Category: News

THERE’S a line of traffic up College Road towards the imposing old convent building that stands sentinel over what could be described as the leafy Ennis suburb just after you cross the Rhine into the Lifford are of Ennis.

Erasmus House dates from the 1770s and was originally a private residence before became a convent, but more recently housed both Maoin Cheoil and Chláir and the Ennis Language School.

In their own way both the Maoin Cheoil and language school hit at the source of all the activity. There’s both music and language, albeit it’s more England than Ennis, cockney not Clare.

Adults and children alike snake around the back of the building to a small church hall that’s hidden away. And, in a way it’s appropriate that this is the new rehearsal venue for the society – an old religious house for the society that came to Ennis thanks to the oldest established residents in Ennis, the Franciscans.

It was in 1953 that the society, then called the ‘Friary Choral’ under the direction of Fr Eunan had its maiden voyage with ‘The Country Girl’ in the New Hall on Station Road.

It was six more years before the society set sail again with the production of ‘Wild Violets’, but since then the Ennis Musical Society has become one of the staples of the performing arts in Ennis and wider Clare.

And the last 50-plus years reads like an eclectic what’s what of the genre – ‘Calamity Jane’, ‘My Fair Lady’, ‘La Belle Helene’, ‘Orpheus in the Underworld’, ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and many more.

This year it’s ‘Oliver’. Bill Sikes stomps on stage; the Dodger dances; Fagin figures his next move; Oliver sits at the workhouse table, takes his deepest breath and plucks up the courage from somewhere to say he wants more.

Anyone who saw Carol Reed’s film starring Ron Moody, Oliver Reed and Mark Lester – we all did as a rite of passage – knows the lines by heart, simply by opening the trapdoor of the mind.

‘Oliver, Oliver, never before has a boy wanted more…..’

Yes, Charles Dickens’ victorian classic has always been a winner with the crowds – makes it long over due another ride on the Ennis Musical Society’s carousel. “Oliver never loses its appeal,” says society chairman Jonathon Hopper, “and it’s great to put it on again,” he adds trawling through the online archives to when it was last brought to an Ennis stage.

It was 1990 when the Ennis Musical Society contended for the industry’s Oscars – the Association of Irish Musical Societies awards – when Cecil McDonagh was runner-up in the Best Actor category and Padraig O’Reilly was runner-up in the Supporting Actor role.

“This year we decided we wanted to have something that had children involved,” said musical society chairperson Jonathon Hopper. “The kids loved being involved in shows and ‘Oliver’ is just one of the classic shows that’s brilliant for children. The response we got was absolutely brilliant. We had 80 children audition. Beforehand we were slightly worried whether we’d have enough children turn up. We needed 20 but got 80. People want to see ‘Oliver’ and the kids want to be involved with it. It’s as popular as ever.”

The work on the 2011 production is almost done with now. The sets are built, costumes made, rehearsals ramped up in frequency over the last while as everyone involved close in on showtime in Glór from March 8 to 12.

“It’s a big undertaking every year,” says Hopper, “but a big budget needed to bring everything together, so there’s fundraising involved, people helping out with the sets and the background stuff. There are a lot of people involved and I’d say that the musical society is a family.

“I’m Australian and I decided to come to do the Europe thing for a year and I came to Ireland. I’ve been five years. I was around town, wondering what I’d get involved in and I had the idea ‘what about getting involved in musicals’.

“I had done some in high school. I was working in Shannon at the time and a friend was telling me he was involved in a musical and I said to myself ‘I can do that’. I just turned up and got involved and have been involved ever since.

“It has had a huge impact on myself. I would say that almost everyone I know in Ennis is someone I know through the musical society. To be honest it’s one of the reasons why I ended up staying in the country. It’s a huge part of my life.”

The society itself has been a huge part of Ennis life for countless generations of performers.

Expected Glór to be play to full houses between March 8 and 12.

CLARE’S most important hidden architectural gem will soon be destroyed as a result of rising sea waters. A 700-year-old medieval fishing weir, located on Boarland Rock the estuary of the River Fergus, will be completely destroyed in just 10 years.

According to Dr Aidan O’Sullivan of the School of Archaeology at UCD, the weir is one of the best preserved medieval fishing sites in Europe.

