Category: Uncategorized

ARTISTIC funding in Clare has been dramatically cut over the last three years, with figures just released by the Arts Council indicating a 15 per cent drop in funding for major projects in just two years.

The largest single drop was in the funding that the Arts Council gave to Clare County Council for the sup-

port of local artists which fell from €115,000 in 2008 to just €87,000 this year.

The four main Clare organisations funded by the Arts Council – Clare County Council, Glor, the Willie Clancy Summer School, and Salmon Poetry – saw a combined funding of €352,000 in 2008 drop to €332,000 in 2009 and €302,000 for this year.

Despite these drops, worse news

is likely to come when the funding for smaller individual organisations or projects 1s confirmed later in the year.

In 2008, Arts Council funding for Clare projects through the Bursary Awards, Commissions and the Deis Award Scheme totalled more than €150,000. Funding under the same three schemes for 2009 totalled just €25,500 for Clare groups last year,

with a further cut likely to be en- forced this year.

Despite these cuts, the chairman of the Arts Council, Pat Moylan, was largely upbeat about the prospects of Clare artists in the year ahead.

‘The council sought to ensure that organisations continue to bring the best of the arts to audiences across Ireland,” he said.

“The council prioritised regional balance, where key venues and festi- vals have been supported to produce the best of the arts for people right across the country. In addition, the Arts Council has established a new fund for touring; this will extend the life of productions, exhibitions and performances, and ensure more peo- ple experience the arts in 2010.”

A total of €307,000 in funding for Clare projects was announced by the Arts Council last week.

This funding was awarded to Glor (€90,000), Clare County Council (€87,000), the Willie Clancy Sum- mer School (€85,000), Salmon Poet- ry (€40,000) and the Irish Pipe Band Association (€5,000).

Besides cuts to its Arts Council funding, Glor has also seen a sizable cut in the amount of money being given to the centre by Clare and En- nis County Councils. The venue will receive €47,000 less in funding from the local authorities in 2010 than it did in 2009.

A MAN had his eyes gouged and ear bitten in an unprovoked, frenzied at- tack in a housing estate in Shannon, a court heard yesterday.

Arising out of the incident, two young men who pleaded guilty to violent disorder were jailed.

Mark Hayes (21), of Aidan Park, Shannon; Philip Bridges (19), Feen- agh Cross, Sixmilebridge; and Do- minic Hayes (19), of Inis Ealga, Shannon, pleaded guilty arising out of an incident at Rossbracken, Shan- non, on November 14, 2008.

Sergeant Michael O’Connell told Ennis Circuit Court that gardai in Shannon received a call about an in- cident outside a house at 10.30pm on the date 1n question.

He said on arrival there, gardai no- ticed a man was covered in blood. He had sustained cuts to the face, ear and over his eyes and was in severe pain. Another man also had injuries.

A witness told gardai that the vic- tim was assaulted “in a frenzied ner Opelso mae

Sgt O’Connell said the victim was with two others and was on his way home to watch DVDs when he was set upon in what he described as a “totally unprovoked attack on an honourable decent man”.

He said the victim was afraid to go to court to give evidence.

The victim had his eyes gouged and sustained a human bite to his left ear. He suffered multiple injuries to his face and required hospital treatment for some time after the attack.

Sgt O’Connell described Dominic Hayes as the “main aggressor” and said he had put his hands in the vic- tim’s eyes. However, he said the other two defendants were also involved.

The victim has since made a physt- cal recovery, but mentally he was still suffering. His victim impact state- ment was read out to court, in which he said he had always felt safe in his home town Shannon but since the “vicious, violent, savage attack” his confidence had been severely dented. He said it scared him to think what would have happened had the gardai not been called as “they were not go- ing to stop hitting me”.

“That night will forever be etched in my mind,” he stated.

Lorcan Connolly, BL, for Dominic Hayes, said it would be unfair to single out his client as the key player in the at- tack. However, Sgt O’Connell said he was going on the evidence of the wit- nesses who were there at the time.

Mark Nicholas, for Bridges, said al- cohol was a major problem in this in- cident and said his client owned up at an early stage. Pat Whyms, for Mark Hayes, said, “A lot of the evidence places him at the scene but doesn’t do much more than that.”

Judge Carroll Moran jailed Mark Hayes for two years, stating, “He has a bad record of assault.” He noted that he was not the instigator of the incident. He jailed Dominic Hayes for three years, one of which he sus- pended. He adjourned the case of Philip Bridges.

