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THE Athletics Association of Ire- land All-Ireland Inter Club Cross Country Championships was held in Sligo Racecourse and hosted by Sli- go AC on an excellent cross country course.

With heavy underfoot conditions a number of athletes found it very tough going and Orla O’Mahoney once again had to settle for that number four spot in the senior ladies.

Seamus Power produced a great ef- fort until the final lap where he was in fourth position and once again that final lap was too much. He jogged home in 12th place.

The junior men’s race was run over a distance of 8,00Q0metres and the star of the show here was John Coughlan, Metro St Bridget’s, son of Eamon Coughlan. He was one of the brightest stars of Irish athletics at the All-Ireland Schools Cross Country Championship two weeks ago and he captured another big title beating David Flynn, Clonliffe Harriers, and David Rooney, Raheny Shamrocks.

Ennis Track Club were well rep- resented with Brian McGinley pro- ducing a mighty performance and coming home in 22nd position. He has another year in this grade and he was followed home by David Quinn (38), Sean O’Flynn (50) and Stephen McGinley (52). This gave Ennis Track eighth place overall on 162 points, victory going to St Malachys Belfast on 43 points.

Mary Cullen, North Sligo, finalist in the European 3,000 metres indoor championships last week was among the leading contenders for the senior ladies 8,000 metres title.

With one lap to go Fionualla Britton, Sli Chulinn, Wicklow, made a very decisive move and went well clear of the field to take this title. Deir- dre Byrne, Sli Chulinn, was having a great battle with Orla O’ Mahoney, Ennis and Raheny Shamrocks, but the Wicklow girl had too much power on the final uphill stretch to the finish and once again the Clare girl had to settle for fourth position.

With just one month to the World Cross Country Championships in Kenya these championships were always going to be very well con- tested. Last years title holder Garry

Murray, Letterkenny, was going into these championships with a massive amount of training runs of over 100 miles a week along with Mark Ken- neally, Clonliffe Harriers, and after

two big laps these two athletes were at the front.

They took this race out at a blister- ing pace and on the second lap of the six the field of over 150 athletes were well strung out. Peter Mat- thews, Dundrum South Dublin, Joe Sweeney, St Malachy’s and Seamus Power, Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare, were in the next chasing group along with local athlete David Kelly, Sligo, Killian Lonergan, Clonliffe Harriers, and Brian Maher, Kilkenny City Harriers.

Two laps from the finish Murray and Kenneally made another surge on the downhill stretch and opened a big gap on Sweeney with Power working hard. He was well in con- tention with two laps remaining with Brian Maher having a very big race as he had moved into the the top six along with Kelly.

Over the final lap the Letterkenny man Murray showed his class when he went well clear. With 5Ometres of a gap he crossed the finishing line in fine style with Kenneally taking the silver medal and Sweeney running a big last lap to take the bronze medal ahead of Kelly and a surprise fifth Brian Maher.

The fast pace over the early laps took its toll on Seamus Power and he was feeling the full effects over the last lap. He was putting in a big ef- forts and he looked dead on his feet. Many onlookers thought he would not finish, but he never gives up and finished in 12th place.

The junior ladies race over 6,000 metres was a classic with Dundrum South Dublin athletes dominating this race from start to finish with victory going to Rebecca French- O’Carroll, second was Suzanne Huet and third was Bryony Triston.

Our own 17-year-old and Clare jun- ior cross-country champion Claire Madigan, St John’s, finished in eighth position.

FOR the third consecutive year, cus- toms officials at Shannon Airport did not confiscate any goods from pas- sengers arriving in Ireland from the US during the traditional Christmas shopping period.

This is despite an _ estimated 100,000 Irish people travelling to the US, many from Shannon Airport, and spending millions of Euro on Christmas shopping trips in the pe- riod between the start of November and the end of December.

While customs officers carry out random checks at airports as part of their daily duties, passengers stopped at Shannon during November and December did not have any items in excess of their allowance.

Information obtained from the Revenue Commissioners confirmed that the number and value of goods

seized from passengers and pas- sengers’ baggage between Novem- ber | and December 31 at Shannon was “nil”. The number and value of goods released on compromise pen- alties was also “nil”.

The figures revealed that the amount of duty and taxes taken from passen- gers declaring goods on importation was €1,262.66 – made up of €117.15 in duty and €1,145.51 in VAT.

At Dublin Airport, passengers returning from the US during the same period, with “goods lawfully declared”, paid €749 in duty and €3,430 in VAT.

While some items were seized, they were released to their owners follow- ing payment of duties and penalties valued at €1,031.

Passengers are allowed to bring home items worth no more than €175 before they must make a dec- laration.

