Month: March 2008

yesterday that a number of “malicious” letters and e-mails directed both and himself

and the centre had been circulated anonymously to people in the Irish arts community.

The Western Writers Centre will this weekend host the Forge, Gort’s first ever literary festival.

“People from Dublin have been coming up to me thinking that we are running a mad-house down here in the west. This correspondence is malicious and it is damaging,” said Mr Johnson.

“We have heard from people in the Arts Council that it is having a dam- aging effect. Everything this person

says in these letters and e-mails is a lie but I guess that if you throw enough mud some will stick.

“Over the last four year both myself and the Western Writers Centre has been the subject of this anonymous correspondence sent to a variety of different people in the art commu- nity and beyond. Last year, for exam- ple, I was due to take up a residence at the Princess Grace Irish Library of Monaco and they received some of this anonymous correspondence about me and the centre.”

Fears have been raised, however,

that bad publicity as a result of the smear campaign may make the west less attractive to writers.

“The intent of this is to frustrate me and the work of the centre,’ contin- ued Mr Johnson.

“The Arts Council have received these letters, they know what going on as does the county council. A lot of important people in the artistic community have seen these letters and they are damaging. It’s mali- cious, it creates a bad impression of art in the west and some investiga- tion needs to take place.”

ENGLISH clubs are battling it out for the signature of talented Newmarket Celtic goalkeeper Shane Cusack.

Fifteen-year-old Cusack spent last week on trial at Colchester City, where he played against Cork City. It’s the fifth time in the past year he has travelled to play for the Champi- onship outfit.

Others too are monitoring Cusack’s progress, with Leicester City among the clubs keen to secure his services. Leicester know a bit about keepers, having famously given Peter Shilton his start in professional football.

Interest in the 6’3” stopper first emerged following his performances for Clare in the 2006 Kennedy Cup.

He travelled to Colchester in Au- gust 2007 and since then has trained with the club’s first team and started a match in a friendly tie against lower league opposition.

The East Anglian club were impressed with Cusack’s ob- vious physical at-

tributes, sound hands and booming goal kicks.

If, as anticipated, Cusack does make

the move, he would sign a two-year

apprenticeship contract and learn his trade on the club’s Youths Training Scheme (YTS).

Cusack wore the number one shirt for Clare squads at under 14, under 15, under 16 and at

youth level.

This season he made his debut at senior lev- el, between the posts for his hometown club Newmarket Celtic.

A graduate of the eV acm oniCom(ouse my itbee ster Emerging ‘Talent Programme at Lees Road, Cusack caught the eyes of English scouts for his perform-

ances at Ireland’s Premier underage tournament, the Kennedy Cup. Cusack’s rapid progress through the

ranks highlights the massive strides

made in recent years at grassroots level in Clare soccer. Shane’s father Seamus, is proud of his son’s com- mitment to playing at the highest lev- el. “That was the fifth time he was over. It’s a pretty tough schedule over there. You have to be really commit- ted to make it.”

Seamus praised the input of coaches in Clare and of St Patrick’s Athletic number one and Ennis man Barry Ryan. “Denis Hynes (FAI County Development Officer), Ronnie Pyne and Pat Tarrant have been great as well. Denis was his coach all the way along and he did a few coaching ses- sions with Barry Ryan which were creat.”

IN assuming the reins of power last autumn, Mike McNamara was at pains to point out that Clare’s hurling future lay in a re-building process. It was all about “restoring our pride in Munster” — a soundbite McNamara has used many times in the interven- ing months.

How long that journey takes will only be known with time — in the heat of summer battle, this summer or maybe in summers beyond as Clare bid to mix it at provincial level for the first time 1n many years.

The county has only recorded one victory in the Munster Championship since 1999 — that was on a rainy day by the Lee in 2003 when Tipperary were pummeled into submission.

Breaking that cycle of defeat is McNamara’s main focus, something he’s been eyeing up during Clare’s five-match league campaign that fi- nally ground to a halt in O’Connor Park in Tullamore on Sunday with a spluttering win over Offaly.