THE largest treasure hunt ever to take place in the waters off County Clare will get underway this week as the search begins for more than €100 million worth of silver sunk during World War II.

Odyssey Marine Exploration was last week awarded the exclusive salvage contract for the cargo of SS Gairsoppa, which was sunk by a German U-boat in February of ee

The SS Gairsoppa was a British cargo steamer enlisted in the serv-

ice of the UK for the ministry of war transport during World War II. In February 1941 the steamer was on its way from India to Britain with a cargo of silver ingots, pig iron and tea when it began to run out of fuel off the coast of Ireland.

The steamer broke off from the convoy it was travelling in and made for Galway harbour where it could refuel. However, on February 17, the ship was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-101.

The steamer sank completely with- in 20 minutes. Of the 32 crew mem- bers who boarded lifeboats after the

attack, all died except for one sailor who made it ashore after 13 days at sea.

The exact location of the wreck is not known but it is believed to be around 200 miles off the Clare coast, at a depth of around 6,500 feet.

The UK Department for Transport last week awarded the salvage rights for the wreck to the American deep- ocean shipwreck exploration com- pany, Odyssey Marine Exploration.

Company CEO Greg Stemm last week said that by using modern search techniques they should be able to find the wreck in less than

three months.

“The shipwreck is lying in the deep ocean well within the range of current search and recovery ca- pabilities. We have good location information which suggests a search area that can be completed in ap- proximately 90 days,” he said.

The SS Gairsoppa, also known as the War Roebuck, was carrying 81 crew members and two gunners id sles Lect BO e

Of the entire crew, which was made up mostly of Scottish and Indian sailors, only one crewman – Gerald SAE TiCmen ea sa (cee

ADDITIONAL Garda resources re- main in place in Shannon, as an in- vestigation continues into a spate of serious crime in the area in recent weeks.

Six people arrested in connection with criminal activity in the Shan- non area have been released without charge.

A file will be sent to the DPP’s office and a decision will then be taken on whether charges are to be

brought.

The arrests were made at various stages over the past fortnight, after a family was held hostage at Ardkyle, Sixmuilebridge, on January 7. A 50- year-old woman was at home with two of her sons at around 11pm that night when a lone gunman arrived at the house. The man was wearing a balaclava and was armed with a sawn-off shotgun.

The woman’s 14-year-old son was threatened, while her nine-year-old son was asleep in a bedroom at the

mbeaen

The raider left the home after a short period, with two mobile phones and a laptop.

There has been an escalation of se- rious crime in Shannon town in re- cent weeks as six business premises have been robbed at knifepoint since St Stephen’s Day.

A major garda investigation has been launched, leading to the deploy- ment of additional garda resources to SJ erVeveOyee

The latest incident occurred last

Saturday night week, when a man, dressed in black and with his face covered, went into the Excel shop in Drumgeely, and demanded money. He brandished a knife and threat- ened female staff. He got his hands on between €200 and €300 before fleeing on foot shortly after 9pm.

A 24-year-old man was arrested a few hours after the incident. He was later released without charge.

The previous Tuesday, Collins’ shop in Aidan Park was targeted by a man armed with a knife, at around 9pm.

The man, who wore a white scarf over his face, demanded money from the shop assistants, before making off with a few hundred euro in cash. He fled the scene on foot.

The other premises targeted in re- cent weeks were Mace in Ballycasey; Londis in Drumgeely; Londis in Bru na Sionna and the Crossroads off- licence in Drumgeely. In each inci- dent, just small amounts of cash were taken, but staff were deeply trauma- tised by the ordeals they were forced to go through.

AGAIN, another game that slipped away from Clare inside the final ten minutes, the third of the league. Hav- ing considered themselves unlucky to come away from Down last week- end with a draw after a late, late point from the home side, Clare sensed that Tipperary at home was an opportuni- ty to get their first win and their first three points of the season.

In the end, though, Tipperary pulled away with three points in the closing four minutes and this, essen- tially, was the difference between the sides.

As a whole, the crowd in Meelick was treated to an entertaining and open afternoon of football. Play, particularly in the first-half, weaved from end to end and at the break, GENK crim bomr-i oLeyDeLMneO), sem ouiMmy alan plenty of reason to be hopeful for the remaining half an hour.

