Month: June 2009

Councillors say goodbyes

THERE were tears from Geraldine Lambert, a prepared speech from Sean Hillery, while Mike McKee reminisced about being arrested sev- eral years ago, as a Sinn Féin activist. Emotions ran high as three outgoing Shannon town councillors made their final speeches at their last ever meet- ing last Tuesday.

More than two decades of involve- ment in Shannon Town Council came to a close as the three council- lors decided not to seek re-election to the local authority. Nostalgia was in abundance as tributes were also paid to town manager Ger Dollard, who is moving to Ennis, and town clerk Tomas MacCormaic, whose re- tirement will take effect later in the summer, after 27 years in the post.

Fianna Fail Town Councillor Sean Hillery – who was also a county councillor between 1985 and 2004 – said he had thoroughly enjoyed the past 24 years of public life and said the town council was a “totally dif- ferent kettle of fish” to the county council. “In the county council we were pulled and dragged. In Shan- non it was a community effort,” he said.

“T can relax in the knowledge that I helped or tried to help every person who came to me looking for help,” said Mr Hillery.

He said when he is asked why he is retiring, he explains to those enquir- ing, “I feel I’ve given enough. I have other ideas in my head that I want pursue,” he said.

He said Mr MacCormaic was “more than a town clerk to me. Tomas was a friend from college, a friend from my youth. He is very straight, upfront.”

Independent councillor Mike Mc- Kee said he was “for the last time speaking here after 24 years.” He said that while there were some good

times, he could not remember any bad times.

He recalled, with humour, the lifting of the broadcasting ban on members of Sinn Féin speaking in the media in Ireland. “I think I was the first Sinn Fein person to speak on radio, Clare FM. When Caimin Jones asked me the first question, my lips just froze. I was like a robot. He couldn’t deci- pher what I said,” he recalled.

The former Sinn Féin councillor said that over the 24 years, he just missed two meetings out of 240. “One I was arrested as a Sinn Féin activist. They wouldn’t let me make a second phone call,’ he recalled.

Geraldine Lambert fought back the tears as she bid farewell to her days on the council, telling her colleagues it was “an absolute privilege” to work alongside them.

Fine Gael councillor Tony Mulc- ahy’s words rang true: “Half of us won’t be here in September.” Five of the 11 people around the table – the nine councillors, manager and clerk – will no longer be part of it all in the

autumn.

Mr Mulcahy said Mr Dollard’s de- parture was Shannon’s loss, but En- nis’ gain, while he referred to Mr MacCormaic as “a kind of monu- ment in the town hall.”

His party colleague Sean McLough- lin addressed Mr Dollard and said he was “definitely a people’s person. Whatever you did you did for the sake of the people and of the town, not for the council.”

Independent councillor Patricia McCarthy said she had the pleasure and honour of serving with the three outgoing councillors since they were first elected more than 20 years ago. “They were incisive, but they were never divisive. Whenever we hit a wall we worked to solve it,’ she said. She said Mr Dollard was very hon- est, open and receptive to dealing with people, while Mr MacCormaic was a diligent town clerk who did his job “without fear or favour.”

Clare hurlers get their game on

THE bitter disappointment felt by Fianna Fail’s Peter Considine at los- ing the seat he held on Clare County Council for 35 years will be softened by a Government pay-out of over €40,000.

He will receive the highest amount of the four councillors who failed to get re-elected to the county council and now qualify for the Govern- ment’s retirement gratuity scheme for councillors.

Last December, the council set aside a fund of €250,000 for coun- cillors who retired or failed to recap- ture their seat in the local elections.

Cllr Considine became a councillor in 1974 and had a proud record of be- ing re-elected at every election since over the 35-year period.

However, the backlash against Fi- anna Fail in urban areas along with the carving up of the old Ennis elec- toral area put paid his prospects al- lowing Kilmaley’s Tom McNamara to grab the Fianna Fail seat in Ennis West.

Cllr Considine had also to over- come a recent serious illness to con- test last Friday’s election.

Although he retained his seat on Ennis Town Council, he will still avail of the pay-out for the loss of his county council seat.

Under the scheme, councillors who have served since the 1999 local elec- tions will receive around €30,000 as the retirement gratuity guarantees €3,300 per annum since 2000 and a lower scale prior to 2000.

Fianna Fail’s Tom Prendeville who lost out in the Kilrush electoral area but was re-elected to Kilrush Town Council can expect a gratuity in ex- cess of €35,000 after serving on the county council for 18 years.

