Month: February 2008

THE IFA have called for an emer- gency of the joint Oireachtas Ag- riculture Committee to take place immediately to help resolve the REPS payment problems which has gripped farmers around the country in recent days.

Newly appointed Clare IFA Presi- dent, Michael Lynch, was in Dublin this week lobbying the four Clare T’D’s on the subject.

“Well the Clare TD’s were sympa- thetic but we are really depending on the Minister and whither she can have an influence in changing things in Brussels. The problem is in Brus-

sels,” he said.

“They have taking a different in- terpretation of how these REPS are to be distributed and for us that is amounting to breaching a contract in relation to REPS 2 and 3. The great majority of REPS farmers in Clare will be effected by this sooner or Fitoe

“We were up in Dublin this week lobbying the Government, the TD’s and the Senators. We were trying too getting across the real problems that these late payments are causing for farmers and try and get Minister Coughlan to rectify the situation.

“This will have a big impact in Clare. More than 2,500 Clare farm-

ers are involved in REPS and the in- come that comes into Clare because of this is in the region of €17 mil- lion. That is a substantial part of the overall income of Clare farmers. An- ything that interferes with payment is going to have a big impact on the farmers themselves and the business they are going.”

Meanwhile, Clare man and ICSA General Secretary, Eddie Punch was part of a delegation from the farm- ing who met with Minister Coughlan and discussed the REPS situation last week.

ICSA president Malcolm Thomp- son, Gabriel Gilmartin, rural de- velopment chairman and Ivor Kil-

patrick, deputy rural development chairman also attended the meeting.

According to ICSA report the or- ganisation impressed upon the de- partment officials the urgency of the situation, which could potentially adversely affect 55,000 farmers at a time when beef, sheep and suck- ler farmers are struggling to break VCE

The ICSA also threatened to raise the matter with EU agriculture com- missioner Mariann Fischer Boel and said that said that disillusioned farm- ers would be hard—pressed to vote yes for EU treaty reform when they feel that the EU clearly treats them with contempt.

AFTER four years at the helm of Clare’s largest farming organisation Seamus Murphy last week complet- ed his term of office as President of the IFA in Clare.

The IFA’s National President, Pa- draig Walshe, made the journey to Ennis earlier this month to witness the last Clare IFA AGM hosted by Mr Murphy.

Seamus has served as Clare IFA President since 2004 and has more than 30 years of voluntary service to the IFA and Macra under his belt.

Having presided over some one the most interesting and challeng- ing times in recent farming history, Seamus will now take up the role

of Clare IFA vice president along- side newly elected president Michael Lynch.

“Seamus has been an excellent chairman over his four year term. He has led the executive very effectively and very efficiently,’ said new Clare IFA President, Michael Lynch.

“He was involved in numerous campaigns to further the interests of Clare farmers, whither that was in dealing with officials locally or at the various protests and demonstra- tion that we had around the country.

“He was especially involved in tackling problems that we would have had in relation to the pricing of cattle and sheep and occasionally problems with some of the dairy co-

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Mr Lynch is no stranger in the IFA at local and national level has held many important roles in the past including Animal Health and Farm Business Representative for Clare and Vice Chairman of National Livestock Committee.

“Over the next few years I would think that to maintain a sufficient price for farm produce would be one of the main challenged over the next few years. To make sure that farm- ers can get a margin over costs,’ he Sr HLG

‘TL also want to look at our increased dependence in recent times on the Single Farm Payment, Forestry Pay- ments, Area Aid Payments and the REPS Payments.

“There are serious problems with

the REPS at the moment. One of the biggest challenges will come in a few years time when the Single Farm Payment comes up for a serious re- view which could have a huge effect on farmers in Clare.

“We urgently need price increases at a level that will not only cover our costs but give us a margin to reinvest as well. That is the only way that farming can have a sustainable fu- ture. We cannot be so dependent on these payments.”

CLARE County Council has been accused of acting outside its powers in its bid to end the construction of holiday homes in Kilkee.

Last month, the council refused an application by building firm, Keel- erove Construction Ltd to allow a portion of the homes as holiday homes. The council concluded that up to a thousand holiday homes in Kilkee should be used for permanent occupancy.

The developers have now appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanala.

In their appeal, Keelgrove state that Zoning provisions in the west Clare

local area plan do not restrict the oc- cupancy of houses on the site nor is it stated in any section of the plan that a restrictive occupancy condition will be attached to residential devel- opments in Kilkee.

They claim that the council’s posi- tion is unreasonable and unenforce- able as the houses will be sold to in- dividual third parties over which the developer will have no control.

Keelgrove maintain that the coun- cil decision is unreasonable “as the developer cannot be held responsible for the future actions of potential house purchaser, who may or may not use the dwelling as their princi- ple private residence.

