Month: August 2007

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has bro- ken his silence on the Shannon/Hea- throw crisis to announce the setting up of a group to study the options for the airport and the region.

The news comes after a weekend protest in which almost 6,000 people took to the streets and marched along the Shannon dual carriageway to de- mand that the decision be reversed.

In his first public announcement since the controversial decision to axe the Heathrow flights at Shannon 14 days previously, the Taoiseach promised that an interdepartmen-

tal group of senior government of- ficials will be asked to examine all the available options for airline con- nectivity.

He repeated his reassurances yes- terday afternoon at a meeting with Brian O’Connell, Chairman of the Atlantic Way, regarding Shannon- London connectivity.

He stated that the report to be pre- pared for Government should clearly set out the options for supporting aviation connectivity for Shannon, the level of investment in the Shan- non region in the National Develop- ment Plan and Transport 21, and the implications of aviation connectivity

for companies.

O’Connell said that the message he brought the Taoiseach was one of “deep anger and concern” but that the meeting was “positive and construc- tive…this is a vital first step towards addressing the key issue of the slots and also the wider context of Shan- non’s global connectivity,” he said.

Ennis, Galway, Limerick and Shan- non chambers of commerce today gave a preliminary welcome to the Taoiseach’s announcement.

The four Chambers, who collec- tively represent 1,600 businesses with over 100,000 employees, said they will work closely with the group

but added that “the current decision by Aer Lingus, although question- able from a commercial and political point of view, is also the result of a much broader issue; the overall lack of regional up-to-date infrastructure which should have been in place at least three years ago.

“If the Government was truly com- mitted to balanced regional develop- ment, then the region would not be in this position today,” a spokesman Sr HKOe

AFTER three hours of heated discus- sion, Clare County Council adopted two compromise motions on the Shannon crisis following an emer- gency meeting of the local authority last night.

The emergency meeting had threat- ened to boil over into party bicker- ing, as a number of possible motions were discussed by Government and opposition councillors.

A number of motions, including one calling for a vote of no-confi- dence in the Minister for Transport proposed by Joe Arkins (FG) and another calling for a 24-hour, two- person council vigil to be set up at Shannon Airport proposed by Colm Wiley (FF), were rejected in favour of an all-party compromise.

The council adopted a motion stat- ing that Clare County Council would remind the Minister for Transport of his reponsibility to the development to the west of Ireland and the bal- anced development of the country as a whole.

A second motion called on the Minister for Transport, the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach to take immediate action to resolve the situ- ation in Shannon.

County Manager, Alex Fleming, emphasised the negative impact that a loss of business rates due to the Air Lingus pull out would have on the lo-

cal authority.

“Unlike most counties, this county really depends on the commercial rate base.

“Any impact on this will impact seriousely on the rate base in the county,” he said.

‘“T have invested very heavily on the assumption that things are coming together with connectivity. Our ex- pectation is that connectivity would increase, the fact that it might de- crease is a real surprise.”

Fleming also called on the council- lor to continue an approach of soli- darity and progress with a ‘simple and actionable objective’.

All 32 council members are also to spend a half-day in Shannon Airport, to show solidarity with the workers of Shannon and coincide with the visit of Air Lingus Chief Executive, Dermot Mannion later this week.

Meanwhile, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP), confirmed to the council that party leader and Minister for the Environment, John Gormly, would be travelling to Ennis on Thursday to meet with a council delegation on the subject.

North Clare Cllr, Martin Conway (FG), also told the council that he iS organising a meeting of all Fine Gael councillors in Clare, Limerick, Kerry and Tipperary to take place in Shannon later in the week and discuss a joint proposal to be put to party leader, Enda Kenny.

CALLS for the resignation of Fianna Fail ministers, the holding of an Aer Lingus EGM and for councillors to protest at the airport with banners came from an emergency meeting of the council last night.

Councillor Madeleine Taylor-Quinn proposed a motion on behalf on the Fine Gael members at the emergency meeting called by Mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia McCarthy.

She called on the Minister for Fi- nance “to immediately call an EGM of Aer Lingus to discuss the matter and reverse this decision.”

She said that despite having a spa- tial strategy “the Government is about to allow the withdrawl of these critical slots which provide vital con- nectivity”.

Her colleague, Cllr Joe Arkins further proposed that if the slots are withdrawn that the Government lead a legal challenge to the decision.

