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SERIOUS questions have been raised over the way in which Clare County Council deals with inter- nal industrial disputes, following heavy criticism of the Local Govern- ment Management Services Board CRIN SD Ema (cio cer hmmm enleolBnttcame) i the local authority.

Speaking yesterday, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (IND) said that the op- eration of the council’s Human Re- sources and the LGMSB was been shown to be a flawed system.

“If you take the cost of LGMSB by itself then it would appear to be working and saving money. But when you go deeper into the debate you see that there are anomalies there and faults in the system which are not addressed,” she said.

“It seems that our system, wheth- er it’s because of the advice of the LGMSB, has something wrong with it and it is costing us money. If our HR unit 1s operating on the advice of the LGMSB then it would seem that this system would be faulty.

‘There are a lot of things concerned to this which are not clear and need to be tightened up. If we add up the costs of our own department and the

LGMSB and ask are we getting value for money, the answer would be no.

“IT have serious serious concerns about this. At the end of the day we have a picket outside of here today, and with all avenues in the labour court exhausted. Things should never be allowed to get to this stage. PW elem cer NOI Atm ome et-nimie(osuomsKmCoyon (oi en ets. wrong and it needs to be tidied up,’ the councillor said.

Commenting on the motion, Coun- ty Manager, Tom Coughlan said that the objective of the LGMSB is to save money for the local authority into the future.

“We are questioning every euro which we spend at the moment in the context of the budget in 2010, which is going to be a very difficult budget. In relation to our overall approach to industrial relations, my view is that we try and meet as many disputes as possible on a local level,” he said.

“We are going through a very dif- ficult time in relation to budgets. We are negotiating at the moments with unions and I must thank the unions for their cooperation in that process.

“The overall objective of the LGMSB is that we will be saving money in the future as a result of this board.”

VISITORS to Limerick’s Milk Market in recent weeks have been astounded to hear perfect sean nos singing by a Chinese American lady who calls east Clare home.

Singing is Penelapai Ni Tiung’s passion and she has been behind the very successful Singers’ Club which meets every other month in Lucas’ Pub in Whitegate. It has proved so

popular that she and the singers who Support the club are considering starting a singers night in Scariff.

“I’m happy to travel long distances to sing and I go busking in the mar- ket on Saturday. I thought, why not have a club closer to home?” said Penelapai.

She started the club in Lucas’ and it has become a night that is very well supported. “Someone always brings a guitar and there are all styles of

singing, depending on who’s there. It’s a lovely night and even the bar staff join in. It’s also family friendly as children can come along. It’s free, and the bar is very supportive, lay- ing on some food. Everyone enjoys the night.”

One of the regular singers at the club is Robbie McMahon, who is in his 80s and has won 17 All-Ireland singing competitions. “He comes all the way from Spancill Hill and he

just embodies the spirit of the mu- sic.” she said.

In previous years, there was a small amount of funding from the Arts Council for the club but this year it has yet to materialise.

But that’s not stopping the club from considering holding a night in Scariff and going monthly with their nights between Scariff and White- gate. “We will be meeting this week to consider it,’ said Penelapat.

THE backbone of Sunday’s victory was laid in the weeks and months of the earlier part of the year. Back in Quilty, half an army trudged regu- larly to Pairc Naomh Mhuire to take part in training. Strength in num- bers.

“There’s been great competition at training,’ says Dermot O’Brien. ‘“There’s a dozen players you could pick our forwards from. Even against Doonbeg we brought on five subs and they made the difference. It was the same thing again today.

“Over the last few years we lacked a deep panel. We seemed to have only 15 players and that was it. It’s different now. We have 33 lads train- ing every night and it’s so intense at training. Before, maybe you could only manage a game of backs and forwards. This year we can have 13 or 15-a-side at training every night and that pushes everybody along.”

O’Brien was involved in two of the most important incidents in the opening half, Kilkee’s two goals.

“The first goal, I caught a high ball and I saw two lads outside me. I went to hand pass it and I’m not sure if I slipped, but I fell down, the ball slipped out and it seemed to re- bound into the net. I can’t make any excuse. I caught the ball, so it wasn’t the sun.

‘For the second, I came out against him [Geardid Lynch] and thought

he was going to round me, which is what he did. I just spread myself and blocked it and for a split second I lost where the ball was. Then, I just saw the ball going past me and into the goal.”

