Month: December 2009

CLUBS from across Clare’s soccer community are coming together to support an end of year fundraiser for the Clare Hospice, Cahercalla.

‘Soccer for Cahercalla’ – a super soccer blitz for boys and girls aged between six and 11 – takes place at the Lees Road sports complex, Ennis on Saturday, December 19.

All monies received from the blitz and supporting activities will go towards the Clare Hospice, Caher- calla.

The event is being organised by Robert McCarthy and his family with the help of many volounteers. Ennis- native Robert has been involved with underage soccer for many years and is currently manager of Avenue Unit- ed’s under 13 A team. His mother,

Kathleen, died on October 5 in the Hospice in Cahercalla.

Robert explained that the care Kathleen received and the support given to her family by the nursing team, doctors and support staff will never be forgotten.

“Tt is likely that almost every fam- ily in Clare at one time or another has or will need the facilities the Clare Hospice provides. To survive however the hospice needs our finan- cial help and this fundraiser from the Clare schoolboy/girl soccer commu- nity will help a great deal.”

Robert has set a fundraising tar- get of €5,000, but given the strong level of support the tournament has already received from the Clare schoolboys/girls soccer league, clubs, parents and staff at Lees Road, he is optimistic that the target can be

surpassed.

‘A lot of businesses have come on board, so we’re very optimistic that we’ll surpass the €5,000 target. I’ve been seriously taken aback by the amount of ordinary Joe-soaps who’ ve given €5 or €10. All the referees are giving their time on the day. It’s a huge community effort,” he said.

The focus of the event is fun for all the family but with some keen com- petitive action. Clubs are invited to bring along as many children as they wish. Games will be in 15 minutes in total and all children will have equal Oe-Nauercan ape nten

In addition to the soccer action, there will be lots of other activities for the family to enjoy and rumour has it that there may even be a visit from Santa and friends.

Registration takes place on the

morning of December 19. Clubs are asked to make a small donation to the Clare Hospice and each child is asked to bring €5 donation or what- ever they can afford.

The donation is not a requirement of participation and every child is welcome.

Robert hopes that the tournament can become an annual event. “We’d be looking to expand it next year. There is a lot of organisation with doing it the first year, but after that it should be easier the next year. We’ve built up a lot of links with clubs. Next year we’d be looking to invite teams from Limerick, Kerry, Galway.”

IT’s the time of year when people’s thought turn to the first Christmas. But the East Clare Musical Society will be taking audiences on a jour- ney to the other end of that story when they stage their new produc- tion, starting tomorrow, December 9 and running until December 13. Described as the greatest story ever told, the musical has played all over the world and tells the tale of the fi-

nal week in the life of Jesus of Naza- olsen

The East Clare Musical Society have enlisted the talents of young- sters from Scariff Community Col- lege and East Clare national Schools to stage the all singing, all dancing production.

This spectacular rock musical fol- lows the last week of Jesus’ life, as told through the eyes of Judas. Au- diences will be enthralled with this incredibly moving show which is en-

tirely sung.

“It is an amazing story of love, friendship and ultimately betrayal.” the Musical Society’s Martina Canny SnCOE

The songs from the show have be- come so familiar that they are now classics, although when the parent production first opened – almost five decades ago now – it caused huge controversy because of the modern nature of it’s portrayal of Chris and particularly of Mary Magdalene as

she sang “I don’t know how to love avbee eae

The cast are gathered from all over East Clare and this year the show will run for five nights.

The Society have gained loyal sup- port in the years since they started staging productions, with the tongue- in-cheek production of ‘God Bless Archie Dean, followed by ‘Oakla- homa’ ‘Some Like it Hot.

The group recently held open evenings to get the numbers they

would need for crowd scenes in this year’s productions, but they came up against a problem with finding the twelve wise and holy men need to pay Christ’s apostles. ““We did have a bit of a search to find twelve men to play the apostles – we had to resur- rect a few of the lads.” said Martina.

There 1s a special reduced ticket price of €10 for Wednesday night and €15 for every other night.

Tickets will be available at Roger’s Centra or on the door.

