The Clare People Archive

AS the final experiments take place ahead of next weeks BI Young Scientist Exhibition in Dublin, one north Clare teacher will be travelling to the RDS with an extra spring in his step.

For John Sims from Mary Immac- ulate Secondary School in Lisdoon- varna, this year competition marks the 20th consecutive year that he has brought students to compete against the best in the country.

Since the first group from Lisdoon- varna competed back in 1988, John has overseen more than 120 projects from some 500 students.

‘“[ had always had an interest in the

Young Scientist and when I was in secondary school I did a project my- self. I enjoyed it greatly and I always said that when I was teaching myself that I would give something back and get involved from the teaching side,” he said.

“The first year I had two or three groups. But it was a much different competition back then. That was back in 1988 and in those days you had to type everything up manually on an old typewriter.”

Mary Immaculate has grown into the county’s leading school in the competition with more than half of all Clare’s entries coming from there this year.

“This year 60 students from the

school originally put down their names. Now some of them failed to come up with ideas and a few are be- ing held over until next year. In the end we entered 18 products and 14 of them were accepted. Which is good going considering that they only ac- cept 500 projects from about 1400 from all over the country,” continued John.

“We work here a lot over the Christ- mas and usually the group that goes up tend to remain friends afterwards. They have a great camaraderie, they really look after each other and help each other.

“Of course, if you want to get it to that high standard then you need to put in time outside of school. You

have to bring in a lot of different strands together.

“Td say PU be at this until I retire. I love the buzz. Some days you can be so tired over Christmas and you’d wonder why you would be doing it. But only for my wife and my kids al- lowing me to do this. I’m lucky, they know that this is my passion and they let me away with it. It’s my passion.”

To see a full preview of the Clare entrants for this years competition check out pages 37 to 44.

GARDAI have renewed their appeal for anyone who may have informa- tion about a 23-year-old, missing since a night out with pals in Killa- loe, to come forward.

James Burke from Ballinruan was last seen near the bridge in Killaloe on Sunday, December 9 just after LO oyere

He was heading for The Anchor Bar after an evening socialising in the town with friends but never showed up.

The alarm was raised the next day When he didn’t arrive for work or contact his parents.

A widescale search on land and wa- ter has been going on since then but has produced no results.

Last Sunday search and rescue divers entered the river Shannon for the first time since James’ disappear- ance, having been prevented from doing so before then by the huge pull created by the Ardnacrusha power station turbines.

A Garda spokesman said that they “have to keep an open mind on the matter. We have no concrete evi- dence that he went into the water and nothing has been found so far that would support that so we must allow for all possibilities”.

The spokesman asked that people

who were out in Killaloe on the night to think carefully about whether they may have seen Mr Burke.

“Someone may have some small piece of information which might prove helpful. There may be some- one who was away for Christmas and has just returned or even if one of his friends knows something that they may be worried about telling us, we would appeal for them to come KO MWe n Ke

“This is a terrible thing for a fam- ily at any time but particularly at this time of year.”

Anyone with any information can contact the incident room at Killaloe garda station on 061 620540.

SUPPORTERS of the restoration of the Shannon/Heathrow route have hit back at claims by an economist that the route is not important.

Separately, Cityjet were this week understood to be considering a fur- ther connectivity lifeline between Shannon and Schipol Airport in Am- sterdam.

A special report was produced by economist Sean Barrett to accom- pany the ESRI quarterly economic commentary.

Barrett said in the report that argu- ments favouring Government inter- vention to retain the Shannon-Hea- throw service were “weak”.

The report highlights how just 38 per cent of the 856,000 passengers who flew from Shannon to London in 2006 went to Heathrow. The bal- ance used services to Stanstead, Gat- wick and Luton.

In the 10 year period to 2006 the numbers flying from Shannon to Heathrow declined by four per cent while the volume of passengers trav- elling between the airport and Lon- don actually rose by 156 per cent.

But John King of Shannon Devel- opment said that “even if only one third of passengers connect on or use Heathrow, that’s still an awful lot of people.

“It’s easy to dismiss it if youre just

talking statistics but the business case set out by the Atlantic Connec- tivity Alliance is the reality.”

King added that this case was up- held by the fact that Cityjet have an- nounced their route to Paris from Shannon and they saw a market in providing connectivity to a major European hub.

Passenger figures for Shannon have jumped this year by 2.95 million.

According to a report on Irish air- ports in the year to date, published by the Economic and Social Research Institute, Shannon 1s connected to 39 airports serviced by nine airlines.

While lobby groups here including the Atlantic Connectivity Alliance have called for the Government to force Aer Lingus to reverse its deci- sion to axe the Shannon-Heathrow route from January 14, Barrett says he does not agree.