Against an impressive full-forward line, Lorraine Kelly stood firm while further out the field, Louise Henchy dropped deep and foraged well, Marie Considine mopped up around the middle while Eimear Considine showed some glimpses of what she is capable of, before stamping her mark on the game in the second-half.

At the other end, Mairead Mor- rissey was giving the Clare defence plenty to think about and she dom1- nated the opening exchanges, but after 11 minutes, Niamh Keane sent a long range shot towards the posts which nestled over Nora Noonan’s head and into the Tipperary net.

With their opening score, Clare led for the first time in the game.

Tipperary then had a fantastic op- portunity to reply with a goal of their own, but Emma O’Driscoll saved brilliantly, diving to her right, to deny Barbara Ryan.

After a couple of points from Mor- rissey and the speedy Gillian O’Brien, Clare forged back after a point from Sinead Sexton. She caught a high pass from Considine over her head,

swiveled and split the posts.

Morrissey, O’Brien and Ann Marie O’Gorman responded before Eimear Considine slalomed through the Tip- perary defence with a 40-yard run and a fine point.

Just after the break Considine kicked two further scores and gave Clare a one-point lead. After Morris- sey equalled things once more, Aine Kelly responded for Clare to restore their slender lead.

The game was now in the bal- ance and the opening six minutes of the half had been sprinkled with some fine play and some well-taken

oO) Kee

Then, however, Tipperary struck.

Morrissey fed O’Brien, who used he pace to place her in a dangerous position in front of the goal, she shot and the net rattled. Tipperary now led by two, 1-8 to 1-6.

After a pulsating start to the half, a lockdown ensued and 14 minutes passed before the next score, Eimear Considine converting a Clare free.

Now, Clare needed the next score but Patricia Hickey kicked two Tip- perary frees in as many minutes and with two minutes on the clock, Tipp lead by three.

Clare battled on and Louise Henchy managed a point in injury-time. Claire Carroll responded for Tipper- ary and ultimately, Clare failed to threaten the opposition goal in the last five minutes.

Putting things in perspective, trainer David O’Brien said he was disappointed with the result on Sun- day but pleased with the perform- ance.

“The last time we played Tipper- ary they were physically stronger than us, they blew us out of the way, so I was pleased that didn’t happen. We stood up and were counted and

brought the game to them.”

However, he said that getting results still remains the aim.

‘There’s plenty still to play for. Two wins should keep us safe, three can get you to a semi final. So it’s still wide open. We need to put results with performances now.”

Bearing in mind the Clare will play Tipperary in the first round of Munster, O’Brien added that he was looking forward to that game.

“I think we didn’t find out a lot about them that we didn’t already know. If anything, Tipp will have found out more about ourselves. They’ ll know that we won’t stand back, that we’ll battle. That puts us in a good position.”

He added that the more recent additions to the panel had equipped themselves well.

“I’m happy to see the newer play- ers settle in, that they’re hungry for football and hungry for games.

‘Our fitness and sharpness is definitely improving, but now, it’s

results we want.”

OF ALL the connections which have become a hallmark of the Building of Hope projects, Fr Martin Keane’s family involvement in the effort has to be the most celebratory.

For the first time in his 40 years in Africa, he is surrounded by family.

aUiXe MuHa Comm aslo] mmc) peLeleCeyer-V mmpasleyeereanls was when he was surprised with a visit from his sister, Kathy (79), who has fundraised but has never visited him before.

‘To come out here and to see what

all those years of support and fund- raising were about — that’s very spe- cial to my aunt and to Martin,” said Mary Kileen, who is volunteering on the project with her daughter and Fr Martin’s grandniece, Roisin (18).

‘When Olive (Halpin) told him two years ago that the Building of Hope would come here, it was like all his birthdays came together.”

Mary’s husband, Eugene came with an earlier group to be part of the project as did her two brothers.

John and Larry Culligan, Martin’s nephew, Pat has also been out as part

of the crew along with another niece, Marie. “His joke is that he never gets visitors and now he has them all at once,’ said Mary.

“It’s great to be here as family to support him but there are also all the people in Lissycasey who supported 30 of us to come here. In these harsh times they gave so generously. We organised a bed-push and raised €27,000. We started with a Wren and that raised €1,900 — that’s unbe- lieveable money the way things are Te) Aa

Roisin says it is “amazing to be on

Fr Martin’s patch — normally, we see him when he comes home for visits but when you see this, you really know what it’s all about.”

The NUIG student had to explain to one of her lecturers that between getting up at the crack of dawn and painting for Ireland all day, her plan to meet a essay dealine for next week had gone awry.

