Month: October 2007

that

there were two wards closed in the

unit as a result of the budget and re- cruitment freeze.

Patients who have been ready for

discharge are also confined to the

specialised rehabilitation hospital as the personnel for their follow up care or rehabilitation at homes are also af- fected by the controversial move by the HSE to tackle the projected €245 budget overspend.

As aresult the bed he left on a tem- porary basis just months ago is not available.

Ms Mc Tiernan said that her flancé is in a private bed in the neurosurg!- cal ward in Cork University Hospital that should be freed for another pa- tient “probably waiting in pain on a trolley”.

The young woman, who travels from Shannon to Cork every evening to see Gerard is in no doubt who is to blame:

“Mary Harney (the Minister for

Health) is saying that it is not affect- ing front line staff and patients but it is. Gerard paid his taxes for long enough and this is how he 1s repaid.”

Gerard suffered serious brain inju- ries as a result of a hit and run ac- cident that saw him propelled 10 feet into the air while on a golfing trip to Sy oy ube bey Eh are elon

The 44-year-old spent four months in a Malaga hospital following life Saving surgery that saw part of his skull removed.

The self-employed man then re- turned home and spent six months in the Mid Western Regional Hospi- tal Limerick, all the time awaiting a place in Dun Laoghaire.

After intensive campaigning and fighting by his fiancée he got a place

in the rehabilitation unit in late May of this year, a year after the life alter- ing accident.

Two weeks into his rehabilitation treatment he was sent to Cork Uni- versity Hospital to have a titanium plate inserted in his skull, an opera- tion that was to aid his recovery and have him away from the rehabilita- tion unit for just a week.

Further complications meant that the Shannon father of one had to stay in Cork for three months of intensive treatment including painful spinal taps.

As he was confined to bed a lot of the rehabilitation work was undone, but two months ago the doctors gave him the all clear to return for reha- eyebie-nele)eF

The recruitment freeze has meant that the Shannon man must stay put, however, losing vital time away from the unit.

‘The first 18 months are crucial for major brain surgery patients like Ger because that is when they re-learn to speak and walk again,” said Yvonne.

Gerard has just a three-month win- dow left to return to the rehabilita- tion unit for maximum impact and the young couple are aware that time is very quickly running out.

‘We can’t move on with the rest of our lives,’ said a frustrated Yvonne.

She said that while Gerard was in Cork he had access to intensive phys- iotherapy and a speech therapist – treatment not available in Limerick.

He must therefore remain miles away from his eight-year-old son Adam and his fiancée.

Gerard is very aware of what is hap- pening to him and has regained some of his walk and a little speech.

SM elemolerravsleemeeteliB MoM mRMeieE-lKere| with his situation.

‘Mary Harney – what she is doing is affecting him and us for the rest of our lives. She is stopping him getting better,” said Yvonne.

“Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. Fighting the system is unbelievable,” she said.

“It is hard enough to deal with the changes without these obstacles in OTe Ne

“It is not just Ger. The whole coun- try is being affected by it,’ said a tired and frustrated Ms McTiernan.

TODAY is an early pay day for Clare farmers. Clare Fine Gael TD Pat Breen received confirmation from the Minister for Agriculture, Fisher- ies and Food Mary Coughlan, that half of the advance single farm pay- ment will be paid out to Clare Farm- ers today, October 16.

While welcoming the confirmation Deputy Breen urged the minister to ensure that adequate resources are put in place in the SPS unit of the de- partment to deal with any outstand- ing farmers administrative queries 1n

the days preceding this payout.

Deputy Breen said “I welcome this acknowledgement by the minister of the serious problems experienced by Clare Farmers due to the bad weather. The Department has set up a Lo-Call Telephone Number 1890 252 235 in the SPS Unit to assist Clare Farmers with any outstanding queries.

“It is important that the depart- ment allocates sufficient staff in the SPS unit to deal with these queries; the farming community in County Clare should not experience any un- necessary delays because of the de- partment’s failure to assign adequate

resources,” said Deputy Breen.

