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GREATER responsibility should be conferred on individual electoral ar- eas in order to enhance the delivery of services within the county.

That’s according to west Clare councillor Christy Curtin (Ind), who says electoral areas should be given a more expanded role in the decision making process.

He called on the county manager to outline his system of monitoring for the delivery of council services and management guidance within each electoral area.

Cllr Curtain stated, “The electoral area is the key unit within the coun-

cil for the implementation of policy decisions and the delivery services throughout the county. It embraces a defined landmass and its own charac- teristics and infrastructural needs”.

He added that the role and influ- ence of specific electoral areas had diminished since their creation eight years ago.

“However, its role has been limited and restricted since the creation of electoral areas in 1999 due primarily to the absence of a planning services clinic and a management ethos and co-ordination in each area. In this case, I strongly advocate that in or- der to redress the situation, the man- ager would as a matter or urgency

review the present arrangements for an expanded role and a mechanism for a broadened engagement with the communities of each electoral area.”

Clare County Council says the de- livery of services is constantly moni- tored.

According to Michael McNamara, Senior Executive Engineer, “There is a system of regular management team meetings which monitors the delivery of services from both a functional and a geographic perspec- tive.

“The annual budget, which in- cludes a report from the county man- ager on each of the services, sets out the programmes and the targets to be

delivered in the following year. This is supplemented by performance indicators across each programme ea cele yoy

“If circumstances do not allow for the delivery of a particular work programme, the members would be informed of the circumstances pre- vailing as regards that programme. Directors of services are delegated functions as area co-ordinators/man- agers. The area co-ordinator/manag- er 1s responsible for co-ordinating all services in their assigned electoral area, he said.

Clare County Council has six elec- toral areas – Ennis, Killaloe, Kilrush, Scariff, Ennistymon and Shannon.

A YOUNG man who is accused of driving a noisy sportscar is to bring his car and a mechanic to court, to prove that the noise is not excessive.

Jason O’ Toole, of Drumline, New- market-on-Fergus, appeared before Ennis District Court on Friday, ac- cused of not having an exhaust si- lencer fitted to his Honda Prelude car, at Station Road, Ennis, on August 20 last year.

Garda Cyril Daniels of the Clare Traffic Corps told the court that he stopped the accused on the morning in question. “In my opinion, it was not fitted with an exhaust silencer,” he said.

Mr O’ Toole, who represented him- Self in court, said the car’s exhaust system conformed to Honda stand- ards. He said he later brought the car

to Shannon and Henry Street Garda Stations and the gardai who inspect- ed the car expressed views that the noise was not excessive.

“TI didn’t see any reason to change the exhaust system. That is the stand- ard for a Honda Prelude,” he said. “There was nothing malfunctioning with the exhaust. It is in no way ex- cessive,” he said.

He said he would accept the noise level of his car would be louder than a Ford Mondeo or Ford Focus but added, *““The manufacturers make the cars these ways.”

He told the court that he had carried out research on the matter and had been told that the issue of exceed- ing the decibel limit – 80 decibels – was purely on the basis of opinion. There was no means of carrying out a mechanical test. ““There is no way my car is over 80 decibels. I have re-

searched this,” he said.

Inspector Kevin Moynihan, pros- ecuting, told the court the defendant could call a mechanic to give evi- dence, in his defence. He said that the legislation stated that the opinion of a garda in a given case was relevant.

“The defendant has admitted the noise iS more excessive than any normal car. On the day, Garda Dan- iels was of the opinion the noise was excessive. It is up to you to decide, on the evidence before you,” said Inspector Moynihan to Judge Joseph Mangan.

The judge asked the defendant, “Would you bring the Honda me- chanic to court? … Would you bring the car to court?” and the accused replied, “Yes,” after he had told the court the car was at home.

The judge adjourned the case for a peeKeyeleee

This compares with just seven ar- rests, during the St Patrick’s week- end last year.

14 of the arrests were made in the Ennis District, which also takes in the Shannon area. There were six ar- rests in the Killaloe District and one

in west Clare. There were no arrests in the north Clare area.

The 21 arrests bring to 125 the number of people arrested for drink driving in the Clare Garda Division, so far this year. This compares with 66 during the same 11-week period in 2006 – an 89 per cent increase.

Several additional checkpoints set up over the weekend, as part of a na- tionwide crackdown on drink driv- ers. The arrests were made at differ- ent times of the day and night, with a significant number made on the evening of St Patrick’s day and again on Sunday evening.

The increase is due to a combina- tion of the enlarged Garda Traffic Corps in the division – a new traffic

unit was set up in Killaloe last year – and a tendency by some people to ignore repeated warnings.

