The Clare People Archive

WHY NOT give your fledgling business lift-off with the help of a €280,000 prize fund from the Seedcorn Business Competition 08 — that’s the message from InterTra- delreland.

Small companies North and South have leveraged €65m of additional equity investment over the past five years through Seedcorn, which of- fers the biggest prize fund of any business competition on the island.

“‘Treland is rightly renowned for its spirit of entrepreneurship and that 1s something we want to continue to support, So we would encourage even more young firms to sign up for this year’s competiton,’ said Liam Nellis, chief executive of InterTradelreland.

Pat Lucey of Aspiracon, last year’s winner of Emerging International Company, Munster region, said: “We

entered Seedcorn to help drive our business development and it gave us a framework for our business plan as

well as valuable feedback through expert judging panels and Master- ESNet

‘“Seedcorn forced us to address ar- eas which we had been missing — I Suppose you could say we took a step back in order to look forward. Ulti- mately, it accelerated our develop- ment by about six months and we are now engaged in negotiations with the VC community. The publicity has been very positive as well, as it all helps to get your foot in the door!”

All entrants to the competition must be able to demonstrate new equity requirements in excess of €75,000. Entrants to the Emerging Company category must be in existence for less than three years by September 26, 2008, and have sales targets of less than €5m. Entrants to the Emerg- ing International Company must be in business less than five years by September 26, 2008, and have sales targets of more than €5m.

Following the scoring of written business plans, the top entries from

each region and category are selected to make a short presentation to a pan- el of judges, followed by a question and answer session.

Winners are selected in each cat- egory in each of the four regions and all eight will be asked to make their presentation again to a separate pan- el of judges at the final in Belfast on November 26, 2008. The panel will then select the overall all-island win- ner in each category.

To register your interest in entering the Seedcorn Business Competition, log on to the new dedicated website: WWww.seedcorncompetition.com. Business plans must be submitted by Spm on the closing date of Septem- ber 26.

40 per cent of farmers now Say that they are ready to vote Yes in the upcoming election.

The number of farmers now com- mitted to voting No stands at 33 per cent with a sizeable 27 per cent still undecided.

The Irish Farmers Organisation have been on the verge of endors- ing the No campaign over the last number of weeks following increas-

ing anger over the handling, by EU Commissioner Peter Mandelson, of the WTO.

Galway MEP Sean O’Neachtain spoke out on Thursday last calling on the farmers of Clare to Vote Yes for the EU Lisbon Reform Treaty.

O’Neachtain has been one of the treaty’s strongest advocates and has spoken out at many public meetings over the last month.

“IT strongly believe that it is in the future economic and political inter- ests of the people of County Clare and the people of Ireland that the EU Lisbon Reform Treaty is ratified,” he Sr nLee

‘This treaty is about ensuring that the EU institutions reform how they

will take decisions into the future so as to ensure that the European Union becomes more effective and more efficient in how it will carry out its business into the future.

A more effective European Union will help to ensure that the EU can bring forward new laws which will help to develop the European econo- my to a stronger extent. The ratifica- tion of this treaty will guarantee that the EU will be able to address new problems such as climate change and the security of energy supplies in a more structured manner. No one country alone can tackle all these problems on their own.”

Specifically targeting farmers, O Neachtain said that a yes vote will

help Ireland to effectively address the concerns of Irish farmers in the context of the CAP Health Check 2008 — 2013

“We welcome any measures at an EU level which will simplify the actual operation of the CAP, and, in particular, the administration of the single farm payment,” he said.

“But we clearly do not support the proposal to increase compulsory modulation from five to 13 per cent, which means that farmers will lose eight per cent in the value of their annual single farm payment from the year 2012, and it is proposed by the European Commission that these monies will be re-directed to other rural development programmes.”

TEAGASC claimed last week that the increased cost of artificial ferti- lizer this year 1s impacting on farm- ers’ profit margins and could squeeze many Clare farmers off the land. Depending on stocking rates the higher cost of fertilizer in 2008 could increase production costs by up to €50 per hectare on beef farms, or up to €100 per hectare on dairy farms. This increase is the equivalent of 0.75 cent per litre of milk or 16 cent per kilogram of beef live weight. “Even though production costs have increased grass remains the cheapest form of feed on dairying and drystock farms, and nitrogen

remains the main driver of yields. On tillage farms, even at current fer- tilizer prices and based on expected grain prices, applications are justi- fied economically,” said Teagasc en- vironment specialist Tim Hyde.