However, despite it being a poor league in terms of results, it can be deemed satisfactory in the context of the re-building process. Twenty six players saw duty for Clare in the five games.

Some were tried and trusted, with a spine of players from the Clare 2002 All-Ireland final team still in- tact as McNamara set about blending some new players into the fold. The old hands were players like Frank Lohan, Conor Plunkett, Niall Guil-

ligan, Colin Lynch and Tony Car- mody. The big disappointment was that Gerry Quinn, who emerged as one of Clare’s real on-field leaders in 2007 made only one appearance, while he dropped off the panel after a challenge game against Kilkenny in early March.

Meanwhile, a raft of new players were given their chance to shine. Mark Flaherty was on the panel for a few weeks last year, but this term he started all five games and notched up 5-42. David Barrett recovered from his nightmarish debut of being sent off after a couple of minutes against Galway to play three more games; Tommy Holland played in the last three games, while Ger Arthur, Ca- thal Lafferty and Martin ‘Ogie’ Mur- phy were other league debutants.

Others like Pat Donnellan and Dar- ragh Clancy, who featured on panels past were also given their chance to claim championship jerseys. Now it’s a matter and waiting and see who’ll make the team for the | June clash with Waterford in the Gaelic Grounds.

IT’S been a busy few weeks for Clare handball and there will be more of the same this coming week with Munster finals being played across the various grades.

Having already reached the Mun- ster Under 21 Doubles final with Conor Cooney, Tulla’s Cathal Han- non has claimed the Under 21 Sin- gles title, marking Clare’s first Mun- ster Singles title of the year. It came about when he beat Shane Hayes of Clooney in an all-Clare decider at Newmarket on Friday night.

Ashling Fitzgerald and _ Edel O’Grady, both Tuamgraney, were crowned Munster Minor Ladies Doubles champions after receiving a walkover in the final.

Meanwhile, Declan Frawley of Clarecastle was defeated in the Mun- ster Intermediate Singles final after going down against an in-form Colm Jordan of Cork.

In the Silver Masters °B’ Doubles, Tuamgraney’s Teddy O’Hanlon and Tulla’s Donal Vaughan exited the Munster race when they went down against Limerick’s Jimmy Fanning and Jack Dillon.

There is Munster final action in Galbally tonight (Tuesday) as Tua- mgraney’s PJ Counihan and Jimmy

Walsh take on Michael Jordan and Jim Kennedy of Cork in the Dia- mond Masters °A’ decider.

On the local scene, the second of this year’s Clare League finals was played during the week with Tulla scoring a comprehensive win over Tuamgraney to take the Division 3 title. The winning team was Cathal Hannon, Trevor Vaughan, Sam Ed-

brooke and Aidan Lynch, plus subs used during the year.

Clooney had already claimed the Division 4B title with victory over Tuamgraney while tonight also sees both 4A semi-finals with Shan- non playing O’Callaghans Mills in Clarecastle and Tuamgraney A fac- ing Clarecastle in Tulla.

On Wednesday night the focus

switches to Clarecastle for both Di- vision 2 semis as Tuamgraney and O’Callaghans Mills clash in Court | and Clooney go up against Kilkishen in Court 4. All games are at 8pm.

In juvenile handball, the Banner’s up-and-coming stars kicked off their own Munster Championship cam- paigns over the weekend. Clare were represented from under 12 to under

17, boys and girls, at Munster semi- final stage against Cork opponents generally and Waterford at under 13 girls and under I5 boys.

It proved to be a successful week- end on the whole, with Banner victo- ries in a number of the age-grades.

THE thought of taking on a group of five- to 12-year-olds every day, if only for a few hours, would put the fear of God into many a brave soul, while representing the masses as the leader of a workers’ union would bring most of us out in a cold sweat.

Declan Kelleher has taken on both roles in his life, and after more than 35 years involved still speaks about both with an enthusiasm that is contagious. And the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) will be hoping that his enthusiasm turns into an epidemic as it tries to encour- age new members into the union this year.

