Month: September 2007

THE Samaritans would be better off coming to Lisdoonvarna in October or November rather than during the month of September when there is no loneliness in the Spa town.

That’s the view of matchmaker, Willie Daly who was responding to the Samaritans’ initiative of hav- ing 20 Samaritan volunteers at Lis- doonvarna over the weekend to offer emotional support to those who are ‘unlucky in love’.

Billed as the largest singles event in Europe, the month-long Matchmak- ing Festival is in full swing, with dancing starting every day at llam and continuing deep into the night.

Samaritan volunteers kept a round- the-clock presence in the Square in the north Clare Spa town from Fri- day until 3am Sunday morning.

Explaining the initiative, Samaritan Festival Group Co-ordinator, Teresa Bell explained that some people who attend the festival may have high expectations of finding their match,

only to be left disappointed.

“Coming to the festival in the hope of finding a ‘match’ can often end in disappointment.

“Expectations can be high and if there are other emotional issues in a person’s life prior to coming to Lis- doon, then they can quickly resurface and change the mood very quickly.”

However, matchmaker Willie Daly said that “the Samaritans would be better off coming when the festival is over, as people will then be missing the unique September atmosphere,

rather than when there is no loneli- ness in the town. Hats off to them. I think it is a marvellous idea that the Samaritans are coming to Lisdoon- varna, but here, no one goes home disappointed during the month of September. There is an absence of loneliness here during the month.” Asked if he had made any match- es this year, he said, “I matched up a couple there on the first weekend and the woman got back to me to say that they are already talking about marriage, so that makes my job

easy to do. I believe that the eligible Irish man is an endangered species, because you have all these women coming from overseas, including the European countries, seeking them out and there is not enough of them. As the song goes, ‘Nobody Loves Like An Irish Man’.”

Willie revealed that a number of very wealthy US women are due in Lisdoonvarna “looking for an ordi- nary Irish man, because they hear that Irish men are good lovers and very good characters”.

THE man most closely identified with the €19 million Ennis Informa- tion Age Town prize admitted this week that expectations were built to a level that could never be attained.

Ten years ago today, the country’s newspapers carried photos of TJ Wa- ters and his Task Force celebrating Ennis’s historic win.

Reflecting on the project’s legacy, Mr Waters admitted that the local Task Force built expectations to a level that they could never attain.

Census statistics now show that En- nis has been eclipsed by Shannon in terms of homes that own a PC, while almost half of Ennis homes have no access to the internet.

Assessing the project’s impact, Mr Waters said, “Ennis will always

be remembered as Ennis Informa- tion Age Town and we certainly got international acclaim and we will never see the like of it again. It was important for us at the time.”

He also said that the project should run over three years. The failed pri- vate IT venture that came out of the (LAT) prize was finally wound up in 2005 — eight years after Ennis won the prize.

THE county’s roads have claimed their ninth life this year as a 75-year- old woman was knocked down and killed as she crossed the road at Dar- ragh, outside Ennis, on Sunday.

Mary McGuane died after she was struck by a motorbike about five miles outside Ennis, on the main En- nis/Kilrush road, at around 12 noon.

Emergency services and family members arrived at the scene within minutes but efforts to resuscitate Ms McGuane failed and she died later at Ennis General Hospital.

The driver of the motorcycle, who hails from Ennis and who was travel- ling in the direction of Kilrush, was unhurt in the collision.

Itis believed Mrs McGuane was on

her way to visit neighbours and was crossing the road when the accident Clee u Keren

A widow, she was due to celebrate her 76th birthday next month. Her husband ‘Tom passed away I1 years ago. She is survived by four daugh- ters Chris, Anne, Margaret and Bridget, son Michael, son-in-laws Kieran (McNamara), Michael (Ryan) and David (Bradley) and several grandchildren.

She was born into a farming fam- ily in Darragh and lived there all her Tate

‘“She’s crossing that road since she was a child. The odds are she was going visiting when the accident took place,” a family member told

MUNSTER rugby fans in Clare have expressed mixed feelings following confirmation that London Wasps have moved the venue for their Heineken Cup “home” clash with Munster in November to Coventry forcing supporters to change travel and accommodation arrangements at extra expense.

HEC champions Wasps were ex- pected to host 2006 cup winners Munster on November 10 in London however it has now been confirmed that the Round 1, Pool 5 clash will take place in Coventry, 100 miles from the capital. A spokesperson for the Ricoh Stadium has confirmed that the venue has been booked for the game at 5.30pm on November 10 next.

