The Clare People Archive

THERE were celebrations in Lis- doonvarna recently as 43 hard- working students received their cer- tificates for the completion of their a) AA Oa Ny s-tKehy

Clare TD Tony Killeen was on hand to present the awards at Mary Immaculate Secondary School. The school offers courses in business studies, childcare and community and health services, with a total of 15 modules on the go within these courses at any one time.

Night classes began in Mary Immaculate Secondary School back in 1995. The interest in these classes

proved so strong that 20 students had enrolled in full post-Leaving Cert courses in the school by September wR

“This is the first year that we will be giving out the full Community and Health Care certs so it’s particularly exciting. The course only started two years ago So this is the first group to pick up full certificates,” said Treasa Conneely of Mary Immaculate.

“This year we had 78 _ students enrolled, which is a fabulous number. It’s been a great 10 years, it would have been very unique back in 1997 to have adults coming into the school.

“The students are drawn from all walks of life, from the ages of 20

years and upwards. They come from all over the Burren area, from New Quay down as far as Corofin, and we even have a few people who travel up from Ennis.”

The school carried out a survey in 2004 on the challenges faced by adult females wishing to return to the education system.

“The survey showed that 85 per cent said that a lack of confidence hindered them from returning to education,’ added Ms Conneely.

“More than 95 per cent said lack of child minding facilities and 76 per cent said that they had lost all contact with the labour market because the technology had changed so much.

“This helped us to choose different modules that would suit the needs of these people.”

More than half of all those who complete courses in Lisdoonvarna go on to further education, with many going to receive university degrees.

“We have one person who went on to become a lecturer in Limerick and another who has just qualified as a teacher and is now working as a teacher in Athenry. So it’s going well,” said Ms Conneely.

“We get a lot of our students from word of mouth so people are giving us a good reference.”

For more information, contact the school at 065-7074266.

A DOOLIN man has just two days left to wait before he finds out if he will be bringing the biggest prize in Irish business franchising back to north Clare.

Derek O’Dwyer, of ActionCoach Business Coaching in Doolin, has been short-listed in the Franchisee of the Year Category at the prestigious Irish Franchise Awards 2007.

The award will be presented at a ceremony at Dublin’s Conrad Hotel this Thursday.

“We work with small and medium- sized business owners in the mid- west, helping them to improve their business through different strategies.

A lot of business owners are doing well, they know they can do even better but they don’t know how,” said Mr O’Dwyer.

“We go in and effectively teach them how to do it and then hold them accountable for the things that they know they should do but don’t do because of a variety of reasons.

“It compares very well with sports. Every sports person in the world has a coach. That coach isn’t better than the sports person but they have a different perspective.

“Ultimately every business _per- son wants to make more profit. But you can’t do that unless your team is working well and there is a good structure to the business which is

sustainable.

‘“That’s what we look at, at creating structures that continue to work when we are no longer there ourselves.”

Other finalists in Derek’s category include Michael O’Hara of Signs Express, John Dawson of Snap Print and Donnchadh McGinn of Chem- Dry.

The awards, which are sponsored by Ulster Bank, recognise excel- lence in franchising, a sector which has grown to an annual turnover to €2.099 billion in Ireland, accounting for more than 25,000 jobs.

“T have been set up here in Doolin for six years. I was the first Action- Coach to set up in Europe and now there are 200 of us all over Europe.

It’s an Australian company but it now has offices all over Europe,’ contin- ued Mr O’ Dwyer.

“It’s great to be nominated for this award. I am delighted. I have been working hard with ActionCoach to try to grow the franchise in the area and it’s working very well.”

ActionCoach Business Coaching operates nationwide with a team of 30 coaches. ActionCoach’s members work one-on-one with business own- ers and managers to help manage and grow their businesses and profit nerevaca Dae

THE countdown is on for underage basketball in north Clare with just three days to go to the throw-in for this year’s Lorcan O’Connor Cup.

In the three short years since the reformation of basketball in Ennistymon, the Clare Cascaders have quickly grown to a club of more than 100 young boys and girls.

