The Clare People Archive

AN Ennis sculptor is in a race against time to find a home for two man-size squirrels to avoid their destruction. Earlier this year, Barry Wrafter received a text message without any warning to say ‘stop working on the commission’ of the red and grey

squirrel after the developers who commissioned the work pulled out of the project.

Mr Wrafter was three-quarters way through the work but now, with no takers, the wet clay of the red squir- rel is falling off, leaving the squirrel vulnerable to the same fate suffered by thousands of red squirrels in Ire-

land in recent years.

Mr Wrafter, who won an open competition for the project, secured €55,000 of the €80,000 commission before the developer withdrew from the project. He is now offering the work for one-third of the initial com- mission in order to secure a home for the two squirrels.

“It is a bargain. I have been work- ing on the piece for the past year and I have put off other jobs in order to concentrate on this.

“Tt would be a terrible waste if they would have to be broken up. It breaks my heart really and I would love to get a home for the piece, so if there is any developer or body out there that would be interested in buying the piece, they should get in touch with none

A bronze plate has yet to be placed on the red squirrel and this will cost €20,000. The squirrels are currently at Mr Wrafter’s workyard near Shan- non and he said the wet clay on the red squirrel is cracking and it could completely crack up within a month unless work recommences.

The sculpture was commissioned for a shopping centre in Longford and the piece marks the struggle of the red squirrel against the grey squirrel.

Three breeding pairs of grey squir- rels were introduced to Ireland in 1911 by a US national as part of a present for a wedding in Longford and since then the grey squirrel has wreaked havoc on the red squirrel population in Ireland

The grey squirrel has colonised large parts of the country to the det- riment of the red squirrel and Mr Wrafter said, ““The grey squirrel has overran the country and the sculptor was bringing attention to that.”

re- vealed that the county council and Ennis Town Council refused permis- sion for a total of 800 homes in the

eastern and northern environs of En- nis because the town’s sewage system is operating beyond full capacity.

A new €7/5 million treatment plant at Clareabbey is not expected to come on stream until 2012 — the plant got planning permission four years ago and the council has already paid out €7 million to three landowners for the site.

An Environmental Impact State- ment into the scheme was published at the end of 2002 warned that if noth- ing was done, “the existing problems will be exacerbated over the next few years as increasing demands are put

on the drainage system and treated plants due to expanded environ- ment”.

In relation to the latest planning application by Al Callanan — which faced strong local opposition — the council stated that while the princi- ple of housing on the site would be suitable, the application was prema- ture pending the construction and commissioning of the new Clareab- bey plant.

The Environmental Protection Agency told the council in April that it was informed by the local authority that the current demands on the sys-

tem is 26,000 houses and the treat- ment capacity of the Clonroadmore plant is 17,000.

The EPA stated, “The plant is therefore already operating above its design treatment capacity and would not be capable of accommodating this development.”

The council also refused planning due to deficiencies in the public water supply and the period within which these constraints would be reason- ably expected to cease. The council also ruled that it would have signifi- cant negative effects on the existing ecology and hydrology of the site.

DURING his inaugural address in Carron last October, Mike McNa- mara outlined that the necessity for Clare to compete again in Munster would be his main priority. In almost every interview since, he has reiter- ated that intent, even using shock words like ‘embarrassed’, ‘decimat- ed’ and ‘hammered’ to demonstrate Clare’s slide down the provincial lad- der since their last Munster triumph in 1998.

McNamara has never been a sup- porter of the qualifiers group system. In his eyes, it devalues the provincial championship and provides counties with a soft backdoor option to fall back on. Clare’s ability to express themselves in Munster again is his prime objective and he is fully fo- cused on attaining that goal starting with the Waterford game on Sunday.

Still, there were barriers to break down first. A rebuilding process had to be undertaken, both to revive the players’ flagging confidence and en- sure the supporters would be back on side after a turbulent 2007 campaign. New players had to be introduced and the existing ones required reassur- ance that the ship was heading in the right direction and although the Wa-

terford Crystal and National League campaigns weren’t groundbreaking in terms of either performance or re- sults, the public realised that the new set-up needed time to gel.

