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CLARE farmers have seen an in- come drop of almost 30 per cent in the last 12 months.

That is according to new research issued by the Central Statistics Of- fice last week, which indicates that farmers in Ireland have been affected worse than any other farmers in Eu- rope by the recent “collapse” in farm income margins.

The results have come as a result of ongoing poor commodity prices, Government cuts, unprecedented poor weather conditions and the con- tinued weakness of sterling which 1s damaging Irish agriculture exports

to the UK.

Reacting to the figures, IFA presi- dent Padraig Walshe said that it has been a devastating year for farm families in Ireland.

“The agriculture minister must re- flect the dreadful income situation in farming at cabinet and deliver a proper funded REPS scheme for farmers leaving REPS 2 and 3. He must also ensure there are no further cuts or additional costs imposed on the sector,’ he said.

“The stark reality is that aver- age farm income is now between €13,000 and €16,000 for full time farmers. The Government proposal to close REPS is simply not a run-

ner as it will collapse the already dire incomes of at least 20,000 drystock farmers and leave them with incomes below €10,000.

‘Already cuts in vital schemes to- talling €130 million have impacted severely on farm income. Govern- ment expenditure on farm schemes accounts for less than one per cent of total net Government expendi- ture and if equity is to prevail, cuts already imposed on the sector must be reversed.”

The IFA president called for the Government to support the pro- ductive agriculture sector through maintaining funding for vital farm schemes and ensure that changes to

the taxation system are equitably ap- plied and do not undermine the com- petitiveness of the export sectors.

‘The carbon tax would further in- crease production cost by €17.5 mil- lion per year which is a further 1 per cent cut in national farm income,’ continued Mr Walshe.

“The minister should exempt farming from this tax because no alternatibe fuels are available, farmers cannot pass on the extra cost to the market and any further income cuts to the sector would be intolerable.

“This situation already exists in France where farmers are refunded the cost of the carbon tax there.”

KILMURRY Ibrickane last played in Croke Park in 2000 — they’re now planning to mark the ten-year anni- versary of their All-Ireland Féile na nOg triumph by winning the All-Ire- land Club title on St Patrick’s Day.

No sooner had Kilmurry Ibrick- ane scaled the peak of Munster club football in the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday with their dramatic Q-7 to 0-6 provincial final win over Kerins O’Rahillys and manager Micheal McDermott was looking ahead to greater things.

“We want to get to Croke Park and win an All-Ireland,” said McDermott in the first flush of victory. “Every- thing from here on in is a bonus for this team, because winning a Mun- ster title is what we wanted all year, but having said that we will be deter-

mined not to leave it here.

‘“T have to go home now to my wife to tell her that she probably won’t see me between now and the middle of February and hopefully March, be- cause I’ll be double-jobbing it until then,’ added the new Clare senior football boss.

“This is fantastic for Clare football. Anytime a small team from the west of Clare comes out and beats a Kerry team in a Munster final is a superb day for football in the county. Clare football can be up there with the best of them and we’re well able to com- pete with the best of them.

‘We said to ourselves all year that we really wanted to get back into a Munster final and win it. We’re going to enjoy this win for a good while, but then we’re going to have a real go at the All-Ireland. We’re not just there to make up the numbers. Why

not give it a lash. I’d love to be in Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day. I’d love it for the players, because peo- ple outside the club do not realise the effort that these guys put in over the last couple of years.

“They’ve done it without complaint — an odd whinge here and there, but they’ve given everything that they could possibly give. That’s what brings success. Hard work and effort is the key to success and they give it in abundance.”

It’s the new blueprint for Clare football.

RESIDENTS in Ennis are looking forward to a Christmas free of boil- ing water, as Clare County Council hopes to remove the partial boil no- tice within the next few weeks.

Director of Services David Timlin said, “It will take a number of weeks to withdraw that notice, but hope- fully it will be done by Christmas.”

He was speaking after the council signed off on the certificate to allow a private company to operate the plant.

The partial boil notice has been in place for residents who are immuno- compromised, children under five and visitors since June 2005, when high levels of cryptosporidium were discovered in the water.

An interim water system was put in place at a cost of €3 million, un- til the new €9 million system was oyna eyo Keree

Mr Timlin, who over sees all the water services in the county said the testing for cryptosporidium for this year has been “off the scale”.

“It has been costing us a lot of

money, around €50,000 or more in extra testing costs.”

He said the council hope to reduce the number of tests in the future but the number taken will still be more than statutorily required.

The council will now enter into discussions with the HSE in a bid to have the partial boil notice re- moved.

To date the water has passed all the quality tests according to Mr Timlin, adding the reassurance that he drinks the water himself.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said, “I

have no doubt that when the HSE go through the steps the boil notice will be removed.”

