Month: August 2009

THE hard work of walking and fund- raising all paid off last week when the organisers of the Broadford 10k were able to present cash raised by the event to one of the good causes involved.

At a presentation night, at Danny’s Bar, a cheque to the value of €5,030 was handed over to the Mid Western Cancer Foundation.

“It was because of the success of the people who participated in the Broadford 10k, last April, that we

were able to donate this cheque,” said Geraldine Mullins of the organ- ising committee.

The Mid Western Cancer Founda- tion works to support and improve services and facilities for patients suffering from cancer, and their families. Committee member, Liam Ryan has been one of many patients that has needed this service and care from the highly trained staff at the foundation in Limerick Regional Hospital. The Easter Monday walk and run was the second organised for Broadford, and numbers doubled on

the first year.

“We were very pleased and we’re hoping that the numbers will contin- ue to grow year on year,” she said.

The route is a particularly beautiful one; starting in the village, going to Kilbane via what is known locally as the High Road, past the church and back down the route know locally as the Low Road.

“Everyone enjoyed it and said how nice it was. The runners found it quite challenging but they said the loved it,’ said Geraldine.

The first event was held solely for

the Broadford parish funds, and this year the Cancer Care unit was added to broaden the appeal of the event and to raise more money for another good cause.

“We felt that everyone knows someone who has been affected by cancer,’ said Geraldine.

Now the organisers are hoping to grow the numbers by getting a web- site going and getting the athletics clubs involved.

“We will be working on it from September, when people are back off their holidays,’ Geraldine explained.

THE curtain falls on the Riches of Clare concert series in Ennis tomor- row (Wednesday, August 5) with organisers already looking ahead to next year.

Stephen Madden (banjo), Paul Mad- den (accordion), Maria O’Donnell (piano) and Sinéad Heagney (fiddle) will perform in a free concert from Ipm to 2pm. This will be the eighth concert to have been staged at the Clare Museum since the series began in June 10. This is the fifth time that the series has been staged in Ennis

and at venues across Clare.

The final concert takes place in Feakle next Wednesday, by which time seventy musicians will have taken part in 16 concerts in nine different venues. The eight-week residency in the Clare Museum, En- nis, featured traditional musicians from and based in County Clare on Wednesday afternoons.

Tony Linnane, Jim O’Connor, Shane Mulvey, Siobhan Peoples and Maeve Donnelly, Kieran Kissane and Stephen Madden were among the musicians who performed in En- nis during the series. There was also

a performance from the Kilfenora Ceili Band, who this year celebrated the band’s 100 year anniversary.

Supported by the Clare Arts Office, this year also saw the series go on tour around County Clare with Fri- day afternoon concerts taking place in Scariff, Kilfenora, Corofin, En- nistymon, Shannon, Lisdoonvarna, Sixmulebridge and Feakle.

Finola Ryan, one of the series co- coordinators, said that the concerts had drawn good crowds.

“We always had done concerts in different venues around Clare but this year we decided to hold

them over two weeks which I think helped,’ said Finola

‘“They’ve been really good and the crowds seem to have been as big as last year, if not a little up on last year.”

Finola said that performances had once again been of a high standard.

“Tt’s hard to pick a highlight but I suppose the concert by the Kilfenora Céili Band stood out. That was a good one but honestly they were all of a really high standard. We’d be hoping to do it again next year, but it depends on budgets and things like that,’ she added.

RE-EXAMINING Ireland’s — eco- nomic past to help map a path for the future is the main theme of this year’s Merriman Summer School, details of which have been announced.

Now in 4lst year, the majority of events planned for this year’s school UUM olom sos C MMOGs OMe ODOM eRe semAtlE gust 16 to 22.

The programme features talks from some of the country’s leading politi- cal, social and cultural commenta- tors including historian, Diarmaid Ferriter; Tom Collins, Professor of Education at NUI Maynooth; and Emily Logan, Ombudsman for Chil- Chore

However the main focus of debate at this year’s school stems from the publication fifty years ago of the First Programme for Economic De- velopment.