He described news that a new route may be on the way to Paris as a “smoke and mirrors exercise’,

The Fine Gael members also asked that the council seek an immediate meeting with the Taoiseach on the matter, while Mayor Mccarthy told the meeting that she has made con- tact with all of the mayors in Tipper- ary, Limerick and Galway to seek a

joint meeting with the Fianna Fail leader.

Labour councillor, Pascal Fitzger- ald, called on the “mid-west minis- ters to state publicly that they will resign if these slots are taken from Shannon. People’s livelihoods are at stake and the Government is doing yatelee vb sree

Cllr Colm Wiley (FF) said that “calling does nothing. What I am proposing is that two members of this council go to the airport with placards and protest until we get what we want and rotate the protest so that there are members of this council there at all times until this 1s resolved.”

Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) accused the Government of having “no function- al regional policy” while Fianna Fail councillor, Richard Nagle, said that the “only satisfactory outcome to this is the retention of our slots into Heathrow”.

He said the Fianna Fail councillors have jointly sent letters to the minis- ters for transport, tourism and trade and employment outlining the poten- tial seriousness of the consequences of the decision.

He said that the council “should call on the Taoiseach to recall his minis- ters and set up and interdepartmental eroup to deal with what can only be described as a crisis for this region.”

AS THE county board and the clubs of Clare continue their search for a new football manager at tonight’s board meeting, news that Seamus Clancy has ruled himself out of the race will have strengthened the body of opinion calling for the reinstate- ment of Donie Buckley.

It is thought that over the past few days Clancy made known to the county board his wishes not to be considered for the position.

The former All-Star was widely touted as one of the best options for the county due to his experience both as a player and manager and because of his forthright and honest views of Clare’s dismal season.

His withdrawal means there’s one less option for Clare right now and on the back of this weekend’s club championship showing, the county needs as many options as possible.

It was another weekend of sub- standard club championship football in which the quality was low and the scores were even lower. It took 272 minutes for the first championship goal this year, with a total of four goals altogether in round one.

Goals apart, the points tallies are just as unimpressive and paint a wor- rying picture of the state of Clare football at present.

After two complete rounds of the senior championship, only four sides managed to get into double point fig- ures and kick more than nine points over an hour.

In the first round, Shannon Gaels

managed ten points and Wolfe Tones scored eleven. In the second round, Cooraclare kicked eleven points while Lissycasey notched up ten. It means that out of 32 opportunities over the 16 games so far, the magical figure of ten points was only reached four times.

On Saturday, Liscannor managed to beat one of the favourites for the championship by scoring only five points against a Doonbeg side that managed only three points — all from suueKy

It harks back to the dark days of Clare football when county champi- onships were won on meagre score- lines.

On top of this, the so-called top teams are not exactly leading by ex- ample. Defending champions Eire Og again stuttered and stumbled to victory for the second week running and notched up 14 wides in the proc- ess, while Shannon Gaels went under to an unfancied Ennistymon outfit.

Elsewhere, St Joseph’s Miultown couldn’t even put a point on the board in their second-half against Eire Og and St Breckans went 34 minutes without raising a white flag.

On this showing, perhaps other op- tions may go by the wayside in the quest for a new manager.

THE decision by Aer Lingus to halt its Shannon-Heathrow service and transfer to Belfast’s Aldergrove Air- port has been described as the “dying kick for the midwest”.

Mayor of Ennis, Tommy Brennan was speaking at a special meeting of Ennis Town Council convened to discuss the implications of Aer Lin- gus’s controversial decision.

He also said that cross-party politi- cal support was critical to securing the future of Shannon as a strong in- CLUE Neon aKSe

Councillors present at the meeting said unless the Heathrow service was retained, there would be dire conse- quences for industry and ancillary Services in the mid-west.

The council will also write to the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey and Aer Lingus to protest the move.

Cllr Brennan said, “None of the Dail can be found. This was made up with Paisley and there is nothing that suggests otherwise. We cannot afford to lose the flight to Heathrow, otherwise we might as well close down the mid-west and west coast

completely.”

Fianna Fail councillor Tom Glynn said, “We have to protect those slots in Heathrow.

“They have an obligation to cus- tomers and businesses who helped set up industry in the region.”

Fine Gael councillor Mary Coote- Ryan said it was a “black day for Shannon”.

Cllr Taiwoo Matthew questioned the decision to terminate the profit- able Shannon-Heathrow route.

“I don’t see the economic benefit for Aer Lingus to go from a position Where they had a monopoly to one

where they will be in competition. It could be devastating for the region,” he said.

Independent councillor Frankie Neylon challenged the Green Party to stand up to Fianna Fail.

