Category: News

LOCAL hellraisers are turning to God in their droves with the foundation of Ireland’s first ever Bikers Church in Gort. The church, which is located in an industrial building on the Kinincha Road in the town, attracts more then 50 motorcyclists to service which takes place on the last Sunday of each month.

The service is run by the Christian Motorcyclists Association of Ireland, who were invited to base the Biker Church in Gort by local man John Joe Finn.

According to the Pastor, motorcyclist Graham Stephens, many bikers can feel uncomfortable entering more traditional churches.

“We invite everyone to come as they are. It doesn’t matter who they are of what they have done, we invite everyone to come and join in God’s love,” he says.

“Some churches wouldn’t be very biker friendly, they would see bikers coming in with tattoos and piercing and they might hold back and not really show true love to them.”

The church does not belong to any particular denomination of Christianity but instead bases their religious views on the words in the bible.

“If you are looking for something that is very traditional, this is not the right place for you. People [Christian bikers] have been hurt by things that have happened in the past and they are fed up with it. We just want a place where we can be ourselves,” continued Graham.

“We have a music team in the service on Sunday, so we have contemporary music with some heavy guitar and drums. We would start off with some Christian songs and worship music. We would start off with some Christian songs, some worship music, so the same thing that you would find in any other church. We also get people standing up and sharing their own stories so it is very relaxed and very easy going.

“A lot of bikers would not feel comfortable going into a traditional church but there is nothing in this church that would frighten anybody off. It’s just about the person themselves and God and we are trying to facilitate people getting to know God.

“We have people coming along to the services and some of them have very colourful backgrounds. But at the end of the day they are people just like us, they might not have made all the right decisions in their life but they are no different. We all screw up, it’s just that some of us do it more publicly than others.

“That is the thing about God, he forgives no matter what. That gift of forgiveness is one of the biggest gifts that mankind has ever gotten.”

For more information on the Christian Motorcycle Association and the Bikers Church visit www.cmaireland.ie.

EAST Clare County Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald made history on Friday when he was the first Labour councillor to be elected to office in County Clare.

The man from Westbury was named deputy mayor at the end of Clare County Council’s AGM.

In a heart felt speech, the new deputy mayor paid tribute to his daughter Joyce who he said was the one who encouraged him to run for public office.

“It is a hard game and we are in hard times,” he said.

Among his colleagues in the council chamber Cllr Fitzgerald was recognised as the man who fought off Limerick’s attempt to take over lands in Westbury, Meelick and East Clare. “It was not just me at the bridge who told Limerick ‘no’,” he said.

“We don’t just recognise parties we recognise people,” he said of Clare County Council.

Cllr Fitzgerald said the biggest issue facing the council during the next political year was Shannon Airport.

He said it was essential to the future of the county.

The East Clare councillor was nominated to the position by Independent county councillor and former mayor

Cllr Patricia McCa

rthy. She said she was

happy to nominated

him as he was from

an “isolated part of

County Clare” that

is very much part of

the county. She said it was

also appropriate for

a Labour council

lor to hold office

in Clare County

Council for the first

time this year – the

year of the party’s

centenary.

Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind), who like Cllr McCarthy is also a former member of the Labour Party seconded Cllr Fitzgerald to the position of deputy mayor declaring he had the qualities and experience necessary to hold such a position.

CRATLOE is the most expensive part of Clare for house hunters.

According to the real-estate website daft.ie the average asking price for a house in the southern part of the county, on the border with Limerick city and stretching up towards Sixmilebridge, is now at € 181,698.

However the prices here have dropped significantly since peak prices, from April to June 2007.

Back then the asking price for an average family home was € 371,091, over twice the current asking price.

As of June this year, the average price for a two-bed property in this area was € 114,577, a three-bed property € 161,458, and a four-bed property € 273,758.

On average house prices in Clare have dropped by 50.6 per cent since the height of the boom, but while almost all of Munster was showing an evening out of prices during between March and June, Clare and Limerick City were the exceptions.

Asking prices for house in Clare continued to drop by as much as 2.8 per cent during these last three months, with the average price now at € 151,211. The average four-bedroom house in the county has an asking price of € 186,000 however with five-beds reaching € 261,000.

