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THE NEW phases of a scheme that has seen the lobster yield in Clare in- crease by as much as 40 per cent was launched in Carrigaholt on Friday.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mr. Tony Killeen, (FF) officially launched the 2009-2013 Lob- ster V-notching scheme.

Lobster ‘V-notching’ is one of the most important Tech- nical Conservation Measures (TCM) for the Irish lobster Kele .@

The main aim of the meas- ure is to protect female lob- sters, allowing them to spawn, which replenishes stocks.

The 2009 – 2013 V-Notch- ing Scheme follows on from the very successful 2002-2008 scheme which saw approximately 70,000 Lobsters being V-notched through a BIM-industry partnership, significantly increasing the spawning potential of the lobster population nationally.

Since 1995 over 140,000 lobsters

have been released. The initiative has proved to be of vital importance for the conservation and protection of the Irish lobster fishery.

In areas with strong V-notching pro- grammes such as the coast of Clare,

the 2002-2008 V-notching Scheme has had a hugely significant impact on the lobster stock, leading to an in- crease in catch rates of approximate- ly 40 per cent in the county. In the Banner County 14,000 lobsters were v-notched between 2002-2008.

The practice of “V-notching” was

introduced to Ireland by BIM in the early 1990’s from Maine in the USA, where it is used in the Ameri- can lobster fishery. It involves cutting a small notch in one of the flaps on the tail of a female lobster to create an easily recognised mark that remains for up to two moults. When a lobster is marked in this way, it is illegal to land, possess or sell it and it must be re- turned live to the sea. This ensures the lobster has an opportunity to breed at least once before the notch grows out, as female lob- sters generally breed and moult in alternate years. The v-notch is not perma- nent and after about four to six years it disappears completely and the lobster can be sold.

CAOIMHIN Nolan, inspector with the EPA told the court that Chemi- floc’s licence specifies that the com- pany can emit treated waste gases to the atmosphere, in specified concen- trations and from a nominated stack.

After the company contacted the EPA to report the incident, Mr No- lan made a site visit and was told that the emission happened because the cooler which keeps the temperature down in water used to scrub gases had tripped out.

He told the court that having stud- ied a video clip and pictures taken of

the gas cloud, along with information about what process was going on at the plant at that time, he had con- cluded that the emission was one of Nitrogen Oxide.

“T studied the video in slow motion, frame by frame. It shows the plume (of gas) rising from ground level. This was an indication that smoke was being emitted from a source other than the stack,” he said.

The inspector said that the orange and red colour of the plume was typi- cal of that gas and he used the depth of the coloration to judge the concen- tration.

Under cross examination, Mr Nolan

agreed that the plume had dispersed without causing further incident. The court heard that the company had commissioned an independent report which estimated that the gas was present in a more dilute form than Mr Nolan had estimated.

The inspector agreed that the pros- ecution before the court referred to an alleged breach of the company’s licence with the EPA and not any breach of legislation.

He did not agree with counsel for the defence, who argued that there “can be no breach involved because no actual measurements (of the amount of gas emitted) were taken.”

FOURTEEN players representing Clare clubs will take their chance in the 108th South of Ireland Golf Championship that gets underway in Lahinch on Saturday. The strongest Clare field in the oldest of the provin- cial golf championships in a number of years will be headed by Lahinch’s Patrick Collier,

Meanwhile, Ennis’ Noel Pyne will continue his remarkable associa- tion with the event by competing in his 47th consecutive championship when he goes into action against Doneraile’s Damien Carey on Satur- CR ham enlewenterce

Pyne is one of ten of the Clare con- tingent in action in the first round — the others are Mark Feane (La- hinch), Patrick Sheehy (Lahinch), Cathal O’Connor (Woodstock), Tho- mas Neenan (Lahinch), Padraig Mc- Grath (Dromoland), Ian Morrison (Lahinch), Ed Hickey (Shannon), Ni- all Woods (Dromoland) and Patrick OO liome Re

Collier is one of six former cham- pions in the 192-strong field for the 2009 event — the others are Barry Reddan, Padraig O’Rourke, Simon Ward, Peter Sheehan and defending champion Niall Kearney.

O’Rourke from Kilkenny is a two- time winner, winning the title for the

first time all of 28 years ago when beating John Carr in the final by 2 and |. He followed it up with another win in 1985 when scoring a 3 and 2 win over Ennis’ Pat Lyons who was playing out of the Nenagh club.

