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HAVING already cele- loye-1 Kore Mec Merey et elecersCeyeMmyaine| the man that captured Sadam Hussein, there was further excitement this week when it was discovered that the pilot of the Discovery Shuttle is of West Clare origin.

Space hero Eileen Col- lins 1s proud of her Irish heritage. The 49-year- old’s grandmother Marie Reidy emigrated from West Clare and settled in a railroad town of Elmira decades ago.

She later married a man named Collins from Cork.

Two generations in 1956 Eileen was born.

Although Eileen was 19 years of age before she was even on a plane, she became the American Air Force’s first female test pilot.

“Eileen Collins is sim- ply the best commander we have,” Nasa senior as- tronaut told Good Morn- ing America.

On ‘Tuesday last she proved her extraordinary ability when she safely guided the spacecraft STS 114, better known as Discovery, to Earth.

Although travelling at 18 times the speed of light, this mother of two

does not believe what she does is dangerous.

““T think it is much safer than what my Irish ances- tors did, travelling across the Athlantic Ocean in a leaky old ship,” she told an Irish American maga- zine.

During her time in the military she earned the rank of lieutenant colonel and several services med- als, but always dreamt of joining the space pro- eramme.

Finally, after 12 years in the army, Nasa invited Eileen to be its first fe- male pilot in 1990.

The rest 1s Space his- Ke) ars

SUCCESSFUL prosecutions have been brought under the Litter Pollution Act against a Shannon- based company and a Cratloe couple.

Mid-West Tyres Ltd, Trading as Mid-West Tyres and Batteries Smithstown Industrial Estate, Shan- non, were fined €200 at Shannon District court on July 21 for a breach of the act.

The court heard that a notice bearing the com- pany name, details and the services it offers was posted on an ESB pole in Shannon Town Centre on March 7 of this year.

After hearing the evidence, Judge Joseph Man- gan ordered the company to pay the fine within one

month.

In a separate matter, Thomas and Siobhan Glee- son of Pigeon Hill in Cratloe pleaded guilty in the Shannon court to a breach of the Litter Pollution ae

The offence took place on April 26 at Portdrine in Cratloe. The court heard that an inspector who went to the site owned by the Gleesons found rub- bish burning on the site.

The defendants did not hold a waste licence, the court was told.

Judge Mangan fined each of the defendants €50 and awarded costs against them, totalling €750 Crea e

, which formed part of Shannon De- velopment’s proposed 10 year plan from 2005 to 2015 lodged with the Minister, the company sought to develop an At- lantic Economic zone that added Galway city and county to the current area it had responsibility for.

Instead of adopting the plan, Minister Micheal Martin has withdrawn any re- maining enterprise activities operated by Shannon Development, while its tourism promotion activities may also face the chop in a government shake-up of the structures promoting Irish tourism.

In a proposed new mandate for the

company, the company will be given an enhanced, though undefined, regional economic development role with a spe- cific emphasis on addressing the needs of the less developed parts of the Shannon Korea) 0F

Unions at Shannon Development, SIP- TU and the National Union of Journal- ists (NUJ) have agreed not to co-oper- ate with changes to bring about the new rn atW NOEs Kom

In the plan put forward the Board of Shannon Development, the company states that by 2015, it will have attracted an additional two million visitors per an- num, three million passengers through Shannon and Galway airports, along with an additional 25,000 tonnes in freight per annum.

It also states that Shannon will have 40 global destinations by 2015, while output per person will be 100% of the nation- al average and there will be pervasive broadband across the region.

Other highlights of the company’s plan include an international trade centre and international casino in the Limerick/ Shannon area; an international health

clinic in Limerick and a bio-pharma project in Limerick county.

The plan also envisages the establish- ment of an agile logistics hub at Shannon and a series of Burren initiatives, along with other tourism initiatives around Clare.

The company describes its 10 year plan as “an uncompromising drive’ to make sure that the Atlantic Economic Zone 1s recognised as one of the most forward- thinking and exciting regions in the world for people, investors and visitors.

Shannon Development stated that it would use the company’s asset base – without recourse to the Exchequer – to deliver an Atlantic Development Fund of €200m (over ten years) to finance eco- nomic infrastructure, seed strategic flag- ship projects and invest in commercial activities which will replenish the fund.

On the benefits of the plan, the docu- ment states that for people, it will offer challenging work opportunities; high quality of life, global connectivity and an integrated internal transport system, world class services and excellent educa- tional institutions.

