Month: April 2007

TRIBUTES were paid last week to Mary O’Loghlin, former teacher and musical inspiration at Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon, who retired from teaching last June. Mary returned to Scoil Mhuire one last time last Fri- day, where she was presented with a painting to mark her retirement.

Over the last three decades, Mary has been heavily involved in the mu- sical development of Scoil Mhuire. She has inspired countless musicals and recitals and put many students on the course to a lifetime of musical enjoyment.

“Mary was ahead of her time. She exposed us to a variety of musical

styles. She crossed musical bounda- ries, experimenting all the time, and I think that this was her most precious attribute,’ said a former student.

“No-one was better at finding, ex- pecting and demanding brilliance. Thank you, Mary, for the lifelong love of music — the welcome release from the books and the precious school memories.”

As a young teacher, Mary arrived in Ennistymon with a vision of a school which nurtured musical talent of the young.

“The magnitude of Scoil Mhuire’s musical achievement under her lead- ership is well known — year after year, her utter fearlessness in taking on enormous tasks, or at least tasks

that seemed enormous to the rest of us, was quite amazing,’ said Scoil Mhuire teacher, Mary O’ Flaherty. ‘As the absolute excellence of the end-product was of paramount im- portance to her, she demanded the highest standards in musicals which could only have been described as amazing. Though there were a few hell-raising moments for us of little faith, the students followed her with doe-eyed devotion and delivered out- standing performances.’ Throughout her career, Mary had a dedication which was recognised by all the students who learned under her. Indeed, months after her retire- ment, she 1s still involved with the musical development in the school,

helping to prepare the school choir before they sang at a tribute night to Irish Olympiad, Ronnie Delaney, in Dublin last December.

“We practiced in school, at her home and in dingy backstage rooms,’ continued one former student.

‘At competition, when she appeared before the choir, it was without sheet music. She had the uncanny ability to control the entire choir with one hand.”

ENNISTYMON is shaping up for fashion today with all and sundry getting ready for the Ennistymon Annual Fashion Show which takes place in the Falls Hotel this evening at 8.30pm.

The show will feature a range of smart and casual wear for both women and men with clothes from a number of local shops on display. The evening will be hosted by Alo- ma McKay and all the models on the night will be local.

The fashion show is the main fund- raiser for the Ennistymon Agricultur-

al Show, which takes place in July. As in previous years, more than half of all the money raised will go towards a nominated charity, this year being the Friends of Ennistymon Hospital.

“All the four local boutiques — Noinin, Cloie, Off The Rail and Savanna — have all donated some lovely outfits for the evening,’ said co-organiser, Susan Harvey.

“Barry’s Mensware, the new men’s shop in Ennistymon, is involved as well, as is Mona Cheri from Ennis, who will have a range of hats, party and debs dresses on show. The Bridal Emporium in Miltown will have a couple of wedding dresses, bridesmaid

dresses and tuxedos at the show.”

A large portion of the proceeds from this year’s event will go to the Ennistymon Hospital.

“They are looking at putting in a new kitchen and some of this money will go towards that,” she continued. “They do a lot of good fundraising work up there and are always making improvements. The charity side is a very important part of the event. It is really nice to be able to give to the different local charities.”

Tonight’s event is the first official engagement of this year’s Ennisty- mon Show, which takes place on Sat- urday 2 and Sunday 3 of June.

“We have been getting the prize list together and have been sending it out to a lot of different people and especially to the schools,’ continued Susan.

“We have sent it to more than I5 schools in the locality and the youth section is a very important part of the show. We will have a few new events in this year’s show and the best dressed dog competition will return after being such a success last year.

“We are looking forward to a good show and hopefully it will be one of the best in years.”

For more information, call Mau- reen on 065 7071487.

SEVENTEEN teenagers from Kilkee went Dutch this week.

The second year students from St Joseph’s Community College, Kilkee travelled to Vlaardingen in the Neth- erlands on Sunday, March 25 as part of a student exchange. They arrived back on Friday.

The exchange was part of the Comenius Project.

A European initiative – in existence since the foundation of the European Economic Community, the Comen- ius endeavours to facilitate exchange of ideas, personnel, and students be- tween member states of the EU and

indeed between all countries in the continent of Europe.

Phase two of the project is Comen- ius 1.3, which began in 2004. Kilkee Community College was a co-ordi- nating school for the project.

It hosted the first meeting of the partner schools in October 2004. Each meeting was a three to four day gets together by teachers (only) to exchange ideas, compare and share strategies developed to ensure that all the school is an inclusive place of Kee Nesnneree

The other countries involved include Scotland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Spain, and Norway the project will end where it began in Kilkee later this

month.

In the meantime the students are making the most of the European ey sbaterernleyer

The Kilkee students lived with the Dutch students’ families for just un- der a week.

