The Clare People Archive

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern’s deci- sion to hold the forthcoming general

election on Thurs- day will alienate hundreds of young Clare voters accord- ing to a member of Clare County Coun- oe

Ennistymon Cllr WE Taabe) Conway (FG) lashed the Taoiseach over sug- gestions that this summer’s election would not take place on a Friday.

“This is going to

have a massive effect on young peo- ple from Clare and other counties who want to travel home to vote,’ said Conway. “The last two general elections and the last two local and European — Elec- tions were held on a Friday. Why is this election so Che Knol “This is a cyni- cal attempt by a government _ that now realises that it has failed the young people of Ireland to deny deCejeeMm Oe Comm Urea OL mmKO vote,” he said.

A TOTAL of 104 houses and apart- ments in private estates throughout the county have been made available at an average discount of €60,000 to first time buyers over the past few years.

These included housing units in Ennis, Clarecastle, Newmarket-on- Fergus, Quin, Sixmilebridge, Shan- non and Kilrush. The market price averaged at €225,000 while the special discounted price averaged alow nee eF

Cllr. Joe Arkins, Cathaoirleach of the Council’s Strategic Policy Com- mittee for Housing and Social Serv- ices, says that the concept of afford-

able housing has really taken off in Clare. It is anticipated that an addi- tional 300 units will be made avail- able in the next three years at various locations throughout the county.

“I would encourage people with incomes of € 35,000 – € 40,000 to avail of this excellent opportunity to own their own homes. Having regard to the fact that the average house price in Clare during 2006 was € 263,000, the possibility of purchas- ing a quality home at a discounted rate of between 20% and 25% should be seriously considered”.

Commenting on the scheme, one developer stated that his firm has pro- vided over 20 housing units in Ennis. “We found the scheme to very effec-

tive and easy to administer.Without it many people would be deprived of the opportunity of owning their own home”.

David Timlin, Director of Serv- ices, Housing & Social Policy, said the investment in housing services had never been greater. “The com- mitment of the government in mak- ing available a wide range of options allows local authorities to focus on a comprehensive set of actions to 1m- prove housing availability to develop sustainable communities.”

At present there are affordable homes available in Ennis, Clare-

castle, Crusheen, Lisdoonvarna, Kildysart, Miltown Malbay and Shannon.

HOUSE buyers are being warned to be wary when shopping around for a mortgage after a study revealed that more than one in three independent brokers dealt with less than half the lending institutions.

37 per cent of Ireland’s independent mortgage brokers deal with less than half of the mortgage lenders in the market, according findings from a re- cent survey conducted by Lansdowne market research on behalf of the mortgage division of IFG.

According to Iggy Duffy, Mortgage

Manager of IFG Mortgages, Ennis, “Mortgage brokers with less than 6 agencies out of 13 are describing themselves as ‘independent’ when, in fact, they are restricted in the choices they can offer a potential mortgage customer. Not all brokers have the capacity to offer a comprehensive

choice to their clients. Many have a restricted range of lenders and there- fore product offerings”.

He added that on the upside, “in- creased competition in the mortgage market has afforded consumers the benefit of a wider variety of products from which to choose.”

“The 6 ECB interest rate hikes in 2006 and late 2005 have impacted heavily on mortgage holders, first time buyers in particular,’ Duffy added.

The figures show that 40 per cent of mortgage applicants now choose to deal with a mortgage broker.

TWO Clare developers have told Clare County Council that searches for a protected butterfly on lands they intend to develop in Clarecastle turned up blank.

Developers Sean Lyne and Nowel Connellan said that the Marsh Fritil- lary butterfly was sought out during fieldwork on the site. The council had put the development on hold, cit- ing concerns about the EU protected butterfly.

The developers state in a submis- sion to the council that, “a special visit was made to look for flying adults on a sunny day in June when the insects were seen elsewhere in Clare. None was found.

‘The butterfly did occur on the site of the Clareabbey link road and cat- erpillars were translocated in 2004 before constructed began. The new site is SOO m to the north of the link road, but south of the Bunnow River. The development will not have any impact on the survival of the species there.”

The submission also reveals that the developers have agreed to pay landowner, Michael Lyons, €1.175

million for a 2.35 acres site at Ske- hanagh, Clarecastle.

They still intend to construct a link road to the Ennis by-pass that will facilitate businesses from the Quin Road area.

The council told the developers last year that it wasn’t favourably dis- posed towards the development, due to the location of the proposed link road.

However, the developers have stat- ed that: “The applicant is the major- ity land owner within the area and will accommodate almost half of the length of the road on his own land and that the applicant has agreement with other land owners within the area in place that allows the delivery of the full length of the link between Quin Road and Skehanagh rounda- xe) Ul a

“This allows the council to avoid a lengthy compulsory purchase or- der process in order to obtain the land and provides the opportunity to submit a Part 8 Roads and Services application, which could speed the delivery of the link road.”

A decision is due on the application later this year.

A MAN who bought replicas of ri- fles in a toyshop in Ennis has been convicted of two charges, relating to their possession.

