The Clare People Archive

the event had its second outing last Saturday and 1300 signed up with 1100 turning up at the start- ing line in Lees Road sports park.

This was a massive increase on the 750 who signed up to run, walk, jog or race a wheelchair last year.

Cork City Marathon winner Tracey Guilfoyle couldn’t take part but in- stead was the celebrity starter who fired the gun at Lees Road to send the participants out of the sports fa- cility and onto the streets of Ennis.

Once again crowds came out to cheer the participants on as they cov- ered the route either as serious com- petitors or carrying the flag to raise money for their chosen charities.

The two charities which benefited from the registration fees were Clare Haven House and the Clare Youth Service. Gerry Ryan of Galway City Harriers was the winner for the sec- ond time, crossing the finishing line in 30.25 minutes.

First woman home was Veronica Colleran of the Ennis Track Club, who came home in 37.42 minutes. It was a Second victory for Colleran.

The only wheelchair athlete com- peting was Jerry Forde from Blarney

and he came home in 51 minutes.

The deputy mayor of Clare, Coun- cillor Brian Meaney, was joined by the mayors of Shannon and Ennis, Tony McMahon and Joe Reidy. New Clare TD Timmy Dooley was one of the competitors.

One of the largest participating groups was the Clare Crusaders. 200 members turned out. All remembered the crusaders’ founder, Howard Flan- nery, who died in a tragic accident last month.

Competitors aged 8 to 80 signed up for the day out and dozens of charities and community groups will benefit. Mayor Meaney said that the event was “a fine example of what

can be achieved here in Clare’”’. Laura Lehane of

A YOUNG Kilrush man who played a role in causing damage with acid to four cars totalling €7,500 has been told he must pay compensation.

David Rodgers (19) of Willow Green, Kilrush, pleaded guilty to damaging two cars at Limekiln Road, Kilrush, and two cars outside a house at Cappa Drive, Kilrush, in the early hours of August 2 last year.

Detective Garda Oliver Downes told Ennis Circuit Court that paint stripper was used to damage the or ase

‘He admitted on the night to driv-

ing to the locations with another per- son who did the damage. He knew at all times the damage was going to be committed. He didn’t identify the other person. Mr Rodgers didn’t car- ry out the damage,” said the garda.

The court was told that two of the cars were owned by Joe Mescall, a former employer of the accused. Rodgers had worked with him for more than three years, but had been let go two weeks before this incident. Garda Downes said he had been let go “on reasonably good terms.”

The other two cars were parked outside the home of Pat O’Malley, a retired garda sergeant, who had

been stationed in Kilrush for over 30 years.

Rodgers’ barrister Michael Fitzgib- bon said that “another individual, not Mr Rodgers, was the prime instiga- tor of this particular escapade.”

He said that Rodgers and his fam- ily were “fearful” of the other person who was involved.

Mr Fitzgibbon said his client plans to move to the UK to get away from Kilrush and the person of who he was infear.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain said he would have considered a suspended sentence if compensation had been ey nKee

“In the absence of compensation given the nastiness of the offence, the reality is he either faces up to the damage he did or there is only one Ol atom Wh Ole le

“If there is no compensation, he is really putting it up to me,” said the judge.

“Perhaps if I remand him in custo- dy for a week it might open his eyes to reality. Reality has got to dawn on the boy,” he said.

Mr Fitzgibbon sought a six month adjournment. The judge said he would adjourn the case for a week and granted bail. Rodgers will re-ap- pear in court today.

LEAVING the scene of a crash, tak- ing his girlfriend’s car without con- sent and then assaulting a Garda superintendent has landed an Ennis man with jail sentences totalling 22 months.

David King of Ballaghboy, Doora, in Ennis was also banned from driv- ing for a total of 20 years after his ac- tions on the night of October 15 last at Ballykinnacorra in north Corofin.

The 22-year-old pleaded guilty last

week before Corofin District Court to all charges.

Judge Joseph Mangan heard from Supt Eamon Dolan that he was off duty on the night when he witnessed a hit-and-run on a car in Corofin vil- lage.