FURIOUS traders in the Merchants Quay area of Ennis are demanding that something be done to improve the upkeep of the area.

They claim that the cobblestone streets are unsafe and have been the cause of accidents. Indeed Ennis Town Council has refused to col- lect rubbish in the area as they also consider is a safety issue with the cobblestone streets. As there is no refuse service for residents living in apartments, rubbish is often dumped in the streets. The overall poor con- dition of the area, traders believe, has led to a downturn in trade and in some instances has forced some businessess to close down.

In May 2001 Ennis Town Council, stated in a letter to solicitors acting on behalf of the traders, that there was safety issues to be resolved in relation to the cobblestreet surface. Mr Desmond Houlihan who is the developer of Merchants Quay, in- dicated to the council the situation would be rectified and that he no longer wished the council to take the scheme into its charge. Local trad- ers point out that very little has been done in the interveening period.

Despite paying rates to both the council and the developer they say

no services are being provided to Weloveee

In 2003 traders were served with enforcement notices for non-compli- ance with planning conditions at- tatched to the granting of planning permission in 1991, by Ennis Town Council. Both the traders and the

developer were threatened with legal action if they failed to comply with the notices. Since these notices were sent out no action has been taken. Traders feel they are being vic- timised as the planning conditions were laid out in 1991 and they only signed the leases for the premises

in 1996. Tony Muffett is the owner of “Patricias International Fashions’ in Merchants Quay which is due to close down.

‘ T ask the question that why is it that the enforcement notice was is- sued in 2003, we are now in 2005 and no action has been taken against the developer by the enforcement section of Clare County Council” he said on Thursday.

He went onto add that the poor condition of the area “is causing a blighting of the street. It 1s expen- sive enough with rates. We are being forced to pay the council and they won’t even come down the street as they consider there is a safety 1s- sue with it. The rubbish overhead 1s being deposited on the streets and somebody needs to take action”’.

The Mayor of Ennis, Frankie Ney- lon, has called on Mr. Houlihan to hold discussions with the traders.

“T would be expecting Mr Houli- han, being the landlord would sit down with the traders. They are the people who are paying the rents and who have the leases. If their busi- nesses aren’t successful there is only one way to go and that is to leave. That would be a huge problem for the centre of the town and I wouldn’t like to see it happen” said Cllr Ney- lon.

WHETHER it is comedy or classical music, there is something for everybody at Glor this autumn.

Comedian Pat Shortt will bring his brand new show “You Won’t Get Away With That Here” to Ennis.

It will run from November 3-5. Des Bishop will also be dropping by as will Irish comedian Connor Gallen who will appear on September 1.

For the past 4 years, Glor has attract- ed some of the top names in the music industry to Ennis.

This autumn is no different.

One of America’s foremost singer songwriters John Prine will play Glor on November 11.

Other big names to appear will be Damien Dempsey, John Spillane, Flook, and Bell X1.

Highly rated Dublin outfit “the Gug- genheim Grotto’ will perform their first headline show in Glor in September.

Clive Barnes will join veteran per- former Freddie White on September 2.

The inimitable Furey Brothers featur- ing Davey Arthur, Grada and Noelie McDonnell complete an eclectic musi- oF bDatest lop

Classical tastes will also be catered for with an extensive musical progamme.

Flautist Carol McGonnell will be joined by pianist Finghin Collins and

Catherine Leonard on the violin in Sep- tember.

Ballet Ireland return in November, when they perform “Diaghiliev and The Red Shoes’ as a tribute to Ballet Russe.

One of the highlights of the program me is sure to be a performance by U.K. theatre company ‘Fidget Feet’ on Sep- tember 2.

Combining elements of circus, dance and aerial acrobatics, it promises to be a dazzling display.

The simmering tensions of New Or- leans will be brought to the stage when the Keegan theatre group perform “A Streetcar Named Desire” in late Sep- tember.

Clare-based theatre group ‘Brion- gloid’ open the theatre season with ‘Failte Romhat a Mhairtin’ and “Dun na mBan tri Thine’.

Other highlights include, London Classic Theatre’s production of Hugh Leonard’s “Love in the Title’ and Blue Raincoat Theatre Company’s “the Bald Soprano’.

Glor’s ever-popular film club, returns on September 18.

As always the programme includes the very best in English and foreign lan- guage cinema.

