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MORE than seven in ten family businesses go to the wall when they are passed on from parent to child, people attending a business seminar in Ennis were told.

Ennis Chamber of Commerce played host to a workshop in associ- ation with Ernst and Young, aimed at addressing and combatting the

high failure rate of businesses in County Clare as they transfer to the next generation or to a third party. Outlining the importance of the workshop, President John Galvin said, “a large proportion of Ireland’s indigenous businesses are owned or managed at family level, but 72 per cent of these companies fail once their founder hands over the busi- ness according to research by the

IMI. This is mainly due to poor or no succession planning.”

Lisa Doyle, a specialist in succes- sion planning with Ernst & Young told the business people attending the event at the Temple Gate Ho- tel that “most small business own- ers in County Clare will eventually face the challenge of transferring or selling their business to family members or third parties. We con-

sistently find that business owners with succession strategies have a significant tax advantage, maxim- ise their company value and enjoy the re-assurance that their business will continue to thrive.”

At the Breakfast Briefing work- shop, attendees were given advice on how to achieve a successful transfer to the next generation, capi- talise on the opportunities available

and avoid loss of control and the de- mise of their family business.

Topics covered included the re- tirement of the business owner /manager, planning an exit strat- egy, the recruitment of a successor, taxation for succession and legal and financial aspects of succession. Attendees will also be advised on the sale of equity and takeovers and buyouts.

THE Annual Competitiveness Report 2005, produced by Forfas, contains a wealth of information on key indicators for Irish busi- ness and industry.

GNP (Gross National Product) per capita in 2004 was €25,704, and GDP (Gross Domestic Prod- uct) was €30,691. Real GDP erowth was 4.9 per cent, while that for GNP was 5.5 per cent.

For the same year, labour force participation was 71 per cent. This refers to the portion of the population aged between 15 and 64 years that was either in em- ployment or actively seeking it.

The labour force is projected to grow by 1.3 per cent this year. There has been a substantial in- crease in employment in Ireland over the last decade, from 1.3 million in 1995 to 1.9 million this year.

With over one hundred pages of these and other statistics, the

report is well worth reading. It is wide-ranging, covering factors from quality of life to taxation and regulation, from environ- mental sustainability to entrepre- neurship and innovation.

According to Don Thornhill, chairman of the National Com- petitiveness Council, GDP is expected to grow by 5.3 per cent this year, more than double the OECD average of 2.6 per cent.

“The rate of economic growth is an important signal of com- petitiveness,’ Dr Thornhill stated. “Using this criterion, Ire- land is one of the most competi- tive economies in the developed world.”

He points out that there are challenges, however. Our rate of growth, while still high, has slowed down compared with previous years, and we are fall- ing behind our peers in North America and Continental Eu- rope in terms of prices and costs competitiveness. Costs are par-

ticularly high in the energy and waste management areas.

“Higher costs and the current weakness of the US dollar are making Ireland an expensive production location relative to our trading partners,” he com- ments.

In a foreword, An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern says that competi- tiveness is a key focus of govern- ment policy.

“The Government is_ deter- mined that the conditions for enterprises operating in Ireland should be as favourable as possi- ble,’ Mr Ahern stated. “This en- compasses policies on the skills needs of the population, the knowledge capital in the econo- my, the physical infrastructure, the costs that businesses face, the utilities and services that businesses need, the regulatory environment and other factors.”

Many of these aspects are benchmarked in the report.

A MAN and three young children were dragged out of their burning home in Shannon after it was set alight in suspicious circumstances in the early hours of Sunday.

George O’Shaughnessy (30), seven-year-old twin boys Evan and Lee and three-year-old tod- dler Sophie were asleep in upstairs bedrooms when the fire broke out at the bottom of the stairs at their home at Purcell Park, at around 6am.

Gardai and rescue services were on the scene within minutes, after a neighbour heard the fire alarm going off. Gardai Stephen Ryan and Gerry Flaherty from Shannon Garda Station — which is a stone throw away from the home — attempted to gain access through the ground floor of the house, but they were beaten back by the flames. They managed to get a ladder from a neighbour, to reach the family and carry them out through an upstairs window at the back of the privately-owned house.