He said the filter worked well un- der extreme circumstances in the past number of weeks.

Not all councillors were as con- fident however. Clr Johnny Flynn (FG) said he was sceptical about the treatment plant and worried about the amount of pre-treatment.

Meanwhile Clare’s local authori- ty’s problems with water supply for the county are far from over howev- er, as the head of the water division

has described as urgent the need to replace the number of mains in the county.

‘There are a lot of mains in Ennis that are beyond repair. It is vital the Government give the go ahead to re- place these.”

The council, which once recorded a 50 per cent water leakage in the county has decreased this to 36 per one

Not all of the county has been ex- amined yet by the council who hope to get water wastage down to 25 per one

IT IS officially Christmas time in west Clare, as the biggest town in the area was illuminated with Christmas lights on Saturday.

The lights were put up a little later than usual this year due to the bad weather, and financial restraints meant that they were not expanded this year.

This, however, had little or no af- fect on the Christmas spirit in the west Clare capital, with more people than ever vowing to shop locally this year.

Even Santa arrived in the town on Saturday afternoon last to lend his support to the town.

Carol singers kept the festivities alive until the lights were switched on at 4.30pm, which was followed by a party in The Haven Arms at 9pm.

Chamber of Commerce President, Mark Reidy said that while all busi- nesses are feeling the pinch this year there is a lot of support with more people putting an emphasis on shop- ping locally.

“The competition is more intense with improvements in products and Services,’ he said.

The festive lights again this year depict the ‘Spirit of Kilrush’ theme, which entered its second phase last year.

Designing this display for the mari- time town took a lot of planning, with challenges like the width of Francis Street having to be overcome.

The majority of the work for this scheme was completed for Decem- ber 2007.

‘This wouldn’t have been possible without the four main players: Kil- rush Town Council, the Chamber of Commerce, Kilrush Credit Union and the ESB,” said Mr Reidy.

The town is also adding to the fes- tivity with a draw for thousands of euros of prizes.

Everyone that shops in Kilrush can use his or her receipts to enter the draw in the credit union, adding to the incentive to shop in Kilrush this year.

Last month Kilrush Town Council also appealed for people to not only shop locally this year but to also buy tener

Murray’s resignation will be ‘a devalued currency’

SUPERQUINN announced today it has listed artisan producer Burren Smokehouse in several of its stores, following the highly successful Ar- tisans Festival run by the retailer in October.

During the festival Superquinn opened its doors to give small arti- san producers exposure to trading within a multiple retailer, while also showcasing their innovative products to 800,000 shoppers over a two week period. Some 100 artisans took part in the event over an eight day period hailing from all corners of Ireland including County Clare. Producers sampled their products for custom- ers, and all sales generated went d1- rectly to the artisans.

Burren Smokehouse, a family-run business founded by Birgitta and Pe- ter Curtin in north County Clare in 1989, is now supplying Superquinn’s Limerick and Blackrock stores with its delicious smoked Atlantic fish products. The company, which em- ploys 12 people, has won numerous awards for the quality of its products, including the high profile annual Great Taste Awards in the UK.

Birgitta Hedin-Curtin, co-owner of Burren Smokehouse, comments, “We at Burren Smokehouse are de- lighted to come on board with Super- quinn. It’s great to see Superquinn supporting 100 per cent Irish artisan producers and stocking our products

OD eTos Dam eA one

Commenting on the success of the Artisans Festival, James Wilson, Trading Director at Superquinn, says that it has provided a boost to small Irish food businesses during difficult trading times. “The objec- tive of the artisan festival was to give producers, who are not listed with Superquinn, a platform to showcase their products to customers in a Ssu- permarket environment. It also gave our team of buyers the opportunity to explore how some of their products

might have a more permanent role on our shelves.

“We’re delighted to have listed Burren Smokehouse whose products received a great reaction from our shoppers. Quality Irish food is what Superquinn is all about and these products demonstrate the fantastic quality available from dedicated small food businesses in Ireland. We look forward to working with them,” continues Wilson.

Glenilen Farm of County Cork, Surf Seeds of County Leitrim and

County Dublin, and Marine Har- vest of County Donegal have also achieved listings, and Superquinn is in ongoing discussions with several more artisans, which it hopes will lead to further listings.

CRUSHEEN GAA held their AGM on Saturday last. The meeting was well attended by players and sup- porters.

Both the chairman John O’Malley and secretary Tony McMahon gave a detailed report of the years proceed- ings including club and county. Both reports highlighted the great success of the U21 Clare team, which won both the Munster and All Ireland ti- tles for the first time ever.

The club was honoured and proud to be not only, represented on the panel by 4 of our players but to have one of those players as captain.

