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UP TO 70 students, the majority from America, have been unearthing the historical mysteries of the Burren for the past two years thanks to the Caherconnell Archaeological Field School.

Within the last year the school, which allows students to get involved in the archaeological dig on the Caherconnell fort received academic accreditation from NUI Galway.

The accreditation adds even more academic weight to the course overseen by Irish archaeological heavy weight Dr Michelle Comer.

All of its achievements will be celebrated on Friday evening next when the school is officially opened by Minister for Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan.

The family run fort and school has already added significantly to the historical knowledge of the area in the last two years.

Colm Davoren of Caherconnell Archaeological Field School told The Clare People that “education means a lot to the family.” The fort was originally built by the family and “it is our lineage” explained Mr Davoren.

Among the finds the students and their supervisor discovered just a stone’s throw from the school in the fort was a hearth the pre-dates the originally presumed date of the fort.

They also uncovered a footpath to the fort, which is now available for the public to see. The remains of a mystery woman dating back 400 years was also discovered. Her body was defleshed and disarticulated, a practice that should have finished many years previous – adding to the mystery. Mr Davoren said that plans are in place to begin excavating the main fort next year.

Siobhán King from Shannon Development has also pledged her support for the business.

“Caherconnell stone fort is an excellent example of a family-owned business in the heart of the Burren. They have worked over the years to maintain their uniqueness as a product, while at the same diversifying to build on their product offering. The addition of the field school is a fine example of this and is testimony to the enthusiasm, hard work, and innovation of the owners to develop the business as a key tourist attraction within the Burren,” she said.

“There has been an influx of archaeological students who come to Caherconnell to develop their ar- chaeological techniques and to add to their experience in a truly meaningful way.”

Dr Michelle Comber, the archaeological director at Caherconnell and a lecturer of Archaeology at NUIG, said the “field school provides an amazing opportunity for us, as archaeologists, to unearth information on the Irish past, and to pass on our skills to the next generation of archaeologists. The school also allows the local community to share its proud heritage with an international audience – continuing the centuriesold Davoren tradition of providing education in the Burren.”

PRESSURE is mounting on An Post to bankroll a mid-week bus service for the people of Corofin who lost their local post office last week.

Following requests from members of the local community, Clare Accessible Transport have now started a Saturday morning service connecting Corofin and Kilfenora, one of the closest post offices to Corofin.

However, North Clare Senator Martin Conway (FG) met with offi cials at An Post last week and asked that the postal agency supply a midweek bus service to ease the pressure on locals.

“Many elderly people in Corofin and many of those on social welfare do not have transport and they will find it difficult to get to Kilfenora.

“I’m calling for An Post to provide bus transportation on a Tuesday and Friday for people without transportation, until an alternative premises can be found in Corofin,” said Senator Conway.

“An unfortunate set of circumstances led to the resignation of the postmaster in Corofin and to the closure of the post office.

“I acknowledge that An Post is doing its best, but the connectivity issue between the villages needs to be addressed,” he said.

Clare Accessible Transport hosted their first Saturday morning return service between Corofin and Kilfenora last week.

The not-for-profit organisation has committed to the service on a shortterm basis but could extend the service if required.

“The service leaves from outside Bofey Quinns in Corofin at 11.30am on Saturday and returns from Kilfenora at 12.15pm.

“We have a number of members in the Corofin area and they asked us to look at introducing this service,” said a spokesperson.

The Saturday morning bus service between Corofin and Kilfenora is open to anyone but users are asked to pay a € 10 yearly subscription to Clare Accessible Transport.

Following that, anyone with a travel pass can use the service for free, while a € 2 charge applies for the over 16s, and a € 1 charge applies for children under 16 years of age.

Children aged under five can use the service for free. Pre-booking is essential by ringing 061 924375.

Meanwhile, An Post have introduced an external postbox in Corofin to replace the posting facility in the Corofin Post Office and have confirmed that mail collections will continue at normal times.

It is still not clear when regular post office service will be resumed in Corofin.

THE process of removing illegally parked caravans and other temporary dwellings has become a “huge drain on staff and resources” for Clare County Council, a meeting has heard. Town clerk Leonard Cleary was speaking yesterday after concern was expressed over a recent rise in illegal encampments in Ennis and Clarecastle.

