Month: November 2007

JIM McInerney gathered his selec- tors around him outside the dressing at half-time. With Michael Browne and Raymond Stewart he chewed the fat of the first half. Pat O’Connor, who’s acted as a consultant to the team over the past few months threw in his tuppence worth too.

‘“T was worried,” admits Jim, “be- cause we were only three points ahead and we should have been a lot more ahead. We were trying to fig- ure out why we only had six points scored with all the play and posses- sion we had. We should have at least nine or ten points scored at half-time, but these things happen in games. We didn’t let it get to us and we went out and performed in the second half.

“We dominated the end of this game. Ballyduff Upper brought

their full-forward to midfield and he played a very good game there. It took us a while to get to grips with him, but Declan Murphy destroyed Stephen Molumphy and then we switched him over on Brian Kearney and he cancelled him out. We were in trouble until that switch, but then we TaD UI oxe ms aCe)ee Com OMA SCoMONONK ORM

It’s why supporters rushed to con- eratulate McInerney after the game. As manager he has led Tulla to the promised land in Clare and within 60 minutes of the provincial title. The stuff of dreams, he readily admits.

“Everyone knows that the Munster Club is a great competition to play in. Lads from Tulla don’t get many opportunities to play in a Munster final. This is our first and now that we have that chance, we’re going to go all out for it. We are giving this a serious lash.

“IT would have always felt that we were good enough to win a county title, but to get this team to reach that goal was a huge task. However, when you get on a winning streak anything can happen. You just keep on rolling and we’re still rolling, So roll on two weeks time in the Munster final.”

You can tell McInerney is relish- ing the prospect, because his side have nothing to lose and everything emcee Bute

“It’s a game of hurling — there’s no established club left in the final. Loughmore-Castleiney are like our- selves. We have as good a chance as them, we have a strong, fit team and we ll give it a rattle.”

Same as it has been all year.

THERE are always uncertainties when facing into a Munster cam- paign. The fear of the unknown and the precarious history of Clare football clubs in Munster contrib- ute to this feeling but this year, O’Callaghan’s Mills had an added point to prove. A year previous, they had qualified for the Munster junior quarter-final by virtue of the fact that Clare champions Kilmurry/Ibrickane had a senior team but the East Clare side went down disappointingly 0-8 to 0-3 to Cork side Adrigole.

This time the Mills were backed by an impressive run in the Clare junior A championship but after a five week absense since the county final against Kildysart, manager Mike O’Brien knew that they had would have to re- produce their championship winning form if they were to have a chance on Sunday.

“We are really delighted with the win. It was definitely a tricky one because we had to go down to their backyard and they had just won their county final last week while we hadn’t a competitive game in five weeks. So we didn’t really know how good or sharp we would be but it all worked out for us in the end. We had a great start and from there we controlled

the whole way through really.” Challenge matches against interme- diate champions Ballyvaughan and Galway side Gort certainly helped their sharpness as they hit the ground running from the opening whistle and opened up a Seven point lead. “The good start put any doubts to sleep really” admitted O’Brien “but again, going down we were confident that we would do it. Eoin Pewter’s goal after 3 minutes gave us a great start. Then we got a few points to go 1-4 to nothing up and it really settled iS Leading by 1-5 to O-2 points at the break, the Mills knew that all they had to do was continue playing to their strengths and frustrate their Waterford opposition but things be- gan to go against them as they con- ceeded a dubious second half penalty which was followed soon after by the sending off of Steve Donnellan. “They were two decisions which were crucial to the game in one sense. The penalty we felt wasn’t jus- tified at all. Their man even said it was no penalty but you have to live with those things and get on with it. Immediately after it, we went a man down when one of our lads got a straight red so we had to regroup, we got behind it and we kept them to a point after that before we got three

points ourselves to finally win out.

“Our fitness really told at the end. We had a few physical sessions done over the past few weeks with Ger Keane and he had them in tip-top shape going into it and that fitness really told in the end.”