A CALL was made yesterday to re-appraise spending on security at Shannon Airport after it emerged that it cost the State over €3 million to protect the airport last year.

Minister for Justice, Michael Mc- Dowell confirmed that the cost of ongoing Garda policing arrange- ments at Shannon Airport in 2006, including normal salaries, was ap- proximately €3.85 mullion.

Minister McDowell said that the Garda authorities allocated resourc- es in accordance with the assessed threat, so it was the Garda which ultimately determined the associated costs.

He was speaking in response to a Dail question from Green Party lead- er, Trevor Sergent.

He said, “I am informed by the Garda authorities that local Garda

management is satisfied that the con- tinuance of the ongoing policing ar- rangements at Shannon Airport is es- sential for the integrity of the airport itself and of both its employees and clients.

“Accordingly, I remain satisfied that Garda policing arrangements at Shannon Airport continue to be both necessary and appropriate.”

Last year, the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) made an estimated profit of €9 million from the 280,000 US troops that passed through Shan- non, keeping the airport in profit.

However, Green Party election can- didate, Brian Meaney said yesterday, “It is time to re-appraise the security operation at Shannon.

“A significant amount of Garda resources is being spent on the op- eration at Shannon and this must be having an effect on policing levels elsewhere in Clare.”

SUNDAY has to count. To get any- thing from this league Clare knew at the start of the year that two home wins were vital. In reality, Wexford should have been a banker. It wasn’t. Clare looked stale and had no appe- tite for the two points in a game that was surely earmarked as a chance to return to on-field matters. Because of all that’s gone on, this is vital to Clare but already the fizz is going out.

As a buffer to the sideshow of Feb- ruary, the party line was thrown out that training was tough but go- ing well. It didn’t look that way last Sunday week and now the task of beating both Waterford and Cork in Cusack Park is on Clare’s shoulders. It weighs heavy.

The scribes who openly stated that Tony Considine wouldn’t see out his two-year term as manager of Clare had the first domino fall their way. While a home defeat to Wexford – considering the injuries Clare had and their previous tepid challenge of Down – isn’t a league breaker, it will become that should Waterford arrive in Ennis and take the points.

And that’s the likely result. All the momentum is with the visitors. They travelled to Wexford for their league

Opener and destroyed them by Il points. On Saturday they played Cork in the re-fixture and looked comfort- able throughout with four points to Spare at the end, Ken McGrath and Eoin Kelly backboning things.

Clare had a run out themselves at the weekend. Travelled to Na Piar- saigh on the Ennis Road in Limerick and had five points to spare over a Limerick side that had a number of new faces.

Clare, on the other hand, had some familiar names and gave starts to Fer- gal Lynch, Gerry O’Grady and Frank Lohan after injury problems. And at least the presence of the latter two on Sunday, should they start, will be a

calming influence in the full back line. It was a sector Tony Considine was quick to take the carving knife to against Wexford, hauling in Colm Forde after just 15 minutes.

The form of Tony Carmody should be on the up as well. He’s had three games for Clare since he was talked back into the set-up by a group of sen- ior players, scoring well throughout. At times against Wexford he showed flashes of what he’s capable of but a flicker of sharpness was missing. He bagged four points against Limerick at the weekend and the extra game should propel him further again.

Diarmuid McMahon and Barry Nu- gent were both missing against Lim- erick with injuries, but the problems seem to be abating generally.

It’s not yet crunch time for Clare, but it’s approaching. Two back to back losses in Cusack Park would be a tough one to swallow and Water- ford come with the scent of blood on i eCod Dam BT ON

The bottom line is simple: just like the last time, Clare need a win and a performance against Waterford. If not, their backs are to the wall.

THE dark hours and difficulties of putting a squad together given senior commitments and college football finally paid off on Saturday. Reward for Joe Garry and his team.

He stands outside the Clare dress- ing room door, inside the door just 40 minutes earlier he was planning the next phase of attack. Just one point up with the greedy share of posses- sion, he wasn’t panicking.

“We just said to the boys we were pleased with the way things were go- ing, because we were well on top in all sectors of the field,’ Garry says. “What wasn’t going too well for us was our scoring. We were on top, we should have been more ahead going in at the break. We knew that. We felt we probably deserved to be seven points up at half time but in fairness we felt if we kept at it, kept playing the way that we were playing that we’d win the game.”

Fourten chances and a return of four scores doesn’t make for positive reading but still, Garry says his play- ers were on top of things.

