Month: December 2009

The Clare Champion newspaper last year incurred after tax losses of €3,000 per week as the recession hit the regional newspaper industry.

Abridged accounts for 2008 show after tax losses of €187,000 to the end of December last.

However, the company has strong cash reserves of €2.46muiullion as a result of accumulated profits over a number of years.

One of the few remaining inde- pendently owned newspapers in Ire- land, The Clare Champion is now in operation over 100 years and for the past four years has faced direct competition from The Clare People newspaper.

The Clare Champion accounts show the company remains in a healthy fi- nancial state though its financial as- sets took a hit last year going down from €988,188 to €864,995. As a result, the value of the company’s fixed assets dropped from <€4.4mil- lion to €4.2million. Cash at bank and in hand dropped from €1.073million to €1.072mil- lion. With shareholder funds drop- ping to €5.47million as a result of last year’s losses, the company had total funds of over €6.5 million The shareholders funds include a revaluation reserve which relates to the revaluation of the company as- sets. There was a gain of €1 million in the account in 2006, though last year there was no increase. The accounts are signed by the company’s General Manager, John Galvin and his wife, Shelley, who 1s also a director of the company. The paper is wholly owned by the Galvin family and its other directors include John Galvin’s mother, Gemma. A sister company, Clare Cham- pion Printers Ltd., also recorded a loss last year of €50,058. The filings show that the company’s accumu- lated profits now stand at €929,376. This company had cash of €267,791 at the end of 2008 - slightly up on the 2007 figure of €260,133. The Galvins also have a substantial shareholding in local radio station, Clare FM and were last year set to be the major winners from the station’s proposed €7.2 million sale to Radio Kerry. The family’s 51,000 shares would have delivered an estimated pay-off of €1 million but the sale fell through. General Manager John Galvin de- clined to comment on the accounts filed with the companies office.

A PLANNED TESCO four island petrol station for Kilrush could result in the loss of a significant proportion of the 100 people employed in inde- pendently owned petrol stations in west Clare.

That is the view of the Irish Petrol Retailers’ Association (IPRA) who are once more opposing plans by the Supermarket giant to construct the petrol station adjacent to its recently opened store in the west Clare town.

Earlier this year, An Bord Pleanala turned down a previous plan by TES- CO due to traffic considerations.

Now, in response to a new plan, the

IPRA, independent retailer group, RGDATA and independent petrol owners are opposing the application.

In its objection, the IPRA states that petrol stations and associated shops provide full-time and part- time employment for some 100 peo- ple in the area, a significant number of which could lose their jobs based on the UK trend being replicated in Ireland whereby half of all petrol stations will have closed within a 15- year period.

The objection states, “We submit that such an impact is unacceptable in a period of economic recession in an area that has already a high un- employment rate. The evidence from

the UK is clear and unequivocal whereby the UK supermarkets have increased their market share from 11 per cent in 1992 to 40 per cent to- day in a market where the number of operators has over halved. The link therefore between supermarkets en- tering the petrol filling station mar- ket and offering discounted fuel and the closure of other petrol filling sta- tions cannot be questioned.

The objection states, “The open- ing of Kilrush Tesco petrol filling stations will result in preventing communities from accessing food supplies in station shops, remov- ing a critical and regular reason for residents to visit a location, therefore

reducing the critical mass of the area and affecting local traders, motorists having to travel further in order for petrol and in reducing the viability of west Clare as a place to live.

‘The closure of petrol stations will have an adverse and negative impact on the provision of retail services to vulnerable members of the commu- nity, who currently rely on access to retailing facilities associated with, and existing filing stations in the ru- ral area and from where there are no public transport links to Kilrush.

“We request the Council to con- clude therefore that the proposal is contrary to the provisions of sections 90-95 of the Retail Planning Guide-

lines and therefore not in the proper planning and sustainable develop- ment of the area nor in the interest of the common good and that the pro- posal will endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard.”

