Month: May 2009

CELEBRATIONS have begun to take place all over Clare to mark the 125th anniversary of the GAA. Nowhere are these celebration more fitting than in Carron, birthplace of Michael Cusack. Last Sunday Michael Cusack’s GAA club held a community fun day for all the local children at their newly developed

clubhouse in the heart of the Burren.

Major changes have taken place at the club over the last number of years as, led by former club chairperson Christina Glynn, the club has over- seen a major redevelopment of the clubs facilities and the introduction of a state of the art flood-lighting AYA K 008

The clubhouse and grounds are lo- cated not far from the birthplace of

Carron’s most famous son, Michael Cusack.

A FORMER businesswoman is fighting blindness with the help of the people of north Clare.

Aine Mahoney, who is_ severely visually impaired, has organised a 10-kilometre walk from Lahinch to Ennistymon in aid of the research and counselling charity.

Well aware of the difficulty of those facing blindness the 27-year-old hopes to raise much-needed funds for the charity Fighting Blindness.

The ambitious young woman had taken over Cascades Cafe in Ennisty- mon during the summer of 2005. She was healthy and happy, with no eye- sight difficulties.

At the beginning of 2006 she de- cided to put her own stamp on the café and closed for renovations.

Shortly after she lost almost all of her sight, despite medical interven- tion, including laser treatment. Ms O’ Mahoney even believed that some of the treatment added to her sight difficulties.

She has never lost hope of a cure being found for her condition, and in the meantime is determined to love TUK KOM seem ALONE

Despite being almost completely

blind, the brave young woman has now got her life back on track, and is working hard with the charity in a bid to help others.

Fighting Blindness funds world- leading research into cures and treat- ments for blindness.

It also provides a unique profes- sional counselling service for people with visual impairments and their families.

Providing such services requires a lot of support from the public, in- cluding financial support.

Ms O’Mahoney is hoping to raise as much money as possible for the charity this June bank holiday week- NF

The 10-kilometre walk will take place on June 1, from the Lahinch car park on the Liscannor Road.

Those taking part in the summer walk will enjoy the scenic route of the by roads from Lahinch to En- nistymon and back again.

Registration for the walk will take place on the day at 12pm and costs just €10. The walk will begin at aeye0F

A LANDOWNER along the route of the €200 million Ennis by-pass received more than €4 million from Clare County Council for 12.5 acres of land.

The landowner is one of nine mil- lionaires created out of the compul- sory purchase of land along the 21 kilometre route.

A second landowner received €3/7m for 9.25 acres and the most expensive land along the route was a two acres plot that sold for €1.8mil- lion.

In all, landowners along the route Shared in a €37 million bonanza, according to figures obtained from Clare County Council through the Freedom of Information Act. The purchases were completed during the property boom when the price of land remained high.

A fourth landowner received €2.1m for 16 acres while a fifth received €1.5m for 20.5 acres.

Others to receive more than €lm include one landowner who received €1.5m for 11 acres; another who got €1.1m for 21.5 acres and one other received €1 million for 7.5 acres.

A ninth ‘millionaire’ received €1.2m for 16.25 acres and 3.7 acres of severed land. Three other land- owners received over €900,000, while a further five got in excess of ml OOK OOF

17 landowners received between

€250,000 and €500,000. Thir- teen landowners received between €200,000 and €250,000, while a further 26 landowners received be- tween €100,000 and €200,000.

The by-pass removed 20,000 vehi- cles from Ennis each day and work is continuing on the next phase of the Atlantic Corridor with the by-pass- ing of Gort and Crusheen.

The firm who constructed the En- nis by-pass, GAMA Construction told the Labour Court last year that the company’s loss on the scheme could be as much as €45m.

The figures also show the fees con- sultants and professionals received for their work with Jacobs Engineer-

ing Ltd totalled €6.7 million. Ennis auctioneering firm, Paddy Browne & Co which negotiated with the hun- dreds of landowners along the route on behalf of the council received €1.33 million.

Council solicitors, Michael Houli- han & Co received €1.2 million.

Coffey Construction Ltd received €787,311, while Crusheen-based ar- chaeological firm, TVAS Ireland Ltd received €721,797 for the extensive digs along the route.

