Month: December 2008

CLARE petrol retailers have warned that if Tesco is allowed proceed with a new petrol station in Kilrush, a number of their stations will be forced to close with the loss of 43 jobs.

Last month, Kilrush Town Coun- cil granted planning permission to Tesco to construct a four-island pet- rol station on the Ennis Road despite strong opposition from local petrol station owners and independent re- tailers organisation, RGDATA.

Eleven petrol stations have now appealed the decision and they are: Oliver O’Shea and John Crowley, Kilrush; John Daly, Cooraclare; Michael Fitzpatrick, §Kilmihil;

Michael Sheedy, Darragh, O’Sullivan & Hansbury, Ennis; Maxol/Spar, Clarecastle; Padraic Hayes, Doon- beg; David Glynn, Killimer; Tony Nealon, Kilmurry McMahon and Tessie Power, Knockerra.

Lodged by the Irish Petrol Retailer Association (IPRA), the appeal states that a number of these stations will be forced to close along with local shops that provide the only shopping outlet within their local communiti- Woe

The appeal predicts that the planned Tesco station will take 43% of the petrol retail market in west Clare ac- counting for sales of €149,940 per week.

Outlining the impact of the pro- posal, the IPRA state: “This is likely

to result in an increase in unemploy- ment, far beyond that provided by the Tesco petrol station, in areas that are far more economically and socially Cl uAKoreb

The appeal states that the independ- ent petrol stations employ 100 and that the anticipated loss of 43 jobs “‘is unacceptable in a period of economic recession in an area that has already Zim Ovecdomtvatcanele)(@nses(oonlme:iiome

The IPRA claims that the applica- tion “fails to uphold the zoning of a site within the development plan area for a petrol filling station and that the current proposal does not provide the required retailing offer required under the Development Plan and will result in the over-profileration of pet- rol stations along the Ennis Road.

A FUND of €250,000 is being set aside for members of Clare County Council who fail to get re-elected in next June’s local elections.

A number of long-serving council- lors are in line for a ‘golden hand- shake’ of around €35,000 if they don’t get re-elected next year.

The bumper pay-off is revealed in the council’s draft budget for 2009 where County Manager, Alec Flem- ing has provided the €250,000 fund of ‘retirement gratuities’ for council- Keyace

The fund puts an additional finan- cial burden on the council at a time when it is letting temporary staff go, cutting back on community grants and increasing rates on businesses throughout Clare.

Councilllors such as Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) and Cllr PJ Kelly CFF) with more than 20 years experience could receive around €35,000 each if they are not re-elected in next June’s local elections.

The two — who will be scrapping for one of the six seats in the down- sized Kilrush electoral area — said they have no aspiration to avail of the pay-off next year.

The membership of the council has a high attrition rate and in the 2004 local elections, ten of the 32 council- lors didn’t make a return.

Cllr PJ Kelly said: “The casualty rate has been high each time since I was elected. When I was first elected in 1974, there were 13 casualties. The manager must not be expecting a good number of us back.”

Cllr Curtin said that the fund “‘is

miniscule when set against the coun- cil budget of €118 million”.

Former Clare mayor, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said the Council 1s obliged to make provision for the payments.

Cllr PJ Kelly said: “I didn’t become a councillor in 1974 for the expenses. The only expense then was £5.22 a month. The gratuity payments have been paid agreed by the minister and I’m sure that no councillor has retire- ment is mind who is going for elec- tion next year.”

Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) said the payments are “recognition for long service from long serving mem- bers. It will be the people in the final analysis who will judge if council- lors are worth it. With the local elec- tions coming up, everything is up for analysis.”

PEDESTRIANISATION of the main shopping streets, Sunday shopping and late night opening are some of the measures being introduced next week in an effort to boost Christmas shopping in Ennis.

The town centre will be traffic free on Saturday 13, Saturday 20, Sunday 21 and Wednesday, December 24 from llam to 6pm.

The main retail outlets will be open for Sunday shopping on December 14, 21 and 28 while there will be late opening on Thursday 18, Friday 19, Monday 22 and Tuesday, December 23. Shops will reopen after Christ- mas on Saturday, December 27.

Ennis Town Council and Ennis Chamber are encouraging custom- ers to park n’shop on the pedestri- anised days by parking in the town

centre public car parks and walking to the car-free areas of Abbey Street, O’Connell Square and O’Connell Nisteem

On pedestrianised days, access can be gained from Francis Street by turning right onto Lower Abbey Street and into Abbey Street car park – making it easy for traffic to circle the town centre to get to any destina- tion.

In addition to the town car parks, the Holy Family School and Ennis National School will be opening their car parks at a cost of €3 per day.