A STUDENT of St Anne’s Com- munity College, Killaloe, was one of the ten highest achievers in this year’s Junior Certificate engineering examination.

Christopher Balfe of Clonfada, Killaloe, brought the honour to the East Clare academy. He is son of Anne and Brendan Balfe and now in fourth year.

He has received a special certifi- cate from the Engineering Teachers Association of Ireland in recognition of an outstanding performance.

The presentation was made in Lim- erick Institute of Technology at a cer- emony attended by his family, John Fitzgibbon, principal of St. Anne’s, and Raymond Murray, teacher.

Christopher (left) is a keen sport- sperson and is a member of Smith O’Brien’s hurling teams.

SHIOFRA Keogh aged 14 from Ar- dnacrusha has beaten off creative competition to be announced Octo- ber’s secondary school finalist in the Boyne Valley Book of Kells National Art Competition.

Shiofra produced a bespoke work of art based on the brief of using inspi- ration from either the Book of Kells itself, the monks who wrote and 1I- lustrated it, or life in the 9th century.

Malachy McCloskey, founder and chairman of the Boyne Valley Honey

Company and judge commented: “Shiofra’s creation really stood out from the crowd due to its level of fin- ish, use of colour and overall inter- pretation of the brief.”

Shiofra’s school Laurel Hill in Limerick now goes forward to the final, held in March 2010, and is in with a chance to win a Fine Art Facsimile copy of the Book of Kells worth €20,000.

Over the Christmas period Boyne Valley Honey is encouraging fami- lies to take advantage of the time off, and get the creative juices flowing by

entering – there are still four chances left with finalists being announced each month from now until March 2010.

Three Fine Art Facsimiles of The Book of Kells worth €20,000 each will be presented to the primary and secondary winning schools and to the individual from the third level and adult category, with runners up receiving cash prizes of €100, €250 Ane OOO OF

Miriam O’Callaghan who helped to launch the competition in September commented: “It’s a great initiative. The judges are looking for creativity, individuality and real pride in work. The Book of Kells is a national, vis- ual treasure, SO we expect exciting works of art to be created!”

Judges include; Malachy McClos- key, founder and chairman of the Boyne Valley Honey Company; Des Egan, renowned poet; Robin Adams, College Librarian and Archivist, Trinity College; Edward McPart- land, Fellow Emeritus, History of Art, Trinity College.

The culmination of the competition will be an exhibition of winning en- tries, with winners being presented their prizes by Miriam O’Callaghan.

See | www.boynevalleyhoneyart. com for further details / to enter or check us out on Facebook / Bebo.

THERE was great excitement in Tulla this week, as the community council took delivery of not one, but four life saving machines.

The four defibrillators were do- nated to the people of Tulla by John and Brid Littleton and will be placed at the strategic locations in the town. The first will be placed outside

Vaughan’s shop in the middle of town, the others will be placed at the GAA pitch, the soccer pitch and the last one will be placed at the primary School.

Training took place over the last month and the Red Cross were hap- pily surprised when more than 50 people turned up for training. The group was so large that it had to be split up into two for different train-

ing sessions.

The campaign to secure the vital machines and to train local people in their use produced an amazing response, said Jim O’Sullivan Chair- man of the Tulla Community Coun- ote

“It was a very generous gift to give to the people of Tulla but hopefully something that we will never have to use. And we had great interest from

local people in being trained to use the machines. There were four dif- ferent groups at the training so now there are people trained from the soc- cer club and the GAA club, teachers from the primary school and a group of people from the community.”

Tulla is one of many communities across Clare where defibrillators have been provided locally.

The move towards having the life-

saving equipment available has, in many cases, been prompted by fear- ful statistics which show that 6,000 people a year die from sudden car- diac death in Ireland. Two per week will be under the age of thirty five. The defibrillator provides a vi- tal link in the chain of survival as speedy combination of CPR and the defibrillator can often restore life which would otherwise be lost.