All four were taken to the Mid-Western Re- gional Hospital, Ennis, as a precautionary meas- ure. They were treated for smoke inhalation, before being discharged a short time later. The young children are currently living with their peau WeKebaelOlssCoMBDOMNyercvIveLe)IE

Two units of the fire brigade from Shannon brought the blaze under control within an hour.

There was extensive smoke damage to the inside of the home, particularly to the hallway, stairs and landing. The Clare Scenes of Crime unit has examined the O’Shaughnessy home and the results of this examination will be sent for

forensic analysis to Garda Headquarters in Dub- thee

The results of that will determine exactly how the fire started, according to gardai. Mr O’Shaughnessy works locally in Shannon, and has lived there with his family for the past year- and-a-half, having previously lived in another part of the town.

“But for the swift actions of the two gardai, all four people who were in the house could

have died. I cannot commend the gardai highly enough,’ said Supt John Kerin.

‘The fire at the bottom of the stairs prevented rescue services from going in through the door so they had to get the children out through the back window,” he added.

A garda investigation has been launched and Supt Kerin said that gardai were “following a particular line of enquiry” in relation to the in- cident.

ANYONE who _ proclaimed that cars should run on vege- table oil, or batteries was nor- mally regarded as at best ‘al- ternative, at worst eccentric.

But these are anything but normal times.

With fist fights on the filling station forecourts and flood waters swirling as we melt the planet, the days when we can rely on fossil fuels for power and transport are surely num- bered.

So will the ‘green’ car idea finally have its day and, first and foremost, does it actually exist?

The good news is_ that whereas five years ago these issues were hardly on the in- dustrial radar screen, now all the world’s major motor man- ufacturers have huge ‘green’ programmes and boast senior executives with titles such as ‘vice-president, environment.’

The prize for the company which cracks the formula for the green car of the future, before its rivals, will be meas- ured in trillions of dollars.

The prize for the human race will be cleaner air.

The bad news is that those same companies have found that solving the technology problem of alternative fuels is taking more time and money than they expected.

With petrol prices going through the roof, motorists are understandably looking for an instant solution to rising fuel eyeN KS

Even the most ambitious automobile §manufacturer’s admit that it will be late 2007 before hydrogen cars appear in showrooms and even then there probably won’t be any- where to re-fill them.

SUC Kmoormalunes off it seems, with significant implications for motorists not expected for another ten years Or SO.

So what is the solution?

The first and most straight- forward route is to join the droves of Irish motorists and convert to a diesel engine –

diesel models now represent 42 per cent of all new car sales in the Republic.

Alternatively, manufactur- er’s like Toyota and Honda offer hybrid petrol-electric models which again use less fuel than conventional petrol eran Nee

More and more manufactur- er’s look set to follow this ex- ample with Mercedes promis-

ing to unveil models in their showrooms come January 2007.

Significantly these models will reduce consumption by anything up to 25 per cent.

If you are determined enough you could really slash your fuel bill by going elec- tric. That is if you don’t mind also cutting your top speed to about 40 miles an hour.

The Reva G-Wiz, which is manufactured in India and is distributed in the UK by GoinGreen.co.uk is the only mass production and afford- able electric car on offer in Europe at the moment.

Fully-charged (which can take about six hours) the G- Wiz can manage about 40 miles. This however can also depend on temperature and driving conditions.

Although this doesn’t sound too encouraging at first, con- sidering the following – this electric model will still run at about one third the cost of a normal petrol car.

GoinGreen.co.uk have en- joyed significant interest in the G-Wiz since they launched the vehicle in May, 2004.

They have already sold 250 and have a further 50 on order at a nominal cost of £8,000.

For those who still want the bit of power, performance, prestige, electric windows, comfortable seating and the ability to travel decent jour- ney without having to seek out a handy road side socket, then maybe converting your car to run on liquid petroleum gas (LPG) might be just the thing for you.

Conversion companies can

charge anything up to €2,000 to carry out the required work on your vehicle, but it might well be worth it with LPG costs per litre running at about 40 per cent of typical petrol costs.

It’s worth noting though that this advantage is purely down the difference in VAT charges.