““T followed him in my car and saw the defendant pull in at a house. I approached him produced my iden- tification and told him what I had witnessed”, the superintendent told WeomeOltv am

‘He said ‘you’re not sticking that

on me’ and then struck me on the up- per lip with his forehead.”

Supt Dolan told the court that he arrested King. There was €550 worth of damage done to the other car which King had paid and the court heard he had also apologised in person to Supt Dolan.

King’s solicitor, Catriona Carmo- dy, said that her client had a chronic alcohol problem, which he is now CCN Daremaysleee

After he heard that King had two previous convictions going back four

years, Judge Mangan gave him a five month prison sentences on each of four charges of drink driving, tak- ing a car without consent, assaulting the superintendent and driving un- insured. He also sentenced King to two months for leaving the scene and banned him from driving for a total of 20 years.

The judge set bail in the event of an appeal at €1,000 of King’s own bond, with an independent surety of €1,000 and a cash lodgement of an O0L OF

A CORK-BASED firm has with- drawn its planning application for a €10 million wind farm in west Clare, it emerged yesterday.

Earlier this year DP Energy Ltd overcame concerns by Clare County Council to secure planning permis- sion for the eight wind farm projects in the county.

However, a question mark was thrown over the six-turbine develop- ment after the Department of the En- vironment lodged an appeal against the decision to An Bord Pleanala.

In its appeal the Department of the Environment stated that the compa- ny did not include a monitoring pro- eramme and mitigation measures for the Hen Harrier.

The Department of the Environ- ment stated, ““We consider that it 1s inappropriate to develop mitigation

measures after a decision is made to grant permission. There is known hen harrier activity in lands adjacent to the wind farm extension.

“The department does not object in principle to the concept of further wind farm development in this area and recognises the importance of wind farm technologies in meeting our environmental energy commit- rato 01 acea

DP Energy Ltd also appealed the council’s decision because a condi- tion of planning 1s a limit of six years on the operational life of the six tur- ley baLehy

‘Unfortunately, it is not feasible to fund the construction of a wind farm where such a short life-time has been stipulated.”

A third party, local man Noel Mc- Guane of Furoor, Kilmaley also ap- pealed the decision. The application’s withdrawal invalidates all appeals.

ENTERPRISE Ireland this week launched a campaign in the mid-west region which aims to help companies which will be involved in export get a start in the mid-west.

The new campaign will target high calibre entrepreneurs and aims to en- courage the creation of new export- focussed start-up companies in the Kssca (one

Aspiring entrepreneurs, with the potential to develop a manufacturing or internationally-traded services company are being invited to contact Enterprise Ireland.

Commenting at the campaign launch Brendan Flood, head of re- gions and entrepreneurship at En- terprise Ireland said, “Increasing the number of new high-growth export focused businesses is a key objective for Enterprise Ireland and we are

committed to supporting the estab- lishment of new, highly innovative businesses in the mid-west region.

“We’re interested in hearing from entrepreneurs who believe they may have both a business idea and the skills necessary to establish and erow a new company with export erowth potential.”

Since January 1, 2007, the functions relating to indigenous enterprises in the mid-west regiontransferred from Shannon Development to Enterprise Ireland.

The body is due to be decentralised to Shannon under the national decen- tralisation programme.

Aspiring entrepreneurs should con- tact Enterprise Ireland at 061 503039 or Enterprise Ireland’s Regional Headquarters in Westpark, Shannon on 061 429900. Alternatively they can log on to www.enterprise-ire- land.com.

THE Executive Chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA), Pat Shanahan, has confirmed that €150 million will be spent on capi- tal investment at the airport over the next 10 years.

Mr Shanahan also confirmed that Shannon was on course to make a profit this year and that the Marsh Point Bar — closed last year as part of cutbacks at the airport — 1s to re-open

in the next number of weeks.

Mr Shanahan last Friday briefed airport employees on the future di- rection of Shannon following the 1m- plementation of the “survival plan”’.

Mr Shanahan said, “Morale among staff is positive. We have got to a very significant change in Shannon so there is going to be a period of time where people are unsure of their environment. Practically every job in the airport has changed so there will be a settling-in period.

