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A YOUNG man who verbally abused staff at a hospital where he was be- ing treated has been sentenced to one month in detention.

Jonathan Kenny (18), of Elm Drive, John Paul Estate, Kilrush, was con- victed of engaging in threatening,

abusive or insulting behaviour at En- nis General Hospital, on January 6 ENe

Garda Siggins told Kilrush District Court that he was on patrol in Ennis on the morning in question.

He received a call that a young per- son was receiving treatment at Ennis General Hospital and that he had be-

come aggressive after he woke up.

The garda went to the scene and said he saw him “pulling out draw- ee

He said that the accused was threat- ening to staff at the hospital and had to be restrained in the public area.

“I believed he was under the influ- ence of some kind of drug,” said the

garda.

Defending solicitor Pat Enright said his client had received drugs at the hospital, where he was treated for an alleged assault.

“He had a injury to his forehead. He received an horrific injury. It was a very, very serious wound. He was very upset about it. He was giving

out about the man who did it to him,” said the solicitor.

Judge Joseph Mangan sentenced the accused to one month’s detention at St Patrick’s Institution.

Mr Enright asked the judge to sus- pend this but he refused. He fixed recognisances in the event of an ap- peal.

FARM families in the Miltown Mal- bay, Corofin and Ballyvaughan ar- eas can now avail of a free weekly outreach service to access informa- tion on welfare entitlements, farm schemes and training opportunities.

The North Clare Farm Family Sup- port Service will host open and free clinics in these areas each week and are inviting farmers on low incomes to attend.

“We are offering a one to one for farm families – to help them identify the different ways which they can identify ways of increasing their in- come,” said Gerry McDonagh of the

farm support service.

“Every farmer on low income will have different need. It may be that social welfare is the way to go for some while others might be better off looking at on farm activities such as REPS.

“Other might be more suited to looking for off farm employment and we can help them find the training that they need to explore this.”

The service 1s now equipped to pro- vide farm families with an on-the- spot estimation of their entitlements under the range of Social Welfare schemes including the State Pensions and Farm Assist. Over 400 farm families throughout the county are

currently availing of this latter enti- tlement which is worth an average of €168 per week per household.

Many more Clare farming families may be eligible for the payment than currently avail of it. This is on ac- count of the less stringent means test associated with Farm Assist relative to other means tested schemes and the 14 per cent fall in farm income last year.

The outreach clinics will take place at the Parochial Hall Miltown Mal- bay from 10.30am to 12.30pm each Tuesday. They will move to the Her- itage Centre, Corofin from 2pm until 4pm on Tuesday while the service is based in St John’s Hall, Bally-

vaughan from 12.30pm until 2.30pm on Thursdays.

The North Clare Farm Family Sup- port Service is strictly confidential. Farmers can contact Gerry McDon- agh, Rural Resource Worker at 065- 7072467 or 086-8544036 for a home visit. They are also welcome to call to the office in Monastery House, Parliament St, Ennistymon or to any of the new outreach locations.

The service is administered by the County Clare Cohesion Process and is an initiative funded by the De- partment of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs under the Local Development Social Inclusion Pro- eramme (LDSIP).

CLARE farmer and chairperson of ICMSA’s Beef and Cattle Com- mittee has added his voice to the esrowing amount of people demand- ing that the testing limit for BSE be increased. According to figures from the EU Commission, the number of BSE cases in the EU fell by a mas- sive 40 per cent last year. As a result of this McMahon is calling for the BSE testing age be increased from 30 to at least 36 months.

According to Mr McMahon the

ICMSA secured such a commitment in “Toward 2016’ he believes that the Department of Agriculture and Food should now seek approval from the EU Commission to raise the age of BSE testing.

“Given these latest figures pub- lished by the EU Commission show- ing a 40 per cent reduction in BSE cases, itis very clear that our controls are working,” he said. “Indeed, the improvement in Ireland is even bet- ter than the EU in general, given that the number of cases fell by 60 per cent in 2006, and given the current

controls, this trend will continue.

‘The sums involved in BSE testing are a very substantial cost on farm- ers at a time when margins are very tight. It is essential that all unneces- sary costs are taken out of the sys- tem and the problems facing winter finishers at this time clearly show the need for this as well as increased beef prices. It is ICMSA’s firm view that given the age profile of BSE cas- es, this is now an unnecessary cost on farmers.”

The animals in question are typi- cally steers in which no case of BSE

has been found in Ireland to date.

“The ICMSA estimates that the cost on farmers is about €6 million annu- ally for testing male cattle between 30 and 36 months – the figures would seem to indicate that this money is being wasted,” he continued.