The Kilnaboy native will have this task, with many more, thrust upon him tomorrow when he takes over as the union’s president for the next year. The Corofin NS principal is well known for his work with the un- ion in the county, which he maintains could not be achieved without the support of his wife, family, teaching staff and management.

This commitment will now see him at the head of a 36,000 member un- ion that represents both the north of Ireland and the Republic, at a time when the INTO in the north is start- ing to work closely with the Ulster Teachers Union.

While taking on the role as presi- dent of the INTO, Mr Kelleher ex- plains that he misses teaching: “I ab- solutely love teaching. I think it has probably been the greatest privilege in my life to have been trusted by parents to teach their children.

“You are never doing the same thing from year to year. It is abso- lutely brilliant because you never meet the same children. You are meeting a new group every year and they are absolutely brimful of talent, and your job is to draw out the talent and potential.

‘And don’t tell me there is any bet- ter job in Ireland or the world than to face a challenge like that.”

With the roots of the INTO of- ten considered to be in Kildysart, Where a strong teacher’s represen- tation body was formed as early as 1868, Declan’s own history saw him

involved in student and teachers un- ions at an early age. He was part of the first students representative body set up in St Flannan’s College, Ennis during his final year.

As a member of the students union in St Patrick’s College, Dublin he was one of the demonstrators who sat sat in front of the Mercedes of Min- ister for Education Padraig Faulkner, demanding a degree course for the college.

Declan joined the INTO in 1972 and has missed just one conference since. He came back to his native county in 1978 and taught in Ennis National before becoming principal in Corofin in 1979. He immediately became aware of the issues facing schools in the county.

“When I came back to Clare what struck me immediately was_ that town schools has a certain amount of learning support for weaker students,

where as rural schools had absolutely none,’ he says. “You couldn’t defend it by any standards – that you have something available to larger schools that wasn’t available to children in smaller schools.”

Issues such as class sizes and spe- cial education needs will be high on his agenda during Mr Kelleher’s presidency.

‘There has been a lot of improve- ment in special education access in ordinary national schools for chil- dren with special needs and disabili- ties,” he says.

“It was something that was very important because children should be able to grow up and go to school in their own local community if that is what their parents so choose. And certainly that is something which has improved hugely in recent times.

“What is improving very slowly is the actual infrastructure of the

schools whereby rooms are large enough to accommodate all the di- versity you need, not to talk of class size, which is a major problem in Clare. One in every two children in Clare is in an over-crowded class- room, which is a startling statistic,” he continues.

“Village schools anywhere in the Ennis area, right down to Shannon and over triangularly towards Tulla and Sixmilebridge, all of that area is expanding rapidly at the moment and we have a huge increase in popula- tion. Then we see the government reneging on its commitment of class sizes again this year.”

He said the union was very annoyed with government partners, particu- larly the Green Party, who gave firm commitments on class sizes, but the largest criticism went to Fianna Fail and politicians who stood on plat- forms making commitments to class

sizes that were soon forgotten.

A number of schools in Clare have also felt the brunt of the reduction in the school building project including Ennis NS and Barefield, according to the president-elect.

“The reason for the slowdown is simply there is a huge expansion go- ing on in the east coast in terms of population,” Declan says.

“There are 30 emergency schools being created in the east coast and I wouldn’t argue against that – they are necessary – but they should have been created through a supplemen- NAVA OL ULO tole

‘What has actually happened is that the money that was out there for oth- er schools has now been diverted to those schools, and schools that have been waiting patiently in the queue for eight to ten years have been told wait longer. I think that is totally un- justifiable.”

The whole area of resoursing schools is a major issue facing Mr Kelleher, as is primary school prin- cipals and the amount of auxiliary services available to them.

Schools with less than 177 students do not get an administrative princi- pal; instead the principal must do all of the administrative work over 22 assigned days per year. In the north of Ireland, principals are assigned two days per week.

