Month: May 2008

ONE of the longest running chairty events in Clare tees of next week when the Lions Club of Ennis annual golf classic takes place at Ennis Golf Site

The event, on Saturday May 10, is the longest running golf classic in the region and many local charities have benefited from the proceeds over the years. This year all funds raised will go the Clare branch of the Alzheim- ers Society.

The Clare Branch of the Alzhe- imers Society was formed in 1996. Their office is located at Unit 17 Clonroad Business Park, Ennis.

Opening hours are from 9-5 Monday to Thursday and 9-4 on Friday.

Over 980 people have Alzheimers Disease in Clare. This represents al- most | per cent of the population of the County.

The Clare branch aims to increase awareness of Alzheimers disease, to provide care for sufferers and make information and assistance available to to carers, including research.

A vitally important home care/ home support service operates from Ennis providing care for approxi- mately 40 families. This enables families to keep their loved ones at home for as long as possible.

A Day Care Centre is situated at

Lower Drumbiggle Road, Ennis and is open 3 days a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9.30 – 4.00 pm. A qualified nurse and nurses aid are in attendance and transport is avail- able.

Support groups hold meetings on a regular basis for relatives and friends in Ennis, Ennistymon, and Kilrush.

The Lions Club golf classic stretch- es back to the early eighties and since its inception, dozens of local and national charities, including the Clare branch of the Irish Wheelchair Association, have benefitted.

Last year’s event was a huge suc- cess with Lions Club president Ea- mon O’Dea handing over a cheque

for €5,000 to Carmel Nelyon of the Irish Wheelchair Association.

The main sponsor for this year’s Golf Classic is again KECO Con- struction. Anyone who wishes to enter a team on the day should con- tact Ennis GC at 065 6865415. The cost per team is €160 and individual holes can be sponsored for as little as €100.

A NUMBER of Shannon town centre businesses have expressed concerns over the final part of the redevelop- ment of the town.

Last month, SkyCourt sought plan- ning approval for two major stores and a courthouse as part of a €60 million redevelopment of the town on aKee

The plan incorporates a 60,000 sq. ft. unit for Dunnes Stores and a further 16,650 sq. ft. of retail space,

together with a new mall and addi- tional car parking.

The project will involve the demoli- tion of the existing Lidl store and its relocation to a larger site within the town centre.

This latest phase of development completes the masterplan for the town centre which was established in 2001 and forms part of the total regeneration of Shannon.

SkyCourt argues that the nature and form of the proposed develop- ment would support the viability and

vitality of the designated centre and would not seriously injure the amen- ity of property in the area.

But in an objection to the plan, Fei- dhlim Hillery of Sean Hillery (Phar- macists) Ltd has expressed serious concerns over the proposal by Sky- Court to remove the car-park to the rear of his business.

He said that he was concerned that the removal of this facility from the shopping mall would seriously erode its attractiveness to all potential busi- nesses.

“T am concerned that this will lead to the abandonment of units — which has already occurred — and to the area become vacant and rundown.”

In a separate submission, former President of the Shannon Chamber of Commerce and owner of McLough- ney’s Newsagency, Eoin Hoctor said that while he was not against the de- velopment, he had genuine concerns in relation to its possible impact on his business if disruption during the construction phase was not guaran- Keteren

Aidan Quish of Shannon Knights also lodged a submission, stating that if planning permission was granted, it would have a significant impact on his property and his ability to oper- ate his business.

“I had previously indicated to rep- resentatives of the developers of the town centre the difficulties with their proposed development but my representations to date have been ig- nored,” he said.

A decision on the SkyCourt appli- cation is expected later this year.

QUILTY man Dominic Egan is making the headlines this week as he leads an exhibition of the country’s J er0) bys AYAeL tb u-1 Ce) umm DOMmr: RB e-hY od ODD OTS. exhibition celebrating childhood in Ireland over the 20th century.