The Head of the Clare Garda Divi- sion Traffic Corps, Inspector Kevin Moynihan said the latest figure is WOrTying.

‘People have to realise the figures don’t lie. People should adjust their habits accordingly, if they want to re- tain their licences. In relation to road safety, if people have alcohol on them while driving, there is a danger they will get injured or killed,” he said.

A number of drink driving cases which were heard in court in recent weeks yielded particularly high read- ings, with a number of drivers three or four times the legal limit.

PREMIER Group has received an award for the respect it demonstrates for the work-life balance among its staff as part of the 50 Best Compa- nies to Work For in Ireland scheme.

This is the third consecutive year the mid-west recruitment company has been named as one of the 50 best companies to work for in Ireland.

The company, the pioneer of spe- cialised recruitment in_ Ireland, serves the mid-west region, including Clare, Shannon and Limerick from its office on Henry Street in Limer- ick, where it employs 16 people.

Work life balance means putting in place a range of flexible working arrangements which help workers to combine employment with other responsibilities and choices in their Tere

The awards are decided according to a detailed assessment by the Great Place to Work Institute Ireland fol- lowing an independently conducted survey of staff.

Mr Micheal Martin, TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employ- ment, made the announcement, prior to an awards ceremony in the Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Dublin, attended by over 600 guests.

Minister Martin congratulated Premier Group on its achievement: Your organisation 1s one of fifty who have demonstrated exceptional com- mitment to attitudes and policies that make your organisation a great place to work. By promoting best practice

in the workplace, you are helping to make Ireland a better place in which to work and live.”

Maria Ryan, Regional Director of Premier Group, who manages the Limerick office, said: “We encour- age staff to balance their work and personal lives by offering tangible benefits such as gym memberships, contributions towards childcare, flexible working arrangements and holiday and gift vouchers. We work hard to attract the best staff and we want them to enjoy coming to work in a pleasant environment. We are delighted to be chosen from thou- sands of applicants to be among the top 50 companies for the third year uebevepestoam

She added, “Our consultants are our best asset, due to their unfailing dedication to delivering on behalf of clients and candidates and their high level of qualification and extensive industry specific experience and this award recognises their outstanding contributions. We pride ourselves on working to standards which define best practice recruitment service in Ireland.”

The Best Companies study sets out to identify and recognise the finest employers — and therefore the most satisfied workforces — in Ireland and throughout the European Union. The Irish study is the largest annual labour force survey undertaken in this country. This year more than 100 Irish companies were surveyed with a total workforce of more than 90,000.

CLARE County Council took in more than €10 million from its con- troversial scheme that targets devel- opers to fund public infrastructure, last year. The figure represents a 57 per cent increase.

In figures to be published at tomor- row’s adjourned meeting of Clare County Council, members will be told that the council raised €10.38 million through the Developer Con- tribution Scheme.

The figures show that the council raised €3.86 million through water charges and €3.48 million through sewerage charges.

The council raised €.17 million in car-parking, €1.18 million in road contributions, €.63 million in amen- ity and €1.11 million in recreational and community.

The council’s Director for Planning, Bernadette Kinsella said, “The lst of Projects of Public Infrastructure and facilities which are to be funded out of Development Contributions collected in 2006 is currently being compiled as part of the preparation of the Annual Financial Statement.”

She said that, “it 1s intended that this list will be available for the April meeting of council”.

She was responding to a motion put down by independent councillor, Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind).

The scale of contributions received is a good barometer of the county’s reese) eORYs

The figure reflects the scale of de- velopment growth going on through- out the county.

The scheme was put in place in the face of much opposition from coun- cillors and the building industry, who ETD sem MAW: UU OU E-N be

The council adopted the new scale of planning contributions in 2003. In the space of 18 months, the cost of water and sewerage connections to new homes almost doubled.

Those hardest hit in the new scheme are householders living in areas serv- iced by the Government-sponsored Serviced Land Initiatives (SLI).

During the first phase of the charg- es, householders in a number of SLIs were asked to pay €5,000 for water and sewerage connections.

The monies accrued from “recrea- tional and amenity” will go towards the implementation of the council’s play policy. This will result in a play- eround, costing between €300,000 and €400,000, in each electoral area.

In the early stages of the scheme, the council came under fire for not spending the money fast enough.

In the first full year, the council raised €10.4 million, but managed to spend only €4.69 million of the overall sum.

STORMY weather played havoc with the schoolboys soccer pro- gramme over the weekend. 19 league fixtures and ten cup ties were due to be played, but the stormy conditions forced the cancellation of the major- ity of the bank holiday fixture list. Four games were played on Saturday but none went ahead on Sunday.

All games were cancelled on Mon- day and that meant that five teams will have to wait a little longer to get their hands on the league title.