Meanwhile Cityjet, an Air France subsidiary which has recently an- nounced flights betwen Shannon and Paris, is looking at flying into the Amsterdam airport from Shannon.

The Amsterdam route would prob- ably depend on the support for the Paris route, airline sources say.

Separately, Aer Rianta has won one of its largest ever contracts which will see it develop operations at a new terminal in Moscow, in a deal which will generate more than €1 billion over seven years.

THE driving force in_ Bridget Sweeney’s life is her “Burren View” bed and breakfast business in Bally- vaughan and she proved it when pick- ing up her latest award last week.

On her way to an end of year awards function for the Tourism Learning Network, her car broke down. Yet just a few weeks ago, she had won a new car in a national newspaper Leyeny oles isleyee

But Bridget opted to convert the car prize into cash which she invested in the comfort of her guests rather than her own driving convenience.

Not even the breakdown halted Bridget. Still stained with oil and erime when she finally arrived in Limerick’s Castletroy Park Hotel, she was stunned to learn that she was one of three award winners chosen from the 25-strong membership of the Clare Tourism Learning Network.

Winning ways are nothing new to Bridget from Castleblaney who was the leader of an award-winning cus- tomer care team in the telecoms in- dustry before she used the proceeds of an early retirement package to fi- nance her dream of running her own B&B in the Burren.

She took on the job of project man- ager for the conversion and refur- bishment of “Burren View” which opened in 2006 and was an award winner within its first year.

The 5-bedroom B&B with disabil- ity access in all en-suite rooms won a “Welcome” award from Failte Ire-

land as well as getting a highly rec- ommended endorsement from Fam- ily Homes of Ireland.

Before she opened her doors to pay- ing guests, Bridget conducted a series of test runs to weed out any problems

or shortcomings for her entry to the tourist trade.

She invited well-travelled friends and family to visit and provide can- did feedback.

“They told me what they thought of how I greeted them on arrival, how I informed them about what was on of- fer in the area, the comfort of the bed- rooms and the quality of the break- fast”.

Bridget’s winning ways have also helped to fit out “Burren View”. She has a flair for dreaming up winning slogans.

Her prize from one competition provided the furniture for the patio looking out over the Burren. Light fittings and an aquarium for the guesthouse were also won in slogan competitions.

Bridget received her ‘Tourism Learning Network award for her achievement in developing a “bou- tique” bed and breakfast venture at Newtown, Ballyvaughan.

Other winners presented with their awards by Clare Mayor, Council- lor Patricia McCarthy were Davnet Cronin O’Brien of Clonlara Eques- trian Centre and John Davoren of Caherconnell Fort in the Burren.

TWO major car dealerships with their headquarters in Ennis increased the size of their businesses in 2006.

According to the latest returns to the Companies Office, Tom Hogan (Gal- way) Ltd of Ballymaley increased its turnover from €87 million in 2005 to €103 million last year.

The figures represent the sales fig- ures for the Tom Hogan outlets in Ennis, Galway, Clonmel and Shan-

nto) eF

Separate returns to the Companies Office show that Ford dealer T Sheils & Co Ltd increased its turnover from €35 million to €36 million.

The Tom Hogan group of compa- nies are Toyota and Lexus dealers and sustained an operating loss of €393,000 due to €992,000 being written off a related party debtor.

The company remains in strong financial health with accumulated profits standing at €6.7 million and

shareholders funds standing at €14.2 million.

The figures show that the company employed 153 people and had a wage bill of €6 million.

The two directors in the company are Paul and David Hogan. Accord- ing to a statement accompanying the accounts, “the directors anticipate an improved level of performance in 2006/2007”.

It continues: “The principal risk to the group is to lose market share

and as a result miss an opportunity to achieve planned sales growth with its knock-on effect on net income.

“The ongoing challenge for the group 1s maintaining sales and gross margin and controlling overheads and required capital expenditure. The strategy of the group is to con- tinue to differentiate its products on the basis of quality, service, range and availability.”

The accounts show that T Sheils and Co enjoyed a profit before tax in

2006 of €195,000. The directors are listed as Thomas Sheils and Mary- Ann Sheils.

The company had accumulated profits of €1.17 million and the fig- ures show that the company em- ployed 88 people and had a wage bill last year of €1.9 million.

According to a statement accom- panying the accounts, the directors “are satisfied with financial perform- ance for the period and anticipate improvement in future years”.

CONTENTIOUS plans by voluntary housing organisation, RESPOND in Shannon, are now in doubt after Clare County Council refused to ex- tend the organisation more time to complete a 28-unit housing develop- ment in the town.