Put together by Sean Lemass and TK Whitaker, the programme was a blueprint for development that set out to address the many problems that the Irish State faced at the time.

Much has changed in the mean- time and yet Ireland faces a new set of challenges and the impact of the deepest economic recession to hit the world in almost a century.

Diarmaid Ferriter, historian and writer, will offer an insight into the context of half a century ago to set the scene for the rest of the school, which will look to the future. Tom Collins will consider the imperatives of educational policy, while Emily Logan will reflect on the State’s poli- cies and priorities towards children.

Maureen Gaffney, psychologist and commentator, will consider the so- cial development of the country and the impact of the changing context.

Noel Dorr, former Secretary Gen- eral of the Department of Foreign Affairs and well known at Merriman Schools, will look at the issues that face Ireland in shaping its foreign policy in a world whose centre of gravity may be changing signifi- OFT Naas

Brigid Laffan, Principal of the Col- lege of Human Sciences in UCD,

will address the issue of Ireland’s place in Europe and, specifically, its place in the EU.

John McHale of the Queen’s Uni- versity in Canada, but soon to be- come Professor of Economics in NUI Galway, will reflect on the fu- ture focus and direction of economic policy.

This year will see the return of all the regular features, including: sem1- nars, in Irish and English; ‘Renew Your Irish’ with Eoghan O hAnl- uain and Cuirt an Mhean Lae; the

mid-day poetry reading begun at the 2005 bicentennial school.

This year’s poets include John F Deane and Enda Wyley. There will also be set dancing workshops with Betty McCoy and Johnny Morrissey, the school tour and Club Merriman, with dancing and singing ‘til late. The director of the 2009 Merriman Summer School is Bob Collins.

THERE has been a huge increase in the number of cases coming before the Employment Appeals Tribunal and multiple job losses are poised to ensure this trend continues.

That’s according to Gearoid Howard, a Shannon-based solicitor who specialises in employment law.

He said that employees are becom- ing increasingly aware of their rights in the workplace, and as a result, the Appeals Tribunals workload has in- creased significantly. It takes up to 40 weeks for cases to be heard, on

average, while the vast majority of cases are swung in the favour of em- ployees.

“A lot of the time, people feel they have been selected unfairly for re- dundancy. That accounts for a lot of cases before the Employment Ap- peals Tribunals. At the moment I am being asked for advice from people about that from employers and em- ployees,”’ said Mr Howard.

“Times are tough. Employees are becoming a lot more sophisticated and educated than they used to be. They are looking for their avenues of redress. It is very difficult from an

employers’ point of view,” he said.

The trend, traditionally, for disgrun- tled employees was to take cases to the Employment Appeals Tribunal, but this has changed somewhat. “

The usual avenue was the Employ- ment Appeals Tribunal, but more often than not now people are going to the Equality Tribunal,” said Mr Howard.

The Appeals Tribunal calculates what the winner in a case is entitled to, through a mathematical computa- tion. However, the Equality Tribunal is not subject to the same limitations. ‘That is the stark reality for employ-

ees,’ said Mr Howard.

As the number of cases before tri- bunals is increasing, Mr Howard has noticed one trend. “In my own expe- rience, the success rate is 95 per cent for employees,” he said.

“Many years ago, an employer would have only come to me when they received a date for a tribunal, but now I am finding I am being ap- proached earlier in the process. Em- ployers are aware of the process,” he added.

The downturn in the economy has played a critical role in the increase in demand for tribunals of this na-

ture.

me WTKom ELON MNO Com Iloroems Kem MED OMB Ele past. You could leave one job today and get another tomorrow. The eco- nomic climate has changed dramati- cally and competition for jobs is phe- nomenal,” said Mr Howard.

He said that cashflow problems have also filtered through and create huge issues. “I have employers who have let people go months ago and they are still waiting to receive re- bate from the social insurance fund. When it turns to the Government to refund, that refund is taking a very long time,” said Mr Howard.