Connolly and Newtown were due to clash in Kilmaley with the divi- sion two under 12-league title up for grabs.

Both sides have been on fire throughout the campaign with New- town a point clear of Connolly on top of the league.

The side ensured the champion- ship will be decided on the last game of the season by beating Kildysart 4- 1 on Saturday.

That game was one of just four that went ahead on Saturday, with no fix- tures taking place on Sunday.

The race for the under 11 division two title was also set to reach a con- clusion on Monday, with first place Avenue down to take on second place Tulla United.

However, that game at Lees Road was also a victim of the appalling weather conditions.

While the above teams still face nervy winner takes all deciders, there was no such complications for the under 12 division one champions Avenue United.

Avenue wrapped up the title two weeks ago with victory over Mount- shannon and were due to be pre- sented with the silverware, following Monday’s scheduled tie with Ennis stone

Elsewhere in the few fixtures that Survived the weekend weather, Ennis Town edged out Fern Celtic with a 2-0 victory in the under 13 division one. In the same division, Avenue leapfrogged Ennis rivals Turnpike at the top of the league with a 4-1 away victory over Newmarket Celtic.

Also on Saturday, Corofin came out all guns blazing to record a 6-1 away victory over Mountshannon Celtic in the under 14 division two. The win keeps alive Corofin’s hopes of catch- ing leaders Fern Celtic at the top of the table.

There was a significant victory for Avenue over the Turnpike as the race for the under 15 league really hots up. Despite being reduced to ten men, Avenue secured the win that keeps the pressure on league leaders Lifford.

CLOSE to half an hour after the game was wrapped and packaged, Tony Considine and Justin McCarthy emerged from their dressingrooms into the windswept hall at the back of the stand at precisely the same time.

Though Waterford dropped their first two points of the league in Ennis, McCarthy wasn’t too vexed. “It was a bit of a lottery out there. Anything could happen and we’re not going to get carried away by the result.”

At the other end of the coridoor, Considine was in bullish mood af- ter his first win in front of a Clare crowd. Having briefly tipped his hat to Clare’s performance “delighted with it,’ he said, he then let rip with a 90 second statement that sounded like bullets flying out of a machine gun.

‘As I said the last day we didn’t get too excited about losing to Wexford,

but no doubt some people here made out we did,’ Considine said with a fixed gaze.

“Some people might have a lot of different opinions to us as well. Some gutter press in Clare, that I don’t re- ally appreciate and I think they have different agendas to what we have. And it’s absolutely a shame.”

Towering a few inches above the press posse and with the wind buf- feting his hair, Considine could have passed for a fearsome Moses bellow- ing the ten commandments down to his people from Mount Sinai.

“I thought the gutter press was de- cided for a different code in a dif- ferent country. I didn’t think it was decided in our own county, by gut- ter journalism as well. Of the high- est order. And that’s all I have to say lads.”

Considine turned his back then returned defiantly to the dressing room.

Down at the Waterford end, McCa- rthy teased the game out a little more than his Clare counterpart.

“It’s just one of these things that Clare were maybe a bit stronger on the day and that’s how it went.

I’m not too worried about it. Two more games in the league. And this is the league, not the championship.”

Both sit level now. Four points each from a possible six. Considine, though, was intent on taking every ounce of momentum from Clare’s Ate

THE Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh has said that it irritates him when people suggest that bishops and priests are out of touch with life today.

He insisted that priests were very much in touch as a result of continu- ous dealings with families in diffi- culty.

‘I think the one area where we find

it difficult is to be 1n touch with the daily lives of young people, that 1s a difficulty.

“I would say to priests regularly that it is not just us that are finding life difficult at times in this era — that despite all the material progress, parents are finding it quite difficult CNM DO New DOM DB KOR

‘Also, whether it 1s young couples coping with pressures of mortgages, very long hours or work or it 1s cou- ples coping with teenage children.”

Dr Walsh went on, “I think that we have made great progress, financial- ly, economically, socially – in many ways in recent years.

“But I often think that, for some people, the Celtic Tiger hasn’t touched them and they are finding life difficult. I think of the ones who are successful 1n economic terms, very often they are under so much pressure they can’t enjoy the fruits.

“The way our society has devel- oped, there are an awful lot of people

who are under pressure.

‘Probably, we as priests tend to see more of it. We are more 1n touch with people who are suffering. Whether it is people suffering from poverty or tragedy, priests are very much in- volved in tragic events.”

He added: “We had so many priests that somehow in the 1950s, ’60s, °70s and ’80s that we didn’t encour- age lay people to get involved in the running of the Church. I suppose that if somebody has been doing that

all their lives, it 1s not easy if you come to 70, you tend to feel that you still have to do that. I would accept that we didn’t encourage lay people to take their responsibility.

