The Clare People Archive

THE final of the St Josephs School Spanish Point A2 575 was the fea- ture event of the eleven on Saturday nigh’ts Galway Card. Favourite for the €1,200 to the winner contest was the Noel Mullins of Gort trained Miss Fabulous (T6) and the daughter of World Class and Legal Moment was very smartly away out wide and she led by two lengths from Phillip- specialone (T3) on the long run to the bend.

Turning down the back Miss Fabu- lous extended her advantage to four lengths over her rivals and although Ballingown Boy (T2) made _ late headway Miss Fabulous was always in total command as she took the prize for owners Paul Curley and Michael Regan by a length in a time

of 31.79

The second contest was an A5 af- fair in which the Pat Hogan of Ennis owned Aulton George landed some nice wagers as he made virtually all to defeat Paradise Alana (T5) by three lengths in 29.54.

The Seamus Fahy trained son of Droopys Scholes and Dalcash Veva just shaded O’Garney Flo (T3) on the run to the opening bend and as they raced past halfway the gap was half a length.

Rounding the third bend Aulton George railed well and cut of the challenge of O’Garney Flo before pulling clear up the straight for his maiden success.

The third contest was an A3 graded 525 and here the Mrs Marie Browne of Cree owned Burnpark Dame showed both early pace and stam-

ina as she romped home over eight lengths to spare over Stanton (T6) in 29.01.

The daughter of Honcho Clas- sic and Burnpark Circle led by two lengths from Stanton on the run to the opening bend and with trouble among the backmarkers the front two drew clear.

Racing out of the back though Burnpark Dame began to draw clear of Stanton as she opened her account at the fifth attempt.

In the Al graded sixth contest over 525 yards the blue jacketed Tyrur Kerril was smartly away along the inside and although he moved slight- ly wide at the opening corner he still led Flandy (T4) by two length rac- ing towards halfway with Corpo- rate Legend(T6) in third place three lengths further adrift.

As the leader approached the third bend the distress signals were out and the Conor Flanagan of Ennisty- mon owned Flandy (Fortune

Mike-Mythical Cracker) swept past on the rail before he raced clear to win by over five lengths in 29.08

The concluding race of the night went to the Colm and Oran Fitzger- ald of Kilrush owned Fitzler Joker a son of Barnane Bit and Black Show who was smartly away from his trap six berth as he led Corrib Star (T5) bytwo lengths rounding the opening two bends. Racing down the back the sextet were in Indian file as Fitzler Joker set sail for the judge chased all the way by Corib Star but at the line the advantage was still over two lengths in favour of Fitzler Joker in SYA Le

Friday night’s card was an all grad-

ed 11 race programme with the con- cluding three 575 yard contests being the three heats of the Tully National School A4 Stake..In the opening heat the Johnny Burke of Tubber trained Drumline Tom topped the market but he was moderately enough away as Rob The Five (T2) and Bold Ted- dy (T6) led the field to the opening corner.

Racing down the back Rob The Five led by two lengths from the wide running Bold Teddy with Ca- poola Savings (T4) improving from rear.

Racing around the home turn the Ollie Burke trained Rob The Five (Droopys Vieri-Iwotensfive) railed well and although Capoola Savings was closing with every stride the line came in time for Rob The Five by three quarters of a length in 32.27.

AN Ennis man sought more than €500,000 for his objection against a €40 million residential development to be withdrawn.

Last week, An Bord Pleandala re- fused planning permission to Joe Mc- Namara to develop 147 homes on the Golf Links Road. The appeals board upheld the appeal by John Madden of Glencairn House, Hermitage, against Clare County Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the proposal.

However, in documentation now released by An Bord Pleanala, it has emerged that Mr Madden sought €550,000 for himself to construct a flood defence system on his lands near the development site and a sepa-

rate payment of €50,000 for Caher- calla Community Hospice to with- draw his appeal.

A series of eight meetings were held between the two sides – all at the instigation of the developers – but no money was handed over and, as a result, the appeal was not withdrawn. Mr Madden stated last week that he felt vindicated it had been upheld.

In a letter to the board on behalf of the developers, Joe McNamara and Paul O’Brien, solicitors McMahon O’Brien and Downes stated that the demand for €550,000 for the with- drawal of the appeal was the second time that such a demand was made by Mr Madden.