THE Citizens Information Service will hold An Information Session on the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act, 2009, also ‘known as Fair Deal Scheme’ on Tuesday, December 15, in the Temple Gate Hotel, Ennis, at ro) NOE

The session will be presented by Marie Keane, Partner with John Callinan & Co Solicitors who has extensive experience in the area of Family Law and the emerging area of Mental Health Law She is a mem- ber of the Family Law Civil & Legal Aid Committee of the Law Society of Ireland and has contributed to a number of reports and publications undertaken by the Committee

The Nursing Homes _ Support Scheme, A Fair Deal, began on the 2/th October 2009.

From that date onwards, people may apply to the HSE for the new scheme.

The Nursing Homes Support Scheme is the single funded means of accessing long-term nursing home care for new entrants.

“We have been receiving a lot of queries fron the public and I’m urg- ing those wishing to avail of the financial support towards nursing home costs under A Fair Deal to familiarise themselves with the ap-

plication process so as to be ready to apply to the HSE,” added Paul Woulfe Manager with the Citizens Information Service

The Nursing Homes _ Support Scheme will equalise State support for public and private long-term care recipients.

It will ensure that there 1s one, trans- parent system of support towards the cost of care that will be fair to all, irrespective of whether they are in public, private or voluntary nursing homes.

It also aims to render long-term

care affordable and anxiety-free, and ensure that no-one has to sell their home during their lifetime to pay for their care.

Finally, the Fair Deal will replace the existing Nursing Home Subven- tion Scheme. However, it is impor- tant to note that individuals already in receipt of subvention may retain their existing arrangements or may opt to transfer to the new scheme if they so wish.

For further information you can con contact The Citizens Informatio Centre in Ennis at 065 6841221.

THE GRANDMOTHER of a fam- ily which has been pleading to be allowed take up residence in a Clare Traveller accommodation scheme is in intensive care today after taking ill in her caravan.

The woman – who is in her 50s – her husband, two sons and her son’s wife and seven children have been asking to be allowed move into some of the 14 free units in the Traveller accommodation in Quin.

But in a letter in answer to the accomodation application, Clare County Council refused to cater for the family in the Quin facility “in accordance with the Traveller Accomodation Programme.”

Heather Rosen, a Traveller advo- cate and friend of the family who has been campaigning on their behalf said, “The position now is that this lady, who suffers from Epilepsy, Asthma and Vasculitis has had seizures in her caravan and has had to be brought into in- tensive care,’ Heather said.

The family – who have asked not to be named for fear that it might hamper them further in finding privately rented accommodation – have been repeatedly moved on in their caravans from various areas along the by-pass.

“When they were on the bypass they knew where they were and they could tell the emergency serv-

ices how to get to them. But they had been moved off it again on Saturday night and they were on a small road and couldn’t describe to the emergency services how to get to them when she took ill.

“They could only stay with her until the seizures had passed and then brought her to Ennis Accident and Emergency on Sunday morn- ing, where she is now.”

Ms Rosen said that the family had been given the go-ahead for rent allowance if they could find private accommodation.

“She found a house and after meeting the landlord, he agreed to let it to them last week. But the day afterwards he rang to say he had let it to someone else.

“It’s very, very difficult for Trav- eller families to find private rent- ed accommodation even when they have the allowance.

Heather described the collection of woes for the Traveller family as “a litany of despair. This woman desperately needs housing that is warm, dry and has proper sanita- tion.”

“She is a very ill woman. Even her medications are damp in the caravan. The wind howls through the skylight.”

Heather said the family have written to the council seeking clarification of the original letter.

There was no-one contactable in Clare County Council to comment on the matter last night.

DATA released today by the Motor- check.ie Car Index shows that new car sales in Clare have dropped by 66 per cent since the beginning of 2009 while imports from abroad to the county have only dropped 35 per oom

Diesel vehicles have now firmly replaced petrol as the fuel of choice for 2009 with 59 per cent of Clare buyers opting for the alternative fuel. Nissan appears to be the favourite for Clare drivers with the Nissan Micra topping the table for petrol cars with 52 registrations whereas the Nissan Quashqai has the lead in the Diesel segment with 59. Spot a 2009 Audi TT with a Clare registration and you’ll probably find a leprechaun driving it as only one has been reg- istered in the county so far this year!

