The Clare People Archive

CLARE firms interested in exploring innova- tion aS a means of becoming more competi- tive are urged to take a closer look at the new Design Shannon Skillnet programme, which tees off this spring. The two year programme, which will run concurrently in Ennis and Lim- erick, is funded by member companies and the Training Networks Programme, an initiative of Skillnets Ltd, which is funded from the Na- tional Training Fund through the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

“Design Shannon Skillnet represents a great opportunity for established manufacturing and service businesses — small and large — to ben- efit from the insight of leading national and in- ternational experts in the areas of design and innovation, and from the experiences of the other member firms in the network. The addi-

tion of more customised, one-on-one training to the new programme will further enhance the tangible benefits for each, individual company participating,’ said Laura Maye, Network Man- ager, Design Shannon Skillnet.

As a participant of the Design Shannon Skill- net programme, which recently finished, Frank Whelan, Sales Manager of Ennistymon-based Data Display, summarised how Data Display had benefited from the programme: “At a com- pany level, it has helped us to see and seize new ways of doing business. On a personal level, it has given me the skills to enhance my selling techniques, and to reap the ensuing benefits. Overall, worthwhile and value for money.”

For further information/registration, con- tact Design Shannon Skillnet at 065 6895282 (www.designshannon.ie).

THE outstanding work of local com- munity groups across the county was highlighted at the 2007 Community Environmental Awards ceremony in the Temple Gate Hotel, Ennis, on Monday evening when several awards were presented in competi- tions including Clare In Bloom, Best Public Seat, Power of One – Energy Efficiency for Clare, Keep Clare Clean and Pride of Place.

Ballynacally Development Asso- ciation was named overall winner of the Clare In Bloom competition achieving the highest marks for a second year in a row. The associa- tion scored highly for landscaping, range of planting, colour and overall impression.

Mayor of Clare Councillor Patricia McCarthy presented the Ballyna-

cally group with a cheque for €1500. As well as taking the overall award, Ballynacally was named winner in Category 3 population sector, beat- ing off competition from Labasheeda and Mountshannon.

Category | was won by Kilrush Tidy Towns Committee, who fin- ished ahead of Bridgetown and Shannon. Tuamgraney Development Association was named the winner of Category 2, with Kilmihil Tidy Towns and Quin Development As- sociation achieving second and third je Elen

Categories are based on population size with a first, second and third prize in each category of <€1100, €550 and €300 respectively. A Special Endeavour Award went to Bridgetown for the overall ap- pearance of the village, which was a blaze of colour during the adjudicat- ing period with the displays on the approach roads excelling. The Mayor’s Environmental Award, as well as a cheque for €1,000, was presented to Mountshannon. Spe- cial Merit Awards were presented to community groups in Bodyke De- velopment Association, Feakle Tidy Village Committee, Scariff Commu- nity Council, Obair Newmarket on Fergus, Kildysart Tidy Towns, Car- rigaholt Tidy Towns, Ballyvaughan Tidy Towns, Lisdoonvarna Com- munity Council, Ruan Tidy Village, St Mary's Community Development Lissycasey and Kilmurry McMahon Community Group. For the second consecutive year Ballyea claimed the Best Public Seat Award, which acknowledges com- munities for tasteful public seats that encourage people to take a few mo- ments repose in pleasant surround- ing. Ballyea finished ahead of Bal- lynacally and Decomade Lissycasey. A newly introduced art competition themed Power of One - Energy Ef- ficiency for Clare attracted an enor- mous number of entries from both primary and secondary schools. First prize was awarded to Jennifer Ly- ons, St Joseph’s Secondary School, Spanish Point, with Edel Curtin, St Joseph’s Secondary School, Span- ish Point second and Abby Koomans O’Reilly, Scariff Community College third. The primary school categories were won by Cillian Fennell, Ennis National School, Paraic O’Gorman, Kilmihil National School, Caolann O'Dwyer, Scoil losaf Naofa, Moy, Lahinch, second Class, Clarecas- tle National School, Laura Brassil, Dangan National School and Cai- triona O’Gorman, Kilmihil National Nye tere) Winners in the Keep Clare Clean competition included Louise Hill Ballynacally/Lissycasey; Eoin Mc- Namara, Ruan Toonagh; Liam Kelly, Cratloe; and Grace Kearney, Cratloe. The competition is organised with support from Clare County Council and runs in conjunction with Clare Community Games. The ceremony included an inaugu- ral presentation to local participants in the All-Ireland Pride of Place competition run with Co-Operation Ireland in conjunction with local au- thorities north and south of the bor- der. Clare County Council and Co- Operation Ireland honoured the lo- cal contribution that the Michael Cusack Centre in Carron, Kilmihil Community Development Ltd and the RAPID Community Pitch-In at Cloughleigh made in 2007.