The weir was protected for centu- ries by a large bank of mud at Fergus estuary but changes in the flow of the river in recent years has exposed the structure to the tidal water.

Dr O’Sullivan has been forced to abandon a programme of scientific research on the weir, conducted by a team of UCD experts and a number of local fishermen, because of recent funding cuts to the Irish Heritage Council.

“There is little we can do to preserve the medieval fishing structures because they are totally exposed to the forces of nature on the mudflats, after being buried for centuries be- neath the mud,” he said.

“They are likely to be entirely destroyed within the next ten years. We had hoped that by working with the local community we could record this significant archaeological site before it is destroyed.”

The structure itself is located almost two kilometres from dry land in the very middle of a large network of mudbanks and water channels. The site can only be accessed by boat for a few weeks each year when the water level on the Fergus is at its lowest.

“We can see wooden ropes with knots tying together the structure and most remarkably, we have even found woven, conical baskets intact in the clays at the ends of the weirs. It is almost as if someone had walked off and left these baskets there last year,” continued Dr O’Sullivan.

The team from UCD has been assisted in his research of the weir by local fishermen in the Clarecastle, including Flann Considine.

“Flann knows the Fergus like the back of his hand. He is very knowledgeable about the tides, the currents, submerged rocks and the likely impact of changing weather condi- tions on the boat,” said archaeologist Conor McDermott.

“It’s simple. We wouldn’t be able to investigate and record these archaeological sites without his help and that of his colleagues.”

Dr O’Sullivan will speak at the Temple Gate Hotel in Ennis on Tuesday, March 1, at 8.30pm.

Dr O’Sullivan has close family connections with Clare. His father John O’Sullivan (1938-2006) played hurling with Killaloe Smith O’Briens. He captained the Clare minor team in the 1950s and played senior hurling with Clare in 1957.

MULLAGH Entire Drama Group is celebrating a decade of bringing fun, thought and entertainment to the people of west Clare.

The amateur dramatic society is marking its 10th anniversary by entering its latest play in competition for the very first time, when it takes part in the Doonbeg Drama Festival early next month.

The group will perform ‘A Wake in the West’ written by playwright Michael Joe Ginnelly.

Set in the 1960s in a rural village in the west of Ireland the play explores drink, relationships, the role of the clergy and poverty.

“It is a comedy with a twist,” explained actor Anthony Morrissey.

And while the group will be entering a competition for the first time, the area has a long tradition of drama and plays.

The people of Mullagh took to the stage long before this relatively new group was formed by the ICA a decade ago. Back then the first play was written and directed by Eilis Merriman. The drama group has expanded and developed since then, and now boasts up to 25 members.

“The goal has been to bring a play to Doonbeg and take the group to the next level,” said Mr Morrissey.

Those wishing for a sneak preview of the play before it enters it first competition can see it in Mullagh Hall on Friday next, February 25, or Sunday February 27. The play will also take to the stage in Mullagh on March 20. Doors will open at 7.30pm with curtin at 8.30pm.

A KILRUSH widower has told how his late wife received a “confidential” letter from Breastcheck last week, inviting her for screening, ten years to the day after her sudden death.

Nora Ann Comerford died in her sleep on February 17, 2001.

On February 17, 2011 a letter arrived addressed to the deceased mother and wife marked “Strictly Private and Confidential, Strictly Addressee Only”.

Her husband Brian said he was shocked to see any post arrive for his late wife, especially on her tenth anniversary.

“Naturally, I assumed, it was one of the Spanish Lottery Scams. I open it and it reads: “Dear Ms Comerford, I would like to welcome you to BreastCheck,” he said.

The letter was informing Ms Comerford that her appointment for breast cancer screening would arrive in the post.

It also explained that the national cancer screening service could have got her name, address and date of birth from several Government agencies and health insurance records including the Department of Social and Family Affairs (now called the Department of Social Protection), the General Medical Services and private health insurance companies.

“While we make every effort to en- sure that the Breastcheck population register is accurate, there are rare instances where errors may occur,” the letter said.

Mr Comerford, who once worked for the Department of Social Welfare, said that he found it amazing that his wife was still on any register at this time, as he had removed her name from the register of electors, had registered her death and a bereavement grant had been paid out on her death.