The evolution of Clooney/Quin con- tinued on Friday evening, adding a new ruthless streak to their rapidly erowing arsenal to open the new campaign with a comprehensive vic- re ays

Learning from past mistakes has been a feature of Clooney/Quin’s de- velopment this year and with the ex- pected fire and brimstone from Smith O’Briens, who had lofty notions of their own this year, Clooney/Quin played this tie to perfection, soaking up the early pressure before gaining a decisive stranglehold on the game that they would never relinquish.

Granted, there was a large ele- ment of fortune to the two late first half goals that essentially turned this tie on it’s head and broke Smith O’Brien’s spirit but as Clooney/Quin learned the hard way last year, you make your own luck at this level and it’s just about grasping those op- portunities when they present them- selves.

All that was in sharp contrast to Smith O’Brien’s who seem to have learned very little from their two full seasons at the top level. The same old failings were evident and ship- ping their biggest defeat at this level couldn’t have come at a worse time for their confidence.

Peel back the skin of the thirteen

point winning margin and you will find that the game fundamentally hinged on the ten minute period before half-time. After a slow start, Clooney/Quin led by O-7 to 0-4 on the 20 minute mark but could have been pegged back when Shane O’Brien earned Smith O’Brien’s a penalty.

However, Liam Walsh’s 23rd minute effort was saved by a combination of Cillian Duggan and crossbar and while that setback wasn’t detrimen- tal, it was magnified soon afterwards as two injury time gifts of goals left them trailing by nine points at the usr e

They came in almost identical fash- ion, stemming from Cillian Duggan long frees, the first of which appeared to travel straight to the net while the latter got the deftest of flicks from Cathal Egan.

Half time couldn’t come soon enough for Smith O’Brien’s but if those goals signalled the beginning of the end, Martin Duggan’s 34th minute goal may as well have had the Grim Reaper operating the umpire’s green flag as it totally sucked the life out of the Killaloe side’s challenge. With only Seamus Gleeson, Liam Walsh and John Cusack willing to stand up, Smith O’Brien’s heads be- gan to drop and to compound mat- ters, they also found goalkeeper Ca- thal Hannon in defiant mood.

Clooney/Quin had no such lead- ership issues with Cillian Duggan, Enda Harrison, Fergal Lynch, and the unplayable Martin Duggan who had an impressive haul of 1-7 to his name, controlling matters.

It meant that they eased up to vic- tory, one which will give them a huge boost ahead of their long break until round three while on the flip side, nothing but a win against Corofin in round two will be good enough to save Smith O’Brien’s season.

THIS east Clare derby failed to reach the heights one would have expect- ed and experienced had this been a straight knockout contest.

However, the pros and cons of the whole round robin system are for an- other day – this day was about Scar- iff’s three goals that simply tore the life out of O’Callaghan’s Mills’ spir- ited, but largely limited endeavours.

The first two came inside the open- ing 15 minutes and were as soft as the 2009 championship is likely to see, while the third 17 minutes into the second half finally killed off the Mills challenge.

Those goals hang over what was otherwise a tepid enough champi- onship affair that was punctuated far too often by Seanie McMahon’s whistle.

Rules are rules and very much part of the game, but at what price to the spectacle? In short, this 60 minutes was so stop-start in nature that a good game was rendered impossible.

It didn’t bother Scariff though – they got off to a flier thanks to Kenny McNamara’s goal inside 45 seconds and never really looked back.

The goal came via a long Barry Mc- Namara free that Damian O’Connell failed to control in the Mills goal, a failure that allowed Kenny McNa- mara scramble the sliotar over the

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The Mills never really recovered from this setback, while their task was made more mountainous in the 15th minute when Ross Horan’s 50-metre free against the breeze that hadn’t enough on it to clear the crossbar for a point was allowed drop tamely into the net on O’Connell’s near post.

This was the real hammer blow to the Mills’ challenge, especially after they had battled back from the open- ing goal to trail by only 1-4 to 0-4

prior to Horan’s strike.

Three Alan Duggan frees and a fine point from play by Adrian Flaherty had given them a real foothold only for them to surrender the initiative with that second soft goal.

When Jim Minogue added a point in the 17th minute to give Scariff a seven-point lead things suddenly looked very bleak for the Mills, but they rallied once more before half- time thanks to three more Alan Dug- gan frees and a brilliant solo effort from Patrick Donnellan to leave

themselves only 2-6 to O-8 in ar- rears.

