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BISHOP Willie Walsh has described one of Clare’s best known GAA fig- ures, Fr Michael McNamara, as a great priest and a man who worked miracles that perhaps we don’t rec- Oya nV Aon

A priest for 40 years and a former coach to the senior Clare hurling team and County Board chairman, Fr McNamara (64) died suddenly ETI MSY IRUIROE NAM (cle) ©

At a packed St Peter and St Paul Cathedral Church in Ennis last Tues- day, Dr Walsh led the tributes to his friend who served as parish priest to the parish of Doora-Barefield.

Bishop Walsh described as a dev- astating blow that “Fr Michael’s 40 years of generous and wonderful priesthood has come to a sudden end”’.

“All of us who are privileged to know him are deeply saddened. We will miss him greatly, but he will be missed most of all by his family whom he loved so much and from whom he received so much love.”

Describing Fr McNamara as “a truly good priest. We pray that this generous life may inspire all of us to try in our own frailty to walk in his footsteps.

“There is a sense of incredulous-

ness, a sense that it has happened too soon, despite 40 years of generous and wonderful priesthood, there is a sense that Fr Michael had so much more to give.

“There have been so many lovely tributes paid to him in recent days. Maybe the loveliest one came from a family who had to part with one of their lovely daughters after a long illness five years ago. Both parents said to me on different occasions ‘we could never have survived that time without the love and support of Fr Michael’.

Dr Walsh described Fr McNamara as “a man of many parts”.

“He was first of all a people’s man. He had a wonderful interest and capacity to relate to everyone, the young, the old, rich and poor, the close friends and the casual ac- quaintance. He was happy and he was at ease with people. In spite of the heavy burden of work in recent years, he always seemed to have time to chat and indeed always seemed to have plenty to chat about.

“Somehow, you always felt good after a chat with Michael — he saw only the good in each one of us. That is what made him such a community builder to which you the people of Doora Barefield will testify.

“He was a man of the people. He

was a family man. He had an ex- traordinary attachment to his family and to his native Kilmaley

“Michael was a man of faith. Michael was a man who was always comfortable with his faith.

“A priest friend who occasionally holidayed with Michael and shared a room said that he never went to bed without kneeling at his bedside to pray and didn’t get up without kneel- ing and praying at his bedside again — there aren’t many of us who can make that claim.”

Bishop Walsh also recounted how, each Thursday, he and a group of priests would meet for a prayer meet- ing.

“Michael was the most loyal mem- ber of us all. We met for an hour or so and we prayed and chatted about the readings. He had that extra in- sight into those readings and how they might apply to our lives today.”

Describing Fr McNamara as “a man truly of faith — a man of hope of joy’, Bishop Walsh said he could never recall Michael in bad form — “even if the situation seemed hope- less, he always seemed to see the hopeful part.”

THERE has been a huge increase in the number of cases coming before the Employment Appeals Tribunal and multiple job losses are poised to ensure this trend continues.

That’s according to Gearoid Howard, a Shannon-based solicitor who specialises in employment law.

He said that employees are becom- ing increasingly aware of their rights in the workplace, and as a result, the Appeals Tribunals workload has in- creased significantly. It takes up to 40 weeks for cases to be heard, on

average, while the vast majority of cases are swung in the favour of em- ployees.

“A lot of the time, people feel they have been selected unfairly for re- dundancy. That accounts for a lot of cases before the Employment Ap- peals Tribunals. At the moment I am being asked for advice from people about that from employers and em- ployees,”’ said Mr Howard.

“Times are tough. Employees are becoming a lot more sophisticated and educated than they used to be. They are looking for their avenues of redress. It is very difficult from an

employers’ point of view,” he said.

The trend, traditionally, for disgrun- tled employees was to take cases to the Employment Appeals Tribunal, but this has changed somewhat. “

The usual avenue was the Employ- ment Appeals Tribunal, but more often than not now people are going to the Equality Tribunal,” said Mr Howard.

The Appeals Tribunal calculates what the winner in a case is entitled to, through a mathematical computa- tion. However, the Equality Tribunal is not subject to the same limitations. ‘That is the stark reality for employ-

ees,’ said Mr Howard.

As the number of cases before tri- bunals is increasing, Mr Howard has noticed one trend. “In my own expe- rience, the success rate is 95 per cent for employees,” he said.

