Month: January 2008

THE people of Lissycasey are travel- ling en masse to South Africa to sup- port one of their own, as she gives hope to thousands.

Local woman Sr Ethel Normoyle has undertaken to build a hospice and community facility at Mission- vale, Port Elizabeth, where she cares for the poor of its shantytowns.

The Lissycasey native will be joined on the ambitious three-week construction project by three of her nieces and her nephew, as well as al- most a dozen more people from her home parish.

Tom Clancy and Paddy Carmody from Lissycasey were busy with a cake sale last week, as they worked

hard to raise the €3,000 needed to see each of the volunteering build- ers, painters, tillers and helpers to Africa.

The 160 volunteers will travel at different times during the three- week project.

As a bricklayer Tom’s skills will be required from the beginning – Janu- Vaan lon

Building contractor Paddy will make his way over later.

Family support is also on its way with all the Clare volunteers.

St Normoyle’s nieces Grainne Tal- ty, Pamela Normoyle, Cliodhna Tal- ty and her nephew Shane Normoyle, also from Lissycasey, are helping out with the project.

In the 19 years since she moved to

South Africa Sr Normoyle has es- tablished a school, a feeding centre, a clothing centre and a lifeline for people who have nothing.

As well as dealing with crippling poverty the people of South Africa are also coping with an AIDS epi- demic, which has left devastation and orphans in its wake.

More than six in every ten people in the township where Sr Normoyle works, have the virus.

The Little Company of Mary nun, who trained in St John’s Hospital in Limerick, is now preparing to build a hospice and community resource centre to help give a better quality of life to people infected with AIDS.

Already more than €100,000 has been fundraised to buy all the nec-

essary materials for the new facility, which will have 18 beds for patients, as well as facilities to educate peo- ple suffering from the virus in how best to care for themselves and their families.

To build the new centre, a team of 200 people are needed between Jan- uary 16 and February 26, staying ten days at a time.

Volunteers will be put up in a ho- tel in Port Elizabeth and the €3,000 which they have to raise to join the team covers all flights, meals ac- commodation and transfers for the oNmer Way

THERE was plenty of festive cheer in west Clare on Christmas morning as hundreds took part in the tradi- tional Christmas Day swims.

The largest crowd gathered in Mil- town Malbay.

More than 120 people braved the elements at the White Strand in aid of the Mid West Cancer Unit in Lim- erick.

Describing the swim now in its 15th year as “excellent”, participant Tony Cogan believed it wasn’t as cold as other years.

More than 200 people gathered to

watch the fun in Spanish Point, and enjoy some warm festive drinks.

While it rained just before and after the charity swim, the only time the swimmers got wet was when they hit the water.

In Kilkee the swim is in its 25th year.

Around 50 people took part in the swim in Kilkee at 12.30pm.

Due to the low tide, the swim was moved from the traditional point at the slipway to the beach. The event, organised by Kilkee Sub Aqua Club, attracted swimmers of all ages who braved chilly winds and choppy seas.

Half of the proceeds from the sponsored swim event will again go to the Scoil Realt na Mara Astroturf and playground project. Punch was served to swimmers after the event by Eileen Mulcahy of Kilkee Thalas- sotherapy Centre.

The people of Kilrush were out ear- ly this Charistmas Day – at 9.45 am. Despite the early start the tide was on the way out, but the determined swimmers made the most of it.

A huge crowd gathered in the freez- ing cold to watch the 30 swimmers who took to the waters for Kilrush RNLI and Multiple Sclerosis.

Santa Claus also swapped the air

for water and came ashore with the crew of the lifeboat and enjoyed the hot drinks with the locals after a very busy night.

Kildysart was the only fresh water DW bes meme etom ern yA

More than 50 people decided to take to the water of Gortlass Lake at midday.

According to one of the organisers John O’Connor, the conditions for the festive event now in its fifth year, were “reasonably good”’.

Again a crowd gathered to watch the swimmer raise money for the mini marathon cancer fund and enjoy a warm, much appreciated drink.

THOUSANDS of music lovers will visit Sixmilebridge for the ninth an- nual Winter Music Weekend, which takes place between Friday, January 11 and Sunday, January 13.

The festival of music will feature a wide range of music including blues, classical, jazz, bluegrass, set danc- ing, morris dancing, folk and trad.

This year, one of the main attrac- tions will be the mandolin concert

on Friday night, which will feature Simon Mayor and Hilary James, at the Courthouse venue. Simon Mayor is one of the world’s foremost man- dolinists and composers and will travel from the UK for this gig.

