Month: February 2008

CALLS have been made for each of the Burren’s estimate 1,000 farmers to adopt a new labour intensive plan for farming their land.

The call was made yesterday, dur- ing day two of the BurrenLIFE Project (BLP) Conference in En- nistymon, where Burren IFA Presi- dent, Michael Davoren, suggested local farmers should be looking to export “orchid-rich grassland” rather than more traditional farm produce.

The conference, which 1s the first of

it’s kind ever to take place in Ireland, aims at designing an economically viable way of preserving the fragile Burren landscape.

‘There is a need for local resources to work to create a unique manage- ment plan for each farm in the Bur- ren and to monitor the environmental work required,’ said Mr Davoren.

“Orchid-rich grasslands and other habitats will become the new prod- ucts. A labour-intensive method of farming is essential in this environ- ment but a farmer needs to earn an income from doing this very neces-

sary work to preserve the Burren for future generations.”

The conference marks the fourth year in operation for the Carron based BurrenLIFE Project, which has been working towards generat- ing a blueprint for sustainable farm- ing not just in Ireland, but across the EU.

Project head, Dr Brendan Dunford, revealed yesterday that this blueprint would be launched before August of next year.

‘Farming is the key land use to have shaped this landscape in the past,

and will continue to play a key role in shaping it in future. It 1s critical therefore that we identify and sup- port sustainable farming systems for the Burren, and that we do it now,” he said.

“While the BurrenLIFE project will soon finalise a blueprint for sus- tainable farming of the Burren, this will need to be adopted urgently and wholeheartedly by the relevant au- thorities if we are to secure the re- gion’s rich heritage for generations to come.

“We welcome this conference as

an opportunity to celebrate the work achieved by the BLP and partners over the past four years, but also, as we approach the end of the project, to pose the question of where do we 20 from here.”

According to Dr Andrew Bleasdale of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), the challenge now is how best to implement the find- ings of the BurrenLIFE Project.

“The project will provide a conser- vation-friendly road-map for farm- ing not just in the Burren but also in other parts of the country,’ he said.

CLARE Pharmacist Dr Audrey Kina- han has been appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as one of their worldwide experts. She will act as one of eleven worldwide Scientific experts on WADA’s Pro- hibited List Working Group.

Audrey who, with her husband Brendan Rochford, owns Rochfords Pharmacy in Ennis and Corofin is a recognised expert in the use of medi- cines in sport and has provided ad- vice to athletes and teams for many

rN as

In 2001 Audrey and Brendan set up the award winning website www. eirpharm.com as part of the Ennis Information Age Town Project. As part of this medicines information site, they developed a unique da- tabase where in 2007, over 11,000 Irish athletes, including all senior inter county GAA players, who are subject to drug testing and their doc- tors, can check if their medicine 1s prohibited or permitted in sport. It is

the only such service endorsed by the Irish Sports Council and is available free of charge.

Last year the website had over 300,000 user visits with the online sports database supplying informa- tion to 13,000 unique users. The website forms a key part of the Irish

Sports Council’s education pro- eramme, informing athletes on how best to avail of vital medicines with- out falling foul of strict anti-doping regulations.

The couple also supply sports clas- sifications on medicines to Irish doc- tors through a monthly medical pub- lication on behalf of the Irish Sports Council.

“The Irish Sports Council is de- lighted with WADA’s recognition of the outstanding contribution made by Dr. Audrey Kinahan and Eirpharm” said Dr Una May of the Irish Sports Councils Antidoping Unit.

As part of the appointment, Audrey will be required to attend scientific meetings in WADA’s headquarters in Montreal and in Lausanne, Swit- zerland.

Audrey is a member of the Clare County Enterprise Board, the Clare County Development Board and of the Ennis branch of Soroptimists In- ternational.

A PROTECTED seal, that defied death, will be released back into the wild at Seafield Beach in Quilty this SUTer AA

Kringle was discovered on New Year’s Eve at Merchants Quay, Lim- erick, significantly under weight, dehydrated, with serious bite marks and a painful cracked tooth.

The grey seal pup, who is a protect- ed species, was to become part of a Munster wide rescue.