O’Brien’s initial save from Lynch was one of the few highlights of the game and like the first goal, consid- ering where the ball dropped, luck wasn’t on the goalkeeper’s side.

In the end, it didn’t matter though.

“T still think we haven’t reached our peak this year. We reached our peak for ten minutes against Doonbeg and ten minutes against Kilkee. It’s been a long year and it can get to lads but we Il have no excuses.”

O’Brien described the game as both mentally and physically tough, made difficult by Kilkee’s insistence that Kilmurry Ibrickane wouldn’t have Omer aan E

“We had a game plan going out but we never stuck to it. We had planned to drive the ball in long and hit our two or three men inside but any time you looked up there seemed to be lots of Kilkee players up there and we seemed to drift up there with them instead of staying back. So, instead of kicking ball into four or five lads, you were then kicking it into to ten or twenty lads. So the game plan went O) ULM aTomy Yau eLeCO)\ ee mm Melo On acl must.) Fame

Even when the now back-to-back champions went three up near the end, O’Brien wasn’t taking the result for granted.

“T didn’t figure we had won until the final whistle to be honest. I never thought we had the game won. When we went up two, we pushed on to three but they had a free in the last few seconds of the game. If a high ball went in from that, anything could have happened. They could have got a goal.

“Before, we might have been com- placent but that’s not the case any- more. Little things like that can make a huge difference.”

MOTORISTS can park for free in Ennis today as Clare County Council have suspended all the traffic war- dens working in the county capital.

Three traffic wardens and a super- visor were taken off the council’s payroll system last Friday following a long running dispute with the local authority. This action, which centres around the wardens’ security allow- ance, prompted the wardens to picket last night’s meeting of Clare County Sorrireek

‘Our member have been suspended so on foot of that we really have no

choice but to engage in industrial ac- tion,’ said Clare SIPTU spokesper- son, Tony Kenny.

“We issued notice of industrial ac- tion in August but we refrained from any industrial action at the time in the hope of engaging in discussions with Clare County Council.

‘That didn’t happen so we entered into a work to rule on September 11 and following a request from the council to withdraw from this so as to allow for meaningful engagement we dropped that on September 14.

“There was no engagement from Clare County Council over the next 14 days, all that happened was that at

the end of the 14 days we got a letter from the council saying that the posi- tion has not changed.”

According to the striking workers, the council has refused to engage with them or make any effort to work out the dispute.

“We are very very disappointed with the strong arm tactics being used by Clare County Council. We remain committed, as we always have been, to resolve this around the table. This is the only way in which this will be resolved,” continued Mr Keath

“We received a letter from Clare County Council today regretting

our strike action but that is the only communication which we have from detoye0 ea

The striking traffic wardens re- ceived a measure of support at last nights meeting of Clare County Council with one councillor pledg- ing to boycott future meeting unless the issue 1s resolved.

“I will most certianly not be pass- ing a picket if it is there next week. Despite the fact that they are war- dens, and many people would like to See them off the street, I will not be coming in here if that picket is still there next week,” said Gerry Flynn (IND).

A WEST Clare school has been learning all about life down under while playing host to a contingent from Australia.

A group of 13 students, two teach- ers and three parents enjoyed the hospitality of St Joseph’s School in Spanish Point and the homes of Clare families for the duration of dates Bm YB ES) |

The school visitors from the Clare Valley High School, near Adelaide, were part of a larger contingent of visitors from the area, which is

twinned with Clare.

The youngsters spent two and a half weeks in Clare, sharing class- es with their new Clare friends on some days and going on trips for Oli toace

“It was a great experience for eve- ryone involved,” said school princi- pal, Mary Crawford.

“They all stayed with families in the area and they got to see a lot of the county. They went on trips to the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. Then the host families took them to hurling and football matches and days out as well.”

The visiting students took classes with the St Joseph’s pupils, but it was anything but hard grind.

They had set dancing lessons from an All-Ireland set dancing cham- pion, traditional Irish music lessons and even learned a few words as CF oerxer

And the adults were not left out of the culture or the craic. They enjoyed pub trad sessions in the evening.

The visitors were treated to a Civ- ic Reception in the county council offices as part of the larger group, which included the mayor of Clare Valley.