They claimed he sought €170,000 for the withdrawal of an objection against a previous housing applica-

tion on the same site by the same developers.

The legal firm said this was to be used to construct a barrier against flooding if planning was obtained, but if planning was not obtained, the money was to be retained personally by Mr Madden.

In relation to the €50,000 sought for Cahercalla Hospice, the legal firm states, “The seeking to justify a pay- ment request for a hospice because of the appellant’s admiration of the Trojan work they do there is another example of the appellant’s misguided purpose of the planning process. It is not there to facilitate the extraction of funds from developers to make payments to charities.”

The documentation also shows that Ennis builder, Liam O’Doherty

agreed to purchase the lands from McNamara and O’Brien in 2006 sub- ject to planning.

A letter from John Casey & Co so- licitors shows that Mr O’Doherty met with Mr Madden where he confirmed the requirement of a €585,000 pay- ment to him and a €50,000 to Caher- calla hospice.

The submissions by the developers was aimed at having Mr Madden’s appeal dismissed on the grounds that the appeal was being brought solely for the purpose of securing the pay- ment of money and gifts – a claim firmly rejected by Mr Madden.

However, the appeals board judged the appeal on its merits and found in favour of Mr Madden, though none of the reasons to refuse planning re- lated to flooding.

THE Ennis man who sought more than €500,000 from developers to withdraw his objection to a large- scale housing development had no desire to profit from the matter and was not motivated by the desire for personal gain.

That’s the view of Callinan & Co solicitors on behalf of Ennis man John Madden, of Glencairn House, Hermitage, in response to claims that he sought over €500,000 for the con- struction of flood defences at his land in return for withdrawing an objec- tion against the development.

In a rebuttal submission on behalf of John Madden, Callinan & Co say the proposed agreement to withdraw the appeal in return for payment was not “evidence of blackmail or extor- wloyn ae

The legal firm stated the proposed agreement was “no more than an

ordinary example of bona fides and reasonable negotiations as between adjoining landowners in matters of this nature”.

The legal firm continued, “Mr Mad- den takes grave exception to the ap- plicants’ submission that this appeal is motivated by a desire for personal gain. This is an insidious allegation made without foundation and it is re- jected in the strongest terms by Mr Madden.

“Mr Madden has at no stage sought to obstruct the planning process and in fact has agreed on several occa- sions to meet with the applicants with a view to reaching agreement.

‘Mr Madden wishes to point out that the circumstance that he was prepared to accept payment of a quite substantial sum in compensation for the interference with his property so as, in particular to enable him to carry out works to protect his prop- erty against flooding, was a measure of both the strength of his objection and his insistence that the works be carried out on his lands.

‘Mr Madden submits that the ex- istence of open negotiations in rela- tion to the sum properly payable by way of compensation is a matter that evidences the seriousness of his con- cerns and the fairness and reasonable

of his claim to compensation.”

‘The engineer for the developers claimed that proposal to run a foul water pipeline through the Madden lands was prepared as a response to a direct request from the Council. If that was so, why did the developers request in relation the previous appli-

cation that any issues with third party lands in relation to cross connection could be resolved by the Council un- der their compulsory wayleave/com- pulsory purchase powers’.

CLARE people with a desire to work on the International Space Station and explore the solar system have just a few weeks to apply for a place on the European Space Agency’s new astronaut training programme. Recruitment opened yesterday May 19, and candidates from Ireland are welcome to apply.

Candidates need a relevant degree or equivalent, and/or be a pilot or engineer. They will have to provide the same medical examination cer- tificate as private pilots do.

The first step in the application process takes place online at www. esa.int/astronautselection. There will also be two stages of psychological and professional aptitude evaluation.

“The ideal European candidate should be competent in relevant sci- entific disciplines, including but not restricted to life sciences, physics, chemistry and medicine and/or be an engineer or pilot, and should have demonstrated outstanding abilities in research, applications or the educa- tional field, preferably including op- erational skills,’ explained Gerhard Thiele, former astronaut and Head of the European Astronaut Division.

