Category: News

OVER 3, 500 Clare children are being taught in classrooms of 30 pupils or more, a meeting has heard.

The increase in the pupil teacher ratio and it’s impact on small and large schools was the focus of much discussion at a public meeting organised by the Irish National Teacher’s Organisation (INTO) in Ennis last week.

The meeting at Tracey’s West County on Thursday night was at- tended by an estimated crowd of 400 people.

In a presentation, INTO Vice President Sean McMahon outlined the level of education cuts that have hit Clare schools in recent years.

The meeting heard that Ireland has the second most crowded class size in the European Union.

Mr McMahon said that of the 13, 501 primary school pupils enrolled in Clare schools in 2012/13 3, 585 are in classroom of 30 or more students; 1,887 are in classrooms of 0-19 students; and 8,029 are in class- rooms with between 20 and 29 students.

Mr McMahon said it is vital that Department of Education and Science moves away from the “madness” of a “magic number” of pupils that determines a school’s future.

He said, “I had a conversation with a teacher in the Ennis area this morning with 37 children in second class. In that class were four children whose first language is not English; there was an autistic pupil and a pupil with Aspergers. They are in a very difficult environment.”

“We want an increase in spending in primary education and a reduction in class size in line with European norms which would facilitate the employment of our young, enthusiastic and well-trained professional young teachers. We also want the madness, which is the assault on smaller schools, some rural and some urban, to cease,” Mr McMahon added.

Brendan Horan INTO National representative urged parents and teachers to lobby government TDs by taking part in the union’s post card and email campaign.

LABOUR TD for Clare, Michael McNamara has signalled his opposition to rumoured € 100 million cuts to education spending in October’s budget.

In a statement, Deputy McNamara told a public meeting organised by the Irish National Teacher’s Organisation (INTO) that the “range and nature of the cuts proposed in the media in recent weeks are not acceptable”.

He continued, “I had a long conver- sation with the Minister for Education about that funding and schools big and small are at the limit of what they can endure. There is simply not a future for a further € 100m in cuts and savings to be found or anything near that amount.”

The statement was read by a spokeswoman. She told the meeting that Deputy McNamara was unable to attend Thursday’s meeting in the West County due to a prior commitment.

Fine Gael TD Pat Breen said no decisions had been taken on the exact level of cuts and tax increases in the budget. He added, “It is a challenge but as the Minister for Finance says, ‘we are going in the right direction’. At the moment all departments are putting together their budgets, including the Department of Education and Science.”

His party colleague, Deputy Joe Carey said, “It [education] certainly is a priority of mine. I will fight for ye as people here, as parents, as teachers. Education is so important for our country and our economy. I’ve listened to what ye have to say and I will certainly support ye.”

Referring to recent economic data that says Ireland has emerged from recession, Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway said, “I certainly want to see that coupled with a period of growth in investment in education in this country.

Fianna Fáíl TD and party spokesman on Transport, Tourism and Sport, Timmy Dooley, said he would like to see an easing of the cuts to school grants and minor works schemes. He added, “There has also been the increase in the student population but unfortunately there hasn’t been a requisite increase in the number of teachers to cater for that demand.”

ONE of Clare’s most popular tourist locations is to undergo a major facelift with the news that almost € 190,000 in government funding has been allocated to the Lahinch Promenade. Indeed, there was a second major funding boost for North Clare with the news that a further € 145,000 has been allocated towards the improvement of lighting in Liscannor.

Both allocations, which total € 323,000, were made available under the Department of Agriculture’s Marine Leisure and Marine Tourism Capital Infrastructure Development Programme.

The Lahinch allocation will be used to redevelop access and slipways and the Liscannor end of the promenade while the money earmarked for Liscannor itself will be used to totally replace the surface of the pier and improve public lighting.

“This is a big boost for Lahinch and Liscannor and it will also allow Clare County Council to keep on a number of their part-time workers throughout the winter,” said Senator Martin Conway (FG).