Mr Cleary said that at a time when the council has seen a 20 per cent reduction in staff numbers, local authorities do not have the capacity to devote resources to dealing with illegal encampments. He added, “It’s a huge source of frustration for staff and management.”

Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Daly (FF), said illegal encampments had become “too regular” around Ennis.

Mr Cleary was speaking at a meeting of councillors in the Ennis west electoral area. Cllr Tony Mulqueen (FG) had called for immediate action on illegal encampments and for “those responsible to pay all costs from their social welfare if necessary”.

In her reply, Fiona Mooney, Acting Senior Executive Officer, Housing Section, states, “The process for dealing with illegal encampments of temporary dwellings are invoked immediately by personnel.

“This does not amount to an immediate outcome, because the elements of the process necessarily take a minimal amount of time.

“The processes are as efficient as they can be given the inadequacies in the legislative framework available, the requirements of the legislation that can be invoked in each particular case, the available human resources to the council and other statutory agencies, and given the level of non-compliance with notices served.

“There is no mechanism provided for those responsible paying ‘all costs.’

In any case where a temporary dwelling has been removed, there is legislative provision for the owner to have to pay the removal cost, in order to retrieve it,” she added.

At a meeting of the Ennis East Electoral Committee, Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) said that people living in Ennis and Clarecastle have had their “hearts broken” by illegal encampments.

Mr Cleary said new national legislation is required in order to give the local authorities more effective powers.

CLARE is the only county in Munster without State-sponsored third level education, but it hasn’t stopped more people than ever before in the county embracing the education system.

That’s just one of the findings to emerge from the latest bulletin report of the 2011 National Census of Population released by the Central Statistics Office in the past week.

According to the figures, there are more students in Clare than there are people out of work in a breakdown of the population of the county that are over 15 years of age.

The huge surge in the numbers of students over the age of 15 in the county is reflected in a figure of 10,044, a figure which represents a 27.3 per cent jump numbering over 2,100 since the 2006 census results.

This means that the jump in student numbers in Clare is now running ahead of the provincial and national average that stands at 14 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.

However, the census returns have revealed that the county is behind the national average when it comes to the biggest tools of modern education – technology.

All because the numbers able to access much-needed information online is lower than in other parts of the country. Three in five Clare homes have access to broadband, and even this represents a four-fold jump from 2006, it’s still five percent below the national average.

The unemployment figures for the county stand at 9,805, which is lower than the national average, while the figure for those who are classified as ‘looking after the home/family’ is 8,476.

The figures for those working in Clare in April 2011 are 45,606, with the numbers of retired people standing at 12, 530.

Of the working population the healthy state of the agriculture industry in Clare is reflected in the fact that there are 7,499 farmer in Clare – a figure which is broken down between 5,064 men and 2,435 women.

AN ENNIS man who wanted to bring the stars of European football to Thomond Park says he is considering legal action against the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).

Damien O’Brien claims the FAI blocked his plans to stage a soccer tournament at the well-known Limerick venue at end of July.

Mr O’Brien’s Iconic Company in association with Endemol sports last year staged a tournament involving Inter Milan, Celtic and Manchester City at the Aviva stadium.

The Ennis native says the FAI scuppered his plans to host a similar event this year because they say it clashed with their plans for a tournament in Dublin.

He says, “I don’t know any tournament that’s taking place in Dublin in four weeks time. Madonna is playing alright but I don’t think she’s played for any team.

“I’d been in touch with the likes of Celtic, Chelsea, Lazio, Spurs, clubs like that about coming to Limerick. It was estimated that this would have been worth € 80 million to the local economy. Those aren’t my figures. Those are the figures from Thomond Park. Think of all the hotels and bars and restaurants and how well they could have done from something like this. I think its crazy what has happened.”

Mr O’Brien, who is originally from McNamara Park in the Turnpike area of Ennis, adds, “I’m looking at my options legally. They don’t have the authority to do this.”

The 38-year-old former Turnpike Rovers player says he has also pulled his sponsorship from the FAI’S flagship Emerging Talent Programme.

An FAI spokesman yesterday said the association had “no comment” to make on the matter.