In its objcction, RGDATA state that the application should be refused as it is not consistent with the proper planning and sustainable develop- ment of Kilrush.

Others to make submissions include David and Colette of Colleen Bawn, Texaco Station, Killimer; John and Vincent Crowley, Crowley’s garage, Kilrush; Michael Fitzpatrick, Fitz- patrick’s station, Killimer and Mar- rinan Oil, Cappa, Kilrush.

THE HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) chief for acute hospitals in the mid-west has confirmed that they will press ahead with plans to close Ennis General Hospital’s in- tensive care unit next year.

John Hennessy also confirmed that as part of the HSE’s continuing reconfiguration of hospital services in the mid-west, certain aspects of acute medicine will be transferred from Ennis General to Limerick Re- gional Hospital.

He denied that the transfer of serv- ices from Ennis and Nenagh to Lim- erick Regional represents a further

downgrading of the county hospi- tals, which have already lost their 24-hour A&E and acute surgery ca- pabilities this year.

Mr Hennessy said, “Absolutely not. On the contrary, the opposite is the case.

“It is the opportunity to develop for the future at Ennis and Nenagh and provide a range of services that can and should be delivered locally to the highest possible standard.”

He said that currently, there are six intensive and coronary care beds at Ennis General.

As part of the reconfiguration, the HSE has made substantial progress in the past two months with the

development of a new critical care facility in Limerick for the entire mid-west.

“There are currently a total of 34 beds at the moment spread across four sites. The new facility will have 34 beds but capacity to go to 42 as resources permit.”

He admitted that the timescale for the transfer of critical care and acute medicine to be completed by the end of 2010 was “ambitious”.

“It may take a little bit longer than 2010, but the ultimate inten- tion would be to bring all critical care services into the one facility and adopt the same approach as was done in A&E and surgery.”

Stating that the transfer of acute medicine “is the most difficult”, he said: “You are talking a very broad range from paediatric right through to the care of the elderly.”

“Tt is a difficult one and the big- gest challenge is to only bring into the centre what’s needed and to de- lineate what can be done to a high standard in a remote location.

“That is what we are working De ROLUCSA a MrcIMmOsComman Copano Olmm-ba\e mmol AB DOTS help and assistance from clinical colleagues.”

Mr Hennessy said that there will be opportunities for more day case surgery and this would be developed in Ennis and Nenagh.

THE HEALTH Service Executive’s chief of acute hospitals in the mid- west said yesterday that absenteeism rates at the region’s main hospital will cost the HSE up to €3 million this year.

HSE Mid-West Director for Acute Hospitals, John Hennessy was com- menting on statistics that show ab- senteeism rates at Limerick’s Re- gional Hospital as one of the highest in the country.

During this year, the Limerick hospital took on responsibility for all acute surgery from Clare and for Clare A&E patients between 8pm ANeCe mor DeO MOC BENs

Out of 27 hospitals evaluated, the main hospital for the mid-west has the sixth highest absenteeism rate in the country.

Ennis General Hospital is not one of the hospitals evaluated by the HSE Healthstat office, but Mr Hennessy said that the absenteeism rates across the network of hospitals in the mid- west, including Ennis, “wouldn’t be unduly different” to Limerick’s ab- senteeism rates.

Figures show that the hours lost due to absenteeism at Limerick are run- ning at just under six per cent- down from eight per cent at the start of the year. Mr Hennessy said that the HSE target was to reduce absenteeism to four per cent by year end.

“There is a lot of disappointment that we haven’t achieved that and it represents a huge priority to make dramatic improvements on that. A lot of progress has been made and while there is something to show in terms of improvement, we are still a long way off the target figure of four per cent that is the norm for the health sector.

“We are happy there is progress, but not happy at the pace at which we are getting to grip with the problem. We have a fair bit to go yet to achieve the best in class, but we have a pretty vig- orous action plan to achieve that.”

The vast majority of sick leave at Limerick is certified.

