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FIANNA FAIL county council- lor Pat McMahon has called on the Minister for Transport to revise his view on funding for damage caused to roads during the recent bad weather.

Minister Noel Dempsey has said that additional money will not be made available to local authorities to repair roads damaged in recent weeks. How- ever, his party colleague, Councillor Pat McMahon said the statement is “outrageous” and has called on the minister to rescind it.

The Newmarket-on-Fergus council- lor made the comments during a de-

bate on roads at a meeting of Shannon area councillors last week. He said the minster was “irresponsible” to make such a statement.

“He’ll have to rescind that state- ment. That’s outrageous. He consist- ently amazes me,” he said.

Cllr McMahon said the minister had shown “naivety” in his attitude towards local government.

Independent councillor Gerry Flynn said there were problems on roads where surface dressing was in place. “Tt really highlights the idea of sur- face dressing and is it value for mon- ey? .. It has been a complete waste of taxpayers’ money,” he said.

“Local people were prisoners in

their own homes. The local roads and footpaths were impassable,” he said.

The mayor of Shannon, Councillor Sean McLoughlin (FG) asked would money be set aside to repair the roads where potholes have become a domi- nant feature. “Will the council be de- manding special money? I think the council should demand money. Every road you drive on has potholes,’ he ene

Independent councillor Patricia Mc- Carthy said, “It would appear liquid poured on the roads is not suitable. There isn’t a road in the town or sur- rounding area that isn’t without a pot- hole. The concrete roads are literally falling to pieces.”

‘Whatever review 1s going on has to take into account the centres of popu- lation. It’s not simply a rural isolation. It’s an urban isolation,’ she said.

Fine Gael Councillor John Crowe said that in the past, the roads in the Shannon area were “exceptionally good, but very, very good roads are deplorable at the moment. There is a major, major job to be done.”

Councillor Tony Mulcahy (FG) said, “We were too late dropping grit. The locations we dropped it in seemed to work. It isn’t feasible to have 20,000 workers in the county working on it,” he said.

He acknowledged the excellent work put in by council employees during

the cold snap. “The council don’t have the manpower and resources to grit every footpath in the county. We have to take individual responsibility too,” ltemcrs BCG

Senior Executive Engineer with Clare County Council, Eugene O’Shea said the type of material used on some road surfaces was not suitable given the “unprecedented” weather. He said that a more permanent finish would be desirable “but it comes at a cost and you can only do so much.”

In relation to funding, he said that the county engineer has asked each area council for a list. This will be submitted to the Government and funding will be sought.

THE Government should shelf capi- tal projects such as the Gort/Crush- een bypass in favour of funding emergency works on Clare’s belea- guered road network.

That is the opinion of north Clare County Councillor Martin Conway CSCO Mays loe- lionel ela onmerr ime lexomcee per potholes around the county will cause a Serious accident if they are not addressed immediately.

With reports coming in of potholes,

many more than a foot in depth, around the county, Cllr Conway says that quick action is needed in order to avoid a tragedy.

“We have a situation where the roads have deteriorated dramatically over the last number of weeks. We need Clare County Council to carry out an audit on the roads that have been damaged, put together a costing on how much it would cost to bring these roads back to the former stand- ard and we need to present that to Government,’ he said.

“A special fund needs to be estab- lished by the Government to fund this work. Even if a capital project, such as a bypass, needs to be put on hold so that this work can be fi- nanced, then that needs to be done.”

With the local authority budget in the poorest state for many years and funding from central government continuing to be cut, it seems likely that Clare County Council will not be in a position to fund repairs with- out outside help.

“We are already in a situation where

Clare County Council has seen a cut of around 10 per cent in it’s road budget already. We are in a situation at the moment where the budget has been cut for roads by around 30 per cent since 2007. This means that we have to focus on what is the absolute priority and there are roads in every corner of Clare which are 1n a critical condition at the moment,’ he contin- aren

“Motorists are now contending with an obstacle course when driv- ing on the county’s roads. People

are swerving around these potholes to ensure that they don’t do damage to their cars and unfortunately this could very easily lead to a death on our roads,” he said.

“People unfortunately don’t have the chance to drive with any level of comfort or security on the roads. They are watching their cars, they are watching for damage and this is just not good enough in a modern society.

“Even in a recession this is not an acceptable situation.”

AN EVENING of entertainment from some of Clare’s most talented musicians will help to raise funds for a charity which aims to support carers and help them cope with the stresses of the job.

