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THE proposed National Assets Man- agement Agency (NAMA) will do little to ease the pressures on small businesses opreating in areas like Parnell Street, Clare Fine Gael TD, Pat Breen has claimed.

Deputy Breen was speaking was during the debate on NAMA in Dail Eireann where he warned that un- less credit begins to flow in the Irish economy many more small business-

es will go to the wall.

Deputy Breen, the party’s spokes- person on Foreign Affairs, cited the example of the Parnell Street trad- ers in Ennis when he questioned the Finance Minister Brian Lenihan as to whether “NAMA will make any difference to the traders on Parnell Street, or any other traders in this county or nationwide.”

He claimed that the majority of people in this country are against NAMA and that when it came to

dealing with developers “there is one law for young couples setting out to buy their first home and another for developers”. He also claimed that NAMA will do nothing to address the huge demand for social housing. “Credit flow 1s the life blood of any economy and in spite of statements from the banks to the contrary, many small businesses are being squeezed because they are unable to secure credit from their banks. I refer to the €54 billion being made available by

the European Central Bank,” said Deputy Breen,

He added, “The belief is wide- spread among Fine Gael members that many commercial banks – which have borrowed money at a rate of three per cent and which will now gain access to this money at a rate of 1.5 per cent – will repay their original debts instead of allowing credit flow to customers who badly need it. I will cite the example of Parnell Street in Ennis, County Clare. Ten business- es have closed there in the past 12 months with the loss of more than 50 jobs and there are 20 vacant premises on that street now. The question must be asked whether NAMA will make any difference to the aforementioned traders on Parnell Street or to other traders throughout the county or na- tionwide.”

In September, traders told a meet- ing of Ennis Town Council that Par- nell Street was “dying” due to a com- bination of factors including the poor condition of the street, lack of invest- ment, poor lighting, drainage and the overall impact of the recession.

Speaking at the October meeting of Ennis Town Council, Town En- gineer, Eamon O’Dea said the coun- cil was currently examining how best to deal with drainage problems on Parnell Street. He said that this would involve “substantial elements of work”.

A COURT has heard that a man who has been banned from all Tesco su- permarkets in Ireland stole a packet of rashers from Tesco in Ennis last month.

The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to stealing the rashers — valued €1.99 — from the store on September 25 last. Ennis District Court heard that he had paid for other items, but at- tempted to leave the shop without paying for the rashers.

Inspector Michael Gallagher told the court that a note on the file stated that the accused was banned from

all Tesco stores throughout Ireland. Asked by Judge Joseph Mangan when that order was made, he said he was not aware.

The judge asked, “Was the property recovered or was it fried?”’

The inspector replied that it was recovered.

The defendant’s solicitor said the man suffered work-related injuries a number of years ago, but had not made good use of his compensation and has since developed alcoholism.

The judge adjourned the case for a year and ordered the defendant to stay out of Tesco in Ennis. He agreed to this condition.

SINGLE parents living in west Clare are waiting an average of four months for their one parent family payment after first lodging their claim.

According to Social Affairs Min- ister Mary Hanafin, single parents served by the Kilrush office have an average waiting period of 16.86 weeks for their first one parent fam- ily allowance.

Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) has called for additional staff at the Kilrush of- fice to deal with the backlog.

“It 1s important that these claims are processed on time. The most vul- nerable society must be looked after and that they don’t have to bear the burden. The necessary staff should be in place to ensure all applications are dealt with expeditiously.”

The average waiting period in east Clare is 13.43 weeks, while the aver- age waiting period by single parents served by the Ennis office is 9.60 weeks.

In a Dail response, Minister Hanafin said “Additional staff have been redeployed to local offices from other parts of the civil service and the department has identified a number of locations where the increasing number of claims for means tested payments warrants the allocation of additional Social Welfare inspectors. Arising from this, an additional 40 Inspectors are being assigned.

‘In some areas processing times are

unacceptably high but every effort is being made to bring these times back to acceptable levels as quickly as possible.