The highlights of the week included a tour of Vlaardingen, a visit to Rotter- dam that included a boat tour through the harbours of the city and a visit to Neeltje Jans, the polders on Noord Beveland and the Veersegatdam.

On Thursday the Kilkee students and their Dutch hosts attended a lec- ture on polder water management at the Kinderdijk pump and windmills. Later that day they spent some time

in the city of Delft.

In late May the Dutch students will make the return visit to Kilkee as cuests of the Irish students.

The schools selected each other as exchange partners as they are located in a region that is physically/geo- graphically quite different. The Kil- kee students were introduced to the physical features of deposition 1.e. the Polders of Holland and a flat land- scape. When the Dutch students visit Kilkee they will study coastal erosion and karst landscape.

The exchange programme was or- ganised by Geography teachers Jean Lorigan and Deirdre Kennedy who accompanied the students on the trip.

THE pupils from Kilmihil National School gathered in the playground on Monday evening last to welcome back their victorious rugby team.

The 15-person squad had taken part in the Munster Coca Cola Tag Rugby Extravaganza and received first prize for their participation in the pre matches parade.

The extravaganza includes more than 30 teams from around the coun- try and is referred to as an “extrava- ganza’ rather than a competition be- cause nobody keeps scores.

The aim of the event is for young children to display the rugby skills they have learnt and to show how they can “play fair’.

The emphasis on this day of rugby

was fair play, participation, team- work and skill, for once leaving aside the element of competition. Children were encouraged to show respect for the players, referees, and officials and to show good sportsmanship at PMB bO Noe

Prior to the rugby games a “Nations Parade” was held.

Each school had been given a na- tion to represent. Kilmihil National School paraded as South Africa.

After a hectic few days of effort and co-operation by the entire staff and pupils, costumes were designed and created and the team was trans- formed into “The Springbok” Rugby Team and traditional South Afri- ore

On the day of the extravaganza Kilmihil pupils were awarded first

prize – a trophy – and were compli- mented for their exceptional cos- tumes and tribal dance.

Fifteen pupils from fifth and sixth class made up the Kilmihil Tag Rug- by Team, which took on a team from Limerick, a team from Cork and a uaa rer-beee

This was the school’s first time in the competition, although it has been part of the tag rugby-coaching course organised by Munster Rugby Development Association for the past three years under the watchful eye of coach George Guilfoyle.

The school team participated in the local tournament held in Lees Road Sports Complex before being invited to join in the “Munster Coca Cola Tag Rugby Extravaganza” in Mus- grave Park, Cork.

The 34 children from fifth and sixth class travelled to Cork for the event at 6.30 am on Monday with principal Carmel Coughlan, fifth class teacher Michael King and Eva Keane who looks after the school’s sports pro- eau-eabentee

“We got a great reception when we arrived back at 5.30pm on Monday. The children and other teachers pre- pared a welcome banner,” said Ms Orato

Speaking about the extravaganza she said, “After learning the skills this was the chance for the children to display them.”

THE Carrigaholt water sewerage scheme is facing further delays, it ONE eL OM NADIR sle) ©

In a report on the progress of the west Clare schemes sought by Coun- cillor Oliver Garry (FG), Clare County Council officials said that a preliminary review has been re- ceived which shows the unit cost for this scheme is still at an unaccept- able level. A further review of the scheme is now required, to bring the unit cost to an acceptable solution for the water pricing policy.

“Studies of the Moyarta River and the possible use of constructed wet- lands in order to eliminate the fore-

shore discharge and further reduce costs will be examined. This will lead to further delays in the Carri- gaholt scheme,’ according to Senior Engineer Walter Walsh.

Initially a report was prepared for the Carrigaholt/Labasheeda/Coora- clare Sewerage Scheme bundle and submitted to the Department of En- vironment Heritage and Local Gov- ernment, but this proved unsucess- ave

Cooraclare was then separated from the grouped sewerage scheme and the submission of a revised and reduced proposal for the village was drawn up. As a result approval was received from the department for the Cooraclare sewerage scheme.

The council is currently going through the procurement process to appoint a consultant to prepare contract documents for the scheme, which when prepared will allow the scheme to proceed to construction.

Land acquisition is ongoing also in the village with the intention of carrying out a part eight planning application (council will seek plan- ning permission) for the wastewater treatment plant as soon as the site is secured.

The news for Labasheeda is also more positive than Carrigaholt.

The design review is now complet- ed for Labasheeda. It proposes a re- duced outfall length and the installa- tion of a tidal valve and storage tank

arrangement, allowing discharge of treated effluent on the falling tide. “The unit costs, we believe are ac- ceptable, but the proposal will still require a foreshore licence. We are now in a position to bring forward the Labasheeda scheme and we recommend the submission of this scheme separately from the Carri- gaholt scheme to the Department of the Environment Heritage and Local Government,” said Mr Walsh. Coun- cil officials have met two developers with regard to Ballynacally sewer- age scheme. A consultant employed by one of the developers is to submit information shortly to support a pos- sible solution suggested in the course of a meeting with council officials.