“The condition is not enforceable as there is no way of regulating or ensuring that potential purchasers use such dwellings as permanent residences in the future.

“It is unreasonable to restrict the future occupancy of all 64 residen- tial units to permanent homes when population projections in the plan detailed that there will only be a re- quirement for 62 new units in Kilkee over the period.

“If the council applies the restric- tion to all future housing in the town, then the plan is failing to provide for a key sector of the housing and tour- ism market and this could adversely impact on the economy of the town.

“In the interest of fairness and equality, that should such a condition be considered necessary and funda- mental to the overall grant of per- mission, then only a percentage of the residential units within the devel- opment granted should be restricted to permanent occupancy.

“For example, a requirement to provide 20 per cent of the overall site for permanent occupation would ne- cessitate that 12 houses are restricted to such use. Such a condition if prop- erly defined and qualified would be considered reasonable,” the develop- ers conclude.

A decision is expected on the ap- peal later this year.

THERE was good news for west Clare at the weekend when grant ap- proval was confirmed for a major up- grade of the local road infrastructure and and extensive redevelopment of Doonbeg Harbour.

In addition to the €16 million al- located to Clare Council Council for the maintenance and improvement of regional and local roads, a fur- ther €1.5 million was approved for Specific improvement work on the Miltown Malbay/Gort and Miltown Malbay/Ennis roads.

€200,000 was approved for spe- cific improvements to the Kilmihil/

Cree road and safety work on the road at Paradise, Kildysart qualified for a grant of €30,000.

A special block grant of €204,000 was allocated to Kilrush Town Council with €127,000 of this being being targeted for footpath and car- riageway repairs.

€44,000 was allocated for the pro- vision, repair and replacement of footpaths in the Kikee Town Council area. This will cover the cost of work on the footpaths at Dunlicky Road (€7,200); Circular Road (€8,480); Marian Estate (€4,800); Carri- gaholt Road (€8,160); O’Connell Street (€9,600) and O’Curry Street (5,760).

Minister of State Tony Killeen ex- pressed optimism that any planning issues relating to the commence- ment of works on the Doonbeg Har- bour Development would soon be resolved. He was commenting after the Government allocated €525,000 to Clare County Council to under- take extensive improvement works at Doonmore, Doonbeg.

“The cooperative approach adopt- ed by the local community, Clare County Council and the various State Agencies in securing the nec- essary funding to upgrade Doonbeg Harbour is a perfect example of how essential rural projects can be pro- eressed for the benefit of all,” he

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“There is a varied and extensive programme of works earmarked for this development including the dredging of the inner harbour and channel, construction of protection breakwater and walkway at crest level, and the demolition of the ex- isting slipway and construction of a replacement slipway. Clare County Council also intends reclaiming, regrading and resurfacing on-shore So}:

He added that the maintenance and development of piers and harbours was essential for the sustainable de- velopment and regeneration of coast- al communities throughout Clare.

A MULTICOLOURED troupe of angels are once again coming to the aid of the Doolin Search and Rescue Service. The Burren Stained Glass Shop, which is located on Fishers Street in Doolin, has launched their latest incarnation of the Doolin An- oe

More than 100 hand made stained glass angels are currently on sale in the shop with all money raised from the limited edition products going straight to the Doolin Search and Rescue Service Coast.

The shop, which is owned and run by American couple John and Karen Battersby, has been in operation in Doolin for almost four years. The Battersby’s came up with the idea of the angels as a way of giving some- thing back to the local community.

They have hand made all 100 an- gels in their shop in Doolin and will donated every cent of the €10 raised from each sale.

“We decided to do this as our way to contribute something to Doolin and to the search and rescue around here,’ said John.

“This is our third year doing it now. We are going to make 100 stained glass angels and sell them at €10 an angel. That will make €1,000 that we can donate to the Doolin Search and Rescue and they can use that for equipment or training or whatever

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The shop is open all year round and make a variety of stained glass ornaments as well as_ stained glass windows.

“People really do like angels. We make a lot of different designs here but angels are always one of the most popular. A lot of people even collect the angels,’ continued Tom.

“It’s also a nice thing to associate with the search and rescue. We call

them the Doolin Angels in honour of the coast guards. Everything is hand made and there 1s a lot of labour in it. Each piece gets cut out and ground by hand, you put copper foil on each piece, varnish it and assembly it. It’s pretty labour intensive.

“We have been in Doolin for about four years now. We are from Ameri- ca originally, from Philadelphia. We moved over here because we loved the Doolin area and the people here.

They have been really nice to us here. So it’s good to do thinks like this and get involved in the community.”

The angels are currently on sale in the Doolin Stained Glass Shop but are strictly limited to 100 pieces.