The captain was Ciaran O’Doherty and the other three lads were Donal Tuohy, Cian Dillon and Joe Meaney. Gerry O’Grady captained Clare sen- ior hurlers in the early part of the year when they won the Waterford Crystal trophy and Patrick Vaughan an Cathal Dillon were part of that panel also. Unfortunately that was

the only honour that came Clare’s way in 2009.

Seamus O’Sullivan outlined the club’s finances, which thanks to the supporters 200 club and the gener- ous sponsorship of our sponsor Pat O’Donnell, allowed the everyday running of the club to be in credit.

The successful promotion of the 200 club this year is a credit to the very hard work of the committee and the generosity of our supporters. However as was outlined last year the club is in debt due to the drainage project undertaken in 2008 and both the chairman and treasurer thanked and praised the enormous effort that the new fundraising committee, es- tablished at last years AGM, have been putting in to help pay off this debt.

Not only had they managed to re- duce the debt but also have hosted many enjoyable social events bring- ing the community together, very much in the ethos of the GAA.

A member of that committee

thanked all who had helped their work and that included young and old who volunteered (or were “volun- teered”’) their services. She outlined the upcoming events, which included a Christmas Fair, to be held on the 6th Dec and 2 social events over the Christmas period.

Managers of all teams reported on their competitions. Gearoid O’Donnell reported that Crusheen played in their first u21A final in 40 years and he felt that they should have won the competition. Gearoid was reluctant to return as manager again this year but was persuaded to think about it.

Gerry Kennedy, senior manager, said that though it was very disap- pointing not to have reached the later stages of the championship, he was proud of the team. He knew that they had put in a great effort this year and was delighted with the way they had played in the league and continued to the final of the Clare Cup in which they were beaten by Clonlara by one

point.

Crusheen won the senior B and though it was not what the team set out to do it was good to be finishing the year on a winning note. Gerry is unable to continue as manager this year for personal reasons, but Michael Browne, who was trainer last year, has taken over as manager.

Joe Mullins continues as manager of the Junior A hurlers. Colm O’Connor Junior football reported on their very successful year winning their league final and reaching the quarter final of the championship and they too were unlucky not to have gone further in the competition. Colm had requested last year that the team would enter the league in 2009 in order to better prepare for the championship not en- visioning winning the league on the way.

Election of officers: President: Tom McNamara Chairman: Colm O’Connor Vice chairman: Fr Ger NAsh Secretary: Tony McMahon

Assistant secretary: Joanne Meaney ‘Treasurer: Orla O’ Donnell

Child Protection Officer: John Mad- den

PRO: Catherine Brigdale County Board Delegate: O’ Donnell

sKoynhy

Tributes were paid to the outgoing chairman and treasurer for all the work they have put in over the years. Seamus O’Sullivan was on of the main forces behind the establishment and continuance of the very success- ful 200club.

John O’Malley has been an officer of the club for the past 10 years and took over as chairman four years ago when our then chairman, Michael Griffin got ill. Hopefully both he and Seamus will continue their as- sociation with the club in some other eal lon

The chairman John O’Malley fin- ished the meeting, wishing everyone happy christmas prosperous new year.

A MAN who admitted assaulting another man in Killaloe has been or- dered to compensate his victim.

Timothy Morris (21), of Bridget- own, O’Briensbridge, pleaded guilty to assault, arising out of a late night incident in Killaloe.

Inspector John Galvin told Killaloe District Court that Michael Carey was crossing a road in Killaloe in the early hours of the morning when he was approached by the accused.

He said that words were spoken and Mr Carey was assaulted.

“He caught him and pushed him,’ he said.

Mr Carey told the court that he had been to a nightclub that night. He said he approached a taxi, with a view to getting a lift home. The taxi

driver told him he would meet him outside the AIB bank 20 minutes later and he and others were halfway across the bridge when they met the RYO Isol6 ms

He told the court that the accused hit another man “a jostle.”

“We told him to stop and he kept walking. He did the same thing again. .. Then he grabbed me by the throat. I tried to shove him off. I was aware that the Shannon was on the other side of the bridge,” he said.

The witness said he blacked out and people came to his assistance.

Asked by defending solicitor Chris Lynch had there been history be- tween him and the accused, the wit- ness replied, “None whatsoever.”

Mr Lynch said it was his instruc- tions that there had been a previous incident and that Mr Carey had ver-

bally abused his client on the night. He denied this.

Mr Lynch said, “There was more than a bit of history between the par- Weal

Garda Edel Crowley told the court she attended the scene that night and saw Mr Carey bleeding from the eye- KOA

Judge Joseph Mangan ordered the accused to pay €500 in compensa- tion and adjourned the case for two months.