The British Motoring As-

sociation estimate that there are 100-125,000 vehicles in the UK running on LPG, and thankfully this fuel also cuts down on carbon dioxide emis- sions by twenty per cent when compared with petrol. Con- venient availability of LPG can prove a problem however.

On the continent LPG is widely available, particularly in Italy, Holland, Germany and France.

As usual, in Ireland, we’re well behind.

If you’d prefer to escape de- pendence on dissipating fossil fuels and third party suppli- ers entirely, you can then join

the growing ranks of people running their diesel cars on biodiesel.

Biodiesel is made from crops such as oilseed rape and sunflower seeds.

In the UK at the moment, biodiesel is currently being sold as a five per cent blend with conventional diesel at a growing number of supplier stations. Some motorists how-

ever are concocting their own 100 per cent blend, or buying it from independent manufac- turers to run their own vehi- cles. Few problems have thus far been reported.

Green Fuels, a_ biodiesel technology specialist, have been selling DIY biodiesel kits for about the last eighteen months in the UK.

James Hygate, Green Fuels MD, has been running his Audi A6 on biodiesel for over a year now.

Biodiesel DIY kits start at £4,106. The kit can produce biodiesel in batches of 150 litres. The process involves

mixing heated vegetable oil with other chemicals and then filtering off the end product.

In comparison to current petrol prices, you should once again save yourself about 60 per cent on your fuel bill.

Be warned however. If you do decide to switch to biodie- sel it could affect your vehicle Wee ETO ATe

Many car manufacturer’s are, as of yet, completely hap- py to endorse this fuel alterna- tive completely.

Despite this manufacturer reticence don’t be surprised if in a few years you look out your car window and see acre upon acre of golden oilseed rape.

These will become the 21st century oil fields and farmers will become oil barons as cli- mate changes and diminishing oil reserves turn plants like oilseed into a wonder fuel.

The above was once the fan- tastic vision of biofuel lobby, but now its closer to reality than we first suspected.

Technically there are two kinds of biofuel.

One is made from plant oils and the other, bioethanol, is made by fermenting grains.

Both can be used in unmodi- fied diesel and petrol engines When blended with conven- tional diesel and petrol.

Last month the EU increased pressure on Ireland to meet its biofuel targets – a request of course the coalition govern- ment have largely ignored.

In the UK the number of garage forecourts stocking biodiesel and bioethanol fuels while car manufacturer’s may also be converted.

Early this summer in Swe- den Saab released its first flex- ible fuel model and it is an- ticipated that more will follow this example.

Right now the dream of a clean biofuel future may be just that, but with the momen- tum created by the EU and the public the vision may become increasingly plausible with every field in Ireland becom- ing a practical oil field.

has learned that €6,/97.94 was paid to the court poor box by various defendants who were brought before the courts in Clare last year. Just €1,250 of this was paid out to charitable organisations or Support groups.

At the start of 2004, <€20,850 which amounted over the previous few years, was carried over and this brought the total re- maining in the poor box to €26,397.94 at the end of last year. This has now grown to more than €30,000. On occasions, Judge Joseph Mangan dis- misses various cases under the Probation of Offenders Act and orders defendants to pay a sum of money to the court poor box. Cahercalla Hospice spokeswoman Mary Moloney said she would welcome “with Open arms” funding towards the hospice, which is moving to a new building, as part of a major €2 million development, the plan- ning application of which is being submitted WNL oo) © “Even a whiff of it [the €30,000] would be welcome. I certainly didn’t know it was there. My understanding was if there was money paid in, it would be paid out immedi- ately,” said Ms Moloney. Fundraising co-ordinator of Clare Haven Services — which offers support to women coping with domestic violence — Eileen Murphy, said her organisation would be “delighted to receive anything from it.” She said, “I will write to the court clerk and see what happens, now that that kind of money is there. “We would love to see it distributed among the services which deal with domestic abuse.” Another support group, Clarecare, would also welcome funding from the court’s poor lfe).@ ‘We would never say no to money in this type of business. We are not against getting it. We would have no problem spending all that money tomorrow. The question is where would it best serve,’ said Clarecare General Manager Fiacre Hensey. A spokesman for the Courts Service said it is up to each judge to decide where the proceeds of the poor box actually goes - the decision in Clare rests with Judge Joseph Mangan. “Some judges clear it out at the end of every year [for example Killarney, Listowel, Ballinasloe, Tuam, Naas and Sligo], while others let it build up over time and make large donations to groups or organisations. A decision will have to be made at some stage about what will be done with it,” he said.

