This article is from page 30 of the 2008-04-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 30 JPG
IARNROD Eireann is being asked to provide a detailed report on its plans to alleviate flooding at Bally- car, which resulted in the Ennis to Limerick rail line being closed for several weeks.
The line at Ballycar was closed during parts of February and March of this year. The flooding affected local residents, where at least three houses were inaccessible for almost a month.
At the time, locals felt that while the rail line closure gained headlines in the media, their concerns were not
THE sounds of castanets, Spanish guitars, and a range of exotic percus- sion instruments, as well as clari- nets, oboes and flutes were all heard around Newmarket-on-Fergus last N(1e) .@
This was due to the presence of musicians from the Conservatorio Francisco Guerrero in Seville. They were guests of the Irish Traditional Music Institute, whose director Deir- dre O’Brien-Vaughan initiated an ex- change between the two schools.
Last October, a group of 20 Irish traditional musicians travelled to Se- ville and performed three concerts
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Traffic including school buses had to take a detour around the Bally- car area as a result of the flooding, while several other vehicles had to be towed from the flood waters.
Last month, locals called for Clare County Council, Iarnrod Eireann and the local farmers to get together and decide what to do for the wider area, in an effort to address the mat- ter.
Last week, local councillor Pat Mc- Mahon (FF) called for Iarnréd Eire- ann to provide an up-to-date report on the flooding situation.
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and a number of workshops, show- casing Irish music and singing.
Last week was the return part of the exchange, as 16 Spanish musi- cians and teachers were hosted by the families of the students who went to Spain.
The visitors performed two con- certs and presented a number of workshops in the local primary school.
The local children were delighted with the school performance and some of the eager pupils joined in the Flaminco dancing.
On Saturday night the Spanish mu-
to a Shannon area meeting of C;are County Council Mr McMahon said, “IT am delighted to see Irish Rail back on track. I see that the Board of Works were supposed to do a progress report. The problem hasn’t gone away.
“If that heavy rain came back in the next few years, the problem would come back. The landowners have suffered a grave loss of their land on a regular basis. The other aspect would be people who live on the Bal- lycar road, where they are cut off. It would be very important for Irish Rail to focus on this,” said Cllr Mc- Mahon.
sicians performed in a very well at- tended concert at the Clare Inn.
Music aside, the visitors enjoyed a variety of other activities as their hosts ensured they had a trip to re- nateseslolese
During their stay they were taken to see the Burren, the Cliffs of Mo- her and Bunratty and even though the temperature here was almost twenty degrees lower than it was in Seville when they left, they were overwhelmed by the warmth of the Irish hospitality, and returned home vowing to return.
Ms O’Brien-Vaughan plans to con-
‘People tend to forget pain when it disappears, but this is long-term and a long-term solution is needed,’ he PALO
Independent Councillor Gerry JSP AYSeve MMO CrIMmUYelcoO Mm Oso \ Lehi out mm \e-00I Corridor is opened, “the viability of the service to Limerick may be af- fected if we don’t have the link”’.
Cllr John Crowe (FG) said it is im- portant to get it right and ensure the link 1s maintained.
“So many millions are pumped into the Western Rail Corridor. If this section 1s going to create problems like that, it is going to be a waste,” he said.
tinue and develop the concept of cultural and educational exchanges, which she sees as having great ben- efits for the school, the students and the local community.