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ENNIS is getting ready to rock for the annual Fleadh Nua festival, which kicks off in the town on Sunday.

A fixture on the town’s calendar since 1974, this year’s festival features an expanded programme of events. There will be a special celebrity concert in honour of one of Clare’s foremost musicians, Brendan Mulkere. Recognised as an accomplished fiddle player, Brendan’s dual achievements as a teacher and musician will be recognised at a concert in the West County Hotel on Saturday, May 25.

Brendan’s guests will include brothers, John and James Carty, Niall Keegan, John Bowe, Terence O’Flaherty, Sinéad Egan and the Whelton Family. There will also be a performance by double All Ireland winners the Thatch Céilí.

Trad super-group ‘Four Men And A Dog’ will bring their high-octane live show to the West County Hotel on Friday, May 24.

The Gathering provides the inspiration for ‘Spraoi’ – The Kilfenora Ceilí Band’s latest concert presentation on Sunday, May 26.

The concert will also feature the vocal talents of Don Stiffe as well as the dancing skills of the West Clare Set Dancers.

Following a successful streaming of last year’s concert, which was viewed by almost 10,000 people in 40 different countries, ‘Spraoi’ will be available on www.livetrad.com.

Thursday, May 23 is Ladies’ Night at the Fleadh as the spotlight shines on musicians Joan Hanrahan, Bríd O’Gorman, Geraldine Cotter and Paul O’Regan.

CD launches are a relatively recent addition to the Fleadh Nua but have already proven hugely popular with festival goers.

There will be launches by Niamh Ní Charra and The Bonnymen in The Old Ground Hotel on Saturday, May 25. Enda Seery and Michelle Mulcahy will launch their album at the Temple Gate Hotel on Sunday, May 26.

Other events to look out for are the Gathering Parade, photographic displays, open-air entertainment, street entertainment, café music sessions and a tribute night for Ennistymon Comhaltas.

The popular Riches of Clare, free lunchtime concert series, will also continue to run during the Fleadh. The usual residency in the Clare Museum, Ennis, begins during the Fleadh Nua festival and continues each Wednesday afternoon during June and July.

PRIMARY and secondary level students are being called on by Ennis Tidy Towns, to enter their school in the Ennis Schools Sustainability Challenge 2013.

Schools who do their best to reduce waste, recycle and who are environmentally sustainable will be included in this year’s Tidy Town’s entry to help Ennis shine.

Feídhlim Harty of FH Wetlands System Ltd, has said Ennis Tidy Towns are looking for schools who have begun “composting apple cores, who have started a school vegetable garden, or who have even organised a second hand book sale”.

Being environmentally friendly means taking pride in your hometown, school and environment. The involvment of schools is of great importance to Ennis Tidy Towns and is critical to the future of Ennis.

“It’s really important that we can read and write but we must be able to look after the world around us. It is vital that young people get a sense of what it means to reduce waste and be environmentally sustainable,” according to Féidhlim.

“By doing this we can protect the environment and also help the pockets of our local schools.”

To enter your school into this year’s challenge, write a short description of your waste minimisation or sustainability project, when it started and what the results have been.

“We need you to keep it brief,” according to Feídhlim, “time is short, so from one line to half a page with bullet points will be perfect.

“The more initiative the better but it’s about highlighting the work students have done this year. It’s probably a bad time with exams and school trips around now but we want to give students the recognition they deserve for their hard work.”

Féidhlim has said that there is great hope for Ennis in the Tidy Towns competition this year and “each year the town has been going from strength to strength”.

Entries must be sent to reeds@wetlandsystem.ie. before May 17 to take part in the Ennis Schools Sustainability Challenge.

THE cream of schoolboys’ soccer in Ennis will take on some of Europe’s best at tournament in Germany later this year.

A team representing Ennis will travel to the German city of Langenfeld to take part in a soccer tournament, from September 6 to 8. Details of the trip were outlined at the May meeting of Ennis Town Council.

Accommodation and food costs for the 20-strong group will be covered by the tournament’s hosts.

