Month: May 2007

yesterday that it would be a very different story if the election was not so close.

“I don’t see any point in the PDs pulling out now, not at this stage. We don’t know what has gone on yet, maybe it will come out before the election and maybe it won’t,” he said.

‘As a PD, I believe we were elected to hold up honesty and integrity in government.

“But at this late stage, I don’t see any advantage in collapsing the Gov- ernment just for the sake of it.”

The Fianna’ Fail/PD coalition looked destined to collapse over the weekend when a meeting of the Pro- gressive Democrats’ high brass was called to discuss revelations con- cerning the personal finances of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.

Mr Ahern’s then partner, Celia Larkin, is reported to have received £30,000 from Manchester business- man Michael Wall in 1996 towards

the renovation of a property.

This property, which was owned by Mr Wall, was rented to Ahern at a nominal fee.

Tm stcKmoeeoe mer Mbsom\y Eble tence businessman bequeathed the prop- erty to Mr Ahern in his will.

“It’s a difficult position for Mc- Dowell to be in. He is going to be criticised no matter what position he takes on this.

“We should hold a firm position on this. Only for it is so close to the election, it could be a very different StOry.

‘The grassroots members and gen- eral election candidates haven’t been

informed of what information Mc- Dowell has yet.

“This is a decision that will be made at ministerial level.”

Meanwhile, the Green Party yes- terday put pressure on Michael Mc- Dowell to put the information he has about the Taoiseach’s finances into the public domain.

“Michael McDowell also has a re- sponsibility in the national interest to put the information he has into the public domain, so that the statement from Bertie Ahern can be judged in the context of what Michael McDow- ell knows,” said party leader Trevor Sergeant yesterday.

THE soon to be introduced new Ear- ly Retirement Scheme (ERS) should significantly change the situation for farmers who apply under the joint management rule with particular ref- erence to the state pension, accord- ing to the IFA Rural Development Chairman, Padraic Divilly.

“A joint management application allowed the spouse of the farmer to apply for the ERS even though they did not own the land. This was par-

ticularly relevant where the farmer was older than his/her spouse and, as a result, secured a greater number of years of payment from the scheme,” said Divilly.

“However, when the older farmer qualified for the state pension that amount of money was deducted from the ERS, thus reducing the value of the EU pension.”

Following discussions on the new scheme, transfers of lands to the younger spouse will be allowed be- fore joining the scheme and, as a

result, the deduction of the state pen- sion from the ERS will not arise.

In the old scheme, such arrange- ments were not possible unless they were done prior to the introduction of the scheme.

The IFA Rural Development chair- man said that in ERSI and ERS2 many farmers felt aggrieved that the state pension had an effect on their EU pension and this change in the new scheme will avoid a repeat of this anomaly.

Divilly called on the Agriculture

Minister Mary Coughlan to intro- duce the new scheme without any further delay.

“The scheme negotiated as part of the partnership agreement last Oc- tober involves an annual pension of up to €15,000, and a more flexible arrangement for transferees with a widening of the age limit to qualify the retiring farmer.

“The new scheme must be imple- mented in a more flexible manner than previous schemes,” Divilly con- cluded.

FEARS that hundreds of Clare farm- ers would miss out on this year’s Single Payment/Disadvantaged Ar- eas Scheme were allayed this week as the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan, announced an extension of the closing date for receipt of applications.

With farmers taking advantage of the recent spate of good weather to get work done on the land, it had been feared that thousands would lose out on valuable revenue because of not having the application in on time.

The scheme is a vital source of revenue for many Clare farmers and missing out on the scheme could have had a disastrous effect on farm- ing in the county.

Minister Coughlan has extended the final deadline for receipt of ap- plications under the scheme until this day week, Tuesday, May 15.

“IT have decided that the closing date should be extended to Tuesday, May 15, the latest date for receipt of applications as provided for under the governing EU Regulations,” said Minister Coughlan.

Despite the extension to the closing deadline, the processing of applica- tions under the 2007 Single Pay- ment/Disadvantaged Area Schemes worth over €1.6 billion annually to Irish farmers was already well under way in the Department of Agricul- ture.

However, the Minister indicated that by extending the date she was ensuring that farmers could not be

penalised for submitting a late appli- cation provided they submitted their application by the new deadline.

“I have already ensured that each farmer concerned was written to by my department, in order to ensure that everyone knows precisely the implications for their entitlements, should they fail to lodge an applica- tion under the 2007 Single Payment Scheme,” she continued.