‘The numbers have been increasing every year. The season starts in the first week of September and keeps go- ing on to Easter so we are very very busy,’ said Stephen Leigh of the club. “It’s a huge commitment, both from the players and the coaches, but it is going really well. Our under-12s are

undefeated at the moment and our boys teams beat the Limerick Lions in every age group when they came up to Ennistymon earlier this month.”

One of the highlights of the year is the Lorcan O’Connor Memorial Cup, which begins this Friday. This competition, organised in the mem- ory of one of the true greats of En- nistymon basketball, pits under-12s teams from within the club against each other with the final held in late December.

‘That was the highlight of our year last year. The kids are really looking forward to it. It’s a mixed under-12s tournament and is great success,” added Mr Leigh.

“We also have a very good group of

transition-year students. We wanted them to get involved, not just as play- ers, but also as coaches and referees. So five of them went off and did the Basketball Ireland coaching course and have started to coach at under- age level and in the schools.

“It’s about getting a club structure going. These kids are taking on more and more for themselves. They are showing a great interest and this shows their commitment to the club and to basketball.”

“We have six coaches and 10 peo- ple on the committee. We get fan- tastic commitment from all of them. The workload is shared and we get a lot of satisfaction out of it.”

The success of the club has also

seen the re-instigation of mini-bas- ketball for kids under the age of 10 on Saturday mornings. The sport has also spread into the local schools, with the CBS in Ennistymon seeing off a number of established basket- ball schools to win their way through to the Munster level of the Basketball Ireland U-19 league last week.

If anyone is interesting in forming a new basketball club in Clare, contact Michael O’Mahony from Basketball Ireland on 086-8112955.

SHANNON-BASED company, Avo- cent International last year recorded a nine per cent increase in profits, according to its latest returns to the Companies Office.

The US-owned company record- ed an increase in profits from $35 million in 2005 to $38.6 million in PAU erey

This is based on turnover of $187 million, compared to $150 million in 2004, an increase of 24 per cent, while operating profit increased from $33 million in 2005 to $44 mil- lion last year.

Avocent is principally engaged in the manufacture, distribution, sales and marketing and research and de- velopment of IT solution products for the European, Middle/East, African and Asian markets.

In 2005, the company paid a divi- dend of $92 million and in Septem- ber of 2006, a further dividend of Oy Ro ne eateyee

In a statement accompanying the accounts, Avocent states that the eroup’s performance during the year “was very strong compared to the previous year’.

The accounts state, “In 2006 the

eroup further consolidated and ex- tended its R&D function in Shannon. The group’s function continues to concentrate on high growth oppor- tunities, continually investing in new product solutions, product enhance- ment and improving manufacturing IMEC E Lea ohne

In relation to the company’s future developments, the accounts state, ‘The company expects to launch new products in 2007 that will increase the group’s share of this market and reduce risk from its competitors.”

The company, which is led by one of the leading members of Atlantic Connectivity Alliance, Kieran Mc- Sweeney, occupies the flagship Shan- non Free Zone property formerly oc- cupied by Tellabs.

78 people are employed in sales, 58 in manufacturing, 33 to general and administration and 33 in Research and Development (R&D).

The accounts show that $20 million was spent on R&D, an increase of $1 million on the 2004 figure.

The accounts also show _ that $824,000 were paid to directors for management services while the ma- jority of the company’s business was done in the EU where $115 million was generated.

THE Construction Industry Federa- tion (CIF) yesterday stated that it has “huge concerns” over plans by Clare County Council by seek the provi- sion of social houses in private hous- ing estates.

In its draft housing strategy, the council anticipates a higher demand for social housing due to the down- turn in the economy with demand for social units growing to 260 by 2011.

During the lifetime of its previous Housing Strategy, published four years ago, the council provided no social housing under Part V of the Planning & Development Act, which requires developers to provide 20 per cent of the value of the site for hous- ing developers for social housing.

The draft, which includes a review of the performance of the existing strategy, shows that the council pro- vided 74 affordable homes through the Part V arrangement.

However, as part of the upcoming plan, the council has signalled that there will be an increased need for social housing.

The matter was due to be discussed at the council’s adjourned November meeting in Scariff yesterday, but was deferred to the December meeting.