“They also went to Dublin and Cork, so they packed quite a bit in,” OME Na Ye

This is the second visit which students from the high school have made to Ireland. The last visit was two years ago and it was so suc- cessful that the school arranged last week’s visit.

Now the west Clare school is con- templating making a return trip to Australia.

“It has been on the cards. We haven’t done it as yet but we are cer- tainly considering it now,” said the principal.

MEMBERS of Clare County Council have warned that some of the houses in the local authority’s Affordable Housing Scheme are over priced.

At the Kilrush area meeting yester- day (Monday) Marie Commane from the Housing Section told members the council is continuously having the houses revalued by its own auc- tioneer as the price of houses drop.

Clare County Council currently has properties available in eight lo- cations around the county valued in price from €138,000 to €175,000.

In Moinin on the Circular Road in Kilkee, the local authority are sell- ing three-bed semi-detached houses for €162,500 and €170,000.

These homes, it maintains, are available for purchase on the open market for €220,000.

Local councillors Pat Keane (FF) and Gabriel Keating (FG) raised ob- jections however to the valued price of these houses.

Cllr Keane told the meeting that as the houses are not selling at the guide price, the valuation is falsely high.

Cllr Keating said he follows the housing market closely and a house in Carrick-on-Shannon, (Leitrim) which is much nearer to Dublin, can be purchased at €100,000.

“You won’t get that in Kilkee. It is overpriced,” he said of the affordable atelursentee

To date 990 people have expressed an interest in affordable housing in Clare. Of these 564 were valid ap- plications, 163 properties have been allocated with 18 on hand and avail- able for purchase.

The council have received 79 refus- ES

The price of an affordable home in Clare varies from €138,000 to €175,000, and houses are available in Kilkee, Doonbeg, Miltown Mal- bay, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Ennis, Clarecastle, Crusheen and Lisdoon- varna.

Affordable housing is the provision of homes at a discount to the market price for people who cannot afford to buy a home on the open market.

Applicants must have sufficient in- come to meet mortgage repayments, usually an income of €30,000 per annum, although all income is con- sidered.

Applicants must pay a booking de- posit of three per cent, and can sell their home at any stage. If they sell their home within 20 years at a profit however, they must give 25 per cent to the council.

If they sell the property at a loss, then this “claw back” no longer ap- plies.

SCORES of budding GAA stars turned out across the county over the last two weeks to pay a special trib- ute to one of Ennistymon’s sporting aera

Youth teams from every corner of the county togged out for the first an- nual Joe McCaw Memorial Cup or- ganised by Bord na nOg Peil and the Ennistymon GAA Club. The final of the U-11 mixed tournament drew a host of players and spectators to La- hinch and Ennistymon last weekend.

“We had great interest in the com-

petition, from every corner of the county. So much so that we had to organise heats in west Clare, En- nis and north Clare before the final weekend, with the final eight teams getting through to the final in Lahi- nch and Ennistymon last week,” said Gerry Murphy, secretary of Ennisty- mon GAA Club.

“We had great interest from all the clubs and a lovely atmosphere at the events. For the final we had tea and sandwiches for everyone, with all the parents helping out, and there was a great family atmosphere about it. The sun was shining, what more

could you ask for.

“The children had a great time and there was a great following from each club. It’s from the family up to the club, that is the whole ethos of the GAA. The matches were very sporting affairs, the referees were very good and everybody had a good mbes

There was also a large measure of home success in the competition with Ennistymon overhauling Wolfe Tones to win the shield while St Breckan’s returned to Lisdoonvarna with the overall cup.

The competition was organised

in the memory of Joe McCaw, who passed away in 2007. Joe was in- volved with Ennistymon teams at all levels throughout his life and served as club president before his death.

“Joe was involved in the club for years and years, the club was really in his blood. He also trained the U- 12’s before he passed away so a youth competition like this was very appro- priate for him,” continued Gerry.

‘This is the first time that we have held the tournament in his honour but we are hoping to continue it on from here and make it into an annual event.”

CLARE County Council paid out more than €1.39 million in legal fees alone last year, with the bill reaching almost €574,000 so far this year.

The largest earner from the coun- cil’s legal costs during the last two years has been Michael P Houlihan Solicitors, receiving €404,291 or 70 per cent of the council’s legal fees so VMOU (or

The figures were revealed at last night’s meeting of the council when Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) asked for an account of all legal fees paid out by the local authority last year, and

up until the end of September this year.

