Month: July 2007

AN incredible 92 years in the mak- ing, Irish-American artist Ruth Mc- Namara-Duff stages her debut Irish exhibition at the Kenny Gallery in Lahinch this week.

Born in 1915, Ruth has worked as a professional artist in California all her life.

It was during a trip to her ances- tral home in Clare, however, that the creative seed for her latest series of work was sown.

““T visited Ireland in 2000, and went to the Cliffs of Moher. I was amazed at the beauty of them. I said, ‘when

I get home I’m going to paint LOO Cliffs of Moher’. I didn’t do quite 100 of them but it was a great inspi- ration to me,” she said.

“T have done a number of oils and watercolours of the cliffs. Even though they are similar in lots of ways, they are all very unique and CHES Keno) 0 me

Ruth’s grandmother, Ella Kennedy, left Clare at age 14, during the fam- ine, and sailed to San Francisco on a mammoth voyage through the Straits of Magellan on the southern tip of South America.

It was there that she met fellow Clare emigrant James McNamara,

who worked mining for gold in Grass Valley, and the pair gave birth to sev- en children, including Ruth’s father Owen.

“This journey is almost like I’m completing their journey back to Clare again. It’s like the end of a large circle. In a lot of ways, this trip is for my father,” she said.

“T feel that I wasn’t born myself un- til I was 40. I don’t think that I really found myself until then. You do get a different perspective on life.

“Right now, I am so eager to do things and to paint. I have a lot of canvases at home in my apartment and I know exactly what I want to do

with them.”

In total, Ruth has painted the Cliffs of Moher more than 60 times. She will show 15 pieces at the exhibi- tion, which she shares with Irish art- ists Tom Greaney, Roger McCarthy, Mary Horan, Michael Hanarahan, Deborah Donnelly, Marie Noonan McDermott, Carmel Madigan, Una O’Brien, Kate Beagan and Simone Walsh.

The exhibition features a wide range of styles and mediums and opened in Kenny’s Gallery Lahinch on July 21.

For more, check out www.lahin- chartgallery.com.

TRADITIONAL music is once again coming to the fore in north Clare this July and August with the beginning of a number of weekly events organ- ised by Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eire- AMOR

The Seisiun series of Summer mu- sic, dance and storytelling evenings has opened for the summer in En- nistymon and Corofin, with crowds of local and tourists in attendance to soak up some traditional Irish atmos- je) aston

“We have a total of about 25 musi- cians each night. The evening starts at 9pm and goes on to Ilpm. Well, it’s Supposed to finish at 11pm but we would often run a few minutes over

because of all the talent on show,” said John Moloney from the Ennisty- mon Branch of Comhaltas.

“The first hour is structured. We have music, dancing singing and storytellers. Then at 10 we break for some tea and a bite of brac. The second hour is totally informal. We give people the chance to get up themselves and sing a song or have a dance. It’s totally casual and eve- ryone is welcome to join in in the oe (one

Ennistymon’s Teach Ceoil is the venue on Monday evenings, while the emphasis shifts down the road to Corofin’s own Teach Ceoil on Thurs- day evening. Indeed sessions will take place in 32 venues throughout the country during the months of

July and August.

The Seisiin series prides itself on achieving the highest level of authen- ticity and avoiding any of the gim- micks that are sometimes associated with traditional Irish music for tour- TSA

“It is a really authentic experience. It’s an old-fashioned trad night. It’s like being invited into an old-fash- ioned Irish kitchen for a cup of tea, a song and a dance. It’s great for the locals but it’s even better for the tour- ists. We had a group of Norwegians in last week dancing and singing away, continued john.

“We run classes here during the winter in music, step dancing and set dancing. The Seisitn gives the people doing the classes a chance to

show off their stuff. We would get a lot of their parents and grandparents in to have a look and see how they have been getting along and what they have been learning.”