John Hehir (28), of Davit Terrace, Cloughleigh, Ennis, pleaded guilty to two offences, arising out of an in- cident on May 4 last year.

Garda Michelle Holian told Ennis District Court that she received con- fidential information that the accused was in possession of unlicenced air rifles, air guns and ammunition.

She obtained a warrant and went to his house. She found two air rifles, two air handguns and two different types of ammunition.

“They are replicas of rifles. They

are air rifles and are illegal under the Firearms Act. Mr Hehir told me he purchased them in a shop in town,” Sr HCO MO elommee- KOE: B

The accused told the garda he would go to Dromore Woods with friends and would shoot at static tar- gets, like drink cans.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client fully co-operated with ee KOrNE

She said he bought the items in a toy shop and that he used the guns for sport.

“Technically, it is illegal but my cli- ent didn’t mean any harm by it,” she SrHKOE

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a fine of €100. He refused a request to apply the Probation Act.

THE Doonbeg Drama Group has made it to the finals of the All-Ire- land Drama competition.

The group will take to the boards on Monday next, April 16, in New Ross for the final showdown. Their performance of ‘Atta’ Boy Mr Syng’ has already earned them numerous plaudits.

The group has competed in five fes- tivals in Doonbeg, Charleville, Ross- more, Scariff and Claregalway, with one win, three second placings and one third placing.

Mark May took best actor and Ann Marie Doyle best actress at two fes- tivals. Mary J Egan was best actress at another. Mort McInerney got best producer at two festivals while the production also picked up awards for best presentation, best lighting, best sound and most entertaining play.

Remaining cast members, Rita McInerney and Declan Hayes were nominated at festivals in the best supporting actress and actor catego- ries.

“Everyone is very excited about getting to the finals and we will be putting everything into the show,” a spokesman for the drama group Sr HOn

Audiences in Clare will have an- other chance to see the performance this week when it is staged in Doon- beg hall on Thursday night. Doors open at 7.30pm and curtain up is at 8.30pm. There will be tickets at the door.

The festival, which is run under the auspices of the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland, is one of the pre- mier events of its kind in Europe. 1953, it is one of the most enduring festivals in Ireland and is a major cultural event.

A SECOND home defeat and Tony Considine slipped back to default mode after the game. He was look- ing ahead, referencing May 27 as the date on which his Clare team will be judged. Cork loom once more then, a red beacon in the distance amid championship days and the white heat of summer.

The league is tucked away now, a building block Clare must hope to what’s to come this summer. Sunday was a little taster. Sun belting down and spring almost done with. Little beads of sweat forming on the punt- ers who gathered behind either goal. Clare will hope for more change from Cork when they meet them next time ‘round.

The visitors came to Ennis, gave Clare a head start and slowly, with- out fuss, lifted things a notch. Just when Clare ducked back into the game, Cork pulled away again.

The Clare boss drew a luminous highlighter across Clare’s wasted Oit-b leone

“We went out and gave it every- thing but when you have 16 wides you don’t deserve to win a game. I thought we played well – the two teams went at it. There’ll probably be a lot of other things on the 27th [of May] that wasn’t there today. Maybe we lacked a bit of sharpness around the goals. You can’t be disappointed with the performance, they gave it everything. As I say 16 wides, you’ll always suffer when you have those kind of wides.”

At the other end, Gerald McCarthy cast his glance across the hard sod of Cusack Park and wondered with a half smile how Cork managed to get out of the group.

“I’m kind of surprised we’re in the semi final but we worked hard for it,’ he said. “We got off to a particu- larly bad start. Didn’t get our game together for quite a long period in the first half but eventually we got a cou-

ple of good snappy balls in. We got 1- 2 off of some very good ball and that turned the game for us. Up to that we looked very vulnerable really. They fought hard, even when Clare came back at us in the second half.”

It’s Cork who wander on, but all throughout this campaign, Consid- ine has spoken like a manager who doesn’t put too much stock in the national league. It’s eight weeks now before Clare play another competi- tive game, but the boss isn’t worried.

“Clare have got playoff games be- fore and they didn’t do us any good. There’s no beating matches and at the end of the day we wanted to win the match and make progress. But the height of real hurling is starting now. We’ve a lot of physical training and we’re getting the great evenings like today. I suppose we’ll look at to- day and learn from it. I think it was a fairly good competitive game. We’re without a game for seven or eight weeks but we’ll try to do something. We’ll have fellows a lot sharper on the 27th and so will Cork. It’ll make for a great game on the 27th.”

Get that marker out. Circle the date. Eight weeks and counting.

LONDON in the league — not the game to set football pulses racing for Paidi O Sé or anyone associated with Clare. It meant this game was always going to be the undercard in the inter-county doubleheader at headquarters. ;

And so it was for Paidi O Sé who must have taken a few seconds out during the game to reflect life on the undercard when he has been used to topping the bill for over 30 years now.

Such was life in Cusack Park in a game that was nothing more than a fixture to be fulfilled for Clare, a game to try and rack up points and

goals to boost their scoring rate.

That’s what happened in this mis match. Clare could have won by 20 points but had to be content with a 13-point advantage when Chris Donnellan — brother of All-Ireland winner Michael — flashed home two goals in the final minutes.

