Month: March 2011

CLARE parents of all babies, from birth to 12 months, are being advised this week to give infants a daily vitamin D supplement to protect their growing bones.

This advice from the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and the Department of Health and Children is for both breastfed and formula fed children and should be given 5 micrograms of Vitamin D daily.

The health organisations have said that Vitamin D, also known as the sunshine vitamin, is essential for healthy bones, but is present in very few foods.

Ireland’s northerly latitude and lack of winter sunlight means that Irish people can no longer make enough vitamin D in this way, according to the groups, so they are advising that it is added to infants food intake instead.

Severe and prolonged vitamin D deficiency can cause softening of the bones or bone deformities, known as rickets in children or osteomalacia in adults.

Less severe vitamin D deficiency also affects bone health, may increase the risk of osteoporosis, and some studies have also linked it to conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and diabetes.

“Babies need a daily supplement of vitamin D because their delicate skin cannot be safely exposed to the sun, and because their feeds or diet alone do not provide enough of this important vitamin to ensure healthy bone growth,” a HSE spokesperson said.

Rickets in children was known as a problem in Ireland up to the mid20th century, but due to better nutrition in our population over recent decades, it was thought to have been eradicated.

However, a number of cases of rickets have been seen in the country in recent years.

According to Dr Mary Flynn, Chief Specialist in Public Health Nutrition, FSAI, “the cases of rickets that we have seen are likely to be the tip of the iceberg, and indicate that there is a wider, undetected level of vitamin D deficiency in our population. There is growing evidence that this can increase the risk of conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis or diabetes.”

CLARE County Council insists that it has done ‘quite well’ in securing flood funding from the Office of Public Works since the flood disaster in November of 2009 – despite Clare receiving approval for fewer projects than other affected counties.

The local authority confirmed to The Clare People that they are awaiting decisions on “seven or eight” projects which they have submitted to the OPW for funding.

Since November of 2009 the local authority has received € 300,000 in OPW funding for the Gort Road Flood Relief Scheme; € 135,000 for schemes in the Watery Road, Elm Park and Fior Uisce areas of Ennis; and € 160,000 for a number of small flood relief schemes in the north Clare area.

This compares to an allocation to Cork County Council of € 1,805,000; Galway County Council of € 1,695,000 and Kildare County Council of € 1,466,000 in funding since the November 2009 flooding, although Clare County did receive in the region of € 9m to complete flood relief scheme in the Ennis Town Centre just before November 2009.

Clare County Council last week circulated details of progress made in securing flood funding from the OPW following a question raised at last month’s meeting of Clare County Council.

In addition to these schemes, Clare County Council is waiting for “confirmation of continuation of funding” for a flood relief scheme in the St Flannan’s/Ballybeg Area while flood defences have been improved in the Shannon area.

“Clare County Council has reviewed and will continue to review its inventory of flood defence infrastructure and equipment and is continuing to develop and improve its response strategies in the face of prospective major flood events as resources permit,” said Senior Engineer, Tom Tiernan.

“Records were retained in relation to all of the locations where flooding became a problem and these records have been/will be of benefit in the design of flood relief schemes and in informing the Councils Emergency Response Strategy as required in future.”

The council also pointed out that first phase of the Ennis Town Centre Flood Relief Scheme had just been substantially completed before November of 2009 at a cost of € 9,000,000.

A council spokesperson also confirmed that the tender process pertaining to the second phase of the Ennis Town Centre Scheme is substantially completed and the project is scheduled to get under way in the near future.

NEXT WEEK Clare will more than likely have three Government TDs as Fine Gael and Labour enter coalition talks, and the longest serving of those TDs believes the county should also have a ministry.

Speaking after he topped the poll in the General Election to be the first TD returned for the Banner Fine Gael’s Pat Breen said he believed that the county should at the very least get a junior ministry.

“We have returned three Government TDs here tonight and three Government TDs can make a difference. I would hope also that the Taoiseach would take the opportunity to give one of us in Government a ministry,” he said referring to himself, party colleague Joe Carey and Labour’s Michael McNamara.

“It would make a great difference to the county if we had a junior minister or a minister in the county it- self, and after returning three Government TDs I think Clare at least deserves that.”

The Ballynacally man was coy and evasive however when asked if that TD should be the longest serving in the county. “That would be up to the Taoiseach himself,” he said.

In the neighbouring constituency of Limerick city, where more than 4,000 Clare citizens vote, the constituents are also expecting a “full car” in the form of a senior ministry.

