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THE residents of Shannon town could be sitting on pots of silver and gold and a Dub- lin-based mineral explora- tions company is set to find out.

The Minister for Communi- cations, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey has this week published a no- tice confirming that it appears that there are minerals, in- cluding silver and gold, under the lands in and around Shan- non town and that the miner- als are not being worked.

Some of the townlands that might contain silver and gold are well-known and include Ballycasey Beg, Ballycasey More, Tullyvarraga, Smiths- town and Clonmoney West.

The Minister has confirmed that he intends to grant a l- cense to Belmore Resources Ltd., a prospecting license in respect of silver, gold and Bartyes

The license will enable the company to explore the designated area for mineral deposit, though it does not au- thorize the holder to mine the areas in question.

Fine Gael councillor, Tony

Mulcahy remarked this week: “The people of Shannon could be sitting on a fortune and with the help of God there could be some gold or silver in our own back garden.”

He said: “Any finds would be a source of welcome income for the people of Shannon and I would have no objection to

any exploration in the area as long as there are no risks and no disturbance to the local people.”

The move by Belmore to se- cure a license to prospect for gold and silver in the Shannon area is not the first piece of exploration the company has done in Clare.

Currently, the company is

giving priority to its zinc ex- ploration in Clare.

It has a 50% interest in eight prospecting licences covering 330 sq kilometres.

A preliminary report of its Zinc exploration activities in Clare show that it has com- pleted six holes of an ongoing programme on its zinc pro- spective licences in Clare.

Drilling started in March and a company statement said: “A resource of 400,000 tonnes grading 12 per cent zinc plus lead and 75 grammes per tonne of silver had previously been identified at Milltown.

“Because of its geological position at the base of the reef and the high grades in six of the previously drilled holes, the Milltown resource could represent part of an undis- covered ore-forming system SAUD DOM Mele KercalO) IE

“In the Milltown further drilling may add to the resource already delineated. However, holes now drilled elsewhere on the licences have intersected the Waulsortian Limestone which hosts most of the zinc- lead-silver deposits in Ireland including the resource de- lineated at Miltown.”

area,

OVER 5,500 drivers in Clare have acquired penalty points since the points system was in- troduced three years ago, the vast majority of which have been for speeding.

Out of penalty points issued to 5,677 Clare motorists, 5,140 were for speeding; 478 were for drivers not wearing seatbelts; 24 were issued as a result of chil- dren in front seats of cars not wearing seatbelts; and 34 were for children in back seats not

wearing seatbelts.

There were no points issued to drivers with addresses in Clare for careless driving, or driving without insurance.

The head of the Clare traffic corps, Inspector Kevin Moyni- han, said that despite repeated warnings, drivers were continu- ing to speed. “People are still speeding and the number of fines imposed for speeding are certainly on a par with last year. There have been well over 400 fines for non-wearing of seatbelts so far this year,’ said Inspector

Moynihan. Figures obtained by

NEXT week Lisdoonvarna Secondary School will open it’s doors on the tenth year of a successful adult educa- tion programme.

The North Clare school initiated its first courses for adults in 1995 through a hugely successful pro- gramme of night classes.

Since those early days the programme has grown year on year and now offers a wide range of training and qualifications.

The school, in conjunc- tion with the Further Edu- cation and Training Awards Council (FETAC), offers courses in Business Stud- 1es/Secretarial, Childcare and Community and Health Services.

Tuition is free and stu- dents can choose from a wide range of subjects within these courses includ- ing Computer Maintenance, Payroll, Sculpture and Pho- tography.

Three years ago the school added the BTEI (Back To Education Initiative) to its programme for adults.

This programme is partic- ularly suitable for the long term unemployed, those in the workplace with basic skills and early school leav- ae

The school’s night classes also continue for the coming year as does the Farm Man- agement/Farm Accounts, New Opportunities for Farm Families and Health and Safety on the Farm of- fered in conjunction with Sherer yer

Throughout the year the school also offers the FAS Safe Pass course for those in the construction industry while adults can also avail of the opportunity to take subjects at Junior and Leav- ing Certificate levels.

An Open Evening will be held at the school on Mon- day next, September 5th from 8pm to 9.30pm.

For information on the Adult Education Pro- grammes contact Marian O’Callaghan or Teresa Con- neely at 065 7075038 or 065 7074334.

SHANNON-BASED pharmaceutical firm, Schwarz Pharma incurred a loss of over €6 million in its most recent accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office.

The loss arose from €11 million the company spent on financing a restructuring programme, which in- volved the redundancy of 70 staff in a programme launched two years ago.

The accounts for 2003 show that the company had an operating profit of just under €5 million on a turnover of €36 million. This was marginally up on the €4.63 million figure for 2002. However, profit was wiped out with the restructuring costs totalling €11.207 million.

The loss of €6 million was the first loss that Schwarz Pharma made in a number of years, during which the company accumulated profits of €33 million.

