Month: May 2007

A POLISH woman came to the res- cue on Wednesday last after three horses bolted into heavy traffic on the Clare Road.

Stunned onlookers watched on as 21-year-old Magdalena Musial calmly took control of a dangerous situation that developed at the busy roundabout near the Westfield’s es- tate.

Three horses broke out from a nearby field into heavy morning traf- fic creating a dangerous situation for

motorists and passers by.

Gardai and members of the Clare fire service were called to the scene at around 11am on Wednesday morn- betes

Magdalena was in a car with her boyfriend Kieran O’Brien when the drama occurred. Magdalena who has been living in Ennis for the past year and works in Dunnes Stores took control of the situation by calmly guiding one of the horses in from the road.

The other horses followed suit and Magdalena then helped walk the an1-

mals into a horsebox when the owner arrived.

Kieran said, “Everyone there was amazed. One of the horses was bro- ken in but they other two weren’t, so it was quite a dangerous thing to do. Traffic was held up and people were walking by. Everyone kept well ley: 1e eae

Kieran explained how Magdalena moved the horses in from the road. He said “There was three of them that came out onto the road near Westfields. It was quite busy. She clapped her hands together and one

of them, the one that had been bro- ken in came over. She was able to get him in of the side of the road. Once the other two saw that, they followed him over.

“When the owner showed up with a horsebox, she walked them into it. It was pretty amazing. Everyone there just stood up watching. Even the guards and the guys from the fire brigade were impressed. She had everything under control”.

NEXT bank holiday Monday why not relax in the name of a good cause.

A local branch of Aids Partnership with Africa (APA) will hold a pam- pering day and craft fair fundraiser at the West County Hotel on June 4. The aim of the event is to raise mon- ey for Aids orphan programmes in Ethiopia and Tanzania.

A wide range of relaxing pamper- ing treatments from Indian head massage to hand and foot reflexology will be available on the day. Entry fee 1s €30 and once inside patrons can sample as many of the therapies on offer as they wish.

Among the services available are a number of health and exercise thera-

pies such as African reflexology, iri- dology, angel card readings, bio-en- ergy, reiki, metamorphic technique, integrated energy, Bowen therapy and transference healing.

Life coaches and beauty consult- ants will also be on hand to provide one-to-one Sessions.

There will also be plenty of musical entertainment, helping to enhance an atmosphere of relaxation and heal- ing.

A craft fair showcasing the tal- ents of local craft workers will open at llam. All items are hand made and will be on sale. The pampering therapies begin at lpm and run until BET

There is a serious side to the day with all proceeds from the event

going towards the Irish registered charity APA, to help fund projects in Ethiopia and Tanzania. Fr Owen Lambert, a Holy Ghost priest, set up APA in 2002.

Having worked in east Africa for over 30 years he witnessed first hand the devastating effect the Aids pan- demic was having on whole commu- nities.

He was particularly touched by the plight of children orphaned by AIDS. In response to their growing plight he established the APA. Its policy is to work in partnership with governments, both at local and na- tional levels.

It funds leadership and training to facilitate communities to respond to the Aids crisis in a local and sustain-

able way, respecting religious beliefs, values and principles.

APA also funds HIV/Aids infor- mation and prevention programmes. However the main focus is on Aids orphaned children.

Where possible these children are re-united with a member of their extended family otherwise they are cared for by foster families.

The APA programme subsidizes these foster families to provide the children with food, shelter, education and a chance to live a dignified life. All the proceeds of the Ennis pam- pering day will go towards the Aids orphans programmes in Ethiopia and Tanzania.

For more information log onto WWw.apa.ie

SUMMER 1s approaching and a va- riety of Summer camps are being or- ganised in the Shannon area.

First off the mark is Shannon youth office, which has put together a busy schedule of events for the holiday pe- riod. They are hoping to attract doz- ens of young people to attend.

Summer camps, for those aged be- tween nine and 13, will take place in July. The camp will take place from July 10 to 13 and again from July 16 to 19, at a cost of €60 for the eight days. The hugely successful sum- mer camps have been taking place in Shannon for more than 30 years.

“This year, we hope to have 50 young people aged between nine and 13 take part in summer camp and we are offering a whole range of activi- ties to meet there needs,” said Shan- non youth worker, Cathal Dillon.

“The camp is offered at a low cost, thanks to sponsorship from local businesses. We thank them for their continued support of Clare Youth Service 1n Shannon,” he added.