As the June | D-Day has drawn inexorably closer, optimism has in fact permeated around the county. Increasing reports of Waterford in- juries and the reintegration of Tony Carmody, Diarmuid McMahon and Tony Griffin into the set-up have gal- vanised support, and confidence has gathered momentum ahead of the GuGrEsneeltoe

In saying that, it would be fool- ish to swallow every report of Wa- terford’s demise wholeheartedly. Certainly, they have a number of injuries but perhaps not to the extent that Justin McCarthy would have everyone believe. According to the Waterford camp, Eoin Murphy, Eoin Kelly, Paul Flynn, Dan Shanahan, Ken McGrath, Seamus Prendergast, Stephen Molumphy, Kevin Moran, Aidan Kearney and Tony Browne are all doubtful or certain to miss the Clare game. Admittedly, Murphy, McGrath and Flynn will miss the tie but expect the majority of the others to play at least some part against the Banner.

For Clare, Declan O’Rourke’s bro-

ken finger sustained against Galway OTMSLUNICE DA SUUMCME-DUIDAMMel (om eNbeemOleNs and Niall Gilligan is a serious doubt as his neck injury has not responded to treatment as much as the manage- ment had hoped.

Going on recent challenge matches against Offaly, Dublin and Galway, Clare still need to iron out a few creases with their main stumbling block in front of the posts. Goal scor- ing has certainly been a problem for Clare in the past, particularly in the big championship games. Just recall the All-Ireland quarter-final against Limerick last year or the 2006 AIl- Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny when clear-cut goal opportunities were not taken and Clare went on to lose. In fact, in the Munster and All- Ireland series over the past four sea- sons, Clare have only managed seven goals in 13 games, a dismal record when you compare that to Water- ford’s haul of 30 goals in 14 games in the same period. Unquestionably, Clare will need goals if they are to overcome Waterford.

Clare’s huge number of wides in the league is also a concern but again perhaps that can be put down to some inexperience and a growing under- standing amongst the players.

The final dilemma is the uncertain-

ty of the back six. Clare’s defensive solidity has been the basis of their successes since the early 90’s and it was always up front that was a cause of concern. That is not to say they now seem porous at the back – far from it but as previous campaigns have highlighted, there needs to be a settled backline for Clare to prosper. The variables are endless – Conor Plunkett or Gerry Quinn at centre- back, Darragh Clancy or Frank Lo- han at full-back or does Plunkett or Quinn revert to full-back, thus releas- ing Lohan to the corner alongside ei- ther Gerry O’Grady or Tadgh Keogh. Even on the wings, Mike McNamara has experimented with six different players in the league with Clancy, Quinn, Brendan Bugler, Pat Don- nellan, Tommy Holland and even James McInerney being tried in the positions in an effort to find the right blend. That tinkering with positions was expected but it is hoped that by now, McNamara finally knows his ooh mSID.©

For Clare to win, a number of fac- tors have to go in their favour. For all the new faces that have appeared this season, Clare’s side on Sunday will be predominantly made up of expe- rience and going on that alone, it is felt that there is at least one massive

performance in this team. Whether it will be on Sunday is another issue as Waterford’s pedigree is undoubted with three Munster championships and a league title in the last six years. Nevertheless, a lot of this Waterford team have been around a long time and their frustration at not making the All-Ireland breakthrough has certainly frustrated them. Add in the potential injuries to key players and it could make for a very interesting encounter but Waterford are Munster champions for a reason.

Mike McNamara has been circling June | in his diary since the draw was made in October. He has repeatedly underlined the date’s importance to Clare’s future development and as a result, he is fully aware that his first season will be judged predominatly on their performance on Sunday. As Munster champions, Waterford are the benchmark and Clare will need to play out of their skins if they are to dethrone them this weekend. Any- thing less and Clare will be travel- ling down the well-worn path of the qualifiers system once more.

THE finish ceremony of the Rally d’Italia Sardegna the sixth round of the World Rally Championship which took place alongside Porto Cervo’s Marina in Sardinia on May Reidee

Saw world rally champions Se- bastien Loeb/Daniel Elena claim the top prize in their Citroen C4. This result takes the reigning champion’s total to a record 40 world rally wins and sees them move to within three points behind of 2008 championship leader Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen.