“Anyone suffering hardship can apply for Supplementary Welfare Allowance. The majority of SWA claims are processed within a matter of days.

The average processing times for claims decided in September was 3.63 weeks for Jobseekers Benefit and 7.53 weeks for Jobseekers AI- lowance.

In Ennis, the average processing time for jobseekers’ benefit is 2.3 weeks and 4.78 for jobseekers allow- ance, while the average processing time for jobseekers’ benefit in Kil- rush is 2.99 and jobseekers allow- ance is 5.5 weeks.

The average wait in Tulla for job- seekers’ benefit is 2.88 weeks and jobseekers’ allowance is 4.29 weeks

A RETIRED farmer lost his life after he was struck while crossing the road on his walking stick and then carried along on the windscreen of a car.

The tragedy occurred in the vil- lage of Ogonelloe, when John Coon- ey (89) was on his way home from Mass, an inquest into his death heard last week.

Ennis Coroner’s Court heard that Mr Cooney, a bachelor, died instant- ly, having sustained serious injuries when he was struck by a car, on Sat- urday, September 8, 2007.

John Lynch from Tuamgraney re- called how he had gone to 8pm Mass in Ogonelloe that evening. After Mass, he chatted to another man in the vicinity of the church. He was facing the road, when suddenly he heard “a screech of brakes, followed by a loud bang”.

He said he saw a dark coloured car and noticed that a person was being carried across the windscreen. “As the car veered to the right, the person flew off the car to the left. The car continued to come straight at us,” he Sr HLeB

Mr Lynch said that he feared for his own Safety, as the car approached him. “As the car came to us, I grabbed Tom McKenna and tried to pull him back a step to avoid the car,” he said.

‘‘T remember that he let off a roar as we both thought that we were going to be killed,” he said.

The driver increased the speed and drove off without stopping, he re- called. He said he felt the driver of the car would not have had any vision until the body fell off the car.

Mr Lynch said that the window on the driver’s door of the car was down and he saw “a young fella in his 20s with dark brown hair”. He could not see if there was anybody else in the ore

“While the body was on the wind- screen, I saw him (driver) looking out a small hole in the windscreen overhead,” he said.

As the car sped away, Mr Lynch ran to the body. He could see that it was John Cooney, a retired farmer who lived just 700 yards from the church. Mr Lynch and another man moved the body to the side of the road for SH IKAA

Garda Tim Sullivan from Killaloe was involved in the investigation into the accident. He said that he arrived at the scene at around 9pm. It was dark at the time and road conditions were good and dry. Several people were standing outside the wall of Ogonelloe church, having attended evening Mass. He said that a bro- ken walking stick — belonging to Mr Cooney — was found on the road.

Sergeant Deborah Marsh told the inquest she was informed that night that a car was found burnt out in Ca- herhurley. She went there and saw that a car was smouldering. The car, a Mazda 323, was identified from its TESS we leuse leo

She said that by 1lam the following day, three men had been arrested in connection with the incident.

Sgt Marsh told the inquest that the car had skidded for 22.7 metres, hav- ing impacted with the pedestrian. She said that the car had travelled at speeds between 74.9 kph and 88.6 kph, in a 60 kph speed limit. She said that the driver was later convicted of dangerous driving causing death, while the passenger was convicted of perverting the course of justice. Both were handed custodial sentences in the circuit court.

Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis, who carried out the post mortem examination on Mr Cooney’s body, said that he had sus- tained several fractures, including to the spine, skull, rib and elbow.

Mr Cooney, he said, had suffered ‘severe catastrophic injuries, as a re- sult of being run over by a car.” The cause of death, he concluded, was multiple injuries, consistent with be- ing struck by a car.

The jury recorded a verdict in ac- cordance with the medical evidence.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea extended sympathy with the family and friends of the late Mr Cooney and compli- mented gardai on the speed at which they apprehended those who were travelling in the car. Inspector Tom Kennedy echoed her sentiments and said the late Mr Cooney was “in no

way to be faulted as to the circum- stances of the accident.”

