Month: October 2007

in March of this year.

Set in an animated version of Doo- lin, the story revolves around Ellen and Keats who venture into a realm of the dead called the Netherworld to uncover the mysteries surrounding their small village.

Sony Europe, who will officially

launch the game this Friday, have decided to capitalise on local interest in the game by hosting the ‘Create a Folk’ competition.

The winning character will be fea- tured in the game as downloadable content via the PlayStation Store.

To enter the contest, gamers must create an original illustration of a Folk character, name it, provide a brief description and then give the character a unique attack that can be absorbed during actual gameplay.

Submissions will have to be posted on the Sony Europe forum before noon on Monday, October 22.

‘Folklore’ was conceived by Yoshiki Okamoto, executive pro- ducer of such titles as “Resident Evil’ and ‘Devil May Cry’.

THE grassroots of the Fianna Fail party are planning to revolt if the Shannon-Heathrow crisis is not re- solved.

Cllr Pat McMahon said that he had no problem leaving the party but was waiting until every avenue had been exhausted before making that deci- sion. “If on January 14 there is no flight to Heathrow out of Shannon, preferably Aer Lingus, I’m out.”

Kilrush Cllr Tom Prenderville pre- dicts a tough time ahead for the party in the up coming local elections.

“If there is not an improvement in the Shannon situation, there would be a sizeable number of Fianna Fail representatives re-looking at wear- ing the Fianna Fail badge at the next

local election, and it will be hard to find people to go forward for them. It could dismantle the whole Fianna Fail party in Clare,” he said.

He referred also to the “futile ina- bility of the Fianna Fail organisation to attract young men and women as it has lost its local mandate.”

Fianna Fail TD Timmy Dooley said he understood the frustration of the political members and party support- ae

“We are elected to fight on behalf of the people of Clare, not to resign,” he said. “That is our responsibility and one I take seriously.”

Junior Minister Tony Killeen said he too could understand why public representatives and supporters are disturbed.“People are exerting as much pressure as they can. Fianna

Fail public representatives are genu- inely interested in a positive outcome and are doing whatever they can in their own role.”

“IT still believe that the approach has to be entirely dependent on fighting the battle on commercial grounds and I don’t accept Aer Lingus has a strong commercial argument for Bel- fast, nor do | think they have suffi- cient steps to improve their situation in Shannon,” he said.

He added that the four factors that made Shannon less profitable could be addressed.

Deputy Dooley admitted that the decision by the Minister for Trans- port to appoint two new directors to the board of Aer Lingus was too late for Shannon.

“It is disappointing that these direc-

tors weren’t there sooner. Whether or not they would have been able to make any difference is not clear as many made decision without board approval.

“While it would appear too late to prevent the termination of the Shan- non to Heathrow line, it may be pos- sible for the directors to establish new priorities for the management and I would be hopeful that this could in- clude a reappraisal of the Shannon to Heathrow slots.”

Meanwhile, Mayor of Clare Patri- cia McCarthy (Ind) has said that the Government has just days to salvage the Shannon to Heathrow service.

Cllr McCarthy said that a deadline of October 11 has been set for receipt of submissions regarding slots at Heathrow in 2008.

THE Atlantic Connectivity Alliance (ACA) has expressed outrage over Transport Minister Noel Dempsey’s decision to tell Government’s repre- sentatives on the Board of Aer Lin- gus to block the transfer of Heathrow slots out of Cork and Dublin airports but not Shannon.

“The Atlantic Connectivity Alli- ance is outraged by a completely dis- criminatory decision by the minister.

We welcome that Dublin or Cork would not have to endure what this region is now faced with but the min- ister’s commitment to these airports’ future 1s hypocritical in the context of inaction on Shannon. It is an ad- mission of failure in relation to Gov- ernment’s handling of the Shannon issue at the same time,’ said ACA Vice Chairperson Ken Sullivan.

The Alliance say that the move is an acceptance on the part of the Gov- ernment that “it can intervene, that it

should intervene and is ready to in- tervene but on behalf of Dublin and Cork, which we welcome, but not Shannon. If the Minister can order Government representatives on the board of Aer Lingus to do this for Cork and Dublin, then he can and should do it for Shannon.”

The ACA says that they have high- lighted the “real threat that is now exposed to our sister regions. Es- sentially, what the Government is proposing to do is protect Cork and

Dublin and leave our region, which accounts for 20 per cent of the GDP, without any connectivity to the world’s most important airport hub and immediate onward access to key international markets.”

The ACA’s attack on the minis- ter’s decision came after it was an- nounced that British carrier BMI had walked away from negotiations with the Shannon Airport management to fly between Shannon and Heathrow.

Shannon management said _ that “British Midlands has stated it is not in a position over the coming months to commit resources to take up the very generous incentives on the Shannon-Heathrow route offered by management at Shannon Airport.”