Admission costs €10 including tea and light refreshments. For more information, contact John Molo- ney (Ennistymon) at 065 7071467 and Peggy Liddy (Corofin) at 065 toe LOre

THE urban/rural divide and the posi- tion of the west of Ireland as a central driving force in forming the identity of the modern Ireland are two of the main themes of Wild Honey, the fourth Burren Annual Exhibition, which comes to the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan next month.

The annual exhibition, which this year will be curated by Michael Dempsey, features the work of nine Irish and international artists who have at some stage based their work outside of “The Pale’.

The exhibition will be opened on August 18 by Mike Fitzpatrick, cura- tor of the Limerick City Art Gallery and Ireland’s Commissioner for the

Venice Biennale 2007, and will run until September 29.

“Wild Honey offers the viewer the possibility of studying the relation- ship between reality and visual cli- chés of working outside The Pale,’ said Michael Dempsey.

“The selected works reflect and interpret the cultural and political changes that Ireland has undergone since the 1990s. They investigate the collective imagination of a genera- tion of artists living in a ‘new’ soci- ety caught in its own past, but none- theless looking to the future.”

Each year the Burren College of Art invites a prominent art world fig- ure to curate a number of artists of his or her own choice for an exhibi- tion of national significance.

Based in Galway, Dempsey has in- troduced many prominent artists to a west of Ireland audience. As found- ing curator of the “Tulca’ season of visual art in Galway, he developed new hybrid ways of approaching cultural production within commu- nities.

‘Naturally, the sources for each artist’s work include real places and personal imagery, as well as images created by the media, popular culture and even urban/rural myths. Like the avant-garde artists of the 1960s and ‘70s, they respond with skepticism or downright rejection to the idea of visual representation of a reality of ever more elusive complexity. Their survival strategies involve navigat- ing real and imagined territories –

geographic, political, economic and social.”

The exhibition will include work from Stephen Brandes, Dorothy Cross, Blaise Drummond, Patrick Hall, Ronnie Hughes, Fergus Mar- tin, William McKeown, Isabel Nolan and Niamh O’ Malley.

‘““Michael’s idea for this exhibition expresses one of the central interests of the Burren College of Art; how the seemingly peripheral west is in fact central to Irish identity,” said Timo- thy Emlyn Jones, dean of Burren Solero wa uae

‘We are deeply indebted to the Arts Office of Clare County Council for its invaluable support of this exhibi- tion, without which the exhibition could not have taken place.”

AFTER immense fundraising ef- forts, Clarecastle woman Lorraine Reynolds is preparing to help chil- dren in one of Europe’s poorest countries.

In September Lorraine will travel to Moldova to work in the Hincesti Children’s orphanage with the Irish charity Outreach Moldova.

The orphanage is home to 395 disa- bled and orphaned children, all of whom are girls.

Already, through various fundrais- ing initiatives Lorraine has raised €4.500 for Outreach Moldova.

In order to raise costs for the trip, a fundraising night will be held in

Powers Bar in Clarecastle on Friday are

€1,000 must be raised for the cost of flights and board, while a further €1,000 goes towards the orphanage.

Lorraine was drawn to the idea of traveling to Moldova after reading an advertisement in a newspaper. The mother of two said she was a little nervous but is now looking forward to the trip.

“T have never done anything like this before and I am glad to be doing it. | was nervous at the start. Moldova is the second poorest country in Eu- rope. A lot of the children there have been abandoned. It will be hard, but when you have two children of your own, it makes you think that it’s good

to give something back.

In Hincesti, Lorraine will work in the orphanage helping with feeding the children and organising excur- sions. Lorraine and her fellow volun- teers will work from 9 to 7 each day from Monday to Saturday and stay in an on-site dormitory.

Outreach Moldova _ concentrate on all aspects of the children’s care from medical and surgical to build- ing and renovation, to improve the environment in which they live. The Dublin based charity has implement- ed and supervised the incorporation of social, educational and care pro- grammes with local staff to provide the care these children need.

There are two full time Irish ad-

ministrators living in the orphanage to oversee all work carried out by both local staff and Irish volunteers.

