proposals.