Changes in the price of fertilizer have implications for usage and the management of other valuable nutri- ent sources such as slurry on farms. These changes have refocused at- tention on the benefits of clover as a source of nitrogen. In monetary terms a thousand gallons of slurry is now worth €25, while clover can fix nitrogen to a value of €120 per hectare.

Among the factors to be consid- ered when responding to the change

in fertilizers prices is the enterprise type and the level of efficiency. On farms fertilizers, particularly nitro- gen, drives farm output, and used ef- ficiently also drives profit.

Nitrogen is the main determinant of high yields and artificial fertilizer sources should only be reduced be- low crop requirement if it can be re- placed by alternatives such as clover swards and organic manures.

“While the increased cost of ferti- lizer will add €10 per head to feed costs associated with a winter fin- ished animal on good grass silage plus concentrates an intensive feed- ing system based on concentrates would only become more competi- tive, if concentrate prices dropped by

€80 per tonne,” said Siobhan Kavan- agh, Teagasc nutrition specialist.

In relation to tillage crops, nitrogen fertilizer prices would need to rise, or grain prices drop significantly, before current nitrogen application rates would not be justified econom1- cally.

“Despite dramatic increases in prices fertilizer applications remain a cost effective input for profitable crops.

“With current fertilizer nitrogen prices and the projected price of grain the economic optimum for cereal crops has not changed and is similar to that of 2007,” said Teagasc soul and plant nutrition specialist Mark Plunkett.

AN Ennis sculptor is in a race against time to find a home for two man-size squirrels to avoid their destruction. Earlier this year, Barry Wrafter received a text message without any warning to say ‘stop working on the commission’ of the red and grey

squirrel after the developers who commissioned the work pulled out of the project.

Mr Wrafter was three-quarters way through the work but now, with no takers, the wet clay of the red squir- rel is falling off, leaving the squirrel vulnerable to the same fate suffered by thousands of red squirrels in Ire-

land in recent years.

Mr Wrafter, who won an open competition for the project, secured €55,000 of the €80,000 commission before the developer withdrew from the project. He is now offering the work for one-third of the initial com- mission in order to secure a home for the two squirrels.

“It is a bargain. I have been work- ing on the piece for the past year and I have put off other jobs in order to concentrate on this.

“Tt would be a terrible waste if they would have to be broken up. It breaks my heart really and I would love to get a home for the piece, so if there is any developer or body out there that would be interested in buying the piece, they should get in touch with none

A bronze plate has yet to be placed on the red squirrel and this will cost €20,000. The squirrels are currently at Mr Wrafter’s workyard near Shan- non and he said the wet clay on the red squirrel is cracking and it could completely crack up within a month unless work recommences.

The sculpture was commissioned for a shopping centre in Longford and the piece marks the struggle of the red squirrel against the grey squirrel.

Three breeding pairs of grey squir- rels were introduced to Ireland in 1911 by a US national as part of a present for a wedding in Longford and since then the grey squirrel has wreaked havoc on the red squirrel population in Ireland

The grey squirrel has colonised large parts of the country to the det- riment of the red squirrel and Mr Wrafter said, ““The grey squirrel has overran the country and the sculptor was bringing attention to that.”

re- vealed that the county council and Ennis Town Council refused permis- sion for a total of 800 homes in the

eastern and northern environs of En- nis because the town’s sewage system is operating beyond full capacity.

A new €7/5 million treatment plant at Clareabbey is not expected to come on stream until 2012 — the plant got planning permission four years ago and the council has already paid out €7 million to three landowners for the site.

An Environmental Impact State- ment into the scheme was published at the end of 2002 warned that if noth- ing was done, “the existing problems will be exacerbated over the next few years as increasing demands are put

on the drainage system and treated plants due to expanded environ- ment”.

In relation to the latest planning application by Al Callanan — which faced strong local opposition — the council stated that while the princi- ple of housing on the site would be suitable, the application was prema- ture pending the construction and commissioning of the new Clareab- bey plant.