Outreach Moldova employs over 275 Moldavian staff including 12 full time doctors, 30 full time nurses, six physiotherapists, two speech thera- pists, and a dental team, all provid- ing 24 hour a day care, 365 days of the year. Over 150 carers, a dance teacher, 15 teachers, 12 classroom assistants and four play assistants supplement this medical team. All programmes are funded by the peo- ple of Ireland.

Lorraine added, “It’s going to be the experience of a lifetime. They say that when you go there once, you will want to go back again”’.

THE Clare branch of the Samaritans has received a major funding boost after ©€26,000 was raised for the service, by organisers of alOk walk held in April. The cheque was pre- sented to members of the Samaritans in Ennis, last week.

SU slomr-NbecKO) Mee COMA VDL Gn. chem rO ms Eihio awareness of the issues surrounding suicide. It was the second year of the event and brings to almost €50,000 the amount of money raised by the walk for the Samaritans.

The event was organised by three local people Keith Molloy, Sasha O’Brien and Clare O’Brien. The money will be used to cover the costs of running the Samaritans centre in

Ennis which are estimated at around €1,000 a week.

A spokesperson for the Samaritans thanked the organisers and said the money would go towards maintain- ing a 24-hour service at the centre.

“We really want to thank the people who did this. It is an amazing amount of money to raise and it will be really helpful to us running the service. We are constantly having to maintain the centre on Kilrush road”.

The spokesperson added, “The walk was for suicide awareness and it really gives you an indication of the concern and interest that exists out there about suicide”’.

Sasha O’Brien, one of the 10k walk organisers has already been com- mended for her efforts to generate

greater public discussion on suicide. Earlier this year, she was nominated for a Pramerica Spirit of Community Award, for a series of projects she undertook as a Leaving Cert student at Colaiste Muire, Ennis, to raise sul- cide awareness.

The Pramerica Spirit of Commu- nity Awards programme recognises and rewards post-primary/second- level students for volunteer work car- ried out in their communities.

Sasha received help from her un- cle Keith Molloy and aunt Clare O’Brien.

Meanwhile the Samaritans are set to benefit from money raised from a different type of event over the week- Nee

The “Malin Head to Mizen Head

Challenge’ saw local man Peader White travel from one end of Ireland to the other, setting of on Friday and returning back to Ennis on Sunday.

Peader’s choice of automobile for the three-day journey was a 1956 vintage Morris Minor. It is the sec- ond time the keen vintage car enthu- siast undertook the challenge. Last year Peader raised almost €2,500 for the Samaritans, by taking the same journey in a 1950 Austin A40 Somerset. The car had previously been used in director Tim Burton’s big screen version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

POLISH workers in Kilkee hotels who successfully completed a FAS Skills for Work course have been commended for their application to studies and their level of achieve- ment.

The group of eight spent fifteen weeks on a part-time series of classes that had to be juggled with varying duty shifts. It was delivered in Kil- kee Bay Hotel by Clare Adult Basic Education Service (CABES), an arm of the Clare Vocational Education Sonatas

FAS devised the Skills for Work course as part of a new programme

from its Services to Business sector. In Kilkee, it was delivered by Kala Moloney of CABES whose tutors and materials costs are paid for by FAS.

Karl Quinn, co-ordinator of Eng- lish language programmes within CABES, who presented certificates to the workers, said he was full of admiration for the progress made throughout the course and looked forward to other similar courses around the county.

Margot Walsh, Skills for Work co- ordinator with FAS, also commented on the progress achieved during the course and hoped that the partici- pants could involve themselves in

further segments of the programme.

Designed to provide easy access to training for employees, the pro- gramme improves essential commu- nication skills and educational levels in the workplace, helping ensure a competitive edge to the employer.

The recipients of certificates were Jolanta and Krzysztof Ciesielski, Marck Sulkowski, Lukaz Kandler and his wife, Kamila, Sebastian Sulkowski, Andrzej Janoska and An- eta Sadowsti.

After the awards ceremony, the stu- dents presented Kala Moloney with a photographic encyclopaedia of Poland. An informal meal followed, featuring typical Polish food made

by the workers and samples of her native foods made by Kala Moloney who is Indian-born.