‘Farmers are already aware of the exciting development of online regis- tration, following earlier correspond- ence from my department. The on- line application has several benefits, from the built-in validations, which will result in fewer errors in applica- tions being lodged, to the acknowl- edgment of receipt of the application by my department.”

The move was welcomed by Chair- man of Clare ICMSA, Martin Mc- Mahon.

‘Many farmers have run into prob- lems in relation to getting sufficient land in order to draw down entitle- ments and the extra period of time will give these farmers the oppor- tunity to maximise their payments under the Single Farm Payment,” he said.

“The problems in accessing land clearly highlighted the need for further improvements in the con- solidation arrangements and ICMSA would continue to argue that, in order for farmers to be able to draw down their full entitlements going forward, the conditions for consolidation need to be expanded and ‘the heat’ taken out of the rental land market.”

FINAL preparations for the parish mission are underway in Ballyna- cally and Lissycasey.

Services will commence Saturday May 12 in Ballycorick Church and Lissycasey Church.

It is the fist time in four years the mission is being held and it is hoped that people new to area will get in- volved. Fr Tony Flannery, Fr Jimmy Buckley, will celebrate masses. In a new departure for the mission a lay- person – Anne O’Toole – will assist with the service.

The population in the area has ris- en to 2,000 and organisers hope that newcomers will come along over the

Neto

Pastoral council member Mary Hestor said there was an open invita- tion to everyone in the parish.

She also hopes the mission will of- fer solace to those people whose lives have been touched by tragedy.

“We hope to appeal to newcomers who might have moved to the par- ish in recent years and those who are living on the periphery. We hope that the mission will also bring sol- ace and healing to those who are bereaved and especially those who have lost young people in the prime of their life since the last mission. We also would like to remember the aged, the housebound and the lonely and those who feel isolated in the

community.”

There will be morning masses in both churches at 7am and 10am. The missionaries will preach at all mass- es on May 12-13.

Mass will take place at Ballycorick church on Sunday, Monday, Tues- day and Wednesday at 7pm and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8.30pm

Mass will take place at Lissycasey church on Sunday, Monday, Tues- day and Wednesday at 8.30pm and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8.30pm.

A series of different services will be celebrated over the week. Mon- day; Christ the healer, Tuesday; social gospel, Wednesday; right of

conciliation; Thursday; youth night; Friday; remembering the dead.

The council is also looking for young people in their mid-teens or early twenties to present the mission on Wednesday night. Names should be submitted by Sunday May 13.

LABOUR Affairs minister, Tony Kil- leen, has expressed his disappoint- ment at An Post’s decision not to re- introduce full services at Kilmaley Post Office.

The minister said that he had re- ceived a letter from An Post which stated: ““We are not aware that the re- cent downgrading of the service has had an undue impact on customers in the area.”

However, according to Mr Killeen, the loss of full services has affected local people and public opinion told him that there was a demand for them

to be re-instated.

‘Nobody wants to lose a vital serv- ice, which is why I can neither under- stand nor agree with An Post’s asser- tion that the downgrading of the post office has had no negative impact on customers in the area,’ he said.

Mr Laurence O’Brien, who took over the running of Kilmaley postal services when the former postmistress retired and the post office was down- eraded, said that the lack of a full service “doesn’t make sense”’.

“If a person is living rurally on their own they might only get a lift into town every few weeks to do their shopping and collect their pension. If

people want to put money in a savings account here we can’t do that. They would have to go to Ennis, which may as well be Timbuktu. If people want to pay their ESB bill we can’t do it. Local businesses can’t even send registered letters or parcels,” he said.

He added that the town has no ATM so there is no facility for withdrawing money between Ennis and Miltown Malbay.

Mr O’Brien said that Kilmaley Post Office had a higher turnover than oth- er small post offices with full services and predicted a huge future demand because planning permission has been granted for over 280 houses locally.

“It seems to me that the Government haven’t thought it out. One man who comes in phrased it perfectly when he said that when we had nothing in Ire- land we had post offices but now with all the money in the country, they are closing them down. It is completely ridiculous.”

Mr Killeen said that he had spoken with the Minister for Communica- tions, Marine and Natural Resources, TD Noel Dempsey, about the situa- wtOyNF

Mr Killeen said that the decision was not “irreversible. It makes perfect business sense to put in place a service that is in demand”.

ST JOSEPH’S Community College in Kilkee played host to 16 teach- ers from Norway, Spain, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Scotland to mark the end of a three year edu- cational project designed to create links with schools abroad.