The Environmental Protection Agency told the council in April that it was informed by the local authority that the current demands on the sys-

tem is 26,000 houses and the treat- ment capacity of the Clonroadmore plant is 17,000.

The EPA stated, “The plant is therefore already operating above its design treatment capacity and would not be capable of accommodating this development.”

The council also refused planning due to deficiencies in the public water supply and the period within which these constraints would be reason- ably expected to cease. The council also ruled that it would have signifi- cant negative effects on the existing ecology and hydrology of the site.

DURING his inaugural address in Carron last October, Mike McNa- mara outlined that the necessity for Clare to compete again in Munster would be his main priority. In almost every interview since, he has reiter- ated that intent, even using shock words like ‘embarrassed’, ‘decimat- ed’ and ‘hammered’ to demonstrate Clare’s slide down the provincial lad- der since their last Munster triumph in 1998.

McNamara has never been a sup- porter of the qualifiers group system. In his eyes, it devalues the provincial championship and provides counties with a soft backdoor option to fall back on. Clare’s ability to express themselves in Munster again is his prime objective and he is fully fo- cused on attaining that goal starting with the Waterford game on Sunday.

Still, there were barriers to break down first. A rebuilding process had to be undertaken, both to revive the players’ flagging confidence and en- sure the supporters would be back on side after a turbulent 2007 campaign. New players had to be introduced and the existing ones required reassur- ance that the ship was heading in the right direction and although the Wa-

terford Crystal and National League campaigns weren’t groundbreaking in terms of either performance or re- sults, the public realised that the new set-up needed time to gel.

As the June | D-Day has drawn inexorably closer, optimism has in fact permeated around the county. Increasing reports of Waterford in- juries and the reintegration of Tony Carmody, Diarmuid McMahon and Tony Griffin into the set-up have gal- vanised support, and confidence has gathered momentum ahead of the GuGrEsneeltoe

In saying that, it would be fool- ish to swallow every report of Wa- terford’s demise wholeheartedly. Certainly, they have a number of injuries but perhaps not to the extent that Justin McCarthy would have everyone believe. According to the Waterford camp, Eoin Murphy, Eoin Kelly, Paul Flynn, Dan Shanahan, Ken McGrath, Seamus Prendergast, Stephen Molumphy, Kevin Moran, Aidan Kearney and Tony Browne are all doubtful or certain to miss the Clare game. Admittedly, Murphy, McGrath and Flynn will miss the tie but expect the majority of the others to play at least some part against the Banner.

For Clare, Declan O’Rourke’s bro-

ken finger sustained against Galway OTMSLUNICE DA SUUMCME-DUIDAMMel (om eNbeemOleNs and Niall Gilligan is a serious doubt as his neck injury has not responded to treatment as much as the manage- ment had hoped.

Going on recent challenge matches against Offaly, Dublin and Galway, Clare still need to iron out a few creases with their main stumbling block in front of the posts. Goal scor- ing has certainly been a problem for Clare in the past, particularly in the big championship games. Just recall the All-Ireland quarter-final against Limerick last year or the 2006 AIl- Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny when clear-cut goal opportunities were not taken and Clare went on to lose. In fact, in the Munster and All- Ireland series over the past four sea- sons, Clare have only managed seven goals in 13 games, a dismal record when you compare that to Water- ford’s haul of 30 goals in 14 games in the same period. Unquestionably, Clare will need goals if they are to overcome Waterford.

Clare’s huge number of wides in the league is also a concern but again perhaps that can be put down to some inexperience and a growing under- standing amongst the players.