In response to the principled objec- tion by CIF to the inclusion of the social housing provision in the Hous- ing Strategy, the council state, “As the councils have limited lands upon which to deliver both social and af- fordable housing, it will be neces- sary for the councils to increasingly accept units of accommodation rath- er than cash from private developers in line with the specific market de- mands of the locality in which such housing is planned to be developed.”

The figures relating to the council’s existing housing strategy also show Clare’s local authorities completed 311 social homes from 2003 to the end of last year.

THE Mid Western Regional Hospital Ennis was described as having “‘fair”’ hygiene standards in an independent audit of the country’s acute hospitals.

The general hospital was one of 35 nationally with a “fair” result. Just seven hospitals were rated good and no hospital was rated very good by the Health Information and Quality Authority.

Ennis General Hospital showed a broad to exceptional complhance with hygiene standards. However, some areas of the 88-bed hospital were a cause of concern for the auditors.

The unannounced assessment, which took place between July 20 and 31 this year, showed that toilets were “not cleaned and the under- surface of handwash sinks required oer rab ero

According to the auditors, all bathrooms and washrooms must be cleaned on a daily basis and this must be monitored and recorded. No monitoring was available at Ennis General Hospital, however.

Cobwebs were present behind ra- diators on most corridors and behind some doors. Although sluices were clean, they were cluttered and had no hand-wash facilities, according

to the audit. There was insufficient designated storage space, according to the report, but plans are in place to rectify this situation.

There were no mattress bags avail- able for contaminated mattresses ready for disposal and clinical waste is being taken manually from trans- port container by staff and placed in wheelie bins.

According to the report, the hospital scored relatively well in the service delivery section of the review with “generally acceptable performance’.

‘However, opportunities for im- provement were evident in corporate management,” it said.

In a statement, the HSE mid-west said the audit was “generally favo- rable in terms of services to patients but weaknesses had been identified at the corporate level generally, mean- ing the development of written docu- ments on processes and protocols.”

The Mid Western Regional Hospi- tal, Dooradoyle, the Regional Mater- nity Hospital and St John’s in Limer- ick were designated as “fair” along with Ennis, while Nenagh Hospital came into the “poor” category.

The Health Information and Qual- ity Authority warned that all hospi- tals, including those in the mid-west, could do better.

SEVEN out of 10 shoppers prefer to purchase local food from outlets such as farmers’ markets which are enjoying a resurgence in Clare, ac- cording to a new report.

Clare Green Party Councillor Brian Meaney has welcomed the survey by An Bord Bia, which shows that seven out of 10 people prefer to buy fresh local produce. Cllr. Meaney said the survey ensured a bright future for lo- cal food producers.

“This shows that consumers are interested in buying fresh produce locally, to keep their local economy

alive, to ensure they are receiving the freshest food possible and to play their part in helping the environ- jee) 8 i

Cllr Meaney said that the develop- ment of local produce markets such as the country market and the farm- ers market in Ennis is “a vital means of ensuring the demand by consum- ers for local produce is enhanced”’.

The survey, carried out by Landsdowne Market Research and released at the National Conference on Local Food found that local food meant ‘fresh’ food to the consumer and 76 per cent agreed that local food tended to taste better.

THOSE objecting to a planned €10 million retail plan for Miltown Mal- bay are doing so for commercial rea- sons, not planning ones.

That is the view of the promoter of the venture, John Jones, who said yesterday that the opening of the Su- pervalu retail outlet would generate up to 100 jobs for the west Clare vil- lage.

Mr Jones said that not one local resident had objected to the develop- ment, pointing out that the objections to the proposal came from the local business community, with only one

business person being native to the village. Mr Jones said that he could not remember the last time that 100 jobs were created in Miltown Mal- bay. Mr Jones’s plan also includes seven shops, 18 apartments and of- Nene

“Miltown needs something like a Supervalu and it will mean more business for Miltown. People go into Ennis and Limerick to shop, but hav- ing more services in Miltown will make sure that Miltown is a bigger draw for shoppers.”

Mr Jones accused those opposed to the development of being “small minded”’.

He said, “We have had nine pre- planning meetings with the council. The development is only a short dis- tance from the Main Street and will provide 148 spaces for the village.”

Mr Jones said that his family have been operating a business in Miltown since the 1830s.