Six years ago Mr O’Brien devised the format for Football’s Next Star a reality TV show that offers young footballers the chance to earn a professional contract with clubs such as Inter Milan and Chelsea. In 2009, Tulla United teenager Sunny Jay qualified for the final 40 of the competition.

The show will be screened on Irish television in September.

THE new committee structure put in place by the Government that has responsibility for implementing Shannon’s independence and the break-up of Shannon Development’s old responsibilities will produce results by the end of the year.

That’s according to Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar, who has rejected that the appointment of 28 different people to three separate government committees was too unwieldy to put concrete plans for the airport in place.

“It’s the nature of everything really that you want to include people and bring them along with you with as much as possible and at the same time you need to keep things tight. You need to strike that balance,” said Minister Varadkar.

“The steering committee is very tight. There are only five or six people. The task forces are all made up of people with particular expertise, or the particular agencies involved,” he added.

The committee structure for the airport was blasted on the first day of the aviation conference on Wednesday when aviation entrepreneur Domhnal Slattery said “committees are a useful forum, but don’t start businesses and are very rarely effective”.

In continuing his broadside against the blueprint for Shannon, chief executive of Avolon aircraft leasing company said the Government “has pretended to do something by putting Shannon into an interregnum, but has only kicked the can down the road, made it someone else’s problem and put off the ultimate decision”.

However, in defending government policy on Shannon, Minister Varadkar has told The Clare People that the roll out of Shannon’s new independent structure will take place in the coming months, ahead of the final deliberations of the two task forces and steering committees that have been given the job of formulating the new airport blueprint.

“The airport is still in decline and this year things haven’t really picked up and what’s important for everyone is to have certainty and to have decisions made and concluded this year,” he said.

“What I’m trying to do is add a sense of urgency to things. We are in a very difficult environment for aviation at the moment, but the job of government is to put in place the environment and the tools to be suc- cessful.

“The timeframe that has been given to the task force is to report to the government with detailed plans by November, but I don’t necessarily think we should wait that long. I would like to see things happen as they can be done and have everything concluded by the end of the year because uncertainty not helpful,” he added.

Minister Vardarkar said he couldn’t “say for certain” when the new Shannon structure will be up and running. “That involves other people and other bodies and potentially primary legislation, but we need a clear roadmap, clear decisions and a clear picture this year and implementation after that.”

A HEROIN addict who admitted handling stolen money totalling € 3,500 has received a three-year prison sentence.

Half of the term handed down to Michael Sweeney (23) at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court yesterday was suspended.

Mr Sweeney, with an address at 13 Wood Road, Kilrush, pleaded guilty to handling stolen money in Kilrush last July.

The court heard that gardaí received a report that € 18,000 was stolen from a car in Kilrush on July 4 (2011). Garda Oliver Downes of Kilrush Garda Station, told the court that the owner of the money had intended to buy a car. He said the money had been kept in three envelopes in his car.

A search was carried out at Mr Sweeney’s home but no money was found, the court heard. Garda Downes said the accused was arrested and later made admissions to gardaí. He said Mr Sweeney told them that he had met two other people in a nearby woods.

The court heard that Mr Sweeney received € 3500, of which he spent € 1250 on a Toyota Corolla and € 500 on drugs. He told gardaí that he gave € 1880 to a third party. The court heard that Mr Sweeney has 23 previous convictions and suffers from a “very severe” heroin addiction.

Counsel for Mr Sweeney, Pat Whyms BL, said no evidence had offered in the case other than his client’s admission of guilt. He said nobody else had been charged in relation to the case.

Mr Whyms added, “He received the money, he did know it was stolen, but he did not steal it.”

Mr Whyms told the court that his client had been given the money by one of the men who had committed the theft. He said this man had previously damaged a car belonging to Mr Sweeney and this money was to cover the cost. He said that at all times, Mr Sweeny had been “completely upfront about what happened.”

Judge Carroll Moran noted that there would have been no case against Mr Sweeney “without the admissions he made.”

He added, “If he had stayed quiet there would have been no case against him at all.”

He imposed a three-year sentence and suspended the final 18 months for four years on condition that Mr Sweeney keep the peace.