‘He gave me an extension for three weeks after I come back. People are being so supportive, so marvellous,” she said.

Speaking about the surprise visit

from Fr Martin’s sister, Roisin’s grandmother, she said it has “taken ten years off Nana’s age — all these years she has supported him and now she’s come to see him. It’s great.”

A delighted Fr Martin said that he is “so happy to have all this support from family and the community at home. They have been so good to travel all this way, to work on the project and for the opening. I’m so very happy and I can’t thank the peo- ple of Clare and all the other coun- ties involved enough for what they have done here.”

DEFENDING champions Coora- clare had a perfect start to 2010 with an impressive victory on Saturday afternoon.

It was cold and bitter, but some of Cooraclare’s football was very hot as a first-half blitz in which they built up a 1-7 to 0-3 lead was the founda- tion for this winning start.

When they extended their advan- tage to 2-11 to 0-3 midway through the second-half, Kilkee’s race was run, even if they finally roused them- selves in the last quarter to give the electronic scoreboard some sem- blance of respectability from their point of view.

Remarkably, given what would unfold it was Kilkee who opened the scoring after less than a minute through countyman Gearoid Lynch, but essentially that was as good as it got for the Blues, even though after 15 minutes the match stood at 0-3 apiece after some fine scores on el- ther side.

But the second quarter belonged to Cooraclare as they tacked on 1-4 to wrestle control of proceedings. First there was a hat-trick of points from John Looney (2) and Cathal Lillis on the mark — then came the crucial goal in the 25th minute.

The anger and frustration of all Kilkee commenced when they felt Gearoid Lynch was clearly pushed in

the back as he was ready to unleash a goal bound effort from inside the Cooraclare square.

However, the referee waved play on as the ball petered out for a goal kick. From the resulting kick out Cooraclare worked their goal, the final flick coming from full-forward Michael Kelly that was parried away by Kevin Harte, only for one of the umpires to rule that the ball had crossed the line.

There were howls of protest from the shed and on the field, but the goal stood as Cooraclare led by seven points at the break.

Kilkee needed a fast start to the

second-half to have any chance but it was Cooraclare who took up where they left off, adding 1-5 in the first 15 minutes, with the second goal from Michael McMahon.

It must be said that Kilkee were their own worst enemies — they were concentrating more on the referee than on trying to drag themselves back into the contest.

It was only when their attitude changed that their fortunes took an upward turn.

They found their purple patch and suddenly a miraculous comeback was on the cards. Two goals in quick succession by Dennis Russell and the

excellent Kevin Larkin illustrated that there was still hope.

Larkin full of confidence then fol- lowed up with two wonderful long range points only partly neutralised by Looney’s sixth free of the hour. Full-back Brendan Smith burst for- ward from defence to make it a six point game with six minutes remain- ing.

It was as close as they got, how- Vole

KELVIN Wairimu is 18 years old and has excellent school grades. Ask him what he wants to be and he says “I want to be a doctor.”

Kelvin is a lovely, grave, respon- sible young man who has taken on the role of father-figure to his three brothers and his baby sister. His fa- ther has gone and left the family to fend as best they can.

He shares a 10 foot by 12 foot room with his family and mum, Ruth. He achieves his excellent grades study-

ing by the light of a tiny flame from an oil-burner whenever his mother takes in enough washing to pay for oil. When she doesn’t, the family have to go to bed before it gets dark in the tiny room furnished with an old bed, a side table and one broken chair.

There are five other families sharing this tiny house, one family to a room, almost 20 people in one house.

As well as taking in washing at 100 Kenyan shillings — about €1 — per bag, Ruth babysits a tiny baby and is paid the quivalent of 30 cents per day

for the service.

Ruth would like to be able to send her eldest son to seondary school but that’s impossible.

She speaks only a little English but explains that she wants to give the other children some basic education and that has to be paid for. Keep- ing her son in secondary school for a year would cost €250 a year, an ambition way out of reach for woman who earns less than than €10 per week and has to find €17 a month to pay rent for her one room.

Money is so short that the family

buy salt-water from the street hawk- ers to drink because it’s cheaper.

If Kelvin ever gets to be a doctor, he will understand what damage the family’s poverty striken lifestyle has done to their health but in a house where it’s all that Ruth can do to feed her children, health considerations take a back seat.