The final dilemma is the uncertain-

ty of the back six. Clare’s defensive solidity has been the basis of their successes since the early 90’s and it was always up front that was a cause of concern. That is not to say they now seem porous at the back – far from it but as previous campaigns have highlighted, there needs to be a settled backline for Clare to prosper. The variables are endless – Conor Plunkett or Gerry Quinn at centre- back, Darragh Clancy or Frank Lo- han at full-back or does Plunkett or Quinn revert to full-back, thus releas- ing Lohan to the corner alongside ei- ther Gerry O’Grady or Tadgh Keogh. Even on the wings, Mike McNamara has experimented with six different players in the league with Clancy, Quinn, Brendan Bugler, Pat Don- nellan, Tommy Holland and even James McInerney being tried in the positions in an effort to find the right blend. That tinkering with positions was expected but it is hoped that by now, McNamara finally knows his ooh mSID.©

For Clare to win, a number of fac- tors have to go in their favour. For all the new faces that have appeared this season, Clare’s side on Sunday will be predominantly made up of expe- rience and going on that alone, it is felt that there is at least one massive

performance in this team. Whether it will be on Sunday is another issue as Waterford’s pedigree is undoubted with three Munster championships and a league title in the last six years. Nevertheless, a lot of this Waterford team have been around a long time and their frustration at not making the All-Ireland breakthrough has certainly frustrated them. Add in the potential injuries to key players and it could make for a very interesting encounter but Waterford are Munster champions for a reason.

Mike McNamara has been circling June | in his diary since the draw was made in October. He has repeatedly underlined the date’s importance to Clare’s future development and as a result, he is fully aware that his first season will be judged predominatly on their performance on Sunday. As Munster champions, Waterford are the benchmark and Clare will need to play out of their skins if they are to dethrone them this weekend. Any- thing less and Clare will be travel- ling down the well-worn path of the qualifiers system once more.

THE finish ceremony of the Rally d’Italia Sardegna the sixth round of the World Rally Championship which took place alongside Porto Cervo’s Marina in Sardinia on May Reidee

Saw world rally champions Se- bastien Loeb/Daniel Elena claim the top prize in their Citroen C4. This result takes the reigning champion’s total to a record 40 world rally wins and sees them move to within three points behind of 2008 championship leader Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen.

This sixth round of the 15 rally series was the first European gravel fixture of the season. Based in the north east of Sardinia, the three day event was characterised by tough narrow tracks south of Olbia. Com- petitors tackled 17 speed tests cov- ering 344.73km. Despite heavy rain before the start, the rally itself was dry, although cloudy skies ensured temperatures were cooler than ex- pected.

BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team finished second and third in the rally and they retain the lead in both the manufacturer’s and driver’s standings in the FIA World Rally Championship.

Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtin- en claimed second in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car, with Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikka Anttila third in a similar car. Ford preserves its seven point advantage in the manufacturers series while Hirvonen is three points ahead in the drivers title.

Donegal driver Shaun Gallagher maintains his second place in the Junior World Rally Championship after finishing fourth in Sardinia driving his Motorsport Ireland spon- sored Citroen C2.

The Irishman shares second place with 16 championship, alongside Po- land’s Michal Kosciuszko. Many of the car’s suffered mechanical diffi- culties brought on by the conditions including World Rally Team Ire- land’s car which suffered a break in the rear anti-roll bar and a flat tyre.

The next round takes place in Greece next weekend May 30th.

through the Free- dom of Information Act, the council anticipated that in 2006 and 2007 it would have 56 Traveller families in group housing. However, the actual accommoda- tion provided by the council in that category came to just 22 families.

But with work expected to start on three group housing schemes before the end of the year in Ennistymon (2) and Ennis (1), the council is hopeful of securing 73 of the 119 target for 2008 by the end of the year.

The figure of 73 does not include 18 Traveller-specific houses which will be under construction by next December.

A spokesman for the council’s Trav- eller Accommodation Unit said they would provide 18 new houses in the three schemes in Ennis and Ennisty- mon and planning was advanced in

relation to all three projects.

The annual targets for group hous- ing were altered due to new require- ments for Travellers and the fact that group schemes proposed for Shan- non and Liscannor did not proceed because of those changed needs.

“The overall programme is, by and large, a success with a 75 per cent rate of success and, by early 2009, the vast majority of Travellers should be in permanent accommodation.

“It continues to be a challenge to meet the needs of Travellers where more and more are settling down

rather than travelling around.”

Chairman of the council’s Spe- cial Policy Committee, Cllr Joe Ar- kins (FG) said, “There have been a number of difficulties with the pro- gramme in terms of sites and plan- ning but, all in all, I believe we have done well.