“In addition, characteristics expect- ed of all applicants include a good memory and reasoning ability, con-

centration, aptitude for spatial orien- tation, and manual dexterity.”

Applicants should be fluent in Eng- lish (Russian is also an asset) and should exhibit personality traits such as high motivation, flexibility, team competence, empathy with others and emotional stability. The final appointments will be officially an- nounced in 2009.

Encouragement for people from the region to apply came from a NASA astronaut last Friday last. Speaking at his talk on the NASA space pro- gramme, Captain Jon McBride said it was time for the first Irish astronaut to go into space with ESA. Looking beyond that to NASA’s planned mis- sion to Mars, he said that the likely candidates for this were at school now, and the first step for them was to study hard and go to college.

McBride was the pilot on the first shuttle mission to carry a crew of seven astronauts. He has also held many other senior positions within the NASA organisation. Although now retired from active service, he still works for NASA to raise aware- ness of its work.

Dr Moore also announced that, for the first time, the society will be run- ning evening classes on astronomy for beginners this autumn at the University of Limerick. Register at www.astronomy.ie.

DECLAN O’Loughlin, a_ student at the Christian Brothers Commu- nity School, Ennistymon, has been named ‘Senior Academic Student of

the Year 2008’ at the Bank of Ireland National Student Awards — a nation- al awards scheme for second level students that recognises exemplary performance in five unique catego- ries. His prize included a cheque for

€1,500 and another cash award of €3,000 for his school.

The judges selected Declan as the national winner for his outstanding and consistent academic excellence having achieved 10 A’s and one B in

higher level papers in the 2007 Jun- ior Certificate and was nominated for the Irish EU Science Olympiad, the mathematical enrichment pro- gramme in NUIG and the transition year physics programme in Trinity College.

The Bank of Ireland Student Awards is a national awards scheme for second level students and these winners have won at both local and regional level before going on to win these national awards.

Now in it’s third year, Bank of Ire- land has already committed a total of €180,000 in cash prizes to re- ward the efforts and talents of sec- ondary school students across the country. With a prize fund of over €60,000, the annual awards scheme recognises exemplary student per- formance in five categories – art, sport, entrepreneurial spirit, aca- demic achievement and community spirit.

Speaking at the awards, Richie Boucher, Chief Executive, Retail Financial Services Ireland, Bank of Ireland said the winning students had shown exemplary performance and outstanding achievement in their category.

Bank of Ireland is proud to provide a forum where exceptional students are recognised and rewarded on a lo- cal, regional and national level. This is a fantastic accolade for Declan and I wish him every success for the fu- ture,” Mr Boucher concluded.

CLARE FM’s listenership figures have fallen by two percent, the latest JNLR figures reveal.

According to the figures from April 2007 to March 2008, Clare FM had a listenership reach of 40 per cent, which was a decline of two per cent.

The market share, which indicates how long listeners tune in for, 1s also reduced. It dropped marginally by 0.7 per cent, to 37 per cent. The weekly reach figures, of 65 per cent, remained the same. The figures re- leased last week were compared with the figures for January to December 2007.

In terms of listenership, the Ennis- based station is ranked 10th out of 16 local stations around the country. It is behind neighbouring stations Lim- erick’s Live 95 FM (59 per cent) and Tipp FM (44 per cent), but is ahead Galway Bay FM (39 per cent).

Clare FM is ranked eight out of the 16 stations, in relation to mar- ket share. According to the sta- tion’s Chief Executive Officer Liam O’Shea, the latest figures are not an accurate reflection of listenership.

“IT am not disappointed. These are very competitive times. These fig- ures come out every three months. If you compare with the same 12 month period last week, it is not a true reflection of the year. If you compare the two 12-month periods,

it is exactly the same as it was this time last year,” said Mr O’Shea.

He insisted he was not disappointed with the reduction in market share.

“Minus 0.7 per cent is a disappoint- ment? Absolutely not. You are deal- ing with a market place that there 1s a lot of competition,” he said. “We are very happy with our market share. Compared to this time last year, we are two per cent up,’ he said.

“We had a change of programme controller last June. We changed our programming in January. Morning Focus has changed time (from 10am start to Yam start), there 1s a new show from llam to lpm and there is a new double breakfast show. We are happy with how they are going.”