“If they can get this wrong after ten years there has to be a lot more,” he said.

A spokesperson from BreastCheck said she could appreciate how distressing this would be for any fam- ily, but added such occurrences are extremely rare.

She said as there is no national database of births and deaths, BreastCheck relies on data from other agencies.

“Unfortunately we can only confirm accuracy by sending a letter,” she said.

A national register of deaths was created in 2004, six years after Ms Comerford’s death.

BreastCheck finally began routinly screening women for breast cancer from September 27 last year, 12 years after it was first set up.

The National Cancer Screening Service provides women aged 50 to 64 with free mammograms.

THE war of the posters in Clare continued this week and this time within Fine Gael.

A directive was issued on February 11 from National Fine Gael director of elections Phil Hogan TD stating that canvassing in the Shannon Electoral area was to be left solely to local candidate and mayor of Shannon Cllr Tony Mulcahy.

However supporters of the mayor claim that his colleague Deputy Pat Breen (FG) continued to erect posters in the area well after the directive was given.

They pointed to a large poster declaring Deputy Breen’s support for the airport which they say was placed over a poster of the three Fine Gael Candidates in Clare – Deputy Breen, Deputy Joe Carey and Cllr Mulcahy. It also showed no preferences for the other candidates.

Speaking last night Deputy Breen said he took all of his posters out of the area after the directive was issued, and moved them to Ennis and the surrounding areas.

“We were told not to go into Shannon and I won’t go into Shannon,” he said.

Cllr Mulcahy said he was extremely disappointed by the issue.

“It wouldn’t be the Fine Gael way and it wouldn’t be my way. My reputation has always been as a team player within the party.”

When asked by The Clare People if he was canvassing the Shannon Electoral Area, Deputy Joe Carey (FG) said he did not want to comment.

In the 2007 General Elections Fine Gael returned two candidates in Clare having run four candidates.

The breakdown of the vote in the Shannon Electoral Area, which includes Kilkishen, Sixmilebridge and Meelick as well as Shannon town, saw Cllr Mulcahy taking the majority of the vote when the town of Shannon was included.

Eliminating the town however saw a vote of more than 700 for Deputy Breen, just under 600 for Deputy Carey, more than 400 for Cllr Mulcahy and 200 for fellow candidate Madeleine Taylor Quinn.

Posters have also proved problematic for two of Clare’s Independent candidates who were forced to take them back down from polls and lampposts around the county last month under the threat of a litter fine.

Both James Breen and Jim Connolly were told at the time that they were in breech of the litter act, as the election had not been officially called.

Last week Fianna Fáil candidates Timmy Dooley TD and Dr John Hillery reported to Gardaí that more than a thousand of their posters had been removed.

THOUSANDS of jobs could be created in the renewable energy sector in Clare over the next decade following the news that a number of private and public sector companies are preparing to invest more than € 2 billion in different projects in the county.

According to Pat Stephens of the Limerick Clare Energy Agency, a number of multinational utility companies are currently seeking to invest in excess of € 2 billion in a series of wind, wave, tidal and biomass projects in Clare.

This investment could see Clare transformed into one of the leading areas for renewable energy, not just in Ireland but in the world.

This news comes after the launch of a new Integrated Strategy on Energy and Climate Change by the Clare County Development Board (CDB) last week.

“Clare has world class renewable energy resources in the areas of wind, wave, tidal, and biomass energy. These resources will be harnessed to create clean energy and great wealth for the county and the country,” said Mr Stephens, who is also the chairman of the steering committee that delivered the new integrated strategy.

“The strategy will focus on ensuring that Clare maximises the benefits from the development of its natural renewable energy resources, and the establishment of a Low Carbon County.”

While no specific targets for local job creation were outlined in the strategy, it is believed that an investment in the region of € 2 billion could lead to hundreds or perhaps thousands of high skilled jobs being created in the county.

“This comes at a time when the country is searching for solutions to many social and economic issues. Ireland’s economy is suffering badly in the global recession and County Clare has been affected,” said Cllr Joe Arkins (FG), chairperson of the County Clare Development Board.

