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CLARE people got a chance to sample what life is like behind the scenes at Lough Derg’s RNLI Lifeboat Station’s first Open Day last week.

The day was a huge success, with many local people visiting the station for the first time. Volunteer crew and committee mem- bers gave guided tours and answered ques- tions about the work of the RNLI and about their local lifeboat.

There were videos of the Atlantic Class lifeboat in action on the sea and slideshows on the development and progress of the Lough Derg Station.

The Irish Coast Guard’s Search and Res-

cue helicopter did a fly by, much to the delight of the young children visiting the station.

August 7 was also the first day of the Lough Derg Yacht Club annual regatta and many sailors visited the station. It is tra- ditionally a day in which the Yacht Club makes a collection for the RNLI.

‘All volunteers at the station would like to extend a warm thank you to everyone who made the journey to visit the lifeboat sta- tion; for their enthusiasm, support and gen- erosity” said Lifeboat PRO Eleanor Hogan. “The Open Day was a tremendous success and helped to raise funds to continue the valuable work of the RNLI and our local lifeboat station.”

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THE president of the IFA John Dillon has pledged to continue the campaign to pre- vent factory owners from importing low cost beef from South America.

Mr Dillon’s pledge came after what he described as a ‘useful’ meeting with the directors of the Queally Meat Group last week. The meeting took place following an IFA protest by some 300 farmers at the plant in Naas, Co Kildare. More than 50 farmers occupied the offices of the Queally Group during the 10 hour long protest.

The IFA head claimed that there had been a full and frank exchange of views at the meeting on the issue of beef imports from South America.

“I conveyed to Peter Queally and Dan Browne the depth of anger among beef producers in this country who have seen prices collapse in the last six weeks,” said Mr Dillon. “Meat factories have cut cattle prices by €150 per head since June, leav- ing over 50,000 beef farmers in a loss- making situation.”

“The IFA is demanding that Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan introduce proper labelling at all hotels, restaurants and ca- tering outlets,” he continued.

Earlier in the week Mr Dillon accused meat factories of “stabbing Irish farmers in the back” over the slaughter of beef, be- lieved to originate in Brazil, in the Kildare factory.

Indeed, questions have also been raised

from many sectors of the farming com- munity about the proper labelling of beef imported from South America and the pos- sibility of placing a quota on the amount of beef that can be imported.

Meanwhile, the president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Association, Malcolm Thompson, has also joined the fight against beef imports from South America. Mr Thompson travelled to Derry last night to join a protest against the sale of Brazilian beef in supermarkets in Northern Ireland.

“We need to send a clear message to our World ‘Trade Organisations negotiators that Irish farmers will not tolerate the deci- mation of our industry any longer and beef needs to be treated as a nationally sensitive product,” said Mr Thompson.

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speaks to Liam O’Rourke, who is just settling in to his new role as de- velopment officer for farm services in the county.

According to Mr O’Rourke farm serv- ices in Clare, and indeed in Galway, have not been developed over the last number of years. Instead there has been a greater con- centration on providing a contract fencing service in these counties. This is one of the areas where he feels that work can be done.

“My first priority is to develop a pool of FRS operators in County Clare with the possibility of de- veloping a labour pool in Galway at a later stage,” said Mr O’Rourke. “FRS has a very comprehensive operator training package available and I intend to train as many operators and potential operators in Clare.”

Mr O’Rourke has already begun to train a number of inter- ested people in manual handling, relief milking, grassland management, fertiliser spreading, grass management and a two day advanced tractor operations course.

‘“T hope to create an awareness and interest in farm services in Clare again and obviously this will help us to be in a strong

position to provide a broad range of services to farming community,’ he said.

Indeed, a new feature of farming in Ireland today is the demand for qualified farm staff to be contracted from abroad, and the FRS has put a scheme in place to accommodate this trend. Farmers can pay an annual membership fee to join the scheme and for an additional sum can avail of the farmer accident and sickness scheme which pays 75 per cent of the cost of relief while a farmer is incapacitated due to an accident or sickness.

“We have established contacts in countries like Poland, Latvia and Hungary where highly qualified farm staff can be sourced,’ said Mr O’Rourke. “The FRS can give additional in- duction and skills training to these Eastern Eu-

ropean workers while they are placed full time on a farm with no additional cost to the farmer.”

