Month: July 2009

THE youth service in Shannon co- ordinates a wide-ranging programme for young people in the town. One of its initiatives, the Shannon Music Project, 1s currently looking for local adult volunteers who have a keen in- terest in music.

The scheme organises music events, workshops and performances for young people aged between 15 and 25 in Shannon.

The project is particularly inter- ested in recruiting volunteers who have specific talents in drums, song writing, sound engineering or guitar.

A practice space can be booked and equipment is available for practice sessions. Times are agreed with the youth workers in advance.

Every school term the music project committee plans and organises mu- sic events in the Respond Building in Rineanna View. The main events organised are bands nights where lo- cal Shannon bands and guest bands from other music projects showcase

their musical talents in front of an audience of adoring fans.

There are also acoustic nights at the Kick Back Café. For those looking for a quieter night out, the Shannon Music Project Acoustic nights are also an attractive option.

Anyone interested in playing at an acoustic event can just simply put their name forward on the night. Ad- mission is only €3 and there is free tea/coffee and biscuits served at all acoustic nights.

The youth service actively organ- ises events for young people in the town. It opened its exam café again this year at The Respond Commu- nity Building, Rineanna View dur- ing the examinations. This was the fourth year of the café and students were very enthusiastic about it.

Last month, the youth club hosted a group of young people from Omagh, who were visiting as part of an ex- change. The group was enjoying a break in Clare and were also treat- ed to a reception by Shannon Town Council.

INDEPENDENT councillor Patricia McCarthy has taken issue with the wording of a motion proposed by Sinn Fein’s Cathy McCafferty, in re- lation to community grants, at Shan- non Town Council.

In a motion before the council last week, Ms McCafferty — a newly- elected councillor – called for the community initiative fund to be fully transparent and that public consulta- tion be part of the process.

However, Independent councillor Patricia McCarthy said she had dif-

ficulty with the way the motion was worded. “It implies the system we had wasn’t transparent. It has stood the test of time. It is based on the principle of providing community services for all of the community. It is disingenuous of people to 1m- ply something unethical was _ tak- ing place. Remember, this is a town council initiative,’ she said.

Cllr McCafferty replied that she had not intended to imply this. “At no stage in my proposal did I attempt to make a slight on the councillors that are here or have been here for a long time. We represent the public. I feel

it’s very important to have members of the public present at any forum,” she said.

The Mayor of Shannon, Cllr Sean McLoughlin (FG) said meetings in relation to community grants are generally held in committee.

Earlier in the meeting, Cllr Mc- Cafferty asked did the chairpersons of the MPCs (municipal policy com- mittees) reflect the full representa- tion of the council, according to the guidelines. Her query came after Mike Fleming (FG) and Mary Bren- nan (FG) were appointed chairper- sons of the two MPCs, at the AGM

of the council last month.

She pointed out that under the guidelines, the political represen- tation of the council should be re- flected. “It would appear to me that the appointment of two from the same political party or same political grouping is contrary to guidelines,” She said. However, the town man- ager Bernadette Kinsella said it was a matter for the council “to make the necessary appointments so long as they do that by majority decision’.

“To the best of my recollection there wasn’t any counter proposals on the night,” said Ms Kinsella.

SHANNON Airport has suffered a 19 per cent drop in transatlantic traf- fic for the first six months of the year as the recession impacts on the air- port’s long-haul routes.

Figures from the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) confirm that overall passenger numbers dropped by 7 per cent to 1.4m with the airport unlikely to hit 3 million passengers a year for the first time since 2004.

A spokeswoman for the SAA said that while airport management was disappointed with the decline, the results are better than those being experienced by many international airports worldwide.

The 19 per cent drop in transat- lantic traffic for the first six months follows a 19 per cent drop during the first six months of last year with the introduction of the ‘open skies’ re- gime on the US routes.

The number of US passengers trav- elling through Shannon dropped from 262,858 to 212,915 compared with the 325,438 who travelled on the routes in the first six months of 2007 before the recession and the in- troduction of open skies.

The numbers are expected to drop further in the second half of 2009 as carriers such as Aer Lingus and Delta reduce their services to the US

over the winter months.

Airport Director, Martin Moroney said that while the figures were dis- appointing, a reduction was expected because of open skies.

“Transatlantic services have been affected by the economic downturn, but we have worked extremely hard to retain them through the provision OLN e-VENCOMOloa/esOjeeeloNlmnNes TEA Loe

“Tt is vital that transatlantic servic- es continue to be successful as it is a very important segment of our traffic and a major contributor to both in- dustrial and tourism development.