Party colleague Bernard Hanrahan from Clarecastle who lost out in En- nis East became a member of Clare County Council in 1995 and he can also expect a gratuity in excess of €30,000.

The only Fine Gael councillor to

lose his seat, Cllr John ‘Mashen’ McInerney can expect a pay out of around €16,500 as he was only elected in 2004.

Four other councillors who retired and decided not to contest the elec- tion will also receive the gratuity.

They are the current mayor, Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn (FG), two former mayors, Cllr Flan Garvey (FF), Cllr Colm Wiley (FF) and Cllr

Martin Lafferty (Ind).

Cllr Lafferty will receive the high- est amount of the councillors who announced their decision to retire prior to the election. He was elected in 1974 as a Labour councillor and remained with Labour before his subsequent election as an independ- ent.

Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn was elected in 1979 along with Cllr W1-

ley, while Cllr Garvey was elected in I ee

The key distinction in the new scheme from the Government’s 1999 ‘scrappage scheme’ for councillors is that those councillors who avail of the gratuity next year are free to con- test any future local election.

Nationally, the payout for council- lors could top €10 million and this would be more three times what

former Environment Minister, Dick Roche estimated the scheme would cost when he announced it in De- cember 2006.

€2m wastewater treatment upgrade for 2010

PLANS and a timeframe have been announced for a €2 million upgrade of the Ennis/Clarecastle main drain- age scheme.

The work, due to commence in early 2010, will be carried out at the Clonroadmore Wastewater ‘Treat- ment Plant.

Sean Ward, Senior Engineer with Clare County Council, told last Tuesday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council that the work should be completed by the end of 2010 or early 2011.

Mr Ward said the council was opt- ing to upgrade the drainage scheme on an incremental basis, as it was unlikely that the Department of En- vironment, Heritage and Local Gov- ernment would approve the €60 mil- lion required for a large-scale water treatment plant at Clareabbey.

Mr Ward said that when complete, the new interim treatment plant and the current water treamtnent stations would provide water treatment serv- ices for a total population of 37,500.

He said that this should be more than enough capacity to cater for En- nis as the population of the town was

now not expected to grow as fast as previously expected.

Mr Ward said the council was also concerned about untreated waste- water being pumped into the River Fergus. He stated that if the process continued, Clare was in danger of failing to meet mandatory European Union standards on water quality.

At the meeting, former Green Party councillor Donal O Bearra asked if the new network would mean an end to untreated sewage being released into a section of the River Fergus near the Francis Street pumping sta- tion.

In response, Mr Ward said, “The short term upgrade won’t guarantee that storm overflow from the Francis Street station will not be released. I’m fairly confident there will be less frequency, but it won’t stop com- pletely.”

Mr Ward added that there are plans to upgrade facilities at the Francis Street station.

County Manager, Tom Coughlan said that an upgrade of the Ennis Clarecastle Main Drainage Scheme was first proposed in 1995.

Despite criticism from some coun- cillors that the entire Clareabbey

project had not received approval, Mr Coughlan defended the council’s decision to carry out improvements on a phased basis.

“It’s been going on for almost 14 years now. We had to look at an al- ternative because in the current cli- mate, to go to the department look- ing for €60 million isn’t going to happen,” he said.

Mr Coughlan said there was cur- rently excess capacity in the sewage network for Ennis and its environs as many planning permissions that had previously been granted, had not been taken up by applicants.

THEY say you’ve got to buy a ticket if you want to have a chance. Well, Clare bought a ticket on Sunday but didn’t take their chance. No surpris- es then to find the subject of missed frees occupying the mind of Frank Doherty in the aftermath of Clare’s defeat to Limerick in the Munster semi-final.

Level at half time after a massively encouraging finish to the first half, Clare dropped off after the break and let Limerick creep three points clear. Clare compounded their poor start by missing kickable frees.

Needless to say, the Clare manager looked a frustrated man, standing outside the dressing rooms in Cusack Park.

‘Frees cost you games. It cost us today. We missed three or four frees and we lost by four points in the end,” stated Doherty afterwards.

He continued, “You’ve got to put frees from 45 yards in over the bar. That was a factor obviously. They got the start we didn’t want them to get

in the second half. They got two or three points. They did basically the same to us in the first half. We had to make sure that wasn’t going to hap- pen in the second half and it didn’t. It was more a case of us making slop- py balls ourselves rather than them working great scores, or anything like that. That was disappointing as well. But look it we tried as hard as we could. That’s really it”.