MEMBERS of Shannon Town Coun- cil have expressed deep sadness at the passing of a woman who had a close connection with the town.

Jane Rice (right) was responsible for initiating a link between Shannon and New Jersey, back in 1996.

Jane, who was prominently in- volved with the New Jersey Emer- ald Society, died in New Jersey two weeks ago.

Retired Shannon ‘Town Clerk Tomas MacCormaic said that news of Jane’s death was met with sadness in Shannon. He recalled the link that had been set up by Jane.

“Shannon Town Council was rep- resented at every one of the Union County Parades each year; fourteen in all.

“Jane and (her husband) Jay ar- ranged each year to have the Shan- non representatives collected by lim- ousine at the airport and delivered to a reception by the President of the NJ Emerald Society. The limousine also took them back to the airport for departure, all compliments of the Emerald Society,” he said.

‘She was very special to those of us who met her,” he said.

“During the Shannon representa- tives stay in New Jersey, Jane and Jay escorted them to all formal events

and arranged for the mayor to be in- terviewed by television, radio and the print media. They delivered them to their hotel each night and collected them each morning for breakfast,” he added.

Jane was in good health when Mr Mac Cormaic and Councillor Geral- dine Lambert (representing the May- or, Councillor Gerry Flynn) visited New Jersey for the St Patrick’s day parade earlier this year. However, she took ill after Easter and passed away a fortnight ago.

The Emerald Society Pipe Band , 90 of who took part in the opening of the Rose of Tralee Parade this year and who spent several days in the im- mediate Shannon area, played at her funeral Mass and burial in the US.

RESIDENTS say a fence along the river bank at Willow Park, Ennis needs to be replaced and improved to prevent “‘loss of life at the estate”.

In a letter to Ennis Town Coun- cillors, Michelle Hanrahan, Chair- person of the Willow Park residents committee, outlines a series of health and safety concerns.

Apart from the danger posed by the

river to children, residents also have concerns over a 400-volt ESB trans- former, traffic volumes and street lighting.

The letter states, “Our green area 1s adjacent to the river bank with very poor fencing. There is an urgent need to replace and improve this fencing in order to ensure that there is no loss of life at the estate. The residents feel that the fence requires to be at least six feet in height (similar to other

estates along the river banks) Our estate has a large number of house- holds with young children”

It continues, “Due to the filling of the green area, the ESB 3 Phase mains transformer (400 volt) is too low. This requires it to be raised or appropriately fenced off to ensure that our children are safe”.

Ms Hanrahan continues, “With the increase in housing along the Watery Road. The impact has been that the

junction of Sandfield/Watery Road, poses many dangers. Access to main roads leads to traffic congestion.

This is due mainly to the fact that a two lane traffic ease of access only occurs at the top of the road – we would ask that consideration be given to removing some of the grass verge in order to accommodate and lengthen the two lane access,’ the leter concluded.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) has wel-

comed Ennis Town Council’s plan to improve pedestrian access in the area.

‘IT wish to welcome plans to put in place pedestrian traffic lights follow- ing discussions over the last couple o) mp ssleynlaatce

“I raised the remainder of these issues at the October meeting and I acknowledge your commitment to review them,’ the Fine Gael council- lor stated.

CLARE based catering company, Corporate Catering Services Ltd. joined in the celebrations in Dublin last week to hail the return of the Q Mark, the recognised symbol of quality for all consumers and busi- nesses.

Corporate Catering Services Ltd. joined the EIQA in celebrating the ‘Q’ in a fantastic parade on Grafton Street featuring music legends U2, colourful fire dragons, carnival queens, the iconic James Joyce and a host of other quirky characters from renowned entertainment group, Ar- cana.

Commenting at the launch, Grace Lefroy, Operations Manager, Cor- porate Catering Services Ltd. said: “Quality is at the core of everything we do. In the catering industry, our standards are the yardstick by which we are judged. Participation in the Q Mark programme provides the ulti- mate assurance to our customers that our services reach the highest stand- ards of quality and excellence.”

