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CLARE senior hurling manager Ger O’Loughlin has called for patience from supporters as he looks to step up the rebuilding process to make Clare a serious force in hurling once rae) Kor

O’Loughlin was speaking after his side claimed victory in their opening game of the year against college side WIT and in a frank assessment, the two time All-Star winner feels that this is a three year development plan due to the low average age and inex- perience of the current squad.

“It’s a very young panel and I hon- estly do believe that this set-up will be three years before we will actu- ally see how good they are going to be. I hope people have the patience because we have only something like five lads over 25 so you can’t expect miracles.”

Clare’s All-Ireland Under 21 suc- cess has brought renewed hope to the county after a disastrous year at senior level but despite calling up a large percentage of that Under 21 squad, assilimilating them to senior hurling will take time according to O’ Loughlin.

“There are new lads on the scene and you could see there today how enthusiastic they were. They wanted to be on there, they were trying hard, they were hooking and blocking and as I say we will all learn as we’re go- ing along I presume.”

Next up for Clare will be a quarter- final clash with All-Ireland finalists and Munster champions Tipperary in what will be a repeat of last year’s final. Clare have played the Premier on five competitive occasions over the last two years, with their only victory coming in last year’s Wa- terford Crystal Cup in Ogonnelloe; Clare’s first senior trophy in eleven years. That game will now take place next Tuesday evening, January 26th in Borrisoleigh at 8pm but for O’Loughlin, game time is still his main motivation at the moment.

‘These matches are great if the weather can improve because you could see there that this 1s what we were lacking there today. We have Six or seven sessions done on the physical side of it and you can even see that the lads were able to hold out there for the 62 or 63 minutes but we need more hurling.”

THE COMPANY behind plans to extract 4.5 tonnes of material from a site in Ruan has appealed Clare County Council’s decision to reject the proposal which was supported by a number of bogus submissions.

Last month, the Council refused planning permission to Lagan Bitu- men Ltd for the 45-acre quarry at Ardkearney, Ruan over fears that it would pose a risk to traffic safety.

The Council claimed that the com- pany did not own the land to upgrad- ing the site and consequently refused planning permission – a move wel- comed by opponents to the plan.

However, in their appeal, Lagan Bitumen state that it is difficult to reconcile the Council’s claim that the proposed upgrade represents a traffic hazard when in fact, it repre- sents a major design improvement in the existing junction.

They state that the roads upgrade will be on land registered by Ennis Supply Ltd. and landowner, Stephen Flaherty is agreeable in principle to the works being carried out on his Voce) route

Lagan Bitumen and is one of the Lagan Group of companies and the material extracted from the site will be used by another of the Lagan Group sites — the Irish asphalt site at Tulla.

The appeal states that site inves- tigations have established that the material available at Ardkearney is eminently suitable for use in the Tul- la plant as it has been rated as high quality limestone.

A decision is due on the appeal later this year.

CLARE TD and Minister for State Tony Killeen (FF) is only too aware of what benefits the National Color- ectal Screening Service can bring to potential cancer suffers in Ireland.

The junior minister who was di- agnosed with bowel cancer last year said the announcement of the screen- ing service by the minister for health was positive, “as the key intervention in cancer of any kind is early diag- nosis”.

“If I went a bit sooner I would have

escaped the trauma and discomfort of chemotherapy,” he maintained.

“If I went later the outcome would be much more negative,” he added.

Announcing the new screening service, Minister Mary Harney said, “The next and most important clini- cal priority for population screening has been colorectal screening. This is acritically important development for both men and women. Colorectal screening has two great benefits – early detection of cancer, improving treatment outcomes, and the detec- tion of pre-cancerous growths.”

The first screening programme will be for people aged between 60 and oe,

“We are starting this year with the detailed preparations, so that the pro- gramme will commence screening in 2012 for the people involved on a national basis irrespective of where people live,” she said.

Minister Killeen added, “This is one of the diagnosis that tends to be very accurate, and with early diagno- sis the recovery rate is very high.”

“When an opportunity like this (screening) is put to people they usu-

ally use it,” he said.

The Clare Minister admitted that men are not the best however for attending doctors for tests, but said there is usually a positive if you go pm Ansar

“There 1s no advantage of going too late,’ he warned.

Colorectal cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer among men and women in Ireland.

About 2,200 new cases are diag- nosed every year and approximately 1,000 people die from it.

Free screening will initially be of-

fered to 400,000 people in the 60 to 69 age group. The programme will be operated by the National Cancer Screening Service in cooperation with the Health Service Executive and will be extended to all those aged 55 to 74 years of age “as logistics and resources allow”’.

