The Clare People Archive

HOMEOWNERS in Clare are being urged to come together to slash the cost of rising energy bills.

Under the second phase of the home energy and saving scheme, any eroup of homes can come together to form a cluster – for instance via a residents’ association or a property management company.

Landlords with multiple dwellings can also apply. Third parties, such as local energy agencies or building contractors, can also gather a group of participants to form a cluster. The scheme has already been taken up by 1,000 homes in north Tipperary, Limerick and Dundalk. The next phase, which has just commenced, is open to 500 homes across Ireland.

All homes may have home energy

assessments carried out and an en- ergy saving report will be provided. The assessment is available from all registered energy assessors. This will cost the householder €100. Ap- plicants who apply in a cluster basis are eligible for grants of up to 30 per cent to a maximum of €2,000 per home from Sustainable Energy Ire- land (SEI).

“Its definitely worth it for home- owners,’ explained Vinnie Blake of the Ennis-based National Energy Assessors (NEA) Clare.

He continued, “In normal cases getting work like this done to make homes more energy efficient would cost around €500 per home. Under the scheme, when homes come to- gether, its only €100.”

Recently opened in Ennis NEA Clare offers a range of services for

the local market, including: building energy rating (BER) certificates, en- ergy audits, air tightness testing and thermal imaging.

According to Mr Blake, a former senior environmental engineer with Limerick-based subsidiary of the US multi national, Analog Devices, “the energy challenge which faces every home and business owner is becom- ing critical to how we run our homes and businesses.”

Meanwhile local Green Party councillor Brian Meaney has called for industrial parks in Ennis to be designated as carbon free zones as part of an overall strategy to attract foreign investement and re-invigor- ate industry.

“We are on the cusp of the third industrial revolution,’ said Cllr Meaney.

“The escalating cost of fossil fuels and the acknowledged ‘peaking’ in production have kick started an in- vestment cycle in renewable energy of enormous proportions. Analysis in any of the [Irish business media of venture capital funding in the US and Europe clearly demonstrates that the mobile investment capital is con- centrated in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors.”

Councillor Meaney added, “It should also be borne in mind that while there is no history of solar manufacturing or development in Ireland, if you breakdown the con- stituent parts, we have extensive silicon fabrication and optics exper1- ence with the like of Analog devices and Vistakon; these are core skills that would be vital in attracting new investment.”

A NEW youth group in Ennis aims to assist young people to resist out- side influences and establish their own values.

That’s the message from the lo- cal Baha’i community members of whom started a two week project in Ennis at the weekend.

The aim is to make junior youth groups more widely available.

These groups, which are open to young people aged twelve to four- teen, are an initiative of the Baha’i

Faith and are a core activity offered worldwide by the Baha’is as a service to humanity.

Young people from County Clare and other parts of Ireland gathered to undertake training in running a Junior Youth Group and as part of their training they will invite the lo- cal Ennis Junior Youth to participate in some short taster sessions with the objective of setting up a regular Junior Youth Group starting in Sep- tember.

The materials used in junior youth eroups are Baha‘ inspired but are not

specifically religious. Through study of the materials, service projects and other activities the groups are de- signed to empower young people to express themselves and to see them- selves as transformers of their own characters and of society.

Junior youth groups have been in1- tiated in all parts of the world, meet- ing with great success in diverse locations from Ennis to Mongolia to Australia. Fourteen year old Jani Song from Perth in Australia, who participated in a junior youth group, had this to say, “When you’re in high

school, you see the popular, or cool group and they often take drugs. You see people drinking or doing other sorts of stuff. And you kind of just want to do it because you want to fol- low the crowd.”

Anyone interested in finding out what a group is like, introductory sessions will be hosted during the second week of the project at Cois na hAbhna, Gort Road, Ennis in the afternoons. For further information on participating in the junior youth group, contact Maria McNamara at 086 3613162.

MEN and women from Clare who fought in foreign conflicts will be honoured and remembered at a cer- emony in Ennis next month.

The event is being organised by the Wild Geese, an organisation that seeks to highlight the sacrifices made by Irish soldiers in conflicts through- out history.

Plans are being made for a wreath laying ceremony, followed by a pa- rade, to be held in September.