Among the other attractions will include an appearance by the Niall Toner band, in an acoustic concert, on Saturday evening, also at the Courthouse.

The Mill Bar will play host to the Cork-based Two Time Polka on Sat-

urday night and the North Cregg Tra- ditional Group from Cork on Sunday evening. For the first time this year, the Klezmer Jewish Band will play at the festival.

The festival will be spread among seven premises in Sixmilebridge – the courthouse, church, GAA club and four pubs – while the morris dancers will perform on the streets.

Organiser Brendan Walsh said there have been phone calls from interested music lovers from all over

the country and overseas and hopes are high that last year’s attendance figure of 3,000 will be surpassed.

“We have a big contingent com- ing from Germany and from France, while the core group of people will come from locals, along with people from Ennis, south Galway and Lim- erick,” he said.

The event is supported by Failte Ireland. For more information con- tact Brendan on 0868464509 or view the website on Www.wmw.ie.

THERE is growing concern in rela- tion to the number of private rented houses which appear derelict in Shannon town. Several residents have raised concerns about the is- sue and have asked for a report on the numbers of derelict houses to be compiled.

The matter has been raised by In- dependent councillor Patricia Mc- Carthy, who has called for a progress report to be presented on derelict sites which are under investigation.

“A number of derelict sites have been creating a nuisance. There is a growing concern about the number

of private rented houses which are derelict or there could be someone living in them and there is an air of dereliction about them,’ said Cllr McCarthy.

In response to the motion, Clare County Council Acting Senior Ex- ecutive Officer, Myles Carey out- lined the latest situation, regarding numbers of derelict houses in the redwa ee

He stated that during the 12 months of 2007, nine properties have been removed from the derelict sites reg- ister, “in that the owners complied in full with the requirements of the statutory notices as issued”.

These properties represent single

dwellings in various housing devel- opments in the town.

Five or six other properties were identified as derelict but through correspondence with the owners, they were all rendered non-derelict, even before being included in the register through the co-operation of the owners. These were also single dwellings in various housing devel- opments.

One of the buildings removed from the register, having been rendered non-derelict, was the old ESB site in Shannon.

The council said a number of sites in the Drumgeely, Tradaree and Foyle Park areas are considered der-

elict and are being followed up.

‘In a number of cases, the owners are or have applied for planning per- missions and in most cases the own- ers have had recent correspondence with the gardai. These will be fol- lowed up under the provisions of the act,” stated Mr Carey.

“One property is currently under investigation and a report is awaited. This is a single dwelling in a hous- ing development,’ he added.

However Cllr McCarthy said the council still hadn’t “identified which ones they have moved on”’.

“The council can prosecute and make people render them non-der- elict,” said Cllr McCarthy.

THE highlight of the underage bas- ketball year in Ennistymon took place last Friday with the final of the Lorcan O’Connor Cup.

The cup, which is contested each winter between mixed U12 teams from the Clare Cascaders Club, is played in memory of the late Lorcan O’Connor who was one of Ennisty- mon _ basketball’s biggest support- ers from its early days back in the Toes

This years final was won by the Celtics, who scored a dramatic ex- tra time victory over the Cobras. The winning team included Laoise

Bucholz, Ciara O’Connell, Aisling O’Connell, Shane Doyle and John Dillon and was coached by U17 play- er Sean Devitt.

“Lorcan would have been one of the original founders of the club, that’s going back 53 years now. In those days they used to play all of their basketball in the old market house which is where the Holywell is now. It was the old market house where people would bring their pro- duce but when ever it was empty they would be inside in it playing basket- ball,” said Vincent Leigh of the Clare Cascaders.

‘From the early 60s right the whole way along Lorcan would have been

a great supporter of the club. He was heavily involved in getting the com- munity centre up and running and was a great supporter. He especially loved getting young people involved hie ned

Meanwhile, on January 5, the club will invite outside teams to take part in the Frank Kilkenny Cup for the first ttme. Clubs from Shannon, Lim- erick and Galway will make their way to Ennistymon for the UI7 com- petition which has up to now been contested by teams from the Cascad- ers Club.

‘Frank was a member of the Ad- mirals National League team back in the ‘80s and was a great club worker

over the years. This is the first year that we are inviting outside teams to take part.

“It will be good to open up that competition and hopefully it will catch on and we could invite more clubs next year and the year after.”

On January 20, the girls U14 and U16 teams will host a series of matches in Ennistymon. A number of boys involved in the U17 team are also now half way through a referee qualification course being hosted in Dublin.

All going well members of the eroup will be fully qualified referees before the summer comes around again.