The Comenius 1.3 Project con- cluded on April 27 with the launch of www.theinclusiveschool.com – a website to allow partner schools to keep in contact.

School Vice Principal, Sister Mary O’Connell, said that the initiative had been a great success and many of the school’s teachers had benefited from

interaction with colleagues abroad.

At a reception in The Kilkee Bay Hotel to celebrate the success of the project, Hilda McHugh, Assistant Chief Inspector in the Department of Education and Science, also empha- sised the importance of making con- tact and forging relationships with fellow educators.

She reiterated the importance of teachers sharing ideas on best prac- tise in the classroom for the benefit of the whole school community.

Labour Affairs Minister Tony Kil- leen attended the event along with representatives from the education department and Léeargas and mem- bers of the parents’ council and

board of management.

Students entertained the visitors with music, song and dance as did the north Clare Group 2 & A Half Irish.

Several Kilkee teachers travelled and participated in each of the conferences in rotation. These in- cluded Ann Healy, Jean Lorigan, Clodagh Healy-Murphy, Theresa O’Donnellan, Geraldine O’Brien, Syl Barrett, Carmel Deloughery, Theresa McGrath.

St Joseph’s hosted the first meet- ing of the partner schools in October 2004. Each of the partner schools has hosted a three to four day meet- ing since the project began in 2004.

The penultimate meeting was in Ab- erdeen, Scotland in November 2006.

The school has been involved in European Studies projects since 1990 with the emphasis on language, industry and trade.

THE pioneering marine research of the Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Foundation in Kilrush will be high- lighted in an RTE documentary this month.

The Estuary: Secret of the Shan- non, which looks at a new system for studying dolphin activity, can be seen on May 11 on RTE One at Pelt} yee

The ‘Getting Wet’ segment of the series was shot over several weeks in August and September last year. It is one of a weekly four part series

which also looks at history, industry and the future of the estuary.

The series began on May 4 and is narrated by actress Brenda Fricker

In the programme Dr Simon Ber- row, Project Leader of the SDWF and PhD student Joanne O’Brien, will outline their work in “acous- wee

‘Historically, dolphins have been studied with visual and surface tech- niques but acoustics is much more powerful. We put a piece of equip- ment called a hydrophone in the estuary off Kilcredaun Point and it sent signals via a cable to a computer

set up in a cow Shed in Carrigaholt. The software can pick up and record dolphin sounds from one or two kil- ometres away, he said.

Ms O’Brien, from Kilrush, will only be the second PhD dedicated to whale and dolphin study in Ireland.

The federation’s research, funded mainly by conservation organisa- tions, community groups and edu- cational grants, is among the first of its kind in Ireland. Dr Berrow is the SDWF’s only core staff member.

“We also made the first attempt to deploy the hydrophones in winter last year. The weather was very bad

so it was a challenge. That would help with construction projects for example so it has commercial apph- cations,’ Dr Berrow added.

Dr Berrow is concerned about the environmental impact that local fac- tories may be having on the estuary’s ecosystem and has written to anyone with an Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) licence to ask for a contribu- tion to the SDWF to fund more staff and research. Just one company, Irish Cement, has expressed an in- terest in giving funding.

The SDWE attracts interested stu- dents from all over Europe.

THERE wasn’t a bad word to be heard around the corridors and class- rooms of Mary Immaculate Sec- ondary School in Lisdoonvarna last week as a year-long project designed to promote consideration in the com- munity came to an end.

The programme, which was called The Promotion of Courtesy Care and Consideration, was organised by the Home School Community Commit- tee and saw students from every class in the school work and think about how their locality could be changed into an even more friendly place.

A major aspect of the programme saw students from the school forge close ties with the people who attend the day care centre for the elderly at the Stella Maris.

This culminated in a special night with Fanore poet and author John O’Donoghue, which was organised by the school in support of the Stella Maris.

“He gave a wonderful talk and raised €1,000, which we were ab- solutely over the moon about,” said Maureen Droney of the Home School Community Committee.

“The money will go to the Stella Maris who are looking to buy a big- ger bus which will allow them to bring more people to the day centre. There is a great demand for the Stella Maris and indeed they are looking to open up for a third day each week.

“We had a lot of people who attend the day centre who came out for the night but there were a few people who would follow John, who trav- elled long distances to be there.”

John was joined on the night by his nephew and tenor with the Lismo- rahaun Singers, Peter O’Donoghue, and Leaving Certificate student Bri- da O’Donoghue, who played violin.

