EDITORIAL

CLARE’S list of sports people who have reached the pinnacle of success in their chosen discipline increased dramatically in the past week.

Sports men and women, ranging from under-age to senior, have brought honour to the Banner County in a wide range of activities down through the years. We’ve had world boxing champions, Olympic champions, European champions not to mention success in hurling and football but it’s hard to beat a return of 10 gold and eight silver medals from the World Handball Championships held in Dublin.
Some may think of handball as an Irish game fostered by the GAA but it does indeed enjoy big support in many countries.
Clare has long been a stronghold of handball and Pat Kirby from the Tuamgraney club set the bar for future players when he dominated the game in Ireland in the 1970s and won a world title.
Now a new generation of heroes has emerged. Five years ago, Diarmuid Nash (Tuamgraney) won the 15s title in Canada and last week, the Scariff man was back with a vengeance to claim the U-23 title on home soil. He was also part of the Irish team that won silver in the Federation Cup competition.
Other Clare players to join in the medal fest were Doireann Murphy (Clarecastle) and Ella Donnellan (Kilkishen) at U-13; Fergal Coughlan (Clooney) at U-17, Colin Crehan (Kilkishen), Niall Malone (Tuamgraney), Lisa Loughnane (Clooney), Colin Corbett and Niall Bolton (Tulla), John Cawley (Shannon) in the golden masters.
Their achievements are incredible and a tribute to the manner in which handball facilities and coaching has improved in the county in recent years. Community Games and national titles at all age levels have flowed into the county. They are up there with the very best and they have the world titles to prove it.
Yet another aspect to Clare’s great sporting tradition will be unveiled this October Bank Holiday weekend when we welcome our fellow Celts from Scotland for the second game of the 2012 international shinty series in Cusack Park on Saturday. A Scottish ladies’ club team will also play a county selection to mark the official opening of Fr Michael McNamara Memorial Park at Doora, the new county grounds, by President Michael D Higgins.
Afterwards, there will be parade of camogie clubs through Ennis, which will bring a great vibrancy to the town.
The icing on the cake in a very busy sporting weekend will be the county senior hurling final between Cratloe and Newmarket on Sunday.
All of these sporting events showcase Clare in a very positive light and bode well for future success across the board.

Scary letters from council

THE local Household Charge row could be stepped up a level this week with the issuing of late payment reminder letters by Clare County Council.
The timing is not great. The letters might scare householders, especially in a great many instances where two letters will drop through the same letterbox. The reason being, where married couples own homes jointly, each person is liable for the Household Charge – although only one payment per household is necessary.
The council might have been advised to wait ’til next week as some householders, who are being asked to pay €127, which includes a late payment fee and interest, might be tempted to consign them to Hallowe’en bonfires.
Thousands of Clare householders identified by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) as being liable for the controversial household charge have been targeted in a bid to increase the council’s 69% compliance rate.
The council, under direction, is doing as they’re bid. The local authority has cause to vent anger at Environment Minister Phil Hogan for doling out harsh punishment in reward for a very good revenue collection performance. Instead of reward for achieving a high collection rate, Clare County Council was hit with €240,000 retention from the General Purpose Grant Allocation of the Local Government Fund.
Revenue from the Household Charge is forwarded to the Exchequer for distribution to local authorities to support the provision of local services such as public parks, libraries, open spaces and leisure amenities, planning and development, fire and emergency services and street cleaning and lighting.
Niall Barrett, Clare County Council’s head of finance, noted Clare had one of the higher compliance rates in comparison to the 33 other local authority areas.
How effective will the council’s move be?  People who have aligned themselves to groups steadfastly opposed to the charges are unlikely to be swayed at this stage. They will view this as just another shot across the bows and may be looking forward to the idea of a day in court and all the attendant publicity it would attract.
Also with budget day only weeks away, it will probably be used to support the argument that people have endured enough austerity without the Government coming down too heavily in cutting a range of allowances or funding to critical areas such as health and education.
It’s the classic catch-22 scenario. Money is needed to provide services and the people in receipt of services don’t want to pay the charge, claim they are doing so already in other forms of contribution to the State.
There is also certain to be strong resistance to a proposal to transfer responsibility for collecting the Household Charge to Revenue, with money deducted from wages.
There’s a long way to go yet before the Household Charge debate runs out of steam. There’s never going to be total compliance and there’s no fear of all defaulters ending up in prison. The best that can happen is that the majority pays it, quite a lot unwillingly and tries to provide for it through long-term budgeting.