Month: December 2009

RALLY co-driver Grainne McEnery from Ennis has had a fantastic sea- son so far this year culminating re- cently when she was presented with the Dunlop National Rally Champi- onship Awards in Galway where she was honoured with the fastest two wheel drive car in the 09 Dunlop Na- tional Championship.

Grainne, a service manager with O’Sullivan & Hansbury Motors has had rallying in her blood from a young age having travelled as a spec- tator with her father Joe to events all over the country and also being in- volved with her brother Charlie who navigates with Anthony O’Halloran.

She began co-driving in 2006 in the Clare Stages Rally with British based Galwegian, John Reddington (Ford Escort) where they finished eleventh overall. Her first big acci- dent came in the 2008 Clare Stages where she co-drove for Eddie Cogan in a Peugeot 205

Just before the beginning of the 2009 Dunlop National Rally Cham- pionship Grainne was asked if she would be interested in co-driving with Kerry’s Mike Quinn in a Mk 2 Escort. Naturally, she did not hesi- tate and so far its turning out to be a

very fruitful partnership. Mike from Listowel in Kerry has been rally- ing his escort for about fifteen years and has had many a battle with local driver Anthony O’Halloran down through the years when Anthony was driving his Opel Manta. This bat-

tle continued in the ‘09 season with Anthony driving his Mitsubishi Evo and Mike still in the Escort and with a great brother sister rivalry devel- oping in the McEnery family it was Grainne who came out on top on the recent Auburn Lodge Clare Stages Rally back in September.

After swapping times all day on their home event O’Halloran and Quinn were second and third overall behind Niall Maguire’s Subaru Imp- reza but on the last stage O’Halloran’s Mitsubishi developed a puncture af- ter picking up piece of steel on the road and this put them out of the event leaving Quinn and Grainne to finish second overall.

The 2009 season started in The Birr Stages Rally where Mike & Grainne finished 12th overall. Next was The Kerry Stages rally which was based in Tralee where they finished 3rd overall and the first two wheel drive car.

The Circuit of Munster in Limerick proved more difficult as they crashed

out hitting a pole and this put them back to 92nd place. After getting back on the road they fought their way back up tp 21st overall and they won Class 14.

Grainne and Mike crashed out again on the next round The Ravens Rock Rally in Carlow where they hit a wall, after getting back on the road they finished 35th overall and another win in class 14.Next was the Stonethrow- ers Rally in Clonmel where they fin- ished sixth overall and the first two Wheel drive car. They repeated this result in the next round The Galway Summer Rally, sixth overall and first two wheel drive. Grainne and Mike are now lying second overall in the championship with one round to go in Limerick on December 28. After a fantastic first season for Grainne and Mike they will be hoping to hold this position after Limerick and if they can secure some sponsorship for they hope to be back in 2010.

THERE was All-Ireland handball success last week for Tulla’s Co- lin Corbett and Niall Bolton in the 60×30 Secondary Schools Junior Doubles Championship.

Representing St. Joseph’s Tulla, the Tulla pair had a hard-fought semi- final win (21-11, 14-21, 11-7) over Pol Clarke and Niall Allison from Omagh on Wednesday last in Mull- baheea

Then in the final, the Clare pair came from behind to beat Wexford’s Galen Rioradan and Padraig Foley in a classic encounter — winning thee a breaker to claim the title on an 8-21, 21-20, 11-9 scoreline.

In the Intermediate Doubles event, Jamie Lynch and Christopher Phil- pott of St. Joseph’s Tulla qualified for the All-Ireland final also, with a relatively straight-forward semi-final win in Abbeylara, Longford on Sun- day week last.

The Kilkishen duo beat Christopher

McKenna and Terry McElvanney (St. Macartan’s, Monaghan) 21-7, 21- 8 to qualify for the decider, but went down in that final by 11-21, 18-21 to Cian Connolly and Mark Nally (Ros- common CBS) on Sunday in Ballina, Tipperary.

At Primary Schools level, there was further Munster success for the Banner County in the Cumann na mBunscoil team championships. Clare took both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ team events on Staurday at Dungarvan and Cappagh respectively to further un- derline the county’s current strength at this grade.

The *A’ team won a round robin event beating both Cork and Water- ford and the team consisted of Fergal Coughlan, Brian Fahy,Jamie Keane, Kevin Conlon, Clodagh Nash, Gary Cooney, lan Murray and Shane Hunt.

The ‘B’ team had an 84-76 win over Cork and the winning team was Cathair Agnew, Jake Kearney, Eoin O Hara, David Sheedy, Barry

Loughnane, David Gleeson and Eoin Wnts Ene

Away from the court, County Hand- ball Board Treasurer Willie Roche was recently recognised for his great work in Clare and Munster handball over a long period. Willie was a re- cipient of a Munster Handball All- Star Award as ‘Official of the Year’, a very well deserved accolade for one of the mainstays of Clare hand- ball, especially at underage level. A national handball promotional/fund- raising event was held in Croke Park last week. The “Ultimate Showdown’ saw prominent handballers from across the country team up with a leading hurling, football or camogie player from their county. Clare were represented by Diarmaid Nash and county hurling goalkeeper Philip Brennan.

THE Labour Party revival in Clare has seen the formation of a new branch in the west.

It once had a party stronghold in west Clare, providing the first female chairperson of Kilrush Town Coun- cil, but in the last number of years the party had lost support and mem- bership.