The 60 to 69 year age group con- tains about 50 per cent of all cases of colorectal cancer in the 55 to 74 year age band, and other countries includ- ing England, Sweden and Finland have aimed their programmes on this 60 to 69 year age group also.

ST VINCENT de Paul in Ennis is encouraging people with time on their hands to join up as volunteers. As the organisation launches its an- nual volunteer drive, its president Cathal Oakes is urging people to attend its open night on Wednesday next, January 27 (Temple Gate Hotel at 8.30pm).

With unemployment rates on the increase due to the downturn, vol- unteering across the board is on the increase in Clare.

Those who get on board as vol- unteers with St Vincent de Paul are assigned to various projects. These include becoming part of the hospi-

tal visitation team or as home volun- lo ie

St Vincent de Paul also runs a hos- tel and shop in Ennis, but these are primarily managed by staff rather than volunteers.

“We have a hospital visitation team and we go into St Joseph’s Hospital once a fortnight. We also have family visitations in Ennis and surrounds,” he said.

Young people interested in getting involved have the choice of joining schools branches of St Vincent de Paul. There is one up and running in Shannon and plans are in place to set up branches in schools in Ennis and Kildysart.

He is encouraging people to attend

the open night.

“We tell them what the commit- ment is like and if they are interested in becoming a member we set up training,’ said Mr Oakes.

“Those involved are from a very broad spectrum. We find that if one person joins, they tell people at work and more people join from that source,” he said.

The organisation is expecting to hear dozens of queries from people interested in volunteering, but would be hopeful of recruiting a dozen vol- OnE

“Countywide we have about 120 volunteers at the moment. We are looking to recruit 10 or 12 commit- ted members in the Ennis area,’ he

added.

“People used to come in in dribs and drabs, but now they come in and do three nights’ training and they are volunteers as quickly as possible,” said Mr Oakes.

Those who sign up next week will take part in training over the coming weeks and this will be completed by the end of February. They then take part in the various initiatives spear- headed by the organisation. The organisation is busy, particularly to- wards the end of the year.

“December is by far the busiest time of the year. It was particularly busy in 2009 because of the floods and the lack of the Christmas bonus,” said Mr Oakes.

EVERY primary and_ secondary school in Clare is to get free access to online versions of the popular Ency- clopedia Britannica and World Book as part of a nationwide elearning in1- tiative announced by the Department of Education and Science.

The online encyclopedias use text, video clips, three-dimensional simu-

lations, research aids and other new media in presenting information to students.

The department pays an annual licence fee of €450,000 to Encyclo- pedia Britannica and World Book to authorise schools to use the online resources.

Clare TD Tony Killeen said he strongly supported efforts by the Government to integrate informa-

tion communications technology into teaching and learning.

“The Government is making enormous strides in developing our schools ICT capacity. For example in 2009, it launched a €150 million plan for smart schools, which will give every classroom a teaching lap- top, software and digital projector over the next three years.

“The provision of these online

learning tools marks the next phase in the Government’s ambition to develop our schools into centres of elearning and to make new technol- ogy an integral part of the learning KOCK Te

“The range of information avail- able to Clare schools through these encyclopedias will enrich students’ learning experience and deepen their knowledge of the sciences, humani-

ties, arts and other areas.

“Furthermore, the schools broad- band network enables us to deliver targeted digital resources directly to teachers and students through the scoilnet.ie website,” he said.

With over 11,500 learning resourc- es and an average of 180,000 visits each month, scoilnet.ie is an impor- tant online resource for primary and post-primary schools.

THE success of pedestrianisation in Ennis hinges on problems regarding town centre parking being properly recognized and addressed, according to the Chairman of the O’Connell Street Trader’s Association.

Gearoid Mannion was commenting last night on Ennis Town Council’s proposal to introduce Saturday pe- destrianisation in Ennis.

Mr Mannion said that it is time for the council to recognize that there is a problem with parking in Ennis.

“Come into Ennis on any busy day

and you can’t get parking. The dogs on the street know there is a prob- lems with parking in Ennis but the council don’t believe it is a problem,” he said.

Mr Mannion added, “The success of pedestrianisation be it on a Saturday or everyday does hinge on parking.”

He explained that a balance also had to be struck between the views of the public, who seemed broadly supportive of the proposal, and those of a “significant minority” of retail- ers who have seen their business suf- fer on days when pedestrianisation 1s in place.

Members of Ennis Chamber of Commerce met last night to discuss the proposal ahead of a meeting with council officials today.

Town Clerk Eddie Power told the January meeting of Ennis Town Council that a report on pedestria- nisation would be presented at the council’s next meeting in February.