Dr Walsh’s Lenten Letter sends out a call on lay people to get involved in the running of the Church.

He states: “It is not a question of helping the priest, it 1s a question of lay people and the priest working together, sharing their responsibili- on

SPORT is cruel. A Harty Cup medal is one of the most prestigious prize on offer in the game, but typically a hurler will only get one shot at win- UND OreaK@) alse

For this year’s St. Flannan’s side that chance materialised on Sun- day against De La Salle, but cruelly they were denied by a combination of atrocious weather conditions and some suspect refereeing decisions.

There is no question of sour grapes among the St. Flannan’s camp, but they would be well within their rights to query some of Seamus Roche’s de- cisions and why the fixture was ful- filled in the first place.

The weather was like something out of the old testament and by the end of an hour’s hurling both goal- mouths were flooded. In fact it was impossible to decipher, such was the muck, where the respective sidelines were.

“You couldn’t but praise the lads

or fault any of them for the effort they put in,’ explained joint-manager John O’Connor in the aftermath of the defeat.

“The lads were terrific especially in the second half and once we got into that three-point lead Donal (Cahir) turned to me and said if we could get one more score we would go on to win it. But that score never came and De La Salle came back at us.

“Their second goal, which brought them level, really killed us. In a match like that, in those conditions, a goal is almost mentally worth four or five points and after that all the momentum was with De La Salle.”

The circumstances that led to Stephen Power’s second goal were more than suspect. St Flannan’s led by three points in the 49th minute when Power dropped a long-range free into the Flannan’s goalmouth. The sliothar dropped among a forest of hurls before becoming completely submerged in a flooded goalmouth. Then, and inexplicably, Seamus Ro-

che penalised St. Flannan’s ‘keeper Donal Tuohy for lying on the ball. Stephen Power rammed the 21-yard free home and a critical turning point had been reached.

“Most referees, especially in those conditions, would have _ stopped play and given a throw-in,’ adds O’Connot.

‘The referee was very harsh. How the hell he figured that it was a ’21 is beyond me. The ball had literally disappeared into a puddle of water. There was nothing that Donal (Tuo- hy) could have done especially with the goalmouth so crowded. That goal absolutely killed us.”

Such a talking point should never have materialised since the game should never have gone ahead. A sug- gestion that O’Connor agrees with.

‘The referee said to us at half time that if the conditions got any worse he was going to call it off. Even if he had called it off when we were three points up we wouldn’t have minded. Both sets of players deserved better. You just couldn’t hurl in those cond1- tions. Tactics went comepletely out the window and De La Salle, for ex- ample, only scored once from play. Look it’s not sour grapes. The con- ditions were the same for both sides, but it would also have been fairer to both sides if the game had been called off.”

St. Flannan’s now await the loser of the Leinster final between Castle- comer and Kilkenny CBS before they know who they face in an All- Ireland quarter-final in three weeks time.

WHAT goes up must come down. After the high of victory over Kerry in the under 21 grade, the low of a 13 point drubbing at the hands of a rampant Monaghan.

Standing in the grey gloom outside the Clare dressing room, the rain pouring down around him, Banner boss Paidi O’Shea picked positives out of an awful day for Clare foot- eye

“It isn’t a major setback. I haven’t seen the rest of the results yet. We’re on four points and there will be a lot of better teams than us on four points around the league. We’d think that there is a good opportunity to get an-

other two points against London and we have games to come against Of- faly and Longford, so nobody knows just yet. We’ll have a look at it and see,’ he said

“We lived on the edge for a while in the first half. We never got going and Monaghan could have punished us further. We were playing catch up after 20 minutes. We can have no complaints, they were completely better than us. We lost a shower of players through injury and any team is going to miss players. Maybe if we had Michael O’Shea a bit earlier it would have given us a bit more. We are missing other players like Alan Malone and Stephen Hickey.”

Meanwhile, his counterpart Sea-

mus McEneaney revealed the way Clare were on their last visit to Ennis was a powerful motivating force for them. ““We were determined to put right what happened when we came here two years ago,” he said.

“We weren’t treated right that day; we weren’t even allowed to warm up on the pitch beforehand. We came down early yesterday, we got here around 10.30am. The lads were re- ally focused that was the most com- plete 74 minutes of football I’ve seen from us this year.

“We came down here with a mis- sion and that was to still be top of the league after the match. Things didn’t go our way before this match either. We didn’t have a place to warm up beforehand so we had to go on a bit of land that the Council owned and then the Guards showed up to move us on. So if we needed anymore mo- tivation that was the final nail. I have waited two years to talk to you guys about what happened, and get that of my chest,” he added.

Clare could do with some similar motivation.