During parlimentary questions the Fine Gael deputy asked the minis- ter if she would make 80 per cent of the advance single farm payment in October 2007, due to the increased costs incurred by farmers as a result of the bad weather.

Minister Coughlin said she ap- proached Commissioner Fischer Boel earlier this year, seeking her agreement to have payments made with effect from October 16 rather than December I, as is provided for in the relevant EU regulations.

“While the Commissioner indi-

cated that she could not agree to this request at this time, she did make it clear in her written response that she agreed with the need to work for greater simplification, proposing that the matter be further pursued in the broader context of the CAP Health Check, scheduled to commence later this year. “The commitment by the Commissioner to pursue this matter is important to Ireland, as we will be seeking, as part of the Health Check negotiations, a change in the Regula- tions to provide for a Single Payment Scheme payment commencement date of October 16,” she said.

THE gloves have come off and it’s starting to get personal. The ICMSA launched an incredible attack on Teagasc last week, describing their plans for a massive increase in the milk quotas as ‘half-baked and glo- rified pub talk’.

ICMSA president, Jackie Cahill, bashed Teagasc’s call for a massive expansion in milk quota and called on the organisation to weigh up the different quota options open to Ire- land and make a recommendation based on the best interests of Irish dairy farmers and the dairy sector

which those farmers underpin.

“This is unfortunately typical of the kind of half-baked theorising that Teagasc has lately chosen to describe as ‘research’ and which always seems to obscure a question rather than throwing some light on it,” said Cahill.

‘Proper research 1s needed and this is precisely what we’re not getting. Today’s statement might be charita- bly described as useless and could more accurately be described as con- fused nonsense.

“Dairy farmers will be veering be- tween amusement and bewilderment as they try and work out how a three

per cent increase in milk quota would depress milk prices and lead to an overall loss to dairy farmers while a 20 per cent increase in quota would leave many farmers better off.

“Can Teagasc tell us how many farmers and how much better off they’d be? What we’re seeing here — yet again — 1s Teagasc’s inability to give direct answers to relatively straightforward questions. [If it’ll help them, Ill happily set out here the questions to which dairy farmers need a direct answer from Teagasc.

“What will be the impact of milk price for every one per cent increase in quota, what will be the likely

price in Ireland for every one per cent reduction in the tariff protec- tion in WTO and what will be the likely price of milk if there was no quota?”

Last week Teagasc had called for a large expansion of the EU milk quo- ta, which they claimed would benefit the Irish dairy sector in advance of milk quota abolition, but may not suit all dairy farmers.

Teagasc economist, Trevor Don- nellan, said that if a large quota increase was agreed as part of the upcoming CAP Health Check, few other EU Member States would have the potential to increase production

is the title of the DVD which features a magical night of mu- sic by Mickaleen Conlon and friends, which was recorded in Greene’s pub, Ballyvaughan, on August 17, 1994.

The 13-year gap between that famous session and the release of the recording will be bridged on Octo- ber 26 when The Roadside Tavern in Lisdoonvarna hosts the launch of the

DVD, which also features some of the great names of traditional music.

Mickaleen Conlon was born in Poulnagun , three miles outside Lis- doonvarna, and lived all his life in an area that had a rich tradition of mu- sic, particularly “box’ music.

He learned the concertina from his father at a young age and was to car- ry his distinctive ‘hob’ style of play- ing with him all though his life. He later learned to play the accordion, at which he became equally adept.

The country house dances provided the setting for Mickaleen’s music in his youth and, in later years, he played in the pubs of north Clare,

especially the Roadside ‘Tavern, Where he enjoyed music for more than 50 years.

Apart from the rich musical tradi- tion which he represented, Micka- leen was also a great storyteller and humourist who is fondly remembered as a gentle and colourful character.