The season kicks have with ‘My Sum- mer of Love’ and continues with *Vodka Lemmon’ and slick Hungarian thriller, ‘Kontrol’.

A KILKISHEN leaving cert student, his brother and sister could be stranded without school transport when school opens after summer.

The three Stewart-Dunne children may have to switch school following a Vocational Education Committee warn- ing that they may not have places on the

school bus in the new term – if they can get a place in a new school.

Anne Stewart, mother of Michael (16), John (14) and Emer (12) says she is “at a loss” to know what to do about her chil- dren’s education after receiving a letter from the VEC last week warning that there may not be any space for her chil- dren on the bus to their secondary school in Shannon come September.

“Michael is about to start in to his Leaving Certificate cycle, John has set- tled into school at Shannon and loves it there and Emer wants to go to school where her brothers and cousins go. For them to change and go to Tulla, which is the nearest school, would be a major disruption. We don’t know if the school in Tulla has places for them – I don’t even know if we should be applying there or getting ready for Shannnon,” said Anne.

A major consideration for Anne – who is a lone parent and works part-time – would be the cost of changing schools.

“It will set me back about €300 for uniforms alone and there is a free book scheme in Shannon. I don’t know if that applies in Tulla. I only work part-time and I don’t have that kind of money,’ the mother of three said.

The letter which Anne Stewart received a few days ago is one of thousands sent out to families nation-wide.

The letters were sent to parents who have opted to send their children to a secondary school other than the one Aeterna com nelsn0

Before now, children who travelled to school outside their catchment areas were classified as “boundary catchment pupils” and were allocated seats on the basis of availability but in practice, al- most every child got a place on the bus.

The letters are a result of the Govern- ment decision to end a “three for two” seating arrangement on school buses.

The Stewart children were enrolled ins school at Shannon so they could be educated with their extended family and be close to their grandad, who provides them with a hot lunch while their mum is working.

“I know that the Department of Educa- tion is trying to improve safety standards on school buses and that’s all to the good but instead of doing the decent thing and putting on more buses, they want children uprooted and taken away from school where they are doing well, “ said Anne.

CLARE people got a chance to sample what life is like behind the scenes at Lough Derg’s RNLI Lifeboat Station’s first Open Day last week.

The day was a huge success, with many local people visiting the station for the first time. Volunteer crew and committee mem- bers gave guided tours and answered ques- tions about the work of the RNLI and about their local lifeboat.

There were videos of the Atlantic Class lifeboat in action on the sea and slideshows on the development and progress of the Lough Derg Station.

The Irish Coast Guard’s Search and Res-

cue helicopter did a fly by, much to the delight of the young children visiting the station.

August 7 was also the first day of the Lough Derg Yacht Club annual regatta and many sailors visited the station. It is tra- ditionally a day in which the Yacht Club makes a collection for the RNLI.

‘All volunteers at the station would like to extend a warm thank you to everyone who made the journey to visit the lifeboat sta- tion; for their enthusiasm, support and gen- erosity” said Lifeboat PRO Eleanor Hogan. “The Open Day was a tremendous success and helped to raise funds to continue the valuable work of the RNLI and our local lifeboat station.”

THE president of the IFA John Dillon has pledged to continue the campaign to pre- vent factory owners from importing low cost beef from South America.

Mr Dillon’s pledge came after what he described as a ‘useful’ meeting with the directors of the Queally Meat Group last week. The meeting took place following an IFA protest by some 300 farmers at the plant in Naas, Co Kildare. More than 50 farmers occupied the offices of the Queally Group during the 10 hour long protest.

The IFA head claimed that there had been a full and frank exchange of views at the meeting on the issue of beef imports from South America.

“I conveyed to Peter Queally and Dan Browne the depth of anger among beef producers in this country who have seen prices collapse in the last six weeks,” said Mr Dillon. “Meat factories have cut cattle prices by €150 per head since June, leav- ing over 50,000 beef farmers in a loss- making situation.”

“The IFA is demanding that Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan introduce proper labelling at all hotels, restaurants and ca- tering outlets,” he continued.

Earlier in the week Mr Dillon accused meat factories of “stabbing Irish farmers in the back” over the slaughter of beef, be- lieved to originate in Brazil, in the Kildare factory.

Indeed, questions have also been raised

from many sectors of the farming com- munity about the proper labelling of beef imported from South America and the pos- sibility of placing a quota on the amount of beef that can be imported.