BISHOP Willie Walsh has described one of Clare’s best known GAA fig- ures, Fr Michael McNamara, as a great priest and a man who worked miracles that perhaps we don’t rec- Oya nV Aon

A priest for 40 years and a former coach to the senior Clare hurling team and County Board chairman, Fr McNamara (64) died suddenly ETI MSY IRUIROE NAM (cle) ©

At a packed St Peter and St Paul Cathedral Church in Ennis last Tues- day, Dr Walsh led the tributes to his friend who served as parish priest to the parish of Doora-Barefield.

Bishop Walsh described as a dev- astating blow that “Fr Michael’s 40 years of generous and wonderful priesthood has come to a sudden end”’.

“All of us who are privileged to know him are deeply saddened. We will miss him greatly, but he will be missed most of all by his family whom he loved so much and from whom he received so much love.”

Describing Fr McNamara as “a truly good priest. We pray that this generous life may inspire all of us to try in our own frailty to walk in his footsteps.

“There is a sense of incredulous-

ness, a sense that it has happened too soon, despite 40 years of generous and wonderful priesthood, there is a sense that Fr Michael had so much more to give.

“There have been so many lovely tributes paid to him in recent days. Maybe the loveliest one came from a family who had to part with one of their lovely daughters after a long illness five years ago. Both parents said to me on different occasions ‘we could never have survived that time without the love and support of Fr Michael’.

Dr Walsh described Fr McNamara as “a man of many parts”.

“He was first of all a people’s man. He had a wonderful interest and capacity to relate to everyone, the young, the old, rich and poor, the close friends and the casual ac- quaintance. He was happy and he was at ease with people. In spite of the heavy burden of work in recent years, he always seemed to have time to chat and indeed always seemed to have plenty to chat about.

“Somehow, you always felt good after a chat with Michael — he saw only the good in each one of us. That is what made him such a community builder to which you the people of Doora Barefield will testify.

“He was a man of the people. He

was a family man. He had an ex- traordinary attachment to his family and to his native Kilmaley

“Michael was a man of faith. Michael was a man who was always comfortable with his faith.

“A priest friend who occasionally holidayed with Michael and shared a room said that he never went to bed without kneeling at his bedside to pray and didn’t get up without kneel- ing and praying at his bedside again — there aren’t many of us who can make that claim.”

Bishop Walsh also recounted how, each Thursday, he and a group of priests would meet for a prayer meet- ing.

“Michael was the most loyal mem- ber of us all. We met for an hour or so and we prayed and chatted about the readings. He had that extra in- sight into those readings and how they might apply to our lives today.”

Describing Fr McNamara as “a man truly of faith — a man of hope of joy’, Bishop Walsh said he could never recall Michael in bad form — “even if the situation seemed hope- less, he always seemed to see the hopeful part.”

THREE out of every 10 farmers in the protected Burren region intend to wind up their businesses and stop farming over the next number of years.

This is according to the first ever major survey of farm activity in the area, published this week by the Bur- renBeo Trust. The survey, which was compiled from more 240 individual interviews undertaken over the last year, shows that only 72 per cent of interviewees intended to continue farming in the area into the future.

The survey also showed that only a

small amount of farm families, just under 8 per cent, gained directly from the millions of tourists who visit the area every year. While tourism was an issue which divided the respond- ents, most respondents agreed that a way should be found to share the spoils of Burren tourism amongst all the people of the area.

There were many positive elements to the survey with the farmers large- ly agreeing that farmers needed to be involved in any future planning about the Burren area and that farm- ers were central to the projection of the fragile Burren environment.

“One of the BurrenBeo Trusts core

objectives is to engage farming fami- lies and local communities in the de- cision-making processes affecting the Burren,” said Brendan Dunford, founder of BurrenBeo and head of the BurrenLIFE farming for conver- sation organisation.

“This objective derives from our conviction that any future manage- ment plan for the Burren must be built on real and meaningful local in- put, enabling the people of the Bur- ren to play a greater role in defining, participating in, and benefiting from the sustainable future development of their landscape. It also addresses one of the most common complaints

from Burren farm families — that they rarely have any real say in how their region is being managed.

