The Clare People Archive

THE promotion of equality and in- clusion are among the key priori- ties identified by the new head of the Shannon Family Resource Centre.

Marie Rowland, who has recently taken up the post as co-ordinator of the centre, has pointed to a few ar- eas of significance for the people of Ser veneceyee

Chief among these will be her aim of ensuring the people of the town are welcomed at the centre at all mn eeleky

“There are a few key areas, includ- ing the development of relationships with the local community and the provision of appropriate support needs,” she said.

“The aim is also to highlight in-

equality and social exclusion,’ add- ed Ms Rowland, who is a native of Cork.

She is also keen to play a role in the provision of training in childcare and education and to network with vari- ous organisations in Shannon.

‘Networking is all about going out and meeting the people in the com- munity and making the service more user friendly,” she said.

The Family Resource Centre is situated in the Respond Centre at Ri- neanna View.

The centre offers a wide range of support for families and runs vari- ous initiatives including a parent- and-toddler group, Traveller health initiative, personal development programmes and out-of-school pilot development schemes.

Its out-of-schools programme takes place two afternoons a week and a parent-and-toddler group meets two mornings a week.

Ms Rowland is also involved with the town’s multicultural group ‘Le Chéile na Sionna’ which was set up last year.

The group consists of members from several countries. Ms Rowland is hoping to play a role in ensur- ing the group expands and receives funding.

She also has many other ambitious plans for the resource centre.

“Iam hoping to have a drop-in computer facility and will start a painting group, homework club and a sports club for young people with disabilities,” she said.

The appointment of Ms Rowland

will be followed shortly by the re- cruitment of a community develop- ment worker.

Currently Ms Rowland works alongside an administrator and a part-time co-ordinator for out-of- schools projects.

Having previously worked with Shannon Youth Service and with the Southill Community Training Centre in Limerick, Ms Rowland is anticipating the challenges which lie ahead in her new post. She believes she has one vital asset, initially – her office.

“We have a great resource here, in the building,” she said.

KILKEE woman Fionnuala Whelan is preparing for the challenge of a lifetime in Cuba.

In March, the Rathfarnham based garda will cycle 335 kilometres over five days in the Caribbean island with the group expected to cycle 67 kilometres per day. Fionnuala is undertaking the challenge to raise money for the Dublin based ARC Cancer Support Centre.

The first of its kind, the aim of ARC House is to provide a professional support service to adults affected by all types of cancer, no matter where

they are being treated in Ireland.

An holistic approach to support 1s used as a complementary adjunct to primary medical treatment.

Fionnuala explained the work done by ARC. “ARC Cancer Support Cen- tre charity is a very worthy cause and we would very much appreciate your support in helping us to raise funds for this charity.

It offers a variety of courses and programmes such as stress man- agement, learning to live with can- cer, stress management for carers, a drop-in centre and Ta’i Chi classes to name but a few.”

The route is classified, as moder-

ate to challenging and the terrain is quite steep in parts. Expected tem- peratures are around 28 degrees for the month of March, all of which make the cycle more demanding physically. There will be thirty cy- clists in total from various parts of the country.

Fionnuala hopes to raise €10,000 with all proceeds going to directly to ARC.

To do this she is organising a number of events with the first, a quiz, planned for the Strand Bar, OT rer

Fionnuala said she is looking for- ward to the challenge. “There are 30

of us going so it should be an amaz- ing experience. Cuba is meant to be a very beautiful country. I really wanted to highlight the work done by ARC. Hopefully we will get good support.”

She added, “You can donate by log- ging on to Www.mycharity.ie/event/ cubancyclefidanni/. We are current- ly organising a variety of events in Dublin and also hope to hold a fund- raising night in The Strand in Kilkee and possibly a table quiz.”

Further details on ARC Cancer Support Centre can be obtained from their website www.arccancer- support.ie.

COSMETIC companies from. all over the world would pay millions to discover the secret of clear skin and a healthy glow in more mature people, so that they could bottle the secret of Keer mAelelsee

However those from the Miltown Malbay area, now in their tenth dec- ade know that such a secret cannot

be found in any magic bottle or jar of over priced potions and lotions.

For Mary Murrihy, Mary Hurley and Bridie Carey the look of natural beautiful skin well into your 90s is easy – in fact it is nothing at all.

Mrs Murrihy laughed at the thought of putting creams and lotions on her face and skin. “I never put anything on it,’ she explained.

The secret of long life is also

agreed on among the majority of the nonagenarians.

“Hard work when I was young made me hardy,’ said Mrs Murrihy.

When asked the secret to long healthy live Mrs Hurley wasn’t as sure as others.

“T don’t know in the name of God, living day to day and working hard I suppose. ”

“We had a great time when we

were young, not like now,” said PJ Downes sympathising with the youth of today.