“Shannon Airport accepts it is now highly unlikely that an alternative Shannon-Heathrow service will be secured by next January”.

The statement stressed that airport management was keeping lines of communication open with British Midlands in anticipation that it may revisit this decision in 2008.

THE fallout from the loss of the Shannon/Heathrow route – a vital piece of transport infrastructure – will have a marked effect on the abil- ity of the mid-west region to com- pete, according to IBEC’s Mid West Region President, John Liddy.

He said that the need was now pressing to speed up the National Development Plan (NDP).

“With the withdrawal of British Midland from talks with Shannon Airport, it is now likely that there will not be a Shannon to London Heathrow service in January 2008.

“Companies in the mid-west have made substantial investments due to the availability of a Heathrow con- nection to Europe and beyond. The potential loss of connection will be a massive blow to industry in the re- gion.

“Tourism will also take a hit with warnings that over €100m in tour- ism investment and 10 per cent of the Shannon region’s US tourist market accessed through the Heathrow gate- way are in jeopardy.”

Mr Liddy called on the Govern- ment to “recognise its responsibility to the mid-west region.

“There is now a need to speed

up the National Development Plan (NDP). This is an opportune time to fast-track the construction of roads and other infrastructure priorities in the mid-west region. It is critical that NDP projects to the Limerick to Shannon gateway are delivered so that balanced regional development can become a reality and the mid- west region is given a fair chance to compete.”

Meanwhile, more than 250 publi- cans in County Clare have warned of serious consequences for their busi- nesses with the ending of the route.

‘70 pubs have closed in the county in the past three years, with dozens

more now facing a similar fate’, the Clare Branch of the Vintners Federa- tion said in a statement yesterday.

Michael Howard, Tourism Spokes- person for Clare VFI said, “The chal- lenges presented to local publicans should the Shannon-Heathrow serv- ice be lost will further compound the downturn in business that has been experienced in recent years.

“The facts indicate that pubs are closing and jobs are being lost, which is why vintners are furious with the Government’s failure to use its in- fluence in reversing the Aer Lingus O(STerTS(Os MO) mole DWDENSar- MB AoaY Ar NPM BE IToM Ke service the route.”

MACRA na Feirme national presi- dent Catherine Buckley has called for all barriers to be removed to allow farmers to gain economies of scale by farming in partnership.

Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships, Ms Buckley said that New Entrant Parent Partnerships were a good example of providing a gateway into the industry for young people who can then get involved in the management of the farm, even if their parents are still a long way JUKOee Kc Nu eeleelm

The Macra leader pointed out that given the rapid pace of change in

Irish farming, interest was now in- creasing in partnerships and that as much as possible should be done to facilitate their establishment.

‘For example, under the recently announced Farm Improvement Scheme, which includes the Dairy Hygiene Scheme, there are still some anomalies affecting young farm- ers which need to be properly ad- dressed,” she said.

“While the new scheme abolished the ‘five-year rule’ for eligibility for the 10 per cent top-up grant for young farmers, it excluded top-ups for young farmers in New Entrant Parent Partnerships.”

Macra is calling for an amend-

ment to the new scheme to allow a young farmer in a New Entrant Par- ent Partnership, who qualifies for Installation Aid, to automatically qualify for the young farmer top-up of 10 per cent.

With reference to Milk Production Partnerships, Buckley pointed out that under the French GAECs system (French farm partnership model) members of a partnership are treat- ed as individuals for the purpose of qualifying for agricultural schemes.

“There are inconsistencies in the department’s treatment of Milk Production Partnerships, as all par- ties in this type of partnership are entitled to payment under the Rural

Environmental Protection Scheme, yet the same partnership is eligible for only one payment from the Farm Improvement Scheme,” she said.

“Availability of land is a major is- sue, and with the huge increases in land prices, purchasing land to enter farming or expand your business is no longer a realistic option for most farmers. Long-term leases can also be very difficult to secure in certain ea ueL bbs etsie-b seh

“The Department of Agriculture must ensure that, where practicable, schemes and rules will act to encour- age and promote farming in partner- ship in the interests of efficiency and competitiveness,” she added.

WITH Bluetongue and Foot and Mouth still a very real risk for Irish farmers, the focus this week turned to the tillage sector, with the discov- ery of Brown Rot in potatoes grown HOMO UKMOCOLUNNIB MYA

Brown Rot is caused by the bacte- rium Ralstonia Solanacearum and results in yield losses in host plants and the rotting of tubers.

The disease poses no risk to human or animal health and was initially detected in water samples taken as part of the Department of Agricul- ture’s routine control programme at a potato packing premises and traced back to a farmer supplier.

