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ORGANISERS of the Ceifin Conference 2005 are hoping that the event AUN Mab Komr NU CNSne mms el ommD Dene portance of community in the modern world.

The conference is en- titled ‘filling the vacu- vse

It will explore how people have become disconnected from so- ciety and related issues including the role of the family, the economy, spirituality and the role of the community.

It is being organized by the Shannon based SS Oo isces

A wide range of speakers from across the social spectrum will appear at the event, which takes place in the West County Hotel, En- nis next month.

These include Presi- dent Mary McAleese, who will host a talk called ‘Counting on

Community’.

“The conference 1s pretty unique to Clare.

“It will highlight the importance and good work done by people giving up their time to volunteer in the com- munity.

“Volunteering is also important for your spir- it,’ said Susan Ward of the Ceifin Centre.

Other speakers in- clude Dennis Bradley, Vice-Chairman of the Northern Ireland Polic- ing Board, Pat Duffy, Chief Executive’ of Sports Coach UK and Marie Murray, Director of Psychology at St Vin- cent’s Hospital.

Dr Murray, who also has extensive experi- ence working in the me- dia, will speak on the second day of the con- ference about the prob- lems of suicide in young males called ‘Prophets or Profit; who fills the eTeLULbN OO ee

CHARGES against a 27-year-old an- tiques restorer who had been accused of involvement in two hit and run acci- dents have been dismissed.

Keith Russell, of 30 Cahercalla Heights, Ennis, denied he was the driver of a van involved in two accidents, dur- ing which €7,000 damage was caused to four cars, on June 12, 2004.

Taxi driver Michael O’Connor told Ennis District Court he was driving along the Clare Road towards Captain Mac’s cross at around 2am and stopped AMA eCoM DECAL RODW OSLO mK SLOD

He said a van came along behind him and crashed into the back of his car, be- fore driving off.

He said “Clare Van Hire” was writ- ten on the van and he took down the registration number. The driver was a young man in his early 20s with sandy hair but he could not be certain as to his identity.

It was alleged in court that the van then took a sharp bend, hit two parked cars outside a house in Gallows Hull, and continued on to the home of the ac- cused, where it was found parked in the CTU AoANe WA

Garda Mark Murphy went to the scene

of the accident and noticed a trail of lig- uid on the road, which he followed.

The trail turned right into Cahercalla Heights and stopped at the home of the accused. Gda Murphy said a white van was parked in the accused’s driveway, bearing the same logo and registration identified by the taxi driver.

He said a young man came running out of the house. “I asked him who was driving the van. He said, ‘I was driv- ing. No-one else in the house’,” said the garda. He said the accused was drunk and was unsteady on his feet.

When cautioned, the accused then strenuously denied driving the van.

Results of an intoxylser test taken by the accused showed there was 75 micro- grams of alcohol per 100 mls of breath.

He had the van on loan from Clare Van Hire and said he had full use it.

According to the owner of the van, the accused was ‘the only person to have access to it’, said gardai.

Defending solicitor Eugene O’Kelly applied for direction on a number of points including that the State’s case was built on circumstantial evidence.

Judge Mangan said “I have to hold with the defence. If the State wants to seek judicial review, it is a matter for the SIF Kone

ENNIS fire-fighters have been forced to call in Garda protection after being pelt- ed with missiles by children as young as te

Gardai are escorting fire crews, when responding to alarms in the Cloughleigh area of the town.

Last week, a fire-fighter was struck on the head by a missile during a response to a hoax call.

The incident was the latest in a series where fire-fighters were subjected to at- tack by a group of teenagers and children in Cloughleigh. Crews now don their helmets and visors to protect themselves when entering the area.

Chief Fire Officer Adrian Kelly con- firmed this week that Garda escorts were being requested to accompany fire units to Cloughleigh, where it was suspected

that the calls to the station might be hoax.

Mr Kelly said that a fire unit received a Garda escort to the Cloughleigh area last AYA”LerebaTehsre FWA

Mr Kelly said, “I can’t tolerate a situ- ation where the fire-fighters are the tar- gets for young people throwing objects at them.”

Mr Kelly confirmed that already this year, the fire service had received 21 ma- licious calls and 17 nuisance calls from the Cloughleigh area.

A fire-fighter said this week, “You name it, rocks, bricks and bottles have been thrown at us and we can’t risk go- ing into the area anymore without a Fer Menieesa mn 4 blot MA WLoM oon AVM toler Roms Ker] hoax call. There are kids as young as 10 and 11 throwing the stones.”