However, when accounts for 2004/5 are published, the profits are expected to be hit by the company in- vesting €6 million in new technology aimed at im- proving the company’s environmental performance.

The spend follows the company shutting down its production processes for six weeks earlier this year,

in response to local concerns over air emissions from the plant. The company is now compliant with its Inte- erated Pollution Control (IPC) licence.

The accounts also show that the company’s intan- gible assets are valued at €157 million at the end of 2003 — a massive increase of €84 million on the 2002 figure. Tangible assets stood at €35 million in 2003.

In an attached note, it’s stated that milestone pay- ments were made on the achievement of certain results involving research and development.

The company is in the process of a €70 million in- vestment at its plant over the next five years. The com- pany’s Director of Environment and Health and Safety, Dermot Hanrahan recently said that clinical trials in relation to new drugs “are going very well”.

It is upgrading its treatment plant and spending over €10 million on new equipment and the upgrading of existing equipment for new products.

Shannon owns the intellectual property and, corre- spondingly, the distribution rights for some of the new products and is currently preparing for the launch of these products. The first new product launched will be for the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease and is sched- uled for the end of 2005.

A STARTLING new survey shows that the majority of women have no personal life insurance – although it would cost more than €37,000 a year to pay someone else just to do the work they do in the home.

Of the women quizzed for the Ark Life Insurance survey, 57 per cent said they had no personal life insur- ance, although almost half of those asked said they contributed to the household budget by working in paid employment.

Forty six per cent of those asked

said their partners had no life cover on them, while four in ten women’s partners had no life cover for them- Noone litle

Ark Life, AIB’s Life and Pensions Company, which commissions the annual survey from Behaviour and Attitudes Market Research, said that the results show that many families would be left financially vulnerable if the female partner died unexpect- edly.

The number of uninsured women is up 4 per cent on last year, based on 400 women interviewed for the SUA

The survey found that when asked to specify the hours they worked in the home, women worked on average 17 hours a day looking after the chil- dren, cooking, cleaning, laundry and looking after the home.

To pay for that work, based on the current minimum wage of €7.65 per hour, would cost €780 a week or over €37,000 annually, based on a six- day working week, the researchers involved in the survey discovered.

In addition, the research revealed that the majority of women working outside the home (63 per cent) are not provided with a lump sum death

benefit by their employer and in 43 per cent of cases, the partner’s em- ployer did not provide a lump sum benefit either.

“It must be of concern that such a high proportion of women do not have life assurance cover. Those that do have very modest cover – the median value is just over €62,000. This is despite the fact that 38 per cent of women believe that the lump sum needed in the event of their own death would be €100,000”,, said Ber- nard Lynch, Marketing Manager, Ark Life.

A NORTH CLARE group which set up it’s own broadband scheme have been so suc- cessful that next month, residents and busi- nesses in Liscannor and Lahinch plan to sign up bringing to 200 or more the number of subscribers.

The North West Clare Broadband group was born out of the disinterest of the big providers in extending the scheme to an area which would not initially have large numbers of subscribers. A number of En- nistymon locals decided to investigate go- ing it alone in the broadband stakes after they were told by Eircom that they would have to have a minimum of 394 connections and even then, the area would have to wait 18 months for the facility.

Locals came together and sent representa- tives to meet with several other large service providers, but could raise no enthusiasm for providing the service to around 60 potential subscribers.

So instead, they went about raising the in- vestment to link into the AI Bridges-built link to Smart Telecom’s cable network in Shannon.

They were helped along by a small Gov- ernment Grant from the Group Broadband Scheme.(GBS)

The GBS provided 30 per cent of the first year capital cost and less than 20 per cent of the cost of setting up the network in effect.

The group is run as a co-operative on a non-profit basis and, a spokesman said, this enables them to “be in charge of ourselves. We can put money back into the company. It just results in a better product for every-

body.”

Now the network has been up and run- ning for six months and users report that the smaller numbers mean the service is under less pressure than in urban areas.

Their next step is to sign up nearby towns and villages and this is expected to happen in a matter of weeks.

UNION _ representatives are to meet tomorrow (Wednes- day) with Enterprise Minister Michael Martin to discuss his decision to axe Shannon De- velopment’s industry brief in favour of the IDA.

SIPTU Branch Secretary, Tony Kenny said that the un- ion’s aviation and _ industrial

branches, “totally condemn what is being done to Shannon Development”.

In a statement issued yes- terday, the union said that for the “last 15 years, the IDA has been responsible for promoting every part of the region except the Shannon Free Zone and has been woefully inadequate in producing results. Shannon De-

velopment, however, delivered 12 new foreign direct invest- ment projects to the Shannon Free Zone in the last five years, while the IDA could only man- age two for the entire region in the same period. The number of jobs in these Shannon Develop- ment companies has grown by more than 18 per cent while the IDA job number have increased by only 0.01 per cent.”