The FRS also hosted a one-day safe tractor driving skills course for 14 – 16 year olds and a one-day pre-silage season machinery safety course earlier this year and a wide range of other courses are now available. The reorganised FRS has four distinct divisions namely: farm services, fencing systems, re- cruitment and training.

There are also a number of full and part-time positions avail- able in FRS at the moment. For more information check out www.irsnetwork.com or call 063 90666.

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THE county’s roads have claimed their seventh victim this year, with the death of Maura Daffy (54), from Lis- munga, Ruan.

She lost her life after her car collided with a minibus close to Clarecastle on Saturday afternoon.

Ms Datfy’s black Hyundai Accent crashed into a Mercedes Benz minibus, which was driven by a 60-year-old man from Macroom in Cork, on the main N18, at Skehanagh, just after 4pm. She is the third person to die on that particu- lar stretch of road in as many years.

The woman was taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Ennis, Where she died at 2.30am on Sunday morning. The driver of the bus was treated for minor injuries and was dis- charged from hospital some hours after

the accident.

Ms Daffy lived in Dublin for a number of years and worked, until recently, in the Sunday World newspaper. She visit- ed her family in Ruan regularly over the years and was travelling from a show- jumping event in Millstreet – where her niece was performing – to her home in Ruan, when the accident occurred.

Ruan parish priest Fr Pat O’ Neill said the deceased, who is survived by two brothers and two sisters, was a popular woman. “She was full of life and got on very well with all of her family. She had travelled the world,’ said Fr O’ Neill.

“She would always have one of her nieces in the car with her. Thankfully she didn’t have anybody with her on Saturday,” he added.

Two witnesses have been interviewed by gardai. Supt John Kerin is appealing for other witnesses to come forward

“We are happy the bus driver was travelling on his own side of the road, heading towards Limerick. There was a line of traffic behind Ms Daffy and we are appealing for those people to come forward with information,” said Supt aun

In September 2002, three-year-old Maggie Moore from Corbally near Limerick, died when the car in which she was travelling with her family, was struck by another vehicle.

Last November, John Cahill (68) from Coole Park in Gort, a former official driver to Fianna Fail TD Frank Fahy, died when his car was struck by a van driven by John Hogan from Ennis. Last month Hogan was convicted of danger- ous driving causing Mr Cahill’s death.

Both accidents occurred within 500 yards of Saturday’s collision.

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MAURA Daffy is the third woman and the seventh per- son to be killed on the roads in Clare in 2005.

On January 30, motorcy- clist Pauline Speake from Kilkishen, died when her motorcycle was in collision with a car, near Dysart.

Mrs Speake, in her 50s, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, close to Ryan’s quarry on the main Ennis to Corofin road.

The second road accident in the county also involved a motorcycle. John Ryan from

O’Briensbridge lost his life in a single vehicle accident at O’Briensbridge on Sunday, May 15. Mr Ryan, in his 30s, was driving a motorcycle when the tragic accident oc- curred just after Spm.

Less than a week later tragedy struck again, when an accident in west Clare took two lives, on May 20. Father-of-three Thomas Pen- der and 18-year-old David McCarthy, both from Quilty, died in an accident a short distance from Seafield Pier in Quilty. Mr McCarthy died at the scene of the crash and Mr Pender died the follow-

ing Tuesday at University College Hospital, Cork, from serious head injuries.

The fourth life was lost on Saturday, May 28. Brendan Moloney (21) died after his car struck a wall at Kilmore, Broadford. No other vehicle was involved in the accident which occurred between the Wuthering Heights pub and Broadford village, shortly before 7pm.

Charelle Howard (17) was killed in a road accident on the outskirts of Ennis, in the early hours of Saturday, July 16. She was one of sev- en teenagers travelling in a

Volkswagen Polo car, which crashed on the Shanaway Road in Ennis. Charelle, who had just completed her Leaving Certificate, was the only child of David and Ter- esa Howard from Oakwood Drive, Watery Road, Ennis. Three people have been killed in road accidents in parts of Tipperary, which are also part of the Clare Garda division. This brings to ten the total number of people killed on roads in the divi- sion. Eleven people died in road accidents in the Clare Garda Division last year.