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Both Clare Fine Gael TDs, Pat Breen and Joe Carey, have expressed shock at George Lee’s departure from Fine Gael and resignation from Dáil Éireann.In fact, Mr Lee’s final official function on behalf of Fine Gael, before he resigned on Monday, was to attend the Kilrush Chamber dinner dance last Friday, following a request from Deputy Breen.Stating that he was close to Mr Lee having sat together in the Dáil chamber, the Ballynacally TD believes his former party colleague was frustrated with the slow nature of political life in Leinster House.“He could never understand why the Order of Business took an hour and a half at times. He felt that all this should have been done much quicker. I think he found the whole political system strange and difficult to comprehend,” Deputy Breen told The Clare Champion.“You could have two votes on the same item and you’d have the same result. He couldn’t understand that. Why would you be calling …

FOURTEEN Clare schools were named among the top 400 secondary schools in Ireland for university entrants according to a major Sunday newspaper at the weekend.A table published in the Parent Power supplement of The Sunday Times ranked schools in order of the average percentage of students registering for university in the past two years. However, according to the head of one of the country’s main teaching unions, the survey does not give the full picture in terms of student’s educational achievement. Clareman and president of the Teachers Union of Ireland, Don Ryan, pointed out that The Sunday Times Parent Power survey does not rank schools in terms of holistic education. “We see this as a very crude measurement of educational attainment. It doesn’t include those who do not wish to attend third level but do go on to further education like apprenticeships and so on. Nor does it, for instance, take on board the enrolment policies of schools whereby a …

THE Government is being urged to support the development of the proposed Lynx cargo facility at Shannon Airport.Deputy Carey said if the facility went ahead, it would be of great benefit to the Mid-West. “The potential benefits of developing the Lynx international cargo facility at Shannon are endless. We are now at a critical juncture as rising unemployment and the loss of inward investment means action is needed urgently. The addition of an international cargo hub would secure the future of Shannon Airport and attract much-needed business to this region. “In order to make this a reality, Government must put their shoulder to the wheel and drive this project until it becomes a reality. Denis Brosnan, chairman of the Mid-West Taskforce, outlined how beneficial this project could be. “The €7 million investment required from Government would copper fasten the deal with Lynx and would be money well spent as it will create and sustain jobs into the future. Yet there …

IN one fell swoop, George Lee has pulled the rug from under Fine Gael and handed Fianna Fáil an unexpected lifeline. With Fine Gael enjoying a comfortable lead over Fianna Fáil in the most recent opinion poll, the South Dublin TD’s shock resignation just eight months after his election to Dáil Éireann could seriously jeorpadise Enda Kenny’s chances of becoming Taoiseach. Thanks to George Lee’s decicion, it’s advantage Brian Cowen, who has been struggling to claw back support for Fianna Fáil as the economic recession, growing unemployment, falling house prices, bank bail-outs and tough budgetary measures test the loyalty of even the most committed party supporters.  The former RTÉ ecomomics editor’s exit from Leinster House certainly throws a spanner in the works as regards the concensus which prevailed that Enda Kenny was the taoiseach-in-waiting as part of a new coalition after the next election.George Lee breathed new life into Fine Gael when he galloped to success in the June 2009 …

To us in the general public the flight of George Lee’s toys from the pram came as quite a shock. We are told that his unhappiness at not being given a more prominent role in the Fine Gael party had been building for some time but it seems that even those who were aware of this have been caught unawares by his decision to step down from both the party and the Dáil. There are a number of ways of looking at his decision. Firstly, we could say that Mr Lee’s naivety of the reality of political life and party politics has been laid bare for the public to see. The scale of his ego has also come into sharp focus but also one could argue his depth of integrity in being willing to admit that he has failed utterly in what he set out to do. When he chose to leave his position as RTÉ economics editor and throw …

Retired public representative, Madeleine Taylor-Quinn netted almost €1,000 supporting her county in Croke Park while sporting the mayoral chain.The Fine Gael councillor, who stepped away from political life at the last local elections, claimed €611.97 in expenses for attending Clare’s junior All-Ireland camogie final win over Offaly in 2008And two weeks later the then Mayor of Clare attended the All-Ireland intermediate ladies football final, a game Clare lost to Tipperary, and she claimed €354.19 for her attendance at that game. Details of the claims, some of which related to 2008, are contained in the list of expenses claimed by councillors during 2009 and which are available online. In fact, Clare County Council became one of the first local authorities in the country to make the expenses of its councillors and executive available online.Not unexpectedly, the two big earners were the last two mayors – Madeleine Taylor Quinn (€40,858.05) and current incumbent Tony Mulcahy (€44,104.13). However, one of Clare’s full-time politicians, …

WHILE Shannon is facing a major drop in service and passenger numbers, Cork Airport is about to gain an advantage as Ryanair and Aer Lingus have announced a combined total of 15 new routes from there.While Ryanair is culling 15 routes out of Shannon, it has announced seven new ones from Cork for the peak summer season of June, July and August, while an additional aircraft will be based there. The airline has also announced it will be initiating a Knock-Barcelona service.Aer Lingus has announced that it is adding eight new services from Cork. The airline will operate 140 flights a week from Cork to destinations in the UK and Europe.It all means that Cork will be getting busier at a time when Shannon is struggling and numbers are falling.Speaking on Wednesday, Stephen McNamara of Ryanair said that Shannon has nobody to blame but itself, if it was falling behind its southern competitor.“The costs in Shannon are uncompetitive. Shannon airport …

IN a frenetic 12-hour spell in Orlando last Wednesday week, Spanish Point man Nigel Mangan hit 8,910 golf balls, 7,721 of which were deemed sufficiently well struck, to help the 34-year-old business man set a Guinness World Record.Although he has never played a full round of golf, Nigel entered the record books with the help of a golf ball teeing system that supplies a golf ball 1.5 seconds after the last one has been hit.Mr Mangan owns Cadpo Solutions, a product design company on the Gort Road in Ennis. Egan Golf, which is located in the same industrial estate, came up with the concept before appointing Cadpo Solutions to design the product.“My engineers are responsible for taking the concept that Les Egan had put together with his father Louis Egan. We took that concept and we made it what it is today,” Nigel explained.“Les’s father Louis had prostrate cancer and couldn’t bend down to tee a ball. So he came …