The Feakle-based Ciunas Com- munity Centre for Complimentary Health has taken up residence in Feakle village since just before Oi tah aeet-ky

The service aims to help carers and their families cope with stress and to provide services which support Wetoeee

Ciunas, which is a charity, was set up by Anita Hayes, Catherine Pa- tience and Tonia Custers, three ther- apists who are themselves carers.

“Being a carer can be very tiring and what we want to do here is to provide carers – and the people they care for – with something which sup- ports and lifts them, whether that’s a massage, creative writing or sing- ing,” Anita explained.

Carers give a long-term commit- ment to looking after someone else’s needs and fatigue and depression are just some of the problems which can come with the job.

“We’re talking about preventative health care, we want to provide a bridge, an extra layer of support,’ said Anita.

Just opened in Feakle, the centre currently caters for a small number of clients but can cater for up to 100 and they hope to expand to these buss LeLSs ECR

“We are here for anyone who Is a carer, whether they are caring for someone with special needs or an elderly person and the people they care for can also come along,’ said Anita.

The centre can now call on the services of up to 15 fully-qualified therapists, from psychotherapists to massage therapists.

All of the professionals offer their treatments for €20 a session, about one-third of the normal fee.

The centre got a one-off grant from the JP McManus fund but the fees charged for treatments don’t come close to covering the costs so the mu- sical fundraising evening is vital.

“We think it will be a lovely evening and we’re keeping the cost of tickets down to €15 because we want carers

to be able to come too,” said Anita.

The concert takes place in St Mary’s Church in Feakle on Janu- ary 29 at 8pm and features Mar- tin Hayes, Mary McNamara, Mike Hanrahan, Tommy Hayes, Manus McGuire, Denis Carey and special guests. Paula Carroll is the MC.

Ciunas are located in the new building on the site of the old cream- ery and they can be contacted on 061 924837. For more information about the service, visit Www.ciunascentre. fey ene

show that there were 19 drugs seizures at the airport during 2009, which amounted to a combined value of €258,704. This was a fall from 28 seizures 1n 2008, valued at €411,487. Nine of the seizures were herbal can-

nabis; five were cannabis resin; three were cocaine and two were ampheta- mine. The cocaine was valued highest, with the three seizures combined val- ued at €151,340. The herbal cannabis was worth €87,660; the amphetamine was valued at €15,000, while the can- nabis resin was worth €4,704.

Last year, there were three significant seizures of cash at the airport – totalling €157,064 – which led to investigations being launched by Customs officials.

There were five weapons’ seizures last year, which were valued at €1,035.71 in total. There had been four weapons

seized in 2008.

While the number of cigarette sei- Zures increased last year – from 311 to 396 – the actual amount of cigarettes seized actually fell, from 1,113,675 to 791,796. The cigarettes seized in 2009 were valued at €343,189.90, which was an increase on €324,636.30 in the previous year. These were seized from passengers who exceeded their limit of cigarettes allowed.

There were seven seizures of spirits last year, an increase on two in 2008. The value of the spirits seized last year amounted to €728.85, which was an

increase on €100.16 in 2008. Twenty- one tobacco seizures were made by Customs last year – valued at more than €26,000. There had been 15 sei- Zures 1n 2008, which had a combined value of €18,897. There were 10 sei- Zures of medicine at Shannon in 2009, which was double the amount of 2008. The seizures of medicine in 2009 amounted to a total value of €71,037. Last year, there were 74 seizures of counterfeit goods, which totalled €411,837. Three seizures of meat amounted to €140, while seven sei- zures of food other than meat amount-

ed to €143.

There were two seizures under the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora). The most signifi- cant of those was the discovery of a pair of rhinoceros’ horns on Decem- ber 23, which were valued at around a ORO eles

According to Revenue, the reduction in some seizure categories was due to “a change in passenger traffic” at Shannon airport, allied to an increase in limits for passengers from the acces- sion States.

A 21-YEAR-OLD man was in Garda custody last night after a 19-year-old man was stabbed and a 20-year-old woman assaulted outside a house in Newmarket-on-Fergus.

A row broke out at around llam yesterday (Monday) after a christen- ing party spilled over from Sunday. Several people had attended a chris- tening party at a house in Kilna- soolagh Park on Sunday and as the party continued overnight, an alco- hol-fuelled row erupted between two groups.

A 19-year-old man sustained a stab wound to the head and was also as- saulted in an incident in the front lawn of a house, according to gardai. He was taken to hospital but his inju- ries are not believed to be life threat- ening.

The woman sustained a suspected broken hand, for which she received hospital treatment yesterday.

A 21-year-old man was arrested, while gardai have taken statements from some of those who attended the party.