GARDAI investigating the death of Ann Walsh have appealed for anyone who was in the areas of The Square, O’Looney’s Lane, Francis Street and Toler Street between 9.30pm and l1lpm last Wednesday night to come KOE TROR

Eyewitness reports to gardai sug- gest that the deceased was seen out- side Crotty’s bar in The Square with an individual at around 9.30pm and gardai are keen to establish where exactly they went after that.

A number of eye witnesses have come forward with information and gardai are keen to speak to others.

“We are trying to establish if they went down O’Looney’s Lane and on to Toler Street or did they walk from Francis Street onto Toler Street? We want to speak to anyone who was in the vicinity of the Square in Kil- rush that night,” said Inspector Tom Kennedy.

“There would be people smoking on the roadway outside public hous- es or using ATM machines in the area. We are endeavouring to iden-

tify all people in the public houses in this area and we want to eliminate them from our enquiries,” added the Inspector.

The results of the post mortem ex- amination carried out by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis are not expected to be known for some weeks. In the meantime, the garda investigation, involving sev- eral gardai from across the division, meee Leneleoentes

The incident room at Kilrush Garda Station can be contacted on Cee ee T0r eel OF

THE man charged in connection with the death of Ann Walsh was further remanded in custody, when he appeared before Ennis district court yesterday (Mon- day).

23-year-old Raymond Donovan, of New Houses, Cooraclare, is charged with intentionally or reck- lessly causing harm to Ms Walsh, at Toler Street, Kil- rush, contrary to Section 4 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.

Inspector Kevin Moynihan applied to Judge Leo Malone to have the accused remanded in custody, to re-appear before the court on Friday morning.

Defending solicitor, Tara Godfrey consented to the application, which she said was without prejudice to a bail application at any stage.

Mr Donovan had been remanded in custody to Lim- erick prison when he appeared before a special sitting of Kilrush district court last Friday.

On that occasion, Ms Godfrey applied that he be remanded to the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, rather than Limerick prison. She pointed out that her client may have difficulties accessing psychiatric serv- coe LM Oeom TUE

But after Superintendent Joe McKeown – who is

leading the investigation into Ms Walsh’s death – said the court couldn’t remand the accused to Dundrum, the judge agreed and directed that a psychiatric examina- tion be conducted on him at Limerick prison.

Yesterday Ms Godfrey said she has spoken to the Governor and Assistant Governor at Limerick prison and was assured that a visiting psychiatrist would be at the prison once a week and she requested that her client be assessed this week.

The solicitor pointed out that her client – who is in receipt of a disability allowance and who has received psychiatric treatment in the past in the Mid-west and in Mayo – is accused of assault causing harm and said that some facets of the media have created the impres- sion that he was charged with “other offences.” She said she wanted to remind the media to keep within the parameters of court reporting.

But Judge Malone said he was not going to give any direction to the media. “They are well aware of their own responsibilities,’ he said.

The accused remained silent for both court hearings, which were attended by members of his family who travelled from Cooraclare. As he was being led away from the courtroom last Friday morning, the deceased woman’s sister Mary shouted abuse at him and she was KoA NANO OSLO Ml oN amee-H KOLB

AS hundreds of mourners crowded into St Senan’s Church in Kilrush for Ann Walsh’s funeral Mass on Monday morning, the young girl’s uncle appealed for people who may have seen any suspicious activity on the night of her death to come forward.

Martin Walsh – a brother of Ann’s father Stephen – told a tearful crowd how he remembered Ann talking, playing, drinking minerals and eating sweets as a little child grow- ing up in her native Kilrush.

“She loved life and was a lovely girl. It is a pity she was taken from us so tragically. You rear kids and think when they grow up that they could make their own way in life. It is a chilling fact that something like this could hap- pen just yards away from this church,” said her distraught uncle.

“People should look after one another and make sure nothing like this would happen in a small close-knit com- munity like this. I would appeal to anyone who knows anything that happened on the night in question to come forward,’ he added.

Ann’s only sister, Mary fought back the tears as she spoke briefly from the pulpit. She said she will never for-

get the 23-year-old.

“She was a great sister and daughter. She shouldn’t have been taken away from us like this. We love her. She was as good. She was an angel,” said Mary Walsh.

Kilrush parish priest, Fr Michael Sheedy, one of five priests concelebrating the Mass, prayed for the Donovan family, who he said may well take longer to “come to terms with the shock and devastation in their lives.”

“We regularly hear of tragic deaths of young persons but very rarely do we expect our own community to have to come to terms with such a tragic death. We all wonder why this had to happen. We have been asking questions over the past number of days but getting no answers,” said Fr Sheedy.

He said Ann’s sudden passing had turned the lives of her family and friends ‘upside down.’ “There is a huge empti- ness in their hearts because of Ann, who they brought up through life and who her parents had loved for the past 23 years. It is so cruel she was taken from them in this way. She was so full of life,” he added.

‘She was taken out in the prime of her life with so much other work yet to complete and so much to do in her life. Her family always had pride of place in her life. Ann had planned to go on holidays but it wasn’t to be,” said Fr Neel e ays