“This will greatly improve the look and the access in both locations and will hopefully encourage more of the tourists travelling to the Cliffs of Moher to stop off. I am asked over and over about the parking charges in Lahinch, and if they are being ringfenced, and maybe there is an issue there, but I am very happy to be able to welcome this funding at least.”

When parking charges were first introduced in Lahinch they were done under the condition that any proceeds from the charges would be reinvested in Lahinch.

This issue has been raised by a number of councillors at recent North Clare area meetings of Clare County Council, with specific attention being paid to the last of public toilet facilities in Lahinch and a the need for upgrade work, including basic security measures, on the Liscannor Road car park.

IT MUST be the Government’s objective to “extract” alcohol from the experience of sport in Ireland, a meeting has heard. That was the view expressed by Minister for State for Primary Care, Alex White, at a meeting in Ennis on Thursday night.

The Labour Party TD outlined a number of measures including the introduction of minimum unit pric- ing aimed at reducing societal alcohol consumption.

Minister White told the meeting in the Temple Gate Hotel that the drinks industry spent € 39 million on advertising in Ireland last year.

On the issue of alcohol sponsorship of major sporting events, Minister White said,

“I believe that alcohol involvement in sport and the way it is so embedded on the one hand, and the pursuit of excellence in sporting perform- ance on the other, the two are just manifestly incompatible. I regard it as counter intuitive that you should have such a close relationship between alcohol and sport. I think it has to be addressed. I think our objective must be to extract alcohol from the sporting experience.”

He said from a broader healthcare perspective, it is imperative Ireland “rethinks” its relationship with alcohol.

He said, “Alcohol was responsible for at least 88 deaths every month in 2008. Alcohol was a contributory factor in half of all suicides and in deliberate self-harm. Alcohol cost an estimated € 3.4 billion in 2007 to the healthcare and justice system to the economy. And one in four deaths of young men were estimated to be due to alcohol in 2008.”

The meeting, which was held to mobilise discussion on alcohol awareness, was chaired by Clare Labour TD, Michael McNamara.

A HIGH tech badger-baiting operation has been uncovered in East Clare with people using underground tracking devices to locate and kill families of badgers.

A small black terrier dog, equipped with the powerful mobile transmitter, was discovered in the O’Briensbridge area of the county yesterday. According to Clare County Council’s ISPCA dog warden, Frankie Coote, the dog was being used to ferret out the badgers and lead groups of “hunters” to their sets.

It is understood that this sort of equipment would be used by serial badger baiters who would travel the countryside searching for badger sets to attack. The baiters could be invited by a farmer on the land, but, according to Mr Coote, they often enter property uninvited in order to kill badgers for the illegal blood-sport.

“I have the dog and the collar with the tracking device and this dog was clearly used for digging out badgers. This is a very high tech device – they track the dogs movements underground and then they go in and kill the older badgers and the younger defenseless badgers in the set,” said Mr Coote. “We can tell that the dog has been used for this a lot. She is blind in one eye and has several old wounds and more recent wounds. This is an underground blood sport in the same way that dog fighting is underground.

“It is a problem. We believe that there are four or five underground groups that participate in this in Clare. Sometimes they would be invited in by farmers to remove the badgers, because the farmers are worried that they [the badgers] might be carrying TB, but in some cases they go in without the knowledge of the farmers.

“These people are just doing this because they get a kick out of killing the badgers. The are the same people might set two dogs to fight each other and bet on which dog would win the fight.

“This is cruelty for the badgers and the dog. This dog is destroyed from the fighting. She has a lovely temperament but she has been trained to be involved in this awful thing.”

Badgers are naturally docile creature but when cornered they can turn into dangerous fighting animals. Badger baiting has been illegal in Ireland for decades but the NPWS has secured ten convictions for the illegal persecution of badgers since 1993.