“Many years ago, an employer would have only come to me when they received a date for a tribunal, but now I am finding I am being ap- proached earlier in the process. Em- ployers are aware of the process,” he added.

The downturn in the economy has played a critical role in the increase in demand for tribunals of this na-

ture.

me WTKom ELON MNO Com Iloroems Kem MED OMB Ele past. You could leave one job today and get another tomorrow. The eco- nomic climate has changed dramati- cally and competition for jobs is phe- nomenal,” said Mr Howard.

He said that cashflow problems have also filtered through and create huge issues. “I have employers who have let people go months ago and they are still waiting to receive re- bate from the social insurance fund. When it turns to the Government to refund, that refund is taking a very long time,” said Mr Howard.

RE-EXAMINING Ireland’s — eco- nomic past to help map a path for the future is the main theme of this year’s Merriman Summer School, details of which have been announced.

Now in 4lst year, the majority of events planned for this year’s school UUM olom sos C MMOGs OMe ODOM eRe semAtlE gust 16 to 22.

The programme features talks from some of the country’s leading politi- cal, social and cultural commenta- tors including historian, Diarmaid Ferriter; Tom Collins, Professor of Education at NUI Maynooth; and Emily Logan, Ombudsman for Chil- Chore

However the main focus of debate at this year’s school stems from the publication fifty years ago of the First Programme for Economic De- velopment.

Put together by Sean Lemass and TK Whitaker, the programme was a blueprint for development that set out to address the many problems that the Irish State faced at the time.

Much has changed in the mean- time and yet Ireland faces a new set of challenges and the impact of the deepest economic recession to hit the world in almost a century.

Diarmaid Ferriter, historian and writer, will offer an insight into the context of half a century ago to set the scene for the rest of the school, which will look to the future. Tom Collins will consider the imperatives of educational policy, while Emily Logan will reflect on the State’s poli- cies and priorities towards children.

Maureen Gaffney, psychologist and commentator, will consider the so- cial development of the country and the impact of the changing context.

Noel Dorr, former Secretary Gen- eral of the Department of Foreign Affairs and well known at Merriman Schools, will look at the issues that face Ireland in shaping its foreign policy in a world whose centre of gravity may be changing signifi- OFT Naas

Brigid Laffan, Principal of the Col- lege of Human Sciences in UCD,

will address the issue of Ireland’s place in Europe and, specifically, its place in the EU.

John McHale of the Queen’s Uni- versity in Canada, but soon to be- come Professor of Economics in NUI Galway, will reflect on the fu- ture focus and direction of economic policy.

This year will see the return of all the regular features, including: sem1- nars, in Irish and English; ‘Renew Your Irish’ with Eoghan O hAnl- uain and Cuirt an Mhean Lae; the

mid-day poetry reading begun at the 2005 bicentennial school.

This year’s poets include John F Deane and Enda Wyley. There will also be set dancing workshops with Betty McCoy and Johnny Morrissey, the school tour and Club Merriman, with dancing and singing ‘til late. The director of the 2009 Merriman Summer School is Bob Collins.

THE curtain falls on the Riches of Clare concert series in Ennis tomor- row (Wednesday, August 5) with organisers already looking ahead to next year.

Stephen Madden (banjo), Paul Mad- den (accordion), Maria O’Donnell (piano) and Sinéad Heagney (fiddle) will perform in a free concert from Ipm to 2pm. This will be the eighth concert to have been staged at the Clare Museum since the series began in June 10. This is the fifth time that the series has been staged in Ennis

and at venues across Clare.

The final concert takes place in Feakle next Wednesday, by which time seventy musicians will have taken part in 16 concerts in nine different venues. The eight-week residency in the Clare Museum, En- nis, featured traditional musicians from and based in County Clare on Wednesday afternoons.

Tony Linnane, Jim O’Connor, Shane Mulvey, Siobhan Peoples and Maeve Donnelly, Kieran Kissane and Stephen Madden were among the musicians who performed in En- nis during the series. There was also

a performance from the Kilfenora Ceili Band, who this year celebrated the band’s 100 year anniversary.

Supported by the Clare Arts Office, this year also saw the series go on tour around County Clare with Fri- day afternoon concerts taking place in Scariff, Kilfenora, Corofin, En- nistymon, Shannon, Lisdoonvarna, Sixmulebridge and Feakle.

Finola Ryan, one of the series co- coordinators, said that the concerts had drawn good crowds.