THE countdown is on for this year seventh annual Corofin ‘Tradition Festival which open Sunday, Febru- eae

This years festival is crammed which top class performers and in- clude headline concerts featuring Sean Keane from the Chieftains, Liam O’ Flynn, Don Stiffe, John Wyn- ne, John and Jacinta McEvoy, Tim Collins, Brian McNamara, Michael Rooney, Kieran Hanrahan, Fiachna O’Mongain, Liam O’Connor, John Blake and At the Racket.

Overall last year festival worked re- ally well so we decided to leave well

enough alone, so it’s quite a similar style to last year’s festival. We have a lecture and we have the family concerts back again,’ said festival organiser, Padraic O’Reilly.

“The only new thing is the look back on the previous festivals which takes place on the night. We will have slides and a bit of an audio visual show from the six years of the festival. This is the seventh year of the festival so we have called this the seven year itch.

“On Saturday afternoon we have a tribute to Mick O’Connor. Mick’s a Dub but his wife was from Ennisty- mon and he would spent a lot of time in Clare over the years. He played in

the Castle Ceili Band in Dublin and about half of that band are migrated Clare people so he has very strong Oem aloe

This years festival will also include a number of free events aimed at Teepe lone

“On the weekends it’s just not fea- sible to make the events free because of the quality of acts that we are get- abereas ne

“But for the family recitals we are able to get top class musicians at a very reasonable rate because of the novelty for them to play together as a family,’ continued Padriag.

“A lot of them wouldn’t have played together for year. Because of this we

are able to get in an event sponsor and run the event for free.”

It’s to make it accessible for the locals on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays night before the real die hard music lovers come in at the weekends.”

The festival opens on Sunday, with a CD launch by Joe Kierse at Jimmy Daftfy’s Bar.

Other highlights of the week in- clude a lecture by Tim Collins enti- tled Where the piper Croghan used to Dwell, recitals from the McNamara and Costello families, the McCarthy family from London, the Cotter and Boyd families from Ennis as well as workshops and masterclasses.

AFTER a brief hiatus, The Funktion Room returns to The Falls Hotel in Ennistymon this Friday, February 22. The occasional club night has been in operation for nearly two years and attracts a growing crowd from all over the county and beyond.

On the decks on Friday will be B: barham, Kid Cosby and local favour- ite Tokin’ White Boy. Funds raised on the night will go to an organisa- tion working as part of the Shell to sea Campaign.

“Doors open and music kicks off at 10pm and we will be going until 2am. We will have a decent disco,

strictly vinyl, 3 deadly Dy’s and lots of lovely people. What more could you ask for in a decent night out,” asked event organiser Roisin Garvey.

“It’s €10 cover charge and all funds raised go in support of a national en- vironmental and social justice group called Gluaiseacht, who at the mo- ment are putting some of their energy into raising awareness of the ongoing plight of the people of Rossport in Mayo.”

The Falls Hotel has organised a number of special offers for club goers who wish to spend the weekend in the hotel. Interested people should contact the hotel on 065 7071004 and quote the Funktion Room.

Meanwhile, there was celebrations in Ennistymon last week with the news that the Mol an Oige Steiner School is finally to get State recog- nition and funding from September 2008. The school, which has been in operation with no state assistance for some years now, has seen it’s en- rolment growing greatly in recent years.

“We are delighted with the an- nouncement, and look forward to opening the new Mol an Oige school in September at its temporary home at the Falls, Ennistymon,” said a spokesperson.

“The Mol an Oige Group wish to thank everyone who supported the

school since it was founded in Sep- tember 2005. The school could not have continued without the generous support of parents, teachers, friends, volunteers, local business people and all those who performed at and sup- ported our various concerts and fun- GTeTS ECA

Mol an Oige, along with Raheen Wood Steiner School in east Clare, will both becomes the first Steiner schools in the country to gain official recognition.

Mol an Oige has been in operation for two years and has more than 40 pupils while Raheen Wood started off as Cooleenbridge 22 years ago and has more than 100 pupils.

is pleased to announce that a heat of the pres- tigious Paddy Powers Lovely Girls Contest 2008 will now take place in Vaughan’s Barn on Tuesday, Febru- ary 26.

“Yes, the big news is that we have added the lovely girls contest. There has been a few heats around the coun- try already but this is the chance for a lovely girl to qualify for the finals on the Aran Islands,” said Fergal Mc- Grath organiser of TedFest.

“We are looking for overall loveli- ness in the girls. It will be down to WALoMAWE-UGDOTSMm DOCOMO oME UE @USTcomE-DOCOM DN we have a tie break situation then we

will have to hear their lovely laughs. And of course, they will all have lovely bottoms.”

With full festival ticket sold out, or- ganisers have made a small number of single event tickets available.

‘We have been able to make a few more tickets available. So many peo- ple wanted to come to the events that we have tried our best to make as many tickets as possible available for people,” said Kilfenora TedFest co- ordinator Janet Kavanagh.