‘European traffic showed a decline of 3 per cent mainly due to are- duction in services offered by tour operators to the traditional sun des- tinations, because of the economic Abn sers ites

“Traffic on the London routes re- mains the same as last year, though this may increase when Aer Lingus increases its service to Heathrow. Traffic on UK regional routes 1s down by 8 per cent and is expected to decrease further in the remainder of the year.

“We will be introducing efficien- cies and cost savings in our operation while capitalising on the introduction of full US pre-clearance on July 29 which will assist in attracting more business including British Airways and corporate jets’, he said.

A CLARE gay and lesbian group had criticised sections of the new Civil Partnership Bill, describing it as “upsetting” and reinforcing the idea that gay people are outsiders on the margins of society.

The bill, which was proposed last week by Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, aims to create a limited form of civil partnership for both same-sex and heterosexual couples. The Gay

Clare Group last week welcomed the bill in general, describing it as a good first step, but raised serious questions about some aspects of the proposed legislation.

“An upsetting aspect of the civil partnership legislation is that the Government has totally ignored les- bian and gay parents and their chil- dren,” said a spokesperson from the Gay Clare Group.

“In reality all children should have equal access to their parents and

vice-versa, and should have the same rights as all children in Ireland. Fur- thermore, a same-sex couple will not be eligible to be considered to adopt a child under civil partnership, not even the child of their registered civil er Dunas

“The bill reinforces that belief that we are outsiders on the margins of society.

“The fact that through this bill the Government has given us ‘some’ rights but not equal rights, and en-

sures that lesbian and gay relation- ships will be regarded as inferior to married couples.

“Lesbians and gay men should be entitled to the same rights and re- sponsibilities as their straight coun- terparts. We are calling on the gov- ernment to provide lesbians and gay men with equality by providing ac- cess to civil marriage.”

Meanwhile, new figures released yesterday show that 80 per cent of people in Munster believe that every-

one living in Ireland should receive equal treatment from the State re- gardless of whether they are straight, lesbian or gay.

Indeed, 59 per cent of Munster people surveyed felt that denying same-sex couples the right to a civil marriage 1s a form of discrimination. The survey was carried out by the MarriagEquality Group – an organi- sation which is working for equal marriage rights for lesbians and gay men in Ireland.

A YOUNG mother who saw her baby being doused in petrol by a woman wielding a can of petrol says she can- not let her children out of her sight.

Mary Kelly, in her victim impact statement after Majella McCarthy was convicted of assault causing harm to her and her baby daughter Aisling, said the ordeal has greatly NOC Kerem ol

The baby was in the back seat of the car when the attack happened and Ms Kelly looked on in fear, before she herself was doused with petrol.

“It has had a big effect. We left home to go to the doctors that morn- ing. Apart from Aisling being sick, everything was fine. I can’t get into the car. I can’t go anywhere, not even next door, without putting on the central locking,” she said.

Just a few days after the petrol at- tack on her and her baby daughter, she said she had to change the car.

‘Every time I look around in the car all I could see was Ms McCarthy with a petrol can,” she said.

“My own doctor told me I need to talk to someone about it. I have two fabulous, gorgeous kids. I’m afraid to let them out of my sight.

‘I know we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. These things hap- pen, but we could be in the wrong place at the wrong time again. | know she didn’t set us on fire but these things can happen,” she said.

She said her baby daughter used to wake at night screaming “No, no, no, no,’ for a few nights after the at- tack. She said she was glad her baby was so young when the incident hap- pened as she was not old enough to understand what was going on.

THE rotting carcass of a dead horse, 291 wrecked cars and a plethora of broken fridges, old car batteries and burned out car wrecks were found on land at Clonawee, Doora, on Septem- ber 15, a court heard.

The list was given by an officer of Clare County Council who was giv- ing evidence in the trial of Bernard McDonagh of John Paul Avenue in Cloughleigh, Ennis who was ac- cused of transporting, recovering or disposing of waste in a manner likely to cause pollution.

Senior Executive Engineer with Clare County Council, Robert Byrnes, told the court that he carried out an inspection on the lands and found “291 end-of-life cars, stacked three high in places” as well as vari- ous car components, fridges, freezers, electrical equipment, general house- hold waste and ends of carpets.

“I got the smell of the putrefying horse carcass some distance away. There were four living horses at the site and I believe from the state of decomposition, that the animal had died some weeks previously at the Sy Kone

The executive engineer said that he took 55 photos in all at the site but could only take a picture of the horse from a distance because “of the smell and the health risk.”

Mr Byrnes agreed that Mr McDon- agh had a business in scrap. The pros- ecution arose he said, because there were none of the necessary special containment or treatment measures to prevent pollution by chemicals in the car components and items such as fridges, which contain harmful

CFC gases.