This sixth round of the 15 rally series was the first European gravel fixture of the season. Based in the north east of Sardinia, the three day event was characterised by tough narrow tracks south of Olbia. Com- petitors tackled 17 speed tests cov- ering 344.73km. Despite heavy rain before the start, the rally itself was dry, although cloudy skies ensured temperatures were cooler than ex- pected.

BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team finished second and third in the rally and they retain the lead in both the manufacturer’s and driver’s standings in the FIA World Rally Championship.

Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtin- en claimed second in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car, with Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikka Anttila third in a similar car. Ford preserves its seven point advantage in the manufacturers series while Hirvonen is three points ahead in the drivers title.

Donegal driver Shaun Gallagher maintains his second place in the Junior World Rally Championship after finishing fourth in Sardinia driving his Motorsport Ireland spon- sored Citroen C2.

The Irishman shares second place with 16 championship, alongside Po- land’s Michal Kosciuszko. Many of the car’s suffered mechanical diffi- culties brought on by the conditions including World Rally Team Ire- land’s car which suffered a break in the rear anti-roll bar and a flat tyre.

The next round takes place in Greece next weekend May 30th.

through the Free- dom of Information Act, the council anticipated that in 2006 and 2007 it would have 56 Traveller families in group housing. However, the actual accommoda- tion provided by the council in that category came to just 22 families.

But with work expected to start on three group housing schemes before the end of the year in Ennistymon (2) and Ennis (1), the council is hopeful of securing 73 of the 119 target for 2008 by the end of the year.

The figure of 73 does not include 18 Traveller-specific houses which will be under construction by next December.

A spokesman for the council’s Trav- eller Accommodation Unit said they would provide 18 new houses in the three schemes in Ennis and Ennisty- mon and planning was advanced in

relation to all three projects.

The annual targets for group hous- ing were altered due to new require- ments for Travellers and the fact that group schemes proposed for Shan- non and Liscannor did not proceed because of those changed needs.

“The overall programme is, by and large, a success with a 75 per cent rate of success and, by early 2009, the vast majority of Travellers should be in permanent accommodation.

“It continues to be a challenge to meet the needs of Travellers where more and more are settling down

rather than travelling around.”

Chairman of the council’s Spe- cial Policy Committee, Cllr Joe Ar- kins (FG) said, “There have been a number of difficulties with the pro- gramme in terms of sites and plan- ning but, all in all, I believe we have done well.

“Maybe we haven’t done as much as we should have, but we have done as much as we could.”

Cllr Arkins regretted the high spend on the legal costs relating to the pro- gramme as the money would be far better spent on bricks and mortar.

show that €352,836 was spent on 24- hour security at the Ballaghboy site which is ongoing and €116,532 was

spent on security at the Glenina site.

The requirement for 24-hour secu- rity at Gleninagh was part of a deal with local residents and this has been replicated at the Ballghboy site.

The Ballaghboy site is due to be de- molished before the end of the year as part of an agreement with local residents and it will be replaced by a permanent site for six families.

The council spent €219,000 on legal costs arising out of the capital element of its Traveller accommoda- none) EIeF

The largest amount was spent in relation to a halting site at Bally- macraven on the outskirts of En- nistymon where legal fees amounted to €163,000 with €34,457 going to

James Connolly SC and €23,777 go- ing to Patrick G Quinn BL.

The biggest beneficiaries were council solicitors, Michael Houlihan & Partners, who received €126,747 on dealing with legal issues on five Traveller accommodation sites and one house purchase.

€3.589 million has been paid to consultants as part of the building programme.

The local firm to do most construc- tion work on the Traveller accom- modation programme was Keco Ltd who received a total of €2.139 mil- lion.

SU clon cnwecmmpuce kore Ot UL mm epeeeLeye| for work on the Ballaghboy site; €254,158 for the temporary site at

Glenina and €85,228 for the halting site at Ballymaley .

M Fitzgibbon & Co. received €330,290 for refurbishment of the Ashline site on the Kilrush Road in Ennis, while L&M Keating received €678,214.

Architectural firm, Dermot & Sean Merry received €135,377 for design- ing seven Traveller accommodation sites, while other companies to work on the programme included Erina- ceous Consult Serv (Ire) Ltd who were paid €132,639

Michael Lillis & Co Ltd was paid €64,930 for work carried out at the number of sites, while consultant engineer Paddy Coleman was paid €21,140.

