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FOLLOWING years of waiting, Breastcheck is finally about to reach Clare. According to Health Minister, Mary Harney consent letters have al- ready been issued to women in the county and invitations will be issued from early July.

In response to questions from Clare Deputy Joe Carey (FG) she said, “The programme will ultimately of- fer screening to the approximately 8,000 women aged between 50 and 64 in the county.

“IT am happy that the minister has confirmed that in the past week let- ters have been sent to eligible women

in the first screening areas.

“IT would hope this is not a move- able date and that the process, now underway, can roll out across the county in a speedy and professional manner,” said Deputy Carey.

“There was concern in _ recent weeks that the HSE recruitment freeze would affect this programme. I was happy to raise this issue dur- ing an adjournment debate in April, when I got a commitment from the minister that the programme would not be affected by the HSE cuts. I would hope that in the future, similar programmes and vital aspects of our health service such as this, are also protected.”

DOOLIN’S reputation at the Olym- pic Games was bolstered yet again last week as 18-year-old John Dun- leavy took gold at the Special Olym- pics held at the Harvard University campus in the USA.

John now follows in a growing tradition for Olympians from north Clare including Marie O’Connor, who has won a number of medals for the village at the Transplant Olym- ee

Teenager John collected his gold medal in a swimming event but he also took part in the Tae Kwon Do competition as well as in the aca- demic arena.

John is the son of Gerry and Toni Dunleavy who moved from their native Doolin to live in America a number of years ago. John’s eight- year-old brother Michael passed away in 2002 follow a childhood or lilo

Each year the Annual Michael Dun- leavy Charity Walk in Doolin raises tens of thousands for cancer research both in Ireland and in America.

Speaking after his win, John thanked all of his supporters for coming to see him compete and ex- pressed his hope to win another med- al at the next games.

John competed in two swimming events, the 25-metre freestyle and the backstroke.

‘He participated in the backstroke, but didn’t place. He tried his best

which, frankly, is very good. When he first started, he couldn’t do the length of the pool,” said Gerry Dun- leavy after the event.

‘He was in Harvard University for the opening ceremonies on Friday and stayed overnight in the dorms,” Gerry said. “There were about 30 people in the bleachers cheering for John, between family and friends, and some were holding signs.

“Like most athletes, he was nerv- ous getting into the water and at the start of the swim he was behind. He then saw his friend Tom DeFranzo at the finish line. John said he just fo-

cused and swam as fast as he could and ended up winning.

“The whole experience was very heartwarming for the whole fam- ily and John’s friends. It was also a huge reality check for all of us to witness the determination, pride and perseverance shown by the various participants.

“Win or otherwise, each participant seemed to be just so happy to be in- volved.”

THE Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan has been accused of being “out of touch with reality” for his re- fusal to back down on the €10 air- port travel tax.

Clare TD Joe Carey (FG) yesterday called on the finance minister to “get real’ and withdraw the tax, which he claims is having a devastating effect on the tourist industry in Clare and the mid-west.

“The Minister for Finance needs to get real here and look at what is happening in the region. Ryanair cut their aircraft from four to three last

week, with a resulting loss in jobs, directly as a result of this tax that adds 100 per cent to the cost of their average winter fare out of Shannon,’ said Carey.

“Initially Ryanair had six aircraft based at Shannon. I have spoken with Michael O’Leary on a one-to-one ba- sis and he has said that Ryanair will restore these lost aircraft and routes based in Shannon if the tax is with- ole-bene

‘The experience in Europe, in Bel- gium for example, is that the govern- ment there introduced this tax and quickly withdrew it because of the negative impact it was having on

their tourist industry. Likewise, there was a similar experience in Holland. Ireland is a small open economy and an island nation that depends on air navigation to support our tourist market and business interests.”

Deputy Carey put an official Dail question to Minister Lenihan last week, requesting that the tax be re- moved.