Reddan beat Mark Gannon in an all-Co Louth final in 1987 — it went all the way to the 20th before Reddan got the better of his fellow interna- tional and clubmate. Peter Sheehan, who now plays out of Ballybunion was the winner in 1993 when beating Michael O’Kelly on the 19th, while Collier was playing out of Limer- ick when he won the title in 1997 by beating Andrew McCormick of Scrabo on the home hole.

Niall Kearney and Simon Ward are the most recent champions in the field — Ward was 2006 champions thanks to victory over Darren Crowne form Dunmurry by 2 and 1, while Kearney scored a decisive 4 and 3 win over The Curragh’s Paul O’Hanlon in last year’s final.

MEMBERS of Clare County Council were updated on progress of a review which could lay the foundations for Clare being one of the wind energy centres of Ireland.

The presentation on progress of the revised wind energy strategy for Clare was given by Ruth Minnogue of Minnogue and Associates, the consultants appointed by the council

to up-date the strategy.

Ms Minnogue told the meeting that in reviewing the existing strategy, one of the important aims Is to “iden- tify robust areas, which meet the re- quirements of wind energy genera- tion” where there is a good chance of obtaining planning permission for AUD u Oy EA oe

She told the council that while there are problems when it comes to connection to the grid as it is “ona

first come, first served basis, we are well placed in Clare having access to Moneypoint.”

In surveying the county, the con- sultants were putting various areas into one of four categories: strategic areas where there is a good likeli- hood of generating wind power, areas which are acceptable in principal, ar- eas which are open for consideration and areas where permission would not normally be possible.

Which category an area falls into would depend on a number of factors, including wind-speed, proximity to houses, geological and environmen- tal considerations and the archaeol- ogy of that area.

Councillors asked questions con- cerning various aspects of the review and concerning planning regula- tions.

After Slieve Aughty was mentioned in the presentation as a possible lo-

cation, Cllr Pat Hayes asked whether the review would look at individual townlands and was told it would not. Rather there would be an overview of an area as broadly suitable with each application still having to go through the planning process.

Councillors were also told that the review should be completed by this September and members were invit- ed to raise any issues with the con- Sultants.

THE scoreline says it all really — this was as free-flowing a football game as one could hope to see as Clare stormed to a thrilling victory over the reigning All-Ireland champions thanks to a brilliant second half dis- ENE

Clare hit the net twice in the first half through Ailish Considine and Niamh O’Dea but still found them- Selves in arrears at the break, but there was no denying them on the turnover as goals by Aoife Murphy and Ailish Considine put them on the high road to an All-Ireland date against Donegal on August 2nd.

It was end-to-end stuff all through as the force was with each side at various intervals. Ailish Consid- ine’s eighth minute goal, which was quickly followed by points from Sa- rah Bohannon and Considine again gave Clare a three-point advantage by the 15th minute, but a Dublin pur- ple-patch that saw them hit 1-5 with- out reply in ten minutes turned this game on its head.

The goal came in the 22nd minute

when Rebecca Davey ran on to a long delivery and flicked the ball beyond Edel McMahon to the Clare net. It looked like giving Dublin a decisive half-time lead, but on the stroke of the interval Nimah O’Dea struck for a crucial goal that left them only a point adrift, it being 1-8 to 2-4 in Dublin’s favour.

It inspired Clare, but not before Sinead Cullen, the sister of Dublin senior star Bryan Cullen, tacked on the first point of the second half to edge her side two points ahead.

It was Clare’s second half goals that won the day — the first arrived eight minutes into the half when a high ball into the square from Sally Glynn led to consternation in the Dublin defence and allowed Aoife Murphy pounce for a goal.

Murphy added a point two minutes later to put Clare 3-5 to 1-9 ahead, before the Considine sisters from Kilmihil effectively put the game out of Dublin’s reach when hitting 1-3 in- side six minutes.

The goal came in the 39th minute when a penalty, awarded after the hugely effective Sarah Bohannon was

fouled in the area, was hammered to the net by Ailish Considine, while Eimear followed up with points in the 40th, 43rd and 45th minutes to put Clare 4-8 to 1-9 to the good.