“Maybe we haven’t done as much as we should have, but we have done as much as we could.”

Cllr Arkins regretted the high spend on the legal costs relating to the pro- gramme as the money would be far better spent on bricks and mortar.

show that €352,836 was spent on 24- hour security at the Ballaghboy site which is ongoing and €116,532 was

spent on security at the Glenina site.

The requirement for 24-hour secu- rity at Gleninagh was part of a deal with local residents and this has been replicated at the Ballghboy site.

The Ballaghboy site is due to be de- molished before the end of the year as part of an agreement with local residents and it will be replaced by a permanent site for six families.

The council spent €219,000 on legal costs arising out of the capital element of its Traveller accommoda- none) EIeF

The largest amount was spent in relation to a halting site at Bally- macraven on the outskirts of En- nistymon where legal fees amounted to €163,000 with €34,457 going to

James Connolly SC and €23,777 go- ing to Patrick G Quinn BL.

The biggest beneficiaries were council solicitors, Michael Houlihan & Partners, who received €126,747 on dealing with legal issues on five Traveller accommodation sites and one house purchase.

€3.589 million has been paid to consultants as part of the building programme.

The local firm to do most construc- tion work on the Traveller accom- modation programme was Keco Ltd who received a total of €2.139 mil- lion.

SU clon cnwecmmpuce kore Ot UL mm epeeeLeye| for work on the Ballaghboy site; €254,158 for the temporary site at

Glenina and €85,228 for the halting site at Ballymaley .

M Fitzgibbon & Co. received €330,290 for refurbishment of the Ashline site on the Kilrush Road in Ennis, while L&M Keating received €678,214.

Architectural firm, Dermot & Sean Merry received €135,377 for design- ing seven Traveller accommodation sites, while other companies to work on the programme included Erina- ceous Consult Serv (Ire) Ltd who were paid €132,639

Michael Lillis & Co Ltd was paid €64,930 for work carried out at the number of sites, while consultant engineer Paddy Coleman was paid €21,140.

AS THE WTO grows ever closer, Clare man, Eddie Punch, was at the centre of all the action this week, leading an ICSA delegation to met with EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel in Brussels on Thursday,

Punch and a number of top level ICSA delegates highlighted a number of concerns of Irish farmers regard- ing WTO and the EU health check proposals. The delegation consisted of Punch alongside Malcolm Thomp- son, ICSA president, sheep chairman Mervyn Sunderland and Gabriel Gilmartin, ICSA rural development at-boweet-nee

ICSA emphasised the threat posed

to the beef and lamb sectors by the WTO proposals and_ underlined that even the sensitive status clause would not be sufficient to keep these sectors viable. ICSA also outlined its concerns over modulation proposals that would result in an eight per cent cut in the Single Farm Payment for all payments in excess of €5,000.

“The WTO is now an outdated re- sponse to the issue of global food se- curity. We must first insist on main- taining the viability of the maximum number of EU farmers,” said Mr Punch.

“Europe must retain the ability to feed itself, rather than allowing itself to become over dependent on im- ports. ICSA believes that this WTO round needs to be replaced by a com-

pletely different approach and we will continue to insist that the Irish Government vetos a bad deal.”

He also highlighted the particu- larly difficult circumstances facing the sheep sector and emphasised the importance of implementing key recommendations in the Aylward report. “The priority message that we delivered was that sheep farming would not survive in Europe without a commitment for additional sup- port. However, even this may not be enough if the WTO deal goes ahead,’ he continued.

ICSA also briefed the commis- sioner on the impossibility of get- ting work completed under the Farm Waste Management scheme by the deadline of December 31, 2008.

Following the release of further re- vised papers on Agriculture and Non Agriculture Market Access under WTO, Catherine Buckley, Macra na Feirme National President said it 1s time for the Irish Government to call a hault to Peter Mandelson’s solo run on WTO.

“Mr Mandelson has exceeded his mandate from the European Com- mission and the Irish Government must intervene and put a stop to it, he is failing to recognise the views of all the commission and the heads of state. Mandelson’s open door policy will mean a race to the bottom on production standards, as the market will ultimately be left to imports re- sulting in a Worst Trade Outcome for farmers and consumers,” she said.