A 16-YEAR-OLD boy, who pleaded guilty to eight charges including burglary, larceny, criminal damage and unauthorised taking of a vehicle, was remanded in custody to St Patrick’s Institution in Dublin for one week and will appear in court in Lisdoonvarna again tomorrow (Wednesday).

The teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, faced four new charges when he appeared at Miltown District Court last Wednesday. The accused opted to be tried in the District Court, waiving his right to have his case heard in the Circuit Court before a judge and jury.

The teenager faces charges relating to a se- ries of incidents in the Miltown Malbay and Spanish Point areas between October 2004 and February this year. The youth is alleged to have broken into houses and a school and to have stolen property, including a video player, a camcorder and a van. He 1s also accused of stealing €380 worth of wine and beer.

A professional report provided to the court claimed that there is a history of alcohol abuse in the teenager’s family, that he was poorly supervised and that his father smelled of alcohol at the interview. Judge Mangan ordered a probation report in respect of the teenager to be prepared ahead of tomorrow’s hearing.

A man who attacked and kicked a 52-year-old woman outside his Miltown Malbay home was fined, ordered to pay medical costs and was bound over to keep the peace for one year after he appeared in the lo- cal court last Wednesday.

Father and son Matt Keating Snr and Matt Keating Jnr, both faced one charge each of as- saulting Patricia Clancy outside their home at 16 Ballard Road, Miltown Malbay on September 26, 2004. Patricia Clancy, who lives at 35 Ballard Road, also faced one charge of assaulting Matt Keating Snr on the same CF Ken

Miltown Malbay District Court was told that the assault occurred after Mrs Clancy, a first cousin of Mr Keating Snr, drove him to his home after an evening’s socialising. Mrs Clancy said Mr Keating Snr “ran at me and kicked me and kicked me.”

She said that Matt Keating Jnr came to the door in his boxer shorts and pulled the two of

them apart, but assaulted her.

Matt Keating Snr claimed he had been offered a lift by Mrs Clancy but that he made his own way home that night. He claimed that when he arrived at his home, Mrs Clancy was al- USrKO MANN Slo) KOR

He said, as he accompanied Mrs Clancy to the gate of the house, “she struck me with her fist.”

Solicitor for Mrs Clancy, Gearoid Williams, showed pho- tographs of injuries sustained by his client to the accused. “I don’t know how it happened, I didn’t do it,’ he said.

The court also heard a tran- script of a heated telephone call to Mr Keating’s home after the incident.

Matt Keating Snr was convict- ed of assaulting Mrs Clancy and was fined €1,500 and ordered to pay €300 medical costs. The case against Matt Keating Jnr was dismissed.

Judge Mangan further or- dered that professional reports relating to alcohol be prepared in the cases of Mr Keating Snr and Mrs Clancy.

THE Tanaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney admitted this week in Clare that she is concerned about hygiene in our hospitals, as basic precautions such as washing hands are not being carried out.

‘Hand washing is one of the most effec- tive ways of ensuring that we don’t pass on infection. That is hand washing by profes- sionals, all the staff but also by those visit- ing patients. I think we need to heighten the awareness of the importance of hand wash- ing,’ she said.

Ms Harney said she was also confident that the HSE would get to the bottom of what was happening about MRSA in hospi- tals in the region.

While the Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis reported that just over 1.25 per cent of its patients were discovered with the an- tibiotic resistant bacteria, the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick has so far been unable to provide any figures relating to the bacteria.

“The results of the MRSA audit or the hygiene audit, which we will have later this month, I think will tell us a lot of informa- tion like what is happening at the moment in the hospitals. We are paying huge money for hospital cleaning contracts and we have to make sure we get the best for that.

The Minister also outlined plans in the fu- ture to ensure there were more single rooms in hospital and more isolation facilities.