Clare looked set to run out comfort- able winners but Dublin never said die and had the better of the scoring exchanges in the closing quarter, out- scoring Clare by 1-7 to 0-4 as they played catch up.

There were only three points be- tween them in the end, but Dublin’s goal came in injury time and just made the result more respectable from their point of view.

It puts Clare through to their first All-Ireland Minor A final in 18 years — they won back-to-back titles in 1990 and ’91 beat Dublin and Laois respectively.

THE Civil and Public Service union has warned it will not allow public services be damaged by any attempt to force through staff cuts and other changes on foot of the Bord Snip Nua report

The union, one of the largest in the public service warned that it would not accept any attempt by Govern- ment to force through staff cuts and other changes proposed in the report of the so-called Bord Snip Nua. The union said protecting the highest standards and availability of public services was “paramount and a core principle that could not be compro- mised”.

Noting the publication of the re- port, CPSU Deputy General Sec- retary, Eoin Ronayne said it would require further detailed analysis but stressed ’’we have always questioned the purpose and intent of the Bord, as these so-called ‘experts’ repre-

sent the failed recent economic past – consequently anything they have to say about our public services will not be likely to impress”.

He added, the union’s initial ex- amination of the report did little to dispel its concern that this would be a ‘slash and burn’ exercise. “There is past history here, we didn’t share the assessment of the original Bord Snip and it won’t be a surprise that we have yet to find anything in this which suggests our view will be any CUPS CoRo sl mneN Iman salem

Mr. Ronayne said that ultimately it would be up to Government and unions to work through the difficult weeks and months ahead and the CPSU expects “nothing less than the processing of any proposals by the employer through the normal indus- trial relations procedures.”

Meanwhile, SIPTU will hold a press conference in Liberty Hall to- morrow to give it’s “considered re- sponse” to the proposals.

“The recommendations of An Bord Snip Nua represent an exercise in fantasy,’ SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor said following the publication of the report. “In fairness to the group their terms of reference focused exclusively on reducing ex- penditure without regard to the eco- nomic and social implications, or the viability of alternative approaches.

This is graphically highlighted in that the Government’s own projec- tions envisage reductions of €1.5 bil- lion in current expenditure for 2010 and the same again in 2011, whereas this report recommends an incred- ible £5.3 billion. The Government’s targets are not achievable without the most severe measures. The recom- mendations of this report are entirely unworkable, unnecessary and down- right counter-productive.”

BACK in 2000 Ger Loughnane made a special guest appearance at the July meeting of the Clare County Board in the West County Hotel as a denouement to retirement after six years on the inter-county manage- ment carousel.

Loughnane addressed delegates and the county board top table that evening, in what was largely a night of mutual appreciation between eve- ryone in the hall and a celebration of all things Clare hurling.

Loughnane talked about the salad days, Clare’s unforgettable fire, how everyone worked together, how Mun- sters and All-Irelands were won and Ome er-l

However, there’s always a news line with Loughnane and there was that night in his final few words just before the appreciation of the crowd rained down on him.

“No tributes lads,’ he said. “Down to the future. Think of that and think of it fast,” he added.

Of course Loughnane was talking about the small ball, but he could have been talking about the big ball too.

Regardless of the code, there was no one listening – the results of which are where Clare GAA finds itself with its two flagship teams.

In football terms, things have never been so low – player indifference and a tacit acceptance of the county’s lot as being one of the worst in the coun- try is a damning indictment.

It shows up Clare as a football county totally lacking in ambition, pride and overall sense of purpose that goes hand-in-hand with wearing a county jersey.

Individual pride from the likes of Conor Whelan, David Russell, Michael O’Shea and others in repre- senting their county is without ques- tion, but collectively, the bald facts of the matter are that Clare couldn’t muster even a handful of training sessions between the defeat to Lim- erick in Cusack Park on June 7 and the All-Ireland Qualifier against Donegal on July 13 in Ballybofey.

That’s simply not good enough and

is worse than all the poor perform- ances over the last few years put to- exons

And all this after Clare had shown enough in a first half display against Limerick in Cusack Park to suggest that there could be some light at the end of the tunnel.

There was a belief in their play when they ran at Limerick, but rather than take the positives from the game and try to come again in the Qualifi- ers, they collectively turned the other cheek.

