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The Clare senior footballers’ championship countdown came into sharper focus at the weekend when Limerick emerged as their Munster semi-final opponents after surviv- ing a second half rally from Tipper- ary in Semple Stadium on Sunday. Having avoided Kerry and Cork in the Munster championship draw this year, this appears to be Clare’s best Opportunity in a number of years to reach a Munster senior final and that encouraging draw was heightened on Sunday as Limerick’s win ensured their semi-final meeting will take place in Cusack Park the first week of June, with a high possibility of the game being played on Saturday evening June 6.

Clare and Limerick last met in the 2006 Munster championship when the Shannonsiders edged home by 2-5 to 0-8 in the Gaelic Grounds. In- cidentally, Co-manager of Clare that day was Kerryman Donie Buckley who is now part of Limerick’s back- room team under manager Mickey Ned O’Sullivan.

Meanwhile, the Clare hurling team also stepped up their Munster championship preparations last week ahead of their semi-final meeting with either Cork or Tipperary, when they played three challenge matches in five days against Antrim, Offaly and Waterford as the new look Cork squad under Denis Walsh trained at the Clarecastle facilities on Satur- day.

THE baby of local authorities in Clare, Shannon Town Council is just 27 years old.

As Ireland’s only created town and the second largest town in the coun- ty, Shannon received town status on January 1, 1982 when Minister for the Environment Peter Barry signed Shannon Town Commission into be- ing.

Prior to its statutory status, a group called Shannon Alliance represented the concerns of the residents of the fledgling town in negotiations with Shannon Development and Clare County Council.

This Alliance group was made up of two representatives from political parties including Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin. These representatives were nominated by their respective political parties.

On December 19, 1980 26 house- holders signed an application to have statutory town commission status granted to the town.

Then county manager Joe Boland, on the bequest of the then Environ- ment Minister Ray McSharry, con- vened a public meeting of the elec- torate of Shannon on April 10, 1981. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the implications of Shannon being granted town status and to out- line the proposed boundaries of the OD e0r

The boundaries excluded the air- port, the Industrial Estate and Smith- stown Industrial Service Area. Fol- lowing numerous and _ protracted negotiations, the Smithstown In-

dustrial Service Area was included within the proposed Shannon Town boundaries.

A poll for the consent of the elec- torate of Shannon to have town sta- tus conferred on the town was held on October 21, 1981. The majority favoured the application.

Shannon’s first town clerk Tomas MacCormaic was appointed on March 4, 1982 to a position he re- tains to this day. Just one week af- ter Mr MacCormaic was employed the first election for Shannon Town Sree OMI eRe lor

There were 26 candidates in that first election and of the nine elected just one remains a member of the council today — Cllr Patricia McCa- MN OWs

While some things have remained constant for the local authority in Shannon there have also been sig- nificant changes, not least its change from Shannon Town Commission to Shannon Town Council under the Mere eounilolmatae

Within the last year changes have also been made that will have a major affect on the upcoming town council elections. On January 1, 1,000 more people became part of the electorate as the boundary was extended from 1,105 hectares to 1,274 hectares.

As well as implications for the elec- tions and increased election quota, the extended town area will also have a huge affect on the local budget.

Last year, in its application to have the boundary extended, Shannon Town Council, supported by Clare County Council, stated that the ex- tension to the existing town was logi- cal given that the residents of the area strongly identified with the town.

The extension means that approxi- mately 350 residential homes and 20 commercial businesses are now add- ed to the town as the boundary has

been extended to include Ballycasey -ViCemoy-Varseeleumectea 0p

Despite its extension Shannon Town Council still does not have the same powers as Ennis and Kilrush town councils.

Among the powers still retained by Clare County Council is that of plan-

ning and planning decisions.

For those involved in the ever in- creasing and developing town coun- cil it is hoped that this change 1s soon on the horizon.

that the last five he spent in the council were the tough- est yet.

“There is a big load after being taken off my shoulders. I never put down such a fives years as I did in the last five especially. If you knew the things that were going on under- neath,” he said.

So with the support and encourage- ment of his family, Jack has bowed out of local politics, which has changed significantly over five dec- AYalehe

“When I started first we had the town clerk James Clancy, we had Michael Harney – his assistant, we had Michael Miniter, rent and rate collector and we had Paddy Tubridy the engineer and that was the total staff in that Town Hall when I went 10

“They did everything and much more. There were house rates at the time and the rate collector had to collect all that in every house in the town.

