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THE future of rural Ireland will be up for debate at this year’s Merriman Summer School, which takes place in Lisdoonvarna this August. The line-up for the summer school was confirmed yesterday with the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG), set to speak as part of the event.

This year’s school is being directed by the Chairman of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and former Director General of RTÉ, Bob Collins, who has chosen ‘Thriving at the Crossroads: Rural Ireland in a Globalised World’, as the theme.

“For a long time, the focus of Ireland’s identity was its rural, its agrar- ian base. Frequently romanticised, regularly misunderstood, it had an important part in the shaping of ourselves and of a sense of our ideal selves,” said Doireann Ní Bhriain of the Merriman Summer School.

“The world that gave us that approach is long gone. The face of the country has been transformed. Urban life and the urban experience dominate the international media and shape contemporary identities.

“And yet, rural Ireland continues to exist. Its landscape still proclaims its beauty. Its people make an impact on the life on the country. Its fields produce food that is consumed in many lands.”

Alongside Minister Coveney, the summer school will also feature Professor Kevin Whelan of the Univer- sity of Notre Dame, Professor Chris Curtin of NUI Galway, Dr Ruth McManus and Eddie Downey, Vice President of the IFA.

Some of the specific topics earmarked for discussion include how the new virtual community relates to rural Ireland as well as questions about the future of farming, food, landscape, tourism, sustainability and the environment.

“This year’s school sets out to offer a positive but realistic perspective on the reality that is rural Ireland, It will look at the possibilities and potentials of the future,” added Doireann

The Merriman Summer School will run from Wednesday, August 15 to Sunday, August 19, at the Pavillion Theatre in Lisdoonvarna and other venues in the locality.

A PEDIGREE cow from Barefield has become an internet sensation around the world in little over a week, after her curiosity got the better of her and he strayed from the long acre around Ballyalla to go ‘shopping’ for some bathroom ware.

That’s the story being told and viewed around the world in a threeand-a-half-minute YouTube clip that has gone viral in the past week as nearly 10,000 internet users a day log onto the young heifer’s interest in shopping.

It’s all to do with the Charolais heifer belonging to a local farmer that strayed into the Ennis Supply shop on the Gort Road last Saturday week, was filmed on a mobile phone and posted on the internet and, as of Monday night, had nearly 70,000 people viewing the footage.

“It’s amazing really,” Ennis Supply owner Stephen Flaherty told The Clare People this week. “I’m not from the YouTube age and I didn’t even know that it was put up on the internet, but the fact that it was and has had so many hits in unbelievable.

“It was on Saturday afternoon and the heifer just walked in the front door of the shop and walked around for about 15 minutes.

“She did no damage and we were eventually able to guide her out of the shop.

“She belonged to a local farmer, who farms at Ballycoree, and strayed from a field when a gate was left open and she eventually made her way up to us. While she was walking around, a young fella by the name of Damian Corry, who works with us on a Saturday, started filming him.

“When we got him out, I thought that was the end of it, but now loads of people are calling me to say they’ve seen it on the internet.

“I suppose you could say it’s some advertising for the business,” added Mr Flaherty.

MORE and more distressed Clare families are seeking legal assistance new figures have shown.

One in every three queries to Clare’s Legal Advice Centres last year was on matters of family law according to the Free Legal Advice Centre Report.

The centre in Ennis also proves to be the busiest centre in Munster attracting 449 people last year alone.

As many as 497 people received legal advice from the three centres in County Clare last year.

And while one third of the callers were concerned about family issues, 14 per cent had enquiries about employment law and their rights.

Money matters in the form of debt problem made up 11 per cent of the calls in Clare, nine per cent were concerned about housing and property and eight per cent about consumer law. Just four per cent of the calls related to crime.

FLAC noted a particular development around increasing debt prob- lems intersecting with issues such as family, employment and housing.

“FLAC has focused on reforming laws around personal debt because we have seen the terrible impact of over-indebtedness on people contacting us, having dealt some 83,000 legal queries since the start of 2008,” said Noeline Blackwell, FLAC Director General. “We have kept it simple: we need an independent, out-of-court debt settlement structure that will examine people’s personal debt in a holistic way and where possible aim to keep people in their homes.” Clare has three of these NSO centres in conjunction with the Citizens Information Centres in County Clare. The busy Ennis centre is open every Monday afternoon, Thursday evening and Friday evening at the Ennis CIC on Bindon Lane, while there are also evening clinics in Kilrush on the first and third Tuesdays of the month and an evening clinic in Shannon on the last Monday of the month. FLAC is an NGO that relies on a combination of statutory funding, contributions from the legal professions and donations from individu als and grant-making foundations to support its work. FLAC offers basic legal information through its telephone information line and free legal advice through its network of 80 volunteer evening advice centres. It also campaigns on a range of issues including personal debt, fairness in social welfare law, public interest law and civil legal aid.