“I’m always in favour of lads tak- ing the ball on. To have a cut at it. It’s very easy to pass the ball off. You won’t get every shot you take but on other days you might get 17 or 18 scores. I think we only had what I’d class as two bad wides in the whole game. Everybody else was entitled to have a shot at it. I’d be very annoyed NiO OCoM BD OOCom UNO eleaarenlet lam

We’re delighted but in fairness to the lads they’ve been doing that all year long.”

Challenge games and training ses- sions gave them the foundation, but nobody was sure how they would come out when the traps lifted. Whether a layer of rust or doubt would linger. Garry didn’t have any doubts though.

‘These boys are unbelievably unit- ed. There’s a great unity in the team.

Everybody works hard for each other, from one to 25 on the panel. They deserved this win and they’ve two weeks to get ready for the next one. It’s a great win. A massive win. But there’s a good bounce in Clare football at the minute. From the mi- nors down to the under-14’s, there’s a feel good factor there. You can sense that in the crowd that came out to see Clare playing today. There’s good days ahead for Clare football and it’s a matter of keeping at it.”

Off he goes with back slaps still raining down upon him. Job done.

CLARE County Council will reas- sess whether it is necessary to up- gerade the county’s largest fire sta- tion to a full-time service once the Department of the Environment has completed an analysis of future fire Oo

The county’s Chief Fire Office, Adrian Kelly, has confirmed that the department are taking a risk-based approach to the provision of fire cov- Jus NO A sCom ROUAD NKR

“On the basis of this methodology, Clare County Council can reassess what is the appropriate provision for

the Fire Service in the county. Cur- rently, we have the required standard of fire cover and there has been no fault with the service being provided in the past.”

Figures released by Clare County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service have revealed that in 2006, the fire brigade in Ennis responded to 568 calls, of which 127 were chimney fires and 105 were false alarms, ac- counting for 40 per cent of all calls in the town.

Chief Kelly believes that the number of callouts for the town’s fire service could be drastically reduced if the public improved their home fire safe-

ty and if the number of bogus calls made to the service was reduced.

There have been calls in recent years for Ennis fire station to be changed from a part-time to a full- time facility.

All of Clare’s seven stations are op- erated on a retained basis where fire- fighters respond to emergencies from their homes or places of work when alerted by a paging system.

The county’s station officers, the members in charge of each station, also work on a retained basis. Ennis fire brigade, however, has a fulltime station officer.

Some, including local representa-

tives and fire-fighters, believe it is time that the county’s largest and busiest station was upgraded to a full-time service where personnel would be based on site on a 24-hour- a-day basis, ready to respond to calls at a minute’s notice.

Clare Fine Gael Deputy Pat Breen said that Ennis Fire Station staff should to be made full-time in light of the 2006 call-out figures.

Deputy Breen says it is unac- ceptable that the 15 part-time staff should have to take the responsibility of such a busy service when they did not even have full-time status.

THE rising tide of the Celtic Tiger has failed to raise all boats and mem- bers of the Travelling community are worse off than they were 30 years ago, according to priest and head of Respond, Pat Cogan, formerly of the Killaloe diocese.

According to Fr Cogan, who was a chaplain to Travellers in Ennis in the 1970s, public hostility towards Trav- ellers has also increased over the last number of decades.

Speaking at the launch of Respond’s new Traveller accommodation and Support policy last week, Fr Cogan

raised concerns about a low take- up of second-level education among male Travellers in Ireland.

‘There has been a great improve- ment in the general wealth in Ireland over the last decade. But this has by- passed the ‘Travelling community to a large extent. One reason is that their family size tends to be growing consistently and this can make it dif- ficult,’ said Ned Brennan, Head of Operations at Respond.

‘The main reason is the educational issue; 1f the educational system does not work for Travelling people then how can they get the skills to sell to employers and take advantage of the

Celtic Tiger?”

Respond has identified suitable Traveller accommodation as one of its main priorities for the future and has appointed a Traveller accommo- dation officer whose sole responsi- bility will be to work with Traveller organisations.

Their new policy, which has been circulated to every local authority in the country including Clare County Council, is focused on a more uni- fied approach to dealing with Travel- ler issues.

“We want to bring about a much more unified approach to Traveller support. What we are offering to lo-

cal authorities is the use of our exper- tise of the last 25 years in how best to organise a coordinated Traveller sup- port,” continued Mr Brennan.

“We would be offering to work hand in hand with the councils and all the other involved agencies. We have cir- culated our policy document around to all local authorities, a number have got back to us and we would be very hopeful that all of them will over the next few weeks.”