Ennis Town Council is proposing to make a contribution of € 3,000 to travel costs. Soccer clubs in Ennis are also being asked to make a contribution.

Town clerk Leonard Cleary explained, “A group of 20 from Ennis consisting of 15 under 13 schoolboys and four mentors/coaches and one manager will represent Ennis at the sports (soccer) initiative in September 2013 in Langenfeld. The u13 schoolboys’ coaches/mentors will be representative of each of the four soccer clubs in Ennis. One of the mentors/coaches will be the FAI Development Officer for Clare, Denis Hynes. The tournament will involve up to three matches that will be held on September 7 to 8. Other teams confirmed to date for the tournament include Montale (Italy), Senlis (France) and Langendfeld (Germany) with other teams anticipated to confirm shortly.”

He continued, “Langenfeld, the organisers of the Sports Exchange Initiative have confirmed that the cost of accommodation and food from September 5 to 9, will be covered by them. Ennis Town Council proposes to make a contribution towards the travel costs of the group of € 3,000. The four soccer clubs will cover the cost of jerseys, tracksuits, gear etc. through direct contributions and fundraising activities.”

Mr Cleary states the visit to Germany will be beneficial to the players and may result in a similar tournament being held in Ennis in the future.

Relations between Ennis and Langenfeld have been developing over the past three years strengthening links in the areas of culture and youth affairs. A delegation from Ennis Town Council visited Langenfeld in late 2010, while a group of students from Ennis also attended an International Youth Conference in the West German city. The Mayor of Langenfeld, Frank Schneider, led a delegation from Germany to Ennis for the recent St Patrick’s Day parade following on from the establishment of links between Ennis and the German town, which lies between Düsseldorf and Cologne.

MORE than two thirds of people in Clare with disabilities are out of work and are more likely to face challenges and barriers when it comes to finding, securing and retaining a job.

That is according to the Clare Irish Association of Supported Employment (IASE), who say people with disabilities are less than half as likely to be at work when compared to the rest of the working age population.

According to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), as many as 14,775 people in Clare have a disability.

Working age people within this group, which makes up 12 per cent of the county’s population, are more likely than the rest of the general population, to be out of work.

36 per cent of people with disabilities are active in the labour market compared to 77 per cent of other adults.

Pat O’Neill team leader at EmployAbility Clare, and Census 2011 supervisor for Clare explained the latest data from the CSO shows people with a disability face challenges in securing job placements.

“The emphasis in Clare is on inclusion and expanding the range of placement opportunities,” he said.

The IASE is hosting a major European conference next month to address some of the challenges, innovations and latest developments in the area of supporting people with disabilities and other marginalised groups into jobs.

Clare is to play a central role in this conference.

The artistic endeavours of a group of artists, who are clients of Employ- Ability Clare, will be showcased.

Mr O’Neill worked with clients of EmployAbility Clare to design the delegate gift for hundreds of people travelling to Ireland the conference.

The design and creative process was hosted by the Burren College of Art.

A video documentary has also been produced and will be shown for the first time in Croke Park to the international audience.

EmployAbilityClare will also present their experiences on supporting clients into self-employment opportunities.

THERE have been renewed calls for the installation of a pedestrian crossing near the Eire Óg GAA grounds.

It follows concerns expressed for the safety of children attending the club every week.

Concern was also raised over the lack of a pedestrian crossing on the Gort Road.

At yesterday’s meeting of councillors in the Ennis East electoral area, Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Daly (FF), requested an update on a proposed pedestrian crossing at the Eire Óg GAA grounds.

He told the meeting that as many as 200 children are attending the club every week. He described the situation as “treacherous” and “deadly dangerous”.

Cllr Daly warned that someone could be killed if a crossing is not put in place.

Senior executive engineer Eamon O’Dea stated that Ennis Town Council will carry out the evaluation process for the provision of a pedestrian crossing on Clonroadbeg this year “and subject to evaluation will proceed to consultation process”.

He continued, “The available resources are being used to develop works where funds are provided this year and the evaluation process will follow this work. The provision of a pedestrian crossing will be subject to the evaluation and available funding.”