Now O’Callaghan’s Mills find themselves in the unique position of being only 60 minutes away from a Munster junior final when they face Tipperary side Moycarkey-Borris in the semi-final in two weeks time. And with the added bonus of home advantage, the East Clare side are more than capable of achieving that momentus feat.

“It is a great opportunity to get to a Munster final.” stressed O’Brien. “It’s something that a Mills team has never done in the past and I suppose very few teams from the east have done it in football, if any so it’s a great opportunity to create history. It’s ahome game so we will look for- ward to it with good hope anyway.”

The rise of East Clare is confirmed with Clare’s only remaining repre- sentatives all coming from the east. Tulla and Clonlara in a final and the Mills flying the football flag for Clare in the junior semi-final. Vive la revolution.

A LONG-AWAITED flood study report on the greater Ennis area is recommending the freezing of devel- opment on 210 acres of land in the towns and its surrounds.

The consultants’ report also recom- mends spending €15 million to carry out works on barrage, river channel and an N18 bridge upgrade.

The recommendations in the study report, entitled “Ennis Main Drain- age: Lower Fergus Floodplain Stor- age Areas’, recommends that the “flood risk designation” be extended in the Ennis and Environs Develop- ment Plan, the removal of “other settlement lands” designation from development exclusion zone and the keeping of open spaces at existing ground levels.

The consultants discounted a sepa- rate option costed at €32 million which recommended the relocation of the barrage at Clarecastle. They stated that it would have severe 1m- pacts on pristine undeveloped areas and may be blocked by the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley.

The option discounted also rec- ommended an exclusion zone of 40 AYO Kone

The environmental appraisal of the

options included the potential 1m- pacts on fish, bird, vegetation, water quality, archaeology and recreational Viston

The consultants discounted two other options costed at €10 million and €7 million respectively.

Developers have been eagerly await- ing the publication of the report and how it impacts on proposed develop- ments on the environs of Ennis.

One of those developments im- pacted upon includes the Stephen Harris €50 million retail park on the outskirts of Ennis with the publica- tion of the flooding study one of the reasons why the plan has been put on hold.

However, it 1s not known in the presentation made to _ councillors from the Ennis area how the flood- ing study will impact on the Harris plan and other planning applications currently before the council.

In a statement earlier this year, the council stated that the flood manage- ment study “will have a significant influence as regards what is appro- priate and feasible from a develop- ment point of view in the lands in the vicinity of the Lower River Fergus”.

The report was conducted against the backdrop of severe flooding in the town in 1995 and 1999.

AN elderly Ennis man charged with sexually assaulting a neighbour over a three-year period has been cleared of the charges by a jury.

The man was before Ennis Circuit Court last week facing 19 charges of sex assault on dates between March 1975 and May 1978.

The alleged victim was aged be- tween 12 and 15 years at the time and said she had been assaulted by the accused when sent to his house on various messages.

The court heard evidence that the accused was alleged to have touched

the then teenager on her breast and private parts and to have shown her pornographic pictures on playing cards and in magazines. He was also alleged to have shown her a photo of himself naked, taken in his bedroom with an instamatic camera.

The accused had pleaded not guilty to all charges. The jury heard that the alleged victim made a complaint about the accused on Christmas Day, 25 years after she claimed the as- saults had started.

The jury of nine men and three women cleared the man of all charg- es after deliberating for almost four hours.

THE Munster Rugby Supporters Club and An Post are carrying out separate probes in to the apparent disappearance of around 300 tickets for last Sunday’s Heineken Cup clash between Munster and Clermont Au- vergne at Thomond Park in Limer- ae

The club had to cancel and reissue the tickets when as many as 10% of tickets dispatched to members were not delivered. The club received its ticket allocation on Friday Novem- ber 9 and posted the tickets to almost

3,000 members on the same day.

Late last week however, when their tickets had not arrived by post, con- cerned members began contacting the club’s Cork office prompting an immediate investigation of the mat- ae

In an email to members last Thurs- day, the MRSC said, “Following concerns earlier this week, we had hoped that tickets would be delivered later in the week but that does not ap- pear to be the case. An Post has been contacted and the concerns of the club regarding delivery have been expressed.”