AS THE WTO grows ever closer, Clare man, Eddie Punch, was at the centre of all the action this week, leading an ICSA delegation to met with EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel in Brussels on Thursday,

Punch and a number of top level ICSA delegates highlighted a number of concerns of Irish farmers regard- ing WTO and the EU health check proposals. The delegation consisted of Punch alongside Malcolm Thomp- son, ICSA president, sheep chairman Mervyn Sunderland and Gabriel Gilmartin, ICSA rural development at-boweet-nee

ICSA emphasised the threat posed

to the beef and lamb sectors by the WTO proposals and_ underlined that even the sensitive status clause would not be sufficient to keep these sectors viable. ICSA also outlined its concerns over modulation proposals that would result in an eight per cent cut in the Single Farm Payment for all payments in excess of €5,000.

“The WTO is now an outdated re- sponse to the issue of global food se- curity. We must first insist on main- taining the viability of the maximum number of EU farmers,” said Mr Punch.

“Europe must retain the ability to feed itself, rather than allowing itself to become over dependent on im- ports. ICSA believes that this WTO round needs to be replaced by a com-

pletely different approach and we will continue to insist that the Irish Government vetos a bad deal.”

He also highlighted the particu- larly difficult circumstances facing the sheep sector and emphasised the importance of implementing key recommendations in the Aylward report. “The priority message that we delivered was that sheep farming would not survive in Europe without a commitment for additional sup- port. However, even this may not be enough if the WTO deal goes ahead,’ he continued.

ICSA also briefed the commis- sioner on the impossibility of get- ting work completed under the Farm Waste Management scheme by the deadline of December 31, 2008.

Following the release of further re- vised papers on Agriculture and Non Agriculture Market Access under WTO, Catherine Buckley, Macra na Feirme National President said it 1s time for the Irish Government to call a hault to Peter Mandelson’s solo run on WTO.

“Mr Mandelson has exceeded his mandate from the European Com- mission and the Irish Government must intervene and put a stop to it, he is failing to recognise the views of all the commission and the heads of state. Mandelson’s open door policy will mean a race to the bottom on production standards, as the market will ultimately be left to imports re- sulting in a Worst Trade Outcome for farmers and consumers,” she said.

THERE was a mixed reaction in the farming community following the launch of the commission’s propos- als for the health check of the CAP.

Speaking on Thursday, ICOS Pres- ident, Padraig Gibbons, said docu- ments fail to provide a soft landing for dairy farmers in the lead up to the removal of quotas in 2015.

“The proposed series of quota in- creases of one per cent per year from 2009 to 2013 with no increase in the year before the removal of quotas failed to give clear signals to farm- ers, processors and marketers in or- der to encourage them to make the

necessary preparations for the end- ing of quotas in a timely, orderly and Structured fashion,’ he said

“In addition, such minimal quota increases will do little to reduce or eliminate the cost of purchased quo- ta. ICOS continues to call for annual increases of up to two per cent, every year between 2009 and 2014, com- bined with a decrease in the level of super levy and a removal of the but- terfat adjustment.

“ICOS has been working with other representative organisations in Europe to deliver a clear signal to the commission that they cannot al- low the European dairy industry to continue to lose world market share.

Gibbons went on to state that mar- ket support instruments needed to be maintained and utilised, particularly during the uncertain period leading up to 2015 and beyond, and that ex- port refunds and other internal mar- ket tools need to be used to support the vulnerable butter market.

“It is totally unacceptable to con- tinuously cut the level of Single Farm Payment, against a backdrop of rap- idly escalating production and com- pliance costs, and general inflation, which will result in payments being worth a small fraction of their origi- nal value,” he said.

Clare TD Tony Kileen also spoke publicly on CAP last week saying

that he is looking forward to the presentation of the proposals to the agriculture council at the forthcom- ing informal council in Ljubljana on 27th May and the opportunity at that meeting for a first political discus- sion on the proposals.

“My view is that the health check must deliver real simplification that has concrete benefits at farm level,” |aTemncy-5 (6

“T will work on building alliances and understandings with member states as well as outlining my con- cerns to the commission in order to achieve progress on issues such as an acceptable and ambitious increase in milk quotas for Ireland.”