Several courses are running suc- cessfully in companies around Clare. Benefits are two-fold: the employees, for their part, develop new skills while companies gain in having employees with greater flexibility, improved communication skills and an interest in training and develop- ment.

Other benefits for employers are increased quality and output, more profitability, increased retention of employees, better team performance and health and safety record and or- ganisational flexibility.

PREPARATIONS have begun for one of west Clare’s longest running OME Ie

The ever popular Rose of Clare Festival will begin Sunday, August 5, and will run until the following Fri- day, bringing craic, ceoil and lots of lovely ladies to the villages of Cree and Cooraclare.

In its 28th year the festival contin- ues to attract young women from all over the county to compete for the coveted title of Rose of Clare.

This year, as always, a dozen new roses will be introduced to the crowd

at the Sunday afternoon Fancy Dress parade in Cree.

This will be followed by the family fun day in the GAA grounds. The fun and activities will include stack the turf, sheaf throwing, the dog show, tug-o-war and lots more.

Sunday and Monday will see well- known DJ and local man John Carey at the mixing desk for the first two discos of the week, but Monday night’s event is for children only.

The sound of the music will change on Wednesday night with Céili tak- NOTA OKoI NB KOMI EEL od

On Wednesday there is likely to be standing room only as the 12

roses will be interviewed by Colm O’Connor in the community centre, followed by music by Larry McEvoy.

Supporters will have to wait until Friday night to see if their favourite Rose was successful and will take over from last year’s winner Elma Griffin from Kilmihil as the 2007 Rose of Clare.

This will be followed by a disco by DJ Ger Sweeney.

People can also look forward to a race night on Thursday night and plenty of music and song in both vil- lages.

There will also be underage foot- ball competitions running in con-

junction with the festival and an art competition.

‘A lot of work has gone into organis- ing this year’s Rose of Clare Festival and we are fortunate to have a very dedicated hard working committee,” said Ruth Callinan, joint PRO of the OMe B

“Our community owes them a great debt and parishioners can indeed show their gratitude by supporting the various events during the week. We look forward to seeing our friends from neighbouring parishes and oth- er areas of the county supporting the Roses and hope that everyone has a very enjoyable week in Cooraclare.”

THE mayor of Kilrush is to consider making a trip to France for the coun- cil members part of next year’s local authority budget.

Cllr Tom Clyne (Ind) said, “I would like to say that I am keen that mem- bers of the current elected council, in place since 2004, would be part of a return visit to Plouzane and I will be bringing this to the fore later in the year when we are considering budg- ets for the coming 12 months.”

He was speaking at the 25th anni- versary of the twinning of Kilrush with the French town of Plouzane at a special monthly meeting of the Kilrush Town Council in the Vande- leur Walled Garden.

The 30-strong French delegation was led by the deputy mayor of the French town, Yves Dubuit.

The very first exchange took place in 1982, when Michael Flynn, the

then mayor, lead the inaugural twin- ning delegation to Plouzane.

Members of that delegation were also present at the special meet- ing including Michael Flynn and PJ Hanrahan. The late John McNama- ra was represented by his wife Kitty McNamara.

‘You must be very proud that some- thing started 25 years ago continues to thrive to this day,” Mayor Clyne told the members in the public gal- Says

“The first Plouzane delegation to come to Kilrush will have witnessed many changes since 1982. And even as some things change, some things remain the same. Kilrush still en- joys the same natural advantages it always has had – the same beautiful wide streets, the waterside location, accessible woodlands, fine architec- ture and streetscapes and the same vibrant community spirit – of which the Plouzane-Kilrush Twinning

Committee is a good example,’ the mayor continued.

“The advantages that Kilrush has to offer are now being recognised widely, by developers and others. Kilrush has received numerous Tidy Towns Awards in recent years. A Government department has recent- ly decentralised to Kilrush and there are 50 new revenue commissioners working in town. The commercial and business life of the town 1s thriv- ing and set to continue to thrive. The high standard of quality of life that can be enjoyed in Kilrush is reaping economic rewards.”