“When it comes to birds and by- passes, the Greens are everywhere. But now they don’t seem to want to know about it. They were going to be the watchdogs for Fianna Fail. Now it’s time for them to prove their eyKeyee none

Fianna Fail councillor Peter Con- sidine questioned the legality of the decision to transfer to Belfast.

THE Mayor of Shannon, Cllr Sean McLoughlin, has warned that the battle to retain the Shannon-London link 1s only just beginning.

Shannon’s first citizen is now ask- ing people from across the west and particularly from Clare to join a solidarity walk this Friday evening, from the Drumline roundabout to the Ballymurtagh roundabout, start- ing at 7pm.

The Drumline roundabout is lo- cated on the flyover at the off ramp of the main Limerick to Ennis road,

which leads into Shannon and the airport.

The Ballymurtagh roundabout 1s located at the end of the dual car- riageway at the interchange for Shan- non Town Centre, the airport and the turnoff for the Newmarket-on-Fer- gus road.

‘We are asking anybody who wish- es to show solidarity with the cam- paign to bring the necessary pressure to bear on both our government and the Aer Lingus management team to withdraw plans to cease the air-link between Shannon and London Hea- throw.

“The walk is about one mile in length and we will welcome peo- ple from all over who feel that they would like to do something positive to ensure our vital link with London Heathrow is maintained,’ he said.

“We invite people of all ages, from senior citizens to parents and chil- dren, to demonstrate that the residents of the west of Ireland have the power to gather as one and walk shoulder to shoulder in a dignified and peaceful manner to overturn this commercial decision and hold onto our right of passage to London Heathrow and thus the rest of the world.”

CLARE’S under 18 game against Galway, which was set for Sunday evening last, was postponed. Clare were all set for this game but it was postponed at the last minute at a meeting of Central Council in Nolan Park on Saturday afternoon.

Galway had looked for a postpone- ment of this game as members of their under 18 panel were also in- volved with their county senior panel who played in the senior semi-final against Wexford which they lost.

With fixture congestion, it was im- possible to fit in the game if it was put off, with the county junior side

in an All-Ireland semi-final this Sun- day and the winners of the Under 18 play-off due to play in a quarter-final on August 25.

However, when Central Council met on Saturday evening, they rear- ranged the play-off for August 25 and put the quarter-final back until September 16.

Tae) ee CoMM WE YACME OOD KMB OSE: hYAN ULE OU E-TKe as they will know their fate in the Junior Championship and the players who were in doubt over the weekend due to recent injuries should be fit for that renewed encounter with Galway and be able to claim their spot in the squad for the quarter-final in Sep- tember.

CPSSL have preparations well un- derway for the Kennedy Cup compe- tition to be held at the university of Limerick in June 2008.

This is an annual national event aimed at showcasing the best un- der 13 soccer talent from across the country. The event is attended by numerous head scouts from all the best clubs, both from Ireland and England, and is regularly attended by English Premier League clubs.

Each season Clare’s showing im- proves, and in June of this year, under the management of Michael Guilfoyle and Tommy Molloy, Clare improved their seeding up to 13th in the country.

Following the appointment of Dave Kerin and Clive Slater as joint man- agers, their first move was to appoint

Avenue United coach expert Tommy Molloy and meet up with FAI Re- gional Development Officer, Denis Hynes.

Arising out of this meeting the fol- lowing detailed plan has been pro- duced, which will see Clare pushing to improve even further on last sea- son’s success.

Management –

Emerging Talent Head Coaches and Kennedy Cup Managers – Dave Kerin and Clive Slater.

FAI Regional/County Development Officer – Denis Hynes

Kennedy Cup Expert Advisor and Assistant Coach – Tommy Molloy Other Coaches/Positions – To be CLoyibebuaaterem

Programme –

August 2007 – Clubs to submit names of county standard players

02/09/07 – Weekly Trials and Train- ing commences at Lees Road 23/09/07 — Selection of panel of ap- proximately 25 plus goalkeepers. Early October 2007 — Parent and player’s evening to explain commit- ments and expectations.

October 2007 (Depending on com- pletion of league season) — Increase training to | Emerging Talent (tech- niques and skills) plus 1 Kennedy Cup (tactics) session per week. January 2008 — Panel of 20 selected. Easter 2008 — Travel to a tourna- ment (possibly abroad).

May 2008 — CPSSL organised county tournament at Lees Road 09/06/08-13/06/07 — Kennedy Cup Tournament at University of Limer- ick (Dates to be finalised).