‘We wont be able to get all the peo- ple into every event but there are a few tickets available for some of the events and we will do our best to ac- commodate everyone.”

The festival opens next Monday with registration in Vaughan’s Pub

before the official opening ceremony, Chinese reception and the Ecumeni- Ceili. Tuesday, or Mustarday as it’s being called, will see the arrival of the MilkFloat for the Milk Float and Banger Parade through town and the brick fada contest.

Later that evening Ireland’s first ever All-Ireland blondes-only snakes and ladders championship will take place as well as an evening with Fa- ther Ted creators Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews. Other events on Wednesday include the Linn- nane’s Music Emporium, Acoustic Karaoke with the singing Postman, Caesars Palace at Nagles, the all- Ireland Open Elvis lookalike contest and finally the Pat Mustard Memo- rial night featuring Mrs O’Reully and

the Hairy Babies.

Wednesday will see the ‘Ted Trail which will take in the Paro- chial House, the Chinese pub, Mrs O’Reillys house, the Song For Eu- rope waterfall and the caravan park from hell.

Linehan and Mathews will also unveil a commemorative plaque to mark the event at the Kilfenora Com- munity Centre.

If you are interested in sponsoring the plaque, getting involved in the lovely girls contest or book tickets contact Janet at 087 6277000.

WHEN Una Kierse decided to send her eldest child to a pre-school play- eroup in Killaloe, she discovered that there wasn’t automatically a place for every child and community facilities were scarce on the ground.

Joss Lowry, Michael Culhane and Michael Glesson all had similar con- cerns and together the four set up the Killaloe Community Development Company with the aim of providing a community creche which would cater for all needs, including pre-

school and after-school care.

That was almost two years ago and this month, the endless filling in of forms and making a case were rewarded when the company was awarded €1.2 million, the maximum that can be awarded under the Na- tional Childcare Investment Fund.

The group worked closely with Clare County Council to apply for the funds through Pobail and Una says they are “just delighted. Now we can start looking at a premises or a site.”

The aim of the development com-

pany is to provide community facili- ties, which will cater for 35 full-time childcare places and 15 after-school je ENerone

“It’s wrong that some children get to go to pre-school and others don’t. The child who doesn’t have that year before going on to primary school is at a disadvantage from the start. If there are any difficulties like ADD, these are often picked up on in pre- school. Without it there 1s a year lost.”

“The new facility is still in the early stages and the company will have to

find a site or premises, get a contrac- tor on board and work through the planning process, but the grant was the start.

“We want to provide services across the board, including school holiday times, which can be very difficulty for working parents. Every child and every parent is entitled to have quali- ty childcare facilities where children can be encouraged and cared for. This is a facility which is very badly needed in Killaloe and now we have the money to get started on provid- ing one,’ said Una.

A THIRST for entertainment and a place where they can meet their peers, the transition year students of St Anne’s Community College, Killaloe have been brewing an idea which could see the start of a youth oF Nom bee stomcedwate

The transition year students have been researching the café for the Young Social Innovators Project.

The project, was founded by Sr Sta- nislaus Kennedy and Rachel Collier. The philosophy is that young people pursue a social issue they are con- cerned about and come up with re- sponses and actions to it. Becoming socially aware young citizens and making a real difference to people’s lives is one of the main aims of the

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The students have got moving to realise their vision for a place where young people in the area can meet and socialise in an alcohol and drug-free environment. For the past number of months the students have conducted a survey of their peers to establish the need for a Youth Café.

The overwhelming response was that there is a huge need for the fa- cility in the twin towns of Ballina- Killaloe.

WW aTem AU Cele olicmreD acm eri e-lO UL OUD OTSAM BD IT. @s with the Garda Siochana, Clare Youth Services, North Tipperary VEC., County Clare VEC, the Fam- ily Resource Centre Killaloe, Aware West of Ireland and the Health Serv- ice Executive.

They will now be looking to their

local politicians for support in secur- ing a venue and funding to see their project to completion.

‘The students have been very dedi- cated to this project. They’ve done the research and made all the contacts as well as visiting other youth cafes,” said teacher, Brendan O’Brien.

“There is still the question of a venue and what they are looking into now is starting small, maybe with something in the school.”

To create awareness around the project the students attended a Young Social Innovators speak-out forum in the Ardilaun Hotel in Galway City and gave a two-minute presentation to an audience of more than 400 oth- er students as well as politicians and invited guests.

The national policy on youth recre-

ation “Teenspace’ advocates such in1- tiatives. By April 3 next the students will know if their project has been selected to be displayed with hun- dreds of others in the RDS Dublin as part of the Young Social Innova- tors Showcase. The Showcase, which takes place in May, is a national event where hundreds of young peo- ple meet and discuss issues of social concern with each other and with the decision-makers and people whose lives they wish to improve.