IT WAS hardly an ideal night for the Opening round of the Cusack Cup. The obvious benefit of lights was in stark contrast to an icy chill that swirled around Cooraclare on Satur- day that saw only the hardcore sup- porters man the stand. That said, it wasn’t the only contrast on the night as a much sharper Doonbeg simply had too much for a ringrusty Liscan- nor outfit.

From this performance alone, it 1s easy to see why the Magpies are per- ennially in the shake up for Cusack Cup honours. They approach the league with a typically champion- ship zest while Liscannor appeared to be simply blowing off the cobwebs of the new year.

The statistics reflect a relatively even share of possession but it was the use of the ball as well as move- ment off it that essentially dictated the outcome and in that count, Doon- beg just had far more options, espe- cially up front.

The respective panels also had a bearing on the game as the dismiss- als of Doonbeg’s Colm Dillon and Liscannor’s Shane Canavan were significant for both sides. Up to that point, Dillon was controlling the

midfield sector but their superior strength in depth ensured that substi- tute Paul Hehir took up where Dillon left off as Doonbeg saw out the win.

The game was only two minutes old when Doonbeg had the ball in Liscan- nor’s net as David Tubridy slipped a ball through to the unmarked Shane Ryan to drill a ground shot past goal- keeper Noel Kilmartin.

Liscannor’s response was immedi- ate as Kieran Considine pointed a free resulting from the kick-out but far from rallying, Liscannor were simply too wasteful. Jamie Whelan restored Doonbeg’s goal lead only two minutes later and after a ten minute period of Liscannor pressure yielded nothing, the Magpies finally got to grips with the tie to open up a decisive advantage.

Four points in as many minutes fol- lowed as Doonbeg laid siege to the Liscannor half, with Colm Dillon in particular having a hand in almost every attack. Two impressive long range strikes from Dillon, added to by points from Whelan and Shane O’Brien pushed the leaders 1-5 to 0-1 clear by the 21st minute. David Tu- bridy opened his account in the 28th minute but there was a mini-revival from Liscannor until the break.

Points from Alan Clohessy and

Thomas McDonagh gave them re- newed hope for the second period and although Doonbeg’s Shane Ryan opened the scoring, the sendings off were to briefly alter the course of the game once more. As the ball moved up the other end of the field, Dillon and Canavan got mixed up in some afters that possibly deserved only yellows but after consulting with his umpire, referee Michael Talty adopt- ed a zero tolerance approach.

Two Kieran Considine frees saw Liscannor slowly creep back into the game and once Alan Clohessy set up corner-forward Paul Guerin for an- other at the turn of the final quarter, the deficit was now down to four.

Doonbeg didn’t panic though and pushing half-time substitute Paul Hehir back into midfield as well as introducing Brian Dillon, they re- gained control of the game. Liscan- nor attempted to push forward but with Enda Doyle, Conor Whelan and Paraic Aherne constantly counter-at- tacking, they were soon on the back- foot.

Tubridy converted a free in the 48th minute to settle his side but his next contribution was to seal the win as Doonbeg produced the best move of the game to secure a second goal. It was Doyle again that initiated it,

bursting forward before playing a ball over the top for Jamie Whelan who in turn fed the onrushing Tu- bridy to place the ball to the bottom corner of the net.

There was still time for a peach of a point from Hehir but by that stage, Liscannor had accepted their fate as Doonbeg crank up for another tilt at a title that has somehow eluded them in recent years.

Margaret thought she had seen the last of baking for the Building of Hope when she had a cake sale to raise money to come on the trip but for the penultimate week of the project her main station was the kitchen.

A personal tragedy moved Mar- garet to make the trip she had been contemplating for some time.

“My children think I’m a bit past my sell-by date for going on this

trip. But my son, Paul, was killed in a road accident last year. When that happened I thought, you only get one chance at life and you have to do something good with it,’ Margaret explained.

Margaret’s final decision to come was a late one but “people were very generous to us, they really support- ered us”.

Secondary school teacher, Joanne, was originally volunteered for the project by her mother.

“Olive Halpin asked my mother if she would come on the trip but she didn’t think she could at the time and said I would go instead. Then she decided to go as well and we’re both here,” said Joanne.

Joanne’s pupils have been follow- ing the Building of Hope website and she will be filling them in on everything that happeded on the trip when she goes back.

“T didn’t really know what to expect when I came out but the camraderie is fantatstic — it’s such a team effort and everyone is pulling together, with the locals. It’s just an amazing experience.’