Five years ago, RESPOND secured planning permission for 28 homes in the face of strong local opposition. To date they have constructed eight two-bed bungalows and two three-

bed semi-detached houses out of the total proposed.

The housing association lodged an application to extend time to allow for the completion of the project.

However, a submission from the Combined Residents Association from Tullyvarraga Hill and Brook- fields claimed that the site had been landscaped and surrounded by a boundary fence, and the contractor had left the site some months ago.

“There is little likelihood that the work, involving as it does consider-

able civil and ground work, could be completed within a reasonable time. In our opinion, there is no justifica- tion for extending the perfectly ad- equate original period,” the residents Sr BKGE

‘Furthermore, the imminent 1m- plementation of plans to extend the town centre area, with commercial and residential developments, chang- es the whole basis of planning.

“The only sensible course is to re- ject the extension and for RESPOND to re-apply for planning in light of

the new circumstances.

“There is an adequate supply, even a surfeit of apartments in Shannon, which are intrinsically better, more attractive and cheaper than the pro- posed mini-blocks and to spend pub- lic money on such a project is unac- ceptable,” the residents’ submission maintained.

“In our opinion, the mini-blocks are of defective design, would not serve the needs of Shannon and would be an irresponsible use of public money. They would be intrusive and dimin-

ish the area visually and in quality of life and in value terms.”

A report from the council’s planning inspector said that an additional four years was sought by the applicants to complete the development and this was not a reasonable timeframe for the works to be completed.

The council ruled that the exten- sion be refused “as substantial works had not been carried out to date in accordance with Section 42 of the Planning and Development Act 2000”.

HEALTHIER living environments and significant savings on energy bills are on their way to Clare after it was announced that the county will be the subject of an EU-funded en- ergy efficiency audit during January.

The audit of the county’s social housing stock follows a Government pledge to acquire 9,000 social hous- ing units nationally in 2008.

The aim of the two-year project, Advanced Ventilation- Approaches for Social Housing (AVASH), is to determine the best ventilation strat- egy for existing social housing units in order to achieve maximum energy efficiency, occupant comfort and sig- nificant reductions in energy bills for householders.

All data collected will be analysed and presented to social housing pro- viders who are considering upgrad-

ing their social housing stock by performing energy intelligent retro- fitting of individual dwellings and entire schemes.

“Existing social housing units in Clare consume a large amount of energy for heating with significant emissions of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels,” said Jay Stuart, who will lead the project.

“It’s important, therefore, to under- stand how the energy consumption

of existing dwellings can best be reduced whilst achieving a comfort- able and healthy environment for the occupants through good ventilation strategies.”

He also indicated that the audit would involve the assessment of a broad range of social housing, in- cluding family dwellings and dwell- ings for the elderly and the disabled.

“Advanced thermal imaging and pressure testing equipment will

be used to discover the state of the dwellings thermal insulation and lev- el of air tightness. Once this has been completed, computer simulations will be used to determine the best ventilation strategy for the dwelling type,’ he said.

Further information about the audit and Advanced Ventilation Approaches for Social Housing (AVASH) is available by emailing R.Southall@brighton.ac.uk

CHILDCARE, education, social housing, training, healthcare and physical infrastructure were the ar- eas targeted for investment in Clare under the National Development Plan during the past year.

Childcare services were allocated funding of €7.3 million for such projects as Cuan Aire Creche in En- nis, Kildysart Community Focus and West Clare Early Years Care and Education Service.

Ten schools received funding to manage their own building projects, while under the Summer Works Scheme, 26 schools received a total of €2.1 million for remedial works. Schools to benefit included Quilty National School, Ennis Community College and Kilrush Community School. A number of health projects were completed, including the Health Clinic Extension in Ennistymon which received over €500,000.

Meanwhile hundreds of local people are employed due to participation on a wide range of FAS training courses and other programmes. Industry and jobs have been created through the support of the NDP-funded County Enterprise Board (CEB). Clare CEB was allocated over €874,000 with 28 different projects grant aided. Com- panies included De Barra Publishing Ltd; Authentic Ireland Travel and Olga O’ Malley Childcare Creche.

Clare received €14.9 million for social housing, including projects in Sixmilebridge, Corofin, Scar- riff, Killaloe and Kuildysart. Over €332,000 for voluntary housing was provided for projects such as Kilmi- hil Community Housing and the Banner Housing Association. The Local Development Social Inclu- sion Programme (LDSIP) continued to fund local partnerships like Eiri Corca Baiscinn, Ennis West Partners and OBAIR, Newmarket-on-Fergus Limited.