It bothered Paidi, but not unduly as he reflected afterwards on a mis- sion accomplished. “Good win, good win,’ went his opening gambit.

“It was a very difficult game to prepare for. It was a game we had to win, score difference came into the equation as well but we didn’t look PAM LOTT MAA

“Certainly they didn’t play well in the second half and I can understand

that. It’s a difficult game to play. You have a game put away at half time and you go out and try to do it again in the second half and that was dif- ficult.

“We just wanted to get the game out of the way and play our remain- ing game, hoping that we can beat Longford,’ he added.

Longford in two weeks time in Pearse Stadium. Paidi’s successor as manager of Kerry, Jack O’Connor, went up there three years ago and came away with nothing. In victory over London, Paidi put it up to his players.

“The whole thing rests on the Longford game now,’ he said, “‘and that’s going to be good for the team. We just have to go out and win the bloody thing now and give us a chance to stay up.”

With that Paidi was away, still standing with Longford to come. With the long journey to Ventry ahead of him, he didn’t stay for all the hurling game, to find out that his footballers are the only Clare team still standing in the league.

CLARE’S most prolific jockey, Ki- eran Fallon issued a battlecry this week when he said he was raring to go with the weeks ticking down to his return to the racecourse in June. The six time champion jockey will be allowed race in Britian in early summer having failed a drugs test in France last year.

At present, his licence has been suspended pending a corruption case set to be heard in the autumn.

In the interim, the Clare man is keeping himself fit and ticking over. The break from competitive action may even have sharpened his desire and could prolong his time in the saddle.

‘Towards the end I wasn’t riding as sharp as I can,” he said. “I rode some bad races. In a way, this time might work to my advantage. I had started to feel a little bit bored. I was only concentrating on the big races.”

His omission from the sport at

the moment isn’t the first time he’s courted controversy. In 1994 he was banned for six months after pulling another rider from a horse but his time away has always driven him on to further success. Since then, he’s had major wins on Kris Kin, Ouya Board and Alexandrova.

He said once he gets back to racing he’s going to appreciate the experi- ence a lot more for his absence. “I’m not using any energy now,’ he add- ed. “Maybe because of that I might get an extra year or two more than I would have done had I been going all over the place.”

Fallon concedes that there were moments when he began to worry.

“T was worried at the start,” he said. ‘For one, I didn’t think I would have a job. But now I feel I have so much to look forward to. I have really good people around me and I can’t wait to get back in June.”

He hasn’t long more to wait and racing will be more colourful and competitive because of him.

SEVEN first round heats of the Oran- more Maree Soccer Club dominated Thursday’s card where the perform- ances here were very good for this event.

John Sloyan’s Ballycrissane Lass was the fastest of the first round here as she really put on a good perform- ance when running away with heat Web ustee

Nearest on the clock again was the Davy Curtin trained Tom And Gerry who took the last heat of the night in the 11th race. Corker Man in trap three was the early leader but Tom

And Gerry in trap five was always a danger and taking the lead off the last bend this well bred fellow pow- ered on from here to beat Corker by over six lengths in a time of 29.19 seconds. The slow starting Flans Fancy was back for third.

Heat one kicked off in the fifth race and here the Martin O’Brien trained Hotfoot Lorrimer made all to get the ball rolling in this stake. Breaking well from trap three. Hot- foot was chased all the way by trap one Carhue Charmer and trap two Pinegrove Glory, but he was never in any trouble and galloped on to beat Carhue by three and a half lengths in

a time of 29.48 seconds. Pinegrove was just under two lengths back for Wen bKee

Another trap to line effort from Gort came about in heat four as the Noel Mullins trained Malbay Bart in trap two put another career best run to take this one.

Coming away well this fellow shot clear of trap four Salthill Swirl early on and ran on from here to beat him by six lengths in a time of 29.32 sec- onds. The slow starting Pony Mile in trap one was just under two lengths oy: 1O) Qu KO MmnOvE KOE

Evans Machine in trap three came away fastest in heat five and led early

but went slightly off at the second bend where trap one Connemara took over and led down the back straight. Trap five Riverside Spice was third here with Evans in front of him in MUD M OMAR BDA TeAKO Stakes

On the run off the last bend Evans made a go back at Connemara but the Sean Hunt trained tracker held on and took this by half a length in a time of 29.69 seconds. Evans was second with Riverside staying on for third.

A pups 525 saw the Paul & PJ Coon- ey owned Lantern Legacy just held on for this one. Taking the lead by the first bend from trap five Lantern

was followed all the way by Twins Allo who made an effort to get up on the leader on the run for the line but Lantern held on to beat Twins by a neck in a time of 29.94 seconds.

A real close one came about in the second race as the Peter Divilly owned Crafty Presento in trap three took this one albeit in slower style. Botox Blue was the leader most of the ways from trap six followed by Crafty and Waterlane Style in trap four. On the run to the line four of them formed a line and in a good finish Crafty got up there to pip Wa- terlane by a neck in a time of 30.28 seconds.