“But after two years of discussion and negotiations, people were more than relieved that we have actually come to a conclusion, particularly the employees remaining in Shan- non. We are quite anxious to move on and turn Shannon into a vibrant international airport and get to a lev- el of exceeding the customer services Where Shannon was always deemed to be a friendly face.”

With traffic levels at currently 3.6 million, Mr Shanahan said that the SAA had ambitions to breach the five million mark in the next number of years.

“We don’t want to be overly opti- mistic either, we want to be realistic about what we can achieve. We are optimistic that we can achieve the figure of five million in a sensible time period,” he said.

“We are currently growing at 10 per cent per annum and 1 the vari- ous markets continue to expand, then we will get close to it very soon. It is a very cyclical industry so it is very difficult to predict what might hap- jeer

Mr Shanahan said that there were no immediate plans to lodge a busi- ness plan for the airport to Govern- ment. He said, “Our focus has been on implementing and making sure we have our cost base right.

He said, “We hope that we would have a very clear picture of the vi- ability of the airport at the back end of this year.”

A CLAIM by Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary that the redundancy pack- ages negotiated at Shannon were “off the wall” was yesterday criticised by the Executive Chairman of the Shan- non Airport Authority (SAA), Pat Shanahan.

Asked for his reaction to Mr O’Leary’s comments, Mr Shanahan said, “I don’t think that language 1s sensible at all. We are in a semi-state environment and in a voluntary re- dundancy situation, you have got to make it attractive for people to leave a sound secure job… the package was obviously right on the money be- cause of the number of people that

have taken it.”

Mr O’Leary said, “We’re paying people €150,000 to take up redun- dancy voluntarily and the only peo- ple paying for that are going to be ORONO ECE

“We simply can’t afford these kind of semi-state-type pay offs if we are going to develop a thriving low cost airport like Shannon that is going to be a gateway into the west of Ire- land.”

Asked whether Shannon was be- coming too reliant on Ryanair, Mr Shanahan said, “I don’t think so. For our short haul business Ryanair has been hugely successful. They have delivered on all their commitments they’ve made to us, we have been

working hard and the route selection is correct for Shannon.

“Ryanair has brought a strong com- bination of outbound Irish tourism and inbound year round European tourism. The relationship has gone well, but they are not the only game in town. We haven’t given up on Aer Lingus basing an aircraft in Shannon for European routes.

“Ryanair is a significant player and… and I would expect them to put a fifth aircraft into Shannon early next summer.

Mr Shanahan anticipates that Rya- nair will account for 1.7 million pas- sengers out of Shannon this year. He said, “Before we did the deal, Rya- nair was at 300,000.”

THE Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) is aiming to increase its trans- atlantic passenger base by 300,000 in the years after the ending of the Shannon stop-over.

The phased ending of the stop-over will come fully into force next April with the introduction of full Open Selene

Currently, the number of North America-bound passengers from Shannon 1s 700,000.

Executive chairman of the SAA, Pat Shanahan said, “In the first cou- ple of years of ‘Open Skies’, we may see a Slight dip in the transaltantic traffic going through Shannon and it may dip from 700,000 to 650,000 but I believe that the volume of traf- fic coming into Ireland with ‘Open Skies’ will increase.

“By 2010 our anticipation will be that Shannon will have 30 per cent of the market and this will equate to about | million passengers. So we in Shannon would be better off in that environment than where we are to- day. There will be a little dip before- hand but as the market continues to grow and develop, there will be more traffic for everyone and Shannon will start growing again,” he said.

On the proposed €53 million pack- age that interest groups in the mid- west are currently lobbying Govern-

ment for, Mr Shanahan said, “I think those funds should be made avail- able.”

He said, “I know the tourist indus- try are worried about the profile of the west of Ireland in the US and the idea was to offset the impact of “Open Skies’ with more tourism marketing over the next five years. That is 1m- portant and it is a fund that needs to be put in place.”

Mr Shanahan said, “I know that people have been fearful that Shan- non will be losing traffic and yes air- lines will make decisions like Amer- ican Airlines who have decided not to come to Shannon.

‘American Airlines have only been flying over the past two years and they came to Ireland in anticipation of “Open Skies’ and it was our belief at an airport level that they would al- ways go to Dublin.”

Mr Shanahan said that the SAA’s transatlantic strategy was key to the success of the airport.