THE Killaloe Diocese has just announced an ambitious new blueprint for the development of the diocese over the next seven years – but has side-stepped a number of controversial subjects such as woman priests and allowing priests to marry.

The new Pastoral Plan for the Killaloe Diocese, which is entitled Builders of Hope, was officially launched by Bishop Kieran O’Reilly in Ennis last Friday.

The plan was devised following an extensive “listening” process among the grass roots members of the diocese, which took place over the past two years.

The process involved the setting of 12 cluster groups, including more than 700 lay Catholics and members of the clergy, in different parts of the diocese. These groups have been meeting since October of 2011, debating and suggesting changes that could be introduced.

The new Diocesan Plan mentions a number of ambitious changes for the Killaloe Diocese including an increased role for women and lay people, an open dialogue with other faiths in the diocese and developing a more open decision-making structures for the diocese.

However, a number of the more controvertial suggestions put forward by the clusters, including an end to clerical celibacy and the ordination of female priests have been omitted from the final document.

According to the information received from the Killaloe Diocese, 11 of the 12 cluster groups who took part in the report indicated that allowing priests to marry and ordaining women into ministries was a priority issues.

Despite this strong grassroots mandate for including these issues in the Building of Hope report, neither issue is mentioned directly.

In addition to the cluster meeting, the diocese also conducted two on-line surveys, which included the participation of over 1,000 young people. Indeed, increasing the participation of young people in the activities of the diocese forms a central part of the new Pastoral Plan, as does issues surround child protection.

AN INTERNATIONAL run in memory of two young Clare people has raised € 28,000 for two local charities.

The Hurley-Hoey Memorial Run/ Walk and Jog took place on March 9 this year in Doora-Barefield, while simultaneous events under the Hurley-Hoey banner were held in Sydney, Melbourne, London, Dubai, Capetown, New York, Madrid and Buenos Aires.

The event was organised in memory of Eilish Hurley, who died from cancer aged just 30 years old, and Ger Hoey, who died suddenly while out running aged just 40 years.

The proceeds from the event went to two organisations – St Anne’s School in Ennis, which provides education to pupils who have special educational needs and the Children’s Ark Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick.

Each charity received € 14,000 each.

Eilish’s sister Fiona is a nurse on the children’s ward.

“As a children’s nurse working in the Ark, I nominated this unit as I could see first-hand how the money raised could be used to make the lives of parents and children a little easier in particular the parents of children with oncology or life life-limiting conditions who spend prolonged periods in hospital,” said Ms Hurley.

“The event was an enormous success with in excess of 2,000 people registering and taking part,” she added.

“Much of the success of the event was attributed to the excellent organisation and dedication of a committee chaired by Lorcan Hassett. I would like to thank to all those who supported the event and thus contributed to its success.”

CLARE County Council has abandoned a policy which has, in the past, seen one per cent of the money invested on major infrastructure projects being used for public arts works at the locations of the project.

It emerged at yesterday’s September meeting of Clare County Council that the local authority is employing a new strategy, which allows the council to pool the one per cent “arts money” associated with major infrastructure. The money is then used to fund arts projects in the general area of a major infrastructure projects rather than a single visual arts project at the location.

This change of policy came to light following a motion put forward by Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind). While commending the work of county Arts Officer, Siobhan Mulcahy, Cllr Curtin said there was an “omission” concerning the € 17 million sewage schemes for Quilty, Mullagh, Feakle and Scariff.

These schemes, which were completed in 2011, should have resulted in € 170,000 in arts projects.

“There has been an omission in the answer. I am alluding to the schemes completed in 2011 in Quilty, Mullagh, Feakle and Scariff. I am concerned as to what has been done to mark the scheme in the east and west of the county,” he said.

Responding to Cllr Curtin, director of Services Bernadette Kinsella said that “rather than advocate the one percent for arts, it is the council policy to pool the funds for a more strategic use”. She also indicated that “significant” projects would be forwarded in the east and west of the county next year.