All potato stocks on the farm were sampled and, to date, there is one confirmed positive. In addition, re- lated potato samples from two other potato packing plants have been con- firmed positive.

Holding notices have been issued to the grower and the packers involved to prevent movement of potentially infected stocks. All stocks have been isolated under department supervi- sion pending the taking of the appro- priate disposal action.

The normal source of infection for Brown Rot is infected seed or through infected water.

As part of the further investiga- tion, extensive sampling and testing by the department of possible linked

sources of infection is on-going. Meanwhile, the IFA has called for a firmer focus to be put on Bluetongue and Foot and Mouth by the Depart- ment of Agriculture.

“The source of this outbreak of Bluetongue in northern Europe last August remains unknown. However, one possibility being examined by the EU Commission is the transportation of infected midges in cargos which arrived in or around the Maastricht area before the first reported case,’ said Irish Farmers’ Association Pres- ident, Padraig Walshe.

“As Ireland’s island location 1s fur- ther north and west in the Atlantic, it provides a potential barrier that the Department of Agriculture must

actively harness in a determined strategy to keep this country Blue- tongue free. Keeping Ireland Blue- tongue free is a huge prize for the livestock industry that the minister must strive for.”

As the prevailing winds from an easterly and south-easterly direction account for less than 25 per cent of the winds recorded, this significantly reduces the risk of wind borne spread of the disease to Ireland.

Mr Walshe called for the reinforce- ment of FMD precautions and said the list of banned products should be extended to cover products carrying higher risks, including livestock feed such as hay and straw from Britain as well as used farm machinery.

A DUBLIN man is renovating his maternal home in the hope of mak- ing his Clare mother’s dream come true.

Thomas Murray from Cabra on Dublin’s north side is hopping to make his mother Kathleen Murray nee Devitt dream of dancing the Clare set in her childhood parlour a reality when he redevelops and reno- vates the house in Ennistymon.

The family cottage dates back to the 1780’s and 10 to 11 generations of the Devitt family have been born AW OLO MEAD orem NS KCR

Thomas intends building additional

accommodation which he will rent to people who come to fish on nearby Licheen Lake, as well as carefully renovating the family homestead to its former state, using as much sal- vage material as possible.

He is as passionate about the project as he is about the subject of architec- tural salvage.

Thomas travelled between Dublin and Clare each week marking the progress builder John Byrne made.

It is a massive job as the house needed complete renovation from top to bottom. With a new roof and old sheds to renovate, the project looked set to take longer than the six months projected by the builder.

Thomas always intended to keep certain aspects of the house to main- tain its authenticity although some pieces had to be replaced. The old sheds he earmarked for rental accom- modation were originally cowsheds. Getting the balance between the old and new and finishing on time was a huge task. The budget required was huge, time was short and there were many hurdles to cross in the remote location.

Thomas’s venture will make up part of the RTE series Home Salvage.

The television programme docu- menting the highs and lows of the project, will show whether Kathleen, who is 85 and who now lives with

Thomas in Dublin, may just be able to recreate her memories of dancing in the house where she was born.

It will be transited on RTE 1 on Fri- day at 8.30pm.

Presented by Mark Daly – auction- eer, property expert, senator and one time winner of reality TV show Treasure Island the eight part series combs the salvage yards of Ireland in search of a unique interior.

The series brings together Ire- land’s twin obsessions – property and makeover. But discerning homeown- ers with a bit of time and money now want far more than your run of the mill flat pack kitchen. Salvage yards can offer some great alternatives.

GORT is getting revved-up for the last big blow-out of the year as the clock ticks down to this year’s Cooley-Col- lins Traditional Music Festival.

The festival, which was officially launched in Kilroy’s last night, will this year celebrate its 23rd year by incorporating a number of new features. These new elements include a Comhra Gaeilge, street entertain- ment and a public wood-turning session.

“Our festival is the last big tradition- al music festival of the year. There are a lot of festivals on that weekend So we always need to be sure that we are keeping up our standards. For a lot of local people and musicians as

well, it’s the last really big blow-out of the year,” said festival organiser Mary Coen.

“The Comhra is very important to me because I have a great love of Irish. We have Martin Davy doing a Comhra in conjunction with the children in the new Gael scoil. The school has just opened in September SO we are keen to give it as much sup- port as we can.

“It will be simple enough Irish. They will pick a topic and have a dis- cussion about it. The whole lot will be through Irish but it will be noth- ing too difficult, it’s not anything to be afraid of.

“I saw the wood-turning being done at the launch of the Dr Douglas de Hide Festival and I thought it was

something different and interesting that we could do. It will be out in the Open air, weather permitting, but if not, we will just find an indoor venue for it.”

