Month: March 2008

CLARE COUNTY Council has failed to provide any permanent halt- ing site for Travellers in the three years of its 2005-08 Traveller Ac- commodation Programme.

At the outset of the programme, the council identified 64 families in need of accommodation, but has failed to provide any permanent halting sites across Clare since 2005.

This is in contrast to the council’s performance in the previous Trav- eller accommodation plan, which developed four permanent Traveller accommodation sites in Ennis (2), Ennistymon and Shannon.

With a spend of €12 million, the council reduced the numbers of Travellers without accommodation from 61 to 14.

However, in the existing plan, the council has constructed no _ per- manent sites, but has instead con-

structed a large temporary site on the outskirts of Ennis in Doora, with an agreed deadline of having the Bal- laghboy site, which accommodates 16 families, closed down by Decem- ber of this year.

In the review of the Traveller ac- commodation programme, _ the council acknowledges the proposed closure “will pose considerable dif- ficulties to both Ennis Town Coun- cil and Clare County Council as the preference of many of the families on the site is for a range of social housing options”.

An emergency nine-family site was constructed in Ennistymon during the lifetime of the existing plan.

The review confirms that the coun- cil is making progress in providing permanent sites at five sites around Ennis at Knockanean, Ashline, Kil- morane, Ballaghboy and the Lahinch Road area, while it is progressing on two permanent sites in Ennistymon.

CLARE’S bid to overturn last year’s controversial decision to end the Open Draw in the Munster Senior Football Championship was quashed at the Munster Council convention last Friday night, but it didn’t stop Noel Walsh from venting his views on the subject.

The former Munster Council chair- man and GAA presidential candidate, who has been an Open Draw loyalist over the past 40 years, launched a

broadside against Munster Council rulers over the decision to seed Kerry and Cork to meet in the 2008 provin- cial decider.

“In the interests of fairness there should be an Open Draw,” Walsh told delegates to the annual conven- tion in the West County Hotel in En- nis. “In every other province there is an Open Draw. It would give players from the four weaker counties an opportunity of playing in a Munster football final.

‘There was great finance taken in

by the council when the Open Draw was there from 1991. Under the seed- ed draw, there was only one gate and that was the Munster final between Kerry and Cork,” he added.

Walsh made his comments, despite the fact that a Clare motion calling for “the Senior Football Champion- ship in Munster in 2009 to be run on the basis of an Open Draw” was ruled out of order.

“We wont have any discussion because the motion is out of order,” confirmed secretary, Simon Moro-

ney to delegates.

“This decision was arrived demo- cratically and on the night the vote was taken the counties voted the way they were instructed to,’ added chairman Jimmy O’Gorman from Waterford.

However, Walsh countered by say- ing “while democracy is important, justice 1s more important”’.

FRANK Doherty answered some questions outside the Clare dressing room shortly after the game on Sun- day, standing on the same spot that Paidi O Sé occupied when Waterford knocked Clare out of the champion- ship last May.

Same result for Clare and though the questions haven’t changed for the entirety of this league — essentially it’s been: Where was the game lost, Frank? — Doherty at least saw some progress in the performance.

“I think there was improvement, in fairness. There was a bit more bite and character. At the start of the game we went four one up playing competitive football, and that was pleasing to see. The movement was good, the forwards were good. The younger lads are kind of stepping up to a degree and it’s the older lads who have to step up now. I’ve seen it in some games obviously. But today was an improvement from the An- trim game.”

That’s where the good news story ends, though. Shortly after Clare scored four, Waterford slowly crept back into the game and the manager recognised a handful of key episodes that led to the demise. The missed opportunity before the break and the penalty at the end contributed, he said, but Doherty believed the inju- ries picked up by Gordon Kelly and Daragh Kelly were crucial.

“At the end of the day we have a small pool of players and to lose

Daragh Kelly and Gordon Kelly was a big blow.

You’re talking about two key play- ers. When Daragh was in the team for the McGrath Cup, we didn’t lose a game. When he went out of the team we haven’t won a game.

“And Gordon, of course, is a fine bit of stuff. His loss took two big players out of six in our back line. It was a big turning point in the game.

“T’ve been hoping to move Gordon out to centre back for most of the year and unfortunately I can’t because my hands are tied to a degree in relation to where I can play lads. Daragh was doing reasonably well at centre back until he received that injured and Gordon obviously is himself. He’ll always give you everything.”