“During the year, the students vis- ited the elderly people and this gave them great life. You would even feel it on the streets that there was a real community spirit,’ continued Mau- reen.

“Next year, we will be focusing ona different theme. We will have a little break now and decide what to look at next year. We still hope to have a Courtesy, Care and Consideration week next year but the main focus will be somewhere else.”

Throughout the school year, the entire school community of Mary Immaculate took part in some way with a variety of events involving the

Courtesy, Care and Consideration Programme.

Teachers spoke about politeness and ethics in relation to their own subjects, each class drew up a char- ter of good behaviour, a poetry com- petition took place and a different poem was read aloud on the school intercom each morning to serve as a thought for the day.

AFTER a long and peaceful win- ter, Ballyvaughan has well and truly woken in the last week as the Burren in Bloom Ballyvaughan Celebration breathed fresh life and energy into the village.

Now in its third year, Burren in Bloom is beginning to carve out a name for itself as one of Ireland’s foremost nature-based festivals.

“It started over three years ago, when a man called Padraig Cleary suggested that we start doing more in Ballyvaughan to promote the area to tourists. Out of that came the Burren

in Bloom and the Christmas market,” said Jim McCarthy, chairperson of the Burren in Bloom committee.

“The original concept was not to have a festival but more of a celebra- tion of the spring and the flowers of the Burren. We started hanging the May bush on the doors as a way of welcoming the spring and warding off any evil spirits.”

A key element of Burren in Bloom is a series of illustrated talks which take place throughout the month at the Burren College of Art in Bally- vaughan. Following good turnouts for both John Kirby of the Burren- Life Project and John Murphy of

Birdwatch Ireland during the week, expectation is growing that this will be one of the best attended and most exciting series to date.

Gordon D’Arcy of the Burren College of Art will host a talk this evening, Tuesday, May 8, on the sub- ject of songbirds and the Burren.

Other to appear over the next few weeks include David Lyons, James Moran, Mary Angela Keane, Sharon Parr and Brendan Dunford.

“T always think that for something like this to really catch on takes about five years or more.

“This is just our third year and things are building nicely. We have

had inquiries this year from the UK and New York as well as all around Ireland,’ continued Mr McCarthy.

“It’s working well, people are grad- ually getting to know the name. We know that people are staying longer in the village and, with the bank hol1- day weekend, things are really start- ing to get going.”

The celebration will also include a number of guided walking events in the Burren, Irish music nights, a jazz quartet and a whole series of nature related events building to the Buds of May Barbecue on May 26. For more information check out www.bally- vaughanireland.com

A TALENT fulfilled is a joy for all the world. The life and talent of one of traditional music’s best loved young musicians, Joseph Browne, is to be further celebrated by the first ever series of musical bursaries offered to young musicians in his name, it was announced this week.

These bursaries, which are open to all young traditional musicians in Clare and Galway, come as a result of money raised during this first an- nual Joseph Browne Spring School of Traditional Music which took place in Gort earlier this year.

A Crusheen native, Joseph Browne tragically lost his life in 2005.

Two bursaries to attend the Meitheal Residential Summer School in July of this year, as well as three bursaries to attend the 2008 Joseph Browne Spring School of Traditional Music in February 2008, are on offer.

Young musicians of 13 years of age and over are invited to submit appli- cation for the two Meitheal Residen- tial Summer School bursaries.

Each applicant should include a written presentation of less than 1,200 words entitled ‘Me and My Music’.

This application should outline the applicant’s musical journey, includ- ing past musical experiences, mu- sical influences, important people in his/her musical life, what music means to the applicant now and where it could go in the future.

Young musicians who wish to ap- ply for this bursary should also sub- mit a recording of their own playing on tape or CD.

Meanwhile, there are three bursa- ries on offer for next year’s Joseph Browne Spring School of Tradition- ZV MAY RUS Com ders sel matbemRKe)ee Malco) aee ary 14 to 16, 2008.

The competition is open to all

ages, with one bursary each being awarded to seven- to 10-year-olds, 11l- to 14-year-olds and 15- to 19- year-olds.

Each applicant is asked to submit a written presentation of up to 800 words entitled “Me and My Music’ while a recording 1s not required.

All applicants should send their presentation to the Joseph Browne Spring School of Traditional Music, Cnoc Maol, Crusheen, on or before Wednesday, May 9, 2007 with name, address, contact number and age.

For further information, contact 087 0674335 or www.josephbrowne. oes