It was always unlikely that the game would be played at Wasps’ home ground at Adam’s Park as the

capacity there is only 10,000. The club had been considering a number of options including Twickenham, the Emirates, Wembley Stadium and other venues outside London, how- ever none of these options material- There

PRO of the Munster Rugby Sup- porters Club, Glenn Flanagan said yesterday, “Whilst initially we were disappointed that Wasps chose to move the game from London to Cov- entry, we do understand that Wasps exhausted every possibility, to stage the game in London. We understand that venues from Southampton, Emirates Stadium, MK Dons Are- na, Stamford Bridge, Wembley and Twickenham were all considered but for one reason or another, these ven- ues were not available.

As soon as the draw for this sea- son’s championship was announced during the summer, hundreds of Munster fans quickly booked flights

to London but will now have to take a two hour train journey from the capital to Coventry’s Ricoh Stadium for the clash or make alternative ar- rangements.

A spokesman for the European Rugby Cup (ERC) has said, “As the tournament continues to grow several Clubs are now moving pool matches to larger venues to cater for demand following a trend that started with quarter-finals like Munster’s last year at Lansdowne Road and Bourgoin who moved their clash with Munster to Geneva.”

“If Wasps stayed at Adams Park, Munster would get less than 1,500 tickets for their fans for what must be one of the biggest and most antici- pated pool games for either club and the tournament. Their move to the State of the art 32,000 Ricoh Arena will mean that thousands more fans will be able to attend the game if they wish.

‘The venues for the Pool stages are decided by the home clubs, and they must confirm the venues at least sev- en weeks before the game to ERC. This is a new deadline introduced this season,” according to the ERC.

MRSC PRO Glenn Flanagan add- ed, “of course, with the game being moved to a bigger venue, it gives the Opportunity to have more Munster Supporters at the game. Although many of our members have booked various flights into London for the game, we will endeavour to help show them the best way to Coventry from all London Airports.” Informa- tion is available from www.munster- rugbysupporters.com.

WOODSTOCK’S hopes of All-Ire- land glory perished in Belfast on Thursday afternoon as they bowed out of the Pierce Purcell Shield at the semi-final stage to a crack Warren- point side.

The semi-final clash was played in Shandon Park, just outside Belfast, but the local knowledge of the War- renpoint club from nearby Down was crucial in driving them to a compre- hensive 4-1.

Woodstock failed to win any of the five matches in the foursomes competition. Indeed, the semi-final bid of the 2002 champions started on the worst possible note when the lead pairing of Michael Kelly and Stephen Spencer went down by 6 and 4 to S Sands and D Flanagan.

Woodstock then gave themselves some hope for the remainder of the tie when Jimmy Kelly and Jason Dor- mer played out a halved match with S Colgan and P Devlin. They were one up with five to play, but then found themselves one down with three to play. However, they battled back to Neu kommer DEe

Match three then became a cru- cial rubber for Woodstock, but the

pairing of Noel Dinan and Liam O’Connor bowed out after putting up a brave battle against N Devine and A Campbell. They were four down after five but battled back to be only one hole adrift by the 16th. However, Devine and Campbell held firm and closed out the match on the 18th to win by two holes.

It meant that Martin Nolan and Michael O’Brien had to win their match — they made a bold bid but had to be content with a half. It was the all-important half-point for Warren- point that put them through to a fi- nal meeting with Donabate who beat Bearna in the other semi-final.

The final match out on the course also went Warrenpoint’s way with M Redmond and M McGivern beating Tony Lawlor and James McMahon by 3 and 1.

KILRUSH Town Councillors have been accused of “not caring about” the Shannon crisis, and the loss of Aer Lingus’s London-Heathrow slot from the airport.

Mayor of Kilrush, Tom Clyne (Ind) said he is aware of comments that the councillors have been very quiet on the issue and “did not speak out in public’.

At this month’s meeting of the town council, Cllr Marian McMahon- Jones (FG) said while the council may not have been there as a unit, members of the council did attend.

‘Maybe we should have had a state- ment out by now,” she said.

“T think we as a council need to be a lot more aware and a lot more vo- cal,’ she added.

Independent councillor Deirdre Culligan told the members, “It has been noted that councillors were TPO Basso be roa

In addressing the meeting, Cllr Tom Prenderville (FF) said, “a lot has been said about the issue. We at- tended a lot of meetings, we are four- square behind the airport.”

“We are a sinking ship and there are people out there who can throw us a life raft and that is the Govern- ment,” said Cllr McMahon-Jones.

“Tf small councils, big councils and our politicians stand united, disre- garding political parties, and call

Bertie out, we could force his hand,” she said.

She said it was time that the TDs and Government stood up and were counted.

“They were not elected to roll over for Aer Lingus. They are elected to represent the people.”

Fianna Fail councillor Liam Looney agreed with his council colleague.