“Live long and eat enough,” is the secret according to Francie Con- ites Ae

While all of those present looked little over 60 years old Jim Joe Grif- fin maintains that the only way to tell a persons age is by the way they WENN e

MILTOWN MALBAY is the Tir na nOg of Clare, and if you have any doubt you just have to count the number of nonagenarians in the lo- cality.

Last week seven of the 90 plus year olds gathered at the Seanoiri Laich- tin Naofa in the West Clare Family Recourse Centre.

After dinner and a few dances the 90-year-olds gathered around the ta- ble, some meeting for the first time – as they attend the day centre on different days, others were meeting again after 70 years.

The most senior of the group was Jim Joe Griffin from Coore who will be 94-years young on April 4.

As sacristan of the local Church for

38 years Jim Joe is a mine of infor- mation about all of the people of the area and all the major events in their Tere

‘ T was 72-years in the one profes- sion,’ said the retired farmer who proved quite popular among the women in the day care centre.

Laughter definitely is the medicine for longevity if the table of seven people with an age total of 639 years was anything to go by.

Among the jokers, was Martin Walsh from Creevagh, who played his cards very close to his chest.

The youthful Mr Walsh, 90 in Sep- tember, entertains his friends with an entertaining song.

Not to be out done 90-year-old sea- nachi Francie Connelly told one of his many yarns.

The man from Leeds, Miltown Malbay, is still farming and looked as fresh as a man in his early 60s.

He thought nothing of cutting turf with the slean last year, and one would be incorrect to think that age stopped him this year. No he simply ran out of bog.

“Td still sow a bit of tillage,” he Sr HLG

Francie points across that table to Bridie Carey from Creggane, Quilty, “sure that woman there use to have a turkey and chicken hatchery.”

Bridie who will be 92 years old in May and is originally from Killmur- ry Ibrickane remembered it well.

It was hard work raising the birds, before she sent them off to be killed.

PJ “The Doctor” Downes is look- ing forward to his 93rd birthday on

St Patrick’s Day.

The Kildimo man who inherited his nickname from his father – an expert in looking after calving cows, enjoys a laugh and some fun.

Some might even consider that PJ’s longevity comes from the water, be- cause living across the road from him and sitting across the table was Mary Hurley – 90 in April.

Mary Murrihy from Knockbrack was 90 last month. Mary lives at one of the area’s two milestones – that is two Irish miles she explained with a laugh.

The seven are just some of the peo- ple from the area that enjoy meeting in the resource centre to have lunch, chat, and be entertained by Joe Ryan on the keyboard and local popular musician Michael Mahoney.

AN TAISCE and other groups have voiced opposition to plans to develop a small scale visitor centre to serve the recently opened Pol an Ionain cave in Doolin.

The cave contains what is reputedly the largest hanging free stalactite in the world.

Three years ago, John and Helen Browne, secured planning permis- sion to open the cave despite opposi- tion from An Taisce and the Pol an Jonain Action Group.

Since the cave opened, a bus has transferred visitors to the site from nearby Doolin. The original plan- ning application did not include the visitor centre which is described as a reception building that includes a shop, café and display area.

An Taisce Heritage Officer, Ian Lumley, stated that the application “warrants summary rejection”.

“It abrogates entirely the principle and consideration on which the pre- vious application was granted. The effect of the proposal would be to create a range of significant site im- pacts which would contravene the entire basis on which the previous consent was granted and the mitiga- tion measures contained in the en- vironmental impact statement for the scheme which form part of the legal

consent.”

Gabriel Casey of the Pol an Ionain Action Group claimed the applica- tion was “for a very large develop- ment” in a vulnerable, unspoilt area.

He suggests that the Pol an Ionain enterprise may threaten 103 jobs at Ailwee Cave, 13 miles away.

The Speleological Union of Ireland (SUI), which represents cavers and speleologists, has also objected cit- ing “the uniqueness of the great Sta- lactite and the need to be absolutely sure of its conservation.”

The SUI claims that “surface de- velopment will have an impact below ground. While we note that the cur- rent application includes a bio-cycle sewage treatment plant there seems to be no treatment for surface run-off water from the car park.

“Further development will inevita- bly lead to greater numbers of visi- tors with greater impact on the at- mosphere in the cave chamber with potential effects on the great stalac- tite.

“SUI is not opposed to showcave developments and indeed welcomes the education of the public about caves. However, we consider Pol an Jonain is not a suitable site for devel- opment because it is based on the de- velopment of one unique, irreplace- able feature and raises too many unnecessary threats to it”.

has obtained the

figures in the wake of Garda statistics

last week which stressed that domes-

tic violence incidents in the county had soared over the past two years.