“A commitment has been given in “Towards 2016’ to seek this age in- crease and ICMSA 1s calling on the Department to immediately carry through on this commitment and in- deed, examine all BSE related regu- lations and remove those that are no longer required.”

THE IFA have launched a major of- fensive against the bureaucracy in- volved in on farm inspections this week by circulating a 66 page docu- ment which they claim contain all the possible questions which could be posed to farmers during inspec- tions.

The document, which was circu- lated to a range of politicians and member of the media, is designed to show exactly how much bureaucracy faced by farmers.

According to IFA President, Pa- draig Walshe, the IFA is taking the

bureaucratic Department inspection checklist to all TDs, Senators and political candidates in a nationwide information campaign which he says is gaining reactions of shock and dis- belief.

“Political representatives cannot believe that the Department of Ag- riculture would subject any farmer to a checklist which runs to 66 pages, covering 1,450 different questions, sections and permutations, and re- quires the Department inspectors signatures in 28 different places,” he said.

“When Franz Fischler agreed the new Single Payment system, it was

never intended that 135,000 farmers in Ireland would live in daily fear of an unannounced inspection,’ the IFA President continued.

The Minister for Agriculture must realise that young people will not pursue a future in farming knowing that they will spend their life looking over their shoulder for a Department inspector.”

The IFA believe that the require- ments in the current Department checklist are incomprehensible to farmers and the checklist goes way beyond a reasonable interpretation of the EU regulations.

“In 2006, over 7,500 thousands

farmers were targeted for on-the-spot inspections by the Department under the SPS,” he said. “Over 30 per cent of farmers inspected were deemed to be in breach of the requirements by the Department of Agriculture and 1,389 farmers were penalised finan- GEUINA

“Many 2006 inspections by the De- partment involved no notice whatso- ever to the farmer, more than one 1n- spector and return visits to the farm. The IFA is determined to secure fair play and full recognition of the rights of farmers under the Depart- ment of Agriculture farm inspection 1uss:a bas onl

ADARE 10k Road Race and 10k fun walk will take place this Sunday, March 11, in the village of Adare starting at 1.30pm with the fun walk and road race at 2pm.

This race is organised by West Lim- erick AC and entries will be taken in the village hall from noon. There will be t-shirts to the first 250 entries with spot prizes and refreshments af- ter the race. Race entry will be €5 for juniors and walkers and €10 for all senior athletes. Any queries can be directed to Willie Costello, West Limerick AC, at 061 396532.

There will be big number of Clare athletes taking part and the course record is 30.34mins and that was set in 2003 by Seamus Power, Kil- murry Ibrickane/North Clare, and the ladies course record is 34.34mins and that was set by Valeria Vaughan, Blarney/Iniscarra.

Clare athletes have been very suc- cessful at this venue with James McIntyre and James Liddane, Tul- la, again expected to be among the leading contenders along with Gerry Ryan, Galway City Harriers, Dermot Galvin, St John’s, Jason Fahy, Olym- pic Harriers, Brian Murphy, Mar-

ian, Thomas Walsh, Tulla, lan Egan Galway City Harriers, with Eugene Moynihan, Marian, contesting the masters title along Michael Harvey, James Kenny, Kilmurry I[brickane/ North Clare, Pat and Mick O’Shea, Iveragh in Kerry, Jeffrey O’Looney Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare,

and Gerard Mullane, Bilboa.

In the team competition Galway City Harriers will once again do bat- tle with Bilboa, Tulla, Desmond Cur- rans, Ballynonty, and the host Club West Limerick.

The ladies contest will see Valerie Vaughan, Blarney/Iniscarra, who set a course record of 34.33mins a few years ago, challenge Rosemary Ryan, Bilboa, and Clare athlete, Ve- ronica Colleran, Ennis Track Club, for the title.

The Clare Cross Country Champi- on could be the athlete to cause a big surprise here and not too far off the pace will be Marie Foley, Limerick, Mary Sweeney, and Mary Murphy, St Finbar’s, Mary Sheehan, Blarney, along with Tracy Guilfoyle.

THE ATHLETICS Association of Ireland in association with Sligo AC will stage the National Senior and Junior Inter Club Cross Country on Saturday, March 10.

There will be four races on the programme starting at lpm with the junior ladies 6,000 metres, followed by the junior men’s 8,000 metres, at

1.30 pm, the senior ladies 8,000 me- tres at 2.15pm the final race of the afternoon will be the senior men’s 12,000 metres at 2.45pm.