The four-week-old seal was discov- ered by a family waiting to attend the skating rink in the Potato, who con- tacted the LSPCA.

The little pup was then taken by the LSPCA to the vet, before being transported by the Limerick Animal Welfare (LAW) to Cork wildlife res- cuer Chelsea Collins.

Kringle was treated with fluids, an-

tibiotics and pain relief.

His wounds were most likely inflict- ed by an adult male seal (or “bull’’) in an attempt to force him away from his mother, who had probably come into season.

Kringle was cared for by Ms Col- lins in Carrigaline until he was well enough to be transferred to the Irish Seal Sanctuary in Dublin. Kringle has been recuperating at the seal sanctu- ary in recent weeks and regaining his strength on a diet of fresh fish. He has now made a complete recov- ery. The Irish Seal Sanctuary will be releasing Kringle into the sea at 3pm on Sunday at Seafield Beach near the village of Quilty. This will be a pub- lic event and all are welcome. Those who go to Quilty to see Kringle on his way are asked to keep all dogs in cars until he is safely at sea.

A LONG running battle which Car- rigoran Nursing Home and _ local residents in the Newmarket-on-Fer- gus area have waged to prevent a 100 foot high mast from going ahead has EDU (oreR

An Bord Pleanala has overruled the recommendation of its own inspector to refuse telecommunications com- pany “three” planning permission for the proposal.

Last year, Clare County Council refused planning permission after

it concluded that all options for the co-location of the mast had not been maximised.

In their initial objection, Carrigoran Nursing Home, through Sr Christina Murphy, said, “Our nursing home is within 200 metres of the proposed mast. The nursing home has 152 beds and a staff in excess of 70 people.

“The residents range from short- stay medical care to ages in excess of 80 years of age. In this, patients will have a range of illnesses includ- ing Alzeimer’s.

“Our mother house in the US 1s

extremely concerned, particularly of the health hazard created by the development and of the high level of energies emitting from the develop- ment.:

However, in its appeal, “3” stated: “We believe that it has been demon- strated that a rigorous search of the area was undertaken by “3” before nominating the appeal site as the pre- ferred option in terms of coverage, acquisition and planning issues.

In his recommendation, the board inspector stated that the proposal would not reliably accommodate fu-

ture telecommunication installation, would be needlessly intrusive in the area and would not be in accordance with the proper planning and sustain- able development of the area. However, the inspector’s recom- mendation was overturned after the board of An Bord Pleanala consid- ered the national strategy regarding the improvement of mobile commu- nications services. Its decision was also based on the guidelines relating to telecommunications antennae and support structures and the location of the proposed development on a site

which did not come within the scope of specific restrictions with regard to development in scenic areas.

The board ruled that the plan would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or of property in the vicin- ity, would not be prejudicial to public health and would be in accordance with the proper planning and sus- tainable development of the area.

It stated that it decided not to ac- cept the inspector’s recommendation to refuse permission, noting the lack of landscape designation and the dis- tance to residential properties.

ON THE lengthy trek from Belfast to Limerick, Jody Gormley, former Tyrone footballer and current An- trim manager looked ahead to the Clare challenge and believed his side would find some resistence in Ennis.

VSS UUh CBMs ae aee day night well past midnight, before trevelling to Cusack Park on Satur- day morning and walking all over Clare later that afternoon. The ease of Antrim’s victory eventually sur- prised Gormley.

“The opposition was poor but we weren’t to know that coming down the road,” he said on Saturday. “Our fellas are working hard at the minute and you could see that out there. It’s

a long journey up the road, but we’ll be going back with a smile on our faces.”

The movement of Antrim and their ability to string passes together pleased the manager. “Early on in the first half we had some great moves that ended up with scores, we’re making progress which is what it’s all about. Clare gave us a tough game here last year in the Tommy Murphy Cup and we prepared for this chal- SONSXomMWA LOMO otclmmexeNoatommne meee DU ITC ma

Having also beaten Wicklow and Kilkenny to date, Antrim have the foundation to emerge from Division 4 and according to Gormley, the mo- tivation is there to progress.