Doherty was full of praise for his team’s attitude, particularly that of Timmy Ryan, but added that the ex- ertions of the first half had maybe left his side a little short on energy after the break.

He said, “He tried his dannest. He was outstanding. I dunno, maybe ye guys know Timmy a lot longer than I do. People are saying, why would you go with Timmy Ryan. But other people haven’t seen him over the last five or six weeks. People criticize players and selections and so on and so forth in relation to who should be out there. But people don’t see what goes on behind closed doors. Gor- don Kelly and Graham Kelly drove

us on. Maybe they got a little tired. Dean was caught early on. He’s an- other lad who was absolutely flying DOM ORDO ODEN Toaee

Over the past 12 months Doherty’s public comments have often been fla- voured with references to the limited amount of players available to him and his selectors.

Injuries and the issue of players declining to link up with the county team were subjects again touched on by Doherty on Sunday.

“You have to remember today that were missing a couple of serious players in my opinion like John Hay- es and David Connolle. They’re lads who will drive you on from there. And if the whole county was availa- ble to the management team it might have been a different ball game to- day altogether. What you have, you work with and you do your best with. And I believe we’ve got as much as we possibly can out of them.”

FOR Donie Buckley Sunday after- noon on Ennis’ Causeway wasn’t about the past – the way that Clare football had let go a man who had given so much voluntary work for club and county for nearly two dec- AYalohe

It wasn’t about Donie Buckley v Clare – that’s in the past, this was the present and it was all about trying to do his bit to guide Limerick into a provincial decider.

What’s done was done, but Buckley was quick to admit that manning the line on this day was different than another day during his year and a bit with the Shannonsiders.

“It was very difficult for me today,’ he revealed. “I know a lot of these Clare players and they are great play- ers – the service the likes of Conor Whelan, David Russell and Mike O’Shea have given Clare, they’ve been great servants.

‘When I was involved with Michael

Brennan in Clare, we introduced a number of those players. They’re fantastic footballers and Clare will bounce back. I know that.

“We got the rub of the green today. We got a great start but Clare came back very well at us. I think at the end of the day I think our experi- ence from Division 3 where we lost a number of games by a point gave us the determination to get through,” he added.

The former Clare manager was the most energetic of all the mentors manning the sideline – kicking every ball with his players, roaring instruc- tions from start to finish, making regular excursions over the white line with new instructions for battle.

He was most active after Clare had reeled in Limerick in the first half, while he admitted that the half-time break gave his side the chance to gather their thoughts and take up the battle anew.

‘We put our shoulder to the wheel in the second half. It’s all about at-

titude,’ he revealed.

“Clare came out with all guns blaz- ing – they were a very well prepared team under Frank Doherty, James Hanrahan and Kieran Kelleher. We were just lucky that we got it right in tom ntee

“The turning point of the game was where Dermot O’Brien made a great catch but coming out we turned it over and got a crucial point.

“We came up here today as favour- ites but Clare gave us a great game. We’re looking at a Munster final now and it’s going to be Cork or Kerry. That was our target at the start of the year.”

Beating Clare was also a target and it was mission accomplished for Do- nie Buckley.

Clare’s loss has definitely been Limerick’s gain.

WHILE election fever swept through the county on Saturday, this crunch tie had a fever of it’s own, namely the fight to avoid the drop from the top division.

The polls weren’t favourable for e1- ther candidate entering this game. St Joseph’s had only one win from their four outings while Inagh/Kilnamona were turned away from every door, not having tasted a competitive vic- tory in nine months but with only half the Clare Cup campaign com- pleted, there was still ample time to canvas for points.

Like a bloody battle for the final Seat, it was aclose run affair and even ended in controversy as St Joseph’s had a last minute goal ruled out for a square ball, a score that would have handed them both crucial points.

Both sides were without key mem- bers of their squad, with the home side shy of seven of the team that started against Clonlara in the cham- pionship the previous weekend along with county senior Tony Carmody who didn’t play that game while St

Joseph’s were missing eight from their win over Sixmilebridge. As a result, the quality suffered in what was a scrappy seesaw affair before Inagh/Kilnamona eventually edged the contest with a superior finale to top the poll.