A meeting took place in Cork early on Friday morning to finalise details for the cancellation of the estimated 300 original tickets and the re-issuing and collection of replacement tickets prior to Sunday’s game at Thomond Park which, although still under re- construction, had been passed to ac- commodate 12,000 fans. Extra staff were also drafted in deal with phone calls from concerned members.

Members were then asked to col- lect their tickets at Musgrave Park in Cork or at the Munster Rugby Store on Sunday morning. Some fans had to queue for up to an hour in O’ Con-

nell St in Limerick and some still did not receive tickets in time for the game which Munster won 36-13.

The MRSC was unwilling to com- ment any further on the issue in the absence of the full facts but it is known that on Friday staff retraced their steps on the day the tickets were dispatched in an effort to locate the tickets.

Several people who had not been in a position to check their emails dur- ing the week were not aware of the problem and were too late applying for replacement tickets.

An Post has confirmed that all the

items posted by the Munster Rugby Supporters Club last week were processed for immediate delivery. “A thorough investigation was initiated following a call to a local Cork de- livery office Thursday afternoon and a senior An Post manager worked closely with the customer concerned. Everything we received, we deliv- ered’, a spokesman said.

In a follow up email to members, the MRSC said, “We wish to thank members for their co-operation in this matter and assure you we are looking into the matter in conjunc- tion with An Post.”

BELIEF, structure and organisa- tion were the predominant threads which emerged from the “Together, Raising the Banner’ camogie forum on Saturday. Held in the conference room of the Auburn Lodge Hotel and chaired by Sponsorship and Finance manager of the Camogie Associa- tion, Sinead O’Connor, the five hour seminar was the most ambitious and Open camogie discussion ever to take place in the county and boasted a distinguished and legendary line-up from the GAA and camogie world. First to address the large attend-

ence was secretary of the Clare county board, Pat Fitzgerald who outlined the need for camogie to regularly interact and communicate with all county boards in Clare in order to ensure fixtures can be ar- ranged smoothly. The Sixmiulebri- dge man also stressed that equitable competition was needed along with a firm fixture list and that fairness was a priority when dealing with clubs across the county.

Trust, belief and honesty was Cyril Farrell’s advise to Clare camogie. Speaking openly about his past ex- periences as manager of both the Galway senior hurling team who won two All-Irelands under his leadership as well as the St Raphel’s schools camogie side who captured eight All-Ireland Senior A camogie championship titles, the current RTE pundit entertained the crowd with stories and guidance emphasising the need to find the right blend of tactics suitable for the team in order to pro- duce the best results.

Former All-Ireland winning player and manager Donal O’Grady high- lighted the importance of the role of the coach and manager in manufac- turing successful teams and advised the use of a liason officer to ease the burden placed on current managers in the modern game.

After a break, the forum then switched to the past experiences of currnet players and managers in cam- ogie and GAA. Dual Cork player and director of camogie Mary O’Connor spoke about what ingredients are

necessary to become an inter-county player while also dwelling on her background as a dual inter-county player which is particularly relevant to the current crop of Clare players. Five time All-Ireland winner Emily Hayden compared Tipperary’s rise through the ranks to Clare’s present situation while current All-Ireland winning Wexford manager Stella Sinnott spoke of Wexford’s march to the title this year after several fruit- TASS (ore Dace

Former Clare player Seanie McMa- hon drew upon his experience with the Clare senior hurling team while Catherine O’Loughlin and organiser Deirdre Murphy spoke of Clare cam- ogie’s immediate future and provided suggestions for the progression of the game in Clare.

The closing address was provided by the President of the Camogie As- sociation, Liz Howard who along with summarising the main points of the seminar, highlighted that or- ganisation and belief were key to success and reiterated Seanie McMa- hon’s statement that if the county is to move forward that everything has to take a back seat to the Clare team winning. A fitting end to an original and successful venture and more improtantly, major food for thought ahead of the Clare camogie AGM in mid December.