Mr O’Dea told the meeting that Eire Óg is one of a number of areas around the town where the council has been asked to install a pedestrian crossing.

There were also calls for pedestrian crossing on the Gort Road, close to Ashfield Park. The request was made by Cllr Brian Meaney (FF) at a meeting of councillors in the Ennis West electoral area.

Cllr Meaney said there has been an increase in the number of people crossing the road since the opening of the Lidl store. He said there is also a need for a crossing to assist some people with special needs who are living in the area.

Mr O’Dea stated that the council will carry out an evaluation process. He added, “The available resources are being used to develop works where funds are provided this year and the evaluation process will follow this work. The provision of a pedestrian crossing will be subject to the evaluation and available funding.”

Mr O’Dea told the meeting that the council will engage with residents throughout the process.

IRELAND’S oldest matchmaking festival is going pink this September with a gay and lesbian weekend being added to the month-long Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival.

This year’s matchmaking festival will begin with The Outing – a lesbian and gay weekend involving concerts, matchmaking and other events, all hosted by drag-queen Panti.

The event is the brainchild of local hotelier Marcus White who has contracted the organiser of the Dublin Pride Festival, Eddie McGuinness, to manage the event.

According to McGuinness, the event will the biggest gay and lesbian matchmaking event ever to take place, anywhere in the world.

“At the end of the day it’s about love – that what the matchmaking festival has always been about. Ireland is leading the world on gay issues and hopefully we will have gay marriage soon, so the time is right for something like this to take place,” said Eddie McGuinness.

“Nothing on this scale has ever been done anywhere else in the world. We are taking matchmaking into the 21st century. We have a five-year plan for this event. This year we are looking at attracting people from Ireland and the UK but this is going to become a very big international event.”

The Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival has been in operation for more than 150 years and attracts thousands of singles from all over the world to the North Clare village each September.

It is not as yet clear if Ireland’s last matchmaker, local man Willie Daly, will be directly involved in the gay and lesbian festival.

“We are trying to put a different twist on the festival. It is going to be same as any other matchmaking weekend – we will have entertainment, music and dancing – but this will be a gay and lesbian weekend,” said hotelier Marcus White.

“There will be matchmaking going on throughout the weekend. We are hoping to get Willie Daly involved as well. We are in talks with Willie at the moment and hopefully he will come n board.

“This has not been tried been tried anywhere else in the world. We are very open-minded up here in Lisdoonvarna. As Willie Daly says himself – love doesn’t distinguish, if you’re in love, you’re in love.”

The first ever Lesbian and Gay Weekend of the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival will take place from Friday, August 30 to Sunday, September 1.

IRELAND’S oldest matchmaking festival is going pink this September with a gay and lesbian weekend being added to the month-long Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival.

This year’s matchmaking festival will begin with The Outing – a lesbian and gay weekend involving concerts, matchmaking and other events, all hosted by drag-queen Panti.

The event is the brainchild of local hotelier Marcus White who has contracted the organiser of the Dublin Pride Festival, Eddie McGuinness, to manage the event. According to McGuinness, the event will the biggest gay and lesbian matchmaking event ever to take place, anywhere in the world. It is not as yet clear if Ireland’s last matchmaker, local man Willie Daly, will be directly involved in the gay and lesbian festival.

ALMOST 6,000 patients from across the mid-west, which includes county Clare, have been waiting more than four years for an outpatient appointment. The most serious offender in the region, and country, is the Mid-Western Regional Orthopaedic Hospital in Croom. Here 10,347 outpatients are on waiting lists; 4,109 or 39.7 per cent have been waiting more than four years to be seen by a consultant. According to the Department of Health’s Patient Treatment Register the Mid Western Regional Hospital, in Dooradoyle, Limerick, where most Clare patients are now referred, has the second highest number on a waiting list, with 1,716 outpatients waiting over four years. Nationally, there are now 9,784 patients waiting more than four years for an outpatient consultation in a public hospital, most of whom have been waiting between three and four years for an appointment. The total number of people on outpatient lists, according to the PTR figures for the end of January, is 386,643. The HSE West vowed to reduce this figure significantly back in January, bringing the waiting list in line with the Health Minister James Reilly’s pledge that no patient would be waiting more than a year for an outpatient consultation by the end of 2013. The HSE West claims that they can achieve this by November. The health service has been validating waiting lists to ascertain which patients still need appointments. In October last year 10,970 orthopaedic out patients in the mid-west were waiting for an appointment with a consultant. By May that figure fell to 7,477. “It is our objective to have the entire list validated by the end of May and to have no patient waiting longer than 12 months by the end of November for an outpatient orthopaedic appointment,” it said.