Absenteeism rates by general sup- port staff that includes hospital por- ters, catering staff remain just under eight per cent, while other patient and client care that includes nurse assistants remains at 16 per cent.

Mr Hennessy said that absenteeism at the hospital last year cost €3 muil- lion to €4 million in direct replace- ment staff costs for nursing and gen- eral support staff.

“There is a slight reduction as we bring the figures back, but you are

still talking up to €3 million in lost opportunity as a direct result of sick leave and absenteeism this year.

He said that 16 per cent in absentee- ism rates “is unacceptable and run- ning at a level that no organisation can sustain and has to be brought back to a reasonable proportion as a matter of urgency. There is direct follow up by managers with individ- uals who are abusing the sick leave scheme”’.

“We have information on patterns of sick leave and that is telling us the issues of Monday morning and Fri- day sick leave patterns. The unions are quite supportive of the endeav- ours we are making on this, they are not unduly defending the indefensi- ble.”

Mr Hennessy said that absentee-

ism “is a huge problem and a regular feature of life for hospital managers of the disruption that this creates on a Monday morning or a ‘Tuesday morning”’.

With the levels of absenteeism amongst porter staff, Mr Hennessy said: “Typically, the services that are affected are the day wards, the thea- tres where delays getting patients into theatre. It is a very important cog in the system to keep the system going

“Tt results in a lot of lost productivi- ty and disruption for patients who are fasting for procedures,” he added.

CHANGES should be made to health policy to ensure that cancer sufferers are automatically entitled to medical cards, a meeting has heard.

Speaking at the December meeting of Clare County Council, Cllr Pat Daly (FF) called on the local author- ity “to request the Health Service Ex- ecutive, to implement a health policy for the future “that a person that suf- fers from cancer (or any other serious illness), should automatically receive a medical card, thus ruling out the procedure of means testing”.

Cllr Daly told the meeting that worrying about the financial costs of cancer treatment imposes extra bur- dens on patients.

He said cancer sufferers should not be subject to means tests. He claimed that in some cases patients were forced to wait “two or three months” for treatment.

“There are still situations when serious ill patients have to fight for medical cards,” added Cllr Daly.

Cllr Pat Keane (FF) said he fully supported the motion. Cllr Joe Ar- kins (FG) said that he fully supported the sentiment of the motion but stated that he understood that “such an ar- rangement already exists for people with serious medical conditions”.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) expressed his support for the motion, saying it was of “critical importance” that cancer sufferers receive immediate access to medical treatment. Mayor

of Clare Tony Mulcahy (FG) said he emphatically supported the pro- posal.

According to the HSE, “Medical cards allow people to access family doctor or GP services, community health services, dental services, pre- scription medicine costs, hospital care and a range of other benefits free of charge. Most people who get a medical card do so because their income is below a certain level. It is also possible to get a medical card if the costs of meeting your medical needs causes you financial hardship,

or if you have entitlement under EU Korean FLW CO) ete

Medical card holders are exempt from paying the Health Levy part of social insurance and from the In- come Levy introduced in 2009.

A 50 cent charge per prescription item was introduced in Budget 2010 for medical card and Long Term Illness Card holders, subject to a monthly ceiling of €10 per family.

FURTHER meetings are expected this week between union representa- tives of staff at Shannon airport and management at Aer Lingus.

However, there is little hope being held out that the airline might row back on plans to axe 102 jobs at the by oO a

Workers’ hopes were temporarily raised last week after the airline’s public affairs director offered up the possibility of a brighter prospect for the Shannon operations while field-

ing questions at the Dail’s public af- fairs committee.

But when Airline Chief Executive, Christoph Mueller met Dail depu- ties from Clare in the Oireachtas on Tuesday night, he gave no commit- ment on the Shannon routes, includ- ing a proposal that the New York route could be served with a smaller je) E-Nalen

Then on Wednesday, Mueller came to Shannon for a meeting with staff where workers were told that the plan to lose 102 jobs will go ahead.