“The findings of the survey are very positive and a cause for great optimism. Burren farmers are proud to live and work in the Burren, are appreciative of the area’s unique at- tributes and are anxious and enthusi- astic about being involved in shaping the future of this place, their home.”

The survey was coordinated by Kathy Walsh and undertaken in partnership by the Burrenbeo Trust in conjunction with the Burren IFA and with the support of the Heritage Council.

THE death has occurred of one of Ireland’s most respected medical professionals, Dr Harry Counihan.

A former chairman of the Rich- mond Hospital, Dr Counihan was the son of Molly and Dr JH Counihan, a former GP in Ennis. His uncle Dick was also a doctor in Kil-

Mets ep

Born in 1918, Dr

Counihan was educat- ed at Clongowes Col- lege and UCD medical school and in 1946, was appointed consult- ant phyisician to the Richmond — Hospital. He was a founder mem- ber of the Consultative Council of Tuberculo- sis at a time when the condition was rampant in Ireland.

In an extensive and distinguished medical career, Dr Counihan was also a former President of the Royal Academy of Medicine and the Irish Tuberculosis Society and Vice Presi- dent of the Medical Council at its in- auguration in 1974.

As well as making an important contribution to the health service in Ireland, Dr Counihan also played a key role in developing health serv- ices in Iraq.

In the early 1980s, he became med- ical director of the Parc-run Ibn Al- Bitar Hospital in Baghdad.

He was a founder member of the Rehab institute and in 1999 was named as one of the People of the ETc lye tlie

Dr Counihan was also actively in- volved with the Irish Medical Or-

ganisation and worked as editor of the Irish Medical Journal.

Dr Counihan died peacefully at St Vin- cent’s LORRY Hospital, Dublin, sur- rounded by his family and in the excellent care of the staff.

He was the beloved husband of the late Eileen and loving fa- ther of Mary, Claire, Joan, Henry, Eileen

and the late Michael, Catherine and Jane; loving grandfather of Matthew, Martha and James (McGann), Neil, Tom, John and Joe (Bailes), Conor, Rachel and Alice (McKinney), Clodagh and Harry (Counihan), Roger, Georgia and Rosie (Kelly).

He will be sadly missed by his sis- ters and brothers; Sr Mary (Loreto), Dr Frank, Roger, Honor and Ruth, daughter-in-law, sons-in-law, nieces, sister-in-law, extended family, rela- OAVor er LGM BU (ONO KS

that they will not be operating the Government drugs dispensing scheme.

A spokesperson for Tulla Phar- macy said they would not be co- operating with the HSE, while at Keating’s Pharmacy in Corbally said they would also be opting out of the scheme.

“Our name may be on the list of pharmacies operating the scheme

but we advised the HSE directly, and then through our union, that we wouldn’t be participating,” a spokesman for the pharmacy said. ‘These are divide and conquer tac- tics,” he said.

Sean Collins Pharmacy in Killa- loe is listed and will be operating the scheme.

“It’s a difficult situation. How do you tell Mrs Murphy, who comes in every month for her blood pressure tablets, that this month you won’t be dispensing them?” a spokesman Sree

The other east Clare pharmacy on the HSE list, the Green Cross in Killaloe could not be contacted to confirm whether or not they will be participating in the scheme.

Meanwhile Age Action Ireland is urging all older people who are on regular medication to take steps, as a matter of priority, to ensure they are not adversely affected by the pharmacist’s dispute.

“It is important that older people act to ensure that the dispute does not impact on their supply of med1- cation,’ Age Action spokesman,

Eamon Timmins said. “For people in rural areas it may mean organis- ing a lift to the pharmacist and ar- ranging transport to an alternative pharmacist. We would urge fami- lies and neighbours to help those who do not have public transport.”

The group is also advising that people, in parts of the country Where the HSE is _ establishing its own pharmacies to meet local needs, should also make themselves aware of the location of these serv- ices at www.hse.ie or by phoning the HSE information line 1850 24

1850.