The senior ladies will see a big number of new names 1n action with local athlete, Mary Cullen, Sligo AC, taking on the new up and coming star, Fionualla Britton, Sli Chulainn AC, Wicklow. She was the European U23 silver medal winner in Spain

last December and she will be the big pre-race favourite.

Also contesting the title will be Jolene Byrne, Donore Harriers, Rosemary Ryan, Bilboa, Marie Mc- Cambridge, Dundrum South Dublin, Niamh O’Sullivan, Riocht, and Orla O’ Mahoney from Ennis now running with Raheny Shamrocks, Dublin.

The senior men’s race will be the highlight of the day with all the

top middle distance athletes going to the starting line. Mark Christie, Mullingar Harriers, will start as fa- vourite along with Garry Murray, St Malachy’s, David Kelly, Sligo, Mark Kenneally, Clonliffe Harriers, and two former national champions, Seamus Power, Kilmurry Ibrickane/ North Clare, and Peter Matthews, Dundrum South Dublin, also look- ing for top spots.

A NORTH Clare man died as a re- sult of smoke inhalation, after he fell asleep near a gas cooker at his home, an inquest has heard.

John Flanagan (39) died as a result of a fire at the family home, at Lis- doony East, two miles from Kilfeno- ra, on April 9 last year.

Mr Flanagan, a labourer, died at the farmhouse, which was more than 100 years old.

The fire was noticed by a neighbour who was tending to cattle, but it was not possible to get into the house and save the man.

Frances Flanagan recalled being at the family home that afternoon. Her parents, Micheal and Tess, had gone to Dublin that day, for an Easter break. She said her brother John took food out of the freezer and said he would cook it later. She and Michael later went to Kilshanny to get ciga- rettes. They had a drink there and

later, as they travelled home, the house was completely ablaze.

Her brother Michael recalled that as they were leaving Kilshanny, they received a phone call, indicating that their house was on fire. He didn’t be- lieve it at first.

He said his brother John had in- tended to cook a fry and there was a second-hand gas cooker in the house, which the family had acquired a short time earlier.

Martin Neylon met John earlier that day and said they were to move cattle the following day.

‘John’s last words to me were “See

you in the morning’,” he said.

Later, he saw smoke coming from the house. He could see the slates on the roof cracking from the heat. At that stage, the house was completely in flames and there was “no way” anyone could go near it.

Detective Garda Niall Kampff car- ried out a technical examination of the scene. He said the heat intensity was such that it caused the plaster to fall from the walls.

He said it seemed likely that flames from the gas cooker spread to the curtains and then to the wooden ceil- ing, before spreading throughout the house. “It has been suggested to me he may have fallen asleep. I suggest that he did.”

Dr Elizabeth Mulcahy, who carried out a post-mortem examination on the deceased’s body, said death was likely to have been from smoke inha- lation. Coroner Isobel O’ Dea (above) said she was satisfied that the cause of death was accidental.

THIS meeting sizzled at times. It gave in-fighting a whole new face. Two internal rows in Clare GAA were the main reasons why the first floor ballroom of the West County Hotel housed more delegates than usual.

Robert Frost and PJ McGuane were seen as having backed away from giving their support to John Reidy at the recent Munster Council meeting. That was confrontation number one.

But most delegates were there for the latest installment of what’s now becoming a weekly drama. The Tony Considine/David Fitzgerald stand- off. That’s essentially why the meet- ing had swelled to over twice its nor- mal size.

Just before things got underway, one wry delegate turned his head and out of the side of his mouth you could hear him say, “there wouldn’t be this many people staring at a car crash.”

At one stage, things got so bad the chairman of the board said he was considering his future as a member

of the board.

And then, just over half an hour into things, most got to hear what they came for. Michael McDonagh read a short letter written by Tony Sroyets ern sten

It prompted Paschal Russell to walk to the front of the room and in his hands he had another letter. He said he wanted everybody to hear what he was ready to read out. It was all about to unfold.

At the top of the room, the Clare- castle chairman read a two-minute statement from his clubman Ger Ward, outlining the reasons why Ward tendered his resignation and the manner in which it happened.

It was a precise, thought out state- ment and one that Ward never be- lieved he would have to pen so early into his term as Clare selector.

For the previous two weeks, he had remained silent. Despite phone calls — including several from this news- paper — he has refused to be drawn on the issue.

But on Thursday, it was time to put the whole affair to bed. He wrote of

principles and values and said his own weren’t part of the management thinking for Clare hurling at the mo- ment.

Importantly and with detail, he drew attention to his final departure from the management team and said he heard his resignation had been accepted in the media over a week later.