‘We had a poor season last year and we re treating every game as though

we have to win it. The Tommy Mur- phy Cup threw us a lifeline because it gelled players together for the rest of the season. It worked well for us. Boys knuckled down and we’ve con- tinued to train hard over the winter. We’re glad to get onto the grass and we’ve started well but we’ve Offaly next and a lot of people are saying Offaly shouldn’t be in Division 4, that they’re too good for this divi- sion. And I’d imagine Offaly will be a step above the three teams we’ve played so far. They’re a big, strong team with some very powerful for- wards, so that’ll be a new challenge for us.”

Off Gormley goes for the journey home. A different set of ambitions than those he left behind in Clare.

FRANK Doherty walks out of the Clare dressing room looking like a man who signed up for a 10 kilome- tre jog but has just been told he’s got two marathons to run.

The job is big, Frank. Bigger, may- be, than anybody ever expected.

For now, he’s still hopeful of entic- ing one or two more players onto the panel and though they’re needed, that invitation after three straight league defeats looks increasingly less se- ductive with every passing week.

That the panel has to be looked at with a sharper, more critical eye is now obvious and Doherty says it’s time to re-assess the value of some of it’s members.

“There are guys who’ll have to be released after today,” he says. “From my own point of view, I’m totally down after that performance and so are the two selectors involved. And so are the players as well.

‘“There’s a lot of cracks out there to be quite honest. There’s no point

painting a rosy picture. People have already spoken about where we are right now and at the moment, we’re down at the bottom. We’re going to have to try and lift the lads and get them up for Waterford on March 2.”

He’s asked about some of the mis- takes Clare were responsible for and says he’s struggling to grasp the quantity of fumbles and dropped or nR

‘The amount of turnovers were un- believeable. I couldn’t count them all myself at times. We haven’t been un- der lights every night of the week to do certain things, but we have trained hard. It’s not an excuse because these are basic errors. We’re talking about club lads at underage, taking balls into tackles with a solo. Hopping a ball in front of a player when you’re about to go into a tackle. It’s basic, basic stuff.”

The cracks that Doherty saw on Saturday are one thing but the length of the road ahead of Clare becomes clear when he speaks of the need to revert to grassroots coaching.

A manager takes a job and expects the base skills to be available, he shouldn’t have to worry about an in- ferior legacy.

“I’ve always said that these guys need to be taught at an early age but we re talking 10 and 12 years of age to be addressing this. If the fututre is going to be bright for Clare — which I hope it will be — then these are things that need to be addressed. The skills have to be there if the next few crops will improve. But from a technical point of view, to be honest, some of the errors out there were schoolboy errors.

“Let’s look at the bigger picture. I’m not here to criticise players. I wouldn’t do that. The guys have abil- ity and they’ve played to the best of their ability. When it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. That’s sport and it’ll knock you on your back every now and then.”

THIS is neither the time nor the place to throw some balls of mud and play the blame game. This is, as Frank Doherty said on Saturday evening, time to look at the bigger picture.

It’s time to wonder why and how Clare, who were at least competitive in the championship less than three years back, have slipped so grace- lessly over the past couple of sea- Sons.

Taking 2007 and 2008 into consid- eration, Clare have played 11 games in championship and league. They’ ve lost all but three and one of those wins was against London in Cusack Park. So it’s over a year since the county footballers have had any result of sig- nificance — a five point win against Leitrim in the second round of the 2007 league on February 10th.

Just 20 months ago, Clare travelled to Casement Park in the first round of the All Ireland qualifiers and beat Antrim by one point. That day, they played with appetite and courage. On Saturday, Antrim came to Ennis and Clare were made look like a team that belong in another compeition.

Only three of those who lined out in Casement Park started in Cusack Park and that alone tells the story of an unforgiveable and unsustainable turnover rate.

Throughout Clare, players have reg-

ularly turned their back on the county jersey — an incredible fact to compre- hend for anybody from a county with any sort of football tradition. But it’s an inherent fact of football in this county. It’s bred into player’s psyches from early on and the results of that

indefensible approach were laid bare on Saturday.

Last summer, an underage develop- ment county team was shorn of play- ers because some clubs decided to withdraw their players on favour of club games later that week. What sort

of message does that relay? Where’s the love of the county that has kids in other places dreaming of wearing their own county colours?