Those wishing to become home owners can also expect to pay above the county average in Flagmount, Feakle and Caher where there is an average asking price of € 158,911, down 49 per cent since peak prices and Tulla and O’Callaghan’s Mills has an average asking price of € 153,599 down 45.6 per cent.

Prices are also relatively high in Doolin and Kilshanny at € 154,833, down 48.7 per cent in five years.

And if you want a bargain buy in County Clare your best bet is West Clare where houses covering an area from Kilmurry McMahon, up towards Connolly and Quilty and west to Cree have an average asking price of € 91,959.

A FORMER St Flannan’s College teacher, who was last week named as the Irish Secondary School Teacher of Year, has spoken out against the Government’s treatment of young teachers.

Newly-crowned teacher of the year, Evelyn O’Connor, has been contracted on a year-to-year basis since she left St Flannan’s in 2010. She believes that the Government is failing young teachers and students by the way they are managing the cutbacks in the education budget.

Currently, in Clare, one in every four Clare-based teachers are on temporary contracts from the Department of Education.

“Ultimately, this is very bad for students. I am worried about myself and my students. Continuity is so important in education. If a student has a teacher that they work well with, they need to know that that teacher will be there the next year and the year after that,” said Evelyn.

“The Government are pretending that they haven’t cut the student/teacher ratio but that is just not true.”

According to Evelyn, the popular preconceptions held by the majority about teachers are not true.

“I think the perception is different from the reality. The Government are trying to turn teaching into a part-time job and they are avoiding, whenever they can, giving any teacher a full-time jobs now. Instead, they issue teachers with fixed-term contracts with so few hours a week that they can never hope to be made permanent.

“These teachers then have to look for other jobs just to make ends meet and a lot just end up leaving the profession. Students ask me more and more, ‘Will we have you next year Miss?’, and I don’t know what to tell them. Because I don’t know.”

Evelyn also hit out against redeployment in the education system, which she says has created an atmosphere within staff rooms where teachers are afraid to speak up for fear of being redeployed by the management.

THE Clare unemployed who previously worked in middle management or in a supervisory capacity are finding their new job-seeking status particularly difficult, so much so that the local St Vincent de Paul has set up a support and information network targeted at this group.

Clare Connect will support people as they write a CV, prepare them to search for jobs in a changing economy and, most of all, according to facilitator John Quinlivan, “help them out of the feeling of hopelessness”.

He explained that a number of people began work a long time ago in jobs where they could work their way up the corporate ladder.

Many of these people worked all their lives in the same company and, when the recession hit, they were unprepared when they lost their jobs.

They then discovered that they were over-qualified for many positions they wished to apply for, or potential employers had concerns about the financial cost of employing someone with such experience.

“Even coming to terms with the whole thing can be difficult,” explained Mr Quinlivan.

However, he maintains there is help and hope out there through Clare Connect. Through this support, people can learn how to retrain, rethink their job-seeking tactics and, just as importantly, according to the group’s facilitator, meet other people in a similar situation so that they can support each other and learn that they are not alone.

On Thursday, July 12, Clare Connect will hold a meeting in the Information Age Park, Shannon Development Offices, Ennis, at 10am.

During the meeting, Liam Horan of Sluath Nua will help people plan their CV and work out the best plan for them. All are welcome to attend and it is free of charge.

Mr Quinlivan asked that those wishing to attend would let the organisers know by emailing clareconnect123@gmail.com.

The Clare Connect programme is part of the work carried out by the St Joseph Conference of the St Vincent de Paul. This conference specialises in education and helping people back into the work place.

It is supported by the Clare County Enterprise Board, Shannon Development, Clare Local Development Company Ltd (previously Leader) and Clare County Council.

CAROLNE and Mark Winder are living every parent’s worst nightmare. On June 3, shortly before midnight, their caring and charismatic 15-year-old son William died.

“He took his own life,” explained his heartbroken mother. “It was a moment of madness, that is what they say to us, but that doesn’t give us any answers,” added Dad Mark.

Now his brave parents, despite their harrowing grief, are fighting hard to prevent another family suffering the unbearable heartache and loss they face every day.

The Miltown Malbay couple, supported by their family and William’s many friends, are setting up the William Winder Rainbow Foundation, which will be a one-stop shop for teens in crisis and young people with any worries.