‘The camp is offered to young peo- ple in Shannon and the surrounding areas of Cratloe, Sixmilebridge and Newmarket-on-Fergus.

The camp also offers young volun- teers aged 17 and over from the area a chance to train and become a lead-

er for the duration of the camp.

It is a very rewarding experience and a chance to make new friends and work as part of a team,with a trained professional youth worker on hand to offer support,” he said.

“The volunteers all from the Shan- non area will be receiving training as leaders in the camp in early July and they are already eager to run an excellent camp,” said Thomas O’Hara, who is another youth worker in Shannon.

One of the summer camp leaders Aaron O’Donoghue said, “The high- light of last years camp was Dromore Woods Fun day and this summer we will again be heading to Dromore for

more good times.”

Among the summer camp activi- ties are arts and crafts, fun games, storytelling, face painting, quizzes, bowling, quasar and soccer. There will also be day trips to Lahinch Sea- world and Dromore Woods.

The summer camp will take place in the Respond Community Build- ing, Rineanna View, between lpm and 4.30pm every day.

Volunteer application forms and brochures are available from Shan- non Citizens Information centre, Shannon Health Centre, Shannon Youth Office, Rineanna View Com- munity Building, or by phoning Ca- thal Dillon on 061 364318.

THE students and staff of St Caimin’s Community School in Shannon raised almost €10,000 for Trocaire, during Lent.

The entire school got behind the Lenten project, which involved a number of initiatives. Central to the fundraising was a 24 hour fast, while they also received fantastic support during a flag day in Shannon Town Oilanes

The students also used their en- terprise skills as they sold Trdcaire brooches in the school and this also contributed to the overall collection Ome

School chaplain, Cora Guinnane

said everybody was keen to get in- volved in the initiative.

“A lot of the students were involved in the 24 hour fast on March 10. The first years did a 12 hour fast and the older students did the 24 hours. We put a big drive on in the school,’ said Ms Guinnane.

Everybody was encouraged to raise what he or she could. Some students just raised small sums, while others raised up to €300.

“The emphasis was on creating awareness. Some people are less well off than others. Every little bit makes a difference. Some students may have come in with €5, with oth- ers raising €300,” she said.

In its national campaign, Trocaire

highlighted the rights of females and St Caimin’s staff also encouraged the students to be aware of this.

“We highlighted this in all of our religion classes. The parents also played a role. It would not be pos- sible to do it without their support,” said Ms Guinnane.

“We were thrilled with the support of everybody. They did tremendous work,” she said.

The school has an impeccable record for involvement in charity work. Every year it is involved in the St Vincent de Paul Food Ap- peal, along with the Green Schools initiative. The county dog warden and members of the gardai visit the school every year, which gives stu-

dents an awareness of the importance of the environment around them.

This is Ms Guinnane’s first year at the school and she is delighted with the success of the Trdcaire project.

“It was brilliant, getting to know the students on a different level. They see that there is a lot more to life than academia and this was great fun too. We all spent two days col- lecting money in the town centre and we received a fantastic reception,’ said Ms Guinnane.

Now that the hard work has been done, the money has been counted. Trocaire’s Mary Sweeney, who is the schools co-ordinator, will visit St Caimin’s this week, where she will be presented with a cheque.

A CD, featuring the main highlights of last year’s traditional music fes- tival in Quin, 1s to be launched next month. ;

The third annual Seisidn na hEire- ann took place in pubs in Quin last September. Dozens of bands travelled from all over the country to take part.

The festival was a huge boost to the local economy and plans are well underway for this year’s event. The organising committee is in need of finance to organise the event and have put together a CD, featuring last year’s concert.

This CD features last year’s win- ners, Tigh Coili from Galway, along with six other finalists. These includ- ed a local group from Quin, along with groups from Dublin, Offaly and a young group of traditional musi- cians, representing Norrie Henchy’s in Clooney. The CD was recorded live at the grand finale concert at Quin Com- munity Centre and will be officially launched at Glor, Ennis, on Saturday, June 9, at 8pm.

Organiser Jackie McCarthy is ap- pealing for people to show support and buy a copy of the CD.

“The main purpose of the CD launch is to sell it and raise funds. We are a

voluntary set up and we are trying to inspire people to buy the CD and make the festival bigger and better and attract first class musicians,’ said Ms McCarthy.

‘The atmosphere was truly electri- fied with the standard of music dance and singing on offer. This CD, whilst an amateur production, certainly cap- tured the live experience from that oc- casion and the fitting celebration of the entire festival weekend,’ she added.