“We always had done concerts in different venues around Clare but this year we decided to hold

them over two weeks which I think helped,’ said Finola

‘“They’ve been really good and the crowds seem to have been as big as last year, if not a little up on last year.”

Finola said that performances had once again been of a high standard.

“Tt’s hard to pick a highlight but I suppose the concert by the Kilfenora Céili Band stood out. That was a good one but honestly they were all of a really high standard. We’d be hoping to do it again next year, but it depends on budgets and things like that,’ she added.

THE hard work of walking and fund- raising all paid off last week when the organisers of the Broadford 10k were able to present cash raised by the event to one of the good causes involved.

At a presentation night, at Danny’s Bar, a cheque to the value of €5,030 was handed over to the Mid Western Cancer Foundation.

“It was because of the success of the people who participated in the Broadford 10k, last April, that we

were able to donate this cheque,” said Geraldine Mullins of the organ- ising committee.

The Mid Western Cancer Founda- tion works to support and improve services and facilities for patients suffering from cancer, and their families. Committee member, Liam Ryan has been one of many patients that has needed this service and care from the highly trained staff at the foundation in Limerick Regional Hospital. The Easter Monday walk and run was the second organised for Broadford, and numbers doubled on

the first year.

“We were very pleased and we’re hoping that the numbers will contin- ue to grow year on year,” she said.

The route is a particularly beautiful one; starting in the village, going to Kilbane via what is known locally as the High Road, past the church and back down the route know locally as the Low Road.

“Everyone enjoyed it and said how nice it was. The runners found it quite challenging but they said the loved it,’ said Geraldine.

The first event was held solely for

the Broadford parish funds, and this year the Cancer Care unit was added to broaden the appeal of the event and to raise more money for another good cause.

“We felt that everyone knows someone who has been affected by cancer,’ said Geraldine.

Now the organisers are hoping to grow the numbers by getting a web- site going and getting the athletics clubs involved.

“We will be working on it from September, when people are back off their holidays,’ Geraldine explained.

FOUR hundred lucky Clare people will next month get the chance to win a luxury BMW 320 while at the same time help a very worthy charity.

North Clare man Michael Guthrie, who has just returned from the island of Pemba in Tanzania, has decided to auction his car in an effort to help build a major church and school for the children of the island.

Michael, who along with 15 other volunteers joined Ennistymon char1- ty workers Pat and Neilus O’Doherty in Pemba last month, is hoping to raise €20,000 for the project.

Only 400 tickets, priced at <€50 each, are available for this raffle, making the chances of winning bet- ter than in most other raffles of it’s kind. “Whatever money I raise is going to go to the school and church project. We were over there working on it last month and we think with €20,000 we could probably afford to complete the whole first floor of the building and maybe more,’ he said. “The people over there have not- ing at all and the only way that they will ever be able to make a better life for themselves and their children is through education. And that is what we are hoping to help with.” The island of Pemba contains al- most 400,000 but is largely ignored by the Tanzanian government. Local children have virtually no access to education and unemployment on the island is almost universal. “We all had a very good time out there and worked very hard. The people, especially the people out there for the first time, learned an awful lot,’ said Pat O’ Doherty. “Work on the foundation had al- ready started, but we put in a few weeks of really hard work and made some great progress in a very short time. The workers had been stand- ing bare-footed, mixing the concrete with their shovels when we arrived. “We managed to but a cement mixer on the mainland and had it brought onto the island which totally revolutionised the work. The people out there are so poor and have so lit- tle work. ‘Each day people arrive at the site to look for work. We would pay them what we could and they would work all day helping to dig the foundations. They were so eager and happy to get whatever work they could get.” Anyone interested in purchasing a ticket can contact Michael at 086 Soh eed ee

THE nineteenth annual South East Clare show was a big hit at the week- end, despite the heavy rain. The gal- lant show-goers turned out in Bridget- own to enjoy a great family day out.

The first show was in 1990 and the event has only missed one year and that was because of foot and mouth.

Now highly regarded among the show fraternity, the South East Clare Show has a place in the top 10 shows in the country.

On Sunday, visitors enjoyed 22 classes in the horse show, show jumping the dog show and a vintage car show. There were 27 classes in the cattle section.

There were the firm favourites: a home produce section, best dressed

lady, little miss and bonny baby and, for the youngsters, there were dodg- ems, swings and fancy dress.