CLARE is bearing the brunt of the economic slowdown with a higher percentage losing their jobs here than in other areas.

Statistics released by the Small Firms Association last week showed that 3.5 per cent of all jobs lost in Ire- land last year were lost in Clare. This is despite the county only accounting for 2.5 per cent of the national popu- lation.

According to experts, this is as a re- sult of the county’s over-reliance on tradition low-skill areas such as con- struction, tourism and farming.

“We have a broad mixture of in- dustry in the county but we are more reliant on traditional industries in Clare and as a whole in the west of Ireland. There is that bit more di- versity on the east coast and that is why we need to keep attracting companies into the region that have a broader spectrum of sectors,” said Rita McInerney, CEO of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce.

“We have the location for this kind of development in Clare, like in the Shannon Free Zone and the Ennis In- formation Age Park. We have to try and attract more industry that will cover us Over the times when things like the construction industry taking a hit takes place. We don’t want to have all of our eggs in one basket on dene

A total of 714 redundancies were recorded in Clare in 2007. This plac-

es the county in sixth place nation- ally behind Dublin (10,844), Cork (2,/07), Limerick (1,250), Galway (1172) and Kildare (1,147).

In total, 25,459 redundancies were recorded nationally, with men ac- counting for some 61 per cent of all job losses.

‘We are also very dependent on the tourism industry in Clare. We need to diversify over the next few years to help off-let any downturn that might take place in these industries,’ con-

tinued Ms McInerney.

“We all knew that there would be a saturation point in the economic erowth. In fact, many economists thought it would come sooner.”

Meanwhile, further proof of the downturn in the local economy was seen last week with the release of the live register figures for Clare. They revealed a massive 165 per cent year- on-year increase in the number sign- ing on in Clare.

In December last year, 4,696 per-

sons were on the live register in the county, compared to just 4,073 during the corresponding period in pau ees

“We need to look at ways of up- skilling people who are in the tra- ditional industries which are being hit. This is where projects such as the One-Step-Up programme run by FAS will be so important,” contin- ued Ms McInerney.

“I do think that there is an area of renewal energy and waste manage- ment, the Green industries, which could be a very good fit for people who are coming out of the construc- tion sector.

“It could be a way for many local construction workers to diversify into this area. I think they would be seen as very complimentary industries to each other. It would go hand in hand with the construction industry.

“TI feel that this is not a total down- ward trend; it’s more of a levelling off. The next six months will be a time of consolidation and reorgani- sation before the economy can move forward again.

“As long as it is managed properly and businesses have time to think about where they are going in the future, then it will turn around and come good again. There is a chal- lenge here in the west in terms of get- ting over our over-reliance on con- struction and the tourism industry.”

THE threat of bird flu has once again reared its ugly head over the island of Ireland with the confirmation of a number of cases of avian influenza in the UK last week.

Despite a number of outbreaks across the water, Ireland has man- aged to stay completely bird flu-free since it first began to threat European farms almost two years ago.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food have called on all poultry producers to maintain vigi- lance and report any suspected cases as soon as possible.

The department’s National Disease Control Centre (NDCC) Manage- ment Committee met last Thursday

to discuss the confirmation of the presence of high pathogenic H5N1 avian “flu in three dead wild mute swans in the Dorset area of Eng- land.