Plouzane shares a maritime tradi- tion with Kilrush, and Cllr Clyne took every opportunity to mention the new marina development to the visitors. He also outlined the on-set of full broadband facilities for the town.

“Our friends from Plouzane and ourselves have in common the best

interests of our towns at heart and we thank the people and the town of Plouzane for your sustained friend- ship and interest in Kilrush over the years. Regardless of any changes to shopping or tourism or technology, the key to successful twinning is in the friendships formed between or- dinary people. I congratulate both the Kilrush and Plouzane twinning committees for their dedicated hard work and for ensuring that the con- nections between people remain at the heart of this successful twinning relationship,’ he said.

KILRUSH is on line and available to the world through the internet.

Kilrush.ie is the brainchild of the town council, and will provide infor- mation about services and facilities in the west Care capital.

The site was re-launched this week, with up to date information and tech- nology in Clare’s local authorities most up to date site.

Following extensive re-development work carried out by Kilrush Town Council with the assistance of the IT Department of Clare County Coun-

cil, Kilrush Town Council’s web site is easy accessible and user friendly.

“This new enhanced site aims to provide the public with a vast amount of useful information on the work of the local authorities operating in Kil- rush as well as information for any- one planning a trip to Kilrush show- casing the town’s achievements and facilities on offer,’ Siobhan Garvey, acting marketing and development officer with Kilrush Town Council explained.

Application forms for and relating to services such as planning, roads, parking and housing will be available

to download from the site.

In addition, the public will have the ability to search Kilrush Town Coun- cil planning applications, checking the status on these applications from the comfort of home.

For the first time ever information on all Kilrush’s planning applications will be on line, similar to the service that has been available from Clare County Council for the last number of years.

‘The site has been designed to be accessible for all users including people with disabilities,’ said Ms Crane

“Websites are a valuable informa- tion tool and can reach a vast variety of the public; with this in mind Kul- rush Town Council are committed to ensure that all relevant up to date information will be available on this website,’ she added.

“We hope you will find this site a useful source of information and we welcome any comments you may have.”

People with such comments or queries can contact Kilrush Town Council n 065 9051047 and e- rnerew et kilrush@clarecoco.ie or sgarvey @clarecoco.ie.

CONCERN has been expressed about people moving to Shannon, from other areas, and engaging in anti-social behaviour.

Shannon-based councillors have expressed concern that people who are creating trouble in their areas are moving to the town, under the rent subsidy scheme.

At a Shannon Electoral Area meeting last week, Clare County Council senior executive officer Nora Kaye said she has personally refused housing to individuals, amid concerns relating to anti-so- aE Wim oloset- hrs celtow

“IT have refused myself, both af- fordable and social housing, fol- lowing the vetting process by gardai,’ said Ms Kaye.

“We are working closely with gardai in relation to anti-social behaviour,’ she added.

Councillor Patricia McCarthy (Independent) said one of the con- cerns was that the vetting which has been done by the county council was not being done by the HSE.

“Two or three agencies need to come together. Unless there is a sustained co-ordinated effort, it is

going to get worse,” she said.

Councillor Tony Mulcahy (FG) said, “We have a couple of unde- sirables at the moment, on the rent subsidy scheme.”

The mayor of Shannon, Council- lor Sean McLoughlin (FG) asked was any accommodation coming on stream for homeless men.

Ms Kaye said that while nothing specifically geared towards the homeless was becoming available, homeless people could be accom- modated in private houses.

She also said that the go-ahead has been given for new building options in Tradaree. They have to be designed, before any further progress is made.

“We are not consciously putting people in Tradaree at the moment, because they are going to be de- molished soon,” she said.

She said that while nothing defi- nite is coming on stream in New- market-on-Fergus and Quin in the foreseeable future, she is confi- dent that a number of options will be explored in those areas, at a later stage.

A small percentage of applicants on the social housing list are also on the affordable list, said Ms ier