The fire-fighter added, “The problem has been there for a while, but has been

particularly bad over the past 12 months. We can’t risk any injury now, it has got KeXO mo) 6 (0) t

Supt John Kerin of Ennis Garda Sta- tion warned that gardai would be able to accompany fire units to Cloughleigh only in very exceptional circumstances.

“It wouldn’t be viable for Gardai to be on call to provide an escort every time a fire unit is called out to the area in ques- nCoyn a

OW Comp net-larosmmye: pepe) oyKeltrca slam Commo) ULor lic attention by Green party councillor, Brian Meaney at the Council’s Special Policy Committee (SPC) on the Envi- ronment last week.

‘A means has to be found locally to stamp out this behaviour. The imposition of a curfew must be investigated. I un- derstand that fire units stopped putting on their sirens going into the area, but the rock throwing continued,’ he said.

A €5,200 TRIP by Ennis Town Council mem- bers and officials to a famous wine-growing region in the south of France last Summer has run into controversy.

Two councillors say the three day trip by five councillors and three officials to St. Paul de Fenouillet, at the invitation of the local mayor last July, was bad value.

During their time there, the Ennis delega- tion would have been able to visit St Paul de Fenouillet’s famous vineyards. In common with previous trips by the Town Council overseas, this one was accompanied by little or no publicity.

Fine Gael councillor, Johnny Flynn who didn’t go on the trip said this week: ‘I was elected to put in place policies for the town council and monitor the work of the execu- tive.

“The trip would not have assisted me in my duties as a councillor. I don’t think it is rel- evant.

‘The general public has become very cyni- cal over the work of central and local gov- ernment and a trip such as this would make the public even more cynical, where money needs to be spent on local services.”

Cllr Donal O’Bearra (GP) said, “From my experience of overseas trips for the Council, nothing is implemented by the Council that has been viewed abroad.”

Councillor O’Bearra travelled abroad with the council on a number of overseas trips in- cluding Bruges and St. Paul de Fenouillet, but opted not to go on this year’s trip.

“The people of St Paul de Fenouillet have been very, very good to the council and I went there with an open mind before as to the value of the trip. But all the evidence suggests that it 1s just a junket.”

Town Mayor, Frankie Neylon (Ind) said that the twinning arrangement with St Paul de Fenouillet “has provided an amount of benefits for Ennis”.

Ennis Town Clerk, Eddie Power said, “The cost of the trip was €5,200. The Council has a budget of €24,000 for town-twinning and associated expenses.

“The Twinning arrangement continues to be an opportunity to promote Ennis as a place to visit. This is particuarly relevant in the context of additional low cost airlines fly- ing the Shannon to Girona route, as the St. Paul de Fenouillet region is easily accessible through Girona.”

IRISH singer songwriting legend Paddy Ca- sey will be in Ennistymon later this month to play a special charity concert in aid of the towns new Steiner Primary School.

The hugely popular artist will appear in the Falls Hotel on Friday October 21 to per- form a once-off intimate gig.

All proceeds from the event will to to- wards the newly established Mol An Oige Steiner School which opened it’s doors for the first time in September.

The school, which 1s the first of its kind in the area, was set up and continues to run on a completely voluntary basis by local people.

“It promises to be a really great night,” said Roisin who is one of the people respon- sible for setting up the concert.

“We are really delighted to have Paddy play. He is an excellent live act and was voted the best performer at the Oxygen Fes- tival last year.”

‘Paddy has supported REM, Bob Dylan, Alanis Morisette and Katie Melua so we are looking forward to a great night at the Falls, which will be an excellent, intimate venue for someone of his calibre,” she continued.

The Mol An Oige school is located across from the childcare unit in Data Display in Ennistymon.

At present 12 children are enrolled in the school which is taught by Inagh teacher Una Ni Ghairbhith who is a qualified primary school teacher who has two years of experi- ence in using the Steiner method.

The Steiner method is a system of active learning, which is designed to help children learn through a variety of traditional and non-traditional methods.

For example, a maths class in a Steiner school can include rhyme, a variety of dif- ferent games, or even children using the movements of their own bodies to learn.

Playing support to Paddy Casey on the night will be two Clare bands; Bondeko and The Filth.

Bondeko are a eclectic world music band featuring saxophone, drums, guitar, key- boards and powerful male harmonies.