CLAIRE Neylon has secured her first major corporate design contract and she has yet to graduate from col- lege.

The Kilkee student won the con- tract to provide a piece of sculpture as part of the refurbishment of the mobile phone company O2’s head- quarters in Plassey, Limerick.

During May last year, the 22-

year-old, with fellow students from second, third and fourth year at the School of Art and Design in Limer- ick (affiliated to Limerick IT), were invited to submit a proposal for a piece of art that would best represent

the company.

This piece could be in sculpture or media form such as video or photog- eel eN VA

With a keen eye and a creative im- agination, Claire studied the O2 logo where the idea for her winning piece came from.

The student, now in her fourth and final year, was inspired by the O2 bubbles, which she proposed to display in the front window of the eluunKenbaren

She commissioned a glass blower in Northern Ireland to make 60 glass “bubbles” ranging in diameter from 80 inches to two inches.

On Saturday, the young woman, with the assistance of the college’s sculpture technician Pat Biesty, in- stalled the glass pieces.

Each glass bubble was hung at dif- ferent lengths on 10 steel cables to represent floating bubbles.

Claire was responsible for the en- tire project, and had to organise eve- rything from the professional glass blower to the installation.

She then had to submit the budget to O2 for the cost of the piece and the customary 20 per cent for the artist onto be

“This is a great opportunity for me as a Student to have work in the public domain before I have even left college,’ she said.

The piece of sculpture is now on display for all potential employers or commissioners of art to see, as well as being a welcome addition to her CV.

The Kilkee woman is planning to eraduate from her course in Sculp- ture and Combined Media in a few weeks time. She then hopes to work through art in the community.

Claire is a past pupil of Kilrush Community College.

TRAVELLER culture occupies pride of place locally and nationally this week thanks to projects undertaken at the St Joseph’s training centre.

The coppercraft group at the cen- tre have completed work on a copper vessel that will be used to hold the Easter vigil fire in the Ennis cathe- dral.

The three foot high vessel was a collaborative effort between men working at the centre and the Ennis diocese.

Fr Damian Nolan approached the centre six months ago with the idea of making a copper structure that could be utilised during the Easter oo KerselO eBoy

At first a competition was held to determine which group would take

the lead role on the project, though input was ongoing from all men tak- ing the coppercraft course at the cen- inden

The group’s foremost concern was to ensure the vessel was practical and safe. When those requirements were met, the group, aided by metalcraft instructor and teacher Brian Crossen, introduced a stylistic element to the process. The group also consulted with Fr Nolan throughout the proc- ess.

Mr Crossen explained, “Fr Dam- ian had approached us about making something for Easter. We wanted to make sure it did exactly what it was supposed to do, that it was safe and also that it looked good. There were about three or four different stages from design right through to com- pletion. Fr Damian has always been

very supportive of the centre and the lads really enjoyed making it”.

The centre also earned recogni- tion on a national stage when a three man group from the centre travelled to Cork last Thursday to take part in the 4th annual Cork lifelong learning festival.

Martin Maughan, Thomas Keenan and Peter Keenan gave a live dem- onstration of traditional copper craft at the Cork public museum as part of the week long festival.

Last year the centre donated seven copper items including buckets, pots and scuttles to the museum for a per- manent display.

It is the first time a permanent ex- hibition of Traveller culture has gone on display in a national museum. The Cork Traveller Women’s Network and the Cork public museum invited

the copper craft group to take part in the festival.

“It kind of grew legs after we do- nated the copper projects to the mu- seum. It was a pretty big event, there was a lot of craftsmen there. We set up in a gazebo and it worked out re- ally well. It was a great day. They were very impressed. They invited us back for next year, so we’ll see how ereLme x Olona

THE skeletal remains of what ap- pears to be at least six individuals, possibly dating back to pre-Christian times, have been discovered during the archaeological monitoring of 1m- provements to a local water network outside Newmarket-on Fergus.

The remains and up to four further possible burials have also been de- tected during monitoring of ground works for a water reservoir at Barn- hill. Clare County Council has sus- pended work on the affected part of the site subject to the issuing of an excavation licence later this week.

An initial assessment of the area

has been undertaken by osteologist Camilla Lofqvist who concluded that the remains appeared to represent at least six articulated skeletons, with another four possible burials.

According to Eoghan Kieran of the Moore Archaeological Group, ani- mal bone was also detected in con- nection to the burials but no datable finds were recovered. Some of the burials were laying in an East-West direction, which may indicate Chris- tian burial. However, burials in all different directions were represented on the site, possibly indicating a pre- Christian date.

