Month: March 2009

between June 2007 and No- vember 2008.

Police property applications in re- lation to them were made before En- nis District Court on Friday, where Judge Joseph Mangan ordered that the cars be surrendered to the Min- ister for Justice, who would decide how to dispose of them.

Sergeant Paul Slattery told the court that during one of the incidents, the occupants of the car fled the scene, leaving the vehicle behind.

“The car was hot-wired at the time,” he said.

He said he was applying to have the vehicle destroyed.

Another of the cars was seized by gardai last August, as part of an in- vestigation into a burglary, while an- other car came into the possession of the gardai in connection with a crimi- nal damage incident.

That car had been extensively dam- aged, said the garda.

The fourth car had been abandoned in January 2008 and was seized by garda

TANAISTE and Minister for Enter- prise, Mary Coughlan paid tribute to the workers and the organisations in the Shannon Free Zone when she came to announce a €50 million in- vestment at Intel last week.

“It is down to the calibre of the people on this site in Shannon that they have been able to get this invest- ment…investment in our people and our skills is how we are going to re- main competitive.”

She added that the gain of up to 134 jobs in research and develop- ment are the result of the “smart economy building on the knowledge economy .

Intel will invest more than €50 mil-

lion in a major expansion, supported by Shannon Development, over the next four years, bringing the total employment to approximately 300. Congratulating Intel on theirinvest- ment the Tanaiste said, “Knowledge is now the key to competitive advan- tage in smart economies. Growing the level of R and D investment by new and existing multi-nationals in Ireland is a key Government priority. Today’s investment announcement by Intel gives very real meaning to our ambition to develop Ireland’s smart economy, and is a wonder- ful testament to the highly talented skills base at Intel Shannon.” Welcoming the announcement Vincent Cunnane, Chief Execu- tive of Shannon Development said,

“This major investment at the Shan- non Free Zone is a further vote of confidence in Shannon as a competi- tive location for high tech knowledge based investment on a global scale. We are delighted to have secured this expansion for Shannon, in collabora- tion with IDA Ireland.”

“We are delighted with the expan- Sion decision,’ commented Jonathan Walsh, General Manager of Intel Shannon. “It comes as the result of our world class track record of R and D over the last eight years, the highly developed technical market- ing competencies and also our suc- cess in attracting the highest quality research talent, domestically and in- ternationally.”

He predicted Intel “will emerge

from this downturn stronger relative to our competitors than we were go- ing into it”.

The investment is in further de- veloping leading edge 32 nanometre design capabilities for embedded processors.

Intel predicts that there will be 15 billion connected devices by the year 2015. The Intel investment will in- volve two separate R and D projects. The first is a new hardware project involving advanced 32nm _ silicon design and validation, which aims to enable the next generation of products for small- to medium-sized businesses. The second project is a software development project, which will benefit sectors including the au- tomotive and security sectors.

THERE has been a wide welcome in Clare for the announcement that In- tel will create 134 new jobs over the next four years.

Junior Minister Tony Killeen TD has described Intel’s decision to in- vest €50 million in a major expan- sion at its Shannon Free Zone op- eration as a “major boost” for the mid-west region’s information and communication technology sector.

““Intel’s decision to invest further in its Shannon operations confirms the Free Zone’s position as the flagship location for international industry in this region,” he said.

The Clare TD noted that knowl- edge was now the key to competitive advantage in smart economies.

“Growing the level of Research and Development investment by new and existing multinationals in Ireland is a key Government priority. Intel’s investment gives very real meaning to our ambition to develop Ireland’s smart economy, and is a wonder- ful testament to the highly talented skills base at Intel Shannon.”

Deputy Joe Carey(FG) TD said, “This 1s a welcome announcement, following a series of difficult closures in the region over the past twelve months. These are the types of jobs which will sustain our economy in

the future. The announcement today hints at the region’s potential for fu- ture development.”

Deputy Pat Breen (FG) said that “it is now very important for the Government to refocus their atten- tion on investing in R&D projects”. Deputy Breen went on to say that “if we invest today, we will reap the benefits tomorrow” and he is urging the Government to provide the nec- essary resources to the Third Level Institutions in this region so that they can “continue the production line of science graduates”.