PRESIDENT of Ireland Michael D Higgins did not call himself a Clare man during his first offical presidental visit to the county, but his brother and sister both agreed it was safe to consider him “one of our own”.

Ireland’s first citizen, who spent his formative years, from the age of five to 19, living in his parental home of Ballycar, Newmarket on Fergus, would not describe himself as a Clare man but a man with many associations with different counties.

“Yes indeed I associate myself with Clare.

“There are many origins I have that are very simply understood,” he said.

“My father and my grandfather and my greatgrandfather have been associated with County Clare since time immemorial. I am glad to say in the 1901 census in the townland of Ballycar there are four families of Higgins. And once again as a result of my brother’s [John] activites and his sons, there are four families in Ballycar again.”

The President explained that his mother came from an area near Charleville in Cork and her family continue to live there.

A former TD for Galway West, he described how the city accepted him as a migrant and its mayor twice.

“Galway is where my own fam- ily have been born and rared,” he added.

While the president maintained his life experiences have been made up of many counties, including the city of Limerick where he was born, all have a common thread of both rural and urban life.

It is these experiences that have formed the ninth President of Ireland, who admited that coming back to Clare as the country’s first citizen was like coming home.

THREE Junior Certificate students from Ennis have been hailed as heroines by Clare Civil Defence chief Liam Griffin this week after their quick thinking helped save the life of a woman who got into difficulty after going into the River Fergus to retrieve her dog.

Rice College students Ellen McMahon (15), Aisling O’Sullivan (15) and Eve Copley (15) came to the rescue of a woman, who hasn’t been identified, who was out walking her dog on Tuesday evening last near Steele’s Rock in the Lifford area the town.

“The three of us were walking past at about 7.15pm, having been up town for something to eat after our Business Studies exam,” revealed Ms McMahon. “When we were passing, the woman was standing behind the wall and the dog was on the steps at Steele’s Rock. We walked on a bit and, when we looked back, the dog was being dragged downstream and the woman had moved to the steps and was calling him.

“Then she went in after the dog and was taken away by the flow of the water down towards the FBD offices. She was very tired because she had swum out to get the dog and the current was so strong there was no way she would have been able to swim back to the steps,” she added.

The three students quickly raced back to get the lifebuoy that’s located near Steele’s Rock and came to the aid of the woman, who was getting into difficulty.

“She had a hold of the dog and we raced up got the lifebuoy and threw it in to her and slowly dragged her in. We didn’t get her name because, after being soaked to the skin, she got a drive home from a passing motorist,” revealed Ms McMahon.

“Their quick thinking helped save that woman’s life,” Clare Civil Defence chief Liam Griffin told The Clare People . “It just shows the importance of lifebuoys,” he added, “because sometimes they get vandalised and the people who do that can cost a life. Luckily in this case, it was there and the girls were able to use it and come to the rescue of the woman.”

THERE are now more than 3,000 uninsured drivers in Clare, new figures released by an insurers watchdog have revealed, with these offenders being held up as responsible for hiking up the premiums of lawabiding drivers.

The figures have been released by the Irish Brokers Association which has called for Clare Gardaí to be given the power to confiscate the cars of uninsured drivers.

“There are 51,725 licensed private cars in Clare and it is estimated that 3,100 of these could be uninsured,” Brian McNelis, Director of General Services at the Irish Brokers Association told The Clare People .

He continued, “What the general public in Clare may not know is that these uninsured drivers could be indirectly costing them an additional € 30 on their annual car insurance premiums.

“The UK have now made it illegal to own an uninsured vehicle, even if it is kept off the roads, in an attempt to stamp out uninsured driving.

“However, we believe that such measures may be a little harsh on those who have fallen on hard times and have had to take their car off the road for a period of time.

Mr McNelis went on to say, “We do, however, feel that the current penalties are not acting as a sufficient deterrent and would urge compliant drivers to report those that don’t have insurance as they are ultimately paying their insurance for them.”

Motor insurance offences are pun- ishable by a fine of up to € 2, 500, disqualification of one year or more for a first offence, and two years or more for a second offence, and, at the discretion of the court, a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months, though these maximum penalties are rarely imposed.