“We are not down, compared to an- ybody else. There’s nobody gaining against us,” he added. “Listenership in county Clare, to any radio station, is one of the lowest in the country.”

He said when he took up his post at the helm of Clare FM ten years ago, the listenership figure was the same as it is now. It did top 60 per cent at one stage, but Mr O’Shea said, “that day is gone.”

The latest listenership figures were published, just weeks after the sale of Clare FM to Radio Kerry appeared to have fallen through. Discussions on the proposed multi-million euro sale had been ongoing for months, but sources in the radio industry now believe the sale will not go-ahead.

THE Lisbon treaty debate looks set to generate a number of political cas- ualties before it 1s settled, with Gal- way TD and former minister, Frank J Sr-V eToys DOM Maem ED UDO TCA DDELoM I STIMWV ole) .@

On Thursday, the President of IC- MSA, Jackie Cahill, lashed back at comments made by Fahey, in which the deputy said that farmers would be “foolhardy” to consider voting against the Lisbon Treaty in light of the monies they had received since EU accession.

“Deputy Fahey would serve us all better if he refrained from this kind of brazen condescension and tried

instead deploying a bit of reason and logic,” he said.

‘The idea that the EU or the EEC simply poured money into farmers’ pockets for the fun of it is both ab- surd and factually incorrect and it displays an ignorance of the real situ- ation that has bedevilled all attempts to get farmers to look at the Lisbon Treaty in its own right.

“We will not be emotionally black- mailed into any course of action that amounts to economic suicide. We will expect someone to set out the case for or against the Treaty based on cool calculation of our sector’s and our nation’s interest.

“The Taoiseach should now seize

the opportunity to clarify the posi- tion and set out the Irish Govern- ment’s approach to current and fu- ture farming policy. This applies to both EU and Irish policies and it most definitely includes the current WTO negotiations.”

The IFA had also words for Deputy Fahey last week when they claimed that he and Minister Eamon O’Cuiv had failed Irish farmers through their comments on the Lisbon Treaty.

“Irish farmers have not received anything more from Europe than other European farmers,’ said IFA Vice President Michael Silke.

“The Government needs to address the grave concerns in rural Ireland

over Mandelson’s sell-out of agricul- ture in the WTO negotiations. The western region would face farm rev- enue losses alone of €400m per year, with 1,500 jobs in food processing on the line and thousands more jobs lost in businesses servicing the agri- food sector.

“The Lisbon Treaty contains the original Treaty of Rome articles 38 — 44 establishing the Common Ag- ricultural Policy including specific commitments to assure the availabil- ity of food supplies, to stabilise mar- kets and to provide a fair standard of living for the agricultural com- munity, but Mandelson has blatantly disregarded these commitments.”

PRESSURE is already mounting on the new team in the Department of Agriculture to hit the ground run- ning with a major decision on the fu- ture of agriculture on the island due to be made in the coming weeks.

The farming organisations have welcomed new Minister, Brendan Smith, along with new Junior Minis- ter, Clare TD Tony Killeen, but have urged them not to drop the ball, es- pecially on the burning issue of the WTO.

Indeed IFA President, Padraig Walshe, last week called for the Gov- ernment to use it’s veto to stop EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandel-

son from damaging Irish farming.

“Beef is thirty times more impor- tant than sugar beet, and supports the livelihoods of 100,000 farmers who would be un-viable as a result of a Mandelson deal, which would reduce cattle prices to €2/kg or 7Op/ Ib,” he said.

MAVCast delome (oy selAeue mnt MN eCoMoree) ete omy, the country could not afford the loss of thousands of jobs in ru- ral towns. 50,000 farmers would be un-viable as a result of handing over a large segment of the food chain to South American ranchers.”

ICSA president, Malcolm Thomp- son, also called on the Government to make a clear and unambiguous statement that it will veto a bad

WTO deal.

“There is no possibility of an ac- ceptable deal based on the current negotiating framework,” he said.

“While the Government has reiter- ated its intention to get a balanced deal, this is pie in the sky. There are no proposals on the table that offer anything to Irish farmers. On the other hand, there are no benefits either for the industrial or services sectors.”