There’s a spiritual aspect to the game that just isn’t being stoked in Clare and after the Antrim game, Frank Doherty was beginning to see that at first hand.

For sure, Clare played horribly. From the first minute that they walked out onto the field, the player’s body language was all wrong but in a way, it’s understandable given the lack of interest that surrounds them.

Walking around Ennis on Saturday, there was nothing to say the county footballers were facing a must win game to keep their league hopes alive. The same faces, the Clare Football Die Hards, as they’ve come to be known, were the only ones fly- ing the flag at Cusack Park. Do most people in Clare even care about in- ter-county football?

Selection-wise, the make-up of the team didn’t work either and at least three players were operating out of position. It all means the Clare management will continue to scour the county for willing footballers, though with no club games pencilled in over the next fortnight, the task could prove futile and any selection will have to be based on past per- formances.

If, as Doherty said, the McGrath

Cup covered cracks, then other, more intrinsic ruptures were also covered up in the wake of this season’s club championship. Bar a handful of exceptions, most games were sub- standard and the scoring, in particu- lar, was below-par. The county final was woeful and was papered over by Lissycasey’s historic win and the two best clubs in the county over the past two years have between them, two inter-county representatives.

Just prior to the hurlers taking off in 1995, Ger Loughnane correctly identified that the lacklustre nature of club games was contributing to the county under-performing. He deduced that the intensity of match days had to be replicated in training and that’s the task now facing the Clare footballers. Nobody expects a miracle 2008, but the least the 200 Clare supporters who showed up on Saturday deserved was the best team on the field and every man giving a committed performance.

There are no easy answers to games like Antrim, but it’s time to wake vhOR

The long term affect on the confi- dence of Clare football — particularly on the younger players — means the rot has to stop.

REIGNING All-Ireland Minor Dou- bles champions Niall Malone and Diarmuid Nash bowed out of the 2008 race on Thursday night last. They were beaten in dramatic cir- cumstanaces by Limerick’s Seamus O’Carroll and CJ Fitzpatrick.

The tie started in Tuamgraney, but finished in Tulla. The Clare pair led 19-17 in the first game, but lost it 21- 19. In the second game it was Nash and Malone who enjoyed a good start and were leading 12-7 when damp- ness started to show in the alley.

After a Limerick objection, referee

Mike Kelly ruled the alley unfit to continue and the large crowd headed to Tulla, where the Limerick pair eventually turned the tide. Nash and Malone held serve at 19-17 and again at 20-18 only for the Limerick pair to snatch the game and the match, 21-20.

Meanwhile, also in the Munster Mi1- nor Doubles Championship, Trevor Vaughan (Tulla) and Gerry Cooney (O’C. Mills) had a massive 21-2, 21- | win over Tipperary opposition on Friday night last.

In Minor singles, Niall Malone will play Ballina’s Fergal Collins at Nenagh (TBC) and Diarmaid Nash

will face Cappagh’s CJ Fitzpatrick at Tuamgraney (TBC) in their Munster Ist round games next week. In Mas- ters B Singles last week, there was defeat for John Moloney but John Nihill progressed and will tonight (Tuesday) take on Cork’s John Mc- Donagh at Galbally in the Munster semi-final at 8.00pm.

Mike Baker (O’C. Mills) will play Limerick’s Pat Doody in the Munster Novice Singles quarter-final in Cap- pagh this Wednesday (18th) at 8.00. Baker teamed up with Clarecastle’s Finbarr Sheridan to play Limerick in the Novice Doubles but were defeat- ed 21-15, 21-15 on Friday last in Gal-

bally. In the Dalkia Senior Handball Championship, there was defeat in the round of 32 for Clooney’s Fergal Coughlan against Cork’s Tony Healy in Tuamgraney.

Meanwhile, anumber of Clare play- ers are involved in the All-Ireland Schools championships this weekend in Kilkenny and Cavan. Tulla’s Alan Leamy and Trevor Vaughan take on St. McCartan’s College Monaghan in the Intermediate Doubles semi-final.

In Intermediate Singles Tuam- eraney s Diarmaid Nash (Cistercian College, Roscrea) plays the Leinster final against Kells CS, with the win- ner playing the Connacht champion

while in the other semi, Nash’s club- mate Niall Malone (Scariff C.C.) plays the Carrickmore, Tyrone rep- resentative.