‘There are 23 down there now – not saying that I have anything against anyone that has a job, that has noth- ing to do with it – the only differ- ence I see down there is what I got, is the tax office. But only a couple came over for that, I don’t know what the rest of them are doing in Clare County Council. I mean if there is that many of them here how many of them are in Ennis. Well anyway that is just a comparison of then and now,’ he said.

“And another big difference I no- ticed, is that when the manager of the day Joe Boland attended every meet- ing for every month for the five years we were there.

“And the comparison with the last manager when he was here, not say- ing anything against him now, three times I saw him – when he was elect- ed, he came to a function and when he resigned. Three times in the five years, Joe Boland, 55 times,” said the outgoing councillor.

“Oh this is a hot one for me, I hate this one – the executive function in

planning,’ he added, visibly an- noyed.

“Tt (planning) drives me mad that it goes out in our name, the result comes back in our name and it is not discussed with us. We don’t discuss it, at that time we use to get a note every month of all applications for planning. I haven’t seen one, I don’t know, in five years or so. My point here is we have more local knowl- edge.”

Jack Fennell followed his father into Kilrush Town Council, but not in party politics.

“My father was a Fianna Fail councillor before me, and they were saying go for Fianna Fail but they wouldn’t take us (Jack and William O’Looney). We knocked two of their fellas out,’ he recalled with a smile.

Cllr Fennell also joined the Pro- gressive Democrats for a short time, as the party tried to convince him to run for the county council election.

“The PDs wanted me to go with them. I joined them for a while, and I didn’t like it. They steered away from what Mr O’Malley intended them to looms Imo elem BDO tlomee

Among his many achievements Jack lists the work on the 150th cel- ebrations for St Senan’s Church, the twinning with Plouzane, and his chairmanship of the Shannon Har- bour Authority.

“IT was chairman of the harbour authority here for 12 years and they have let that slide away because no one seems to have interest in it any- more.

“Limerick authorities are claiming jurisdiction over the whole thing.

“When Moneypoint came I kicked up a row and asked Clare County Council or someone to back us here. Limerick came down and claimed the dues and they are getting millions out of our side of the county. And our roads are being torn asunder with the lorries taking the ash away from it, and all that money is going down to Limerick that should be coming into County Clare. The only one of the county councillors that backed me at the time was Christy Curtin – he was an Independent above in Miltown.

“The rest of them never thought about what was happening except around their own thing, they never looked down the River Shannon to see and we lost it. I had no one to back me at the time,’ he added.

Cllr Fennell also feels strongly about the expenses paid to council- Kevase

“I cannot see any reason why any- one should get a bonus. It is a vol- untary job for the good of the area you live in, and I cannot see why rate

payers money is used to pay bonuses for the mayor and deputy mayor,” he said.

“It is very easy spending somebody else’s money.”

“Then this travelling to conferenc- es – I proposed to suspend it for two

years while times are bad, but I got no backing,” he said.

A NEW purpose-built Dementia Day Care Unit at Clarecastle remains idle as sufferers await HSE funding to operate the service, a meeting in Clarecastle heard yesterday.

The unit was built in response to the growing number of people in the community diagnosed with the con- dition and anticipated future growth. It is designed to facilitate 25 people per day with mild/moderate demen- wee

According to management, the cen- tre was built at a cost of €850,000 with the Health Services Executive spending €486,000 on the project.

The remaining €364,000_ was sourced from a massive community fund-raising effort. It is planned to open the unit on a phased basis.

PaXCeOcennery Ke) management, €150,000 will be required to oper- ate the new service in year one. This will rise to €300,000 in the year two while €420,000 per annum will be required thereafter when the unit is functioning to full capacity, the meeting heard.

However, the HSE have disputed these figures and say that funding for the project was never guaranteed. In a statement yesterday, a spokesper- Son said,

“It is incorrect to state that the HSE has spent €486,000 on the Clarecas- tle ‘dementia centre’ project. Con- sistently, from late 2006 when the

project was being proposed up until the present date, the HSE has repeat- edly advised the Clarecastle Board that it was not in a position to provide revenue funding for any proposed new service. They were further in- formed that any increase in revenue provision would depend on develop- ment resources becoming available and our service priorities”.