These could get into the ground or possibly into the water system, he Crate

Under cross examination, by Lor- can Connolly BL for the defence, Mr Byrnes agreed he did not carry out any tests on the soil or water or take away any items for further examina- tion.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain agreed to an application from the defence to direct the jury to find the accused man not guilty.

Mr Connolly successfully argued that while Mr Byrnes had given evi- dence of his being an officially ap- pointed agent to carry out the inspec- tion, he had not produced in court the document which is his written appointment. This should be done as laid out in section 154 of the Local Government Act, Mr Connolly told the judge.

Residents caught in crossfire

EACH farmer in the environmental- ly sensitive Burren area is to receive an average of €6,000 over the next three years to insure the survival of the threatened Burren landscape.

A new €3 million fund was an- nounced by the Department of Agri- culture last week which will directly fund Burren farming to introduce farm techniques which will reverse the encroachment of scrub on the karst Burren landscape.

The funding will be used to intro- duce a Burren wide roll out of many of the ideas developed by the Burren- LIFE Project over the last five years. It does not, however, guarantee the continuation of the project past this August.

“This is the best day of my farming lite. This decision is way bigger that the initial EC funding of the pilot phase of BurrenLIFE,” said head of the Burren IFA, Michael Davoren.

“It represents a very serious buy by the Department of Agriculture for the work being undertaken by Bur- ren farmers. It is now critical that the Department of the Environment fund the operational side of project and ensure that the project offices and team are retained.”

Should the BurrenLIFE Project not receive a late funding reprieve from the Department of the Environment or other sources, it is not clear who will oversee the €3 million invest- ment.

“This is a stunning statement of support for the Burren, its farmers and the innovative BurrenLIFE ap- proach to farming for conservation,’ said Brendan Dunford, Project Man- ager of the BurrenLIFE Project.

‘“BurrenLIFE is a very focused and targeted scheme, all of its actions are carefully researched and closely monitored. The strict emphasis on delivering tangible, measurable re- sults and good value for money are so critical now that resources are so tight.”

Dunford also paid tribute to the

project team of Sharon Parr, Ruairi OQ Conchtir and James Moran as well as Sean Regan from Teagasc for the work done on the project and se- curing the funding.

Meanwhile, Clare TD, Tony Kil- leen has confirmed that the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith, will visit the Burren region over the coming weeks to be briefed on the BurrenLIFE Project.

STRATFORD is known as William Shakespeare country, but last Tues- day it became better known as the home for one of the biggest betting coups landed in many years, one that came all the way from Clare.

Bookies and betting exchanges in Ireland and England were hit to the tune of over €500,000 when the Clare-owned King Keano trained by Liam Burke in Cork landed a mas- sive gamble when winning the 6.45 maiden hurdle at Stratford.

“Tt was a fantastic coup,’ one bookie told

A TALE of contrasting confidence on Saturday evening as Crusheen easily held off the challenge of Inagh/Kil- namona to push themselves into the race for one of the two knock-out places. Down the other end, Inagh/ Kilnamona are struggling to keep their heads above water with only two wins from seven games but re- ally they didn’t do themselves any favours here by leaking two avoid- able goals while their first touch and self-belief seems to have all but dis-

appeared. And it was those two goals that separated the sides throughout,

with the first coming after only 14 minutes with the sides locked at O- 2 to 0-2. Paddy Meaney gathered the ball about 40 metres from goal and was allowed to weave his way through the defence before pulling the ball back across the square for Joe Meaney to finish to the net after a goalmouth scramble. The second followed only four minutes later and it was infinitely more sloppy, with the Inagh/Kilnamona defence failing to clear their lines on the left wing before Sean Dillon swooped in to in- tercept an Eamonn Glynn handpass and just as it seemed as if his shot was destined for a point, goalkeeper

Patrick Kelly climbed to retrieve the ball from over the crossbar, only to see it trickle over the goal-line. Those two goals were to haunt In- agh/Kilnamona for the remainder of the contest as they would never get to within less than four of their op- ponents. Instead, Crusheen, led by another star turn from county Under 21 player Cian Dillon, and Alan Tuo- hy’s frees, played within themselves to hold that clear advantage, leading

by 2-6 to 0-6 at the break.

Inagh/Kilnamona did have impres- sive displays of their own in Cathal Lafferty and David Hegarty but without support, the second half descended into a scrappy affair that was dominated by frees. Crusheen could even afford to hit eleven wides over the hour and still maintain their healthy advantage.

By the 50th minute, Crusheen had edged seven points clear at 2-11 to 0-

10 after a brace from Cian Dillon and a point apiece from Conor O’ Donnell and the returning Cronan Dillon, but even though Dermot Gannon restored some respectability to the scoreline with three successive frees before the final whistle, they were only mere consolations as mentally, Inagh/Kilnamona were already half- way to the dressing rooms.