With the wind to come the Mills certainly had a cause, especially when points by Alan Duggan and Adrian Flaherty inside five minutes of the re-start reduced the margin to two points.

It was a case of game on again, but it was also a real case of Scariff’s full-forward Kenny McNamara step- ping up to put in a virtuoso second half performance that helped Scariff nail the two points long before the finish of the hour.

It was McNamara who setttled Scar- iff nerves in the 40th minute with a fine point from play. His brother Bar- ry landed two long range frees by the 46th minute, while Patrick Moroney crowned his impressive contribution of 1-2 from play when he goaled in Noma OO

His points came in the first half – the goal came after he ghosted forward from the half-forward line to field a crossfield ball from Alfie Rodgers on the edge of the square and slam the sliotar to the net from 13 metres.

It was a procession from there on – in the closing ten minutes Kenny McNamara turned the screw with three great points from play, while Ross Horan chipped in with a couple of frees.

O’Callaghan’s Mills did raise a rip- ple of applause from their support-

ers in the 58th minute when Declan Donovan goaled, but it was nothing more than a consolation score as Scariff cruised to a very comfortable eight-point win.

Scariff can now look forward to a bye in the second round, while O’Callaghan’s Mills have a crunch tie against fellow first round losers Tulla.

SOME of Clare’s leading business lights were in New Quay last week for a meeting of the Clare branch of Network Ireland.

The meeting, which allows local businesswomen to network and trade ideas, was hosted by Brid Fahy of Linnalla Ice Cream. Linnalla will be celebrating it’s third year in opera- tion in north Clare later this month, and to mark the celebrations it will be hosting its third annual free ice- cream day.

“We started making ice-cream here in July of 2006 so we are nearly three years there now. We decided to diversify from the farming. We still milk cows, most of the milk goes to the creamery but we keep some of it here for the ice-cream,” said Brid.

“We started off with about five fla- vours and now we are up to about 25. We use real fresh milk and cream and that is the basic ingredient – without them we would have nothing.”

The ice-cream is 100 per cent home made using milk from the Fahy’s own cows and local fruit and berries as flavouring whenever possible.

The ice-cream 1s available from the Linnalla shop in New Quay as well as being on a number of local restau- rant and hotel menus.

Recently Linnalla have also reached an agreement to be distribut- ed throughout the western seaboard with Keane’s Distributors in Ennis.

This year free ice-cream day in support of the Jack and Jill Founda- tion and takes place on June 14.

“When we started planning it last year the Burma Cyclone was af-

ter happening so we decided that it would be a very worthy cause. We contacted Trocaire who gave us a lot of information and on the day we had more than 1,000 people here and raised more than €2,000,”’ continued Brid.

“This year we will have some ab- seiling with the help of the Burren Outdoor Education Centre. Down here we had a ‘digging for gold com- petition’ for younger kids who can dig in our sandpit for some gold nug- gets and whoever finds a nugget gets a free tub of ice-cream.

“We will have donkey rides and other water games, milking the cow, bouncy castles – it’s all about having some fun. And having some free ice- cream of course.”

To learn more about Linnalla check out www.linnalla.com.

THE NORTH Clare tourism sector will receive a boost this week with the news of a €1 million investment by Cliffs of Moher Cruises, which will create four new jobs in the lo- cality. The company is set to for- mally launch the Doolin Discovery which will allow for the creation of two new routes to and from the Aran Island.

According to Eugene Garrihy of the Cliffs of Moher tours, the new expansions will help attract more tourists to the Doolin area and help all businesses 1n north Clare.

‘The boat is called the Doolin Dis- covery and it is the sister ship to the boat we already operate, the Jack B. The boat will be used on the Aran Island’s routes as well as the Cliffs of Moher cruises. We are develop- ing the business; we have not gone to Inis Mor and Inis Meain before now, so these are two new routes that we are putting on because of the new boats,” he said .

‘As everyone knows all businesses in Clare, and north Clare in particu- lar, are going through a difficult time because of this recession. So I think that this is a welcome addition to the facilities that are on offer in north Clare for tourists. As well as that,

it is a substantial investment on our behalf so it shows that we are confi- dent that we can develop the business there more in the future.

