Month: October 2005

idea three years ago. Every kind of reality TV show had been done except a sports one. We came up with a plan, worked on it for six months and went to Chelsea with it, who were very keen,’ explained Damien at his family home in Inch on Monday. Originally from Ennis, where his Father

managed Lifford soccer club, Damien moved to London when he was fourteen. He had pre- viously worked with his brother Justin’s tel- ecommunications company before taking the plunge and entering the glamorous world of Premiership football.

“T went to the Ennis National School and Flannans. My parents left Ennis when I was fourteen. My father used to manage Lifford, so the person who comes second in the com- petition will get a twelve-month deal with Lif- royce nae

Young footballers from across Britain, Ireland, Europe and Africa were among the 20,000 that took part in the summer trials. The remaining, lucky 12 are currently secluded away in a Surrey mansion near Chelsea’s state- of-the-art training complex. Chelsea’s discern-

ing boss, Jose Mourinho, will have the final say on who makes the grade. A regular at Stam- ford Bridge, Damien 1s keen to stress that this is what will give the show credibility.

“There is no public voting to get rid of peo- ple, this is a really credible show. We’re not getting rid of the fat kid, or the small kid, or the skinny kid, or whatever. It is purely down to the Chelsea academy staff saying he is good enough or not good enough. Chelsea don’t need the money from phone lines. ” The club are currently funded by billionaire Russian ty- coon Roman Abramovich.

Damien is hoping that the show will be a big success and already has one eye on bringing the format around the globe. He also plans on entering the potentially lucrative world of foot- ball agents.

THE residents of an up-market private hous- ing estate in Ennis are demanding that walls Surrounding their estate be raised, before a scheme of social housing is built next door.

The Bishop’s Court Residents’ Association also want security lighting to be fitted and for certain houses to be allocated to people with a “proven good record” on housing.

They want the wall built up to eight feet high and have demanded Ennis Town Council car- ry out the extension, before proceeding with plans to build the more affordable homes.

The council’s €10 million plan will see 66

houses and 16 apartments on lands that once formed part of Bishop Willie Walsh’s West- bourne estate.

Mountain View residents have also ex- pressed concerns over the plan, though they stress they are looking forward to welcoming their new neighbours.

In their submission, the Bishop’s Court Residents Association state, “under no cir- cumstances is there to be any access to West- bourne Estate via Bishop’s Court estate and green areas.”

After a residents’ meeting which was at- tended by a garda, the residents demanded that security lighting be fitted to the rear of

homes, 34 to 41 in the Bishop’s Court estate.

Their submission states, “these houses are backed by the green and wooded area; an area where there is concern that unsocial behav- iour may be ripe. This is highlighted in Crime Prevention Officers’ report.”

The residents also want the council to carry out certain repairs “should anti-social behav- iour become an issue.”

They say because houses 23 to 38 in the proposed development “back on to an exist- ing mature estate, the council should allocate these houses to tenants with a proven good record in local authority accommodation”.

The Mountain View residents’ submissions

question “the wisdom of such a high concen- tration of social and affordable housing in the Watery Rd area which already has a very high number of developments of this type.”

“We would have thought it would have been more prudent to break up the units of social and affordable housing between a number of different developments so as to avoid the kind of social stigma which some people might wrongfully attach to a large development which consists only of this type of housing

Councillors are due to make a decision on the application at a monthly meeting before the end of the year. There is no recourse to An Bord Pleanala.

DETAILS of new government regulations concerning the transporting of all farm animals is currently being circu- lated to representatives of farming groups, transporters, operators of assembly centres, livestock marts, the horse industry, dog breeders and national welfare bodies by the Department of Agriculture.

The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Cough- lan is hoping to get the opinions of the concerned parties on the new regulations which are due to come into effect in January of 2007. Minister Coughlan announced the details of the consultation paper on the protection of ani- mals during transport in Dublin last week.

The paper states that all transporters of animals, even those including farmers transporting their own animals, irrespective of the distance travelled must comply with general conditions concerning animal welfare, mode of transport and loading and unloading facilities.

Indeed all those who transport animals for more than 65 km must be officially authorised and undergo official meebuNpuNtes

Indeed the paper also states that persons who transport animals on journeys of over eight hours must use vehicles that have been inspected and approved and must keep de- tailed records of all of their transport operations. Inter- esting these long haul vehicles must also be fitted with a satellite based navigation system.

THE IFA national treasurer and candidate in the upcom- ing presidential election Padraig Walshe has called on the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Dick Roche to provide support for the col- lection of surplus waste farm plastic.

Mr Walshe’s comments come just one week after the announcement by the Irish Farm Film Plastic Group (IFFPG) that collection was to be suspended throughout the country because of lack of funds. The IFFPG claim that the purchase of illegal black market plastic by farm- ers is making collecting all the plastic untenable.