As curator of Cavan County Muse- um in Ballyjamesduff, Dominic was the first curator in the country to host the innovative exhibition, expected in Clare in the coming months.

While the exhibition may be enti- tled ‘Seen But Not Heard (Feictear Ach Ni Cloistear) – A Century Of Childhood In Ireland’, the west Clare native was the face of the nationwide exhibition over the weekend.

Born to the late Paddy Egan and Margaret (née Boyle) in Dromore in the parish of Kilmurry Ibrickane, Dominic went to Quilty National

School.

From there he attended the CBS in Ennistymon where he completed his Leaving Certificate in 1968.

After his Leaving Cert he planned to do Gaelic studies in UCD, but the death of his father when he was just 10 years old meant that there were other pressures on the family and a third level education at this time was not to be.

The summer after his Leaving Cert, once the minor football season was finished, he packed his bags and went to England to find work.

While in England his uncle in Aus- tralia suggested that the 20 year old try his luck in Van Diemen’s Land. There he worked in the mines as a driller saving enough money to go to university.

While in Australia he met his West- meath born wife. It was while she

was in Ireland nursing her ill father that the opportunity for work in his native land came about.

His wife saw the curator’s job ad- vertised in the local paper and faxed it to her husband thousands of miles AEN

The rest is history, as armed with his new qualifications he returned to Ireland and got the job. He was in- strumental in setting up the Cavan museum in 1994, The Clare man took a break from Cavan for a year to work in the Clare Museum, but as his two sons had settled in schools in Cavan a permanent move was not possible for the family.

“What I miss most about Clare is the sea, I was brought up only two miles from the sea,” said the talka- tive Quilty man.

He plans to visit the Clare County Museum when the exhibition makes

it to the Banner County.

The exhibition celebrates some of the many lifestyle changes as expe- rienced by successive generations of children growing up in Ireland. Themes covered include education, health, work, play and memories.

Dominic explained that the exhibi- tion was certain to recall a moment in everyone’s childhood.

“Anyone who attends the exhibi- tion is likely to be reminded of their own childhoods, whether it be that fleeting memory of a school day long forgotten, playing games on newly mown grass or the reverential hush of a Sunday Mass. The vivid thoughts and memories that are evoked through this truly interactive exhibi- tion will also enable people from out- side Ireland to learn about the many varied aspects of growing up on this island over the last century.”

MULLAGH village received a spring clean last week courtesy of the local girl guides and brownies.

Conscious of the environment they live in, the girls from six and a half years old to 15-years were determined to maintain it, so that any visitors to the west Clare village this summer would see it in its best light.

What began as Mullagh Brownies approximately seven years ago has now become Ibrickane Brownies and Girl Guides as the local group grows in popularity.

While initially the girls came from Mullagh and Quilty, the brownies

attracted other girls from Muiltown Malbay. Older girls also became involved and the girl guides were formed under the watchful eye of Alison Browne and Emma Ironside- Boyde.

There are 32 girls from the Ibrick- ane area involved in the guides with a waiting list forming for more inter- ested young people.

The Brown Owl, Mags Cunning- ham, who took over as leader of the brownies with the help of Marie Sex- ton just two years ago, said that the eroup were considering forming a ladybirds group for four to six and a half year olds.

Ms Cunningham, whose’ two

daughters are involved in the brown- ies and guides, said that the organi- sation help children learn about their environment, responsibility and how to lend a hand at home and in the community.

In February the girls raised €485 for sick children in Our Lady’s Hos- pital for Sick Children in Crumlin, by hosting a pancake night. They were also involved in People in Need and the St Patrick’s Day parade in Miltown Malbay.

‘They learn to respect people, help out at home and get involved in the community,” said Ms Cunningham.

At the enrolment ceremony they promise to keep to the Motto “Our

duty to God and our country”.

Ms Cunningham said that as the brownies and guides were made up of nine different schools, children had the opportunity to make new friends in the locality.