Meanwhile, the president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Association, Malcolm Thompson, has also joined the fight against beef imports from South America. Mr Thompson travelled to Derry last night to join a protest against the sale of Brazilian beef in supermarkets in Northern Ireland.

“We need to send a clear message to our World ‘Trade Organisations negotiators that Irish farmers will not tolerate the deci- mation of our industry any longer and beef needs to be treated as a nationally sensitive product,” said Mr Thompson.

speaks to Liam O’Rourke, who is just settling in to his new role as de- velopment officer for farm services in the county.

According to Mr O’Rourke farm serv- ices in Clare, and indeed in Galway, have not been developed over the last number of years. Instead there has been a greater con- centration on providing a contract fencing service in these counties. This is one of the areas where he feels that work can be done.

“My first priority is to develop a pool of FRS operators in County Clare with the possibility of de- veloping a labour pool in Galway at a later stage,” said Mr O’Rourke. “FRS has a very comprehensive operator training package available and I intend to train as many operators and potential operators in Clare.”

Mr O’Rourke has already begun to train a number of inter- ested people in manual handling, relief milking, grassland management, fertiliser spreading, grass management and a two day advanced tractor operations course.

‘“T hope to create an awareness and interest in farm services in Clare again and obviously this will help us to be in a strong

position to provide a broad range of services to farming community,’ he said.

Indeed, a new feature of farming in Ireland today is the demand for qualified farm staff to be contracted from abroad, and the FRS has put a scheme in place to accommodate this trend. Farmers can pay an annual membership fee to join the scheme and for an additional sum can avail of the farmer accident and sickness scheme which pays 75 per cent of the cost of relief while a farmer is incapacitated due to an accident or sickness.

“We have established contacts in countries like Poland, Latvia and Hungary where highly qualified farm staff can be sourced,’ said Mr O’Rourke. “The FRS can give additional in- duction and skills training to these Eastern Eu-

ropean workers while they are placed full time on a farm with no additional cost to the farmer.”

The FRS also hosted a one-day safe tractor driving skills course for 14 – 16 year olds and a one-day pre-silage season machinery safety course earlier this year and a wide range of other courses are now available. The reorganised FRS has four distinct divisions namely: farm services, fencing systems, re- cruitment and training.

There are also a number of full and part-time positions avail- able in FRS at the moment. For more information check out www.irsnetwork.com or call 063 90666.

THE county’s roads have claimed their seventh victim this year, with the death of Maura Daffy (54), from Lis- munga, Ruan.

She lost her life after her car collided with a minibus close to Clarecastle on Saturday afternoon.

Ms Datfy’s black Hyundai Accent crashed into a Mercedes Benz minibus, which was driven by a 60-year-old man from Macroom in Cork, on the main N18, at Skehanagh, just after 4pm. She is the third person to die on that particu- lar stretch of road in as many years.

The woman was taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Ennis, Where she died at 2.30am on Sunday morning. The driver of the bus was treated for minor injuries and was dis- charged from hospital some hours after

the accident.

Ms Daffy lived in Dublin for a number of years and worked, until recently, in the Sunday World newspaper. She visit- ed her family in Ruan regularly over the years and was travelling from a show- jumping event in Millstreet – where her niece was performing – to her home in Ruan, when the accident occurred.

Ruan parish priest Fr Pat O’ Neill said the deceased, who is survived by two brothers and two sisters, was a popular woman. “She was full of life and got on very well with all of her family. She had travelled the world,’ said Fr O’ Neill.

“She would always have one of her nieces in the car with her. Thankfully she didn’t have anybody with her on Saturday,” he added.

Two witnesses have been interviewed by gardai. Supt John Kerin is appealing for other witnesses to come forward

“We are happy the bus driver was travelling on his own side of the road, heading towards Limerick. There was a line of traffic behind Ms Daffy and we are appealing for those people to come forward with information,” said Supt aun

In September 2002, three-year-old Maggie Moore from Corbally near Limerick, died when the car in which she was travelling with her family, was struck by another vehicle.

Last November, John Cahill (68) from Coole Park in Gort, a former official driver to Fianna Fail TD Frank Fahy, died when his car was struck by a van driven by John Hogan from Ennis. Last month Hogan was convicted of danger- ous driving causing Mr Cahill’s death.

Both accidents occurred within 500 yards of Saturday’s collision.