In response, the finance minister claimed to have taken account of concerns raised by the regional air- ports by introducing a lower rate of €2 which applies to destinations less than 300kms from Dublin Airport.

“Estimates are that the travel tax

will raise somewhere in the region of €60-100 million per annum for the Government,” continued Deputy Cre

‘“That’s the same kind of money they threw away on E-voting ma- chines. The estimated loss in tourist revenue, though, to the region from the withdrawal of services due to the travel tax 1s estimated at twice that, at €200 million.

“The fact 1s, this tax was introduced with little afterthought as to how it would operate, what the long-term impacts would be, and what effect it would have on regional airports. It has proved disastrous.”

Shannon can ‘survive and thrive’

A SHOUTING match across the council chamber, name-calling and councillors refusing to take their chair was all part of the first meeting of Clare’s new county council.

It was a baptism of fire for Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) on Friday as he was named mayor of Clare, when newly re-elected councillor James Breen (Ind) got to his feet and opposed the selection process that saw the Shan- non man take the chair.

Watched by a large crowd in the public gallery, six novice councillors and two who like himself regained their lost seat, the former Fianna Fail councillor raised his first objection during the nomination process.

Cllr Mucahy was proposed for the top job in the council chamber by Cllr John Crowe (FG) and seconded by Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) as Nea ueere MO LeU MUN Tcar-U 0m or-DUR MRED I ecp

As Cllr McCarthy finished her speech of support for Cllr Mulcahy, Cllr Breen stood up and said, “I can- not support what I believe is a power sharing agreement.”

The outgoing mayor and chair of the first half of the meeting, Madeleine Taylor Quinn (FG) asked the coun- cillor to limit his comments to nomi- nating a candidate for mayor.

The Kilnamona councillor re- mained standing, stating he was ob- jecting to the selection process.

“Are you proposing? Then if you are not, resume your seat,” said Ms

Taylor Quinn.

With no other proposals forthcom- ing, she then deemed Cllr Mulcahy elected. Cllr Breen continued to stand, and continued to object.

“Put it on the record there is one person descending,’ Ms _ Taylor Quinn told the county secretary as she prepared to hand over the chain of office. Cllr Breen remained stand- ing as the chain was presented, much

to the distress of the new mayor’s family and friends.

During his acceptance speech, the new mayor thanked the councillors for “your almost unanimous sup- port here’. At the end of the mayor’s speech, Cllr Breen got to his feet again and, after some protest, said he wanted to wish the mayor well and again make his point.

Cllr McCarthy told the council it

was disingenuous of the councillor to say he was objecting because he was an independent councillor and accused him of turning his mobile phone off when the final deal was being agreed.

“You are a maverick. That is what you are and what you will always be,” she said and accused him of “go- ing on with baloney”.

Again Cllr Breen was on his feet demanding in a loud voice to reply to Cllr McCarthy. “This is not going to be the James Breen Road Show,” warned the mayor. He continued to ask to speak on a point of order.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) then took to his feet and shouted across the chamber at Cllr Breen.

“Reference the point of order’ and “respect the mayor,” he repeated.

Cllr Breen said that he wanted to decide with his election team whether he would be part of the deal to which Cllr Meaney said, “You did not know what it was.”

“You are not in Dail Eireann now,’ said Cllr Kelly.

Cllr Breen eventually took to his SorsLMre DELO MSIODN (COD

“Tam very sorry that your election has been turned into a circus by one member of the council,” said Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) to the mayor.

KILKISHEN GAA Club will provide a guard of honour today for the funer- al of local man Kevin McMahon.

The 23-year-old died last Saturday after spending almost a week on a life Support machine in a Spanish hospi- tal. The holiday tragedy took place early last week when Mr McMahon hit his head while diving into a swim- ming pool.

He was pronounced dead on Satur- day night after members of his family had travelled to be by his side.