The dog show portfolio was looked after by Jim Lonergan and this year there are 13 qualifiers, including the Gain Dog Food All Ireland Champi- onship qualifier.

Everyone enjoyed the beautiful- ly preserved vintage cars – which formed a new section in the show this year – looked after by enthusiast, Joe English.

And when the rain came down or the feet became weary, visitors to the showgrounds were delighted to be able to retire to the refreshment tents and enjoy the wonderful spread laid on.

HUNGER is a wonderful weapon ZNO MAY Z- 0c O Olom OPM ODUB Ko EO NG oMOLe AY (oe) f these two sides on Sunday evening at county headquarters as Cooraclare landed their first Cusack Cup title in five years against a shell-shocked Kalmurry Ibrickane.

The county champions and outgo- ing Cusack Cup holders were in this state of mind because they had just tasted defeat for the first time in 40 games across the three senior com- petitions up for grabs in Clare – the Cusack Cup, O’Gorman Cup and county championship – that lasted as far back to September 2007 when they were beaten by Wolfe Tones at the county championship quarter-fi- OED MSL beXes

They lost because they kicked some very bad wides and spurned two gilt- edged goal chances in the last three minutes, but they also lost because they couldn’t summon the same hun- ger as Cooraclare.

Their raw enthusiasm for this game, from start to finish was the real win-

ner, while the backing chorus of a raucous support from the stand also helped get them over the line.

Put simply, this final meant more to the men in blue than it did to those in green and red – you could go so far as to say that it was Cooraclare’s great- est Cusack Cup performance since the winter’s day in 1992 when they beat Doonbeg in a memorable final on their home patch.

This was equally as memorable from Cooraclare’s point of view, pri- marily because of where this team has come from in such a short space OME BD baler

Remember, they were champion- ship chumps for five years from 2005 to 2008, but now they’re back with a bang as Cusack Cup champions for the 11th time and real challengers to Kilmurry I[brickane’s championship throne.

Once they recovered from a slow and nervy start when Mark McCa- rthy and Michael Hogan put points on the board inside four minutes, Cooraclare showed a real steel about them in bringing Kilmurry’s remark-

able run to an end.

Thomas Donnellan’s crunching shoulder on Stephen Moloney set the tone early on, while Cooraclare really settled down to their Herculean task when Sean Maguire opened their ac- count in the seventh minute pointed a rebound off a good goal chance for Hughie Donnelly over the bar.

Peter O’Dwyer burst through the middle in the ninth minute and fired over a great point to give Kilmurry a Q-3 to O-1 lead, but points by Declan McMahon and Cathal Lillis by the 11th had the sides level.

Kilmurry were now awake to the reality that this would be a real con- test and with a championship fervour about it, but they still looked com- fortable when Ian McInerney non- chalantly knocked over a free from 55 yards and when Mark McCarthy did likewise with a 45 to give them a O-5 to 0-3 lead by the 15th minute.

However, what happened in the closing 15 minutes was where this Cusack Cup final turned. Mark Tu- bridy landed two monster points by the 23rd minute – one from play and

another from the sideline to square matters.

They were maximising the chances, Kilmurry were most definitely not as Stephen Moloney, Johnny Daly and Peter O’Dwyer were all guilty of bad misses before Conor Marrinan raided from wing-back in the 29th minute to point Cooraclare into a 0-6 to 0-5 half-time lead.

You sensed that collectively all of Cooraclare believed and that went for those on the field and those looking on. And, this feeling was hammered home in the first four minutes after the restart when the sky blues took to their task of playing against the wind with gusto, landing points through Mark Tubridy and Pauric O’ Looney to move 0-8 to O-5 clear.

Kilmurry were rattled for the first DDONCoD UM OUC- Tucan SUO Cem OelemO)eloueNDOTcamOrcDEN hour against Kilkee in their 2008 championship opener, and in truth they never really recovered from this early Cooraclare blitz.

They were always playing catch-up, and though they knuckled down to this task admirably and drew level

with points from an lan McInerney free in the eighth minute, a point from play by Enda Coughlan in the tenth and another free from Johnny Daly in the 17th minute, Cooraclare were always going to come again.

They did in the 20th minute when Declan Keane pointed a 21-yard free to put them 0-9 to 0-8 ahead entering the last ten minutes.