‘Farmers in some counties have not received a collec- tion of their waste farm plastic for a number of years,” said Mr Walshe. “We now need a targeted programme to collect the surplus plastic that has built up on farms over the last two years and to allow the collection service

By the terms outlined in the paper the regulations will not apply to journeys that are not undertaken for financial gains. According to the department these safe activities include the transport of animals to and from agricultural shows.

In addition to this the operators of assembly centres must ensure that animals are treated in accordance with technical rules and personnel employed by them must have received training in all of these rules.

At the announcement of the plan the Minister said that the welfare of animals being transported 1s paramount and she invites interested parties to submit views to her Department on the new rules. In particular she said she would welcome observations on any further specific ar- eas that may be considered as not constituting an eco- nomic activity.

Interested parties have been given until October 31 to submit opinions and comments to the department. Submissions should be submitted to the Department of Agriculture and Food, National Beef Assurance Divi- sion (Transport Section), Business Park, Maynooth, Co Gtr cer

The paper available at the Department of Agriculture and Food website in the “What’s New” section at www. agriculture.gov.ie. The proposed regulation applies to the transport of all live animals, including cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry and horses.

restart its activities without delay.”

Clare is one of the worst counties hit by the halt in collection with roughly half of the county’s plastic left uncollected. Other counties badly hit are Wexford and Roscommon where little or no plastic has been collected this year and Galway where less than one third of plastic has been collected.

“The Scheme has received strong support from farm- ers since it started in 1997 and has played a key role in protecting the rural environment,’ continued Mr Walshe. ‘* However, it must now carefully examine its business model to provide the funding needed to meet increasing farmer demand for waste collections, which is occurring due to greater farmer participation in REPS and the envi- ronmental requirements of the Single Farm Payment.”

MINISTER for State, Tim O’ Malley told the Dail that he has been informed by the Garda au- thorities that a special operation is in place in Kilrush to assist local Gardai in their efforts to prevent and detect acts of criminality in the locality.

He was responding to a call from Deputy Pat Breen to put in place a strategic plan to deal with the anti- social problems in Kilrush that have people living in fear.

“Resources from throughout the Clare division have been, and will continue to be, utilised in this op- eration. Within the past week, one individual has been charged with four acts of criminal damage to cars in the town and is in custody,” Minister O’Malley told the Fine Gael Deputy.

“The Minister for Justice is fur- ther informed that one additional sergeant and two additional Gardai were recently deployed to Kilrush to augment resources. The present special operation will be continual-

ly reviewed and additional resourc- es will be deployed if the necessity arises,’ he added.

In a Dail speech on the issue, Deputy Pat Breen said that as a re- sult of anti-social behaviour in Kil- rush, “elderly people now fear for their safety and worry about their property, while parents are fearful when their children are out”.

“There has been some success by local Gardai in making arrests on this specific issue but this will not be the end of the matter. This is- sue has been allowed to fester, as

have countless similar ones in oth- er towns and villages, where small groups, usually of juveniles, run riot at night and cause thousands of euro of damage. This must be stopped.”

Calling on the Minister to draw up a strategic plan to tackle the problems in Kilrush, Deputy Breen said that such a plan would use the resources of a special Garda unit to assist local efforts in dealing with the ongoing and escalating acts of vandalism and anti-social behav- iour in Kilrush.

AN exciting new exhibition of paintings by Christopher Banahan will open this Saturday in the Rus- sell Gallery in New Quay.

The exhibition, which 1s entitled ‘Recent Paintings’, will be opened by the Galway Arts Officer James Harrold and will run until Novem- ber 12.

‘Recent Paintings’ will feature a selection of paintings undertaken from when Banahan first started exhibiting in Ireland about 10 years ago up until the present day and a series of landscape painting influenced by the artists move to the Galway Bay last year.

A recurring theme in his paint- ings is the destructive force that nature can have upon both natural and man-made surfaces.

This can be seen not only in his earlier, Pompei influenced frag- mented frescos, but also in his Iconic Gold leaf Madonna’s and Deities, his contemplative portraits of children and his present Burren inspired ethereal landscapes and flowers.

Indeed his most recent works explore many themes especially relevant in the Burren such as the ways by which natural erosion re- flects the vulnerability and fragil- ity of life.

Christopher Banahan regularly shows at the Hallward Gallery in Dublin and has been extensively exhibiting in galleries throughout the country. Indeed Mr Banahan has taken part in successful exhi- bitions around the world including the Boston University, Irish Insti- tute for European Affairs in Lou- vain and the Academia Britannica in Rome.