‘But it is important that people do not put off this decision until the day they go to fill their prescrip- tion; act today to ensure you can continue normally with your medi- cation,’ Mr Timmins said.

Age Action has also urged the HSE to ensure that its contingency plans prioritise older people who are house-bound and/or live in re- mote rural areas without public transport. He has also urged both sides to recommence talks so that a solution can be found.

FEARS for jobs and services were raised afresh at Aer Lingus in Shan- non this week, with news that the airline are looking at ways to save another €130 million in spending cuts.

Company chairman, Colm Bar- rington revealed the need for more savings at a meeting involving pilots who want to see the Shannon/New York route restored.

He told pilots of the need for more cuts after they offered to work free for a month if the airline would re-

Store the Shannon route, and the Dublin San Francisco route.

Further changes are thought to be on the way with the company’s in- coming chief executive, Christopher Mueller due to join the airline on September 1, a full month ahead of schedule.

Meanwhile, Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Carey has today said that the news that Aer Lingus is working ona plan to target costs, including trans- atlantic services, will be a worry to the mid-west region.

Deputy Carey said, “The airline industry is facing a difficult period,

and Aer Lingus is no exception. But what I would ask is that key services and routes are safeguarded from any cost cutting measures. In particu- lar, the transatlantic services from Shannon have served Ireland and the mid- west well for generations. These routes are very important for business and tourism. I believe that once the US economy begins to pull out of recession, Ireland’s connec- tivity will again be a major factor in attracting inward investment to the mid-west region.”

He added, “We cannot allow deci- sions to be made now in a knee-jerk

fashion that will affect the region in the long run. I would hope in their current financial re-assessments that Aer Lingus management has learned from the Shannon-Heathrow affair. Those flights were pulled as a result of short-term thinking and now that the route has been returned, it has proved financially viable. Transat- lantic routes are profitable, if mar- keted and timetabled in the right manner. These routes are vital for business interests in the region.” The Mid West Regional Author- ity has pledged that the airport and tourism development are to remain

at the top of their agenda for the coming year.

Newly elected chairman Cllr Leo Walsh (FG) said that the authority is “determined to get on with its work” despite the threat of being scrapped under the recommendations of An Bord Snip Nua.

“We are involved in a big push in promoting tourism whether it 1s bringing visitors in through Shan- non or growing domestic tourism, and we are currently looking at ini- tiatives at Lough Derg, for example, that will be great for people who are interested in boating and fishing.”

TWO people arrested in Ennis, as part of an operation involving the Criminal Assets Bureau and gardai, have been released without charge. The arrests were made last Tues- day, aS part of a major operation which involved searches of homes and business premises. Two houses in Ennis and two in Limerick, along with four offices in Limerick, were

searched.

A handgun, along with a substan- tial quantity of paperwork, were also seized during the operation. The gun was seized at a house in Ennis, where one of the people was NU Ko Kole e

The two arrests were made in En- nis. A man in his late 30s and a woman in her 20s were detained at Ennis Garda Station for question- ing, under Section 30 of the Offenc-

es Against the State Act. The wom- an was released later that evening, while the man was detained over- night, before being released the fol- lowing day. One of those arrested is from the Ennis area and the other is from Limerick. Both have strong connections to Limerick.

The raids were carried out under Operation Platinum, which was es- tablished by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) over a year ago, to

tackle organised crime in Limerick. These searches are part of an op- eration – spearheaded by CAB and also involving gardai – focusing on organised crime in the general Lim- erick area.

Since Operation Platinum was set up, additional specialist support has been provided by the Emergency Response Unit, the Organised Crime Unit, the Computer Crime Inves- tigation Unit, the Garda Technical

Bureau, the Garda Dog Unit and the Garda Air Support Unit.

In May 2008, 150 premises were searched. While most of those were in Limerick, some of them were in the surrounding counties and in Dublin.

During those searches, a variety of materials was seized. It includ- ed a car, motorcycle, more than €100,000 in cash, drugs, two fire- arms and a quantity of ammunition.