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LOCAL cyclists will set off from Ennis next week will as part of a charity cycle to raise money for work that has been undertaken on the spire of the Cathedral in Ennis. Thirteen volunteers will travel 80 miles from Ennis to Birr on Saturday August 27 as part of a fund-raising drive to pay for the cost of restoration work on the spire.

All donations are gratefully accepted. Work on the restoration of the spire has been completed at a cost of €1.75m. Last year’s cycle to Cork raised €26000 for the project.

This 1s the second year of the event.

The church has also planned a series of other fundraising initiatives.

An art exhibition 1s planned for Christ- mas while there are also plans for a con- cert in the cathedral.

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MEMBERS of the Ennis based Centre for Inde- pendent Living (CIL) have echoed a statement made this week by the People With Disability’s in Ireland (PWDI), that greater efforts should be made to make public transport more accessible.

The call comes as members of the CIL prepare to travel to Strasbourg in September as part of European-wide initiative to raise the issue of dis- ability with the EU.

The ‘Strasbourg Freedom Drive 2005’ will bring together 600 people from around Europe who will stage a major disability rights rally at the European Parliament in Strasbourg from September 5-8. 58 people will travel from Ire- land, with six people representing Clare.

According to Thomas Connole, who will lead the Clare delegation in Strasbourg, more needs to be done to make the transport service more accessible for people with disabilities.

“We were trying to lobby for a low floor bus for the use of people with disabilities between Ennis and Limerick but Bus Eireann kept saying there was engineering difficulties with the road. The trains are also very inaccessible to people with disabilities especially if you are in a wheelchair,” said Thomas on Friday.

Reports carried out by the National Disability Authority (NDA) showed that there is an extra

burden placed on a person living with disability, because of the extra costs associated with dis- ability.

This week the PW DI recommended that a pay- ment be made to disabled people to cover rising AUS COIS

“There is also talk now that taxi drivers are go- ing to introduce a fuel surcharge and the mobil- ity allowance I get at the moment won’t cover that,” explains Thomas.

Accessible transport is just one issue that the group hopes to highlight in Strasbourg.

The CIL are part of a larger European-wide movement known as the European Network of Independent Living (ENIL), who have three key demands that they would like to see met at Stras- bourg.

These include; stopping the drift towards insti- tutionalisation, the provision of a European-wide funding for personal assistance and to pass a res- olution stating that 5% of Overseas Development Aid be given to community development projects for disabled people in developing countries.

According to Dermot Hayes of the CIL, the issue of personal assistance remains hugely im- portant in Clare.

“At the moment there are approximately 72 people waiting for personal assistance that we know of, and we view this as a human rights is-

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THE team at Design Shannon are hard at work researching a new train- ing programme for enterprises in the Shannon Region.

The project centres on developing a network of companies who are in- terested in participating in a training programme that focuses on design as a driver of innovation.

And the good news is that compa- nies could have their training subsi- dised by up to 75 per cent under the government’s Skillsnet initiative.

Design Shannon are currently in- viting SME’s to join them at 4pm on Thursday, August 25, at the Clarion Hotel, Steamboat Quay, Limerick, to discuss the programme in detail.

Design Shannon Skillnet will pro- vide access to cutting edge training and professional development.

The focus is on training that uses creativity to help capture premium niche markets rapidly and efficiently.

“The result we are promising is a training programme that works in creating a new Strategic direction for

each company’s business plan that is knowledge based, driven by good re- search and development and strong market foresight,” a spokeswoman for Design Shannon said.

The spokeswoman said that the pro- gramme “will be delivered locally and will base its topics and themes on issues that have been expressed to De- sign Shannon through its Design Au- dit and Design Cluster programmes.”

All participating companies will get an opportunity to collaborate and network with other members. Design Shannon will facilitate the network which will be driven by its participat- ing companies.

“We are currently seeking views and feedback on some of the key themes of the training programme as well as the core topics,’ the spokes- woman said.

Skillnets is an enterprise-led, part- nership based support body dedicated to the promotion and facilitation of learning as a key element in sustain- ing Ireland’s national competitiveness. For more information, log on to www. designshannon.ie/seminars.html.

THE maritime town of Kilrush will delve back into its history this Sun- day, when the Western Yacht Club rerun a race first staged in the 1800s. In 1827, members of the then new yacht club decided to hold an all- encompassing __ regatta over a week on the Shan- non Estuary. The regatta started over a weekend at Kilrush and finished the following weekend in Limerick, with races held each day at the various ports on the Estuary. One of the major events at the time, was the long distance race known as the Glin Castle Race. It

started and finished at the castle. Usually, most of the Yachts would com- plete the course in some 12 to 14 hours.

This Saturday, the Western Yacht Club will re-run this “race”, with all its tidal challenges. Racing will follow the ISA Racing Rules, with first gun at 11.00 am Due to the time constraints of modern life, the course will be adjusted accord- ingly to suit wind, tide and yacht classes, so that yachts will finish at Glin Castle sometime around 4.30 pm. Staying with tradition, the presenta- tion will be at the castle that evening.

TWO budding Ennis mountain- eers scaled the heights of suc- cess recently when they trekked to the top of Croagh Patrick.

Darragh Ryan (8) and brother Ben (4) completed the climb while on a family holiday to Mayo in July.

Along with their mother Cath- erine, the two brothers braved the elements and the slippy rocky road to make it up the Pb ae

The family made the ascent on Wednesday July 27, just before the annual ‘Reek Sunday’ pil- erimage.

