The Clare People Archive

THE racing season is once more coming under the spell of Tubber jockey Derek O’Connor. His latest feats on the saddle came over Christ- mas when he rode the massive total of ten winners throughout the festive period.

Four of those came on the track — including Leopardstown, Limerick, Tramore and Navan – while the re- maining six came, amazingly, at one meeting in Dromohane, just outside Mallow in County Cork.

There was an historic element to his six winners at the Cork course, as O’Connor became only the third jockey to complete such a feat. On the day, O’Connor had ten rides and his 60% success rate meant he was pleased on his way back to Clare while those who backed him on the day were just as happy.

“Anybody who’d been on me that day would have left with a smile on their face for sure,” he said on Mon- day. “It was a great day definitely. But I’d great support as well from trainers and owners and when you think about it, you wouldn’t be able to manage something like that with- out that kind of support.”

JS Oyobeu oom abNOM Yee D) maelemssQuomcitce nificant considering he had been out of action for six weeks after he dislo- cated his shoulder at Roscommon on November 2.

“I’m delighted with the way things have gone since I came back,’ he added. “The season is only a couple of months old and I’ve been missing for a fair chunk of that but after the

Christmas run I’m up to 20 winners, which is decent enough for this time of year.”

The highlight of that Christmas run came at Leopardstown on St Stephen’s Day when he landed the €30,000 Bumper.

‘There was a bit of pressure going into that one. A packed house and big purse and an important race, but thankfully everything went right and we got the result we were looking for.”

O’Connor will remain on the point

to point circuit for the coming weeks and months in a bid to continue the winning streak he has built up and maintain the Christmas momentum.

“It’s the point to points that I’m in- terested in really. That’s what I’ll be concentrating on for the next while

and hopefully Pl be able to build on the Christmas form.”

ae AM rl (oO eC MED M OTIC EranLE

IN one of his last official EU actions confirmed before the Christmas break, Clare TD and Junior Minis- ter at the Department of Agriculture, Tony Killeen, announced a total of €202 million in fishing quotas for Ireland in 2009.

This announcement came after weeks of negotiations at EU level and represents an increase of five per cent on last years figures.

The Hague Preferences again came under sustained attack from several Member States this year and their re- moval had been identified as a real risk with serious consequences for Ireland.

The preferences, agreed by Heads

of State in 1976, give Ireland addi- tional quota in certain species and are a fundamental part of relative stability. They give Ireland a bigger share of the traditional stocks around Ireland, if they are at low levels. They have become increasingly im- portant to Ireland as quotas of fish that fishermen are allowed to catch have decreased.

“The Hague Preferences almost doubled Ireland’s cod quota in the Celtic Sea and increased the cod quota in the Irish Sea by some 40 per cent,” said Minister Killeen.

“I cannot emphasise enough the difficulty we faced on a number of fronts in regard to the Hague Prefer- ences and I am both pleased and re- lieved that we have been successful

in our efforts to defend an issue of critical importance for Irish fisher- neoee

“IT am delighted to have been suc- cessful in delivering a_ balanced package of fishing opportunities for our fishermen in what were ex- tremely difficult negotiations. I have worked closely with our Industry Representatives, the Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF), over the past number of weeks and especially dur- ing the negotiations to ensure that where possible Ireland’s priorities were delivered.”

One of the major objectives of Ire- land was the roll over of the Prawn quota in The Irish and Celtic seas. This was virtually achieved with the reduction being rolled back from the

proposed 15 per cent to just 2 per oom

‘This year we faced a severe range of cuts across many of the commer- cial stocks that our fleet are reliant on,” he continued.

‘After careful consideration of the Scientific advice for these stocks, I sought increases on the proposed quotas where I was satisfied that the state of the stock could sustain high- er catch level.

“IT accepted cuts on stocks where the science was strong and created cause for concern. In the final pack- age, a balance has been struck that will give our fishermen, whitefish opportunities to the value of €202 million for 2009 from €194 million on 2008.”

BUNRATTY Search and Rescue has just wound down after a particularly quiet year, in terms of rescue opera- tions.

It responded to just two alerts over the past 12 months, which is calm in comparison with previous years. It was one of the quietest years since the group was established in 1989.

One of the operations resulted in the body of a woman being recov-

ered in Limerick in November, while three men were rescued in the other incident earlier this year.

“We were out for 23 days in the search for the woman. Apart from those two incidents, we were quiet,” said treasurer of Bunratty Search and Rescue, Bob Potter.

However, although their services were not regularly required, the 23 members of the club were busy throughout the year as regular train- ing is part and parcel of its work.

“The training is important. Over the years, there were times when bodies were found while we were out training,” said Mr Potter.

It costs in the region of €20,000 to run the club annually and fundrais- ing is essential for its survival. A col- lection at Shannon town centre prior to Christmas yielded €4,000, while almost €3,000 was raised by gardai from Clare during their annual cycle for charity earlier this year.

The club held its New Year’s Eve

party in the Creamery Bar last week and the proceeds of the night went to WeCome tUloy

“Local support is important,” said Mr Potter.

PLANS to cut working hours at the Element Six factory in Shannon have been strongly resisted by staff.

Short time working hours were due to come into effect yesterday but staff have continued to work as per normal working arrangements.

Shannon SIPTU branch organiser Mary O’Donnell said management had failed to negotiate the proposals with staff

“The company decided in Decem- ber that they were going to intro- duce short-time working hours. But SITPU members, decided prior to Christmas, that, given the fact that there had been no negotiation or dis- cussions of a meaningful kind with the union, that we would not be ac- cepting the new conditions,’ she said.