The archaeological landscape around Barnhill wood and New-

market-on-Fergus exhibits several features from the Bronze Age, Ear- ly Christian period and onwards. There are several Fulachta Fiadh, ringforts and Anglo-Norman castles in the vicinity, as well as the largest known hillfort in Ireland, Mooghaun hillfort. This trivillate fort is located in the grounds of Dromoland Castle and is dated to 1260-930BC.

The site, which covers an area of ap- proximately 20×30 metres, had been cordoned off pending completion of the archaeological excavation and to prevent additional disturbances.

A 2003 report commissioned by the Heritage Council reporteded that some 15-20,000 individuals were ex-

cavated from archaeological sites in Ireland from 1989 to 1998. The New- market-on-Fergus find is somewhat different, however, as the burial site was not marked.

To archaeological specialists, all such skeletal discoveries constitute a valuable historical and scientific resource, inscribed with evidence of the working life, living conditions, diet, traumas and diseases of past generations.

TWO Fianna Fail councillors are keeping their fingers crossed that a little-known oil company may strike it lucky in remote Siberia. According to Clare County Coun- cil’s Ethics Registrar, Cllr PJ Kelly and Cllr Michael Kelly both have shares in PetroNeft Resources plc. The registrar shows that Cllr Kelly purchased 8,/50 shares, at 32 cents a share, last October, following a con- versation with his Tubber colleague. The registrar doesn’t say how many shares Cllr Michael Kelly has in Pet- ronNeft, but it does state that Cllr

Kelly also has shares in Providence Resources, the Gresham Hotel, Bal- timore Technologies and a pharma- ceutical company called Alltralel. Cllr Michael Kelly was unavailable for comment yesterday. However, Cllr PJ Kelly said that buying the shares was like betting on a horse. “After a chat with Michael, I said that I would take a chance. For the amount of shares I bought, I won’t be getting rich from it,” he said. According to the chairman’s report from the most recent accounts of Pet- roNeft, Mr G. David GaMer said, “It is 18 months since the concept of Pet- roNeft Resources plc was developed

and started to become a reality. Now the company is fully structured and funded, has a clearly defined path to production from the two proven oil fields and has an exploration sched- ule to expand the reserve base.”

The chairman’s statement said that the company was to set out a fast- track to purchase a licence for “one of the best packages of known oil fields and prospects to became avail- able in the West Siberian Oil and Gas Basin in a long time”.

The licenced area is extensive at 4,991 square kms, setting up the potential for a ‘core area’, with long- term production and an extensive ex-

ploration base for future discoveries.

The statement went on, “The first year of the company’s existence has been an exciting time. The next 12 months promises to be equally excit- ing. “By July of 2007, it is hoped that the company will be able to take the decision to begin field and infrastruc- ture development, leading to produc- tion in 2008.”

The only other councillors to have shares in companies are Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG), who has shares in Ballycasey Dev Ltd and Cllr Oliver Garry (FG), who has shares in Ab- bey Contractors Ltd.

CLARE’S Green Party election can- didate Brian Meaney has slammed Fianna Fail this week claiming the ruling party is dipping into green policy in a bid to secure easy votes ahead of the upcoming election.

He branded what he termed Fianna Fail’s “new found interest in envi- ronmental issues” as a “cynical at- tempt to court the electorate at the A CoAYoraln el ele) en uae

Councillor Meaney then reiterated his party’s stance at national level saying, “Fianna Fail can try to steal our clothes, but they’ll never fit”, and pointed out that exactly a year ago Taoiseach Bertie Ahern addressed the Dail and said, “I am not respon- sible for the state of the planet”.

“It’ll take more than Dick Roche offering to change the light bulbs to convert Fianna Fail to the green agenda. Members of Fianna Fail must realise that their Party requires

root and branch reform 1f it 1s to seri- ously address environmental issues. For ten years they have ignored the need for change, and now with ten weeks to an election, Bertie Ahern is attempting to hoodwink the elec- Keyes Koni

He highlighted a number of local issues that he says show the current Government have not got green pol- icy at heart.

“Under Fianna Fail’s watch the En- nis CIE freight yard was allowed to

close and this further clogs up our roads. Not only that, Ennis Town Council is still pumping raw sew- erage into the Fergus which is no longer considered worth fishing in by serious anglers. The water in En- nis is unreliable and we have regular boil notices. There is not a metre of cycle path in Ennis and we’re the tenth largest town in Ireland. How can the two Finna Fail TD’s in Clare allow this to happen?”

He said that while the Green Party

welcomes a move towards green policy at all levels, he feels recent declarations by Fianna Fail are merely symptoms of “chameleon- like behaviour rather than conver- sion to the cause. In the space of a year we have watched Bertie Ahern mutate from republican to social- ist, and now he’s going through his environmental phase. One can only be deeply cynical about his attempt to wrap the green flag around his

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