The missed goal opportunity?

“Stephen Hickey’s goal chance was like Rory Donnelly’s against An- trim. How many chances do you get in a game? How many times do you need these chance to put them away? You’ve got to take them when the goal is in front of you and that was there again today.

“I don’t know if Stephen tried to take the net out with that shot. It would have been better to side foot it into the back of the net and a goal then would have put us in the as- cendency. We would have been in the driving seat. It was a game that would have taken a different aspect in the second half.”

The penalty?

“I think Joe jumped into the for- ward more than he tried to claim the

ball. Then [just before the penalty] David Connole was unlucky. He ran into the back of a player and that was a silly free to give away in a danger- ous position. For a while we were in the game and the lads that came onto the team tried their best, but we are where we are.’

Again, Doherty came back to the positives of the performance and with Kilkenny on the horizon, the first two points of the season are surely within grasp.

“There was more determination overall. Still, the cuteness that will win you games wasn’t there and some of the lads took the wrong de- cisions at times.

“Sean Collins drove on and hit men twice his size and he was a contender for man of the match. There’s still a lot of work to do and hopefully we’ ll get guys back off the treatment table and we’ll be that bit stronger and that bit more street-wise the next time.”

THE Enterprise Acceleration Centre at Limerick Institute of Technology is looking for Clare participants in its second intake for its Limerick Enter- prise Acceleration Platform (LEAP) joyueycau-ueavsaten

There are three Clare-based par- ticipants among the eleven people in the first programme, and the wel-

come mat is out for more applicants from the county.

The closing date for applications is this Monday, March 10. The ap- plication form is on www.lit.ie/leap, which also has further information. The programme starts on April 14.

“After a very successful first year, the LEAP programme is gearing up for its second intake of entrepre- neurs,’ said Graham Royce, who

manages the programme at EAC.”

LEAP is a tailor-made programme designed to support entrepreneurs in their quest to establish growth-ori- ented companies that deliver inno- vative products and services to the market.

Speaking of the first programme, Mr Royce explained that the start- ing point in February last year was to recruit eleven individuals that had

the ambition and drive to set up their own business.

“In April 2007, the LEAP par- ticipants took up residence (free of charge) in the Enterprise Accelera- tion Centre,’ he said. “They began a full time 12 month programme that integrated a range of supports fo- cused on strategic planning and prac- tical business set-up including man- agement training, business coaching, mentoring and consultancy.

“A year later it is fantastic to see the progress that these early stage entrepreneurs have made with their respective businesses. Without doubt, LEAP offers 12 months of unparalleled supports for entrepre- neurs at such a critical stage. We are anticipating strong demand for the programme this year and we are de- lighted to have Tipperary, Limerick and Clare based role models for the 2008 group.’

Mr Royce and Donncha Hughes, EAC Manager are available to meet with prospective candidates for a confidential chat prior to the closing date for applications.

WITH 556 people seeking the help of Clare County Council’s Homeless Unit last year both the council and the local health service have been accused of turning their backs on the homeless and making it difficult for them to get accommodation.

A recently established voluntary eroup, Homeless Education Learn- ing Project (HELP), has already helped find accommodation for five homeless men.

However, they say their task is be- ing made difficult because of all the bureaucracy they have to deal with.

HELP was set up last month by lo-

cal women Josephine O’Brien and Ann Quinn and two others to provide support to the homeless in Ennis. To date the service has helped at least three Polish men and two members of the Travelling community find ac- commodation.

“We are trying to take them off the street if we have the money. Some- times this means paying for B&B. We are out all day chatting and listening to them and they are very angry with the system,” said Ms O”’ Brien.

“We have been trailing around the town from the county council to the health board since before Christmas and still getting the same answer. We know of at least seven people who

are sleeping rough in Ennis but we are sure there are lots more.

“The county council and HSE need to step up and do something. The community welfare workers at the council and the health board are all in the same circle and are all hop- ping from one venue to the next and we are getting nowhere,’ Ms O’Brien re HLGe

‘There is one particular squat where some of the homeless stay and it is in a desperate state. It is all boarded up and it is just an awful place to visit never mind sleep there. There could be four or five at a time in there.