Speaking at the Balmoral show last week, Minister Smith emphasised his commitment to the ongoing close co-operation between the Depart- ments of Agriculture and the Envi- ronment across a range of issues of mutual interest.

He also took the opportunity to re- State the Government’s commitment to seek a balanced outcome to the on- going WTO negotiations. Mr Smith said that the Irish Government’s consistent position was to seek a bal- anced outcome, which does not un- dermine Irish and European agricul- ture and delivers real benefits to the industrial and services sectors.

Minister Smith said that the Gov- ernment had voiced its concerns to the EU Commission at all levels and at every opportunity. This will continue and Minister Smith said he would be taking the matter up at the Agriculture Council.

THOUSANDS of homes and doz- ens of commercial properties over a wide area east of Ennis have been left without adequate emergency fire and ambulance cover following the closure of the Tulla Road for works being undertaken by the local au- thority and Iarnrod Eireann.

Clare County Council is carrying out work on the sewer infrastructure in the area of the railway bridge at Corrovorrin while Iarnr6d Eireann is undertaking a major upgrade of the railway bridge in advance of the opening of the Western Rail Corri- dor.

Fine Gael Councillor and former Limerick fire chief Johnny Flynn has said while the works are worthy and essential, the planning had not been well thought out. He made a lengthy submission to the council regarding the works and highlighted safety 1s- sues and the need for consideration to be given to emergency fire and am- bulance cover for that part of town.

“Public safety has to be the number one priority here. I had suggested that a fire appliance and ambulance be based on the eastern side of the bridge at Corrovorrin so they could quickly respond to emergencies in that part of town. I put this in my submission and didn’t even receive a

reply,” he said.

On Saturday afternoon, the emer- gency services were sent to a road traffic accident at Ballymacahill. The fire brigade had to take a seven kilometre detour by the Quin Road and Gauras while an ambulance had to take a similarly long detour out the Galway road. These diversions added between seven and 10 minutes to the response times. Fortunately, the accident was not serious and the emergency crews were not required.

“If that had been an incident where a car was on fire with persons trapped, whatever chance we would have had of saving them was gone out the win- dow with the detour we had to take. This is a tragedy waiting to happen and I can understand why people are not happy about it,” an emergency worker said.

According to Cllr Flynn, “There was no need for the road to be closed on Saturday. There was no work going on there and some provision should have been made for the emer- gency services to gain access.”

A council spokesman said _ the Irish Rail work involves replacing the bridge deck and widening it and this could not be carried out while maintaining traffic flow. The time it would take for a fire appliance or ambulance to get through would be longer than the round trip.”

AN EAST Clare secondary school, which is already coping with twice the number of pupils it was supposed to cater for, may still not get a new school – because they had 59 enrol- ments less than was expected this year.

The plight of St Joseph’s in Tulla was raised at a Dail debate last week. The school is catering for 441 stu- dents in a building which was de- signed to house 270.

And half of all the schools’ accom- modation is temporary, with 11 out of 22 classrooms based in prefabs on a site which is too small to ever ex- pand to comprise playing fields.

Deputy Pat Breen had asked during a Dail adjournment debate that the minister for education give a letter to the school’s board of management stating that their long-term prefer- ence for Tulla is for a new school on AMES Kore ON ELo (OMSL KOR

The school has been in negotia- tion with a local landowner for a site which would allow them to erect a new building on a fully serviced site with planning permission for sport- ing facilities.

Contracts have been drawn up, but to go any further the schools needs the department’s letter.

Replying on behalf of the minister for education, Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney said that St Joseph’s had been awarded a grade 2 on the department’s system, but this was based on an expected enrolment of 500.

The lower enrolment figure means that the grading would have to be reviewed and she said it would “not be prudent for the department to give any such open-ended commitment which would, in effect, limit the de- partment’s scope for manoeuvre in the future, regarding the optimum solution for secondary school serv- ices in east Clare.”

“We are very proud of the loyalty of our parents, who are loyal to the high standard of education provided here at St Joseph’s rather than to the standard of the building,” said school principal, Jim Cooney.

‘The enrolments will be above 500 in the next three year. The primary school population has gone from 194 to 256 in five years – that’s a 32 per cent increase. We will certainly have the numbers.”