“If that is paid, I will not impose a custodial sentence, full stop”’.

“That is not to say I will not talk about community service,’ said the judge.

DATA released today by the Motor- check.ie Car Index shows that new car sales in Clare have dropped by 66 per cent since the beginning of 2009 while imports from abroad to the county have only dropped 35 per oom

Diesel vehicles have now firmly replaced petrol as the fuel of choice for 2009 with 59 per cent of Clare buyers opting for the alternative fuel. Nissan appears to be the favourite for Clare drivers with the Nissan Micra topping the table for petrol cars with 52 registrations whereas the Nissan Quashqai has the lead in the Diesel segment with 59. Spot a 2009 Audi TT with a Clare registration and you’ll probably find a leprechaun driving it as only one has been reg- istered in the county so far this year!

By comparison imports have not declined to the same extent with a drop of 35 per cent for Clare (No.11 in the country for used imports). The most popular import was the Toyota Corolla with 122 registrations while the Volkswagen Passat came in sec- ond at 102.

With a decline in new car registra- tions of 66 per cent, Clare was just above the national average of 63%. Counties with the greatest declines were Meath at 67% and Wicklow at 66%.

IT’S better to have the GPA inside the GAA tent that outside it — that was the verdict delivered by county board delegates at a special meeting that took place in the West County Hotel last Wednesday night.

The was near-unanimous backing for the draft document of agreement between the GAA and GPA that was subsequently endorsed in Croke Park on Saturday by Central Council del- egates 35-5.

“My view would be that I’d rather have these guys inside in the tent do- ing you know what out, rather than having them inside the tent,’ Mun- ster Council delegate PJ McGuane told the meeting.

“By having them inside they have authority, but they also have respon- sibility to us the GAA, the supreme body in the association.

“It’s something that’s been inevita- ble the last few years. My view is that they should have been brought in a long time ago.

“But if they want to do what it says on the tin, the name GPA is a mis- nomer — it should be the IPA (Inter- county Players Association) or the EPA (Elite Players Association), be- cause that’s what it is at the moment.

“I welcome the proposals but I would put in a caveat — everything should be agreement in principle and strict and certain criteria are going to have to be laid down for these peo- ple,” he added in what was the long- est contribution to the meeting.

The debate was opened by Central Council delegate, Tom Downes, who admitted that “for the past ten years they (the GPA) have been a thorn in the side of the association.

In the early years the assocation thought that they would go away, but this group have had firm ideas and their proposals were to look after in- ter-county players. They set up an of- fice, appointed a chief executive and were here to stay,’ he added.

“What about all the volunteers who are trying to maintain grounds but who can’t get money,’ wondered Clarecastle’s Martin Reynolds. “The money from Munster Council is way down this year — when the rugby and soccer goes out of Croke it will be down further.

“It has been stated by Tom (Downes) and you Mr Chairman (Michael O’Neill) that Clare County Board always looks after its players well. If that’s so why is Croke Park giving €1.6m in this calender year to an elitist group that’s just talking about county players.

“What about the under 21s who are getting their medals on Friday night. Are they not entitled to the same as senior players? What about the jun- ior footballers? They train as hard as everybody else.

“It’s an elitist group. In 2011 or 2012 when Lansdowne Road is open, where is all this money going to come from. What kind of money is the chief executive going to be paid?

Are we going to be paying for a fella who has been agitating against us for the last six to eight years?

There are an awful lot of questions that need to be answered here,’ he added.

“There are a serious amount of questions that need to be answered,” admitted chairman, Michael O’ Neill, while Smith O/’Briens_ delegate agreed that the GPA was “an elitist oy eee av isr-Ln eye lee

“In principal I agree with it,’ he added, “but something has to be done to protect the club players.”

“I think they have joined up now because Christy Cooney wants to make a name for himself in his first year,’ said Jackie McHugh of O’Callaghan’s Mills. “If he didn’t do it in his first year, he’d never get a chance to do it. He’d be snowed un- der if he didn’t do it this year.

“The GPA are finding it very diffi- cult to get sponsorship now — the cold winds are around and they’ve gone into the tent and Christy Cooney has facilitated them,’ he added.

“We should have had this meeting ten years ago,” said Tubber delegate and former vice-chairman of the board, Michael Lee.

“We were willy nilly, bits and piec- es — one county in trouble this year, another county in trouble another year. We should have been collec- tively looking after players.

“It’s better to have them inside that outside causing trouble, but I would have reservations. We have to trust people going forward, but having seen the leadership at the top over the past ten years, I am not too confident that they are firm enough or strong enough.

“The important thing is to pull the handbreak now — this is the limit of what we’re approving,’ he added.