For the first time ever the party’s Finance spokesperson and former party leader Michael Noonan topped the poll in the constituency with more than 30 per cent of the vote.

The 67-year-old is now favourite to take the key position of Minister for Finance, even in the likelihood of the Fine Gael Labour coalition.

The constituency’s proximity to Clare makes it very unlikely that the TDs from the Banner County will also get a seat on the Government front bench.

Most political commentators say the most Clare can hope for now is a junior ministry. The last Fine Gael TD from Clare to hold such a position was Donal Carey, father of Fine Gael’s second TD in Clare Joe Carey. He was appointed Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach and Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht by then Taoiseach John Bruton in January 1995.

FINE Gael have blown their best ever chance of taking a third seat in Clare by only running three candidates in last week’s election. That is according to a survey of FG county councillors conducted by The Clare People in which 10 of the 12 councillors, including unsuccessful candidate Tony Mulcahy, agreeing that a major tactical mistake had been made.

The vast majority of councillors said that either east Clare’s Joe Cooney or north Clare’s Martin Conway should have been added to the ticket – with some describing the move to run just three candidates as “gutless” and “lacking ambition”.

Only one councillor agreed that the three candidate strategy was the right one with one other declining to comment.

“The Fine Gael strategy of leaving north and west Clare with no candidate for the first time in history was a big mistake. This was one of the reasons why Dr Hillery (FF), James Breen (Ind) and Michael McNamara (Lab), who got a lot of votes in the area, did so well,” said Cllr Martin Conway – who yesterday announced his intention to run for the Seanad.

“Fine Gael at national strategy were made aware of this situation but the chose not to listen to the grass roots. They were well briefed by the organisation here in Clare.

Cllr Tony Mulcahy, who won 7,438 votes in Friday’s election, also said that strategy was a mistake saying that there was “definitely a case for saying that we could have ran another candidate – either Joe or Martin”.

There was also a feeling amongst the Fine Gael councillors that a third seat would have guaranteed a Clare seat at the cabinet table.

East Clare councillors Pat Burke said that “the morning that Tony Killeen retired I feel that Martin Conway should have been added to the ticket in north Clare” while Clarecastle’s Paul Murphy said that “a third candidate in north Clare it would have given us a serious shot at at taking that third seat”.

ONE man was taken to hospital for precautionary reasons following the accidental spillage of 250 litres of sulphuric acid at the Organic Lens manufacturing plant in Ennis on Friday.

The incident occurred at 6.30am in the chemical storage area of the plant, which is located in the Gort Road Industrial Estate. The plant, which is owned by Essilor Ireland, manufactures ophthalmic corrective lenses. It has 310 people employed there.

Employees were evacuated from the building, while six units of the fire brigade from Ennis and Shannon attended the scene. 50 of the plant’s night shift workers were in the building when the incident occurred.

It is thought two drums of 98 per cent sulphuric acid fell from a pallet while they were being moved with one of the drums bursting.

No one was injured in the incident though one man was brought to Ennis General Hospital, “just as a precaution” a company spokesperson confirmed yesterday.

Employees returned to work later on Friday while a full clean up of the storage has taken place, the spokesperson said.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Health and Safety Authority were informed of the incident. An EPA inspector visited the site and verified that the spill- age was contained.

In a statement, Jim Crampton, General Manager, outlined the details of the spill. “At approximately, 6.30am Organic Lens Manufacturing had an accidental spillage of 250 litres of sulphuric acid in the chemical storage area. As part of our plant emergency procedures, the plant was evacuated and the local fire brigade alerted,” he said.

Mr Crampton also thanked emergency services and employees for their assistance.

He added, “The fire brigade are assisting the company with the clean up procedures. There were no injuries to any of our employees and the plant is returning to full production. All relevant statutory bodies have being notified. We thank the fire brigade staff and our employees for their assistance.”

The incident is the first of its kind to have occurred at the plant, which opened in Ennis in 1991.

Human Resources manager Amy O’Leary explained that a “small” chemical spill had previously taken place but this had been dealt with at the time by fully trained and equipped in house staff. “We’ve never had the fire services out here before,” she added.

Essilor is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of ophthalmic lenses. The company has been in Ireland since 1973 when a glass manufacturing facility was first established in Limerick.

THREE were lucky escapes for a number of Clare people based in New Zealand following last week’s devastating earthquake which shook the city of Christchurch – killing 145 people.

As hopes fade for the 200 people who are still unaccounted for fol lowing last Tuesday’s 6.3 magnitude earthquake, one north Clare woman is returning to Christchurch after miraculously avoiding being caught up in the devastating natural disaster.