The 21-year-old, who sustained a facial injury, was being detained at Shannon Garda Station last night.

A technical examination of the Scene was carried out, while house- to-house enquiries were also under- way yesterday.

Inspector Tom Kennedy of Shan- non Garda Station is appealing for witnesses to come forward. “We have taken some statements and are appealing to anyone who was in the area at the time to contact gardai,” he said. Shannon Garda Station can be contacted on 061 361212.

Former politico who hurried himself to the top

IT is said that Bernard McNamara’s success was built on political fail- Woe

Following defeat in the 1981 Gen- eral Election the former county councillor decided to leave behind the world of politics, and moved to Dublin in 1984 to expand the fam- ily building contract business.

SW iteKiomserlaniomscemsleemeberemerm nite local authority described him as ‘a man that wanted to get the job done” and in many cases “border- ing on impatient”’.

He was elected to Clare County Council in 1974, at a ttme when he was working with his father’s com- pany Michael McNamara Construc- tion, having returned from college in Dublin three years previous.

He successfully contested the lo- cal election again in 1979, but his

political demise came in 1981 at the General Election.

He was co-opted on to the Fian- na Fail ticket, at a time when the party’s Clare county councillors were not automatically considered for national politics. It was former schoolteacher Tony Killeen that would later break that barrier.

For Mr McNamara, there were still too many big guns in the run- ning for the Fianna Fail seats, with Brendan Daly, Sylvester Barrett and William (Bill) Loughnane tak- ing the seats comfortably with Fine Gael’s Madeleine Taylor Quinn.

He received 2,676 votes just under one third of the quota.

In a 2006 interview, former mayor of Clare Flan Garvey (FEF), said that the Lisdoonvarna man had “minis- terial potential”.

But he moved too soon for his place in Leinster House, and the

world of politics was moving too Slow for him.

Sitting County Councillor PJ Kelly (FF) began his first day in Clare County Council in 1974 with Mr McNamara and described his former colleague as “enthusiastic” and “not like the rest”’.

“He was a man of few words but came to a conclusion fast, he saw the bigger picture,” said Cllr Kelly.

“After 1981 Bernard Mc felt poli- tics wasn’t the medium for express- ing his talents, and decided to apply them elsewhere instead,’ he added.

Mr McNamara left the world of politics behind at the next lo- cal election in 1984 and moved to Dublin setting up home in Mount Merrion.

There he secured huge private and public contracts for Michael McNa- mara Construction.

Such contracts were not unusual

for this company, which had previ- ously secured the construction of RTE’s sports and social club on its campus in Donnybrook within two years of Bernard McNamara’s re- turn to Clare.

This was soon followed by an ex- tension to Galway hospital.

The company, with Bernard at the helm, built a reputation for high construction standards and a qual- TL AYABUD OPK Oe

Since then the company’s share of state contracts has been sizable, not least among then the €400m Thornton Hall prison complex.

The company, which has a special meaning for Mr McNamara, and has been ringfenced from his cur- rent financial woes also received the contact to build the new Clare County Council offices, and five public-private partnerships (PPPs) with Dublin city council for hous-

ing regeneration.

The Dublin city contracts were eventually terminated however, signalling some of the future finan- cial difficulties faced by Mr McNa- rere ee

Among the other state contracts secured by the Clare man was the extensions to Leinster House and Dublin airport, the millennium wing of the National Gallery of Ireland, and the Ballymun social welfare offices and Garda station.

Mr McNamara was also one of the main landlords to the state, renting accommodation to the De- partment of Justice and Tourism Ireland.

Michael McNamara _ Construc- tion, from which Bernard McNa- mara has resigned, currently has 12 live contracts, with 270 direct employees, and many more on sub contract.

KILMALEY established themselves as the kingpins of Clare camogie after another successful year on the playing field. For the second year in succession, they captured the senior championship and there was also much promise for the future as their minor team also secured a champi- onship for the second time in three years.

However, unlike 2008, they didn’t have it all their own way this year. Newmarket managed to break Kil- maley’s stranglehold of domestic titles with a win over the defending champions at the second attempt. Two high intensity matches could have gone either way but after losing out in both the league and champi- onship finals last year, Newmarket’s added determination saw them re- gain the coveted title.

Unfortunately for the Newmarket Blues, that victory only inspired Kil- maley to re-evaluate their position and refocus for the championship and they duly responded by gaining revenge over their great rivals at the semi-final stage by 3-8 to 2-9 to set up a unique final against an emerging Sixmulebridge side.