Mr McMahon, who has an address at Plunkett Drive in Kilkishen, repre- sented the county at U-14 and U-16 level, and worked for local council- lor Joe Cooney (FG) for a number of erie

THEY formed the most famous mid- field partnership that ever togged out in a saffron and blue football jersey — the day 17 years ago that Clare took a catapult to Kerry in The Gaelic Grounds.

The Tom Morrissey/Aidan Molo- ney partnership was too much for Noel O’Mahony and Anthony Glee- son that Munster Final day — 17 years on they joined forces at champion- ship level once more when plotting Cooraclare’s first championship vic-

tory in five years.

It was the story of the opening weekend of the 2009 championship as Cooraclare ambushed five-times county finalists this decade, Eire Og, in Kilmihil on Friday night to bring an end to the biggest losing streak in Cooraclare’s proud championship VI Ke as

“Since 2004 we hadn’t won a cham- pionship match,’ said Morrissey after Cooraclare’s 1-15 to 1-9 vic- tory. “Some of them had never won a championship match but they went out there today and for the first time

in a long time a Cooraclare team showed a bit of heart, a bit of passion and a bit of fire. We’re just delight- ed, delighted for Cooraclare that we LOLeN eM CneT-VObYancxolMmsetclMneueP

“We brought in Aidan ‘Horse’ Moloney and you couldn’t have better than him. He knows all the drills and he put a bit of belief into our lads. We have been down, we have been down a lot in the last four or five years.

“We are a good traditional cham- pionship team. We hope to get out of the group and have made a good start to get out of the group. We have

to go out again the next day and re- peat that — that’s what we’ll be look- ing for. Nearly all of them lads have been playing since 2004 and have not come out of the group. To win is a massive lift for all those boys in there. They’re finally men the way the stood up there today,’ added WY uu

It the only blow for the underdog over the weekend — elsewhere county champions Kilmurry Ibrickane, and Doonbeg, who are greatest pretenders to their throne, were most impressive in easily dispatching the challenges

mounted by Ballyvaughan and Shan- non Gaels respectively.

Controversy came in the shape of an end-of-match dust up between Kilrush Shamrocks and Liscannor players after their drawn game in Quilty.

The fracas saw the Shams’ Alan Daly and Liscannor’s Ronan Slattery receive straights red cards from ref- eree Kevin Walsh.

Bosses should share pain

AS tense and full-blooded a first round tie as you are ever likely to witness in Quilty on Friday evening as Liscannor had to utilise all of last year’s experience to carve out a point. And a draw was probably the fairest result as neither side really deserved to lose but certainly Kilrush will feel that they had enough chances to win this tie long before the final whistle.

The Shams’ superior intensity in the first half constantly disrupted Liscan- nor’s flow, especially after Liscannor talisman Brian Considine had to be withdrawn with a rerecurrance of a hamstring injury but although Kiul- rush led by O-5 to O-3 at the break, it should have been far greater. What would have frustrated Kilrush most was not the quantity of first half wides, incidentally six of those in all, but the manner of the misses as at least four of those it seemed were easier to score than miss. Consider- ing that Kilrush’s full-forward line seemed to have the edge, Liscan- nor would have felt relieved to have only gone in two points behind at the usrehe

It went blow for blow early on though. Liscannor’s Kieran Consid- ine opened the scoring with a free in the third minute that was cancelled out by Jim Young only two minutes later before Peadar McMahon con- verted a free to put Kilrush 0-2 to O-1 ahead by the seventh minute. How-

ever, depsite their impressive open- ing, they also had kicked four wides by this stage and added to the loss of Brian Considine for Liscannor, Kilrush would have felt confident of building on that lead.

However, credit Liscannor for not panicking, and moving Niall Consid- ine to midfield, they dug deep and in- deed it was Considine who set up the equalising score for Alan Clohessy at the end of the first quarter.