“The county has also felt the finan- cial effects of climate change during severe flooding and freezing weather last winter. Despite having abundant renewable energy resources the county and country are also heavily dependent upon imported fossil fuels to support our society and economy.”

According to the director of the Clare County Development Board, Ger Dollard, developing a low carbon economy is a central policy issue for all developed countries.

“The Low Carbon Society and Economy is defined by its use of local renewable energy resources. As such the economic activity is underpinned by secure clean energy,” said Mr Dollard.

THE Burren will be officially named as Ireland’s second ever ecotourism destination at a ceremony in Ballyvaughan next month.

This designation is the culmination of more then two years of work by the Burren Ecotourism Network – a host of local businesses and organisations in the area.

Ecotourism involved a move away from traditional mass-tourism and towards providing visitors with a more individual, more person tourist experience in Clare.

The classification of the Burren as an official ecotourism destination could become a major long-term driver for the local tourism industry. It is predicted that the ecotourism movement will become one of the primary drivers if tourism in Ireland in the coming years.

The Burren Ecotourism Network hope that this brand of tourism will encourage visitors to stay for longer in the county, spend more money in the area and cause less impact on the environmental and social make-up of the Burren.

Co-ordinated by the Burren Connect Project in Ennistymon, the network has seen a wide variety of north Clarebased businesses coming together for a series of mentoring days, local cleanups and education events designed to improve the tourism product offered in the Burren region. The group has been working to gain accreditation from Ecotourism Ireland and in piloting Ireland’s first ecotourism certification programme. A number of local businesses are due to receive their own individual accreditation from Ecotourism Ireland this month.

“The network is offering visitors opportunities to engage with the protected landscape of the Burren in a manner which is sustainable both in terms of the environment as well as the community,” said Edel Hayes of the Burren Connect Project.

“Accommodation, food, farming, outdoor activities, culture and heritage are all part of the network, which has woven together all the elements that make the area attractive to visitors looking for authentic tourism experiences. Tourism businesses involved in the network are committed to local produce, conservation and the community, as well as to continuing high standards in sustainability.”

The Burren Ecotourism Network elected its first committee last year with Joanna McInerney of the Burren Outdoor Education Centre elected as chairperson; Marie Neylon of Corofin Camping and Hostel elected as secretary and Orla Vaughan of Kilfenora Hostel and Chris O’Neill of Burren Painting Centre elected as joint treasurers. The network will be officially launched at Gregans Castle Hotel in Ballyvaughan on March 3.

WORKERS based at the old Halifax Insurance centre in Shannon will have to wait more then six week before being told which among the 300-strong workforce will lose their jobs. The St Andrew’s Group in Shannon, formerly known as Halifax Insurance, confirmed last week that 80 people are to be let go from their Shannon operations.

These latest job cuts come less than a year after Lloyds Banking Group, who owns the the St Andrew’s Group, announced that 21 people were to be let go because the company no longer going to operate in the payment protection insurance market.

Workers at the St Andrew Group were told last week that as much as 80 per cent of workers in some departments are to be let go while other departments are to be largely untouched. The Clare People also understands that every worker at the Shannon company is to be interviewed in the coming weeks before any decision on final redundancies is made.

These 80 redundancies form part of an overall cut of 200 jobs from the insurance section of the Lloyds Banking Group in the UK and Ireland.

“Lloyds Banking Group is today announcing 200 role reductions mainly within its insurance division as part of its ongoing integration programme. Lloyds Banking Group is committed to working through these changes with employees in a careful and sensitive way. All affected employees have been briefed by their line manager,” said a spokesperson from Lloyds. “The group’s union partners, Accord, LTU and Unite, were consulted prior to this announcement and will continue to be consulted throughout the process.

“The group’s policy is always to use natural turnover and to redeploy people wherever possible to retain their expertise and knowledge within the group. By making less use of contractors and agency employees, it reduces the impact on permanent staff. Where it is necessary for employees to leave the company, it will look to achieve this by offering vol- untary severance.”

These latest cuts mean that the Shannon-based operation will have lost just over 30 per cent of it’s entire workforce in just 12 months.

The St Andrew’s Group is a leading specialist creditor insurance provider. It manages claims and customer service on behalf of clients such as MBNA, Sainsbury’s Bank and AA Personal Finance.