At 0-2 to 0-2 after eleven minutes, contrasting finishing finally sparked the game into life, with St Joseph’s goalkeeper Paul Madden produc- ing a excellent diving save to deny Shane Griffin while down the other end only three minutes later, full-for- ward Seanie McMahon was more ef- ficient, latching on to a Colm Mullen pass to pull past the onrushing Ea- mon Scanlon to give his side an early advantage.

Inagh/Kilnamona_ didn’t panic however, and even though a plethora of wides followed for the remain- ing 18 minutes of the half, the home side still managed to come within a point of St Joseph’s by the break with points from David Hegarty and Shane Griffin.

Inagh/Kilnamona built on that re- newed confidence on the resumption, grabbing a crucial goal after only two

minutes when Joe Griffin shrugged off two challenges before slamming the ball to the net from close range.

However, within ten minutes, that advantage had been overturned, this time with Mullen the finisher, gather- ing a Paul Morrissey ball inside to hit to the net from close range, putting his side 2-4 to 1-5 ahead.

It should have inspired St Joseph’s but similar to the first half, they were not to score for the final 18 minutes of the half and while they tallied up the wides, Inagh/Kilnamona slowly chipped away at their two point lead. They cancelled it out by the turn of the final quarter through substitute Sean Arthur and Joe Griffin be- fore taking up the ascendency with a Gannon Free in the 50th minute and an Eugene Cullinan point only a minute short of the hour.

It looked to have secured Inagh/Ki- namona the seat but like any good election battle, there was almost a twist in the tale when St Joseph’s produced one final attack up the right, going from Mullen, through Mike Cullian to Damien Kennedy in the corner and when he flashed

his shot across the square, substitute Shane O’Grady dived in at the back post to flick it over the line. However, the celebrations were short lived as the presiding officer Tom Stackpool deemed it to be a square ball. St Joseph’s appealed for a recount, how- ever, the returning officer’s decision was final as Inagh/Kilnamona were deemed elected on the final count.

IT’S unlikely that you will see a more entertaining game this year as this battle of the amalgamations re- ally had everything. A seesaw strug- gle that saw the lead change hands on five occasions, with eight goals, some outstanding performances and even a dramatic injury-time equalis- ing goal thrown in for good meas- ure to enthral the large support that manned the famous hill in Tulla on Friday evening.

As the game entered it’s third minute of injury time, Feakle/Kil- lanena thought they had done enough to finally fend off Scariff/Ogonnel- loe but there was an air of inevitabil- ity about the equalising score as John Scanlon picked up a break to strike to the net. And really while Feakle/Kil- lanena will feel disappointed to have let that advantage slip at the death, a draw was really the fairest result possible for two sides who had given everything over the hour.

It started tamely enough with Feak- le/Killanena holding a slender 0-2 to Q-1 advantage by the tenth minute be-

fore Scariff/Ogonnelloe sparked the first purple patch of the game, blitz- ing their opponents with a huge haul of 3-1 in eight minutes. The damage came from the full-forward line of John Scanlon, Cian Fitzgerald Bra- dley and James Kiely who grabbed a goal each in quick succession to turn the game on it’s head and power Scariff/Ogonnelloe into a command- ing nine point lead.

That significant blow would have finished most sides but not Feakle/ Killanena who were determined to finally get their hands on the crown after falling at the same hurdle last year. Midfielder Eoin Tuohy started the fightback with three placed balls in as many minutes before they sliced the deficit to three in the 27th minute after a good passing move involving Todd Kelsey and Diarmuid Bane end- ed with Stephen Conway who drove the ball to the net. By the break, their momentum had got them to within a point at 3-2 to 1-7 and they continued that surge on the restart, grabbing a second goal in the 34th minute. Barry Nash had just stopped the rot with a free for Scariff/Ogonnelloe

but Feakle/Killanena’s reply was swift when Todd Kelsey gathered the puck-out and bore down on goal and when his shot was stopped by goal- keeper Ricky Bolton, Con Smythe was on hand to acrobatically flick the dropping ball to the net.

Incredibly, Scariff/Ogonnelloe mustered another scoring spree, with a John Scanlon free levelling up the game once more before Cian Fitzger- ald Bradley doubled his goal tally in the 41st minute to push his side three points clear. By the 49th minute, they were four points in front but Feakle/ Killanena refused to lie down, hitting 1-4 without reply, with Kelsey secur- ing the goal to take a three point lead into injury-time. However, Scanlon’s 63rd minute goal ensured that the sides will have to do it all again this week but the supporters will hardly erumble after this white knuckle ride. The only downside is that one of these sides eventually has to lose.