The festival, which commemorates famed musicians Joe Cooley and K1- eran Collins, will open on Friday, October 26, with a mass in Peter- swell followed by ceili at The Cooley Lodge with the Four Courts.

There are three other ceilis over the weekend featuring Kilbeacanty- Tulla, Kilfenora and the Copperplate Ceili Bands.

Registration for music workshops takes place at 10am on Saturday with classes available in button accordion, tin whistle, concertina, flute, fiddle and banjo.

“We really do need to acknowl- edge Guinness, they have been with us since day one. Also Udaras Na Gaeilteachta, Foras Na _ Gaeilge, the Arts Council, the Galway Arts Office, local businesses, Supermac’s and John Sullivan,” continued Mary.

“The local businesses are very good to us. It is a big boost, we have to go out to Kinvara, Clarinbridge and Barefield for beds. We are lucky, a lot of local people who wouldn’t normally do a B&B service oblige us and take people.”

, two young students from Gort Community College are mak- ing their own mark on the computer world this week by becoming among the first teenagers in the world to take part in the Image Cup.

Finn Krewer and Michael Sell, who both won prizes at last year’s Young Scientist Competition, entered Project Hoshimi, a category of the Image Cup where students are asked to create a strategy that represents the behaviour of a team of microscopic robots – or nanobots – moving inside

a computer based world. The Image Cup is world’s premier student pro- gramming competition and, up until this year, was only open third-level computer programming students.

This year however, event organisers opened the competition to second- level students, allowing Finn and Michael the chance to compete with the elite in the programming world.

To compete in Project Hoshimi, the boys programmed virtual ‘bots’ with artificial intelligence and watch a CD engine plot the progress of their crea- tions in a nano world.

This year, event organisers decided to base the competition in a virtual

human body where the bots attempt- ed to fight illnesses and protect the body.

The competition’s first round con- sisted of a qualifier where each team had to submit a programmed strategy that reached more than 300 points. The Gort students beat this with more than 2600 points, landing straight into 251st place out of 600 qualifiers world-wide for Project Hoshimi and over 10,000 participants in the Imag- ine Cup.

In the next round, Finn and Michael beat five university-level teams to win the honour of representing their school and country in the Project

Hoshimi’s World Wide _ Battles round.

They were the youngest partici- pants to qualify their way into this section of the competition.

Unfortunately, the boys found them- selves in a very tough world-wide group and did not make it to the next level. The six top teams from this round will go to Korea to battle over 24 hours for $6000 prize money.

In addition to his achievements in the Imagine Cup, Michael Sell also received a certificate of excellence in The Young Science Writers’ Compe- tition, which was held recently by the

RDS foundation.

THE West Clare Arts Network, a voluntary group which was set up to support and promote arts and cul- tural events, have been awarded Arts Council funding to co-host an au- tumn tour featuring renowned singer Liam O Maonlai.

The tour 1s a joint initiative between five rural Arts Networks including south Kerry, west Wicklow, south- east Laois and south Tipperary.

The funding is being allocated as part of the Arts Councils Touring Experiment initiative which is de- sisned to inform and shape future policy for touring in Ireland.

As a result of the funding the arts network in west Clare hope to high-

light the positive contribution that voluntary groups can make to pro- moting the arts in rural areas and encourage new members to get in- volved.

The west Clare concert will take place in Teach Cheoil in Kilrush on Saturday next. Doors open at 8pm and Saturday is the final date on the tour.

This old Church of Ireland build- ing was a major beneficiary under the new Development Programme of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann and is now transformed into a magnificent (or NEC

Tickets for the concert cost €10 and are selling fast. They can be pur- chased from the Brothers of Char- ity office, Kilrush, Kilkee Business

Centre and from Jacinta O’Grady in Doonbeg.

Liam O Maonlai is probably best know from his time with the Hot- house Flowers and has since carved out a successful career as a solo artist drawing on his love for the Irish lan- guage and traditional music whilst embracing contemporary music and song from around the world.

He recently performed at the Elec- tric Picnic festival in Laois and was to be heard singing Steve Cooney’s song “The Money Mad Mile’ about the M3 motorway controversy from the Hill of Tara.

A special guest performer on the night of the concert will be local young musician, Rory McMahon.

The tour will also involve a work-

shop with Liam on traditional song in Teach Cheoil on Sunday, October 14 from 2pm to 4pm.

Places on the workshop are strictly limited and should be booked by contacting 085-8144661 and leaving your name and number or be e-mail- ing westclareartsnetwork@gmail. ofeyneF

The West Clare Arts Network was set up in late 2004 with the support of Rural Resource Development Ltd and the arts office of Clare County Council. Nationally, the tour is being co-ordinated by trainer and facilita- tor, Conor O’Leary, who was also instrumental in setting up four of the networks including west Clare at that time and he can be contacted at 087- Oe