As well as remembering the secret handshake and building up a collec- tion of interest badges, the brownies and guides must also meet for an hour every Monday night.

QUERRIN National School is very proud of its pupils who have ensured national recognition for the west Clare school.

School principal Elizabeth O’Shea paid tribute to Michael Duffy and Ronan Allen who were crowned Clare winners of the Engineers Ire- land STEPS to engineering K’NEX Regional Challenge, which took, place last week in Limerick Institute of Technology.

The two fifth class pupils will now represent Clare at the Engineers Ire- land K’NEX Challenge National Fi- nal in Dublin in June.

They will compete with other pri-

mary school children from across Ireland for the prestigious title of Junior Engineer of Ireland 2008.

Under the watchful eye of the schools other mainstream teacher, Mairead Allen, fourth and fifth class boys and girls entered the competi- nO

The school has been involved in the competition for a number of years.

The two-teacher school with one special education teacher was de- lighted when the two boys secured the regional title, as were the boys themselves.

“T can’t believe we have won. We have been practicing for the last three weeks non-stop. I love playing with K’NEX. You can make any-

thing from it,” said Ronan.

“T am very proud of them. They are excellent children, not just those two children but all of them and their parents are also very supportive,” said Ms O’Shea.

“This success was a joint effort from everyone in the school.”

John Power, Chartered Engineer and Director General of Engineers Ireland, congratulated Michael and Ronan.

“We wish them well in the national finals. The STEPS to engineering K’NEX challenge is a fantastic op- portunity for young people to expe- rience first hand how creative and interesting engineering is. The stand- ard of entry of the K°’NEX models

from Clare was very high and this is just one of 21 regional finals that will take place before the final in the Helix in June,” he said.

This year’s K°’NEX Challenge has taken place in 750 primary schools and has involved 1,500 primary school pupils from across the country. Each team of two children competed against the clock using their imagi- nation, creativity and skill to plan, design and construct an engineering model. The pupils worked under the theme, ‘celebrating the past, creating the future’, with the educational con- struction toy, K°NEX. The Clare Re- gional Final was officiated by judges John Culligan from Eircom and Ci- aran McManus from ESBI.

“Irrespective of the influx of the Muslim immigrants over the years, these people still want to hold onto the power. They have the financial backing, they have Government backing and they have the backing of the National Consultative Commit- tee and groups like that.

‘These groups are funded by tax- payers’ money and they have chosen to keep this exclusive group of Arab Muslims in power in Ireland. They represent a very extreme form of Is- lam and that needs to be challenged. I challenge it as a Muslim. But what made my challenge look stupid, so much so that they started to de- monise me, is that those who do not know anything about the dynamics of Islam jumped in – the Government jumped in.

“In other words, the Irish are quick to criticise themselves but they are too quick also to turn a blind eye to others. I don’t think that it is the correct way to go, because you are turning a blind eye at the cost of the citizens.

“In the media, Islam is portrayed as areligion of violence, but Islam is not a religion of violence. However,

there are small extremists within the fold of Islam – like bin Laden, like al-Qaeda and Hamas – that come out of the Muslin Brotherhood.

“T don’t know if people realise it but the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood has his headquarters in Ireland. Yusuf al-Qaradawi has his headquarters in Dublin at the Clon- skeagh Mosque.

‘He promotes suicide bombing and Oppression of women, slapping of women, female genital mutilation – nonsense like that all comes out of the same womb in Dublin.

“T challenge the extremists, but I am demonised for it. That is a prob- lem, if you don’t know anything about the dynamics of Islam and you jump in because those extremist are the friends of the powers that be and

they give great banquets and great gifts. That’s nonsense. You have to face this problem head on, take the bull by the horns, before it gets too late.