TWO aircraft confirmed to be in- volved in prisoner rendition activities by the CIA in reports published by the European Parliament, the Coun- cil of Europe and Amnesty Interna- tional, continue to use Shannon Aiur- port to refuel but are still not being searched by gardai.

The Gulfstream IV jets, registra- tion numbers N4/5LC and N478GS, owned at the time by Centurion Avi- ation Services, a shelf company for

the CIA, have been identified by the EU’s “Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners” published in November 2006.

N478GS landed at Shannon on July 26 andN475LC refuelled at the air- port in the early hours of October 30. A formal request for the airplane to be searched by gardai was made on the night by well known anti-war campaigner Edward Horgan from Limerick. Mr Horgan, a retired Irish

Army Commandant, was aware that the plane was due in Shannon and was there when it arrived.

His request to have the plane searched was refused and he made a formal complaint and two days later, received a letter from An Garda Sio- chana stating that “the gardai will not be taking any action on the informa- tion contained in your statement.”

Ata recent conference in Ennis, Mr Horgan asked guest speaker Kath- leen O’ Toole, the head of the Garda Siochana Inspectorate, whether

she would investigate the failure of gardai to prevent the use of Shannon for torture.

Stating that she had no personal or professional knowledge of the situa- tion at Shannon, Ms O’ Toole said that OS DENA OComDOOUUOUKI (cs mmc(oco wm OLE Li-DOhVAES Ro) f| time to assign us to look at anything throughout the country involving garda practices then of course we will do that.”

Centurion Aviation Services was also named in an Amnesty Interna- tional report on rendition last year

and the registered owner of both aircraft 1s now listed as L-3 IS LLC, Great Falls, Montana.

According to the European Parlia- ment report, “Aircraft N478GS and N475LC belong to the company Cen- turion Aviation Services. This compa- ny is relevant, within the framework of CIA flights, as a beneficiary of the so-called “landing permits” in the US military bases all over the world. The Civil Aircraft Landing Permit (CALP) authorizes aircraft to land on US military bases worldwide.”

YOUNG Clare farmers must be giv- en priority treatment if an increase in the quota is announced next year.

That is according to Catherine Buckley, Macra na Feirme’s national president, who said last week that should the EU Commission decide to increase quotas on a once-off basis in 2008 then the increased percent- age must be targeted at new entrants and young farmers in order to benefit the industry.

Buckley said that a small once-off increase in EU milk quota would leave Irish farmers worse off over the longer term relative to getting no increase in quota as outlined in the FAPRI Ireland Partnership analysis

of quota expansion.

The leader of the young farmers’ organisation pointed out that an in- significant increase in quota for all dairy farmers across the board would not benefit the industry.

“Instead, 1f we are to attract young people into the industry, we need to provide young farmers with milk quo- ta access. We have a poor age profile with only eight per cent of our farm- ers under the age of 35,” she said.

“The targeting of increased quota to new and recent entrants is vital in order to allow those farmers who are the future of the dairy industry to rapidly expand their businesses in the years ahead and to prepare for an environment without milk quotas,” she said.

“Dairy farming is a very labour- intensive and tying occupation and young people must see the prospect of proper rewards for their time if they are to commit themselves to the sector.”

Buckley said additional quota tar- geted at new entrants and young farmers would be purely ‘a license to produce’, rather than an asset, and the quota should be allocated nation- ally and completely separately from the milk quota exchange.

Meanwhile, Alltech and Macra na Ferime have, for the second year in succession, joined forces to run a na- tional silage competition in order to encourage the highest standards of silage making amongst young farm- ae

Over 400 samples have now been taken across 20 regions in the coun- try and the national final of the com- petition, followed by an awards cere- mony will take place on December 3 in Alltech’s European headquarters in Dunboyne, County Meath.

The overall national competition winner will enjoy an educational trip for two people to the United States in 2008 to visit a chosen farm enterprise, and 26 county winners and runners-up will each receive an Alltech product vouchers valued at €200, €100 and €50.

On the day there will also be a farm walk and an information seminar. For more information, contact John Graham in Macra national office on Ol 4268910.