By comparison imports have not declined to the same extent with a drop of 35 per cent for Clare (No.11 in the country for used imports). The most popular import was the Toyota Corolla with 122 registrations while the Volkswagen Passat came in sec- ond at 102.

With a decline in new car registra- tions of 66 per cent, Clare was just above the national average of 63%. Counties with the greatest declines were Meath at 67% and Wicklow at 66%.

SUPERQUINN announced today it has listed artisan producer Burren Smokehouse in several of its stores, following the highly successful Ar- tisans Festival run by the retailer in October.

During the festival Superquinn opened its doors to give small arti- san producers exposure to trading within a multiple retailer, while also showcasing their innovative products to 800,000 shoppers over a two week period. Some 100 artisans took part in the event over an eight day period hailing from all corners of Ireland including County Clare. Producers sampled their products for custom- ers, and all sales generated went d1- rectly to the artisans.

Burren Smokehouse, a family-run business founded by Birgitta and Pe- ter Curtin in north County Clare in 1989, is now supplying Superquinn’s Limerick and Blackrock stores with its delicious smoked Atlantic fish products. The company, which em- ploys 12 people, has won numerous awards for the quality of its products, including the high profile annual Great Taste Awards in the UK.

Birgitta Hedin-Curtin, co-owner of Burren Smokehouse, comments, “We at Burren Smokehouse are de- lighted to come on board with Super- quinn. It’s great to see Superquinn supporting 100 per cent Irish artisan producers and stocking our products

OD eTos Dam eA one

Commenting on the success of the Artisans Festival, James Wilson, Trading Director at Superquinn, says that it has provided a boost to small Irish food businesses during difficult trading times. “The objec- tive of the artisan festival was to give producers, who are not listed with Superquinn, a platform to showcase their products to customers in a Ssu- permarket environment. It also gave our team of buyers the opportunity to explore how some of their products

might have a more permanent role on our shelves.

“We’re delighted to have listed Burren Smokehouse whose products received a great reaction from our shoppers. Quality Irish food is what Superquinn is all about and these products demonstrate the fantastic quality available from dedicated small food businesses in Ireland. We look forward to working with them,” continues Wilson.

Glenilen Farm of County Cork, Surf Seeds of County Leitrim and

County Dublin, and Marine Har- vest of County Donegal have also achieved listings, and Superquinn is in ongoing discussions with several more artisans, which it hopes will lead to further listings.

RESIDENTS in Ennis are looking forward to a Christmas free of boil- ing water, as Clare County Council hopes to remove the partial boil no- tice within the next few weeks.

Director of Services David Timlin said, “It will take a number of weeks to withdraw that notice, but hope- fully it will be done by Christmas.”

He was speaking after the council signed off on the certificate to allow a private company to operate the plant.

The partial boil notice has been in place for residents who are immuno- compromised, children under five and visitors since June 2005, when high levels of cryptosporidium were discovered in the water.

An interim water system was put in place at a cost of €3 million, un- til the new €9 million system was oyna eyo Keree

Mr Timlin, who over sees all the water services in the county said the testing for cryptosporidium for this year has been “off the scale”.

“It has been costing us a lot of

money, around €50,000 or more in extra testing costs.”

He said the council hope to reduce the number of tests in the future but the number taken will still be more than statutorily required.

The council will now enter into discussions with the HSE in a bid to have the partial boil notice re- moved.

To date the water has passed all the quality tests according to Mr Timlin, adding the reassurance that he drinks the water himself.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said, “I

have no doubt that when the HSE go through the steps the boil notice will be removed.”

He said the filter worked well un- der extreme circumstances in the past number of weeks.

Not all councillors were as con- fident however. Clr Johnny Flynn (FG) said he was sceptical about the treatment plant and worried about the amount of pre-treatment.

Meanwhile Clare’s local authori- ty’s problems with water supply for the county are far from over howev- er, as the head of the water division

has described as urgent the need to replace the number of mains in the county.

‘There are a lot of mains in Ennis that are beyond repair. It is vital the Government give the go ahead to re- place these.”

The council, which once recorded a 50 per cent water leakage in the county has decreased this to 36 per one

Not all of the county has been ex- amined yet by the council who hope to get water wastage down to 25 per one