In all 528 men and women from Clare have fought and died in for-

eign conflicts. The majority of those would have served with the Brit- ish Army while it is estimated that around 100 Clare people served with the United States military.

The ceremony will also recognise the important contribution made by Irish soldiers to United Nation peacekeeping mission in Lebanon and other conflict zones.

Organisers hope that the upcoming ceremony will provide those who fought an opportunity to share their experiences.

Ennis native and Wild Geese mem- ber, John Shanahan explained that

the organisation aims to acknowl- edge, what he believes, is a part of Irish history that people aren’t too familiar with.

‘These men paid the ultimate sac- rifice and that has often gone un- noticed. Its something that a lot of people wouldn’t be aware of, the sacrifice Irish soldiers have made in wars. People mightn’t agree exactly with what people have done but as a strictly non-political organisation, we are trying to tell a story from a soldier’s point of view”’.

Shanahan said that the organisation also seeks to help soldiers and fami-

lies to re-adjust to life after war.

“It can be difficult for people when they come back and we want to get the message out there to families, that we are available to provide help and assistance. Unfortunately, there isn’t much talk about this in Ire- land”. He added, “What many peo- ple mightn’t understand is that there were a lot of reasons for people en- listing in armies. If you look at the history, Irish men would have joined the British army because they had to. A lot of these guys had families to support and there were very few jobs around at the time”.

THE 2008 Merriman Summer School returns to Ennis next week, the town where it all started 40 years ago.

In that time the school has devel- oped into a major annual forum for debate and discussion. This year’s event continues that tradition by ex- amining the twin themes of continu- ity and change, through the lens of Irish history, from Brian Boru to nu @ubliious

Special focus will be devoted to the life and legacy of former President and EU Commissioner, Dr Patrick J Hillery.

One of Ireland’s most distinguished and effective public servants, Dr Hillery also served for 30 years as patron of Cumann Merriman.

‘Hillery’s Ireland’ takes place in

Glor on Saturday, August 23 and will look at the legacy and achievements of the Spanish Point native.

Dr. John Walsh of TCD, his official biographer, will outline the main contours of the former President’s Tate

John Feeney of RTE will present and comment on his television pro- gramme Dr. Patrick Hillery, Presi- dent, 1976-1990. Fiachra O Ceal- laigh, Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, will also share his personal recollec- tions of Dr. Hillery.

Co-hosted by two venues, Glor and the Clare Museum, the Merriman Summer School runs in Ennis from August 17-23

This year’s director is Ennis native Brian O’Dalaigh and again the school has attracted some of the country’s most influential cultural and social commentators.

Topics to be explored include 1m- migration and diversity, the future of the regional economy, the role of traditional music in an increasingly commodified society and modern sexuality. The main focus of the day- time lectures will be on the history of the Thomond region and on County Clare’s various contributions to Irish society. As always, the Merriman Summer School is bilingual, with most of the proceedings in English.

Doctor Brian Maurer, medical di- rector of the Irish Heart Foundation, Ireland’s foremost heart surgeon and another native of Ennis, will offi- cially open the School on August 17. Professor David Fitzpatrick of the School of Histories and Humanities, Trinity College Dublin will give the opening lecture, Politics and Irish Life Revisited at 8.30.

Other Speakers include Marc Cole-

man, economist and media com- mentator, Carmel Wynne and Fintan Valley. Translation of the Midnight Court will be on display in the new Clare County Council offices during the school.

Celebration of the Irish language and traditional music and dance forms an integral part of this year’s Merriman School. Glor plays host to a wide range of performances throughout the week.

Running Beast, the Wednesday evening show, explores the experi- ences of Hugh O’Neill in Rome.

As usual, dancing will feature prominently at the school, with set dancing classes every day and Club Merriman every night. Further de- tails about the 2008 Cumman Mer- riman Summer School are available at WWw.merriman.ie and by email: eolas@merriman.ie

THE National Roads Authority (NRA) has been accused of target- ing Clare in the number of appeals it has lodged to An Bord Pleandala in relation to proposed homes on the Ennis-Kilrush N67 link.

Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) made the charge after it emerged the NRA lodged an appeal against a council decision to grant planning to Edel Egan for a home at Craggaknock, west Mul- yeaa

Both Cllr Kelly and Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) made representations on behalf of Ms Egan during the plan- ning process and yesterday both ex- pressed their disappointment that the NRA has appealed the decision.