IMPACT’s Neil Shanahan = said

there was “huge disappointment” among workers that no alternative to the jobs losses has been agreed.

‘They’ ve said they’re going to forge ahead with 102 job losses under the so-called Greenfield Plan. That would leave between 20 and 25 cab- in crew in Shannon and the plan for 2010 would be that they would work on the Shannon/Heathrow route.”

Mr Shanahan said there was a “lot of emotion” at the meeting and staff “were devastated because they had hoped that more would be done to save jobs.”

Union representatives said that “there are some staff there for be- tween 20 and 30 years who have been told they are going to be out of a job. They are devastated.”

Mayor of Clare, Tony Mulcahy was one of a delegation from the Mid- West Regional Authority which met with Aer Lingus management who came to Shannon last week.

The mayor said that he believes there is “substantial” new business which could be developed for Aer Lingus at the mid-west airport, with the corporate market making up a

significant part of this.

‘For the business community it 1s critical that they be able to get to Dublin and Heathrow early in the morning and get back in the evening. There is a big business community here and that is a primary issue for Weloe0e

“We are also urging Aer Lingus to look at the customs and Border Pro- tection facility. You can be left wait- ing for hours in New York and it is certainly people’s preference to pay a few euro at Shannon and cut out the wait on the other side.”

EMBATTLED Clare property devel- oper Bernard McNamara is to appeal a High Court judgment forcing him to pay €63 million back to a group which loaned him the money to de- velop the controversial former Irish Glass Bottling Site in Dublin.

The court ruled on Friday that the Lisdoonvarna developer must im- mediately pay the investors the €63 million used to purchase the site, with a stay being put on the decision until January so that an affidavit can be prepared in relation to what was described as McNamara’s deteriorat- ing financial circumstances.

The ruling was made following a guarantee made by McNamara in 2007, in relation to a loan issued to the developer through the investors Jersey registered company, Ringsend Property Ltd.

A group led by McNamara purchased the property for a massive €412 mil- lion but the estimated value of the site has plummeted to an estimated €60 million in the last two years.

OW slommekolel umm Dicomeca:NelkoeMm ds Come Deh (oice tors’ summary judgment of €98 million against Donatex Limited, a company owned by Mr McNamara, in relation to the same deal.

Ringsend Property Ltd is seeking the repayment of its loan, because it claims a key clause of the loan agree- ment had been breached.

The clause stated that if the devel- opment company, Becbay Limited,

hadn’t applied for the necessary cer- tificates from the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) or hadn’t been granted planning permis- sion by Dublin City Council within 30 months, then the loans should be repaid.

The Dublin Glass Bottling Site has become the symbol of the property bubble of the last decade. The site, sections of which are contaminated with toxic waste, was described be- fore the sale as “the opportunity of participating with one of the most prolific and successful developers in the country in the development of the

largest and most high-profile proper- ty to become available in Dublin 4 for decades”’.

McNamara and Donatex put for- ward four defences, including that Ringsend Property had not complied with other provisions of the loan agreement, that the contract had been made invalid because the DDDA was not able to issue the certificates need- ed for the fast tracking of planning permission, and that the loan agree- ment was to last until 2014.

FEILE na nGael coming to Clare for the first time in 23 years in 2010 has to be the spur for a new referee recruitment drive across the county, according to referees supremo Kevin Walsh.

The Clare Referees Administration Committee chairman will use this Thursday night’s annual Conven- tion to issue a challenge to the clubs

of the county to answer the Féile na nGael call, but providing referees for the under 14 hurling spectacular to be played next June.

The call comes following the ad- mission from Walsh that, on the back of apathy and lack of interest from clubs, 2009 was a disastrous year where recruitment of referees was oy sleroru sleree

“In this the 125th anniversary year of our association it is disappointing

to be reporting that we failed to have a referees course in the county this year,’ admits Walsh. “Due to lack of interest and numbers we were unable to run a foundation course in 2009. “It is intended to rectify this situa- tion for 2010. Every club, but espe- cially those with no referee, or who didn’t bother for the past five or six years will again be given the op- portunity to put their shoulder to the wheel and help. At the end of Febru-

ary and into the beginning of March we hope to run a course and we will need at least 30 recruits for this.”