Despite his success in being elected to the highest office in the INTO Mr Kelleher has no plans to follow Sena- tor Joe O’ Toole into politics. While he admires those who go into the world of politics, he is happy to re- main a spectator.

He is proud of the many achieve- ments of his profession, especially in welcoming the “new Irish”, say- ing, “I think one of the uncelebrated successes of the Irish primary school system is the way it has absorbed new children over the past number of years.”

His many functions for the year ahead will include the chairing of the first INTO youth conference in April, and a trip to Gambia to see a school built by the INTO credit union.

A POINT may not have been enough to maintain their challenge for a quarter-final place but essentially, it was more about the performance than the result for Clare on Sunday. An alarming second half collapse against Limerick a week previous could have been detrimental to the young side’s confidence but Clare came out fighting from the first minute against the leaders and man- aged to scrape out a result.

After three games in East Clare, this was Clare’s first competitive out- ing in Cusack Park under Mike Mc- Namara and while the Clare manager was contend with the overall result, he also felt that Clare, bouyed on by momentum, could have snatched all three points in the closing minutes.

“We are at home in Ennis and we’d like to win all our home matches and I think it’s vital that we do. It’s the only match we have played in Ennis this year and that in itself I suppose is disappointing. With five minutes to go, I would have been happy with a draw but certainly at full time, we were pushing for a winner. We lost enough chances probably in the first half to put the game out of reach again but we are creating the chanc- es at least which augers well for the jaUiHeN Kone

Ironically, it was the previously freescoring Tipperary side who found it harder to get scores and hit 13 wides to Clare’s six, a contrast to last week in which Clare hit 16. The

only real downside for Clare was their inability to create clearcut goal chances with two Fergal Lynch op- portunities their only sight of goal over the 70 minutes but McNamara still felt that his young side are ma- turing which can only be encourag- ing for the championship.

“Well we had something like 16 wides last weekend and young Mur- ray [Brian Murray, Limerick goal- keeper] was probably the busiest player on the field. Limerick had a puckout almost every minute and a half last weekend which means we are doing something right and he had seven or eight very good saves as well. Again, to win matches and if you are talking about winning championship matches then we have to start creating goal chances which we are not creating so it is an area of concern and hopefully we will work Oona

“On the other end of the scale, we are improving all the time and that’s all we can ask from the lads. We can harp on about the new lads and all that but they are new and they are young and I think we saw another bit of progression today with some of those.”

Killanena’s Mark Flaherty was one of those young players whom McNa- mara picked out for special praise. Flaherty had been impressive against Galway and Laois scoring 4-20 but had an off day against Limerick last weekend when even his frees weren’t going over. He was back to his best on Sunday though with an 100 per

cent freetaking record, converting ten points and was also a threat from open play.

“All the teams who win All-Ire- lands and Munster titles, in general terms they have a free-taker who puts over something like 95 per cent of frees so we must have that if we are going forward and if we hadn’t that, we would have to sit down and make one so it 1s a huge plus yes.”

The league aside, McNamara has been unerring in his continued fo- cus on Clare’s main aim this season, meeting Waterford in the Munster championship on June |. That day is where he feels everything is be- ing geared for and until then, every game is just more preparation for that greater goal.

“We have to keep our eyes focussed on what happens in June and from there on in. We must present our- selves properly in Munster and we haven’t done that for a long number of years now. We must do that for the Clare people and the public and in- deed the Clare jersey.”

Such is it’s importance to McNa- mara, that the championship game has been mentioned in every inter- view he has done this year. Judge- ment will be saved until then but it seems the pieces are slowly coming together.

CLARE’S politicians were more concerned with painting far-away lands saffron and blue than green this St Patrick’s Day.

Travelling between New York and Chicago, the county mayor Cllr Pa- tricia McCarthy (Ind) is highlight- ing the need for direct flights into

the west of Ireland and to forge and maintain links.

Yesterday was a sunny day in the Big Apple with a “wind chill factor” and Clare’s first citizen represented the county in the famous New York St Patrick’s Day parade.