Jeanne O’GRADY
of 59 Marian Estate, Kilkee. Peacefully at St. Joseph’s Hospital Ennis . Reposing onTuesday morning at Lillis Funeral Kilkee from10.30a.m, with removal at 11.30a.mto Kilkee Parish Church for Requiem Mass at 12 noon followed by burial in Kilferagh Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Kathleen O’CONNELL
of Aughboy, Clonlara. Funeral mass onTuesday at 12 noon in Clonlara Church, with burial afterwards in Doonass Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Thomas HANRAHAN
of Clondrinagh, Coolmeen. Suddenly. Laid to rest in Kilmurray Mc Mahon Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Thomas McMAHON
of 9 Ballycar Road, Newmarket-on-Fergus. Laid to rest in Newland’s Cross Crematorium, Dublin. Donations if desired to Milford Hospice. May he rest in peace.

Joe McNAMARA
of Uggoon,Tulla. Laid to rest in the local cemetery inTulla. May he rest in peace.

Bridget (Bridie) O’DONOGHUE
(née Noone) of Ballycuneen, Drumline, Newmarket-on-Fergus. Laid to rest in Fenloe Cemetery. Donations if desired to Milford Hospice. May she rest in peace.

Bridget (Breda) CLEARY (née Casserly)
of Hazel Grove, Roslevan, Ennis. Laid to rest in Templemaley Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Martin McNAMARA
of Luton, Bedfordshire, England & formerly of ShackletonTerrace,Well Road, Kilkee. Suddenly in England of Martin McNamara, Luton, England and formerly of ShackletonTerrace,Well Road, Kilkee. Cremation has taken place in England. Funeral Mass on Saturday, July 7 in St. Senan’s Church Kilkee at 11.30amfollowed by interment of Ashes in the family Grave in Lisdeen Cemetery Kilkee. May he rest in peace.

Jimmy O’DEA
of Tullabrack, Cooraclare. Peacefully. Laid to rest in Breaffa Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Kitty FOUDY (née Glynn)
of Kylea, Inagh. Laid to rest in Inagh. Donations, if desired, to Friends of Ennistymon Hospital. May she rest in peace.

David LYSAGHT
of 7 Ross an Oir, Ballycasey, Shannon. Laid to rest in Illaunumanagh Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Bridie (TOSF) CULLINAN (née Hickey)
of Clonroad, Ennis. Peacefully, in her 98th year. Laid to rest in Drumcliffe Cemetery. May she rest in peace.

Joe GRIFFIN
of Cragbrien, Darragh, Ennis. Peacefully. Laid to rest in Ballyea Church grounds. Donations, if desired, to Milford Hospice or Irish Cancer Society. May he rest in peace.

Sean MEEHAN
of Ardykyl, Sixmilebridge. Peacefully. Laid to rest at Feenagh Cemetery. May he rest in peace.

Emmet (Hopper) RYAN
of Dough, Kilkee. Reposing onTuesday evening at Lillis’ Funeral Home in Kilkee from5pmuntil 7pm. Remains arriving to St. Senan’s Church, Kilkee, onWednesday morning for RequiemMass at 11.30am, followed by burial in Lisdeen Cemetery. Family flowers only please donations in lieu to Pieta House. May he rest in peace.

Owen NEVILLE
of Fergus Drive, Shannon. Reposing in Milford Hospice Mortuary onTuesday at 5.30pmuntil removal at 7.30pm. RequiemMass at Mary Immaculate Church, Shannon, onWednesday at 12 noon, followed by burial afterwards in the Old Cemetery, Adare. Family flowers only, please. Donations, if desired, to Milford Hospice. May he rest in peace.

Margaret (Peg) BYRNE (née Malone)
of (Shambo) Blackthorn Drive, Caherdavin, Limerick, and Carrigoran Nursing Home, Newmarketon-Fergus. Reposing in Carrigoran Nursing Home, Newmarket-on-Fergus, onTuesday at 4pmuntil 7pm. RequiemMass at Carrigoran Nursing Home onWednesday at 10.30am, followed by burial afterwards in St James Church Cemetery, Glenmore, Co. Kilkenny. May she rest in peace.