Training and Trials All training sessions will be run in

accordance with the Emerging Talent programme and taken by David Ker- in, Denis Hynes and Clive Slater.

The panel will be divided amongst the coaches available and, when ap- propriate, rotated through the ses- sion. Clubs will be permitted to submit three or four players, born in 1994, of county standard for trials.

Clubs are required to take a respon- sible attitude before submitting play- ers for trials.

In the event that a club considers they have more than three or four players of a suitable standard, they will be permitted to advise the man- agement of this.

The trial format will be open in that we will be happy to receive comments from other managers and coaches in attendance and take these into consideration when assessing players.

ame) aale gust 10 just 22 people had taken ad- vantage of the “cheaper flights” from Belfast to London Heathrow from

January 14 to 21, 2008. The total revenue from these fares was a mere £412 sterling.

The airline has the capacity to carry as many as 9,/44 people in its four slots from the Northern Ireland airport during that period.

The three slots that would have been used during this winter period in Shannon could have carried 7,308 passengers.

More than 6.5 per cent of the ca- pacity of these flights for January 14 to 21, 2008 had already been booked when Aer Lingus announced it was

cancelling the route.

Instead, the coveted slots were be- ing transferred to Belfast.

Critics of the decision have argued it makes no business sense.

Last year, more than 321,000 peo- ple travelled the London Heathrow/ Shannon route. Of that number, 25 per cent were estimated to be busi- ness passengers while 33 per cent came through London Heathrow from the USA or Europe.

Chief Executive of Limerick Cham- ber Maria Kelly said, “The Shannon- Heathrow service has been operating

successfully and profitably for over half a century and the removal of these services will effectively cut off the West of Ireland from all major European cities and key destinations in the Middle and Far East. This will have serious implications for both tourism and business in the region.

“Cork, Dublin and Belfast will continue to have links to Heathrow and the other great European hubs to connect travellers to long-haul inter- national flights but the west and mid- west regions will now be deprived of this,” she said.

Tadhg Kearney, Limerick Chamber transport spokesperson, added, “It is important to emphasize that the Shannon-Heathrow route is success- ful and profitable and is one where Aer Lingus has for decades enjoyed an effective monopoly because of slot capacity restrictions in Heath- row Airport. They are now abandon- ing this profitable monopoly route to instead enter the highly competitive Belfast-Heathrow market against two other significant operators. One must question the commercial logic behind such a decision.”

With the latest fear of a major Foot and Mouth outbreak starting to abate, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan TD, has announced a range of measures de- signed to protect the Irish horse in- CliamtA

Speaking during last week’s Dublin Horse Show, the minister announced that she has stepped up measures to protect Irish horse breeders with stricter enforcement and inspection of passports and identification for horses to ensure compliance with the regulations.

Coughlan said her department of- ficers will have enhanced powers in the enforcement of the EU regula- tions on identification of horses. In

addition, marts, sales yards and other premises where horses are assembled are required to ensure that horses entering their premises have valid passports. Department Inspectors will carry out random inspections to ensure compliance with these regula- tions by both horse owners and other operators in the country.

“Complhance with the new regula- tions is essential for the protection of the country’s equine population and industry, with the sport horse sector alone now worth in excess of EUR400 million and involving 53,000 peo- ple,’ said Minister Coughlan.

It 1s now just over a year since Ireland experienced its first case of Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA), a threat that almost forced the can- cellation of last year’s Dublin horse

show.

“Of the many lessons learned, we now appreciate the necessity of hav- ing an effective identification sys- tem for horses. The department will therefore be supporting new regula- tions being drafted by the EU Com- mission to provide for a national database for horses in each Member State,” she continued.

Minister Coughlan expressed her appreciation of the bloodstock in- dustry and, particularly, the sports horse sector, for its co-operation and patience during the outbreak and said that the efficient and expeditious manner in which the outbreak had been contained and eradicated could not have been achieved but for the commitment of the Department and the industry working together for the

benefit of all involved.

The minister concluded by remind- ing horse owners, stud managers and others in the industry to remain vigi- lant and to continue to exercise the highest standards of biosecurity to minimise the prospects of any fur- ther outbreaks of the disease.

Equine Infectious Anaemia also known by horsemen as “Swamp Fe- ver’, is a horse disease caused by a retrovirus and transmitted by blood- sucking insects.

The virus is endemic in the Amert- cas, parts of Europe, the Middle and Far East, Russia, and South Af- rica. EIA can be transmitted through blood, saliva, milk, and body se- cretions. Transmission is_ usually through blood-sucking insects, such as the horse-fly and deer-fly.