Speaking from New York as she prepared to lead the Clare contin- gent in the 40-minute parade, she

outlined the importance of keeping a strong link with the powerful Irish diaspora. “We are here to let people in Chicago and New York know that we are committed to them and grate- ful for their support,’ she said.

Leading the St Patrick’s Day parade in New York was one of its most sen- ior policemen, Michael Collins who has Clare roots.

Cllr McCarthy also met with the New York speaker, Christina Quinn, of Kilmurry McMahon descent, who is expected to run for mayor of the city in a few years time – New York, that is, not Kilmurry McMahon.

Among the other dignitaries met by the mayor was Ed Burke, whose family comes from Labasheeda. Mr Burke is the Chicago alderman and his wife, Anne Burke, is a superior court judge.

Cllr McCarthy also visited the Clare Man’s Association in both cit- ies, aS Well as meeting with the IDA, CIE Tours and Aer Lingus North America’s Jack Foley.

During that meeting, she impressed upon him how a non-direct flight from Shannon to Chicago was be- coming an issue for tourism and business. She said that the Consul General to Chicago, Martin Ryan, also highlighted this issue.

The Consul General to New York was also supportive of any Clare de- velopments, especially as his mother is from Miltown Malbay.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fail TD Timmy Dooley was also in New York yester- day. The Tulla man told

THE opening sprint of the Thurs- day’s night card at Galway was race number two for S10 graders and here the good recent run of the John Fit- zgerald kennel of Kilrush continued as his Ler Peepers a daughter of Match Up and Cranny Droopys came home a length to the good over Lor- rha Pepsi (T3) in 18.53.

The winner wearing the red jacket trailed Lisnaculla Shaw (T6) early doors but she was in control roun- deing the opening bend before eas- ily holding the late effort of Lorrha oe

The night’s entertainment opened

with an N2 graded 525 for which Shyan

Matilda (T4) owned by the Callin- ans of Kilmihil was sent of favour- ite and although she was away well enough she was outpaced into the Opening corner by the John Gleeson owned Greenlane Saving who led by a length turning down the far side.

Racing past halfway the the gap was two lengths and although Shyan Matilda closed between the final two bends Greenlane Saving(Top Sav- ings-Rushmore Spiral) won hand- somely by one and a half lengths in PESTO

The eighth contest on Fridays pro- eramme was an A3 graded 525 and

from traps Devon Hero (T3) Crag- brien Magic (T5) and Got Derailed (T6) all came away well and they raced line abrest to the opening cor- ner where the Martin Cronin/Jack

Markham of Ennis owned Cragbr- ien Magis grabbed the initiative and the rail berth to lead his rivals as the turned down the far side.

Racing past halfway Cragbrien Magc led by three lengths from Got Derailed who was now looking the only danger but the son of Top Honcho and Greencroft Magic kept the lead at three lengths all the way home in a time of 29.28.

The ninth contest was an A graded 550 in which Burnpark Duke cake

in as reserve in trap five and he was well supported in the ring from 2/1 to 5/4 and he certainly delivered for his Supporters as he came home three lengths clear of Maninthemiddle in 30.45. On the long run to the open- ing corner Hold Te Head(T3) led from Maninthemiddle with Burn- park Duke improving rapidly on the outside rounding the opening bend.

Racing down the back the David Browne of Kilrush owned Burnpark Duke (Top Honcho-Burnpark Cuck- 00) stretched clear and as he exited the back straight he was “home for all money”’ as he stretched clear for victory would not be denied as she gained her second success.

Race number seven at the Col- lage Road Venue on Saturday Night was for A4 graders where the Frank Browne of Quin owned Mine Dyna- mite never saw another rival as she blew away with a real burst of early pace on her way to a six length victo- ry over Unique Express (T3) in 29.44. The winner a son of Honcho Classic and Belindas Hill led by two lengths at the opening corner from Lingrawn Ger (T2) and Unique Express (T3) and with the remainder involved in crowding behind the front three had it between them turning down the back. Racing towards the third bend Mine Dynamite led by three lengths from Unique

THE 2008 Cheltenham Festival will go down in history as a landmark meeting which saw the abandon- ment of racing due to high winds on Wednesday but the main reason last week’s action at Prestbury Park will live long in the memory is due to the brilliant performances from a triumvirate of national hunt stars, Denman, Master Minded and Inglis Drever.