The foundation will provide a safe and confidential counselling service to teenagers, and provide support to families. Through the foundation, Caroline, along with her brother, Lee Brennan, will visit schools and explain to teenagers the impact William’s untimely death had on their lives. A trained counsellor will accompany the family to the schools to provide professional advice to teen- agers and answer any questions.

A wallet card with the details of all the support groups out there, including the William Winder Rainbow Foundation, will also be provided to students.

The foundation will make available a counsellor to any teenager who wants one, and can be arranged in confidence through the website or by calling the foundation.

“We want to make available a counsellor if a child needs one outside of the school environment so there is no one going, ‘Oh look, there’s Mary Jane going in for counselling, what can we tease her about’,” said Ms Winder.

“The counsellor is to be provided to the family also, if needed, to help bridge the gap between the adult population and the teenager,” explained Mr Brennan.

A blog and discussion forum overseen by a trained counsellor is also to be set up.

“William obviously didn’t know there was help out there. I want every other kid to know that, yes, there is help out there,” said Ms Winder.

“It can no longer be a taboo subject. There are kids out there hurting. The thought that William was going through whatever pain he was going through is heartbreaking. No parent should have to go through it. No child should have to go through what they are going through.”

“Me and Mark would be the first to say to parents: You say you know your child, we knew our child insideout. He just had that worry. The only worry we knew of was the exams and we truly believe that, three days before he had to sit his exams, it got too much,” added William’s courageous mother.

“We know children have been taking their lives for quite a while and we hear a lot about road deaths but no one talks about this. This is part of our society. If young people feel they no longer want to be part of our society, what is wrong? This is not just affecting the kids and their families, it is spreading out to the community and society,” added William’s uncle, Lee.

To help the community and teenagers who may need some support, the grieving family are putting the final touches to the William Winder Rainbow Foundation.

“We know our lad and the idea of the Rainbow Foundation…well, William would be in the thick of this,” said his father, Mark. “This is a starting point for something unique, but it is needed.”

CLARE’S newly elected mayor wants “Michael O’Leary to come to Shannon and negotiate a deal”.

At his inaugural speech as mayor of County Clare, Ennisman Pat Daly (FF) said he would like to see Ryanair back in Shannon International Airport as “a positive customer”.

“Some years back the airline brought in hundreds of thousands of visitors from England, France, Spain, Germany and Italy to County Clare, and it created a financial bonanza for businesses in the county,” he said.

The mayor added that Clare County Council should be included in the marketing of the airport that must be undertaken by its new management company.

He said the airport must also play a central role during ‘The Gathering’ next year.

He made the remarks in front of a crowded gallery, which included family and supporters who had gathered to see him named first citizen of Clare – the fifth man from “the town” to hold the honour.

There was no doubt as to who would be elected when outgoing mayor Pat Hayes (FF) handed back the chain on Friday.

As alluded to in his nomination of Cllr Daly to the post, Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) paid tribute to a unique selection formation brokered by then mayor Tommy Brennan (Ind) as far back as 2004.

Under this agreement, currently supported by all of the members with the exception of Independent councillor James Breen, Cllr Daly was to be selected for the 2012-2013 period, with Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) to take over the reigns when he steps down.

For now, however, all eyes are on the former tailor from Ennis, who spent 18 years working for former TD and Minister Tony Killeen (FF), a position he believes has given him the experience and expertise to carry out his new role.

The new mayor is optimistic about the future despite the harsh econom- ic times.

“It is clear to me that in these challenging times, opportunities will arise to move this county forward both in social and economic terms,” he said.

The Eire Óg chairman is also keen to see Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann come to what he described as “the home of traditional music”.

“Council management, Clare Comhaltas and councillors have been working very hard to deliver the fleadh to Ennis. And I hope, before I leave office, a date would be confirmed. An injection of € 30 million to the local economy would be a great positive boost, particularly at a time when businesses are under serious financial pressure,” he said.

Mayor Daly was also upbeat about the future of the hospital.

“At Ennis General Hospital in recent times, there has been a big increase in day care procedures, while huge numbers are using the outpatient facilities. I welcome the new state of the art 50-bed unit, which will open shortly.”

The new mayor and chairman of the council also has plans to make changes to the councillors’ monthly meetings – the details which have yet to be announced.

“It is important that we continue to deliver an efficient and quality service to the people whom we represent, that is the people of Clare,” he said.

The new mayor will be supported during his year in office by his wife Tikki and his three children Ciarán, Niall and Elen.