Details of the availability of park- ing and access for traffic on pedes- trianised days are outlined in the at- tached map.

Robin has, in previous years organ- ised fairs in The West County and Buratty, but this was the first time he had something going literally on his doorstep.

The lovely thing about shopping for antiques is that “whether some- one has a tenner to spend or twenty thousand, there’s always something affordable.” said Robin.

And with more than a dozen deal- ers putting out their stalls, there was plenty of fun for bargain hunters and treasure-spotters.

Lovers of contemporary Irish art had a treat at specialist, Louis Walshe of “Treasures’ stall, where there were originals on offer with prices starting at €400. Irish art dealer, Robert De- lahunty was also on hand and with a stall full of “fabulous and fantastical clocks” timepiece dealer, Michael Cunnane kept business ticking over nicely.

For the princely entrance fee of €3.50 bargain hunters were wafted along with steaming mugs of mulled wine and the delights of all things ancient and venerable.

Describing the event as “small but exclusive,’ Robin said it was “nice to have something close to home for people to browse, or buy Christmas presents or add to their collections.”

It was a small event in terms of the Luxury Collection fair in October in the K Club, where the glitteratti gathered to see Boodles diamonds, a €20 million collection of jewels from Sotheby’s or the full range of classic Bentley’s and Harley David- sons.

But good things come in small par- cels and there were plenty of small parcels carried away from the Lake- side that will be treasured as much as any sparkler when they are opened on Christmas morning.

AFTER weeks of honing perform- ances, songs and dance routines, the East Clare Musical Society are ready to delight audiences with their latest production. “Some Like It Hot”.

After two years of highly success- ful shows, with ‘God Bless Archie Dean’ and ‘Oaklahoma” the talented troupe is back.

Some Like It Hot, based on the screenplay by Billy Wilder tells the story of two struggling musicians, Joe and Jerry, in 1920’s Chicago. Lady Luck isn’t on their side and when they witness the “Valentine Massacre” involving Spats and his Gang their fate 1s sealed ,unless they get out of town fast. They rush to join a band, however, they have to use all their talents to fit in with “Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopaters” as they head for sunny Miami.

Thinking they’ve landed in heaven, Joe and Jerry soon realise that hiding out at the beach isn’t going to be easy, especially with the irresistible Sugar around. Things just go from bad to worse with hilarious results!

This heartwarming comedy guar- antees to have audiences in stitches.

Jerry 1s played by Shay O’Neill, Joe is played by Paul Conroy, Sugar is played by Sandra O’Farrell, along with a cast of over 30 from East Orie

Tickets are priced at €15 for adults and €8 for under 18’s and are avail- able from Roger’s Centra, Scar- iff, _McKeogh’s Londis, Ballina, MV ‘Touhy’s, Coose, or they can be booked by phoning Doreen on 087 PAN Se leree

The show runs at Scariff Commu- nity Hall from December 11 to 14.

Bellamy riles green Meaney

THE involvement of local people will be key if the work of the new- ly launched Burren Trust is to be a success. The trust was officially launched by botanist David Bellamy on Thursday, and the world famous botanist stressed the importance of the involvement of local people. Trust organiser and founder of Bur- renBeo, Brendan Dunford said that membership of the trust is open to all and that each member will be given a say into how the organisation is man-

aged.

“We see this as a first for Ireland, in fact I don’t know of any project exactly like this is existence,’ said Professor Dunford.

“We would see this as broadening out on the work that BurrenBeo has been working on for year. We would like to see this work branching out and involving more and more peo- eter

“We really want the membership to get involved. We had more than 200 people in Ballyvaughan for the launch and everybody was chipping

in and helping out. We need people to come forward with their ideas and drive this project forward.” Professor Bellamy said that the trust could become a model for envi- ronmental protection worldwide. “The happiest day of my life was the day that I got married but to be here to launch his project is the sec- ond happiest. I just could not have said no to coming here,” he said. “This is the best piece of karst landscapes in all of Europe and it is in great danger. It could be loved to death but it could be loved back to

life again.

‘“T have been around the world four times already this year and I believe that what is going on here could be- come a great model for sites all over the world.

“If we brand the Burren we can have farmers who will produce beau- tiful cheese, beautiful beef and beau- tiful lamb.

“We have to choose what we do wisely. The real wisdom here 1s with the local people and fortunately big governments are scared of the people on the ground.”

REVELERS at this weekends Doo- lin Christmas Market will have the opportunity to get a stress relieving back rub while enjoying their Christ- mas shopping.

This Saturday and Sunday the Russell Centre will be the location for the first ever Christmas market held in the village. The market is a continuation of the successful sum- mer market and crafts fair and will feature the largest collection of food and goods ever to be displayed in the centre.