Two more wides were to follow for Kilrush but they did regain the lead in the 18th minute when Patrick Mc-

Grath converted a free, this time off the ground after he had failed with a previous effort. And they doubled that advantage only three minutes later when Matthew Maloney gath- ered a kick-out and fed the onrush- ing Paddy Clancy who could have gone for goal but was content to take a point.

The tension moved up a few notches as three Kilrush players were yellow carded in quick succession for some hefty challenges but on the score- board, the Shams held firm after K1- eran Considine and Peadar McMa-

hon swapped frees before the break to earn Kilrush a O-5 to O-3 half-time advantage.

It would get better for Kilrush on the restart when Peadar McMahon pointed within a minute. However, true to form, Liscannor didn’t drop their heads and soon rallied, even- tually gaining parity by the 4lst minute with a Ronan Slattery free, a great passing move that was started and finished by Dara Blake and a huge free from Kieran Considine that brought the crowd in the stand KOM Oslo pup oom

However, Kilrush hit back in style only a minute later with a flowing passing move of their own, moving through Maloney, Young, Brendan Crowley and finally Peadar McMa- hon who struck a great leading point. Alan Daly followed up with a poor wide and Niall Considine and Chris Dixon entered the referee’s book be- fore Alan Clohessy levelled the game up with a free in the 50th minute.

With the game in the balance, Kil- rush should have done better with a counter-attack when John Kelly fed the overlapping Matthew Maloney who bore down on goal but he dillied and dallied before offloading across the box and the danger was cleared. Kilrush made amends with a superb Peadar McMahon free in the 57th minute that dissected the posts but when leaders were needed, Liscannor had them in abundance, epitomised by the equalising score that came af-

ter Ronan Slattery raided up the left and kicked a pinpoint crossfield pass to Dara Blake who dummied inside and put over the bar.

There was still time for some his- trionics and a brace of red cards for Ronan Slattery and Alan Daly who needlessly got caught up in the tense drama late on that took the sting out of the on-field action and hastened the inevitability of the spoils being shared.

ENNIS’ status as one of Ireland’s ti- diest towns was reaffirmed yesterday when the County Clare capital won a second major prize in just over a iste @

Ennis was named as Ireland’s Best Kept Large Urban Centre, at Ireland’s Best Kept Town competition.

The winning entrants were drawn from winners of the 2008 Tidy Towns competition and the Super Valu Best Kept Town Awards in Northern Ire- land.

The Department of the Environ- ment, Heritage and Local Govern- ment and the NIAC initiated the Ireland’s Best Kept Towns competi- tion in 1995 to help raise the profile of both the Tidy Towns and Northern Ireland’s “Best Kept” competitions, and so help to improve the standard of towns and villages across the 1s- land of Ireland.

Ennis was marked against strict adjudication criteria that included cleanliness, the outward appear- ance of buildings, the presentation of roads and public facilities and the natural environment.

Minister of State Tony Killeen commented that Ennis’ award suc- cess could not have been accom- plished without the support of the wider community.

The Junior Agriculture Minister said, “Ireland’s Best Kept Town com- petition provides members of the lo- cal community with the opportunity

to show their pride in their respective towns and villages. It is evident from Ennis’ outstanding success in this year’s competition that the spirit of volunteerism and pride of place is very much alive in the county capi- tal’.

“Despite the huge volumes of peo- ple that live in and visit Ennis, it has successfully managed to retain its unique heritage, charm and tidy ap- pearance,’ he added.

Miss Doreen Muskett MBE, Presi- dent of the Northern Ireland Amen- ity Council said, “We are delighted for Newcastle in taking the overall title, and well done to Loughgall, Ennis and Glenties for their success

in this year’s competition. Judging is never an easy task when you are comparing the best towns and vil- lages across Ireland, but there is a very healthy and good natured spirit of competition among the entrants.”

This is the second time in over a week Ennis has been recognized as one of Ireland’s best-kept towns.

Last week, Ennis was named as the second cleanest town in Ireland in the latest Irish Anti Business Against Litter IBAL) survey.