The committee was briefed on the most recent information available from the Department of the Environ- ment, Food and Rural Affairs (DE- FRA) in Britain and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Develop- ment (DARD) in Northern Ireland.

According to officials from the Department of Agriculture, constant contact between experts in Dublin and their colleagues in Belfast, Lon- don and Brussels has been ongoing since the outbreak was confirmed.

On Thursday morning the British authorities put in place the required

EU control measures; which include a Wild Bird Control Area and Moni- toring Area, within which bird keep- ers are required to house birds or otherwise isolate them from contact A100 MM AUC mayb KCK

“The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has taking ex- pert ornithological advice from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and BirdWatch Ireland on current migratory patterns between Britain and Ireland,’ said a spokes- person from the Department of Ag- riculture.

“The most recent information available is that there is currently lit- tle migration and that the migratory pattern is stable and, as such, the risk to Ireland remains low.

“Department of Agriculture offi- cials have advised Minister Cough- lan of the current situation and will be monitoring developments in Dor- set carefully in the coming days.”

Meanwhile, the IFA National Poul- try Committee Chairman Ned Mor- rissey has also called on poultry growers here to maintain the highest levels of vigilance.

He said producers here have im- plemented extra measures such as the installation of water chlorination systems to ensure the health status of their flocks 1s protected.

“Poultry producers meet the high- est veterinary standards at all times, and are particularly vigilant at the moment to protect the health of their flocks,” he added.

WITH early indications showing that the price of beef has started to improve, the farming organisations have been keeping the pressure on the factories in a hope to maintain the positive trend.

Fears have been raised in recent week that there could be a massive exodus from beef farming, and in particular winter finishers in Ireland if consistent price improvement is not witnessed in 2008.

Speaking last week, the Chairman of ICMSA’s Beef & Cattle Commit- tee, Martin McMahon, repeated his

warning to factories that they will fall victim to “their own short-term view’ of the industry unless the re- cent firming-up of prices is contin- UerOmr Ree meee loesIiclee

“Beef finishers are looking at a situation now where they see strong demand and a tight supply, they know that a substantial increase in prices should be in the pipeline and they are left — once again — wonder- ing why the factories seem bent on keeping the prices as low as possi- ble to the point where beef finishers will simply drop out of the trade with dire consequences for the factories themselves next year’, said the Clare

le Dusnoe

“In the context of the substantial kill at the end of 2007 and the ad- ditional and very welcome curbs on Brazilian beef, it 1s perfectly clear that there will be a shortage of cat- tle supplies this spring and that the meat processors would want to start reflecting that reality for the sake of ensuring a continued supply going forward.

“The people who finished cattle in spring 2007 and who suffered finan- cially as a result will not be able to take two successive years in which their costs outweighed any benefits.

“If the processors take the short-

term view again, they may inflict fatal damage to their own industry. Prices must keep rising and they must do so immediately.”

Last week, they revealed that the price paid by factories to farmers has actually decreased in the last 17.

According to new figures seen by

CLUSTERING has become a com- mon phenomenon in our large towns and cities and Philip O’Reilly, Property Plus has just launched a car showroom development, which could see a large concentration of car dealerships establish a new base on the Kildysart Road.

The development incorporate six car showroom sites, which range from 1.1 acres to 2.1 acres. Prices range from €850,000 to €1.225 million.

The property is very well located

on the Kildysart Road, just 2km south of Ennis town centre and 300 metres south of the Clareabbey in- tersection of the new bypass.

Each of the six sites has outline planning permission in place for a car showroom unit together with assoociated parking and other facil- ities, allowing for the development of individual styled units.

The property has extensive road frontage running to 210 metres. The site is bounded by residntial lands with full planning permission for 220 housing units.

For full details call 065 6844448.

A KILRUSH man who has admitted robbing a US bank at gunpoint is to be sentenced next month.