Mr Power said the report would be presented along with a recommenda- tion to pedestrianise Ennis’ streets on Saturdays. The council is also expected to appeal to the public to ensure that cars are not left parked on streets during the hours of pedes-

Wet-DIpecrIN(O)0e

The council is also expected to in- stall permanent electronic barriers in order to close the streets to vehicular nee BeElen

The barriers will be controlled by keys that will be available to council staff, gardai and other members of the emergency services.

Councillors have said that a system should be in place to allow for the manual removal of barriers in the event of a serious emergency.

There have also been calls for free parking to be introduced on the same days as pedestrianisation.

CLARE will be the loser in matters of development consideration in the mid-west unless councillors and council executives act, it was warned last night.

At the first meeting of the local au- thority’s elected representatives this year, Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) called for all members to be provided with a copy of the draft strategic planning guide- lines for the mid-west, so that they would be aware of what is proposed.

“It proposes that each local author- ity plan would leave a green belt around Limerick and that Limerick should be the core area for retail ac- tivity in the region – subtitled, to hell with everywhere else,” Cllr Kelly told the meeting.

He said the draft also suggested that each part of the county should have its own centre of development “to the exclusion of other areas. It says that economic activities for north Clare should be ‘coast based’. What does that mean?”

The Fianna Fail councillor de- scribed the draft as “hostile to our region. Instead of the description ‘draught’ it should say ‘daft’.”

Cll Cathal Crowe (FF) said that Whenever development in the mid- west 1s raised, “we’re told about Lim- erick and this doughnut effect.” The phenomenon “hasn’t existed and it should never become part of our de- velopment mantra.” he said, adding that objections to retail development in places other than Limerick city are regularly raised on this basis.

House prices drop by 30 per cent

CLARE County Council still needs more then €3 million to balance its books after the devastation reeked on the county during last month’s flood- ing.

The local authority was last month granted more than €1.1 million by the Department of the Environment to pay for the extra expenses incurred during the massive flood efforts in the county in December.

However, it has emerged that this money will only cover the direct cost of the actions taken during the flood- ing and will not stretch far enough to repair any of the damage to infra- structure. This will cost an estimated €3 million, which the local authority last week contacted the Department

of the Environment about securing. It is not clear yet how much, if any, of this money will be made available from central government.

“The estimates involved in relation to the flooding has amounted to €3 million. The first allocation made before Christmas was just in relation to the management of the council in managing the flooding,’ said County Manager, Tom Coughlan

“The €700,000 estimate in Decem- ber was just an early estimate and when that was all added up it came to €1.145 million, all of which has been recouped by the council. The next issue is the damage which was cause by the flooding and that is the €3 million, which has gone to the department and we are not sure what will happen with that at this stage.”

THE freezing weather conditions may be causing havoc across the country but at least one group in east Clare are happy that the big freeze has replaced the big flood.

Work has begun on the playground for Kilkishen after a delayed start because of the heavy rains and flood- ing.

‘“We’re making good progress now. It’s very cold but because the ground is dry, we’re able to get on with it,” said Mike Hogan of the Kilkishen Development Association.

Mike explained that the machinery was on-site two days before Christ- mas to begin clearing work but the ground was too wet.

The play equipment for the facility

has already been delivered and is be- ing stored until the area is ready for it to be assembled.

“We’ve very kindly been given a place to store it. There’s €18,000 worth of equipment there so it has to be kept safely.”

“We were planning to do the groundwork in November but couldn’t because it was just too wet. But if it continues dry and we are able to work on through February and March, then that would be a big help.

We’ve had plenty of volunteers on the groundwork which is going on at the moment and we have more for the time when the equipment needs assembling. People have been very good and are very supportive,” said Mike.

The land for the facility was donat- ed and €43,000 was raised through the local authority Playground Grants Scheme.

The local school and community were also closely involved, with the children themselves designing and selling Christmas cards, stag- ing a concert and locals organising a Thousandaire night and a bumper eNO ECee

The Clare Shout Festival also raised a sizeable sum towards the €60,000 which 1s needed in addition to the money from the county coun- cil’s fund.

The initial play equipment will be for the use of toddlers to 12-year-old and the playground committee hopes to go on and provide facilities for teenagers as well.

It’s hoped that the area will eventu- ally be able to boast basketball and skatebording facilities in addition to the slides, swings and roundabouts.

When the first sod was turned on the facility some weeks before Christmas, local councillors were invited and thanked for their support in getting funding, it wasn’t a politi- can or a celebrity who did the hon- ours. “We asked the children from the school to do the official first sod turning because it will be their facil- ity,’ said Mike.