Despite the pressure on the fixture list, the Gold Cup still held onto its’ position as the feature contest on a bumper nine-race card on Friday and it is hard to remember a horse race that was so eagerly anticipated by the racing world. The big clash between Kauto Star and Denman even made its’ way onto the pages of the non- racing papers as the outside public could not resist the engaging battle that was promised between the two chasing stars who are near neigh- bours at the stable of Paul Nicholls.

As many pundits, fronted by Den- man’s ebullient part-owner Harry Findlay, correctly predicted, Den- man’s power and relentless galloping style proved too much for the reign- ing Gold Cup champion who had no answer to the punishing pace set by the eight year-old son of Presenting. The winner of his only point-to-point start for Adrian Maguire at Liscar- roll, County Cork in 2005, Denman (9/4) was settled in second place be- hind his stablemate, Neptune Collon- ges, before taking control under Sam Thomas as the field headed out on the final circuit. A heavily backed 10/11 favourite to claim his second Betfair Million, Kauto Star never looked at ease on the tacky ground and he also made a few uncharacteristic jumping errors in contrast to the impressive fluency of the winner. The much- hyped contest never materialised as Denman had the race won a long way from home and he maintained his unbeaten record over fences with a decisive seven lengths verdict over Kauto Star who stayed on strongly to his credit despite not performing at his best. Neptune Collonges ran a fine race to complete a historic 1-2- 3 for Paul Nicholls, some 25 years

after Michael Dickinson saddled the first five home in the Gold Cup.

It is hard to believe that Denman’s demolition job could be eclipsed by another horse at Cheltenham but that is exactly what happened when Master Minded (3/1) produced a breathtaking performance to turn the Queen Mother Champion Chase into a one-horse race. The French bred five year-old, who raced in the Clive Smith colours of Kauto Star, was sim- ply awesome in the manner in which he brushed aside Voy Por Ustedes by nineteen lengths and Ruby Walsh’s post-race assertion that the winner is a “machine” only confirmed what our eyes had told us that Master Minded has the chasing world at his feet. Paul Nicholls will have a nice headache trying to keep his three stable stars apart next season and the Ditcheat maestro has already hinted that the

Gold Cup principals are unlikely to meet next season until renewing ri- Neb Yar-1 Om Oo Ted ike sDet-beee

Already a dual winner of the race in 2005 and 2007, Inglis Drever wrote his name into the history books when claiming his third World Hurdle title on Thursday. Given a fine ride by the Galway Plate winning jockey, Denis O’Regan, Inglis Drever (11/8f) was many people’s banker of the meet- ing and Howard Johnson’s admira- ble nine year-old did not disappoint his supporters with a typically de- termined performance to hold off a strong challenge from the French horse, Kasbah Bliss with the Eoin Griffin trained Kazal running a cracker back 1n third.

The Champion Hurdle proved a big disappointment for the strong Irish contingent who were seeking to win the opening day’s feature

for the eighth time from the last ten runnings. All seemed to be going to plan when Sizing Europe smoothly moved to the front under Andrew McNamara to challenge at the sec- ond last while last year’s winner, Sublimity, was also travelling well in behind under Philip Carberry. Things changed dramatically in the closing stages however as Sizing Eu- rope capitulated dramatically and it was later discovered that Henry de Bromhead’s six year-old had pulled muscles in his back. The John Carr trained Sublimity could not go through with his challenge on the rain softened ground and it was left to the Alan King trained Katchit to continue his love affair with Chelten- ham with a typically gutsy victory over Osana at odds of 10/1.