Earlier this year he was also se- lected to represent Ireland in the “Contemporary Art From Ireland” exhibition at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

His work has also been included in many private and corporate col- lections including Microsoft, AIB, the Arts Council of Ireland, Ball- inglen Foundation Mayo, Con- temporary Art Society of Great Britain and the Office of Public Works in Dublin.

IRISH singer songwriting legend Paddy Ca- sey will be in Ennistymon later this month to play a special charity concert in aid of the towns new Steiner Primary School.

The hugely popular artist will appear in the Falls Hotel on Friday October 21 to per- form a once-off intimate gig.

All proceeds from the event will to to- wards the newly established Mol An Oige Steiner School which opened it’s doors for the first time in September.

The school, which 1s the first of its kind in the area, was set up and continues to run on a completely voluntary basis by local people.

“It promises to be a really great night,” said Roisin who is one of the people respon- sible for setting up the concert.

“We are really delighted to have Paddy play. He is an excellent live act and was voted the best performer at the Oxygen Fes- tival last year.”

‘Paddy has supported REM, Bob Dylan, Alanis Morisette and Katie Melua so we are looking forward to a great night at the Falls, which will be an excellent, intimate venue for someone of his calibre,” she continued.

The Mol An Oige school is located across from the childcare unit in Data Display in Ennistymon.

At present 12 children are enrolled in the school which is taught by Inagh teacher Una Ni Ghairbhith who is a qualified primary school teacher who has two years of experi- ence in using the Steiner method.

The Steiner method is a system of active learning, which is designed to help children learn through a variety of traditional and non-traditional methods.

For example, a maths class in a Steiner school can include rhyme, a variety of dif- ferent games, or even children using the movements of their own bodies to learn.

Playing support to Paddy Casey on the night will be two Clare bands; Bondeko and The Filth.

Bondeko are a eclectic world music band featuring saxophone, drums, guitar, key- boards and powerful male harmonies.

The Filth will bring an element of rock and ska to the concert which will have something to suit everyone’s tastes.

Tickets for the concert cost €20 and are available in Ennis from the Little Silver Mines and Custy’s music shop.

They are also for sale locally in Ennisty- mon at the Sugan chair restaurant, Crosbies craft shop, Unglerts and the Falls Hotel it- self.

Only 700 tickets are available for the unique event to early booking is a must.

ENNIS fire-fighters have been forced to call in Garda protection after being pelt- ed with missiles by children as young as te

Gardai are escorting fire crews, when responding to alarms in the Cloughleigh area of the town.

Last week, a fire-fighter was struck on the head by a missile during a response to a hoax call.

The incident was the latest in a series where fire-fighters were subjected to at- tack by a group of teenagers and children in Cloughleigh. Crews now don their helmets and visors to protect themselves when entering the area.

Chief Fire Officer Adrian Kelly con- firmed this week that Garda escorts were being requested to accompany fire units to Cloughleigh, where it was suspected

that the calls to the station might be hoax.

Mr Kelly said that a fire unit received a Garda escort to the Cloughleigh area last AYA”LerebaTehsre FWA

Mr Kelly said, “I can’t tolerate a situ- ation where the fire-fighters are the tar- gets for young people throwing objects at them.”

Mr Kelly confirmed that already this year, the fire service had received 21 ma- licious calls and 17 nuisance calls from the Cloughleigh area.

A fire-fighter said this week, “You name it, rocks, bricks and bottles have been thrown at us and we can’t risk go- ing into the area anymore without a Fer Menieesa mn 4 blot MA WLoM oon AVM toler Roms Ker] hoax call. There are kids as young as 10 and 11 throwing the stones.”

The fire-fighter added, “The problem has been there for a while, but has been

particularly bad over the past 12 months. We can’t risk any injury now, it has got KeXO mo) 6 (0) t

Supt John Kerin of Ennis Garda Sta- tion warned that gardai would be able to accompany fire units to Cloughleigh only in very exceptional circumstances.

“It wouldn’t be viable for Gardai to be on call to provide an escort every time a fire unit is called out to the area in ques- nCoyn a

OW Comp net-larosmmye: pepe) oyKeltrca slam Commo) ULor lic attention by Green party councillor, Brian Meaney at the Council’s Special Policy Committee (SPC) on the Envi- ronment last week.

‘A means has to be found locally to stamp out this behaviour. The imposition of a curfew must be investigated. I un- derstand that fire units stopped putting on their sirens going into the area, but the rock throwing continued,’ he said.

ORGANISERS of the Ceifin Conference 2005 are hoping that the event AUN Mab Komr NU CNSne mms el ommD Dene portance of community in the modern world.