Ennistymon woman Aoife Garrihy is currently living in Christchurch and had a lucky escape when she decided to leave the city and travel to visit a friend in Perth, Australia, hours before the quake hit New Zealand.

Aoife, who is a doctor in Christchurch Hospital, returned home to New Zealand city on Saturday last unsure of whether her belongings survived the earthquake or not. The Clare People spoke to Aoife before she returned to Christchurch who confirmed that she was okay and looking forward to getting back to work in Christchurch.

Christchurch Hospital escaped any serious damage during the earthquake but it has been inundated with a wide variety of serious injuries since the earthquake. The Clare People contacted a number of other Clare expats currently living in New Zealand to confirm that no-one from the county had been injured in the disaster.

The earthquake was felt as far away as Auckland on New Zealand’s north island where David Hanrahan from Lissycasey and Theresa Hassett from Tulla have been living for almost a year.

“We are okay, we are up her in Auckland so we’re away from the earthquake, thank God. It’s crazy down there,” said David.

“A mate of mine from Monaghan was working in a tunnel down in Christchurch, right beside where the quake struck. He had just come out of the tunnel a couple a minutes be- fore the quake hit – he is a lucky man but he is very shook up.”

The earthquake was also felt on Wellington and Lower Hutt on the north island, where Miltown Malbay brothers David and Declan Rynne are based.

“We’re all good here in Wellington,” David told The Clare People .

“We did feel the quake but it was quite minor here compared to Christchurch. They’ve had a pretty bad six months of it down there.”

This is the second earthquake to hit the city of Christchurch in recent months. On September 4 of last year a 7.1 magnitude quake struck outside the city, injuring two people and causing major power outages.

THE efforts of hundreds of Clare people who have given their time and energy over the last two decades to charity work in central and Eastern Europe is to be recognised in a new book die to be published this week. Going Forward Looking Back was officially launched by MEP Mairead McGuinness last week and features a number of photographs taken of volunteers at work with the Burren Chernobyl Project in Belarus.

Indeed, a photograph taken by award winning photographer and Burren Chernobyl Project volunteer Maurice Gunning was chosen for the cover of the book.

The picture features Lahinch woman Tessa O’Connor in conversation with a residents in Rudyna – a residential home for older people in Belarus.

A second photo taken by Maurice is also featured in the publication. This photo features an unidentified Burren Chernobyl Project volunteer singing to Nikita – a child from the Cherven Orphanage for children with disabilities in Belarus.

Maurice travelled to Belarus for three months in 2010 and full exhibition of his photographs in planned for Glór in Ennis this April. Going Forward Looking Back tells the extraordinary story of the Irish relief efforts in central and Eastern Europe since the early 1990s.

The publication is based on interviews with 31 different Irish charity workers and volunteers who have dedicated themselves to helping the most vulnerable citizens in this region over the past twenty years.

There are more than 100 Irish voluntary groups still operating in the region today. The interviews highlight different approaches to aid and development work over the years – the highs and lows, the success stories and the lessons learned.

The publication was developed by the Eastern Europe Aid and Development Network, which was set up in 2009 to increase co-operation between Irish charities working in Eastern Europe.

The exhibition of Maurice Gunning’s photographs with the Burren Chernobyl Project in Belarus will take place on April 14 for two week. John Spillane and Juliet Turner will play a charity concert afterward with all proceed going to the Burren Chernobyl Project.

PLANNING and preparation is “systematic and effective” at a second-level school in Shannon, while assessment practices are of a high standard.

A report in relation to St Caimin’s Community School in Shannon noted that the school has good lines of communication with students.

The report presents the findings of an evaluation of the quality of learning and teaching. It has been just published by the Department of Education and Skills, after an inspection was carried out at the school in November.

“The overall quality of learning and teaching in the lessons observed was good,” noted the report.

“With the support of senior management, a dedicated and effective team of teachers works closely with colleagues to promote inclusive practices among all teachers in all lessons,” stated the report.

It remarked that students identified with special educational needs benefit considerably from their time in St Caimin’s, while “a continuum of supports and interventions is implemented wisely and reviewed regu- larly”.

A number of recommendations are contained in the report. It is suggested that more detailed tracking of the total allocation of resources and their impact upon students be introduced.

It states that the extension of “individualised planning for students with low incidence needs merits consideration”.

“Greater use of team-teaching merits consideration as does the exploration of opportunities for staff to share practices that promote inclusive learning,” stated the report.

It noted that good time-tabling practices are evident in the school, which promotes access to and the development of an inclusive curriculum.