“In Ireland, the extremist groups are not small – they are in power within the Muslin community here. The moderates are a mute majority. Established Islam in Ireland, the face of Islam in Ireland is the Clonskeagh Mosque in Dublin. They are taken as the true face of Islam in Ireland which is just not true. Arabs con- stitute less than 14 per cent of the Muslim population of the world – yet these extreme Arab Muslims are the face of all Muslims in Ireland.

Dr Satardien, who is a South Af- rican Muslim, believes that honest and open dialogue is the only way

forward.

“T think that conferences like this one in Ballyvaughan are long over- due and very important. We need to be frank and open about the problem and not treat it like an elephant in the room”.

“Everybody wants to make the problem invisible, to whisper the problem. And that does not make the problem go away. Especially in Ire- land, we are very politically correct here – we don’t want to be called na- tionalist, we really don’t know what we want to be called at the end of the day. We are not taking a stand and that stand has to be taken at some time. This is a great opportunity.

‘The people in the street are gen- erally ignorant about Islam and what Islam is about. The perception of

Islam has been gathered from the media and from programming from American films. But the Muslim community here in Ireland haven’t reached out – they haven’t come out to the Irish people and told them what they are about. Dialogue is long overdue. Frank, honest discussions is the only way forward.”

AN TAISCE has claimed that the planned €10 million explosives fac- tory at Cahercon would constitute an inappropriate extension of the in- dustrial development of the Shannon estuary.

Appealing Clare County Coun- cil approval for the development of an explosives plant on the northern shore of the estuary, An Taisce point out that there 1s already extensive in-

dustrial development on the southern shore at Foynes Port and Auginish Alumina.

An Taisce Heritage Officer, Ian Lumley has cautioned against the cumulative effect on the proposal in relation to shipping movements on the estuary and night-time lighting impact.

“The application site at Cahercon Pier would result in the development of a Seveso facility which would re- quire high security measures and a

cordon sanitaire.

“The proposal would therefore be prejudicial to the development of sustainable uses of the area.”

Mr Lumley said that Shannon Ex- plosives failed to resolve the reason for refusal by An Bord Pleanala to the previous plan in 2003.

“This decision was made on erounds of the extent of filling on the site; the likely significant effect of the works on local and adjacent houses; and that a significant element of the

proposal was not subject to Environ- mental Impact Assessment.”

‘The applicant has not resolved the primary grounds of planning refusal of the previous application, namely the extent of fill material required on this sensitive estuary site in order to accommodate the proposed develop- ment.

Mr Lumley said the applicants had not provided the required Foreshore License or legal entitlement to carry out the proposed development.

“The applicants have not demon- strated the required legal title to accommodate the proposed marine access at Cahercon Pier and resolved or addressed issues which relate to establishing public rights of way, in- cluding public rights of way to fore- shore and marine access.

“Since An Bord Pleanala has no retrospective power to validate and invalid application, this application should be dismissed,’ Mr Lumley concluded.

A NEW handbook encourages fami- lies to continue their involvement with children in care.

The Family Advocacy services in Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary have developed a handbook for fam1- lies who have children in the care of

the Health Services Executive (HSE). The book was launched in Limerick in April, by Kevin O’Farrell, child- care manager with the HSE.

The purpose of the advocacy serv- ice 1s to Support families to continue their involvement with their children in care. The service is volountary and confidential to any family member who wishes to avail of it.

The advocacy workers offer fami- lies help and a listening ear on a one to one basis or in a group Setting.

A spokesperson for the service said there are numerous reason why chil- dren go into care.

“It is important to acknowledge that

children go into care for many differ- ent reasons for example, sickness in the home, bereavement or finding life’s circumstances difficult to cope with,” she said.

The spokesperson added that the process can be difficult for all parties involved: “When a child goes into the care of the HSE it is a difficult time for both parents and children. Parents may feel isolated, confused, alone or angry because others don’t under- stand what they are going through.

“The reason this book was devel- oped was to respond to the huge need for support, information and advice for parents whose children go into

care. The involvement, the input and the interest of many of the parents in developing this book has been vital.”