At an open meeting of the party in Kilrush last week however, the latest branch of the party has been formed.

Constituency Chairman Michael Corley reminded the meeting that,

“west Clare has had in the past a strong tradition of Labour Party rep- resentation down through the years, there have been strong and dedicated representatives pushing for a fairer and more equal society for the peo- ple of Kilrush and the rest of west Oren

Labour councillor Tony McMahon said the turnout was a testament to the level of concern that people have for the social fabric of the commu- nity. “Everyone here is concerned about the problems that affect Kil- rush and west Clare and I believe that it is in the hands of individuals com- ing together in this community that

these problems will be solved. I en- courage everyone here to be proud of this step taken in bringing together a force for positive change in Kilrush and West Clare.”

A spokesperson for the party said that the formation of new branches throughout the county overcomes the perception that Labour is an urban and east coast party.

‘The Labour Party is ready to pro- vide a new leadership and direction to Ireland where the insanity of give- away tax-breaks and the protection of the wealthy at the expense PAYE workers, small business owners and the most vulnerable in society will

not be an option. We believe in a so- ciety where fairness and equality are the guiding principles of how a gov- ernment should plan for its people,” he said.

A wide range of topics were dis- cussed in the meeting including “Government attacks on rural life’, the proposal to cut Government sup- port for the Rural Transport Pro- gramme, and the high rate of unem- ployment and youth unemployment in the county.

More than 10,000 people in Clare are without jobs at the moment and the number of people under 25 with- out work is almost at 2,000 in Clare.

Waving the Purple Flag to lure UK tourists?

Hansel and Gretel take to the Ennis

A close shave for Catherines charities

Clonlara markets itself as community

CLARE farmers have seen an in- come drop of almost 30 per cent in the last 12 months.

That is according to new research issued by the Central Statistics Of- fice last week, which indicates that farmers in Ireland have been affected worse than any other farmers in Eu- rope by the recent “collapse” in farm income margins.

The results have come as a result of ongoing poor commodity prices, Government cuts, unprecedented poor weather conditions and the con- tinued weakness of sterling which 1s damaging Irish agriculture exports

to the UK.

Reacting to the figures, IFA presi- dent Padraig Walshe said that it has been a devastating year for farm families in Ireland.

“The agriculture minister must re- flect the dreadful income situation in farming at cabinet and deliver a proper funded REPS scheme for farmers leaving REPS 2 and 3. He must also ensure there are no further cuts or additional costs imposed on the sector,’ he said.

“The stark reality is that aver- age farm income is now between €13,000 and €16,000 for full time farmers. The Government proposal to close REPS is simply not a run-

ner as it will collapse the already dire incomes of at least 20,000 drystock farmers and leave them with incomes below €10,000.

‘Already cuts in vital schemes to- talling €130 million have impacted severely on farm income. Govern- ment expenditure on farm schemes accounts for less than one per cent of total net Government expendi- ture and if equity is to prevail, cuts already imposed on the sector must be reversed.”

The IFA president called for the Government to support the pro- ductive agriculture sector through maintaining funding for vital farm schemes and ensure that changes to

the taxation system are equitably ap- plied and do not undermine the com- petitiveness of the export sectors.

‘The carbon tax would further in- crease production cost by €17.5 mil- lion per year which is a further 1 per cent cut in national farm income,’ continued Mr Walshe.

“The minister should exempt farming from this tax because no alternatibe fuels are available, farmers cannot pass on the extra cost to the market and any further income cuts to the sector would be intolerable.

“This situation already exists in France where farmers are refunded the cost of the carbon tax there.”

THREE young men arrested in con- nection with a suspicious fire in En- nis on Thursday have been released A Us oO LULMed OTHER

Gardai are describing the incident as “mindless vandalism” after a car and house were set alight at St Anne’s Terrace on Clon Road in the early hours of the morning.

The house was unoccupied at the

time as it was being renovated, but two other homes, which were occu- pied, were evacuated, after the emer- gency services were alerted to the in- cident at around midnight. However, the blaze hadn’t spread to the other homes.

The car – which was parked outside the house – was burnt out in the blaze, while considerable smoke damage was done to the house.

Three teenagers, who reside in En-

nis, were later arrested. One was re- leased without charge on Thursday and two others were released without charge on Friday night. A file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

A technical examination of the scene was carried out on Thursday. Ennis Superintendent John Scanlan is urging members of the public who may have information on this inci- dent to come forward.

“This was mindless vandalism. We have had a lot of help from the general public and we are anxious to hear from anyone with information,” he said.

This was the third serious fire dealt with by the fire services in the county last week, after houses in Broadford and Scariff were damaged earlier in the week. A house in Scariff was gut- ted in the early hours on Wednesday and a garda investigation has been launched.

Clare County Council’s fire service has issued a warning to homeowners to take precautions in relation to fire safety around Christmas time. It says that safety must be exercised when it comes to Christmas lights. They should be purchased from a reputa- ble electrical supplier and must be fully uncoiled before use. Checks, to ensure lights are in good working order, should be carried out, while lights should be turned off when homeowners are out.

The fire service is also warning homeowners to make sure chimneys are clean and that spark guards are in place at night-time. Candles should not be left on if there 1s no-one in the room, while smoke alarms should be in good working order.

A fire safety routine should become a habit at night-time to include un- plugging sockets, keeping escape routes clear and closing all doors.