Of the €1,391,892 paid out from the council coffers last year, 687,138 was paid to Michael P Houlihan Solici- tors, €345,896 to A & L Goodbody Solicitors and €94,525 to Patrick G Quinn.

When asked by members of the council who was the county solicitor and why the payment was Michael P Houlihan Solicitors, Acting Head of Finance Noleen Fitzgerald said that John Shaw was the county solicitor, but he was supported by the staff of Houlihan’s.

Cllr Martin Conway (FG) proposed

that the council consider employing its own “in house”’ solicitor for legal work and minor disputes. He said that even if the council was to go outside this solicitor for specialised expertise, he believed the cost to the council would be significantly less.

“Unfortunately we are signed up for seven years contract and we are tied up until then,” he said.

The biggest legal cost to the coun- cil so far this year was in relation to roads which has reached €175,223 with water services reaching €148,845. Housing, including house and land purchases reached €81,165 up to the end of September.

Last year almost half the legal budget – £610,254, went on roads, including capital schemes and the Ennis Bypass.

Traveller Accommodation account- ed for €279,252 of the legal bills, while €166,079 was paid out in legal fees for water services including in- vestment programme, and €155,756 in planning legal fees.

The legal cost associated with the county’s fire service has multiplied by almost 10 this year.

Last year €1,454 was paid in legal fees associated with the fire services, while €10,206 has been paid out so far this year.

A TOTAL of 46 jobs in ground op- erations are to go at Shannon.

Meanwhile workers faced with re- dundancy at one of the handling com- panies have been told that if compul- sory redundancy is necessary, those with the best skills and performance will be kept while people who have been late or absent may go regardless of seniority of service.

Servisair workers are currently vot- ing on whether to accept a proposal from management that there will be 20 full-time voluntary redundancies at the company, which looks after

baggage handling and other ground operations for many of the airlines using Shannon.

A SIPTU representative said that the union is not making any com- ment on the matter at the present as the ballot is on-going. There are cur- rently 65 people employed by Serv1- sair, 40 of them full-time.

In a letter to the union last week, Servisair management outlined it’s proposals, which include a redun- dancy package of statutory plus two weeks per year of service, with the weekly calculation capped at €600.

The company has said that if it does not get enough volunteers, it will ap-

ply a “matrix” selection process, which is not the tradition ‘first in first out’ redundancy process.

A spokesman for the company said this would be based on factors in- cluding workers’ “level of training, their skills, attendance record and any disciplinary matters.”

Sources in the company have de- scribed the process as too objective and a “carte blanche” for the com- pany.

Citing the “dramatic downturn in business at Shannon” as the reason for the cuts, Servisair management said its preferred option “is to secure as many positions in both the short

term and the long term and to mini- mise any redundancies.”

If agreement is not achieved on the proposal by October 26, all staff will be put on short time, the letter WEN @ Ole b

Meanwhile, Shannon Airport suf- fered yet another jobs blow with the news of 26 lay-offs at Sky Handling lantoe

The company says it has been forced into the decision because of a decline in air traffic at the facility. The company provides ground and cargo handling services and employs around 350 people in Shannon and DTV) ere

and employs 7,000 world- wide. The Dutch-owned company has its Irish base in Shannon and last year recorded total revenues of €35.5 million.

The Shannon based firm last year paid a dividend of €12 million and this followed a dividend of €20 mil- lion paid out in 2007.

€87,000 was paid in restructur- ing costs last year with the numbers employed at the firm dropping from 124 to 106. €273,000 was spent on restructuring costs in 2006.

The Shannon base also manages the production of a number of jour- nals owned by other members of the

Elsevier Group.

The company continued to show impressive profit margins with a gross profit of €30 million on its turnover of €35 million while oper- ating profit was recorded at €23 mil- lion after operating expenses of €7 million.

According to the directors’ state- ment, they “are pleased with the lev- el of business and year end financial position. The present level of activity is expected to be sustained for the foreseeable future”’.

The company had accumulated profits of €11.5m

The Shannon firm exports all its products with no business carried out in Ireland.

Staff costs last year increased from €5 million to €5.1 million.

According to the directors, “the principal risks and uncertainties fac- ing the company arise from the com- petitive and rapidly changing nature of its markets, the increasingly tech- nological nature of its products and services, legal and regulatory uncer- tainties and economic conditions”.