RAIDIÓ Corca Baiscinn has entered a new era, with a new manager overseeing proceedings at the community radio station.

Conn Ó Muíneacháin has been appointed station manager, taking over from Conan Brophy.

Mr Ó Muíneacháin is an experienced broadcaster who comes to the south west Clare station with a wealth of knowledge from the world of media.

Since 2006, he has run his own media production business based in West Clare, supplying radio programmes to broadcasters such as RTÉ and Clare FM, as well as podcasts and video for the web.

In 2007, his company, Edgecast Media, won the Grand Prix at the Irish Digital Media Awards in 2007 for An tImeall, the first podcast in the Irish language.

Originally from Kerry, Conn has lived in Ballyncally for over 20 years with his wife and three children.

Mr Ó Muíneacháin’s predecessor was delighted with his replacement.

“These are exciting times for RCB as we develop new programming ideas, and look towards studio refurbishment. I have enjoyed my time at RCB and hope that Conn will enjoy working here as much as I have,” said Mr Brophy.

“I’m very excited at the prospect of taking on the role of station manager at RCB. I feel the community radio sector in Ireland is strong and growing in popularity, and RCB is at the forefront of providing interesting and different programming,” said Mr Ó Muíneacháin.

“I’m looking forward to this role, and in particular to working with the volunteer broadcasters who bring such unique skills to RCB, and enable our listeners to listen to truly innovative programming.”

A PEDIGREE cow from Barefield has become an internet sensation around the world in little over a week, after her curiosity got the better of her and he strayed from the long acre around Ballyalla to go ‘shopping’ for some bathroom ware.

That’s the story being told and viewed around the world in a threeand-a-half-minute YouTube clip that has gone viral in the past week as nearly 10,000 internet users a day log onto the young heifer’s interest in shopping.

It’s all to do with the Charolais heifer belonging to a local farmer that strayed into the Ennis Supply shop on the Gort Road last Saturday week, was filmed on a mobile phone and posted on the internet and, as of Monday night, had nearly 70,000 people viewing the footage.

“It’s amazing really,” Ennis Supply owner Stephen Flaherty told The Clare People this week. “I’m not from the YouTube age and I didn’t even know that it was put up on the internet, but the fact that it was and has had so many hits in unbelievable.

“It was on Saturday afternoon and the heifer just walked in the front door of the shop and walked around for about 15 minutes.

“She did no damage and we were eventually able to guide her out of the shop.

“She belonged to a local farmer, who farms at Ballycoree, and strayed from a field when a gate was left open and she eventually made her way up to us. While she was walking around, a young fella by the name of Damian Corry, who works with us on a Saturday, started filming him.

“When we got him out, I thought that was the end of it, but now loads of people are calling me to say they’ve seen it on the internet.

“I suppose you could say it’s some advertising for the business,” added Mr Flaherty.

A NORTH Clare man was recovering in hospital yesterday after an accident during the An Post Tour de Burren cycling race in Ballyvaughan. 49-year-old Martin Clancy came off his bike at the foot of Ballyella Hill in Fanore on Saturday morning, sustaining head injuries in the collision. The Ennistymon native, who is currently living in Ennis, was attended to by a doctor who was taking part in the race before being airlifted to hospital in Cork. The Clare People understands that Mr Clancy was fully conscious in hospital yesterday (Monday), and is expected to make a full recovery.

Mr Clancy was one of an estimated 2,200 cyclists who took part in the various stages of Saturday’s Tour de Burren, the largest number ever to take part in the seven-year history of the event.

“There was a doctor in his own party who attended the gentleman, and from this point on our emergency plan was activated. The medical team on site requested immediate transfer by helicopter to Cork University Hospital, and we tasked the Coast Guard to co-ordinate this,” said John Sweeney from Clare Sports Partnership, one of the organisers of the Tour de Burren.

“Conditions at the time were dry and no other cyclists were involved. We would like to wish the gentleman a speedy recovery and also we would like to thank all who attended at the scene and to Doolin Coast Guard for their help and co-operation.”

Besides the single accident, this year’s Tour de Burren is being hailed as a great success by the organisers. Due to strong headwinds, this year’s tour was considered to be the most difficult in the event’s history.

Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly was one of those who took part in the event, which has become a key part of Clare’s sporting and tourism calendar.