Life expectancy for female Travel- lers is currently 12 years less than females from the settled community, while males die on average 10 years Cre Coe

UNION and_ worker representa- tives have added their voices to the mounting demands that the Govern- ment put up money to save Shannon, in the face of the possible loss of a year-round direct link to the US. SIPTU, the largest airport union, wants the Govenment to put up cash to improve infrastructure, facilities

and to fund a major tourism market- nOTRG NW AY oe

Tony Carroll of SIPTU’s avia- tion branch said union members are “very dissapointed” that the trans- atlantic stopover is the price of the Open Skies deal.

“The proposal of a one-year lead in is too short entirely. A longer time- frame is needed to brace Shannon for the full impact of this,” he said.

Carroll added that there will need to be “substantial support” for the airport to market itself and win a slice of the lucrative US cake rather than letting visitors fly straight to Dublin.

One major concern is that even within the year long period which is intended as a lead-in to the end of the compulsory stop-over, flights might cease once the busy summer season

ends.

With airlines allowed to average out the number of Shannon flights, many associated with the airport fear that it is possible that the quota could be all allocated to summer services with no daily service in winter.

“The biggest threat is going to be that we could lose the year-round daily link with the USA. Not having direct access makes you uncompeta-

tive and unattractive as a destination for inward investment,’ said Carroll.

A spokesman for SIGNAL, the Shannon airport worker’s lobby eroup, said that it’s vital the Govern- ment move quickly.

“Now that Open Skies is definitely coming, it’s vital that the Govern- ment pull out all the stops in imple- menting the Tourism and Economic Development Plan.

COMMENTING on the recent an- nouncement that a EU-US Open Skies draft agreement has been reached Pat Shanahan, Chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority, said that the chal- lenge will be to address the airport’s cost base, keep existing customers and bring new business in.

The chairman said yesterday that Shannon Airport has been preparing for Open Skies for some time and has built up an extensive range of transat-

lantic services which carried almost 800,000 passengers in 2006.

“The challenge Shannon now faces is that we must persuade airlines to retain their current level of services and develop new ones in an open market.”

He added “I believe that while Open Skies poses a challenge to Shannon Airport, the retention and further de- velopment of year-round transatlantic services and passenger/cargo traffic 1s achievable supported by a strong US marketing campaign, improvements

in road and rail infrastructure in the region and a substantial reduction in our cost base.”

Shanahan added the airport has the required facilities and capacity to service further growth of transat- lantic services and it is the authority’s intention to further enhance those facilities with the establishment of a Full US Customs and Border Protec- tion Inspection post in 2008 which would provide Shannon with an es- sential competitive advantage over other European Airports when devel-

oping additional services.

‘Shannon has the potential to devel- op as a financially and operationally viable airport and the benefits to the airport and wider region of the huge boost in passenger numbers over the past two years are very evident.”

But he stressed the urgency of ad- dressing what he described as an “uncompetitive cost base” in order to meet the business and operational needs of the airport. ““We can then begin to concentrate our efforts on ensuring we become more competi-

tive in our airport charges and our incentive schemes,” he said.

Shanahan added that “We believe we have developed a distinctive west of Ireland market both to and from the US. It is time for a concerted ef- fort by key stakeholders in the west of Ireland supported by a substantial Government tourism-marketing fund to market Shannon throughout the US. It is our aim to reach one million transatlantic passengers per annum within five years of the commence- ment of Open Skies.”

THE Clare tourism industry is not pre- pared to deal with the consequences of Open Skies if it is brought in in the near future, according to Manager of Dromoland Castle and member of the Clare Tourism Council, Mark Nolan. Mr Nolan also believes that Open Skies would be of long-term benefit to tourism in the region if Govern- ment support is forthcoming in terms

of marketing and transport infrastruc- nb Cen

“If the change is to come soon, then we are not prepared. There is still a lot of uncertainty about when and how the changeover will actually happen,” he rEIOb

One of the critical things is to im- prove the infrastructure around Shan- non. The people who are using Dublin would prefer to fly out of anywhere ac- cept for Dublin but the infrastructure

must be there to allow people to get to S)aeeTeveleyee

“We are now competing with five or six airports around the country. It 1s no longer a situation of Shannon verses Dublin,” he said.

Despite the feeling in some quarters that the agreement will damage tour- ism in Clare, Mr Nolan is confident that it will be ultimately beneficial.

“This is really nothing new, we have heard it all before. I believe that it will

actually be good for business in the medium to long-term, but there will be some negative impacts in the short term,” he continued.

“It is very important that a marketing package be put in place to help main- tain the market in North America. We have been told 30, 40, 50 and 100 mil- lion for this at different times. Fifty five per cent of our business here in Dromoland comes out of North Amer- ica,’ he added.