Attending the formal announce- ment, IBEC Director for the mid- west region Chris O’Donovan com-

mented,

‘This is a significant investment by a successful and ambitious company, which is among Ireland’s most 1m- portant business sectors.

“The announcement today, gives a clear signal that Ireland continues to have the skills and strengths re- quired to support global technology businesses.”

He added: “The expansion was secured by Shannon Development and I want to commend the agency for their efforts in this regard. Over 7,000 people are employed in over 100 companies at the Shannon Free Zone, which is managed by the De- velopment Agency.”

THE world-famous London Sym- phony Chorus will make it first ever Irish appearance this year when they perform as special guests of the Lis- morahaun Singers in Ennistymon.

More than 200 singers and musi- cians from the London Symphony Chorus, the Lismorahaun Singers and the City of Dublin Concert Orchestra will perform Mozart’s ‘Great Mass in C Minor’ in honour of north Clare author and poet John O’ Donohue.

The author, who passed away in early 2008, was born just beside the townland of Lismourahaun in Lis- doonvarna and was the man respon- sible for naming the choir.

The concert also marks the tenth anniversary of the Lismorahaun NTIS ESE

“This is the London Symphony Chorus’ first ever visit to Ireland and they are not going to Dublin or Bel- fast or Cork or Limerick – they are coming to north Clare,” said Archie Simpson, founder of the Lismoura- haun Singers.

“They are so excited about the prospect of singing with us – about the prospect of performing with real people and in front of a real commu- nity. I think the fact that they have decided to make Ennistymon their first ever port of call says a lot about both choirs.”

The London Symphony Chorus is one of the world’s premier choral en- sembles and already has more than

100 recordings to its name.

The Lismorahaun Singers will wel- come back some of its most high- profile exports for this concert, in- cluding Naomi O’Connell who is currently studying at the Juilliard School of Music in New York and Peter O’Donohue, nephew of the late John O’Donohue.

“John has meant a lot to the choir personally over the years. He was al- ways So supportive of us and indeed it was him who first gave us our name,” continued Archie. “When we sang in the early days, we didn’t have a name but John invited us to sing at one of his Masses and introduced us as the Lismorahaun Singers. The name just stuck after that.”

The concert will take place on April 17 in the Church of Saint Michael in Ennistymon.

Tickets, at a cost of €40, will be available from March 6 at Scéal Eile in Ennis, Crosbies in Ennistymon, Jordans in Lisdoonvarna and Moon- eys in Ballyvaughan. For credit card bookings, contact the Burren Col- lege of Art in Ballyvaughan on 065 7077200.

SCOIL Mhuire Secondary School in Ennistymon was valued at just under €1 million when it was transferred to the state as part of the church sex abuse scandal in 2002, it was re- vealed last week.

While the transfer of a number of properties is yet to take place, it has now been revealed that the Sisters of Mercy struck a deal with the Depart- ment of Education to value the north Clare property at £980,000.

The school was one of a number of properties transferred to state control as part of a controversial deal with the 18 Irish religious orders involved in child sex-abuse scandals.

This agreement, which was one of the last pieces of legislation signed by former Minister of Education Michael Woods (FF), limited the li- ability of the religious orders to vic- tims of abuse to just €128 million.

However, it is now estimated that the total compensation to the victims of child abuse could run as high as €1.1 billion, leaving the tax payers to foot the bill for almost 90 per cent of the compensation.

The church organisations has com- mitted to handing over €66 million worth of properties, €52 million in cash and €10 million in counselling services under the €128 million in- demnity deal. To date however only 21 properties out of a total of 64 have been given transferred to the state.

CLARE soccer saw red on Sunday when referee Padraig Sutton refused to play the Premier Division tie be- tween Burren United and Lifford in Doolin, because both sides togged out wearing the same colour socks.