Element Six employs over 500 peo- ple at it’s Shannon plant.

FINAL financial figures are expected to show that Lahinch Golf Club suf- fered a loss of €600,000 in 2008.

The number of golfers playing green fee rounds at the world famous golf course declined steeply in 2008 to 12,000, from a high in 2002 of Rol OeF

Since 2006 there has also been a 40 per cent drop in golfing tours visiting Lahinch. The figures are contained in Lahinch Golf Club’s Christmas newsletter to its members.

Club captain and Council Chairper- son, Padraig McInerney wrote, “As you are well aware, these are major recessionary times that we now live in. Lahinch Golf Club is not immune and has been hit by a large reduction in the number of green fee rounds being played during the year, mainly by our American friends.

He added, “These are down from a high of 19,600 in 2002 to 12,000 in 2008. This means that income for 2008 is well down and will result in losses for the year ended December 31 of £600,000 approximately.

“Tour operators golf rounds are down from 5,650 in 2006 to 3,450 in 2008 (40 per cent). The clubhouse refurbishment was deferred for these reasons and will be revisited once we have some stability. We expect these trends to continue into 2009 and we will be budgeting for further reduc- Wey e

Mr McInerney also outlines how the club plans to tackle the problem

of falling tourist numbers.

“Going forward, the council have agreed to tackle these problems in three ways: 1) We are conducting a major review of the club’s overhead, work practices and contract agree- ments to see where savings can be made; 2) We are reviewing our mar- keting strategy with a view to stabi- lizing and maximizing our green fee income; 3) We are also reviewing all categories of club membership, vis a vis the value we have to offer our existing members and prospective

members.”

Lahinch Golf Club opened its doors to 22 new members in 2008. Welcoming the new members Mr McInerney explained the new en- trants are “made up of seven spouses and siblings of existing members, nine brothers and sisters of existing members, five from the immediate locality and one, not from the afore- mentioned localities.”

“We would have been very disap- pointed with our Munster final per- formance in 2008. We felt we should have and could have done a lot better than we did. We really have to make that good for the Clare supporters

who were there that day, the support- ers we felt we let down. We’re going to make that good and that’s our am- bition for the year. Our ambition now is to contest another Munster final and on this occasion to win it,’ Mc- Namara revealed.

“The bar is there. It’s held by Kil- kenny and held high. That’s what we have to attain and that’s what we have to achieve.

“We have levelled off what I used to determine the slide, now we can look with renewed optimism to what hope- fully will be a good league campaign and then an excellent championship campaign. It couldn’t be better. We train and train hard for big days and

big match days and we couldn’t ask for better than a Munster semi-final clash against either Cork or Tipper- ary, he added.

And, in sounding a bullishly confi- dent note for the year ahead, McNa- mara also revealed that youth will be given its fling throughout the season.

“There are some of last year’s panel that we didn’t bring back for a va- riety of reasons. There are a whole new range of people there. There is an open ended panel, with 10 or 12 players who haven’t appeared at sen- ior inter-county level before. We’re hoping that half a dozen of those will represent the county into the future.”

“We saw with the Under 21s last

year some very exciting new talents emerging. They were a very very good 21 team and a refusal to be beaten was written all over them, particularly against Cork in Cork.

‘“There’s excitement there and it’s up to us to target it and while it may not come to the fore immediately, certainly most of the new talent will be appearing and re-appearing through the league and through the championship with one eye to the fu- ture,’ added McNamara.

THE first tentative steps have been taken towards the formation of what could be a new force in Clare foot- ball – a senior football champion- ship alliance between O’Curry’s and Naomh Eoin.

Government called on to help US Irish

MUNSTER were not the only ones to pull off a victory when they defeated Clermont Auvergne in Thomond aeuseonleny

When Jerry Flannery pushed over Marcus Horan to give Munster the lead in those fateful final minutes, neither player knew that their actions were going to determine much more than the result of the game.

If that had not happened, then Paul Rossiter would not have been able to go through with his plan to propose to Olive McNamara, daughter of Clare County Manager and Scariff publican, Michael McNamara.

“Thank God for Horan, only for him I would have had to wait until another night and [ had it all planned. When he went over he saved my life, if they had lost I wouldn’t have been able to go through with it,” Paul said immediately after the big moment.

When the TMO finally gave the try over the ref-link, he turned to Olive and proposed in the middle of the mayhem that was going on all around Weloseen

“T was stunned for a minute. I re- member seeing the sparkle of the ring and then it made sense. He was be- side himself until the try was given. In fact, he was acting very strangely all day and I was wondering what was wrong with him, but then it all made sense,” said a delighted Olive.

Paul and Olive have been going out for seven months or so and had discussed getting engaged but hadn’t

made any concrete plans.

Olive is a garda stationed in Nenagh and Paul lives near New Ross and plays rugby with New Ross RFC but has been an avid Munster supporter for many years. Saturday was his 70th Munster match. Knowing that they were coming up for the game, Paul pre-arranged it secretly with the jeweller during the week that a ring which Olive had admired would be ready.

After he proposed and Olive ac- cepted, Paul grabbed professional photographer, Richard Leonard who had been working at the match, to

record the big moment with a picture on the pitch.

The happy couple haven’t yet set a date but are thinking of some time towards the end of 2010.

“It was kind of ironic that we got engaged at a rugby match when my dad is so involved with hurling but When he played for Waterpark in Waterford, we watched rugby every Sunday,” said Olive.