The Filth will bring an element of rock and ska to the concert which will have something to suit everyone’s tastes.

Tickets for the concert cost €20 and are available in Ennis from the Little Silver Mines and Custy’s music shop.

They are also for sale locally in Ennisty- mon at the Sugan chair restaurant, Crosbies craft shop, Unglerts and the Falls Hotel it- self.

Only 700 tickets are available for the unique event to early booking is a must.

THREE members of the travelling commu- nity who were involved in an altercation out- side Ennis swimming pool, have each been fined €600.

Before Ennis District Court were Chris- topher McDonagh (30), 1 Davit Terrace, Cloughleigh, Ennis; 38-year-old Bernard Mc- Donagh, | Ashline, Ennis; and Christopher Mongan (27), with an address in Clondalkin, Dublin, arising out of an incident on June 26, 2003.

Garda Val McCormack told the court that Bernard and Christopher McDonagh had been in the gym part of the pool when a car,

in which Christopher Mongan was travelling, pulled in to the car park.

“Tt’s alleged the McDonaghs came from the pool, went to their car, took weapons, includ- ing slash hooks and sticks, and went to hit the car in which the Mongans were travelling,” said Gda McCormack.

He said it was alleged by the McDonaghs that the Mongans also had weapons in their car. Gardai searched the pool area, but didn’t find any implements or weapons. He said there were allegations that the accused shout- ed abuse at each other and took their shirts off.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a fine of

AN exciting new exhibition of paintings by Christopher Banahan will open this Saturday in the Rus- sell Gallery in New Quay.

The exhibition, which 1s entitled ‘Recent Paintings’, will be opened by the Galway Arts Officer James Harrold and will run until Novem- ber 12.

‘Recent Paintings’ will feature a selection of paintings undertaken from when Banahan first started exhibiting in Ireland about 10 years ago up until the present day and a series of landscape painting influenced by the artists move to the Galway Bay last year.

A recurring theme in his paint- ings is the destructive force that nature can have upon both natural and man-made surfaces.

This can be seen not only in his earlier, Pompei influenced frag- mented frescos, but also in his Iconic Gold leaf Madonna’s and Deities, his contemplative portraits of children and his present Burren inspired ethereal landscapes and flowers.

Indeed his most recent works explore many themes especially relevant in the Burren such as the ways by which natural erosion re- flects the vulnerability and fragil- ity of life.

Christopher Banahan regularly shows at the Hallward Gallery in Dublin and has been extensively exhibiting in galleries throughout the country. Indeed Mr Banahan has taken part in successful exhi- bitions around the world including the Boston University, Irish Insti- tute for European Affairs in Lou- vain and the Academia Britannica in Rome.

Earlier this year he was also se- lected to represent Ireland in the “Contemporary Art From Ireland” exhibition at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

His work has also been included in many private and corporate col- lections including Microsoft, AIB, the Arts Council of Ireland, Ball- inglen Foundation Mayo, Con- temporary Art Society of Great Britain and the Office of Public Works in Dublin.

MEMBERS of the Ennis Tidy Towns Committee received the royal treatment last night when they were guests of hon- our at a celebratory banquet at Knap- pogue Castle.

The event was organised by Shannon Development to acknowledge the tre- mendous achievement of the Ennis Com- mittee in winning this year’s National Sroyenelesislere

“This celebratory event is our way of giving due recognition to all who worked so hard on behalf of Ennis Town. It al- lows us to pay tribute and thank the En- nis Tidy Towns committee members,

communities and individuals for their great support and contribution to the en- hancement and protection of the environ- ment in Ennis,’ said John King, Heritage and Tourism Director, Shannon Develop- ment.

Among those who joined the voluntary committee at the Knappogue Castle cel- ebrations were the Mayors of Ennis and Clare, Management and Staff of Ennis Town Council and Clare County Coun- cil, Ennis Chamber of Commerce, and Ennis Civic Trust.

Entertainment for the evening was pro- vided by the Shannon Castle Entertain- ers who devised a special programme to give the prestigious group a flavour of the

entertainment provided by Shannon Her- itage at Knappogue, Bunratty and Dun- guaire Castles, and the Traditional Irish Evening at Bunratty Folk Park.

“A well protected and well presented environment is a major promotional as- set, and down through the years Tidy Towns Committees have made countless environmental improvements in_ their communities,’ said King.