A meeting to resolve some of the issues between Considine and Ward was scheduled for The Old Ground on February 21 but the manager nev- er Showed up, Ward said.

The no show was sending out a clear message, just as Tim Crowe’s subsequent comments have sent out a message to those who have departed the set-up. The road back in is being blocked and the management must believe this is the best way forward.

What they won’t be pleased with is what happened next. The odd deci- sion was taken to appoint a facilita- tor in a row that the county board had already admitted it was unable to solve.

Putting a facilitator in place at this

late stage, over a month after Fit- zgerald left training, will only stoke things further. Unbelievably, the same delegates who lambasted the media for needlessly fuelling the de- bate were themselves putting timber on the fire.

If they didn’t know that, then they don’t know Tony Considine and they certainly don’t know hurling. No manager wants outside interference. Particularly a manager such as Con- sidine who has been extremely con- crete in his actions to date.

So, it continues for a number of rea- sons but mainly it continues because nobody has come out and drawn a clear line under the whole thing. No- body has pulled the plug.

What happened on Thursday night just muddies the waters even more. As it stated, the board’s role 1s to en- sure the welfare of Clare GAA. In that case, it should back off and leave Considine run the team the way he sees fit.

It should realise facilitators are for politics and this isn’t a game where men wear suits.

FORMER Clare County Board vice- chairman Michael Lee has called for no more comments to be made on the crises that have dragged Clare hurling through the mire in recent peeved etse

In an impassioned plea to delegates at Thursday’s board meeting, Lee

said, “all this opening of wounds does not help the situation’.

And, in making his call the Tubber delegate said “the time has come to stand up and be counted as a County Board. Everyone knows very well that county hurling is bigger than club. There should be no more in- nuendo. No more media stuff. It’s killing Clare hurling. We should not

be going back to where we were 15 years ago. When we’re finished this year, that’s when to debate and find out what’s going wrong. Stop it now, for once and for all. It’s only making things worse,” he added.

However, Lee was a lone voice in calling for a line to be drawn under the controversy. “We’re the laughing stock of the whole county,” said TJ

O’Loughlin of Kilmurry Ibrickane. “IT want to know is Tony Considine answerable to the county board? Is there a liaison officer? When Tony Considine came in here last Novem- ber he said nothing about a trainer coming in for six weeks,” he added. “I think it’s a disgrace what has gone on,’ said Doonbeg delegate Michael ore

CARDS close to his chest, Tony Considine emerges from the home dressing room four minutes after he entered. His players were moving back out to warm down and Consi- dine threw his mind back over the previous 70 minutes.

The home opener wasn’t supposed to go like this. After a handy run out in Down two weeks back, Considine knew this weekend would be a step up in class but despite Wexford’s more competitive start to the year, he must have thought Clare would be sitting on top of the league on Sun- day night.

“We really didn’t play well,” he says ‘and the first half was crucuial. But as I said during the week they had two quality games against Kilkenny [Walsh Cup final] and Waterford [league opener] and no disrespect to Down, we only had the Down game. We didn’t have any hurling done and we didn’t meet a team playing like that. But I still thought we played pretty well. We’ve a lot of injuries at

the moment and we’ve a lot of young lads out there. It’s all about trying new players in the league. I’d like to have won but at the end of the day, when you don’t win you don’t win.”

After the poor first half, when Clare failed to put their noses in front with the wind, they didn’t re-start with any more spirit.

“We missed a lot of chances and maybe took a few wrong options in the forwards in the second half. But having said that, we could have sneaked it.

But the injuries are definitely a prob- lem and Barry Nugent and Declan O’Rourke picked up some niggling injuries now and I suppose when the wind is against you, it’s against you. Look, we’ve a big panel of 32 play- ers. While I’m disappointed at being beaten I wouldn’t be over-excited Vero) 0 an le

He wonders what the general per- ception of the game was and is told that Wexford manager John Meyler reckoned it was “like paint drying.”

“T agreed with him there on the sideline,’ said Considine. “It was

like a rugby match at times but it’s early in the year.

We haven’t much hurling done and at this time of the year it’s all about getting fellows fit. We hope to 1m- prove after that.”

The opportunity to take at least a point from the game was there, but Clare weren’t hungry for war.

‘Wexford were well up for it,” add- ed Considine. “When you lose your first league game it puts you well up for it the second day out. Of course you’d be disappointed [at losing] but what can you do. You’ve to take the good with the bad as well. We were there with a fair chance of winning the game and Wexford had a few bad wides. At the end of the day wed have accepted a draw but it wasn’t to oronel