‘We have a proud tradition here and we are well qualified to be in line to put in a new shop and we should be allowed the opportunity to do it.”

Mr Jones said that he has had a number of phonecalls from local people offering their support for the project. He said that he would start construction work on the project as

soon as planning is secured.

However, Clare County Council has expressed “serious concerns in regard to the height and proximity of the proposed development and its 1m- pact on the adjacent terraced houses to the south”.

The council also states, “notwith- standing the submitted Retail Impact Assessment (RIA), the council has concerns regarding the impact of the overall development on the vitality and viability of the existing retail commercial units currently operat- ing in Miltown Malbay and the effect of the proposed development on the Main Street of the town.”

THE chief executive of Clare FM last night moved to dampen local speculation that the station is being sold to Radio Kerry for a reported €7-8 million.

It is understood that the board of Clare FM has agreed in principle to the sale to Radio Kerry and it is ex- pected that the sale will be finalised in the New Year.

The proposed sale will result in minor windfalls for the hundreds of small shareholders across Clare who invested in the station 15 years ago as a result of a share drive.

However, Liam O’Shea yesterday dismissed reports of a sale to Radio

Kerry as “pure speculation”, adding that he found the query on the matter “very surprising’.

He added, “Given the industry we are in, and our size, our future strat- egy must always be open. However, this year is no different to any other year.

“IT am always getting enquiries in relation to selling and, in fact, I have also made one or two inquiries my- self in relation to acquiring another radio station. There will always be speculation in this industry.”

In a second email yesterday, Mr O’Shea said, “I can categorically state that Clare FM has not been sold to anybody. ”

Radio Kerry yesterday failed to re-

spond to a query on the reported sale. The move comes against the back- eround of growing profits and listen- ership for Clare FM, which scooped a recent national news award.

The annual returns for 2006 show that the company increased its an- nual profit before tax to €240,000 on a turnover of €1.9 million, making it an attractive target for a takeover. The profit achieved last year results in accumulated profits of €694,000, while its most recent JNLR radio survey showed a four per cent in- crease in market share.

Mr O’Shea said, “I am broadly sat- isfied we have maintained our profit- ability… We are pleased with the fig- ures, as we Set out 12 months ago to

increase our weekday market share. We have seen a healthy four per cent increase on this figure over this pe- riod. Our weekend figures have also increased.”

Asked to comment yesterday on the reported sale, the founding chief ex- ecutive of Clare FM, Caimin Jones, said, “If the story is true, it is to be welcomed for two reasons, the first being Clare FM and Radio Kerry have similar broadcasting objectives in having a strong connection to the community and a strong cultural identity with the community.”

Mr Jones said, “I would also wel- come the sale in that it will give a re- turn to the many people who invested in the station in 1992.”

SHANNON-based internet security firm RSA Security Ireland Ltd re- corded a profit before tax of €17.6 million last year.

The company had a turnover of $145 million. an increase on its $120 million turnover in 2005.

RSA employs 43 people with 31 employed in production and 12 in administration with staff costs com- Pac KO MMM seb NEE(OyIe

The company was acquired by EMC Corporation on 15 September PAU eroy

According to a statement accom- panying the accounts, “the principal activity of the company is the manu-

facture, licensing and sale of elec- tronic security solutions”.

Turnover for the year shows an in- crease of 20 per cent over the pre- vious year and this together with reduced overhead costs contributed to a year on year increase in profit before tax of 20 per cent.

Profit before taxation was $17.6 million for the year. At 31 December 2006, the balance sheet indicates a sound financial standing with share- holders funds of $16,664,869 and cash reserves of $57.78 million.

The directors believe that future total revenue will be influenced by a number of major factors: as new, lower cost remote access technolo- gies become available and as em-

ployment rates increase.

The statement adds: “We believe that governmental regulations re- garding the access to and distribu- tion of private information will drive demand for the company’s products.

“We believe that as national govern- ments proceed with increased aware- ness and funding of cybersecurity issues and focus on e-security, the company may benefit with increased revenue.

“However, information technology budgets continue to be constrained, and the continued uncertainty in the economy and global affairs may af- fect revenue generated from the sales of products in future quarters,’ the company states.