Sutherland says EU political vision gone

THE former EU Competition Commissioner, Mr Peter Sutherland, warned yesterday that the "vision thing" had gone out of European politics and needed to be restored.

Speaking of the need to see EU enlargement in a broader political context, he said that "despite all the problems involved, we all see enlargement as an almost unbelievable opportunity, after the horrors of the first half of the century, to unite Europe in freedom."

Mr Sutherland also expressed confidence that the treaty changing Inter Governmental Conference would agree to considerably more than the minimalist changes feared by many. He believed particularly strong progress would be made in justice and home affairs co operation.

Mr Sutherland was speaking ate a meeting of the advisory board of a new international think tank which was announced yesterday in Brussels, the European Policy Centre. The chairman of the Irish Institute for European Affairs, Mr Brendan Halligan, is also a member of the centre's advisory board which includes politicians, business people, and journalists from around Europe.

Speaking at the announcement, Mr Max Kohnstamm, also a board member and the former president of the European University Institute in Florence, said the centre was in the Monnet tradition of thought cannot be divorced from action and would help business and other constituents of civil society participate in the development of the EU".

The centre will be funded by corporate donations and the Commission.

PEOPLE in north Clare want their water supply improved as they fear serious loss of tourism revenue.

The North Clare Water Campaign last night met public representatives in Lisdoonvarna to highlight the issue which the chairwoman of the group, Ms Maev Fitzgerald, described as "a big problem here". She said water supply was completely inadequate in the summer tourism season. The water was very poor and brown.

Ms Fitzgerald, also chairwoman of the Doolin Tourism Co Operative, said: "Visitors from America, Great Britain and the Continent complain to B & B owners about the colour of the water and they check out and go elsewhere.

The Doolin Lisdoonvarna catchment area attracts thousands of visitors yearly, placing a heavy demand on the overloaded water supply. "Unless we get adequate water, our tourism industry will suffer. If there was a fire in the area, there wouldn't be enough water to fight it, and Lisdoonvarna, for example, has eight to nine hotels," said Ms Fitzgerald.

The water was tested several times, she said, but "if it is safe to drink, nobody wants to drink coloured water. Washing clothes in summer, the whites turn brown. It's as if they were washed in tea."

A £6.5 million scheme is planned for Lickeen Lake, between Ennistymon and Kilfenora, and Clare County Council has applied for EU funding. At present the Doolin Lisdoonvarna water supply comes from Kilmoon lake reservoir, near Lisdoonvarna.

No comment was available yesterday from Clare County Council.