In June of 2006, Halifax Insurance Ireland announced that it would be generate 185 new jobs in Shannon over the following five years.

COME what may there will be massive changes in the representatives put forward by the Galway East constituency after this month’s General Election.

That much was signalled early on when three of the four sitting deputies – Fianna Fail’s Noel Treacy and Fine Gael’s Ulick Burke and Paul Connaughton – announced their decision not to run, leaving Michael Kitt as the only member of the current Dáil left standing.

Despite the decision of Libertas leader Declan Ganley to sit this election out, there is still plenty to talk about in Galway East during this campaign season.

Possibly the biggest talking point is the emergence of the Labour Party with long serving party activist Colm Keaveney in with a fighting chance of taking a seat.

With his Labour Party running mate Lorraine Higgins also pooling well for a first time candidate, inter parties transfers could see the party take it’s first seat in Galway East in living memory.

Another major talking point in the constituency is the wrangling over who would make up the Fine Gael ticket.

With three men – Paul Connaghton Jnr, Jimmy McClean and Tom McHugh – left standing after the party convention, the Fine Gael top brass put a cat amongst the local blue-shirts by adding the former Progressive Democrat leader, Ciaran Cannon, to the ticket.

Cannon, who switched allegiances following the collapse of the PD’s last year, was added to the ticket in what has been seen by party insiders as pay-back for defecting to Fine Gael in 2009.

There could be a further twist to this tail as Cannon, despite being relatively unpopular within the local party, is proving very popular with the public and looks in line to take a second seat for Fine Gael ahead of both McClean and McHugh.

The one certainty, if such a thing exists in this election, is that Paul Connaghton Junior looks set to take the seat vacated by his father.

As for Fianna Fáil, many within the local party organisation have consigned themselves to retailing only one seat in what was always considered a party stronghold.

Unless there is a major shock, sitting TD Michael Kitt will have enough to see him home with running mate Michael Dolan unlikely to have a major impact on election day.

Independent Sean Canny looks likely to end up in a dog fight for the last seat with Labour’s Colm Keaveney, Fine Gael’s Jimmy McClean and Independent Tim Broderick.

WHILE the majority of the Clare electorate have 16 candidates to consider during this General Election, 4,200 people from the east of the county will be looking to the 13 candidates in the new constituency of Limerick City.

Almost five per cent of the 88,474 Clare residents registered to vote will have their say in the democratic process outside the county choosing between two Fine Gael candidates, two Fianna Fáil, two Labour, three Independents, a Green Party candidate, a candidate from Sinn Féin and a member of the Christian Solidarity and the Socialist Party.

The candidate line up in this constituency differs greatly from the Clare constituency, but commentators maintain the election will be fought between seven main contenders.

For the first time ever Michael Noonan (FG) is being favoured by some bookies to top the poll ahead of Fianna Fáil’s Willie O’Dea who is expected to lose up to 4, 500 votes due to the constituency re-draw.

With both men expected to make it past the finishing post early, it is their running mates Kieran O’Donnell (FG) and Peter Power (FF) that will be under pressure to return to the Dáil.

As Fine Gael traditionally manages the vote better than Fianna Fáil in this area, most pundits expect two Fine Gael seats when the last vote is counted in this four-seat constituency. Sitting TD and candidate Jan O’Sullivan is one of the candidates closely associated with Clare, draw- ing a lot of support from Clare county councillor Pascal Fitzgerald (Lab).

However, many fear that the Labour Party, who at one time had ambitions of two seats in the constituency, could fall between two political stools as the vote is split between the poll topper in the local election and former mayor Joe Leddin and Deputy O’Sullivan.

The voters in east Clare will also have an option not available to the rest of the county, as there will be a Sinn Fein candidate on the Limerick City ballot paper.

Cllr Maurice Quinlivan has a growing support in the city.

With expected transfers from the left from such candidates as former Fine Gael mayor and now Independent candidate Kevin Anthony Kiely and Socialist Party candidate Cian Prendiville he is expected to put in a challenge for the fourth and final seat.

The remaining candidates include Conor O’Donoghue, Christian Solidarity; Sheila Cahill, Green Party; Matt Larkin, Non Party and Denis Riordan, Non Party.