Darragh and Ben confounded the expectations of other walk- ers by completing the climb.

‘People were saying that we wouldn’t complete it because it was too slippy and the fact that I was on my own, it would be too much for the little lad,” explains Gr Ti etormneter

Such comments only spurred on the lads who reached the summit in two hours and fifty minutes.

Walking with the aid of their sturdy reek sticks, the boys were delighted with their achieve- ment. They made light work of

the arduous trek, with Ben even singing all the way up.

“It was great, there was no stopping them and Ben was

singing ‘Skip to my Lou my dar- ling,” said Catherine on Friday.

Catherine, who works with the Clare Sports Partnership, is a keen walker and has competed in two marathons.

A few weeks before Croagh Patrick, she had climbed Mul- laghmore.

Darragh is in 3rd class while Ben is preparing for his first year in school. Both attend Knocka- neen primary school.

This year over 20,000 people gathered in Mayo for the annual ‘Reek Sunday’ pilgrimage.

As 1s traditional, many of the pilgrims made the climb bare- foot.

This year marked the cente- nary of the church built at the top of the mountain.

Naturally Catherine is very proud of the boys, who now have their sights set on the ultimate climb.

“I thought for the two of them it was a great achievement to successfully climb the mountain so they are saying Mt Everest is next!” said Catherine.

THE ENNIS Chamber of Commerce has called for laws to make big business pay interest to small concerns on unpaid bills in a climate in which small firms are being crippled by late payments.

ISME, the independent business organisation said this week that small businesses are being squeezed to death by the failure of creditors to pay their bills on time.

According to a survey carried out by ISME, one-third of small companies are waiting long- er for payments than they did this time last year

and the distribution sector faces the biggest problem, with 41 per cent of those companies waiting longer now than they did last year.

While legislation exists to deal with prompt payments, Mark Fielding, Chief Executive of ISME, said that the laws are “not worth the pa- per they are written on. The evidence suggests that small companies are still being forced, particularly by accountancy-led big business to accept credit terms longer than those outlined in the legislation.”

CEO of the Ennis Chamber, Rita McInerney, said that the Chamber’s view on the Prompt Payments Legislation is that it is “a positive fa-

cility for business as it’s objective is to stimulate erowth and development. However, indigenous small businesses in Ireland are under increas- ing pressure, as they are operating in a country that has seen consistent rising costs while ex- pected to compete with the foreign stores and products.”

Ms McInerney said that while competition is healthy, mechanisms should be in place to en- courage domestic enterprises.

“It should be made easier for small businesses to implement the good intention of the Prompt Payments Legislation. It is time to rectify the situation where larger businesses can dictate

credit terms to small businesses while these smaller enterprises have to wait for payment and pay promptly themselves.

“When a government department or agency is late with a payment, they are obliged when settling an account to pay interest to their sup- plier on the overdue amount – private compa- nies should be made to adhere to these same conditions,’ the CAE said.

ISME is now calling on the government to amend the prompt payments legislation and in- troduce a mandatory level of 30 days for credit terms from the 53-day term which currently exists.

RESIDENTS of Inch _ have pledged to fight any attempt by telecommunications firm 02 to get planning permission for the construction of a phone mast in the area.

At a meeting of a newly formed campaign committee, local people expressed their staunch opposition to any pro- posed development. Residents also accused 02 of deliberately

advertising planning permis- sion on July 27, at the start of the Bank Holiday weekend and are concerned at the proposed sites proximity to the local pri- mary school.

“This campaign has all the hallmarks of a calculated at- tempt to minimize the likeli- hood of local people finding out about the proposed tower,” said Andrea Martin, committee secretary.

‘No one knows for sure what

the long term effects of expo- sure to non-ionizing radiation (NIR) will be. If mobile phones and base stations were pharma- ceutical drugs, they wouldn’t be licensed for use because not enough research has been car- ried out’, she said.

The community hopes that by raising awareness of the development, they will receive support from residents of sur- rounding communities.

“We’re committed to fighting

this the whole way if necessary, for the sake of our children, our families and our local environ- ment”, said Committee chair- man, John Devany.

A spokesperson for 02 stated ‘“‘we have tried to plan to locate in the best possible area in order to meet the demands of our cus- tomers and the concerns of local residents. The issue of safety is taken very seriously by 02 and we comply with all Irish, EU and Industry regulations”

THE PRESIDENT of the IFA John Dillon has this week urged farm- ers to continue to hold out for bet- ter prices from factories. Mr Dillon congratulated farmers for their recent ‘strength’ in resisting the lower prices being quoted by some factories. ‘Farmers are getting much stronger and tougher at resisting lower quoted prices from the meat factories,” said Mr Dillon. “Farmers are holding out, and factories are finding themselves

having to pay up to €2.52/kg (90p/Ib) to get cattle

this week.”

As farmers resist lower prices, cheaper cattle be-

come more difficult for factories to come by. This forces factories to raise their prices.

According to Mr Dillon, “the cattle supplies are much tighter this week and factory agents are chas- ing cattle at farm level. There is very strong resistance to the lower factory quotes of €2.46/kg (88p/ lb) and agents are being forced to pay prices to €2.52/kg (90p/Ib).”

He went on to say that prices of as high as €2.63/kg (94p/Ib) has been paid for heifers in Ireland this

week. He also said that cow prices have also risen with €2.13/kg (76p/lb) available and top prices of €2.24/kg (80p/Ib) being paid.