Indeed, one of the musicians who featured in that memorable session in August 1994, Sean Tyrrell, recalls Mickaleen’s legacy in the sleeve notes to the DVD in which he credits the Poulnagun maestro with teaching him the “art of magic in music”.

“T owe him a huge debt of gratitude for all the wondrous nights of music

we played together and shared with another musician, Shane Holden, who, like Mickaleen, is no longer with us. Shane helped me forge the style I have in song. No matter what rhythmic ramble I took, he was always there beside me, right on the beat. They were both masters of the rhythm, the bedrock of music’, ‘Tyr- rell said.

The DVD, which was produced by Dark Horse Films, also features the music of Vincent Browne (gul- tar), Gabriel Casey (whistle), Shane Holden (guitar), Liam Lewis (fiddle) as well as Tyrrell on vocals, mando- cello and banjo.

CLARE matchmaker Willie Daly and Matchmaking Festival organ- iser Marcus White are to travel to south-east Asia to share their match- making expertise with the people of Singapore.

The pair have been invited to address a conference next month organised by that country’s ministry of community development, youth and sports on November 2 and 3.

The Matchmakers’ Trade Seminar, which is the first meeting of its kind ever organised, will feature keynote speakers from Japan, Korea and Chi- na as well as the Lisdoonvarna pair.

“The Singapore chamber of com- merce is paying for them to come out and speak. They have witnessed the success of the festival here and have seen how it brings in €3.6 mil- hon for Lisdoonvarna,” said festival organiser Mark Flanaghan.

“It’s a double-edged sword really. They have invited us over because they want to start their own festivals in Asia.

“At the same time, we want to forge connections in that region so we can increase the number of people visit- ing Lisdoonvarna. We want them to bring a plane-load of people here for next year’s festival.”

Thousands of people _ visited

Lisdoonvarna over the past six weeks in one of the best-attended festivals in years. “This year was different from the last few years. We started to get a more middle-aged crowd back, people in their 30s, 40s and 50s. I think that the television advertis- ing had a lot to do with that,” added Flanaghan.

“We have six weeks of a festival here, with dancing going from first thing in the morning to the last thing at night. There is no place in the world with that going on.

“The daytime dancing was really great this year. It’s not Lisdoonvarna, it’s the whole catchment area. People take trips to Fanore, out to Doolin,

all around the place. We get all kinds of people.

“We get people who would just come for the dancing and would have no interest in the matchmaking and we would get other people who would not have a dance through the whole festival.

“It is a great benefit for the area – there is really nothing like it.”

This year’s festival ended last weekend with the Mr Lisdoonvarna and the Queen of the Burren com- petitions. The coveted Queen of the Burren title was won by local woman Roisin Crowe, while Michael Hugh- es from Limerick city won the Mr Lisdoonvarna contest.

TWO Clare men are to brave the rugged terrain and sweltering heat of Cuba to take part in a gruelling six- day fundraising cycle in aid of the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.

John Stack from Lisdoonvarna and Ennistymon man Matthew Grilf- fin will arrive in the country on November 6 to take part in the mam- moth challenge.

“I do a lot of charity stuff. I heard about this about three months ago, looked it up and it seemed like a good thing to do.

“IT have done fundraising work for cancer and the Irish Heart Founda-

tion but I haven’t done anything for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind,” said Mr Stack.

“We are going to Cuba on the November 6 and will be cycling for six full days out there. Matthew is going out as well but there will a group from all over the country.

“I do a lot of cycling myself but it’s mostly all charity stuff. In the past I have taken part in the Clare 250, the Wicklow 200, Inishowen Peninsula Cycle, Tour of Lough Corrib, the Tour of the Burren and the Ring of Kerry, so I am well used to the challenge.”

Last summer John was part of a eroup of cyclists from north Clare

who took on the most famous climb of them all, the Alpe d’Huez.