Red was the offending colour, as Sutton who is a League of Ireland referee called time on the game just before the tip off, much to the dismay of both sides. It brought to an end a strange week for the ever-eventful Clare League — a week that saw Tulla Utd allowed back into the Clare Cup after they had inadvertently fielded an illegal player in their second round win over Shannon Olympic.

Sutton was adhering to Football Association of Ireland rules when refusing to play the game with both sides wearing the same colour socks, but it provoked much disappointment from within the ranks of both Lifford and Burren United.

“It’s a new thing to me,” Burren United manager Donie Garrihy told

Concern over coaching

UNDER the illuminated night sky of Doonbeg on Friday, it was the home side who fired the opening shots of the new season with a relatively com- fortable victory. In truth, aside from a battling third quarter from the new- ly promoted side that sparked a mini- revival, Doonbeg were in control of this tie and it simply was a case of two sides in contrasting stages of preparation.

Granted, key players were missing, it was only the first game of a long campaign and with a month’s recess until the next round of the compe- tition, there is still a lot of ground work to be undertaken but a lean and sharp Doonbeg are already showing the benefits of their pre-season train- ing while Shannon Gaels battled hard but ultimately couldn’t afford the loss of their key performers and were always playing catch-up

Only securing manger Josie O’Shea in the previous week, it was under- standable that the Gaels would be more sluggish and so it proved as they coughed up possession too many times and Doonbeg, under the assured guidance of David Tubridy, unsympathetically punished on the

scoreboard.

It all could have been so much dif- ferent however had Declan Power converted a 12th minute penalty, with the score at only O-2 to O-1 to the home side. Two beautifully stroked frees from Tubridy opened the scoring before Shannon Gaels settled with a Michael O’Shea curl- ing free and with the Gaels starting to find their feet, a Noel Kennedy ball over the top was caught by David Neylon who was hauled to the ground by Richie Vaughan. How- ever, Power’s resulting penalty went straight down the middle to the wait- ing Keith Egan.

Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Doonbeg upped the ante until the break, turning the screw with supe- rior movement, and seizing on Shan- non Gaels mistakes to push home their advantage. It was county senior Tubridy who was an integral part of all their unanswered 1-7, converting four placed balls, finishing off two more impressive passing moves and setting up a further 1-1 for targetman Colm Dillon. The full-forward had already fired a warning shot in the 20th minute when he got a fist to a pinpoint crossfield ball from new re- cruit Shane O’Brien but although it

beat goalkeeper Ryan, the post came to the Gaels’ rescue.

However, that luck deserted them only six minutes later when another teasing ball over the top, this time from ‘Tubridy, was misjudged by Ryan and Dillon was the first to re- act to dive in and flick the ball to the am

Trailing by 1-9 to Q-1 at the break, Shannon Gaels regrouped and now backed by a sizeable breeze, they re-emerged a more characteristically battling unit and it surprisingly dis- rupted Doonbeg all too easily. Two early Gaels wides followed by a goal opportunity for Francis Cleary, that was only snuffed by an outstanding last gasp block from Padraic Aherne, demonstrated their renewed threat and as Doonbeg began to lose their shape, the Gaels principally led by Brian Cunningham, hit four succes- sive points to cut the deficit to seven lol elem PanlemneuDOeinen

Doonbeg were now in a rut and it took several tactical switches to dig them out, with Shane O’Brien mov- ing to midfield while substitute Brian Dillon was utilised as an extra de- fender. It had the desired effect and once O’Brien grabbed his first point of the evening in the 48th minute,

it reopened the floodgates and quenched the Gaels rebellion. Points from Tubridy, Frank O’Dea, Shane O’Brien and Jamie Whelan followed to retore their commanding lead and although Shannon Gaels never gave up and even secured the final two scores through Cunningham and Shane Tubridy, they were only dam- age limitation measures as Doonbeg eased to the final whistle.

THE Kilmurry Ibrickane train is moving again.

Many of their marquee names might still be in winter/spring hiber- nation or even devoting themselves ot other codes, but their strength in depth is such that they could have to be missing a raft of players and still win this season opener with some- thing to spare.