Walsh is hoping that the carrot of Feile na nGael will be spark new in- terest among clubs.

‘Everyone knows the huge task and undertaking this (Féile na nGael) will requirement,” he says. “Now is the time for your club to step up to the plate and play its part in this ven- melden

“We will need referees and a lot of them. Every club will be taking part in Féile and every club should strive to have a referee and play their part in making this Féile as successful as previous Féiles.

‘The eyes of the country will be on us in every aspect of the game and can your club afford to be the one who is not contributing to the area of refereeing,’ Walsh’s annual report adds.

THE Interprovincial Championships, that have been sponsored to the tune of over €500,000 by Clare’s Martin Donnelly over the past seven years, are on a “stay of execution” from the GAA’s top brass.

That’s the verdict of Clare’s county secretary Pat Fitzgerald, whose an- nual report praises Donnelly’s sup- port of the series, but hits out at the failure of the GAA authorities’ dedi- cation to the inter-provincial con- cept.

“Through Martin Donnelly’s un- flinching support the Interprovincial Championships are a competition that seems to have been drawing its last breath for the past few years has, almost miraculously, continued to

Survive, says Fitzgerald.

“But [I’m fearful that the compe- tition, which once had supporters streaming through the turnstiles in their droves, is on a stay of execu- tion.

“The GAA at national level has emphasised repeatedly that they are fully behind the inter-provincials but actions do speak louder than words. What it now needs to do is decide on dedicated dates for the competition and then, with sufficient time on their hands, press ahead with a proper and sustained marketing campaign.

“If that is done, the public might start voting with their feet once more and turn out in large numbers as in the days of yore,” adds Fitzgerald.

THE acquisition of a county field for camogie was the main thread of the Clare Camogie AGM that was held in the Auburn Lodge Hotel last Wednesday evening. While the 2008 equivalent was a timultuous affair that spanned over two meetings and saw significant change at the top ta- ble, this time the executive presented an united front in the pursuit of their main goal, based on a long standing commitment from the Clare County Council to provide the organisation with a playing field.

In her annual address, Chairperson Orla Considine stressed the need to “continue to develop our game and the numbers of those that are play- ing.

“While this is relatively within our control, I also must appeal to those who can assist in this process.

“T call upon the Council to uphold the promise made to Clare Camogie all of 20 years ago to provide a play- ing field at Doora. This field has now been developed, there is a playing surface with goal posts and also a small all weather training facility attached. The field will be ready for the final touches and for playing in the new calendar year. I ask those in the position of realising this to now do so and be seen to stand behind their commitment and not let down the female population of this county yet again. Be assured that we will

not stand for anything less than the fulfillment of commitment already acknowledged. You the councilors and council management can be seen as the people who have looked at the development and appreciation of Clare Ladies in the important man- ner it deserves.”

Treasurer Michael Maher, along with announcing an annual profit of €490.89 in his report giving an over- all healthy balance of €5,695.94, also threw his support behind the iniative.

‘“T suppose one of the main reasons that you are not electing any new of- ficers, barring perhaps the PRO, 1s because of our expectation that we are going to have a pitch by this time next year. I think the people that are working in Clare camogie deserve to have the pitch and as far as I’m concerned, the only one that has to sign the dotted line is the County Manager. We have one hundred per cent support from all the County Councillors and I think that is a great achievement. It’s a great achievement for yourselves the fact that you are thought of so highly by the people that you have elected and I would ask now that the County Manager deliver the pitch.

“The promise was made, it’s there and ready to play on in early spring and it would be a great boost for eve- rybody who has worked so hard and get very little credit. So I’m asking the County Manager to deliver.”