It is not clear if this one per cent funding from infrastructure projects will be used to fund projects that, in the past, would have been funded from other sources.

Overall Arts Council finding for Clare has fallen dramatically over the last five years.

LAHINCH will be the hub of the Irish hip-hop world next weekend for a festival that brings the best local and national talent to the Banner County. Senses is a three-day event that runs from September 27 to 29 at venues in the seaside town.

Organisers say the event aims to promote the existing youth culture within Lahinch and examine how interaction with new media and art forms can help promote a modern local arts environment.

Senses kicks off in Flannagan’s Bar on Friday night with a show by Community Scratch collective, Deviant, Mikey Fingerz and Ennis DJ / Producer MyNameIsJohn.

Local MCs Bubba J and God Knows will hold a beatbox showcase at the T-Shirt shop on Saturday, September 28. Some of the county’s brightest young DJs and beatboxers will per- form at the open-air event.

Clare filmmaker and photographer, James Skerritt will curate screenings of short films on Saturday, September 28, at Flannagan’s Bar.

James is a well known as a local surf photographer, having worked on a large number of local film projects and directed 2012’s surf-comedy ‘The Element’.

James will be curating a screening of a number of short surf films from around the country, highlighting the creative talents of young Irish surfers and also the dramatic scenery unique to the coastline around Ireland.

The festival concludes on Sunday, September 29, with a special trad special by the people behind hit Limerick club night, ‘A Love Supreme’. The event takes place at the Nineteenth from 3pm to 8pm.

The Love Supreme team will be inviting renowned Clare flautist Conor Crimmins, along with a host of other local talent, to join them on the day for a very special trad performance. Also spinning on the day is one of Ireland’s finest producers and DJs, T-Woc from Dublin’s Alphabet Set collective.

Senses Festival Lahinch is supported by the Clare Arts Office, The Claremont, Flanagans Bar, The Nineteenth, Danny Macs, The Celtic T-shirt Shop. For further information log onto sensesfestivallahinch.wordpress.com and check out the Facebook page.

FUNDING cutbacks has forced Clare Youth Services to close two popular youth cafés in Ennis, it has emerged.

The cafés, which are located in Ennis town centre, were both drug and alcohol free areas. One of the buildings has closed completely, while the youth services have been forced to reduce the opening hours of another facility for young people.

Speaking at a meeting to discuss issues around alcohol misuse, Clare Youth Services CEO, Margaret Slattery said the Government must invest more money in preventative services.

She said the service had suffered a 40 per cent cut in funding over the past three years, a situation that forced the closure of alcohol-free facilities for young people in Ennis.

Ms Slattery said three groups have approached the service appealing for the cafés to be re-opened.

“It would cost around € 14,000 to re-open the cafés but we just don’t have the resources,” explained Ms Slattery.

Retired consultant psychiatrist, Dr Moosajee Bhamjee told the meeting there is a chronic lack of treatment programmes for young people in Ireland with alcohol and substance misuse problems.

He said, “We have all these young people on Saturday night and Sunday morning having all these problems but where do you go for your detox.

Dr Bhamjee continued, “How do you get detox? The GPs will put you on a detox programme but that’s only for certain selected people. The psychiatry hospitals don’t do it anymore. The Department of Health has no policy on treatment programmes. The mental health commission doesn’t see alcohol and drug abuse as their responsibility. So who is responsible to help these people? I know we have Bushypark and other places but first you have to detox the person and there is nowhere to go.”

Former Labour party councillor and now Independent councillor Paul O’Shea described as a “dis- grace” the lack of treatment centres for young people in Ireland.

Cllr O’Shea said the situation with alcohol abuse has grown so bad in Ireland that the HSE should consider using separate Accident and Emergency units for people presenting with drink related problems.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) called for the off-trade sale of alcohol to be priced out of the market. He said pubs, restaurants and other businesses are being forced to deal with the effects of high volumes of alcohol consumed before 10pm.