AS the final experiments take place ahead of next weeks BI Young Scientist Exhibition in Dublin, one north Clare teacher will be travelling to the RDS with an extra spring in his step.

For John Sims from Mary Immac- ulate Secondary School in Lisdoon- varna, this year competition marks the 20th consecutive year that he has brought students to compete against the best in the country.

Since the first group from Lisdoon- varna competed back in 1988, John has overseen more than 120 projects from some 500 students.

‘“[ had always had an interest in the

Young Scientist and when I was in secondary school I did a project my- self. I enjoyed it greatly and I always said that when I was teaching myself that I would give something back and get involved from the teaching side,” he said.

“The first year I had two or three groups. But it was a much different competition back then. That was back in 1988 and in those days you had to type everything up manually on an old typewriter.”

Mary Immaculate has grown into the county’s leading school in the competition with more than half of all Clare’s entries coming from there this year.

“This year 60 students from the

school originally put down their names. Now some of them failed to come up with ideas and a few are be- ing held over until next year. In the end we entered 18 products and 14 of them were accepted. Which is good going considering that they only ac- cept 500 projects from about 1400 from all over the country,” continued John.

“We work here a lot over the Christ- mas and usually the group that goes up tend to remain friends afterwards. They have a great camaraderie, they really look after each other and help each other.

“Of course, if you want to get it to that high standard then you need to put in time outside of school. You

have to bring in a lot of different strands together.

“Td say PU be at this until I retire. I love the buzz. Some days you can be so tired over Christmas and you’d wonder why you would be doing it. But only for my wife and my kids al- lowing me to do this. I’m lucky, they know that this is my passion and they let me away with it. It’s my passion.”

To see a full preview of the Clare entrants for this years competition check out pages 37 to 44.

GARDAI have renewed their appeal for anyone who may have informa- tion about a 23-year-old, missing since a night out with pals in Killa- loe, to come forward.

James Burke from Ballinruan was last seen near the bridge in Killaloe on Sunday, December 9 just after LO oyere

He was heading for The Anchor Bar after an evening socialising in the town with friends but never showed up.

The alarm was raised the next day When he didn’t arrive for work or contact his parents.

A widescale search on land and wa- ter has been going on since then but has produced no results.

Last Sunday search and rescue divers entered the river Shannon for the first time since James’ disappear- ance, having been prevented from doing so before then by the huge pull created by the Ardnacrusha power station turbines.

A Garda spokesman said that they “have to keep an open mind on the matter. We have no concrete evi- dence that he went into the water and nothing has been found so far that would support that so we must allow for all possibilities”.

The spokesman asked that people

who were out in Killaloe on the night to think carefully about whether they may have seen Mr Burke.

“Someone may have some small piece of information which might prove helpful. There may be some- one who was away for Christmas and has just returned or even if one of his friends knows something that they may be worried about telling us, we would appeal for them to come KO MWe n Ke

“This is a terrible thing for a fam- ily at any time but particularly at this time of year.”

Anyone with any information can contact the incident room at Killaloe garda station on 061 620540.

SUPPORTERS of the restoration of the Shannon/Heathrow route have hit back at claims by an economist that the route is not important.

Separately, Cityjet were this week understood to be considering a fur- ther connectivity lifeline between Shannon and Schipol Airport in Am- sterdam.

A special report was produced by economist Sean Barrett to accom- pany the ESRI quarterly economic commentary.

Barrett said in the report that argu- ments favouring Government inter- vention to retain the Shannon-Hea- throw service were “weak”.

The report highlights how just 38 per cent of the 856,000 passengers who flew from Shannon to London in 2006 went to Heathrow. The bal- ance used services to Stanstead, Gat- wick and Luton.

In the 10 year period to 2006 the numbers flying from Shannon to Heathrow declined by four per cent while the volume of passengers trav- elling between the airport and Lon- don actually rose by 156 per cent.

But John King of Shannon Devel- opment said that “even if only one third of passengers connect on or use Heathrow, that’s still an awful lot of people.

“It’s easy to dismiss it if youre just

talking statistics but the business case set out by the Atlantic Connec- tivity Alliance is the reality.”

King added that this case was up- held by the fact that Cityjet have an- nounced their route to Paris from Shannon and they saw a market in providing connectivity to a major European hub.

Passenger figures for Shannon have jumped this year by 2.95 million.

According to a report on Irish air- ports in the year to date, published by the Economic and Social Research Institute, Shannon 1s connected to 39 airports serviced by nine airlines.