Contrast this attitude to how teams like Sligo, Tipperary and Wicklow approached the Qualifiers. Tipperary got back to training under manager John Evans (surely a Kerry manager

of the future) after their defeat to Limerick in the Munster quarter-fi- nal, went up to Louth and beat them.

Then they served up a brilliant second half display against Sligo in Semple Stadium, only to come up short by a point. However, even in defeat they showed enough in 2009 to believe that they will contend for Munster titles in the coming years.

As for Sligo, they didn’t throw in the towel after being beaten by Gal- way in Connacht – after all, it would have been easy for this to happen as many of the team could have been sated with their Connacht medals from two years ago.

No, they came again and beat Tip- perary in Thurles and should have

beaten Kerry on Saturday in serving up the greatest championship per- formance against the bluebloods of the game in Tralee since Clare drew there in 1950.

And, as for Wicklow – another D1- vision 4 team like Clare and Sligo – not much needs to be said about their All-Ireland Qualifer wins over Cavan, Fermanagh and Down in Aughrim.

Mick O’Dwyer will suffice.

Looking at Sligo, Tipperary and Wicklow, even another Division 4 team like Antrim who were only six points adrift of Tyrone in an Ulster final shows what can be achieved if WAMBO MAS (use

At player level across the county,

not just among the players who never fail to answer the county’s call.

At administrative level when you actually have a county board that really, deep down, wants to achieve Wen betcace

The only consolation is that things were just as low when John Maughan took over the Clare team in the Au- tumn of 1990 – they had just been beaten by Waterford in the first round of the National League and only 13 players turned up for Maughan’s first training session in Crusheen.

Maughan came to that session wear- ing a Mayo jersey, but ceremoniously took it off in the dressing room and put on a Clare geansai.

“We were instilling a little bit of discipline and a small bit of direction and it took off,” said Maughan.

Time for another lift off, but as Ger Loughnane said, “Down to the future, think of that and think of it fast.”

It’s in Clare football’s own hands.

SHANNON Airport has suffered a 19 per cent drop in transatlantic traf- fic for the first six months of the year as the recession impacts on the air- port’s long-haul routes.

Figures from the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) confirm that overall passenger numbers dropped by 7 per cent to 1.4m with the airport unlikely to hit 3 million passengers a year for the first time since 2004.

A spokeswoman for the SAA said that while airport management was disappointed with the decline, the results are better than those being experienced by many international airports worldwide.

The 19 per cent drop in transat- lantic traffic for the first six months follows a 19 per cent drop during the first six months of last year with the introduction of the ‘open skies’ re- gime on the US routes.

The number of US passengers trav- elling through Shannon dropped from 262,858 to 212,915 compared with the 325,438 who travelled on the routes in the first six months of 2007 before the recession and the in- troduction of open skies.

The numbers are expected to drop further in the second half of 2009 as carriers such as Aer Lingus and Delta reduce their services to the US

over the winter months.

Airport Director, Martin Moroney said that while the figures were dis- appointing, a reduction was expected because of open skies.

“Transatlantic services have been affected by the economic downturn, but we have worked extremely hard to retain them through the provision OLN e-VENCOMOloa/esOjeeeloNlmnNes TEA Loe

“Tt is vital that transatlantic servic- es continue to be successful as it is a very important segment of our traffic and a major contributor to both in- dustrial and tourism development.

‘European traffic showed a decline of 3 per cent mainly due to are- duction in services offered by tour operators to the traditional sun des- tinations, because of the economic Abn sers ites

“Traffic on the London routes re- mains the same as last year, though this may increase when Aer Lingus increases its service to Heathrow. Traffic on UK regional routes 1s down by 8 per cent and is expected to decrease further in the remainder of the year.

“We will be introducing efficien- cies and cost savings in our operation while capitalising on the introduction of full US pre-clearance on July 29 which will assist in attracting more business including British Airways and corporate jets’, he said.

THE Clare Under 18s booked their place in the All-Ireland semi finals with a great win over Galway in Ard- rahan on Wednesday evening.

This was a very tough and physical game but Clare looked sharper from the start and their first touch was ex- Aes

Clare opened the scoring with a fine point from Ogonnelloe’s Roisin O’Brien in the second minute and Aishling Hannon added to this with another point a minute later.