The spokesperson — continued, “They have also been consistently advised that those individuals requir- ing specialist dementia services will continue to receive these services from the HSE provided specialist services or through the Alzheimer’s Society. Clarecastle and District Day care Centre Ltd receive substan- tial funding from the HSE (€481,000 in 2008) to provide daycares services for the elderly and we will continue to support these day centre activities. We have no new development funds and given the existing financial situ- ation do not expect to receive any in the foreseeable future.”

Reacting yesterday, Mary Morris- sey, Chairperson of the District Day Care Centre said she was disappoint- ed with the HSE’s response and that management stood over their state- ments.

The Dementia Unit is designed to complement the existing District Day Care Centre at Clarecastle, which was established in 1999. This community project provides services to older citizens in 12 parishes with

a population of 50,000 and within a ten-mile radius of the centre.

250 people per week currently avail of a broad range of services, which are provided by dedicated profes- sional staff and volunteers. About 25 of these suffer from some form of dementia. Yesterday’s meeting heard

that opening the new unit will also free up spaces in the existing day CP TCM OC NISK OMA. Y ONO UN ST-Ker- Mac UL ODOToMN DRE of 40.

“It is incredibly frustrating to see this state of the art building lying empty while there is a queue of peo- ple waiting to use it. Our day care

services with their high voluntary input save the State a fortune,” said Mary Morrissey.

THEY’ VE become a fixture on every telephone mast and lamppost around the county but at least one group are hoping that election posters will be swiftly and tidily removed once vot- ing ends on June 5.

Members of Ennis Tidy Towns committee will be out and about after polling day to make sure that candidates are keeping their promise to remove posters in a responsible eR ebe IF

‘Posters are part and parcel of any elections and they are something we have to put up with it,” said Marga- ret Neylon of the Ennis Tidy Towns Committee.

‘Mostly people are very responsible when it comes to taking them down. We seem to have got over a curve in Ireland, whereas before posters were just left down on the ground. There

has been a definite decrease in litter being thrown out of cars, things like that. But we will be on the ball after the election.”

Ennis Town Council has sought to introduce a code of practice for pos- tering with regards to poster size, bi- odegradability of posters and poster Hoe

Ms Neylon praised the council’s approach and said she was confident that candidates would honour their commitments to remove posters af- ter the election.

Tidy Towns judges are expected to visit Ennis in June. Ennis is once again competing in the large urban centre category and will be hoping to retain its gold medal status.

“We’ve just sent off the application and we are competing in a lot of ar- eas away from the main categories like sustainability and biodiversity,” added Ms McInerney.

ELDERLY Clare people waiting for local authority housing aid will die before they reach the top of the wait- ing list.

That is the opinion of north Clare councillor Joe Arkins (FG) who de- scribed the announced €1 million cuts in housing aid for the elderly and disabled as an insult to the most vulnerable people in society.

Last year, the Department of the Environment allocated €2.7 million towards elderly and disabled housing in Clare.

This allocation was enough to tack- le roughly half of the people on the waiting list in the county.

The department announced last week that this figure would be slashed to €1.7 million in 2009.

“This allocation is virtually half the funding which was received in

previous years. The €2.7 million fell short of what was required, and only completed half of the works on the waiting lists,” said Cllr Arkins.

“Taking into account the backlog from previous years, the current al- location wouldn’t even scratch the surface of the problem. Older peo- ple were on a waiting list for these grants and some would die before they get the approval to commence the works.

“The elderly people of Clare feel let down yet again by this Government. Elderly and disabled people who need to have bathroom facilities con- verted, need to have this work done immediately and cannot wait until the recession ends or the banks are bailed out.”

The funding covers the Housing Aid for the Elderly Scheme, Mobil- ity Aids Scheme and Housing Adap- tation Grants.

PRISON officers wore protective clothing as they accompanied a pris- oner to court in Ennis who had as- saulted three officers a week earlier.

Three of the five officers who ac- companied Daniel Darcy to court wore special protective gear.