The conference is en- titled ‘filling the vacu- vse

It will explore how people have become disconnected from so- ciety and related issues including the role of the family, the economy, spirituality and the role of the community.

It is being organized by the Shannon based SS Oo isces

A wide range of speakers from across the social spectrum will appear at the event, which takes place in the West County Hotel, En- nis next month.

These include Presi- dent Mary McAleese, who will host a talk called ‘Counting on

Community’.

“The conference 1s pretty unique to Clare.

“It will highlight the importance and good work done by people giving up their time to volunteer in the com- munity.

“Volunteering is also important for your spir- it,’ said Susan Ward of the Ceifin Centre.

Other speakers in- clude Dennis Bradley, Vice-Chairman of the Northern Ireland Polic- ing Board, Pat Duffy, Chief Executive’ of Sports Coach UK and Marie Murray, Director of Psychology at St Vin- cent’s Hospital.

Dr Murray, who also has extensive experi- ence working in the me- dia, will speak on the second day of the con- ference about the prob- lems of suicide in young males called ‘Prophets or Profit; who fills the eTeLULbN OO ee

THE CEO of Ennis Chamber of Commerce has expressed concern that the installation of CCTV is not likely to be put in place in the town until early 2007.

Rita McInerney says the Chamber was led to believe that it would be put in place by the end of next year, but the Jus- tice Minister Michael McDowell has now indi- cated that there will be a further delay.

“We keep _ getting promised and we would be disappointed if it was put back to 2007. This must be the fourth oc- casion it was put back,” said Ms McInerney.

She said the issue of CCTV is a high prior- ity on the Chamber’s

agenda.

“We see it aS a pre- ULE TOA (OMB OO CerKIIDKoMEEA Ke just want to be proac- tive. Let’s get the CCTV before we have a huge problem with crime. There is a slight prob- lem of public disorder. We need to stamp that out and CCTV 1s a huge CK ere MUNM NNR USteTROR

“Windows do get bro- ken, but this could es- calate to more serious types of crime, includ- ing burglary,’ said Ms McInerney.

The need for CCTV in the town was also raised at this month’s meeting of Ennis Town Council.

Councilor Tom Glynn (FF) stated that CCTV was urgently needed to serve aS a deterrent to anti-social behavior in the town.

“If there was more CCTV it would certain- ly help to bring these culprits to justice.” Cllr Glynn who is a teach- er in Ennis National School was speaking after a number of cars were found burned out in the car park adjoining the school.

Meanwhile the De- partment of Justice has confirmed that one En- nis community group has applied from the department’s new part- funded CCTV scheme in the coming year.

Community groups had to raise at least 15% of the funding while the remainder could be sought from public bod- loa

In total, 32 groups ap- plied for funding for the schemes nationwide.

THE INCREASING number of Ryanair _ flights through Shannon has played a crucial role in the air- port breaking all-time passenger records for the first nine months of this year. Figures published by Shan- non airport show that passenger numbers are expected to top three million by the end of the year.

More people used the airport during the first nine months of this year (2.5 million), than did during the whole of last year (almost 2.4 million). The figures point to a 36 per cent increase in passengers flying into and out of Shannon, when compared with the same pe- riod last year.

The largest-growing market is the UK. More than 873,000 people have travelled on UK routes since the start of the year, an increase by 68 per cent on the 2004 figure. European services have carried 518,000 pas-

sengers, which is up 41 per cent on the corresponding period last year. There was also a slight increase in transatlantic traffic – two per cent – through Shannon during the first nine months of the year.

In addition to this growth, the figures show that more people are flying to the sun from Shannon. During the first nine months of the year, 132,440 passengers flew on holiday charters from Shannon, an increase of 14 per cent on the first nine months of last year.

Airport Director Martin Moroney said the increases across the board are positive. “Ryanair has contributed greatly to this. It has played a huge role and a big part of the growth is outbound traffic. People are coming to Shannon from all over the country, to fly to various destinations all over Europe and beyond,” he said.

“Shannon is seen as an airport for the country, not just the mid-west,’ he said, adding that the two per cent increase in transatlantic traffic was particularly

satisfactory, given the difficult tourist season. Shannon airport management are particularly satis-

fied with the new Shannon/Boston flight operated by

American Airlines, which commenced in May.

“We are pleased with this daily flight, which is prov- ing very popular. American Airlines is the world’s biggest airline and we hope to expand with them in the future,” said Mr Moroney. He stressed the importance of elements in the tourism sector promoting Shannon in overseas markets in the run-up to the winter. “With ongoing co-operation between ourselves, Shannon Development and other tourism agencies, I am con- fident that we can respond to that challenge and that west of Ireland tourism will be the major beneficiary of Shannon’s record-breaking traffic performance this year,’ he added.