The sixth minute saw Galway’s Laura Mitchell send a dropping ball into the Clare square which was saved by goalkeeper Ailish Consid- Tne

Roisin O’Brien was causing a lot of problems at the edge of the Galway square and was fouled in the Galway square for the games first penalty in the 10th minute.

Chloe Morey stood up to the park and sent the ball in low and hard which the Galway goalie Helen Campbell saved and put out for a “45. Shonagh Enright’s “45 just went left of the post and wide.

The 17th minute saw Galway get their first score of the game when Ni- amh McGrath pointed.

This was cancelled out when Roisin O’Brien was on target again with a pointed free a minute later. Galway’s Christina Brennan sent a dropping ball into the Clare square which was

caught by Chloe Morey who sent the ball up the field to Katie Cahill whose shot just went left of the post in the 19th minute.

The last seven minutes saw Galway coming into the game and the Clare backline under a lot of pressure.

A clearance from Niamh Martin which came to Niamh McGrath saw Galway get their second point of the game in the 23rd minute.

Rebecca Hennelly added to this with another point with 5 minutes to go. Roisin O’Brien was on target again from a pointed free after she was fouled.

Clare went in at the break a point ahead and the second half saw Gal-

way edge ahead with Niamh Mc- Grath pointing from a free and Fi- nola Keely pointing from play in the first three minutes.

Clare got a free after a foul on Lou- ise Woods, which Roisin McMahon took. She sent the ball into the Gal- way square and after a scramble, the ball came to Roisin O’Brien who sent it across the Galway square to Aish- ling Hannon who goaled in the 34th eOBUSLUL en

Roisin McMahon added to this when she pointed from a free after she was fouled in the seventh minute of the second half.

A Roisin O’Brien shot on goal was saved by Helen Cambell who put

it out for a “45 in the 42nd minute which Clare’s captain Roisin McMa- hon converted to a point.

Rebecca Hennelly had her second score of the game when she pointed in the 44th minute to leave a goal be- tween the teams. Roisin McMahon added to her scoring tally when she pointed from a free after Katie Ca- hill was fouled in the 46th minute.

Galway got their final score of the game when Amanda Lynch pointed after a pass from Rebecca Hennelly in the 49th minute.

Clare’s Katie Cahill put the game out of Galway’s reach when she go- aled in the 50th minute after a great run up the centre.

Louise Woods had the final score of the game when she pointed in the 59th minute after a great run up the centre.

Galway weren’t finished yet and Finola Keely sent a great shot in on Clare’s goal which was caught by Ailish Considine and cleared.

Injury time saw Galway get the second penalty of the game but Ail- ish Considine was up to the task and brought off a great save for the final action of the match.

INDEPENDENT councillor Patricia McCarthy has taken issue with the wording of a motion proposed by Sinn Fein’s Cathy McCafferty, in re- lation to community grants, at Shan- non Town Council.

In a motion before the council last week, Ms McCafferty — a newly- elected councillor – called for the community initiative fund to be fully transparent and that public consulta- tion be part of the process.

However, Independent councillor Patricia McCarthy said she had dif-

ficulty with the way the motion was worded. “It implies the system we had wasn’t transparent. It has stood the test of time. It is based on the principle of providing community services for all of the community. It is disingenuous of people to 1m- ply something unethical was _ tak- ing place. Remember, this is a town council initiative,’ she said.

Cllr McCafferty replied that she had not intended to imply this. “At no stage in my proposal did I attempt to make a slight on the councillors that are here or have been here for a long time. We represent the public. I feel

it’s very important to have members of the public present at any forum,” she said.

The Mayor of Shannon, Cllr Sean McLoughlin (FG) said meetings in relation to community grants are generally held in committee.

Earlier in the meeting, Cllr Mc- Cafferty asked did the chairpersons of the MPCs (municipal policy com- mittees) reflect the full representa- tion of the council, according to the guidelines. Her query came after Mike Fleming (FG) and Mary Bren- nan (FG) were appointed chairper- sons of the two MPCs, at the AGM

of the council last month.

She pointed out that under the guidelines, the political represen- tation of the council should be re- flected. “It would appear to me that the appointment of two from the same political party or same political grouping is contrary to guidelines,” She said. However, the town man- ager Bernadette Kinsella said it was a matter for the council “to make the necessary appointments so long as they do that by majority decision’.

“To the best of my recollection there wasn’t any counter proposals on the night,” said Ms Kinsella.