“T am beginning to question my own membership of Fianna Fail,” he told the meeting.

THE Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern could be facing outright revolt in Clare if the feelings of his county council- lors are an indication of the mood within the party.

Though the majority of Clare county councillors from Fianna Fail and the Green Party would not only expect the Government TDs from the western region to resign the whip, many are prepared to see the Government fall over the issue.

Just six of Clare’s county coun- cillors from the government par- ties said they did not believe that the TDs of the area should resign their seat 1f a link between Shannon and London-Heathrow is not main- tained, and one of the councillors answered no only because the sug- gestion did not go far enough.

West Clare councillor Bill Cham- bers (FF) said the TDs should be prepared to resign before a vote of the issue is even taken and let Ber- tie Ahern know they are prepared to vote against the government on the issue of Shannon.

“That is letting them off the hook, there is no point resigning after.

They need to force the vote on the S)areveb ae) sm Re one

The issue of using the Govern- ment 25 per cent Aer Lingus share was not as clear a resigning matter for the Clare councillors.

Ennis councillor Peter Considine said it was not a yes/no answer and felt that the other two questions on

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern could lose more than nine county coun- cillors in Clare less than two years ahead of the local elections.

Clare County Councillor Richard Nagle is chairman of the Clare tour- ism forum and one of the nine gov- ernment party county councillors contemplating leaving their parties if the government fails to ensure con- nectivity between Shannon and Lon- don-Heathrow.

Aware of the implications the 1s- sue has on his tourism brief and the economy of the western region, Cllr Nagle said, “I would have to strongly consider my position if that were to happen.”

The north Clare councillor was not alone in his sentiment.

Green Party councillor Brian Meaney has already informed party leader John Gormley of his intention to step down if the Government does not fight to acquire or retain the re- quired slots into London Heathrow.

Cllr Bernard Hanrahan was one of three councillors who did not want to give a definite yes to the answer, opt- ing for probably instead.

He said he would “probably resign” but under serious consideration.

“I would have to seriously consider it. | can’t fight from the outside. I can only fight from the inside.”

Cllr Bill Chamber said, “There is no point in leaving the Fianna Fail party. I am not in the Dail.”

If the councillors were to uphold their promise that Fianna Fail will be sending, at most, seven sitting county councillors on the hustings in 2009.

Even among those that gave a nega- tive answer to

THE plight of hundreds of unmar- ried Clare fathers who have no legal rights to custody of their children under the Irish Constitution took a dramatic step forward last week fol- lowing the Mr G case in the High Sous

According to the local representa- tive of the Unmarried Fathers of Ire-

land Organisation, pressure 1s now on the Government to propose an election to change the constitution. “Our main objective is towards the fundamental right of a child to have both parents involved in its life. We are not about fighting parents against parents. It’s about the kids. We love our kids and we want to have a life around our kids,’ said Andrew White, Munster Spokesperson for

the Unmarried Fathers of Ireland. ‘This is so widespread, there are so many cases of unmarried fathers. Un- married fathers don’t have any rights to their children in this country. “The case last week will have a massive impact. It brought out the problems with the constitution in this country when it allowed a mother to take two kids out of this country and completely take them away from

their father, without the father having any say in the matter at all.”

According to the Unmarried Fa- thers of Ireland, the lack of contact between fathers and their children is having a massive impact of Irish so- ciety as a whole.

“Look at the suicide rate among young men in Ireland. In 2005, eight out of 10 male suicides were fathers who were being denied access to their

kids or young children who were be- ing denied access to their fathers,” he continued.

“T have been fighting for the last four years for this to happen. It’s a disgrace that two kids were essen- tially abducted away from the father before this has become an issue.”

For more information on the Un- married Fathers of Ireland, contact Andrew White on 086 1641513.

THE first work area recovery centre in the west of Ireland has been set up by Work Area Recovery Solu- tions Ltd. (WARS) in Shannon. The recovery centre offers businesses in

the western half of the country a pro- fessional, secure and cost-effective world-class recovery solution within easy access of their existing opera- tions.

Pat Hannon, IT Manager of Avo- cent International based in Shannon

and a client of the WARS facility endorses the centre stating “this new work area recovery centre is long overdue and provides a very valu- able back-up for business continu- ity support in the event of business disruption. It also gives publicly-

traded companies extra assurance and security to conform to corporate governance regulations outlined in Sarbanes-Oxley (US) and Turnbull (EU ) requirements, which states that they must produce timely, accurate and complete corporate financial re-

ports regardless of any type of busi- ness interruptions’.

The new WARS centre is fully equipped with resilient and redun- dant telecoms connectivity, back- up power, telephony and computer hardware.