It was then that they rode their luck, weathering the Kilmurry onslaught for seven minutes before the inevita- ble equaliser came through Michael O’ Dwyer – it should have been a goal though as he blazed over when put through by Paul O’Connor.

A Kilmurry win looked on the cards at that stage but credit the fighting qualities of Cooraclare once more, with two points from two raids VOM MaomEloOr

Substitute John O’Looney got both of them, the first from play, the sec- ond a free as Cooraclare moved two points clear in the 62nd minute.

There was still time for Kilmurry and one last attack coughed up their best goal chance of the day – Mark Killeen was one-on-one with his namesake Joe Killeen.

TM Tom eloec nee hana HOMO BU U BEDI aT- Ae as he turned the ball over the bar to keep Cooraclare ahead.

All that was left was the final whis- tle that greeted his kickout after that score.

Cooraclare’s celebrations were big- gining – Kilmurry’s great run was finally over.

It could be the making of Kilmurry Ibrickane though, albeit that Coora- clare are convinved it could be the making of their championship chal- lenge.

AT a time when most people are wearing hairshirts, Clonlara man Noel Murphy has bet his shirt on a new Killaloe business.

Boru Fashions is a new leisure- wear store on Killaloe’s main street which, apart from selling quality and affordable leisurewear, will custom- ise any t-shirt, polo or sweatshirt.

“We do fun t-shirts for stag and hen’s nights, t-shirts for corporate promotions, polo-shirts with compa-

ny logos and names, fun t-shirts and fantasy t-shirts, pictures of your dog, your cat, your boss – you name it, we can do it!” said Noel.

Noel took a big leap of faith in these dismal times and invested in the lat- est machinery to get the business off the ground.

“IT saw a gap in the market in this part of Clare. There are lots of bou- tiques in Killaloe stocking fabulous fashions and couture clothing. Boru Fashions aims to be quality but af- fordable. The most expensive thing

in the shop is a 100 per cent cotton man’s tracksuit for €35.”

Open just a few weeks, the shop is steadily growing its trade, particu- larly among younger shoppers.

“The young people who shop here tell me that they’re delighted to be able to buy locally. They say that if they go into Limerick, they have to pay €10 bus fare, then you pay out to have something to eat and that’s all before you buy a stitch,’ said Noel.

Noel decided to set up shop in Kil- laloe because “it’s a very good catch-

ment area, between here and Ballina, and so far things have been fairly good.”

Another boost for the shop are tour- ists who want shirts with pictures of the historic and scenic parts of Kil- laloe to bring home as gifts and sou- venirs. “If they have their own digital pictures with themselves in the pic- ture, I can even put that on a shirt for them,” said Noel.

after the 2-24 to 2-18 win

over Wexford in O’Moore Park.

“Tt

that’s what Clare and the County Board wants [ll be around. I’ve al- ways been around for Clare. I want to be around,” he added in putting the onus back on the county board that has called a special meeting in Au- gust to discuss both the senior hurl- ing and senior football management positions.

“It would definitely be my last year involved with the team — I’ve been 20 long years involved with Clare teams since the minor team of 1989, so maybe we will make it a 21st an- niversary, he continued.

Two years ago the county board top table led a successful heave against Tony Considine and his senior hurl- ing management team, even though they had recorded three champion-

ship victories that year and reached the All-Ireland quarter-final.

However, Considine’s fate as manager was sealed because of the controversy over the departure and subsequent year-long exile from the senior squad of two-time All-Ireland winner and three-time All Star win- ner, Davy Fitzgerald.

Now, two years on from that Civil War, the only thing standing in the way of McNamara could be Fit- zgerald’s prodigal son-like return to Clare to take up the management reins – a job he stated as recently as three weeks ago that he wants.

However, McNamara remains con- vinced that his management team is ideally positioned to build on what has been achieved since they as-

sumed control of the team in 2007. “I would be surprised if we couldn’t build on what we’ve done,” he said.

“We didn’t have a good year, but results and performance often didn’t marry very well. I think a point or two either way in a couple of league matches could have changed our whole year.

“The flurry at the end of the Mun- ster championship match against Tipperary, one bit of luck on that day and maybe we could be in an All-Ire- land semi-final now.

‘“That’s how it goes — it’s that little and it’s that close. After Kilkenny there’s so little between the next six or seven teams behind them. All those teams could beat each other on any given day,” he added.