Month: January 2008

FURIOUS members of Clare County Council told their officials that charg- ing people for recycling will result in fly-tipping and a sharp drop in the amount of recycling which goes on in the county.

At a resumed budget meeting of the local authority to set out the coun- cil’s spend and income for the com-

ing year, the proposal to raise cash by charging people who come to the council’s recycling centres met with stern opposition.

Council members were told that a “nominal” charge of €3 per car would raise an estimated €160,000 in the coming year. This would go to- wards the costs of improvements and additional services at the centres.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said that

for the amount raised 1n the exercise, it would not be worth the damage to recycling practice.

He said there were other ways of freeing up money to improve facili- ties. “Nothing the director of services tells me will change my mind about these charges. We are not using best practice or methods of compacting, SO we’re paying to transport fresh air. There are savings to be made there. I

want to appeal to your better sense which says we should reward people who do the right thing and look at other means of raising funding.”

Cllr Martin Conway (FG) said he agreed “100 percent with Cllr Meaney – we are Sending out the wrong mes- sage if we start to charge”’.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (NP) said that the minister “has said publicly that his department is awash with money – the manager should ask him to send some of it down here instead of these Oi Neon

Cllr Flan Garvey (FF) said that the “way to get people to comply is to reward and encourage them, not pe- nalise them with charges”.

Cllr Pat Hayes said that the Govern- ment is already collecting for recy- cling through the Repak system and asked how much comes back from the scheme to the local authority.

Cllr Patricia McCarthy (NP) told the members that they have “been presented with a balanced budget and either we find some other way of raising this money or we don’t ap- prove the budget, in which case the council 1s disbanded.”

Director of Services, Ger Dollard said that if the council wants to con- tinue having new and improved recy- cling facilities, ““we need the funds to do it and we don’t have any extra funds to avail of so we have to intro- duce charges.”

INCREASES in the number of beaches and days covered by life- guards, more flexible arrangements for funding rural graveyards and the setting up of a full time fire service were all items on the shopping list of Clare County Council members as they met to budget for the com- ing year.

Cllr Martin Conway (FG) called for a five-year plan to be drawn up to provide a full-time fire service which would replace the retained fire serv- ice in Ennis.

He asked that more lifeguards be brought in. “Surfing is a 52-week a year occupation now. Everytime you go to Lahinch, the car park is full. I would like to see the lifeguard serv- ice extended to this beach.”

Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) asked that some of the €206,000 allocated for litter prevention in the budget be “used to catch people who are us- ing the bring banks to dump rubbish and to bring them before the courts. Fines should be raised. The current fine is not a sufficient deterrent.”

Cllr Richard Nagle (FF) said that some larger areas were seen to be

‘getting much more favourable treat- ment in terms of allocated funding for graveyards whereas small, rural communities have to purchase land for burial grounds themselves.” Director of Services, Ger Dollard, said that two lifeguards are rostered on at a time on beaches in consid- eration both of child protection and health and safety concerns. “If one lifeguard gets into trouble, then there is a second to go and help,” he told the members at the budget 2008 meeting. “Our plan is to provide cov- er during the time that the primary school children are off and it can be

difficult to get lifeguards outside that time, as many of them are in college or having their own holidays.”

Director Dollard told the meeting that the issue of a full-time fire serv- ice 1S part of a national review.

‘There is a review of the fire service model to assess where there should be a full-time service. We will have to spend five times as much to go full-time.”

He also told councillors that litter fines are not in the control of the local authority once they get to court, “but judges are taking a sterner view now, One fine recently was for €5,000.”

COUNTY councillors last night voted to accept the budget for the authority for 2008, but struck out controversial plans to introduce re- cycling charges at centres and also voted to reduce certain water meter- ing charges.

Earlier members of Clare County Council were told that while Clare’s TDs support their calls for more funding for the local authority, noth- ing could be done until the members passed the budget they have.

Minister Tony Kileen (FF), Deputy Pat Breen (FG) and a representative of Fianna Fail’s Deputy Timmy Do- ley attended the third meeting which had been convened to try to reach agreement on the budget proposals drawn up for 2008.

Members had invited the deputies to air their concerns about short- falls in the council’s funding which had resulted in proposals to impose charges on recycling centres, among other measures.