Many of the parents who use the ad- vocacy services attended the launch of the book and shared some person- al feelings on what this service meant Komdsloene

The booklet gives clear information to families who have children in the care of the HSE. It explains parent’s rights, what parents can do in relation to their child in care and what kind of help is available. The advocacy serv- ices can be contacted at Clare Ad- vocacy Service, Clarecare Harmony Row, Ennis.

A FORMER Clare TD and MRSA sufferer has criticised the HSE for its extravagant use of expensive lime- stone cladding on a “glorified shed” at Ennis General Hospital.

Hospital campaigner James Breen said that with underfunding and over- crowding being blamed for the recent C- diff outbreak at the hospital, he received a number of phone calls in

recent weeks from hospital staff and the general public in relation to a building currently being constructed on the grounds of the hospital.

“This building is being faced with limestone, which seems to be ex- travagant in what I am led to believe is a glorified shed to house electrical equipment for the hospital, while staff and patients have to use pre-fabricated facilities for their needs,” he said.

The HSE has defended the con-

struction of the power sub-station on the basis that it is part of the site master plan and will integrate with it when completed.

“The first floor of the hospital re- development is to be stone-clad and the substation will match it as part of an overall scheme which has passed through the appropriate process of public review,” the HSE has said.

However, the proposed €39 million redevelopment will not commence

this year as funds were diverted to another project in Dublin. It is also unlikely that the project will get un- derway next year unless additional funding can be made available. James Breen says the new construc- tion is totally at odds with the exist- ing hospital building and pre-fabri- cated structures already on site. “This building is completely out of character with the others on the com- plex but more importantly is whether

this €1 million expenditure is justi- fied,” he said.

But the HSE claims that “given the prominent location of the Energy Centre on the site, the overall mas- ter plan and the protected structure status of the hospital, the additional cost involved in achieving the level of finish is not deemed excessive.

In December 2005, the emergency generator at Ennis General failed during a power failure forcing the

RYANAIR yesterday warned that its multi-million euro deal with the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) may not be renewed if the airport does not further reduce its cost base.

The threat was issued by the low- cost airline as it confirmed that while passengers and routes are ahead of forecast at Shannon, they are based upon at much lower yields. Yields are the profits airlines make per passen- ger and the spokesman said that the lower yields are not a trend at Rya- nair’s other UK and European bases.

The maintenance of the five-year

deal — worth €300 million to the west of Ireland according to the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) — is key to the airport’s survival and is up for re- newal in two years’ time.

The threat also comes as the airport authority negotiates its independence from the Dublin Airport Authority with the Department of Transport.

Asked if the low yields should be a cause of concern for interests in the west of Ireland anxious that Ryanair renew its deal with the SAA, the spokesman said, “No, but if the cost base at Shannon does not reduce fur- ther to reflect these lower yields, then the deal may not be renewed.”

Shannon Airport has become in- creasingly reliant on Ryanair since it established its base at Shannon in 2005, with the airline now flying to 32 destinations and accounting for over two million or two-thirds of passengers at Shannon.

Underlining Ryanair’s dominance at Shannon, the company has recent- ly erected a “Welcome to Ryanair Country’ billboard at the entrance to the airport.

SAA board member Tadgh Kear- ney said he would “caution against any scaremongering over a problem that hasn’t arisen yet.”

‘The facts are that we are halfway

through a five-year deal and in Year 3, we are going are to pass the targets for Year 5.”

Mr Kearney said that lower yields have arisen due to the global econ- omy being on the early stages of a downturn.

A spokesman for the SAA said, “Shannon Airport has enjoyed a very successful relationship with Ryanar, so much so that the targets for year 5S will be reached this year with two million passengers on Ryanair routes.

“We look forward to growing this business and to continue this rela- tionship when the current deal con- cludes in 2010.”