The Clare Accessible Transport Initiative, which provides services to rural communities, was also assisted, while €900,000 was allocated for refurbishment of the Bus Eireann station in Ennis. Over €20million was allocated to non-national roads including the Ballybeg Road.

Over €25 million was allocated for national road improvements and maintenance. The opening of the En- nis Bypass is estimated to have taken 20,000 vehicles a day off the streets of Ennis.

The second phase of the NDP’s Metropolitan Area Networks pro- gramme will see the roll-out of broadband infrastructure to many towns. Kilrush was selected for this scheme and the network is currently under construction.

The waste infrastructure grant in 2007 was over €1.04 million to pro- mote greater use of recycling and

recovery. The allocation to upgrade and expand water treatment capac- ity, improve drinking water quality and supply, and improve and expand wastewater treatment was over €24

million. €24 million was allocated to upgrade and expand water treat- ment services.

Clare received an allocation of €1.13 million for tourism develop-

ment. The Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre opened and other projects included Blackhead Angling Facili- ties and Lough Derg International Waterpark.

‘HOW is my annual leave entitlement calculated? My employer hasn’t giv- en me a payslip – what do I do? What is the new Green Card employment permit? What is custom and practice in the workplace?’

These are just some of the ques- tions answered by the Citizens In- formation Board’s booklet, ‘Employ- ment Rights Explained’, which was

launched earlier this week. Now in its fourth edition, the guide is part of the board’s ‘entitlements Series’, which empowers citizens to obtain access to information on their rights.

According to Paul Woulfe, man- ager with the Citizens Information Service in Clare, “It is hoped that the booklet will be a useful and practical geulide for employees, employers and new comers to our country who take Vue mesento)onisnsloislmssuer

“If you are starting work for the first time check out the sections on contracts, wages and hours of work. The new year will bring a plethora of work-related queries to our cen- tres throughout the county – mostly as aresult of not knowing what basic rights you have as an employee in the workplace.

The Clare Citizens Information cen- tres received 30,/66 queries during 2006 and a growing number relate to

the area of employment rights.

‘This is not surprising as the range of employment options has expanded in recent years and includes part- time work, agency work, fixed term contracts and temporary employ- ment. We also assist clients in bring- ing cases to the Employment Appeals Tribunal and offering representation at Rights Commissioner hearings,” added Paul Woulfe.

The guide includes a summary of

key employment rights and brings together information from different government departments and agen- cies. Each chapter includes a list of the relevant legislation, a section on where and how to enforce your rights and a case study showing how the law works in practice. The latest edi- tion includes a new chapter on seek- ing redress, an expanded chapter on employment permits, a glossary and a detailed index.

THE Irish Government sanctioned searches of Cuban and Czech flights into Shannon in the 1960s on the re- quest of the USA, according to sealed Government documents released to the public yesterday.

At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, the US am- bassador sought a meeting with the then-T’aoiseach Sean Lemass.

A US embassy counsellor visited the Department of External Affairs and said the ambassador would raise concerns about the Shannon stopover, involving Prague-Havana flights.

‘He made it clear Washington had been worried about the extent to which the traffic through Shannon

may have helped in the build-up in Cuba, and in particular in the trans- port of technical personnel and possi- ble arms,’ Con Cremin, Secretary of the Department of External Affairs, recorded in a November 2 memo.

The secretary also recorded a call from Lemass in which the Taoiseach told him that the aeroplanes would be searched.

If “warlike” material was found, Ireland would consider refusing the planes transit facilities – providing the Government could do so without violating the Convention on Interna- tional Civil Aviation.

Ireland also passed on details about aircraft cargo, weight, passengers and their nationalities and details of over-flights to the American Em-

bassy.

Regular searches only came to an end in 1966 when the Irish authori- ties were told that the US govern- ment “is now agreeable to a cessation of the regular inspections”.

Spot-checks continued until De- cember 1970 at which time the US Embassy told the Department of For- tse WUE: U RMN OOT-1mm 0 eloa’Mmen OOT-h VAN O\omm OUTS continued immediately”.

The release of these documents come as the present day Govern- ment refuses to allow searches of US planes at Shannon despite a recom- mendation to do so from its own hu- man rights watchdog.

The Government has rejected the recommendation of the Irish Hu- mans Rights Commission (IHRC) to

search the planes at Shannon if they are suspected rendition flights.

Following a study the statutory body recommended that the Gov- ernment introduce an effective and independent inspection regime as a matter of urgency.

Although there have been no re- corded incidents of rendition in Irish territories, planes used for the practice have stopped in Shannon, according to a report from the Euro- pean Parliament.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern claimed the IHRC was more willing “to give credence to a Self- appointed activist group” than the categorical assurances of the demo- cratically elected government of the US.