“It’s a very difficult time for the tourism sector at the moment, espe- cially for the people who run hotels and bed and breakfasts. So it is all about an area being able to offer dif- ferent services to tourists. One of the big problems traditionally with tourism in north Clare is that a lot of people have traditionally gone from Kerry to Galway and bypassed a lot of north Clare.

“The Cliffs of Moher has done a lot to tackle that over the last number of years through the centre that they have build up there and the area is starting to hold more people over night. That is what we are hoping to do – even if it’s just a case of hold- ing people for one extra night in the area.

“Tt will also see the creation of four extra jobs in the area which is an ex- tra boost. The tourism businesses in north Clare are all linked together. We think that this will help other businesses in the area and we would be hopeful of getting support from the business community in the area as well.”

THE unique geology of the Burren will form the centre piece for a new festival which takes place in north Clare later this month. The Burren Rocks! festival, organised by the Ennistymon-based Burren Connect Project, will take place from May 25 to 31 in a variety of locations around north Clare.

Some highlights of the festival will include a rock identification day at the Burren Outdoor Education Cen- tre in Bellharbour on May 28 and a

caving trip, due to take place on Sat- urday, May 30,

A number of family focussed events are also taking place including a range of themed walks and illustrat- ed lectures. Many of the walks and lectures are crossover events linking the Burren’s geology to its flora, ar- chaeology and culture.

A landscape-themed art competi- tion for children and teens will also take place, culminating with the winning entries being displayed at the Burren Centre in Kilfenora. Chil- dren are also invited to help make a

sandcastle city on Fanore beach on Saturday, May 30.

“There 1s an amazing wealth of geology in the Burren but it is often hidden or overlooked,’ said geologist Dr Maria McNamara.

“The Burren Rocks! festival is a really fun way of celebrating and raising awareness of the Burren’s fantastic geology, and will hopefully become a major annual event in the Burren calendar.”

All events are free of charge and most do not require booking. For full programme details, see www.bur-

renconnect.ie/geopark/events.html. The programme is also available lo- cally at libraries, visitor centres and selected public noticeboards or for more information ring 065 7072295 or email info@burrenconnect.ie.

The Burren Connect Project was established in December 2007 with funding from the Failte Ireland De- velopment Scheme Fund, in part- nership with Clare County Council, Shannon Development, National Parks and Wildlife Service, National Monuments Service, Geological Sur- vey of Ireland and Burrenbeo.

LAHINCH banker turned artist Michael Hanrahan will have the hon- our of being one of the first artists to exhibit paintings in the newly re- stored O’Brien’s Tower at the Cliffs of Moher.

Michael, along with Lisdoonvarna painter Doreen Drennan will pro- vide all the artwork for the official reopening of the historic building which takes place later this month. After holding a senior position with AIB for a number of years, Michael retired three years ago to explore a career in painting.

“The painting has really started to

take off in the last number of months. Jam now based full time at the Court- house Studio in Ennistymon which has been a great help and I have also developed my own web-page which is attracting a lot of people from abroad, America in particular, to my work,” said Michael.

‘“T have just finished a three months long exhibition with Doreen Dren- nan at the Cliffs of Moher and now that O’Brien’s Tower is reopening we were asked to put together a number of painting particularly to do with the Cliffs of Moher.

“It is a huge honour and I am ab- solutely thrilled. It 1s such an iconic building and it is very exciting to

be one of the first artists to exhibit in there. I have been working on a number of painting specifically for it over the last few months so I can’t wait.”

Michael first made his name as an artist by a number of successful ex- hibits in local art auctions.

“Painting is a tougher business than it was three or four years ago and people are looking for good value and things like art auctions are becoming more and more popular. Dolan’s Art Auction in Galway have been fantastic, they have sold more than 30 of my paintings over the last few months so it’s been a great suc- cess,” he said.

‘Also I have recently taken a real interest 1n painting scenes from the horse fair in Ennistymon. The horse fair takes place twice a year in En- nistymon and I have come across some great scenes from the fair including local people like Willie Daly.

“I have also been invited to take up a position as artist in resident in Roundstone in Galway, as well as an- other similar position in Kerry later in the year, which is a great honour for me.”

For more information check out www.imichaelhanrahan.net.

Two councillors bow out of race