At an earlier meeting, Mayor Pa- tricia McCarthy (Ind) issued a stern

warning that unless the councillors voted to approve the budget, the local authority would have to disband.

After hearing the members express their concerns about shortfalls in the amount of money allocated from central Government, Minister Kileen told the meeting that he understood their frustration but under law, he and the other elected TDs could do nothing to help until after the budget has been approved.

At an earlier meeting, Mayor Patri- cia McCarthy said that she had had a number of meetings with the minister

for local government, facilitated by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) and while he gave the issues a hearing, he also could do nothing until the procedure of voting to adopt the current budget was completed.

Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald (Lab) said there should be money made available to fast-track the northern relief route while Cllr Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG) said that “all of the expenditure on roads seems to be concentrated on Shannon and Ennis and it seems there are no proposals for any major roads schemes in the west.”

ese terday, a spokesman from the De- partment of the Environment said that applications for one-off houses would not be affected.

‘The situation will be the same in Clare as it is in south Galway; the presence of Hen Harriers and the position of a site in the Special Area of Conservation will not be a factor

in the granting of planning permis- sion for one-off housing,” said the spokesman.

These commitments leaves too much ‘wiggle room’ for planners, ac- cording to Clare IFA president Sea-

mus Murphy. “There are real fears in the area. Farmers need to be able to build in their own areas. It’s the Irish way of life. Why should we put the welfare of Hen Harriers ahead of the welfare of farm- ers,’ he said. “We would like to remind all farmers that they can still object to this classification until February 8.”

As much as 35 per cent of Ireland’s Hen Harrier population – some 40 pairs of birds – is believed to live in the area between Clare and Galway.

Last year, Minister Gormley des- ignated some 61,000 hectares in the Slieve Aughty Mountains in south Galway and north Clare as a Special Protection Area for the preservation of the rare bird.

The Hen Harrier is facing extinc- tion in Ireland and the UK with only 20 currently in existence in England.

THE County Coroner has described as a “great pity” a fishing trip by a eroup of friends that ended with the death of a Polish man.

Isobel O’Dea was speaking at the inquest into the death of Dariucz Dzikowski. Mr Dzikowski died af- ter he was swept from rocks on the coastline at Kilkee on October 28, 2007.

Ms O’Dea said weather conditions on the day were particularly bad. She said, “My recollection of the day is that it was a pretty miserable one. It was a great pity that people went fishing. I would like to pay tribute to the rescue services who went out in those conditions.”

Ms O’Dea returned a verdict of death by drowning as result of fish- ing off the rocks near Kilkee.

In giving her decision, Ms O’Dea

said, “I am aware that there is a lack of witnesses in the court, but I am satisfied there is no foul play.”

No members of Mr Dzikowski’s family or any of the witnesses present at the time of the accident were present in the Coroner’s Court in Ennis last Wednesday.

Ms O’Dea said she was aware there had been difficulty contacting wit- nesses and that the Polish embassy was anxious to get a death certificate. She said she would be writing to the Polish embassy to appraise them of the situation.

Inspector John Galvin read to the court the deposition of the deceased’s brother-in-law, Wojech Wilk. He described how Mr Dzikowski was swept into the sea. “It was a Sunday afternoon and we went fishing down past the Pollock holes in Kilkee. I was with Dariucz and our friends, Jan Krsten and Adam Kurzalkowsk1.

At about 1.30pm, a wave hit Dariucz and brought him into the sea. Adam threw him a lifejacket but we couldn’t see him.”

Tony O’Mahony of the Shannon Helicopter Rescue Service told the court, “We located the body within 10 minutes and we administered CPR immediately.”

Garda John Reidy told the court that at 1.40pm on the day of the in- cident he had received a report that a person had fallen into the sea near Kilkee golf club.

‘I searched the area and could not see anyone or find anyone who could help. I realised that the accident had occurred on the cliffs at the far side. I resumed the search there.”

Mr Dzikowski was airlifted to En- nis and was pronounced dead at En- nis General Hospital. Inspector John Galvin extended his sympathy to the family and friends of Mr Dzikowsk1.

AN 82-year-old woman died af- ter falling and cutting her leg, the Coroner’s Court in Ennis heard last week.