Some 76 people attended Clare

Haven drop-in centres in Ennis, Kil- rush, Shannon, Scariff and Ennisty- mon for the first time last year. While most of those were in Ennis, several new cases presented throughout the county.

The need for the service in Shan- non, in particular, increased sig- nificantly last year. In response prompted Clare Haven increased its presence in its outreach centre there. Some 106 people were seen at the Shannon centre, the majority of them being ongoing clients. Some 58 peo- ple attended the Kilrush centre, 19 attended in Ennistymon, while 23 at- tended the Scariff centre.

Clare Haven accompanied 104

women to court last year. Each of those cases took an average of 25 hours preparation, support and ac- companiment. The centre also pro- vided telephone support to hundreds of women in need.

Eileen Murphy of Clare Haven said there had been a huge increase in de- mand for support over the past few years. The refuge, which has six fam- ily units, was full throughout 2007. Staff had to send women to other ref- uges throughout the country.

She said that victims of domestic abuse were more willing to come forward than in the past but a lack of awareness about the availability of support remained. The need for the

Support was obvious throughout the year.

“During the past two years, there has been demand right across the year. Previously, Easter, St Patrick’s Day and Christmas were the main times but now it is right across the board,’ said Ms Murphy.

She stressed that those in need of help should not feel that they had to attend Clare Haven on a residential basis. The drop-in centre is available to those who wish to check their op- tions.

Anyone suffering domestic vio- lence should contact Clare Haven’s 24-hour helpline on 065 6822435 or check out www.clarehaven.ie.

has learned.

This revelation comes following the discovery of a 6 mile wide spill- age, located some 60 miles of Loop Head on Sunday morning.

The spill, which was discovered by a Norwegian pollution control satel- lite, is believed to comprise of diesel and is moving slowly northwards.

“It has been flagged at EU level that Ireland doesn’t have an oil pollution response strategy, and we need one.

This is a relatively small oil spill but if there was a big one we have no of- ficial plan for what to do,” said Simon Berrow, Project Manager of Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Foundation.

“To be honest, there is no govern- ment policy to do with how to deal with oil spills. JI think the Wildlife Service are responsible for it but they don’t really have a policy for how to deal with the oiled birds because they say it is a welfare issue and not a conservation issue.”

While the origin of the oil slick re- main a mystery, authorities are hope- ful that it will break up naturally. It has however, claimed it’s first victims

with some 20 birds discovered dead in and around the Doolin yesterday.

The birds were discovered with ex- tensive o1]1 damage and it is believed that they came in contact with the slick while out to sea and made their way to land where they died.

“The local fishermen have been reporting seeing a number of oiled up birds either dead or severely in- jured. They were mostly guillemots but there were also some cormorants and gulls,” said Doolin based bird- watcher Jamie Storer.

‘There is no sign of oil on shore just yet so I would assume that the birds have come in contact with the

oil out to see.

“Once a bird gets oil on them there is a very low success rate. Usually by the time they are found are too far gone to be rescued. Cleaning bird is a very labour intensive thing and once they are cleaned there is still only a very small chance that they will sur- vive.

“Our concern here isn’t really for 20 or 30 birds, it’s a very small amount compared to the total population in the area. The real concern is for the slick that is out there and what might happen if it comes onshore. Nobody really seems to know what the pro- cedure is.”

CLARE county councillors will at- tempt to reunite communities and parishes as they consider the bound- ary division for the next local elec- tion — just 16 months away.

The members as well as the general public are invited to make submis- sions to the Boundary Committee set up by the Minister for the Environ- ment and Local Government John Gormley and charged with reviewing local electoral areas.

This review will take into account population changes since the last re-

view in 1998.

The committee will then report to the minister by June 20 so that he can make any changes he deems fit.

At last evenings meeting of Clare County Council, councillors present- ed a few concerns about the possible redivision of the areas they will be canvassing in a matter of months.

Cllr Martin Conway (FG) said he would hope that all communities and parishes would remain united within the same area.

“T think it was always regrettable that Kilmaley was split among three areas, and are not therefore getting

proper services.”

The north Clare councillor also maintained that the review process should have begun after the General Election.

Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn (FG) argued that geography as well as population should be taken into ac- count when deciding on dividing the county.

“Cognisance has to be taken of geography. I wouldn’t like to think demographics would supersede geo- graphic area.”

According to the Boundary Com- mission the committee charged with

looking at the area divisions must take “due account of the desirability of preserving natural communities or the hinterlands of population centres, and where possible, of aligning local electoral area boundaries with Dail constituency boundaries”.

“The committees are asked to as- sume no change in present numbers of elected members at overall local authority level. Within individual electoral areas as recommended by the committees, the number of coun- cillors should not be less than four or more than seven provided that in very exceptional circumstances

three seat local electoral areas may be recommended where otherwise the geographic size of the area would be disproportionately large.”

Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) told the meeting “there is a bias against three seaters and I don’t know why unless there is a political reason.”

The County Manager Alex Flem- ing said he was not going to have any position in the process.

“Tt is really an area I should not be involved in,” he told the councillors.

He will however present the popu- lation break down of the areas to the councillors next week.

WHILE the Minister for the Envi- ronment maintains that there would be no useful purpose in meeting the councillors of Clare about their budget allocation for 2008, he said he would next time he was in the constituency.

Deputy Pat Breen (FG) has attacked the minister for his stance much to the annoyance of Clare County Councils only Green Party member.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) has ac- cused the Fine Gael deputy of using “unhelpful comments” and trying to score political points.

‘The spin put on it by Deputy Breen hasn’t helped the situation. The min- ister will meet with Clare County Council when he is in the constitu- ency. Deputy Breen’s use of this to score political points is a disservice to the electorate of Clare,” said Dep- uty Meaney.

Deputy Breen had accused the Green Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley TD of distancing him- self from another crisis.

‘This 1s another typical example of the Green Party’s change of colour since they entered Government last May. Minister Gormley is distanc-

ing himself from another crisis. The reality is that he does not recognise the crisis we have here in County Clare. The current funding arrange- ments are simply inadequate. Clare County Council avoided the axe this year, as a result of which we will see a reduction in the budget for roads, housing, planning and environment together with an increased burden being placed on the business com- munity. County Clare is at the bot- tom of the pile when it comes to the allocation of funding from Central Government,” he said.

“The long-term ability of Clare County Council to deliver basic fa-

cilities including water and sewage treatment plants is threatened.”

The council had asked to meet with the minister to voice their dissatis- faction at the general-purpose grants allocations for 2008, and make a case for a larger allocation.

Minister Gormley argued in the Dail however that Clare County Council’s allocation for 2008 was€16,476,569, an increase of 5.13 per cent over the 2007 allocation.

“General purpose grants to Clare County Council have increased by some 460 per cent since 1997 which is more than twice the average in- crease to local authorities over that

period,” he said.

“In summary, and recognising that the council has recently agreed its budget for 2008, I am satisfied that the funding available to it from all sources, including general purpose erants, will enable it to provide an acceptable level of services to all its customers. In the circumstances, while no useful purpose would be served by meeting the proposed del- egation in the context of the 2008 general purpose grant allocations, I will take an opportunity to meet with the council as part of a programme of visits to local authorities during the year.”

THE behaviour of a 16-year-old boy has deteriorated since leaving a de- tention centre due to lack of parental control at his Ennis home.

The boy, who has 33 previous convictions, was sentenced to two years at Oberstown Boys Centre in November 2006. He is currently on extended leave from the centre.

He admitted breaking into the bed and breakfast at Baron McQ’s, Low- er Parnell Street, Ennis, and kicking two wing mirrors on cars, close to his home, last Wednesday, February oF

Inspector Tom Kennedy said gardai found the boy on the premises on Parnell Street and CCTV footage

showed him breaking the window and going into the building.

He later went home with his mother and a short time later went down the street in his locality and kicked mir- rors on two cars.

The boy’s solicitor, Tara Godfrey, said since he was released home from Oberstown he had “very quick- ly deteriorated”.

‘His mother is not here today and that speaks volumes,” she said.

She pointed out that drink and drugs played a role in last week’s in- cidents.

‘He didn’t have control. When he’s not in Oberstown, or St Patrick’s In- stitution he doesn’t have the where- withal to look after himself,’ she PAG

“The concern from my point of view is that he could become insti- tutionalised and that he would be in- capable of coping outside an institu- tion,” she said.

“He’s a good boy under the right conditions,” added Ms Godfrey.

A member of staff at Oberstown told the court that the boy had “turned a corner’ while at the centre, but had “deteriorated” since returning home to Ennis. She said Oberstown could not take him back.

“We are under pressure from the courts to free up the bed. There’s de- mand for his bed. We want to release his bed within days,” she said.

“I think we have exhausted what we can do with him. We have effec- tively handed him back to his family.

There is only so much minding of him we can do when he is back in his own environment,’ she added.

An employee with Clare Youth Services – who has worked with the boy since his release from Obers- town – said the problem was down to lack of supervision at home.

“That is with due respect to the young man and the family,” he said.

Judge Joseph Mangan asked the boy, “Why are you so angry?”’. He replied “I am not angry at all.”

The judge said he had observed the boy’s demeanour in court and said, “You are obviously very bothered.”

The judge sentenced him to eight months in St Patrick’s Institution and fixed a bond in the event of an ap- peal.