‘Tourism remains one of our most im- portant indigenous industries. It is Ire- land’s third largest industry and is worth over €5.1 billion to the economy annual- ly. In 2004 a total of 6.4 million overseas visitors came to Ireland, an increase of 3 per cent on the previous year.”

, Mr Ryan said, “A great many business people in West Clare will also be shocked at this outcome.

“Mr Marrinan is a very well respected member of the

community and he provides an essential service in rural West Clare where a lot of eld- erly people living in isolated homes depend on his business to provide them with oil.

“Mr Marrinan has also of- fered to Clare County Coun- cil to relocate his business to alternative locations, but these were turned down by the council.”

Mr Ryan added that Mr Marrinan had spent in excess of €20,000 in trying to meet the requirements of Clare County Council.

However, solicitor for the Council, Mairead Doyle, told Kilrush District Court, “Mr Marrinan has been playing the system”.

At Kilrush District Court in October 2003, Mr Marrinan was fined €1,500 and given a suspended sentence of three months after failing to com- ply with a Council Enforce- ment Notice to remove the unauthorized structure and cease carrying out business at his oil depot, built without

planning permission.

Mr Marrinan appealed the decision to Ennis Cir- cuit Court in February 2004 Where Mr Marrinan was given three months to remove the structure, or face prison.

However, Mr Marrinan failed to remove the unau- thorized structure and Clare County Council initiated a fresh prosecution as the oil depot was still in place, al- though Mr Ryan told last Wednesday’s court that Mr Marrinan had removed the tankers from the depot, ren- dering the facility inoper- able.

Mr Ryan also said that Mr Marrinan had lodged a plan- ning retention application with the council. This was re- fused and an appeal had been lodged by Mr Marrinan with An Bord Pleanala.

After hearing submissions from Mr Ryan and Ms Doyle, Judge Mangan imposed the three-month jail term and made no order for costs.

AFTER decades of talk, graft and no little work the three secondary schools of Ennistymon are finally to unite and form the Ennistymon Community School.

In a historic development for edu- cation in North Clare, plans for the school along with 22 other schools nationwide, were announced by the Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin last Thursday.

The school will be located on a site obtained from the Sisters of Mercy and will have the most up-to-date facilities for science, languages, art, woodwork and construction studies, home economics, IT and engineer- ing. It is envisioned that the school

will cater for some 650 students and will boast a full-sized sports hall.

The final stumbling block in the way of the proposal was overcome last week as a final price for the site was decided upon by the Depart- ment of Education and the Sisters of Mercy. An independent valuator was brought in following a disagreement over the price of the site which is be- ing handed over to the department as part of the Redress Board settle- ments. The announcement has been widely welcomed by the principals of each school who have expressed their hope that the high level of co- operation between the schools will continue until the new Community School is in place.

Hopes are high that the school will

be among the first bundle of schools approved for funding, which could see tenders for contractors being made as early as mid-2006. Alter- natively, it could be as late as 2009 before progress can be made.

While the announcement heralds the beginning of a new and exciting time for education in North Clare it also marks the end of three rich and proud traditions.

“The Christian Brothers have made an enormous contribution to the youth of North Clare through the values expressed by Edmund Rice and these values will live on in the new school,” said Michael Concan- non, Principal of the CBS.

“The young people of the area de- serve first class facilities.”

The site of the Vocational School has been earmarked for the creation of an Adult and Community Centre for North Clare.

It is expected that much of the staff currently employed in the school could be absorbed into this facility.

“Often with things like this peo- ple walk out the door and the place is locked up. Then three years later, when all the windows are broken, someone gets the idea to do it up,” said Enda Byrt, Principal of the Vo- cational School. “When we walk out of here we want someone to be walking back in that same day.”

Of curse with any amalgamation like this the co-operation of all con- oer e mE

“A steering committee of repre- sentatives of management, staff, par- ents and students of all three schools will oversee the change to the new community school and insure that a smooth transaction will take place,” said Seosaimhin Ui Dhomhnallain, Principal of Scoil Mhuire.

In total €555 million was allocat- ed for projects by the Minister for Education and Science last week.

Aside from the 23 post-primary schools, four new primary schools have been announced as-well-as a number of third level projects.

Ennistymon County Councillor and former CBS student Martin Conway (FG) has welcome what he described as a ‘long overdue development’. “The people of En- nistymon and the surrounding area deserve the very best of facilities,” said Cllr Conway. “The three school have done great work over the year with an archaic infrastructure and I appeal to the Department and the Minister to deliver in 2006 rather than in the later bundles.”