‘The summer market was very suc- cessful this year – the vendors loved

it and the community loved it – and as well as that everyone involved really loves Christmas. I think it’s natural for people who love making things and cooking things to really love Christmas. There 1s so much of this going on that doesn’t happen at any other time of the years,” said or- ganiser Toby Sachsenmaier.

“This years it seem like the perfect time to show that Christmas isn’t just about buying more and more things. Christmas is about community, about neighbours and things like recipes which have been handed down over the generations.

“The whole focus of the Christmas market will be to get back to these

old fashioned values. We love the idea of offering people something that is home made at a reasonable price.”

The market will include a wide va- riety of Christmas foods, including a special vegan Christmas cake, a wide range of local crafts including leatherwork, cards, willow baskets, pottery and glass art.

“All the food that is available will be very specially designed for Christ- mas. We have many of the crafts people from the summer who are coming back again but we also have a lot of people who will be new to the market and have produce which is specially designed for Christmas,”

continued Toby.

“The other thing that will be really different from the summer market is the atmosphere. We will be going all out to create a real Christmas feeling around the place. It will actually be the biggest market that we have had so far, we will be using every single part of the hall.

“We will also have someone doing ten minute, distressing shoulder mas- saging for people to really get them into the relaxing, Christmas spirit.”

The Doolin Christmas Market and Craft Fair will take place this Satur- day and Sunday, December 13 and 14, [lam to 7pm at the Russell Com- munity Centre in Doolin.

THE process of the voluntary shed- ding of 35 per cent of the Aer Lin- gus jobs at Shannon is to begin after SIPTU members in the airline voted to accept the new plan hammered out between the union and the airline.

SIPTU members at Aer Lingus voted by almost 80 per cent to accept the alternative cost savings plan to outsourcing more than 1,300 jobs at the national air line.

A union spokesman said that the turnout for the vote was “80 per cent delivering a clear overall majority in favour of the proposals”.

“Tt is now a matter for the company to evaluate the options each individ- ual has made under the alternative cost savings plan to see if it provides a viable option,” National Industrial Secretary Gerry McCormack said after the conclusion of the ballot. Staff members had just over one day to notify the company of their pre- ferred options.

“We welcome the ballot result as the first step towards preventing the outsourcing of more than 1,300 jobs and securing the long term viability of Aer Lingus,’ McCormack added.

The company needs seven per cent of staff in Cork and Dublin and 35 per cent of staff in Shannon to leave if the plan is to be a success.

It also needs half of the remaining staff to migrate onto the new terms and conditions provided to achieve the cost savings necessary.

Explaining the next step in the

process, McCormack said: “SIPTU will also be analysing and evaluating the savings achieved when our mem- bers make their returns to Aer Lin- gus management on their preferred options.

“In doing this we will have the ex- pert assistance of Eugene McMahon of Mazars, who played an invaluable

role in the process of identifying al- ternative savings to the original out- sourcing strategy proposed by man- eNxey nao

A HAUL of more than two kilos of cocaine hidden in an aircraft at Shannon Airport last week were not destined for the local market, accord- ing to gardai.

The seizure of 2.2 kilos of the drug, worth €158,000, was made during a routine search of an aircraft late last Monday night.

The drugs had been concealed in an overhead lighting unit on the plane. The Boeing 767 had made the jour- ney from the Carribean to Amster- dam, prior to travelling to Shannon

for maintenance.

Sources say they believe the drugs were destined for the Dutch market, but the aircraft is understood to have departed Amsterdam earlier than an- ticipated. As a result, those behind the transportation of them did not get the opportunity to pick them up and this resulted in the drugs being brought to Shannon.

The drugs were discovered by the airport’s drugs dog, Shadow, during a routine search of the aircraft.

During a similar search, over a kilo of cocaine was discovered in a concealed area in an overhead locker

during maintenance of another air- craft at Shannon 12 months ago.

As part of the investigation into the discovery of the drugs last week, gardai are attempting to track down the history of the aircraft over a number of weeks prior to the discov- ery.

“While we have an open mind as to the destination of these drugs, I would suspect we weren’t the prima- ry destination,’ said a garda source.

“This method of transporting drugs is unusual, but people are always looking at ways of transporting drugs around the world,” he added.

As the newly-appointed Chief Su- perintendent in Clare, Kevin Dono- hoe, has pledged to consider increas- ing resources across the Clare garda division to tackle the drugs issue, gardai say they will continue to take on drug traffickers.

“We are actively seeking to police drug trafficking and drug traffickers, regardless of what destinations drugs are for,” said the source.

‘All we can do is promise that we will keep the activities of drug traf- fickers in mind. They will be pur- sued actively and they have to realise this,’ he added.