With over 30 years industry expe- rience, Corporate Catering Services Limited is a 100 per cent Irish owned company with extensive experience in all aspects of the catering industry. They offer a comprehensive range of Quality Assured services to all sec- tors of the catering industry, ranging from full in-house catering to spe- cialist consultancy services.

The Q Mark is awarded only to companies who achieve the highest standards of quality and excellence, with Q Mark criteria ensuring that clients exceed legal requirements rather than simply adhering to them. This further assures consumers that companies who hold the ‘Q” are committed to continuous improve- ment and best practice.

Speaking at the launch, Irene Col- lins, Managing Director, EIQA said: “We are delighted that so many of

our customers were able to join us at such an exciting event in celebration of the Q Mark. The launch of Q Mark is effectively a return to a recognised symbol that guarantees consumers that when they purchase a product or service that carries the Q Mark sym- bol; they are purchasing a product or service of the highest quality. The Q Mark is a must for any business or oyeee-episrs 1m (eye nam

All certification and awards offered by EIQA will now come under the Q Mark umbrella and include Q Mark

for Hygiene and Food Safety; Q Mark for Quality Management Sys- tems; Q Mark for Nursing Homes, Q Mark for Leisure Centres and the recently launched Q Mark for Acces- sibility (ABLE Business Excellence Award).

The EIQA offers its programmes across all sectors, with customers in retail, food service, manufacturing, institutions, prison services, govern- ment, healthcare, business and pro- fessional services, financial institu- tions, nursing homes, leisure centres

and not for profit organisations.

The new Q Mark awards and cer- tifications will be officially unveiled at this year’s EIQA Quality & Excel- lence Awards on Friday, October 30, 2009 at the Burlington Hotel, Dub- rhe

TROUBLEMAKERS from Limerick are not welcome in Shannon — that’s the overwhelming message delivered by town councillors.

The issue was raised at a meeting of Shannon Town Council last week, where Councillor Gerry Flynn (In- dependent), called for the council to condemn the decision by the county council to participate in the regional aLOLeRSbaveanie eel Ko ate

He made reference to a debate a year ago. During that debate, Shan- non town councillors voted to have no hand, act or part in any decision to

move undesirable people to the town, after concern was expressed about an upsurge in anti-social behaviour in the area.

“We got a fair old roasting when we said we wanted no hand, act or part in the regeneration programme,’ said Cllr Flynn.

“In Shannon alone we have 495 on the housing list and not too far off 2,000 in the county. I don’t think we should be expected to deal with problems in the neighbouring coun- ty,’ he said.

““€’750,000 has been made available to buy dwellings in County Clare, for people from the regeneration areas.

I didn’t support it then (last year). I don’t support it now,” he said.

Labour councillor Tony McMahon said that those on the social hous- ing waiting list in Shannon should be given priority in the event of any houses becoming available.

‘We have had experience in Shan- non of tenants coming out from the Limerick area. The havoc they have wreaked in Shannon was absolutely frightening. We have all been fright- ened of what happened in the past. I’d rather if they bypassed Shannon and found accommodation in the area where they come from,” he said.

His party colleague Greg Duff said

he would not get involved in gener- alisation or scapegoating the people of Limerick.

Fine Gael councillor Tony Mulcahy said that in the past, Clare County Council sold 17 houses and the elect- ed members had nothing to do with i

“I’d prefer a scenario where we have some control. Twelve months ago we didn’t have any control,” he reiterated..

Shannon Town Manager Bernadette Kinsella said that the €750,000 was ring-fenced. “We can’t use it for any other purpose. We can only use it to rehouse families from the Limerick

regeneration area.

“Limerick City Council purchased 17 houses in Clare. We weren’t con- sulted in any way. There isn’t large scale interest at this stage from fami- lies from the regeneration areas mov- ing to Clare,” she said.

Three families, she said, had ex- pressed interest by the middle of the year, but one of those since changed its position.