Mr Darcy (30), of Tannery Wharf, Rathangan, Kildare, is accused of assaulting Bernadette Phiri, at Tully- varraga, Shannon, on June 13, 2008. He is also charged with stealing a jeep at Ballymore Road, Naas, Co

Kildare, on June 12.

At Ennis District Court last Thurs- day, defence solicitor Chris Lynch said he has been advised that his cli- ent was seen at the Central Mental Jeo U Mer Vel MNDIMBNoM Los) e

He requested that a report on this assessment be made available to the court.

“T am asking that every effort be made for an expeditious report with regards to fitness to plead,” he said.

He said he was also asking that the accused receive all treatment that he requires, in the intervening period.

Judge Joseph Mangan directed that the accused be assessed and treated psychiatrically and remanded him in custody to Cork prison.

He will re-appear in court later this week.

The court heard a week earlier that three prison officers were attacked by Mr Darcy outside the courtroom.

The three were hospitalised after one sustained a broken arm, another UUECEO- ZU KIMTITUOM ar TICm MONT KCB Kom ceived head and shoulder injuries.

Mr Darcy became irate in the courtroom and lashed out at the of-

ficers as he was being taken out into the hallway.

Several prison officers and gardai tried to control Darcy – who was handcuffed – as he lashed out both physically and verbally outside the courtroom and later in the holding I ele ances ace

Prison officer Melissa Kiely later told the court that the prisoner had become “extremely volatile” while being escorted from the courtroom by three prison staff.

She said that one of the staff was bitten twice, another sustained an

arm injury, while another received a wrist injury, when Darcy resisted be- ing removed from the courtroom.

She said she had contacted the pris- on chief officer Pat Desmond, who instructed that the prisoner be held Mss Ie

A specially trained control restraint team was dispatched to the court- house and transported him back to the jail.

‘He has a well-documented psychi- atric history and is currently receiv- ing treatment at Limerick Prison,” She said, on that occasion.

AN ENNIS man’s problem with his sister landed him in trouble with the law, a court has heard.

Michael Molloy (38), of 6 St En- da’s Park, Beechpark, Ennis, pleaded guilty to a number of charges arising out of incidents on separate dates.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told Ennis District Court that on January 4 last, the accused was shouting and roaring and kicking at a door of a house, as he had an issue with a sister of his.

On another occasion, he was quite difficult and was arrested as a result of his behaviour. Inspector Kennedy

said that a lot of difficulties arose from alcohol.

On another date, he stole two cases of Budweiser from Dunnes Stores, but these were recovered.

Defending solicitor William Cahir said that his client loses control of him- self when he has consumed alcohol. ‘In the past, he attended with a parish priest and took a pledge,” he said.

The court heard the accused’s issues with his sister have been resolved.

The case was adjourned for prepa- ration of a probation report. “Mr Molloy, you can thank your solicitor J am giving you a chance on this oc- casion,’ said Judge Eamon O’Brien.

A MAN in his 50s has been convict- ed of sexually assaulting a woman in a car in Shannon.

Gerry Shanahan (55), of Foyle Park, Shannon denied sexually assaulting the woman on April 26, 2008.

The woman, in her 40s, told En- nis District Court that the incident happened in a car outside a hotel in Shannon.

‘Mr Shanahan physically assaulted me. He rammed his hand between my two legs with force. He hit the pelvic bone with force,” she said.

However, defending solicitor Wil-

liam Cahir put it to the witness that his client did not intentionally physi- cally assault her.

“He did not intend in any way to sexually assault you on the night. He cannot recall the night in question,” said the solicitor.

However the witness replied, “With the force, a woman does not forget. It was not unintentional. He invaded my privacy with what he did and I’m not letting that go.”

Garda Caitriona Mangan told the court that the complainant was agitated and angry when gardai arrived at the scene. She said the accused told gardai he didn’t remember any incident.

Mr Shanahan told the court he had no recollection of the night in ques- tion. Asked about the allegations, he said, “I didn’t believe a word of them. |e ToleMamndevbel qnelentanr(o)com sulla

Under cross-examination from Inspector Tom Kennedy, prosecut- ing, the accused denied that he had committed an offence. “I know well I didn’t do it,” he said.

Judge Eamon O’Brien said he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the offence occurred and con- victed the accused. “It’s an unfortu- nate case,’ he said. He adjourned the case for two months, for preparation of a probation report.