Cllr Kelly said, “I believe that the NRA is targeting Clare in the number of appeals lodged. You trav- el along the road to Galway and you see houses being built on a national secondary route. There is a huge in- consistency there.

“I can’t understand the attitude of

the NRA and it will only result in people being forced to live in viul- lages. Clare has more national sec- ondary routes than any other county in Ireland.”

Cllr Curtin said, “All aspects of the planning application including road safety and local policy had been thoroughly investigated by the coun- cil during the planning process, so I can’t understand why the NRA ap- pealed the decision.”

In its decision, the council ruled that it accorded with proper planning

and wouldn’t seriously injure the amenities of the area having regard to the rural nature of the site, the in- tended use of the proposed building and the policies of the County Devel- opment Plan.

However, in its appeal, the NRA stated, “The proposal, if approved, creates a direct access onto the N67 at a location where the maximum speed limit applies and is at variance with the foregoing national policy in relation to control of frontage devel- opment on national roads.

“The proposed development would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard due to additional traf- fic movements.”

The NRA also stated that the pro- posal would be contrary to official policy

KILLALOE and Ardnacrusha were two of the last stopping posts on a unique 250 km journey undertaken by a 72-year-old sailing enthusiast.

This week, Donald Attig became the first person to row a cruiser, the length of the Shannon, solo.

Even more stirring is that he took

on the challenge to raise money for a little boy on the other side of the (eye

The nine-year-old boy is known only as Tony and was born with no arms and just one almost boneless leg, with two toes. He was discovered by a friend of Donald’s in a Mother Theresa Orphanage in Tamil Nadu in India and despite being so severely

handicapped, Donald says, “he is one of the happiest and loveliest people. He makes friends everywhere and he just oozes such joy. This child is just nine but he has the potential to change the world. With just two toes he has invented a language through which deaf and dumb children at the orphanage can communicate. He speaks Tamill, English and French

and he’s learning German. He wants to be a lawyer,’ Donald told

THE long wait for more than 1,200 leaving cert students from Clare will end tomorrow as exam results will be delivered to schools and published on line.

In the same week as the Department of Education announced that third level fees would be a possibility for some families in the future a record 68,112 students will be hoping to be offered a college place this year.

The figure of those applying for college this year is 2,200 higher than last year and has been declared an

all-time high.

Guidance experts have advised stu- dents not to panic if they are disap- pointed when they get their results.

While they may not get the course they were hoping for in the first set of offers, second and third round of- fers could manifest themselves in the coming weeks.

Students are also advised to con- sider other courses that could lead them down their preferred career path eventually.

Interest in nursing, physiotherapy, law and built environment courses has declined this year, while arts,

medicine, science, education and veterinary are more in demand.

The first round of the CAO offers will be published on Monday, and will be available on line at www.cao- ie from 6am on Monday, August 18.

The deadline for acceptance of round one offers is August 26 at 5.15pm.

Meanwhile, celebrating students are advised to be drink aware while partying on Wednesday night.

As many prepare to celebrate their success, drinkaware.ie is urging stu- dents to eat before they head out, carry an ID card, look out for their

friends and plan ahead how they will get home safely.

Ms Fionnuala Sheehan, Chief Ex- ecutive of MEAS said, “We would encourage students to plan ahead and check out the drinkaware.ie website to ensure their night 1s one to remem- ber for all the right reasons.”

As students prepare to celebrate the Minister Batt O’Keefe has been ac- cused of being a party pooper by the NUI Galway Students’ Union.

It has accused the minister of en- gaging in scare tactics by announc- ing third level fees are back on the agenda.

THE housing slowdown in Clare continues with new figures from the Department of the Environ- ment showing that there were just eight new house registrations for the month of June.

The figures show that there were 98 new house registrations this year compared with 98 new house regis- trations for all of June last year.

[Hustrating the downturn, last year’s figures show there were 145 new house registrations in February; 167 in March and 129 in May. The mas-

sive drop in new house registrations is expected to feed into the number of new house completions next year.

There were 95 new house comple- tions in June and this compares with 159 completions for June 2007. For the first half of this year, there were 1,095 homes completed while there were 1,452 homes completed in the first six months of last year.