“It really was very challenging, the temperatures were totally unreal. When we started in the morning it was 29 degrees and before we be- gan to climb Alpe d’Huez it was 36 Olfeaneteny

“It was very hot but there was three massive climbs to tackle as well. It is the exact same stage that the rid- ers on the Tour de France did a week later,’ Mr Stack added.

“We are hoping to get a bit of a different type of challenge out in Cuba. That is one of the reasons for going, to get the change of scenery and to see what the terrain is like out

there as well.” Following the success of a charity poker challenge in Lynch’s Hotel last Saturday, John has organised another fundraising event for Doolin later this month.

“We have organised a 45-card drive game in McDermotts in Doolin for October 24. That’s starting at nine and people are welcome to come along to that,” he said.

“Otherwise, if people want to donate money to Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, they can contact me directly on my mobile number, 086 2552709, or they can post anything to John Stack, Lisdoonvarna. Any donations made would be very wel- come indeed.”

THE focus of Europe will be on Gort this week as an RTE documentary on the town’s Brazilian population takes centre stage at the Prix Europa, Europe’s foremost media and televi- sion awards ceremony.

The documentary, entitled ‘Lit- tle Brazil, Gort, Ireland’ – one of eight Irish entries to have made the final shortlist – was first screened on October 5, 2006.

The documentary paints a portrait of Brazilian immigrant life in Ire- land in general and has a particular focus on how Gort has coped with

the huge influx of South American workers and their families.

Gort’s Brazilian story started 10 years ago when the town of Villa Fabril, a small rural village in cen- tral Brazil, was devastated by the collapse of their local meat plant, owned by the major international beef company Reibol.

More than 900 men and women were left with no work and the plant’s closure triggered a massive wave of emigration that would in time com- pletely transform everyday life in the market town of Gort.

Within months of the shutdown the company’s Cork-born export man-

ager Jerry O’Callaghan had stepped in and set in train a series of events that would change forever the lives of many of the redundant workers and their families.

At first, just a trickle of young men left from Villa Fabril, but within a year a rapidly growing exodus of Brazilian emigrants was _ heading for Ireland to work not just in meat factories but on farms, building sites, shops, factories and nursing homes.

The documentary, which was pro- duced by Caroline Bleahen and presented by Jim Fahy, tells a some- times heart-warming, at times heart- breaking, story of the first genera-

tion of factory workers who set out to build new lives for themselves in Ireland.

Filmed in Brazil and south Galway, the documentary is both a portrait of Brazilian immigrant life in Ireland today – mirroring many of the past experiences of Irish emigrants to England and the US – and an analysis of how the town has coped with such a huge influx of South American workers and their families.

The documentary will represent Ireland in the Prix Europa Iris cat- egory at the awards, which take place from October 13 to 20 in Berlin and Potsdam in Germany.

A KILRUSH councillor has called on the minister for education and sci- ence and the minister for transport to introduce a module on road safety on the SPHE curriculum in second level schools.

Councillor Collie Sweeney (in- dependent) claims that the module could help save lives, as the number of young people being killed on the country’s roads is an unacceptable tragedy.

The town councillor said that fig-

ures he received from the depart- ment of transport showed that more young men and women are dying on the road than any other category.

Between 2001 and 2005 fifty 16 to 20-year-olds were killed in traffic ac- cidents. As many as 30 people aged between 21 and 25 lost their lives in the same manner during the same period of time.

““Itis time to get the message home,” said Cllr Sweeney and he maintain the best way to do that is through the schools.

“On our news bulletins we are

treated to a daily dose of carnage and human self destruction on our roads. Have we grown indifferent to the number of young men in particular who are fatally injured on our roads and whose deaths bring huge tragedy and loss to their families,” he said. “This year alone 253 people have lost their lives on Irish roads. Almost 100 of these relate to young people between the ages of 18 and 35 years. Even those who do survive will be wheelchair bound for the rest of their lives. Those who are maimed and in- jured are placing a big strain on our

health and emergency services.”