Niall Clarke, 27, who is originally from the Killimor Road in Kilrush, was arrested in Bangor, Maine, in October 2006, shortly after robbing a Bank of America branch, near the Bangor Mall.

He had more than $11,000 in a black mesh bag and a loaded .38-cal- iber handgun and box of ammunition with him.

He pleaded guilty in January to charges stemming from the robbery.

After his Bangor attorney, Richard Hartley, had Clarke evaluated by a psychiatrist, he sought to withdraw his client’s guilty plea and enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Hartley has said that Clarke suffers from a severe mental illness. Clarke also was evaluated during the sum- mer at a federal facility by a govern- ment psychiatrist.

Clarke also had an assessment car- ried out by a psychiatrist, who was employed by his family. It concluded that “Niall was suffering from an ill- ness that rendered Niall unable at the time of the crime to appreciate the nature and quality of the wrongful-

ness of the act.”

In November, Clarke’s attorney agreed to schedule a sentencing date rather than to continue trying to withdraw Niall Clarke’s guilty plea, as had been indicated earlier.

Clarke faces up to 25 years in fed- eral prison on the armed robbery charge and a mandatory minimum of a consecutive seven years for using a gun during the robbery.

Under the federal sentencing guide- lines, the recommended sentence for the robbery is between 33 and 41 months. The seven-year mandatory sentence would be added to that sen- tence.

The sentencing date of February 19 next was fixed last week. The sen- tencing hearing will take place in Bangor, Maine.

Clarke was an award-winning stu- dent while studying Computer Sci- ence at Trinity College, Dublin and won a top Enterprise Ireland Student Award in 2002.

As a result of his Junior Certificate results at St Joseph’s Spanish Point, he was invited to join the Irish Math- ematics Olympic team.

As a result of his Leaving Certifi- cate, he was awarded a scholarship by Trinity College to study math- sere ee

CLARE students again fared well at the annual BT Young Scientist Com- oxeBL BLO) NF

12 Clare projects impressed the competition judges, earning top three placings and commendations.

There was success for St Joseph’s Community College, Kilkee who came first in the senior group sec- nee

Fourth-year students Danny Molo- ney, Davis Gould Duff and Roisin Latham won for their project, “Does ash help plants to grow?’ in the sen- ior biological and ecological cat- egory.

In the same category, Emma Hen- nessy, fourth-year student at Scoil Mhuire, Ennistymon was awarded the Safefood tithe and a commenda-

tion for her project, “An investigation into bacteria growth on drink cans and the most effective way of clean- ing them’ in the intermediate indi- ACLU Ensen (e)ee

Patrick O’Connell, a third-year stu- dent, and Tim Horgan, a fourth-year Student, both from St Flannan’s, were highly commended in the biologi- cal and ecological category for their project ‘Have you seen your DNA to- day?’. Their project involved study- ing various types of plant DNA.

Fellow St Flannan’s students Siob- han McGrath and Aoife Staunton were also highly commended in the social and behavioral sciences sec- tion for their examination of the be- haviour of a solitary dolphin.

Aine O’Halloran, Sinead Liddy and Siobhan Weir, transition-year students at St Caimin’s Community

School, Shannon were highly com- mended in the chemical and physical sciences intermediate group for their project ‘using energy beads to test how effective sun creams really are’.

Mary Immaculate Secondary School further enhanced its good reputation at the Young Scientist Soyrayersisene

Students this year entered 13 projects and the school finished the second highest award winners.

Leading the way was sixth-year student Laura Simms who came first in the senior individual section of the social and behavioural category for her project “Did geography affect the 2007 General Election?’.

The north Clare student’s project examined whether voting is stronger along geographical or party political Naar

Evelyn Linnane and Tess McGov- ern scored a second place finish in the intermediate group section for their project on ‘Prejudice and toler- ance among teenagers in Ireland’.

Darren O’Gorman came second in the senior individual section of the biological and ecological category for his investigation into the effects of temporary limestone lakes on lead morphology of Rannaclus Repens.