While lobby groups here including the Atlantic Connectivity Alliance have called for the Government to force Aer Lingus to reverse its deci- sion to axe the Shannon-Heathrow route from January 14, Barrett says he does not agree.

Meanwhile Cityjet, an Air France subsidiary which has recently an- nounced flights betwen Shannon and Paris, is looking at flying into the Amsterdam airport from Shannon.

The Amsterdam route would prob- ably depend on the support for the Paris route, airline sources say.

Separately, Aer Rianta has won one of its largest ever contracts which will see it develop operations at a new terminal in Moscow, in a deal which will generate more than €1 billion over seven years.

THE driving force in_ Bridget Sweeney’s life is her “Burren View” bed and breakfast business in Bally- vaughan and she proved it when pick- ing up her latest award last week.

On her way to an end of year awards function for the Tourism Learning Network, her car broke down. Yet just a few weeks ago, she had won a new car in a national newspaper Leyeny oles isleyee

But Bridget opted to convert the car prize into cash which she invested in the comfort of her guests rather than her own driving convenience.

Not even the breakdown halted Bridget. Still stained with oil and erime when she finally arrived in Limerick’s Castletroy Park Hotel, she was stunned to learn that she was one of three award winners chosen from the 25-strong membership of the Clare Tourism Learning Network.

Winning ways are nothing new to Bridget from Castleblaney who was the leader of an award-winning cus- tomer care team in the telecoms in- dustry before she used the proceeds of an early retirement package to fi- nance her dream of running her own B&B in the Burren.

She took on the job of project man- ager for the conversion and refur- bishment of “Burren View” which opened in 2006 and was an award winner within its first year.

The 5-bedroom B&B with disabil- ity access in all en-suite rooms won a “Welcome” award from Failte Ire-

land as well as getting a highly rec- ommended endorsement from Fam- ily Homes of Ireland.

Before she opened her doors to pay- ing guests, Bridget conducted a series of test runs to weed out any problems

or shortcomings for her entry to the tourist trade.

She invited well-travelled friends and family to visit and provide can- did feedback.

“They told me what they thought of how I greeted them on arrival, how I informed them about what was on of- fer in the area, the comfort of the bed- rooms and the quality of the break- fast”.

Bridget’s winning ways have also helped to fit out “Burren View”. She has a flair for dreaming up winning slogans.

Her prize from one competition provided the furniture for the patio looking out over the Burren. Light fittings and an aquarium for the guesthouse were also won in slogan competitions.

Bridget received her ‘Tourism Learning Network award for her achievement in developing a “bou- tique” bed and breakfast venture at Newtown, Ballyvaughan.

Other winners presented with their awards by Clare Mayor, Council- lor Patricia McCarthy were Davnet Cronin O’Brien of Clonlara Eques- trian Centre and John Davoren of Caherconnell Fort in the Burren.

TWO major car dealerships with their headquarters in Ennis increased the size of their businesses in 2006.

According to the latest returns to the Companies Office, Tom Hogan (Gal- way) Ltd of Ballymaley increased its turnover from €87 million in 2005 to €103 million last year.

The figures represent the sales fig- ures for the Tom Hogan outlets in Ennis, Galway, Clonmel and Shan-

nto) eF

Separate returns to the Companies Office show that Ford dealer T Sheils & Co Ltd increased its turnover from €35 million to €36 million.

The Tom Hogan group of compa- nies are Toyota and Lexus dealers and sustained an operating loss of €393,000 due to €992,000 being written off a related party debtor.

The company remains in strong financial health with accumulated profits standing at €6.7 million and

shareholders funds standing at €14.2 million.

The figures show that the company employed 153 people and had a wage bill of €6 million.

The two directors in the company are Paul and David Hogan. Accord- ing to a statement accompanying the accounts, “the directors anticipate an improved level of performance in 2006/2007”.

It continues: “The principal risk to the group is to lose market share

and as a result miss an opportunity to achieve planned sales growth with its knock-on effect on net income.

“The ongoing challenge for the group 1s maintaining sales and gross margin and controlling overheads and required capital expenditure. The strategy of the group is to con- tinue to differentiate its products on the basis of quality, service, range and availability.”

The accounts show that T Sheils and Co enjoyed a profit before tax in

2006 of €195,000. The directors are listed as Thomas Sheils and Mary- Ann Sheils.

The company had accumulated profits of €1.17 million and the fig- ures show that the company em- ployed 88 people and had a wage bill last year of €1.9 million.

According to a statement accom- panying the accounts, the directors “are satisfied with financial perform- ance for the period and anticipate improvement in future years”.