GREAT weather and great music proved an irresistible draw as Fleadh Nua fans from Colorado to Tokyo, Cape Breton to Adelaide descended on Ennis for the past 9 days.

The general consensus is that Flea- dh Nua 2008 will live long in the memory for both the depth of the programme of events and the quality of the performers on view.

The Frank Custy Tribute got pro- ceedings off to a flying start as Flea- dh Nua paid homage to the legendary music teacher from Toonagh.

Dennis Liddy and Michael Hynes — ably assisted by Eoin O’Neill and Jack Talty — slowed things down with a beautifully crafted evening of mu-

sic at the Fidil Beo Recital.

Each year the Aos Og Concert promises audiences the finest tradi- tional music, song and dance per- formed by the cream of the country’s young artistes. This year’s concert delivered on this promise in abun- dance with the usual high standards maintained.

An eclectic mix of traditional mu- sic and dance with contemporary ar- rangements from the students of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at U.L., Ulster Scots music, polkas from the Sliabh Luachra tra- dition, master-piping and the power- ful singing of Seamus Mac Mathtna wowed the audience at the Celebrity Concert in Glor.

Acclaimed trad band, Cruinnit

played a varied set of songs and mu- sic with such élan that some mem- bers of the audience just had to get out of their seats and dance despite the lateness of the hour.

The intensely spiritual singing of Cor Cuil Aodha under the direction of Peadar O Riada at Cor agus Ceol allowed listeners a period of reflec- tion which was followed by a series of high octane performances culmi- nating in a rousing finale by Leeds Scoraiocht group.

There was plenty of outdoor activ- ity as live performances on the Gig Rig and a network of street sessions kept people royally entertained.

The pedestrianisation of O’Connell Street lent itself greatly to the crea- tion of a festival atmosphere around

the town and the Organising Com- mittee said they greatly appreci- ated the support received from the traders, Ennis Town Council and an Garda Siochana to this end.

The streets were thronged for the best Fleadh Nua Parade in years which featured bands, schools and community groups as well as open air entertainment from the Hounds of Ulster, Ogra Tiobraid Arann and Oo) iKeyse mrt WY Ebebisuslone

A licence has been awarded for the operation of new bus service for the town of Ennis.

The privately operated bus service will provide 13 services from the town centre to the eastern residential area of Ennis; 12 services from the eastern residential area to the town centre; 13 routes from the town cen- tre to the western residential area and 12 from the western residential area to the town centre.

Town Clerk Eddie Power told the May meeting of Ennis Town Coun- cil that the service is expected to commence soon but, that it was un- known whether Bus Eireann would be involved.

He said, “The council decided in

2007 to conduct a feasibility study to look at providing a bus service for Ennis. Because we were aware that both Bus Eireann and a private Operator were examining the possi- bility we didn’t go through with the study.”

He continued, “A license has been granted to a private operator. Bus Eireann have made no decision yet. We would expect the service to com- mence in the near future”.

Concerns were expressed though over the potential “cherry-picking” of routes. Urging the council to carry out the feasibility study Fine Gael councillor Johnny Flynn said, “We can’t sit around and wait. You could find a situation where the private op- erator will just cherry pick the routes that are most commercially viable

around the town.”

He continued, “I wish the private operator well, but Ennis Town Coun- cil should be leading the way on this.” Independent councillor Frank- ie Neylon called for Bus Eireann to get involved in the scheme.

He said, “The private operator should be looking towards Ennis Town Council. We should be able to tell him better than the department. We need a bus service for all outly- ing areas that are highly populated and we need them on the hour.”

He added, “Bus Eireann would be in a better position to have more bus- es available. A private operator can always pull out.”

Town Manager Tom Coughlan said the involvement of Bus Eireann was predicated on the availability

of funds through the Government’s Transport 21 initiative, which at the moment weren’t forthcoming.

He said, “We met with Bus Shier tat last year and in March Bus Eireann advised us that funding was allocated under Transport 21. We understand that money isn’t available through that yet.”

Fianna Fail councillor Tom Glynn said, ““Where a bus service has been provided, there has been a huge per- centage in uptake. We have to pro- vide Ennis with a bus service and it definitely needs to be as good as possible.”

Fianna Fail councillor Peter Consi- dine said, “The reason any previous service failed is because of irregular- ity. Any feasibility study would be a waste of money”.