“T believe that it 1s an education matter. Schools have an important role to play in educating our young people about safe driving. Cars are lethal weapons. Young people think the tragedy only knocks on the neighbour’s door.”

This unfortunately is untrue. Many decent families have had their lives turned upside down by an early morning knock on the door.

The killing and dying must end now.

KILRUSH Town Council is to hon- our one of the town’s daughters when they welcome the mayor of Clare to its December meeting.

Councillor Patricia McCarthy (Ind), a native of the west Clare capital 1s to be guest of honour at the last meeting of the year.

News of her attendance was greeted with unanimous good wishes by the members of the council, but the father of the council Cllr Jack Nolan (Ind) was not happy with one of the pre- vious chairpersons of Clare County Council visiting a Kilrush meeting.

Cllr Nolan said that when he was

chairman of the town council the then chairman of the county council, who is now a Clare TD, was invited to attend.

The longest serving member of the town council said he would not be happy to see junior Minister Tony Killeen visit the town council criti- cising his response to the removal of the Shannon Heathrow slots to Bel- jee

“Tam very disappointed in our Dail representatives that they have not put their shoulder to the wheel for Shan- non. It was not the shareholders that elected them, it wasn’t Bertie Ahern, it was us – the people,’ said Cllr No- Eten

Cllr Nolan said he was delighted that Cllr McCarthy had agreed to at- tend the meeting however.

“T have never seen anyone lead a council like Patricia,” he said.

Cllr Tom Prenderville (FF) said Kilrush was very proud of all its citi- zens and particularly those who had made outstanding contributions to the native place.

“Tt would be fitting for this council to honour the Mayor of Clare Pa- tricia McCarthy. As well as being bred, born and reared in the town, Patricia has never lost her great gra for Kilrush. Although now domicile in Shannon where she has given a lifetime of public service to Shan-

non Town Council and Clare County Council, Patricia has never forgotten her roots.”

Cllr Prenderville and Clare’s first citizen were both pupils at the Con- vent of Mercy in Kilrush at the same wbealee

“As a public representative, Patricia has earned a reputation for her fear- less service on behalf of her constitu- ents. She is a credit to Kilrush and to Clare and as mayor of Clare she has been to the fore in articulating issues that affect the general public,” said Cllr Prenderville.

Cllr Christy O’Malley (FF) de- scribed mayor McCarthy as an advo- cate of the major issues of the day.

THE Western Yacht Club in Kilrush is mid-way through its “October Se- ries” following a year of success on the high seas.

With “Chieftain” named Yacht of the Year and “The Spirit of Kil- rush” coming in second behind the Ger O’Rourke Chietain yacht in the Round Ireland Yacht Race last year – the profile of the 180 year old club has grown enormously.

This year’s Shannon Ferry Group

Western Yacht Club October Series is also proving very successful.

The series began on October 7 and will conclude in Saturday, October PAR

This is the final event of the Du- barry WIORA super league for yacht clubs.

The Rinvella Plate will be awarded to the yacht, which in the opinion of the race committee has given the best performance of all yachts in the series under the IRC system.

Overall prizes will be presented at

the WYC dinner on Saturday, Octo- ber 27 at the Harbour Restaurant.

The first race of the series took place in what was described as ideal conditions, clear blue skies and 10- knot force three south winds.

A total of 16 yachts participated from Clifden Boat Club, Tarbert Sailing Club, Foynes Yacht Club and of course the home club – Western Yacht Club.

“The officer of the day, Commo- dore Randal Counihan set a chal- lenging course west of Scattery Is-

land for the four classes which tested their sailing techniques to the limit. The weather conditions were favour- able and two races were held,’ said PRO of the club Charles Glynn.

The Western Yacht Club is based in the Kilrush Marina, which provides 120 pontoon berths, which has excel- lent facilities for all its visitors.

The yacht club will celebrate its 180th birthday shortly after Christ- mas as it was established at a special meeting in the area on February 6, ReW2on