COROFIN actress Maura Clancy is the toast of the Irish drama world today after capturing the Best Actress title at this year’s RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival. Maura’s victory is a milestone for the Corofin Dramatic Society, having qualified for the All-Ireland Open Finals for the first time just last year. The society also took the top prize for Best Set and Best Stage Management to round off a remarkable week for the players of Corofin. Maura’s success came in the role of Hester in their production of ‘By The Bog Of Cats’, directed by John Clancy. “I am really delighted; it is a huge honour. There are a lot of fine actresses and actors out on the circuit, including a number in our own group, and to win this is a hugh honour,” Maura told The Clare People yesterday. “I see this very much as a group honour; it was a big group effort and I was singled out. We had such a huge cast for this show that it was all about the whole group. Even just to organise rehearsals was a lot of work so everyone involved pulled out all the stops this year. “In 2008 we won the confined All Ireland, so we have only been competing in the full open competition for a few years. Our plan was to work really hard and see could we some day get to Athlone for an All Ireland. “We were over the moon that that happen so quickly for us last year. Our aim this year was to prove that we could do it again, and that is what we did. So we are all over the moon. We are all so delighted with how this has turned out for us this year.”

THERE have been calls for a ‘wet’ hostel to be set up in Ennis to help alcoholics.

Ennis councillor Paul O’Shea says the need for such a service, as Ennis can’t keep “exporting” people with alcohol problems to Limerick and Galway.

Wet hostels provide shelter for street drinkers while allowing them to continue to consume alcohol on the premises, unlike other homeless hostels that enforce abstinence. Cllr O’Shea said there are 324 people waiting on the local authority-housing list that are presenting as homeless.

He said a growing number of young people are ending up homeless caused by drink related problems. Speaking at the May meeting of Ennis Town Council, he said, “We don’t have wet hostels in Clare but we have Clare people that are using them in Limerick and Galway.

Councillors were discussing issues raised by the death of Czech national Josef Pavelka (52) who died on the streets of Ennis earlier this month.

His plight came to national attention when District Court Judge Patrick Durcan described as a “scandal” the fact that Mr Pavelka had spent tie living in a toilet.

On Wednesday, Ennis Town Council again insisted that it had no evidence that Mr Pavelka or his Polish friend Piotr Baram (36) had been living in the toilet.

Town manager Ger Dollard said the council never received a report that people were sleeping in the town’s two public toilets. He said, “It doesn’t seem plausible” that the men were sleeping in the toilets. Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Peter Considine (FF) said he had sympathies for Mr Pavelka’s family. He said the story was “badly handled and a bad representation of the town of Ennis”. He said he was “very doubtful” the men had slept in the toilets as the doors open at 20minute intervals. He said the fact that Mr Pavelka had no access to services after his recent surgery was “shameful”. However, Cllr Considine added, “You can’t help people that don’t want to help themselves.”

Cllr Mary Howard described the men as “lovely craters”. “At the end of the day, he’s somebody’s son, somebody’s brother.”

Business man Kevin Keenan who runs, Formacompany.ie on O’Connell Street, said businesses had experienced problems because of people drinking in the area.

He said, “I wouldn’t wish what happened on that man to anyone. Its not they’re fault they’re alcoholics. But people are feeding their habit. They are stopping on the street to give them money. If you knew someone with a heroin habit you wouldn’t go and buy them heroin.”

Mr Keenan says he has noticed an increase in the number of people drinking in the area. “There was an Irish contingent that caused a lot of bother. They were gone for a while and now they are back. There is so such goodwill out there that people are milking it.”