“The festival is still in its infancy, being only in its fourth year this year. The unique essence of the festival, that of the session competition, has attracted the finest musicians from

all over the country and also some international groups. The competitive element between the various groups ensure that every session whether morning, afternoon or evening is a great session with the mix of music dance scenes lighten the public, the likes of which has never before been seen in Quin,” she said.

‘There was a good mix of young and experienced musicians at the festival,” Satemcye 50m

Renowned musicians including Des- sie O’Halloran, Don Stiff, Johnny Ringo McDonagh, Ian McKillop, Denis Liddy and Dermot Lernihan feature on the CD.

PLANS have been put in place for the fifth annual Sixmilebridge Sum- mer Festival, which will take place from Friday, July 13 to Sunday, July iy

The highlight of this year’s festival will be a performance by American country singer Robert Muizzell, on Saturday night.

Among the other performances scheduled to take place are the Kil- fenora Ceili Band and Dublin band Prison Love.

Organiser of the festival, Vicky Ward said this is the first year that there is a major concentration on pa LUESSLen

With this in mind, a 2,400 square foot marquee has been hired and will be in place on the old soccer pitch on the Shannon Road in Sixmileb- ju (ener

This is a change from previous fes- tivals, which were mainly focused in the pubs and the school field.

‘This year we decided to get a big marquee. The whole weekend will be focused there. It will be the big- gest and best festival ever,” said Ms Ward.

The festival will kick off on a col- ourful note on Friday night, with the helium balloon race. Some 500 bal- loons will be released and the bal- loon that travels the furthest will be the winner.

“We placed tags on the balloons and the owner of the balloon that travels furthest will receive a €100 toy voucher. Last year, the furthest balloon went to Scotland and its tag was read, six days later,’ said Ms Ward.

There will be a mixed bag on Sat- urday, with events such as road kart racing, children’s workshops and a car boot sale poised to attract sev- eral people.

The family day will take place on Sunday. There will be a country theme, with best dressed cowboy competitions, along with various family attractions such as wheel of fortune, bouncy castles, clowns and magicians.

Sunday should attract several hun- dred families, pending weather con- ditions.

Organisers are hopeful that people will travel to the festival, from all over the county and beyond.

The organising committee is in- debted to the local business commu- nity, which has come on board again this year.

“We can always rely on the local businesses to help out,” said Ms AWETKCE

Tickets for the concerts are avail- able in advance from The Bridge Complex, phone 061 713666.

The Robert Muizzell tickets cost €15 each and weekend tickets are available, at a cost of €25.

EXPERIENCE has made way for youth, with two Clare young guns securing positions on the national political stage.

Fianna Fail’s Timmy Dooley, at 38 and Fine Gael’s Joe Carey, 31, were among the youngest TDs elected in last week’s general election.

Former poll topper James Breen (Ind) and veteran politician Sena- tor Brendan Daly (FF) were forced to reconsider their political futures,

having been defeated in the final ODEN aE

In contrast, the two young guns are anticipating their progression to the DEE

Deputy Dooley, who has spent the past five years in the Seanad, said he felt young people showed a great interest in politics in the run-up to the election and this translated into votes.

“Clare will be well represented in the younger stakes. We have to look at demographics in the county.

Joe and I will be able to look after a young County Clare. No doubt we both benefited from the young vote,” he said.

Fine Gael’s newest TD in Clare, Joe Carey 1s not going to be overawed by the presence of older, more experi- enced members of the Dail.

“Tis a young man’s or woman’s game now. I will bring a new energy, enthusiasm and vigour as anew TD,” he said.

He said he will be sad to vacate his seat on Clare County Council, after

eight years.

“T have great friends in the council. I got great support from councillors in the chamber. I will be sad to let it go, but I have progressed politically,” he said.

Mr Dooley believes that Clare is in with a healthy chance of getting a senior ministerial post, despite not securing a third Fianna Fail seat in the county.

“We haven’t the three but Tony Killeen has done a very good job in the Department of Labour. It would

be no harm to freshen up the Cabi- net with someone like Tony. We need somebody in the mid-west to west.

“It was disappointing we didn’t take the third (seat), but you’ve got to take ability into account too,” he said. Speaking shortly after his elec- tion on Friday, his party colleague Tony Killeen said, “Our situation in the county would be a lot better ob- viously if we had three candidates. I think the judgement made nationally about the performance of Fianna Fail in Clare won’t be positive.”

MOUNTSHANNON ands Scariff are in for a funding boost to help to- wards creating a playground for each area.