The final itself was a dour affair that Kilmaley eventually edged by O- 7 to O-5 in Clarecastle but although defeat was Sixmilebridge’s lot on the day, their potential indicates that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years. After all, they have dominated the underage scene in recent years, compiling an impres- sive haul of titles in 2007 (Under 11 ground camogie), Under 12A, Under 14A, Feile, Under 16A and Minor B) and 2008 (Under 11 ground camogie, Feile, Under 16A and Minor A) and with leaders like 16 year old Chloe Morey who was deservedly awarded the Clare FM Player of the Match award at the county final, it seems

only a matter of time before they are back on the winners podium.

2009 was also noteworthy for the introduction of The Glenorma Shield Senior B Competition, donated by the Broadford club. Indeed, it was fit- ting that in the first year, Broadford would make it to the final, however on the day they were comprehensive- ly beaten by Clooney/Quin, inspired by Clare camogie captain Deirdre AY Logo) ens

Due to the unanimous support of

the clubs involved, the Intermediate Loy oaolo1H U8 CO) MCLE RV oLO MAYA 100 MERE CoMmECT: BO NTS structure as 2008. All the teams played each other on a round robin basis for the championship and it proved to be an extremely tight divi- sion with only a point or two divid- ing the top teams. The top four teams entered into the championship semi- finals while the next four entered the shield semi-finals.

There was only one score divid- ing the teams in the two semi-finals.

Corofin had a one point victory over St Josephs while Kilkishen advanced thanks to an extra-time goal against Truagh. Kilkishen, after the disap- pointment of last year’s champion- ship semi-final defeat, eventually took the honours after a great final against last year’s beaten finalists Corofin played in front of a huge crowd in Tulla.

In the Intermediate shield semi finals, Clarecastle overcame White- gate and Scariff managed to see off

neighbours Ogonnelloe. The transfer of Carina Roseingrave from Kilna- mona to Clarecastle proved to be a great asset to Clarecastle and she was instrumental in their final win against Scariff to take the shield.

The Junior League went the way of Feakle who took the honours from Inagh. It was also an important year for Crusheen who entered their first adult team and had two wins against St. Josephs and Eire Og that was not enough for them to reach the final. In the Junior Championship, Inagh got over their disappointment of their league final defeat when they beat Feakle in the semi-final and Killane- na in the final.

So what of 2010? Can Kilmaley make it three-in-a-row? Can New- market build on their league title? Will another year prove beneficial to Sixmilebridge’s young squad? Can Clooney finally make the break- through on the back of their senior B title or will Kilnamona bounce back after a two year absense?

The answer will be revealed in due course but one thing is for certain, it promises to be the most competi- tive senior championship in quite a number of years.

AS Waterford senior hurling manag- er, David Fitzgerald will be trying to plot the downfall of his native county in this year’s Munster senior hurling Semi-final, but at the same time he’ll be trying to plot a successful senior championship year back home in OK

All because the two-time All-Ire- land winner and three-time All Star is set to operate a dual management/ coaching mandate in 2010, having committed to throwing in his lot with Inagh/Kilnamona for a second successive year.

The Waterford supremo linked up with Inagh/Kilnamona last year after Waterford’s exit from the All-Ireland race at the semi-final stage, but club insiders have told The Clare People that Fitzgerald will be with Inagh/ Kilnamona from the word go this

year.

And, Fitzgerald won’t be alone, as former Clare senior camogie manag- er Bertie Sherlock from Toomevara, is also a member of the Iangh/Kilna- mona backroom team for the coming season as they bid to make the big breakthrough at senior champion-

ship level. It will be Inagh/Kilnamona’s third championship season, following

their formation in late 2007 when the Inagh and Kilnamona clubs joined forces under the one banner. In 2008 they got off to a flier when beating reigning county champions Tulla in the first round and went on to reach the knockout stages before being beaten by St Joseph’s Door-a-Bare- field in the quarter-final. Last year they reached the same stage before being edged out by Kilmaley.

AFTER two years of fundraising, the first 50 of the 200 volunteers with the Building of Hope Project have arrived in Kenya.

Fr Martin Keane is pictured laying the foundation stone for the training centre which the Clare volunteers will build over the next eight weeks.

Celebrating Mass for the newly arrived volunteers on Sunday, Fr Martin told them that the founda- tions were made not just of sand and mortar, but of the hope that will help rebuild lives.

The Cranny priest ministers to the poorest of Mombasa’s people in his parish of Migombani.

The centre will be a place where they aquire work skills and qualifi- cations which can rescue them from a life of degradation and hunger.