Joanna Talty died at her home near

Kilkee in September 2007. County Coroner Isobel O’ Dea returned a ver- dict of accidental death caused by hy- povolemic shock, due to hemorrhage associated with a cut to the leg.

Ms Talty’s body was discovered near the gate of the garden of her

house by her daughter-in-law, Mary Talty. In her deposition to the court, Mary Talty said she had called to Joanna Talty’s house after she had heard the phone ringing out.

Ms ‘Talty’s son, Patrick Talty, told the court that he had visited his moth-

er the day the incident occurred.

He said, “I remember Friday, De- cember 28. I was with my mother in the garden in her house. I went milk- ing the cows at 2pm. I didn’t see her NA Coy mn o0t- |

Garda Mary O’Neill told the court

that when she was called to the house, she saw the body of Joanna Talty in an enclosed garden. She said Ms Tal- ty had suffered a cut to the leg.

Ms O’Dea and Inspector John Galvin both extended their sympathy to the family of Joanna Talty.

THERE have been obituaries aplen- ty, but Kieren Fallon has vowed to re- turn to racing despite being handed down a worldwide ban of 18 months by French racing’s regulatory author- ity, Galop.

And the controversial but gifted Ballinruan man has looked to fellow legend Lester Piggott for inspiration as he faces into a suspension that will keep off the track until August 2009.

A defiant Fallon spoke about his fu- ture in the sport after his 18-month suspension for failing a dope test at DISFUAS UN CoM EO UEAU MeO NNER MSELere by France Galop.

“It’s just a little setback,” he said. “It’s not a tragedy. Far from it. There’s no doubt [ll bounce back.

It’s very silly of people to talk of re- tirement. I’m young at heart and have many years left. I’ use the duration of the ban to get back on track, and when I do come back I’l! be stronger, both mentally and physically.”

“Jerry Bailey’s career didn’t take off until he was 40, and some of the best American jockeys have come back from drugs bans to compete – and win – at the highest level.

“In Britain, Lester Piggott returned to win a Breeders’ Cup at the age of 54. ’’m 42 – but I don’t feel it. I don’t have many miles on the clock – I’ve been riding good horses for the past 10 years – and I can ride until I am mae

Ironically, Piggott’s comeback was prompted by then Ballydoyle maes- tro, Vincent O’Brien who coaxed

him out or retirement after he served a jail sentence in England for tax evasion.

Now, current bearer of the flame in Ballydoyle, Aidan O’Brien and his paymasters, Coolmore Stud, are re- maining tight lipped on Fallon’s fu- ture as stable jockey.

“This is a personal matter for Ki- eren and for us there is no change. We will continue to use the best available on the day, as before,” Coolmore spokesman Richard Hen- ry revealed after the suspension was handed down.

In December, Fallon was cleared of race-fixing charges that had stopped him racing for 17 months in Britain after a judge threw out the case for lack of evidence. Now, Fallon has spoken for the first time on the ordeal

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‘From the very first day after my arrest, the three years leading up to the trial were a nightmare for me. But when you consider that my life has been effectively been on hold since September 2004, I’m sure I can get through another 18 months, and hopefully I can turn it around.”

IN THE greater scheme of things this year, the merit of the McGrath Cup has yet to be valued. By the time the championship comes around, if Clare have bounced out of Division 4, maybe we’ll look back at this cold and wet month of January and say the tournament provided the perfect launch pad for Frank Doherty.

On the flipside, should Clare linger along the fat midriff of the lowest rung on the ladder, the McGrath Cup will drift into the shadow of insig- nificance.

Time and results will tell and for now, all we have are the past four games to linger on. Without Cork or Kerry competing, the competition was open up for the likes of Clare to take advantage and that’s what

they’ve done. As Frank Doherty has been saying since the UCC game at Miltown just after Christmas, com- petitive games are worth any number of training sessions and reaching the final was more important than win- ub bayean |

But the manner in which Clare overcame Limerick, Doherty says, was of huge significance.

“I’ve seen us play a lot better than that and maybe the occasion got to lads, maybe there were some nerves, but we showed spirit there at the end. And maybe that’s a spirit that wasn’t there before. I’m delighted for the lads that we won because the opportunity of getting silverware doesn’t come about too often. It’s a great result be- cause Limerick had their homework done, they stopped us playing down the middle but we hung in.”