A WEST Clare branch of AIB has been targeted and robbed by an armed robber for the second time in 10 months. During the morning of Friday last, a lone gunman entered the bank’s branch on O’Curry Street, Kilkee, and held up staff. The hooded raider went behind the counter and took an undisclosed amount of cash from registers and the general counter area, before escaping towards the beach. No shots were fired during the robbery and no one was hurt in the inci- dent, but the two members of staff and customers were extremely shocked following the terrifying ordeal. Gardaí in Kilrush are investigating the incident and are appealing for the public’s assistance. A spokesperson for the Gardaí said the robbery took place at approximately 10.55am. “He lifted the counter and produced a firearm and, in a threatening manner, demanded money. He then took a sum of money from the tills and counter area. He left on foot down O’Curry Street, down Pantry Lane and on to Strandline and made good his escape,” he said. It is now hoped that someone will be able to come forward with details as to the thief’s mode of transport. “Did anyone notice this man in Kilkee before or after the robbery or what transport he may have used to come and go from Kilkee? Was he on his own or was he accompanied by others?” Gardaí are trying to ascertain. The brazen thief is described as five foot eight inches tall, with a “long, thin-looking face”. He wore a dark jacket and grey hoodie during the robbery. Anyone with information can contact Gardaí in Kilrush on 065 9080550.

THE Clare unemployed who previously worked in middle management or in a supervisory capacity are finding their new job-seeking status particularly difficult, so much so that the local St Vincent de Paul has set up a support and information network targeted at this group.

Clare Connect will support people as they write a CV, prepare them to search for jobs in a changing economy and, most of all, according to facilitator John Quinlivan, “help them out of the feeling of hopelessness”.

He explained that a number of people began work a long time ago in jobs where they could work their way up the corporate ladder.

Many of these people worked all their lives in the same company and, when the recession hit, they were unprepared when they lost their jobs.

They then discovered that they were over-qualified for many positions they wished to apply for, or potential employers had concerns about the financial cost of employing someone with such experience.

“Even coming to terms with the whole thing can be difficult,” explained Mr Quinlivan.

However, he maintains there is help and hope out there through Clare Connect. Through this support, people can learn how to retrain, rethink their job-seeking tactics and, just as importantly, according to the group’s facilitator, meet other people in a similar situation so that they can support each other and learn that they are not alone.

On Thursday, July 12, Clare Connect will hold a meeting in the Information Age Park, Shannon Development Offices, Ennis, at 10am.

During the meeting, Liam Horan of Sluath Nua will help people plan their CV and work out the best plan for them. All are welcome to attend and it is free of charge.

Mr Quinlivan asked that those wishing to attend would let the organisers know by emailing clareconnect123@gmail.com.

The Clare Connect programme is part of the work carried out by the St Joseph Conference of the St Vincent de Paul. This conference specialises in education and helping people back into the work place.

It is supported by the Clare County Enterprise Board, Shannon Development, Clare Local Development Company Ltd (previously Leader) and Clare County Council.

CRATLOE is the most expensive part of Clare for house hunters.

According to the real-estate website daft.ie the average asking price for a house in the southern part of the county, on the border with Limerick city and stretching up towards Sixmilebridge, is now at € 181,698.

However the prices here have dropped significantly since peak prices, from April to June 2007.

Back then the asking price for an average family home was € 371,091, over twice the current asking price.

As of June this year, the average price for a two-bed property in this area was € 114,577, a three-bed property € 161,458, and a four-bed property € 273,758.

On average house prices in Clare have dropped by 50.6 per cent since the height of the boom, but while almost all of Munster was showing an evening out of prices during between March and June, Clare and Limerick City were the exceptions.

Asking prices for house in Clare continued to drop by as much as 2.8 per cent during these last three months, with the average price now at € 151,211. The average four-bedroom house in the county has an asking price of € 186,000 however with five-beds reaching € 261,000.

Those wishing to become home owners can also expect to pay above the county average in Flagmount, Feakle and Caher where there is an average asking price of € 158,911, down 49 per cent since peak prices and Tulla and O’Callaghan’s Mills has an average asking price of € 153,599 down 45.6 per cent.

Prices are also relatively high in Doolin and Kilshanny at € 154,833, down 48.7 per cent in five years.

And if you want a bargain buy in County Clare your best bet is West Clare where houses covering an area from Kilmurry McMahon, up towards Connolly and Quilty and west to Cree have an average asking price of € 91,959.