At a meeting of the Scariff area committee last week, local council- lors approved the equal division of the €83,000 in available funds under the Community Playground Grant Scheme between the two areas.

Members heard that committees in both east Clare areas have already put in considerable ground-work in terms of fundraising and both have secured sites where the facilities can be built.

Administrative Officer with the

council’s community and enterprise Section, Catherine O’ Hara, said that looking at population growth in both areas, “they both have a need of these facilities and they have already done a lot of fundraising and planning be- fore their applications came in”.

She told the meeting that a third ap- plication, which had previously been approved in Tulla for funding under the scheme, can’t progress at the mo- ment as the local committee have yet to find a site.

Councillor Colm Wiley suggested that the Tulla committee could be given extra time to come up with a site before the money allocated to WeJOOMKMRerrEse oem

Councillors queried whether it

would be more effective to give the entire sum to one of the areas and earmark next years funding for the Oo) ister

The members said they were con- cerned that both schemes would end up being half finished.

But Ms O’Hara said that as both committees already have sites, di- viding funds would be of benefit.

“The grants are not intended to cov- er the entire cost of providing these facilities. The residents committees still have to fundraise, take charge of the area when it is finished and come up with money every year for insur- ance and maintenance and while we can’t guarantee top up funding, they are free to come back and put in an-

other application in the future.”

Cllr Pat Hayes said that “both ar- eas could probably do with being al- located the full amount. They have both put together very impressive proposals”.

Senior Executive Engineer, Sean Lenihan, said that the cost of equip- ment for playgrounds is very high.

“One of those carousels, for in- Stance, costs €9,/00,” he said.

He added that council staff have spoken to both committees “and they are both ready to get started. This would give them the impetus to get on to the next stage.”

The councillors voted to allocate the money equally to both schemes in Mountshannon and Scariff.

IT’S not everyday you see young- sters aged between 10 and 12 years taking to the stage to tackle the very serious issues of illegal drugs and alcohol abuse.

But the kids who have been taking part in the Clarecare sex education, drug and alcohol awareness pro- gramme have taken the challenge on board in a play specially written for

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The 25 youngsters who took part in the eight week course at the Molua centre have formed a drama group to stage “Friendship” at the Kuin- cora Hall Hotel tomorrow night. (Wednesday, May 30).

This is the second year that the course has been run by childcare worker, Sinead Corbett.

“We wanted some way of showing the public what the children have

been doing on the course and this seemed a good idea,” said Sinead.

Drama therapist, Deirdre Clair came on board to pen the play for the youngsters around the themes which they had been exploring.

The result was a chance for the children from fifth and sixth class in the girls national school and the boys primary school to come together and stage the drama.

As well as exploring the themes

which they encountered on _ the course, it gave the children a chance to have fun and learn some stage craft into the bargain.

And after intensive rehearsals they’re ready to show the world what they can do.

Curtain up 1s at 7pm and tickets can be bought at the door.

Clarecare also run youth summer camps starting shortly and details of these are available from the centre.

WATER shortages in homes in east Clare are becoming a major problem, councillors have told local authority officials.

At a meeting last week of the Scar- iff area committee, councillor Joe Cooney said that there “have been in- creasing incidents of water shortages. In Tuamgraney on the last two bank holiday weekends, there were some houses that had no water all through Saturday and Sunday”’.

The councillors were discussing motions from Cllr Cooney and Cllr Pat Hayes asking what the council intends to do about water shortages which are affecting Tulla and Tuam- eraney.

In a written answer, senior execu- tive engineer, Sean Lenihan told Cllr Hayes that pumps serving Tulla were upgraded in April and it has been es- tablished that there are no significant oF CSE PO MS aCemD ACK 80F

But he added that in the event of wa- ter shortages this summer, it may be

necessary to restrict supply to some of the lower areas in order to boost the flow to areas on higher levels in the town.

The council will have to ask for the co-operation of residents in conserv- ing water and reducing how much they use if this happens, the engineer Sr RIOR

Problems with water supply in the Tuamgraney area would be im- proved when work goes ahead on the €392,000 sewerage and water scheme for Scariff before Christmas,

the members were told.

A further €190,000 has been made available for work on the water sys- tem in Tulla while Feakle will benefit to the tune of €105,000 for work on the water supply there.

Cllr Hayes said that at a recent meet- ing of residents in Tulla, the issue of water shortages were raised. “It was also raised in the context of future development. I would welcome this funding but we have to consider that an adequate water supply is vital to the future development of our towns.”