The June performance was not the worst return for the year to date in terms of new house registrations. In April, there were just two house registrations while in January there (tom UNL oe

The collapse in new house registra- tions coincides with an Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council embargo on new housing develop- ments in Ennis and its environs be- cause of the inadequate sewage in- JG u-F OMe CeLAUD Kes

In spite of the downturn and the drop off in demand for new houses, developers have warned the council of the economic impact of the failure to accommodate new housing.

In a submission to the local author- ity, local developers claim that de- spite more than ten years of unprec- edented development and growth in

and around Ennis, we are now left in a situation that the area is being choked by a chronic lack of capacity in the wastewater treatment system.

“Although the Ennis main drain- age is being progressed, the obvious deficiencies in the current infrastruc- ture, which include storm water in- filtration into sewer network, lack of treatment capacity and capacity in the pump station network have been ignored for far too long.

“The effect of no development op- portunities caused by this infrastruc- ture shortfall will be widespread,” the developers warn.

IFA President Padraig Walshe has described the recent Teagasc farm income survey which concluded that Irish farm incomes increased by 18 per cent last year as no more than a “flash in the pan”.

The survey, conducted annually by the Teagasc Rural Economy Re- search Centre, found that the average farm income grew to £19,687 during 2007.

Higher milk and cereal prices were the main reason for the increase in average farm incomes last year,

while incomes on cattle and sheep farms actually declined.

Direct payments from the Euro- pean Union remained static in 2007, averaging €16,346 and contributing 31 per cent of farm output and 84 per cent of average farm income.

However, the findings were de- scribed as a flash in the pan by the IFA leader who said 2007 was the most favourable environment in the past 20 years, and already this year, input costs are up by 25 per cent and processors were driving product prices down.

The two best performing sectors in

2007 — milk and grain – have expe- rienced significant price cuts from their peak last year.

Mr Walshe said the Teagasc fig- ures confirm that average income for farmers even in a good year was less than half the average earnings in the public sector. Earnings by full-time farmers were completely inadequate to reward the investment in stock and machinery that is necessary to earn MOD R OES UD ESE

The highest annual level of invest- ment ever recorded on Irish farms occurred in 2007. Gross on-farm investment increased by a massive

76 per cent and amounted to an esti- mated €1.4 billion nationally.

The average gross investment on the farms that did invest in 2007 was €21,000, amounting to 80 per cent of their total farm income. Dairy farms accounted for almost half of WON Oon Reso

Commenting on the results Liam Connolly, Head of the National Farm Survey team, said the two main highlights of the 2007 results were the sizeable increase in dairy and tillage farmer’s incomes and the phenomenal level of on-farm invest- ment at €1.4 billion.”

THE Citizens Information Service ion Ennis is advising those who are working and have returned to educa- tion that they may be able to claim relief for eligible courses.

Tax relief for third-level tuition fees is available for approved under- graduate and postgraduate courses (full-time and part-time) that are in private or publicly funded third-level colleges in Ireland, in publicly fund- ed or duly accredited third-level col- leges in any other EU country.

Tax relief is at the standard rate of income tax (20 per cent). The max1- mum relief allowable for the aca- demic year 2007/2008 is €5,000

According to Paul Woulfe, manger

with the county wide information service many people who are not re- celving grants and paying for courses are not aware of this.

“When tax relief on third level edu- cation was introduced in 1996/97 it was quite restricted. However since then the relief has been expanded as the Celtic Tiger exposed this coun- try’s paucity of certain skills. So if you or a dependent are on a course costing €5,000 (excluding registra- tion and capitation fees) you can claim back €1,000 backs from the taxman.

The relief can be claimed either on the individual’s tax return at the end of the tax year or during the tax year when the fees have been paid.

Most undergraduate students in

publicly funded third-level courses in Ireland do not have to pay fees. For students who do pay fees, under- graduate courses must be of at least two years duration to qualify for tax relief. Tax relief is also available for approved training courses in the ar- eas of information technology and foreign languages.

The tuition fees must be paid by you on your own behalf or on be- half of your spouse, your child or someone for whom you are the legal eabe-Nueue-Nee

Application forms (IT 31) are avail- able from the Revenue Commission- ers’ website at www.revenue.ie, by telephoning LoCall 1890 306 706 or from the citizens information centres throughout the county.