“The school adopts a holistic approach to meeting the needs of each individual in the school. Personalised learning in the collective setting of the classroom is central to the school’s engagement with students and this practice is manifested in the school’s movement, away from an over reliance on individual withdrawal, towards more in-class supports such as team-teaching. This shift in focus is in keeping with Department policy and guidelines,” stated the report.

CLARE poet, storyteller and author Eddie Stack will publish a book based on the people, music and stories of Doolin later this year.

The Ennistymon born author has been working on compiling The Doolin Book for more then a decade and will include extracts of interviews with some of the town’s most legendary past residents.

One of the highlight of the book will be an extensive interview with Micho Russell conducted by Stack before his death in 1994.

In this rare interview, Micho talks about his time growing up in Doolin as well as how he and his brothers learned their music and songs in the area.

“Doolin is one the few places in Ireland where all the strands of Irish traditional arts survived until relatively recently,” said Stack.

“This book is about these arts; the music, the singing, the dancing and the storytelling. It’s about the artists, the environment which fostered them and the legacy they left for younger musicians and singers.

“It is based on my local knowledge, research, archival materials as well as field recordings of the Doolin tradition bearers from the 1970s and early ‘80s.”

Eddie also hopes to produce an “enhanced ebook” version of The Doo- lin Book , which will have embedded video and audio and be programmed for use with the iPad.

Besides the Russell brothers, the book will also focus on Doolin’s other famous musical family – the Killougherys.

A section of the book will examine the music of John and Paddy Killoughery, renowned local musicians who had a long association with traditional Irish house dancing.

They were cohorts of the Russell brothers and played together at house dances and sessions for over fifty years – until the practice was stopped by the local parish priest.

The book will also focus on Paddy Pharaic Mhichil Shannon, who was the last native Irish speaker to live in the region. In an interview Paddy remembers the old storytellers, dancing masters and musicians of the area as well as talking about the decline of the Irish language in the area.

Doolin’s long tradition of storytelling will also feature in the book with extracts recorded by the Irish Folklore Commission in the 1920s with Stiofáin Uí hEalaoire, Johnny Carún, Seán O’Caolaí, Liam Ó Duilleáin and Seán MacMathúna.

Also featured is an interview with storyteller Paddy Sherlock broadcast on the BBC by Seamus Ennis in the 1950s.

For more information search for The Doolin Book on Facebook.

THE Dublin Airport Authority stand indicted for allowing Shannon Airport go into “freefall” over the last two years, Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary has claimed, while warning that only his budget airline is “the only” way the airport can be saved.

“Shannon is in freefall. It’s facing a traffic collapse and I think that Ryanair is the obvious and only way the traffic collapse at Shannon can be reversed,” said O’Leary as he launched a scathing attack on the DAA’s com- mitment to Shannon.

“The last 12 months show that the DAA have no interest in growing Shannon. They are busily rewriting history at the moment to say that Ryanair shut the base in Shannon last year because of the tourist tax. We didn’t. We cut back capacity because of the tourist tax from 1.9 million passengers to about 1.3 million. We are now down to 300,000

“We did write to the DAA in January of 2010, saying ‘do you want to extend the five-year low cost agreement’, under which we were paying Shannon about € 1 per departing passenger. The DAA wrote back and said no

“They have no interest in Shannon and the reason why the DAA don’t want any discounts in Shannon is they don’t want discounts in Shannon because they’d have to offer them in Dublin Airport.

“The DAA doesn’t care about Shannon and would happily neglect Shannon at the altar of protecting their high costs in Dublin. Shannon Airport at the moment is dying on its feet. It has almost no flights. It has very few passengers and compared to the buzz that was in the place two years ago when Ryanair were growing and opening up nearly 40 routes, the place is dying on its feet.”

“Shannon Airport is facing two alternative strategies. One, you can accept Ryanair’s offer, an offer from the largest airline in the world, to deliver a million new passengers. Two, you can all troop off to some conference in a couple of weeks times hosted by SFDCO, the DAA, the local county councils and all the usual talkers and hoteliers and the Diaspora and all the rest of them gobshites, who’ll talk and talk for f****** Ireland and not deliver for Ireland and not deliver one passenger.

“We could have done this a couple of weeks ago and tried to make an election issue out of it. There is no point making this a political issue – it’s a business issue. The DAA – you own Shannon Airport; it’s collapsing in front of you; your 33 per cent cost increase last November has put the final nail in the coffin. Do you want to grow traffic. If you do here’s the deal?”