Asked by the mayor of Shannon, Councillor Sean McLoughlin was there interest in Shannon, she said, “We are not looking at acquiring the three or four houses in the Shannon area.”

AN insightful EU survey carried out in 24 regions from 13 countries shows that regions have a crucial role to play in economic recovery. “We need long-term solutions to the economic crisis, and national gov- ernments must work closely with re- gions to maximise economic growth potential,’ says Christina Diegel- mann, Senior Policy Coordinator for the Assembly of European Regions (AER).

The AER survey found that a coun- try’s economic performance can be improved with more influence from its regions at national level, more in- dependence of the regions from the national level, financial competences and resources for the regions, as well as more competences in recreation and culture, infrastructure, educa- tion and research, and health care.

“While national recovery plans mainly target large companies and the financial system, regions focus primarily on supporting entrepre- neurship, SME’s and innovation capacity. Regional actions can con- tribute to turning this crisis into an opportunity to strengthen regional economies and _ safeguard jobs. Working together with all relevant stakeholders, regions are close to businesses and can take appropriate measures. While national support plans mainly target larger mostly international firms, regions focus on regional clusters and support busi- ness start-ups and SME’s that make up the important part of Europe’s companies and employers,’ says Ms Dyer

Ms. Diegelmann is due to speak in Limerick at a national Shannon Development conference titled ‘Dy- namic Regions — Future Directions in Regional Development’. An expert panel of national and international speakers, leaders in their fields, has been assembled by Shannon Devel- opment for their forthcoming confer- ence which will take place on the 6th November at Thomond Park Stadium in Limerick City.

The conference will be chaired by broadcaster John Bowman, and addressed by Mary Coughlan TD, Tanaiste and Minister for Enter- prise, Trade & Employment, and Dr. Vincent Cunnane, Chief Executive, Shannon Development, Ireland’s only regional development company.

“We have gathered an outstanding panel of national and international experts for our Conference and we hope it will pave the way for a wider national debate on the importance of regional action. It will include inter- national case studies from the As- sembly of European Regions, Lon- don Development Agency and the Basque Region of Spain. We see it as a key opportunity to share and learn, and we have assembled some of the leading experts in the field of region- al development to reflect its growing importance on the economic world stage. Our speakers will tackle a number of important topics that will provide the lead in new areas of re- gional action,” said Dr. Cunnane an- nouncing the conference.

WHILE the eyes of Europe may have been on Dublin Castle and the Lisbon count this weekend, the out- come failed to excite even the small- est number of people in the Banner Sree

Just four months but thousands of onlookers away from the local and European elections, the Lisbon Count – mark two – was even more of a damp squib than Lisbon mark one.

Even the local politicians, who had such a vested interest in the ballot boxes last June, failed to even raise a

passing interest on Saturday last.

A handful of county councillors and approximately two town coun- cillors arrived early in the morning, but left early with the no campaign- ers once the outcome was obvious.

Just one county councillor saw the result out to the bitter end with Clare’s TDs, who all showed up for the occasion.

From the time the boxes were opened, it was clear that the referen- dum would be carried in Clare with a three-to-one ratio in favour of the treaty in rural areas, and a 60:40 split in favour in urban areas.

By lunchtime, all the votes had been counted, with just a dozen peo- ple left in the centre with the media and those counting.

While all waited for Returning Of- ficer Patrick Wallace to get the green light from Dublin to announce the result, the speculation on the margin of success for the Yes side began.

Deputy Carey had left proceedings to attend his daughter’s christening, but the remaining three TDs were happy to guess the outcome.

Junior Minister Tony Killeen (FF) thought that the treaty would be ac- cepted in Clare by 69 per cent of the

voters, Deputy Pat Breen (FG) went with 70 per cent, while Deputy Tim- my Dooley (FF) finally settled for 72 per cent, having wavered between it and 71 per cent.

Shortly after 2pm, Mr Wallace an- nounced the verdict from the Clare voters. It was carried 72.3 per cent to 27.7.