He said: “This winter we have five direct daily services into North America. This is quite an achieve- ment for an environment that is ef- fectively “Open Skies’.”

Mr Shanahan said that Shannon had a very bright and vibrant future following the successful completion of the rationalisation “survival plan” and that this would translate into sub- stantial infrastructural investment.

SHANNON Airport capitalises on US military business more than any other airport in the world in terms of the service level given to the various eel ne

That is the view of the Executive Chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA), Pat Shanahan.

Last year profits from the US mili- tary personnel traffic kept the SAA in profit. 280,785 troops used the air-

port’s facilities which was a drop of 59,903 troops, or 17 per cent, on the number that went through Shannon neWA0 Oy

The airport made a profit of €9 million in 2005 and the profit last year is estimated at €7.4 million.

Troop passengers were at a low lev- el in the first quarter of this year, but they are on the increase again.

Mr Shanahan said, “Shannon has a tradition of handling military traffic. We do it very well and we have the

infrastructure to do so. Geographi- cally the airport is ideally located between the two great continents.

“It is a business we do very well. Obviously the ultimate decision is a Government decision. While there is a business opportunity we will certainly capitalise on it and Shan- non captitalises on it before than any airport that I know in the world in terms of friendliness and in terms of the service level we give the various carriers that operate that business.”

that his submission to Ennis Town Council’s planning depart- ment was “not in anyway an objec- tion to the planning application. I just thought these questions should be asked.

“T want to emphasise that the plan- ning permission was solely about building and design and in no way decided on services.”

Mr Madden who now lives in Kil- rush and is a member of the En- nis General Hospital Development Committee said the council needed to consider the points made in his submission before it made any deci- sion.

In his submission, Mr Madden urged the town council to find out When the Health Service Executive (HSE) was going to make the Team- work consultants’ report public.

Teamwork is carrying out a report on hospital services in the mid west – a similar report in the northeast recommended that downgrading of A&E services at several hospitals.

Mr Madden told the council, ““Man- agement consultant who conducted a ‘value for money audit’ of the hospi- tal last year did not consider options to demolish and build new on the existing site or building a hospital on a ‘greenfield’ site because of the hospital’s protected status.

“It would seem, therefore, that the HSE did not tell the management consultants of the current applica- tion and that it required the removal of the hospital’s protected status. It also strengthens the suspicions that the current application was only agreed prior to the general election for largely political considerations.”

He added, “At the time of writ- ing, the teamwork reports has not been made public. However, reliable information obtained some weeks ago indicated the first draft of the teamwork report recommended the downgrading of the existing A&E Department to a nurse-led local in- jury unit. The hospital would eftfec-

tively become a day care facility.

“They should be asked whether the existing in-patient bed capacity is sufficient in taking account of the concerns expressed by management consultants last year.

“It should also be noted that the 186 bed capacity would only be reached on completion of Phase 3 of the hos- pital’s development. The HSE should be asked when they expect Phase 2 or 3 to proceed.”

Mr Madden asked that the HSE should be asked if the first phase of development will require the closure or any part of the hospital and if so for so long.”

He added, “They should also be asked to indicate a best-worst case scenario for the time required to complete the development and the anticipated cost increases because of the complexity of the development.”

A decision on the planning applica- tion is due on July 13, but the com- plexity of the planning application could see that date postponed as a substantial amount of further infor- mation will be required by the Town Council from the Health Service Ex- ecutive (HSE).

The development proposed consists of the demolition of existing single storey extensions and the original Chapel to the rear of the main hos- pital and the provision of a new two storey extension incorporating the much talked about new A and E, Radiology and Outpatient Facilities at ground floor level, new medical wards and a surgical ward at first floor level with a new day theatre at first floor level over the existing Acute Psychiatric Unit.

The plans also include the refur- bishment of the south west wing of the existing main hospital building at first floor level to provide new day care unit facilities with a four storey central block incorporating shell at second floor level, and plant room at third floor level in addition to the provision of a new Site exit onto the Highfield Road together with gen- erator/medical gas compounds and ancillary, associated and enabling works on the site which includes buildings listed as protected struc- tures within the site curtilage.