These plans will not be implemented in

the short term, due to the cost, Ms Harney admitted. New buildings and refurbished facilities will have a larger number of sin- gle rooms and greater isolation facilities for OTM NLA

“We have a large number of hospitals in the country. It will be extremely expensive and take some time before we will move to that situation in Ireland. But, certainly in the context of building new facilities, and in refurbishing existing facilities, we will be looking at a larger number of single rooms and greater isolation facilities for patients that are affected with an infection. ”

Yesterday the Tanaiste launched a new campaign encouraging hand washing in health care buildings through out the coun- try.

FIFTY years is a long time to spend at any one activity, but few have passed the half-cen- tury milestone with more commitment than twin sisters Philomena and Annette O’Dea, otherwise known as Sister Celine and Sister Ann-Marie. The twins recently returned to their home in Ballygannor, near Kilfenora, for a holiday and a very special surprise Mass

to mark the golden jubilee of their vocation.

In 1955, aged 19, the sisters joined the nuns in Mallow following the sudden death of their mother, Lilly. Left behind in Ballygannor was their father John and 11 brothers and sisters, including Kitty, who later gained fame with the Kilfenora Ceili Band and Jack, who cur- rently resides in the old homestead with his wife Margaret.

After spending six months in Cork, the twins were moved to London where they were officially welcomed into the nuns in separate ceremonies. In all their years as Nazareth House nuns, they have never been stationed in the same convent and only see each oth- er on holidays. Sister Celine first returned to Ireland in the 1960s and gained national prominence when a story of the kindness she showed towards teenage mother Wanda Machnicha and her son made front page news Kom aets

THE local tourism industry has been told to cut its prices after being accused of not doing enough to promote new routes into Shannon Airport.

Making the charge, Chief Executive of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary said, “If there is anything we would complain about at Shannon, it is a per- ceived lack of support for Shannon Airport from the local tourism interests.”

In Shannon to announce Ryanair’s 17th route from the airport to Malaga, Mr O’Leary said, “It is time for all tourism interests, who have done lots of bleeding, whinging and complaining over the last 10 or 20 years, to get off their arses and start supporting Shannon Airport.”

Mr O’Leary’s call to the tourism industry was echoed by Director of Shannon Airport, Martin Moroney who said, “The tourist sector should wake up and get out there and organise them- selves right across the West of Ireland and capi- talise on Ryanair and other carriers using Shan-

non as a gateway.”

Mr O’Leary added, “Shannon will almost dou- ble in the space of two years. No Irish airport has ever done that before, no airport will ever do it again. We need, through this first difficult winter, the support of all the tourism industry, not to have the tourism industry here looking for handouts.

“It 1s time that the tourism industry down here stopped f**king sitting there with the cap out say- ing ‘we need the Government to fund this or we want a subsidy for that’. In the next three months, we are spending €1 million advertising Shannon in 15 different countries and giving away 200,000 seats. We know that we can deliver the numbers. Now we’ve got to give people a reason to come here in the Winter.”

Mr O’Leary added, “Shannon and Ryanair are delivering passengers. We need the hoteliers, res- taurants, pubs and everybody else to do their bit, drop the prices for the Winter and send the visi- tors home all happy.

“The West of Ireland is fine in the summer. The sun is shining and all the rest of it. The West

in the middle of winter, when it 1s cold, wet and dark, you really have got to persuade people to come here.

“This winter, we have all recognised, 1s going to be the hardest time for us. We are trying to op- erate 17 routes into an airport with a surrounding population base of less than 500,000 people.”

Mr O’Leary expressed confidence that Rya- nair will reach its two million passengers out of Shannon in three years instead of the five origi- nally agreed with the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA).

The Ryanair Chief Executive revealed that the establishment of the new route to Malaga stemmed from a phone call from SAA chairman, Pat Shanahan, after the collapse of EUjet who op- erated the route.

‘The new route, which wasn’t planned by us, is a by-product of how good the partnership is between Shannon Airport and Ryanair. Shannon will call us up and say ‘can you try to do some- thing’ and we’ll try to do something for Shannon if we can at all.”