There were commendations for students Ciara Griffin and Amy Mc- Grath and Sinead McNamara, Amie Barrett and Catriona Callinan.

Fourth-year student David Crowe came third in the intermediate indi- vidual of the social and behavioural sciences section.

School principal John Simms said he was very proud of the achieve- ments of the students.

THE first major farming event of 2008 was launched last week with the announcement of FarmFest ‘08. The major outdoor farming event, which is organised by Teagasc, will take place at the Teagasc Centre in Athenry on Friday, June 20.

Teagasc FarmFest 2008 will focus on all areas of farming but in par- ticular some of the emerging areas such as food, sustainability and the environment and REPS.

‘“FarmFest *O8 will display all as- pects of Teagasc’s relationship with the countryside, farming and farm families. Taking place this year in the west of Ireland, this event will

have something of interest for all members of the farm family, and will also be of interest to those living in the wider rural community,” said Teagasc Director, Professor Gerry Boyle last week.

‘Education will be a key aim of the day and will display the breadth of Teagasc’s services and the opportuni- ties available to farmers and country dwellers. We will bring together the old and the new, demonstrating Tea- gasc’s innovative and contemporary approach while not dismissing the rural traditions people hold dear.”

All the main farm enterprises will be featured along with areas such as bioenergy, forestry, artisan foods, tourism, sports horses and organic

farming. These displays will be in the form of a series of themed tented ‘villages’ with separate, but conven- iently located, exhibition areas and entertainment.

The villages will include sheep, dairy, cattle, horses and tillage tents as well as advisory services and re- search. Other tents will include food, crafts, alternative agri-enterprises and alternative energy. FarmFest is hoping to attract a good attend- ance from all farm families as well as those living and working in the countryside. The event takes place in Athenry on Friday, June 20.

Meanwhile, Teagasc and the Irish Bioenergy Association (Irbea) are jointly organising a one-day con-

ference that focuses on making the bioenergy supply chain work.

The event will be held in the Tul- lamore Court Hotel on February 12 and will consist of three separate sessions: Policy, Vehicle Fuel and Solid Biomass. The speakers, ex- perts drawn from different stages of the supply chain, will share their experience of how they achieved successful operations in the popular biofuel energy sectors, or in the less known non-energy sectors such as crop-derived construction materials, renewable polymers and lubricants.

For more information please con- tact Liz O’Sullivan, Teagasc Oak Park on 059 9183483 or email Liz. O’Sullivan @teagasc.ie.

FEBRUARY I has been set as the closing date for the receipt of ap- plications for the second stage of the 2008/2009 Milk Quota Trading NYo terns len

Speaking on Friday, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mary Coughlan, announced the clos- ing date and restated her satisfaction with the outcome of the first stage of the trading scheme.

“I am pleased that the changes made to the operation of the trading

scheme contributed to a very high rate of trade before Christmas. I now want to ensure that the second ex- change is completed before the end of the current milk quota year, and I believe that the February | deadline will facilitate this,’ she said.

“A formal review will therefore not take place at this point, but, as was the case last year, a comprehensive review of the scheme with all stake- holders will take place after the sec- ond exchange has been completed.”

The scheme will once more com- prise a priority pool and a market

exchange. The maximum price for quota from the priority pool will remain at 12 cent per litre, and the maximum quantity available to in- dividual producers will remain at 80,000 litres.

A 3:2 ratio will again apply to the distribution of quota from the prior- ity pool to young farmers and Cat- egory | producers, and the option for sellers to sell at one or two cent per litre below their original offer price will be made available in the same 10 co-op areas as in the first stage.

The minister also took the opportu-

nity to alert milk producers to the ex- istence of a new Milk Quota Trader number, which is a unique identifier that has been assigned to all those who have participated in the trading scheme to date.

Applicants for the first stage of the 2008/2009 scheme will be advised of their Milk Quota Trader number by their co-op in the normal process- ing of the results, and those intend- ing to apply again for the second stage should quote this number on their application forms, in addition to the usual information.