This article is from page 6 of the 2011-07-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
A MYSTERY Irish American couple have come forward with funding for a new project which could create hundreds of jobs in Clare over the next 12 months.
Details of the project, which is the brain child of West Clare man Jim Connolly, will not be officially released for another month but The Clare People understands that the project is modelled on a similar project started in Clare the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Jim, who is the founder or Rural Resettlement Ireland and was a candidate in this year’s General Election, says he had been seeking funding to restart the project for the last number of year but when no Government help was forthcoming the project was saved by the mysterious donation from America.
The project will see a series of open fair days being hosted around the county which would encourage unemployed people to show off their own talents and to grow confidence in the people.
“We are trying to attract people to set up their own jobs for themselves. It aims to promote one person enterprises by hosting free open days where unemployed people can come along and sell their good or services. It sounds like a simple idea but the response was simply overwhelming. This became a huge project, not just in Clare but in six other counties.,” said Jim.
“The key is that the whole thing is that it is totally free and people have nothing to lose. It is a great way of encouraging people to explore own talents and to give them confidence.”
Jim had failed to gain Government support for his project over the last two years, which was eventually why he decided to put his name forward for the General Election earlier this year.
“Through the publicity from the General Election I was contacted by an Irish American couple, who wish to remain anonymous, and within three or four weeks they had sent money over from America to fund this project on a part-time basis for one year,” continued.
“We have an application in with the new Government. I met the Minister last week and they are keen but have given no guarantee but if they come on board we could make it a fulltime project and extend it for more than a year.”
The project will be officially launched later this summer and any unemployed people are asked to prepare for the fair. The majority of the fair will be hosted by the local VECs but they will be made open to other locations.