Doherty was speaking out in the middle of the field and at his back Michael O’Shea was lifting the Mc- GCre-tism Other

Just after the final whistle sounded, Doherty clambered onto the pitch, slapped his players and told them it would be the “first of many.” It’s that positive thinking that has seeped into the attitude this year.

“This win is going to stand to lads,” he said. ““We’re unbeaten in ’08 and that’s something we’ll take. You saw a good crowd of supporters showing up here and they saw a team with heart and soul. Maybe it wasn’t the greatest game, but Clare can play better. Four games in four week- ends might have taken its toll, but we freshened things up. Colm Dillon came on and livened things.

“I thought we dominated things in

the second-half and drove at Lim- erick. We got the bit of luck, David [Tubridy] is a cool customer and he knows where the net is. We practice penalties and if we don’t get another for the rest of the year, then it’s al- ready paid off.”

And the incident that led to that eae IAYAs

“Ah,” Doherty smiles, “the ref had a great game. Fair play.” Enough said.

At the other end of the field, Mick- ey Ned O’Sullivan stands beneath the dressing-room balcony and has a different opinion on the penalty. O’Sullivan is one of football’s great thinkers and you can imaging him dissecting the incident — and the wider implications it might have on football — on his long drive back to Kenmare.

“T didn’t think it was a penalty,” he

says straight up. “It was very, very unfair. Football 1s now becoming about referees and it should be about players. I mean, that [the incident that led to the penalty] was a 50-50 ball.

‘“That’s how we coach a goalkeeper to come out for a ball. My job is to coach and I’m not going to criticise the referee, but it was a mickey- mouse decision. We train hard and it’s difficult to lose like that. I won’t blame the referee though — we had our chances and we didn’t take them.”

He drifts back to the dressing room, the incident still swirling in his head. O’Sullivan has seen enough though to realise that a McGrath Cup doesn’t make a spring.

Doherty realises that too. He knows Clare have just reached the foot of the mountain. Getting to Base Camp One is the next step.

THREE wins out of three at Coora- clare and it didn’t take long for talk to spread of the possibility of mov- ing the league opener against Carlow back west.

In all probability, that game will be played in Cusack Park as expected, but on Monday evening, definite confirmation from the county board wasn’t available.

“We’ll wait and see what develops with the venue over the week,” said

Frank Doherty after the game. “Co- oraclare has been a happy hunting ground for us lately and I’ve always been of the opinion that if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.”

If the Carlow or any league game was to be moved to Cooraclare, then the grounds are well capable of hold- ing any potential crowd.

For the past three weekends, the traffic flow has been superb, the pitch has been up to standard given the time of year and with plenty of parking space, it could cope with any

following that the footballers would bring.

With an estimated 1,200 people at the McGrath Cup Final on Sunday, things ran seamlessly again and the professional attitude to hosting county games is down to two dozen volunteers who show up and lend a aE DaXe mM RcsAbU EDU AYA

No reason why the field and those who tend it shouldn’t be rewarded with a league game there this year. In their own interests and in the in- terests of Clare football.

AS THE crowd filtered out of Co- oraclare and the emotion of a late penalty faded, it was easier to draw a clearer picture of the game. Some improvements, some things to work One

James Hanrahan, Clare selector and a link to the great days of Clare football, provided a slice of the half- empty/half-full reaction.

A good finish, but a below par per- formance.

“Tt didn’t look like we were going to do it at the end, and I’m pleased that we dug out the win. But we had a lot of possession and we didn’t use it. That was very frustrating.”

As expected, Limerick provided a bulkier challenge and Hanrahan says the step-up was noticeable.

“It was a lot more physical. It goes to show that there’s a big difference between colleges and inter-county. The lads were up against older fellas who were a lot stronger and at times

it took us a while to get going.

“We played bad but we won. That’s all you can say really and it might be character-building to do that, but there’s no way we’ll win if we play like that against Carlow next week. Carlow are going to be a major step- up in class again and we have to 1m- priove from today. We struggled at times, but defended well.”

He returns once more to the clos- ing stages of the game and Clare’s refusal to give-in

“We haven’t been under pressure in the last three games and we were under fair pressure today. We came through, which was the main thing. The lads kept battling – that was promising — but we won’t get carried AE Ale