At Kingscourt, Cavan on Satur- day (11.00am), Clooney’s Paula and Lisa Loughnane (Rice College) play St. Patrick’s, Armagh, in the Junior Doubles semi-final.

Also at Kuinsgscourt, Sarah O’Donnell (Tuamgraney, Scariff C.C) plays St. Mary’s, Newry in the CISCO DENTS CoO OV EIOUSTDEMAU AONE CoMmEN| Senior Doubles, Ashling Fitzgerald and Edel O’Grady (Tuamgraney, Scariff C.C.) also play Newry oppo- sition in their semi-final.

FIGURES for 2007 show more young listeners in Clare are tuning into new station SPIN South West.

The Joint National Listenership Re- search figures for the period January to December 2007 show that Clare FM remains the most listened to ra- dio station in the county.

The figures show a 42 per cent “‘lis- tened yesterday” figure for Clare FM

and that the station has a 37 per cent market share.

The findings also show that Clare FM’s weekday reach figure for the 12-month period remained static at 42 per cent. Clare FM’s weekday share figure, calculated between 7am and 7pm, was down I.1 per cent to 37.7 per cent placing the station sev- enth out of 16 local radio stations.

The JNLR/TNSmrbi_ study re- vealed Clare FM’s weekly reach fig-

ure to be 65 per cent, a drop of two per cent from last year. In its first five months on the airways, SPIN South West made inroads into the youth market in Limerick, Kerry, Clare, North Tipperary and South Laois. The JNLR figures show the station, along with Today FM, are the most listened to radio stations in the re- gion for 15-34 year olds. The figures were calculated over the period July to December 2007.

Reacting to the station’s first JNLR figures (July to December, 2007), Chief Executive of SPIN South West, Aevann Upton said that the re- sults indicated a successful first five yneloyaleatcy

“We anticipated a strong showing but nothing like this as we were on air for just five months of the year. This is a remarkable achievement and testament to the mix of youth music and talk that we have here at SPIN South West. It is a real boost to our shareholders, hard-working staff and, indeed, our advertisers.

“It is very early days for us yet, of course, but we couldn’t have hoped for better than this.”

The JNLR figures for the “listened yesterday” rating showed that 31 per cent (49,000) of 15 to 34 year olds across the region tuned into SPIN South West. This puts it joint top with Today FM in terms of listener- ship in the region. The station leads in the 7pm to midnight category with Rw mete

SPIN South West shareholders include former Lions, Ireland and Munster rugby star Keith Wood, Clare Community Radio Holdings, Liam O’Shea (Managing Direc- tor Clare FM and Chairman SPIN SouthWest).

show that district court judg- es received on average €23,436 in expenses last year.

Judge Mangan, appointed in July 2001, is likely to be in the upper half of the list as he has a large area to ad- minister, stretching from south Gal-

way to south-east and west Clare.

The highest amount received by a judge was €82,240. It is likely that the judge concerned does not have a designated court district and instead moves from district to district to cov- er for judges who are on leave.

The court sittings over which Judge Mangan presides include those in Ennis, Ennistymon, Kildysart, Kil- kee, Corofin, Kilrush, Tulla, Gort, Athenry and Killaloe.

Judge Mangan’s expenses payments comes on top on his newly increased salary of €158,000, awarded on

the recommendation of the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in Public Sector. Judge Mangan’s sal- ary increased by 18 per cent from €134,124.

The figures show that country’s District Court judges spent €596,828 on mileage and €701,391 on subsist- ence.

The figures also show that the judg- es spent €14,211 on judges’ attire in- cluding wigs and gowns.

The FOI Unit has, however, refused to state how much each identified district judge received due to secu-

rity concerns.

The FOI officer states, “Both their security and the risk that any threat to the safety of their families may be used to threaten their judicial inde- pendence may effect the security of the State, particularly those in po- litical cases and those in the Special Criminal Court.

‘There is a genuine concern for the personal security of judges and their families … The disclosure of infor- mation sought on an individual basis will identify those judges who are away from home frequently.”