A REMARKABLY low level of convictions are being recorded by juries in the Circuit Criminal Court in Clare, with less than a quarter of jury trials resulting in convictions this year.

Just three juries convicted defend- ants in the 13 criminal trials that took place in the Circuit Court during this year. Seven of the trials resulted in acquittals – a combination of jury de- cisions and directions by judges. In two of the trials, the juries could not decide and were advised to returned “disagreed” verdicts.

Of the three convictions, just one individual was forced to spend a pe- riod of more than one week behind bars. One Ennis individual, who was found not guilty of assault causing harm but was convicted by a jury of the lesser charge of assault, was jailed for six months.

In a criminal damage case, a Kil- rush man who was found guilty and was remanded in custody for one week. An 18-month jail term, sus- pended, was later imposed.

In the other case where a conviction was recorded, a two-year suspended term was imposed after a defendant was convicted of making thousands of nuisance phonecalls to the Garda emergency line.

However, there have been several

guilty pleas entered in the Circuit Court and many of those have had tough sentences imposed.

The recent trials in the Circuit Court resulted in juries returning two “not guilty” verdicts – one in- volved a charge of manslaughter and the other indecent assault charges – while a jury failed to reach a verdict in the case of a young Kilrush man

who was accused of assault causing harm. That young man was found not guilty by the jury of stealing a mo- bile phone.

Of the seven trials that took place during the June sittings, three de- fendants were acquitted, three were convicted and one jury was unde- cided.

During the court sessions last Feb- ruary, two young men from Kilrush were acquitted of assault, while an- other man, accused of dangerous driving causing death, was also ac- quitted. In another case, of allega- tions of indecent assault, the jury was discharged by the judge, follow- ing legal argument.

The trend follows on from last year, when several acquittals were recorded, during the Circuit Court sittings in the county. Two assault cases, along with cases of danger- ous driving causing death, threat to kill and threatening an individual all concluded with acquittals.

Ennis solicitor John Casey said it is difficult for a conviction to be re- fey xelere

“It is not an easy thing to get a con- viction before any jury, because of the legal intricacies, but every case has to be looked at on its own mer- its,’ said Mr Casey.

THE promoters of a bottling plant for spring water discovered by Cllr PJ Kelly’s “water divining” powers will have to wait a while longer to reap the benefits.

This follows Clare County Coun- cil expressing of “serious concerns” about Clare Spring Water Ltd’s bore well to source the spring water sup- as

In seeking further information on the proposal, the council state that the location of the well may prejudice the future development of lands out- side the control of the developer and

that activity of the adjacent landhold- ing may impact on the water quality of the borehole.

The council states: “Please address these concerns and this should in- clude a revised site layout to indicate the location of the borehole relative to the landholding boundary.

“This should also include, if nec- essary, proposals to ensure that no inappropriate development is con- ducted on lands inside the 60metre radius, to include letter of consent from other landowners affected, if necessary.”

The water source was discovered by Cllr Kelly and a twisted metal coat

hanger and is it expected to produce a €4 million windfall for the village of Lissycasey, it emerged yesterday. The water diviner councillor dis- covered “three major top quality wa- ter springs” in the High Street area 6km from Lissycasey Clare Spring Water Ltd has since lodged plans with Clare County Council for a €4 million bottling plant to bottle the spring water. Along with the €4 million capital outlay, the plant will generate be- tween €1.2 million to €1.5 million per annum in the local economy. Cllr Kelly explains that his ‘water divining’ is carried out through hold-

ing a twisted metal coat hangar in his hands.

He said: “People laugh at it, but 1s 100% successful at finding subter- ranean activity. It gives you a lot of satisfaction when finding new water springs.

Cllr Kelly said that he discovered his talent accidentally 40 years ago when he took a pair of tongs in his hands and he jumped with the shock. Cllr Kelly said: “When searching for water springs, I get positive and negative signals.”

Cllr Kelly’s talent extends to be- ing able to locate injuries in animals such as horses and dogs.