The number of Irish trained win- ners was seven at this year’s Festival

which was a respectable tally consid- ering the defeat of many fancied run- ners like Zaarito, Mossbank, Sizing Europe and Wonderkid. The roll of honour for the Irish contingent was Captain Cee Bee (Supreme Nov- ices’ 17/2), Garde Champetre (Cross Country 4/1), Finger Onthe Pulse (Jewson Novices’ 9/1), Cousin Vinny (Champion Bumper 12/1), Fivefor- three (Ballymore Hurdle 7/1), Tiger Cry (Grand Annual 15/2) and Silver Jaro (County Hurdle 50/1).

For Tony Martin, the 2008 Chelten- ham Festival was a meeting he will want to quickly forget. The Meath trainer failed to yield a winner from a powerful string which saw Robin Du Bois (Pertemps Final), Wonderkid (Cross Country Chase) and Psycho (County Hurdle) all head the betting for their respective races while Patsy Hall could only finish fourth after being heavily backed for the Wil- liam Hill Chase on Tuesday. To add insult to injury, Martin’s Coral Cup ante-post favourite, Leg Spinner, was withdrawn due to the softening conditions after the race was moved from Wednesday to Friday. Like a lot of Irish punters, Martin also had to leave Cheltenham with a sour taste in his mouth after Paul Carberry gave Psycho a hugely over-confident ride on the well-backed 5/1 favourite who came from a long way back to beaten less than a length by Tom Hogan’s 50/1 winner, Silver Jaro.

The prizes for leading trainer and jockey at this year’s festival unsur- prisingly went to Paul Nicholls and Ruby Walsh who both recorded three winners while Davy Russell, despite some high profile defeats, also en- joyed a profitable meeting with two winners and three second places. Racing fans can now look forward to the upcoming festivals at Fairy- house, Aintree and Punchestown but thanks to the likes of Denman, Mas- ter Minded and Kauto Star, the an- ticipation is already growing for the 2009 Festival which will seem like an unbearably long wait for many punters.

THE European Commission is to launch a pan-EU public survey of invasive flora and fauna species. These invasive alien species disrupt local flora and fauna and cause con- siderable damage to nature and the economy.

The findings will feed into an EU framework for invasive alien species to be adopted by the end of this year. In Clare, the invasion of rhododen- drons, Japanese knot weeds and hog- weed are having a particular impact on the local flora.

Parts of west and north Clare have been infested with Japanese knot weeds while Lough Corrib in Galway has been invaded by Lagarosiphon, a

weed native to southern Africa that suffocates the lakes ecosystem by creating a dense canopy impervious to light.

Ireland’s biodiversity is also under attack from non-native grey squir- rels, who compete with native red squirrels.

“Europe is committed to halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010. We know that invasive species are one of the major threats to biodiversity, and that economies often suffer as a result, but we lack a harmonised system for tackling the problem and assessing its impact,” said EU Com- missioner Dimas.

“A strong public response to this survey will help Europe define the problem more clearly, and ultimately

help us develop a suitable mecha- nism to halt it altogether.”

The European Commission is tack- ling this problem by launching an internet consultation on the issue until May 5. Interested parties, in- cluding individual citizens, industry and consumer representatives, inter- est groups, the NGO community and other organisations are all invited to contribute information and opinions. The results of this consultation will be used to inform the development of EU policy in the field of invasive alien species, the options for which will be presented in a communica- tion from the commission at the end of 2008.

Ecosystems are dynamic by nature, and many species become estab-

lished far from their place of origin.

These new introductions are often the result of human action — Europe’s rhododendrons originated in the Himalayas, and staples of the Euro- pean diet such as tomatoes, potatoes and maize originated in the Ameri- cas.

But while many introduced spe- cies bring considerable benefits to local economies, others upset the balance and proliferate in ways that are highly destructive to the environ- ment and to economic and human interests. This consultation is a first step to address this problem on a Eu- ropean scale.

You can take part in the survey. Simply check out www.invasivespe- ciesireland.com