Kilmurry won by nine in the end, but it did flatter them somewhat. Co- orclare’s first half profligacy when they failed to build on Joe Considine’s midfield dominance and a storming finish from the champions when they outscored their opponents by 2-2 to Q-1 in the final 15 minutes put such a lop-sided look to the scorecard.

Aided by a cracking Thomas O’Connor goal on the stroke of half- time, Kilmurry enjoyed a 1-5 to 0-2 interval lead.

Others on the mark in the half for Kilmurry were Enda Coughlan, Michael Hogan, Johnny Daly and Stephen Moloney (2).

The six point deficit should have broken Cooraclare’s resolve, as they dominated large tracts of the half, only to spurn a host of scoring op- portunties. Cathall Lillis was left to rue a number of missed from some very scoreable frees.

It left the Aidan Moloney managed Cooraclare with a mountain to climb but they stuck to their task admirably in the opening quarter of the half.

A Padraig Looney goal dragged

them back into contention and left matters delicately poised going into WeComNOT-UmOLUT-Na tose

Kilmurry led by 1-7 to 1-5 and the force seemed to be with a resurgent Coorclare side – no doubt they were still smarting from hammering that a shadow Kilmurry team handed them

out in a challenge game the previous week.

However, when the hour was at its greatest, Kilmurry’s pedigree shone through in the final 15 minutes as their forwards upped their game con- siderably and closed out the contest with the clinical efficiency of cham-

OKO Ie

In this regard, Michael Hogan was the man apart over the hour. He only bagged QO-2 in comparison to the |- 2 hauls of both his full-forward line colleagues, Johnny Daly and Noel Downes, but his overall industry and workrate made him the real engine

OM ONE LEOentce

A brilliant strike for a goal by Noel Downes with ten minutes remaining was the defining score of the game, while Johnny Daly applied the gloss in the final moments when convert- ing a penalty at the second attempt.

Kilmurry had started where they left off in Clare in 2008 – on a win- ning note.

They seem determined to defend that unbeaten run through Clare.

ROCK Rovers made the journey east to Mountshannon hoping to take a big step towards promotion to the top flight for next season. Going into the game they led the divisioin by three points from Shannon Olympic with a game in hand, but by the end they were left licking their wounds after Mountshannon gave them a real les- sons — in the process the east Clare side kept their own promotion hopes alive and are now poised to strike in a chasing pack behind the paceset- ters Rock and Olympic.

It was Mountshannon’s day from the word go — the local knowledge they have of their own field was proved far to much for a poor Rock side that were shorn of the services of their top scorer Stephen Hickey.

It took Mountshannon only ten minutes to make the breakthrough — Shane Daniels’ fell to Mounthshan- nnon striker Arthur Burzynski who beat Leonard Keane with a low shot first time to the corner.

Rock came more into the game as the half wore on, but a stone wall

Mountshannon defence led by the hard-tackling and ultra competitive Raymond Cahill totally nullified the visitors’ attack.

Matters rested at 1-0 at half-time, but five minutes after the resumption Mountshannon struck for the all-im- portant second goal. This time Rock were undone by a swift Mountshan- non counter attack. Mounthshannon right back Colm Collins worked ball infield and three passes later later, John O’Brien showed his class when curling in an effort from just outside Welomre Duets P

Rock were in dire straits, but threw themselves a lifeline a minute later. They stormed forward from the tip- off and a cross from the right was blocked out by the defence, but fell invitingly to midfielder Brian Fitz- patrick who found the net with a su- perb looping volley.

Rock were back in the ballgame but in the 65th minute Mountshan- non were back in control when a mix-up between Greg Howard and his keeper Leonard Keane allowed Tommy Gleeson through for an easy tap in goal.

Fifteen minutes later Mountshan- non closed out the game when Rock were punished for failing to deal with a corner and Michael Scanlan blasted home from close range.

Consolation did come in_ the 90th minute for Rock when Marty McLoughlin was fouled just inside the Mountshannon penalty area. Greg Howard converted the spot kick.

However, Shannon Olympic’s 7-2 win over Kildysart Celtic put the seal on Rock’s depressing day.