Where the court decides not to impose a disqualification, drivers convicted of a first offence of driving without insurance will incur five penalty points on their licence record in addition to any other penalty imposed by the court.

A COUPLE who said they were discriminated against on the basis that they are Travellers have won their case against an Ennis pub.

John Mongans (33) and his wife Anne Marie Mongans (31) said they felt “humiliated” and “embarrassed” after being refused a drink at All Bar One, Abbey Street, Ennis on November 3, 2011.

The Ennis couple brought a case against Tradewell Pub Company Ltd under the Equal Status Act.

The case was heard at Ennis District Court on Thursday. Tradewell Pub Company Ltd was not represented in court.

Mr Mongans said he and his wife entered the bar at around 9.15pm on the night in question. He said the barman came over and told them that the bar was closed.

Mr Mongans said other customers in the bar were drinking at the time and “nothing looked out of the ordinary”.

The couple left the bar and came back at around 10.15pm. Mr Mon- gans said he asked for two drinks but the barman refused. According to Mr Mongans, the barman said that he was closing the bar in order to control the crowd in the pub. The court that Mr Mongans went outside and rang the Gardaí.

He said, “I felt totally embarrassed that I had to go and get the guards.”

He said “settled people” whom he played soccer with had seen what had happened at the bar.

Asked by solicitor Andrew Darcy why he believed he had been refused service, Mr Mongans said, “I was re- fused on the basis of being a member of the Traveller community.”

He added, “I don’t hide the fact that I am a Traveller.”

Ms Mongans was described in court as a proactive member of the Traveller community. She said she was a member of a committee that worked with Clare County Council on the issue of Traveller accommodation.

Ms Mongans told the court that people she knew from her children’s school were in the pub on the night. “I felt very, very humiliated,” she added.

The court heard that the couple had not been drinking on the night. Judge Timothy Lucey said that he found the case proven. He said there was no good reason why the couple should have been refused.

Judge Lucey added, “To be refused because you are a member of the Travelling community, when you are well behaved, is very upsetting.”

Mr Darcy said the couple were not seeking the closure of the bar.

Judge Lucey ordered that that couple be given € 500 compensation each, plus costs of € 250 and VAT.

THE development of a maritime and angling centre at Doonbeg Pier may soon be back on the agenda as MEP Marian Harkins (IND) last week committed to finding funding for the project at European level.

More than half a million euro of funding had been allocated to the project in 2008, but this funding was never drawn down because of a difficulty in obtaining a foreshore license for the area.

The MEP, who visited the pier last week and met with representatives of the Doonbeg Fishermen’s Association, says the Doonbeg Pier is in bad need of development which could mean a major boost for the local fishing and tourism industry.

“It seems extraordinary that a project which was approved funding of € 525,000 in 2008 and is deemed strategically important by Clare County Council has not proceeded,” said the MEP.

“I will be doing whatever I can to bring a fresh focus on a project which will be of great benefit to the economy of West Clare.”

It is, as yet, unclear what “fresh focus” Ms Harkins will be able to bring to the project but some funding from the European authorities could possibly be used to kickstart the project.

Responding to Ms Harkins comment, Senior Engineer with Clare County Council, Tom Tiernan, said that the council did grant the development Part VIII planning permission more than four years ago.

“Clare County Council has never referred to Doonbeg Pier as a strategically important project, as claimed by Ms Harkin.

“However, Doonbeg Pier is zoned for maritime use in the West Clare Local Area Plan 2012-2018,” he said.

“The harbour area on Doonbeg Bay is reserved for the future development of the pier and land-based facilities to accommodate waterbased commercial activities, subject to compliance with all environmental considerations and legislation.

“Clare County Council approved development under the Part VIII at Doonbeg Pier in 2007. The proposal at the time also needed Foreshore Lease approval and this was also sought in 2007.

“Unfortunately, this was never approved and therefore the allocation referred to by Ms Harkin could not be availed of.”

During her visit to Clare last week, MEP Harkin was given an “extensive briefing” on the development.

She said that she would be investigating what sources of funds might be available for what she described as a “very justified project” utilising the uniquely safe and sheltered characteristics of Doonbeg Pier.

MEMBERS of the public have been invited to a meeting on Monday night aimed at drawing up a communityled development plan for Clarecastle. Organised by Clarecastle Community Development Ltd, the meeting will take place in the Abbey Hall on Monday, June 25 at 8pm.

Clarecastle Community Development Ltd (CCD) is a non-profit-making company that was established six months ago. Its main objective is to promote the educational, cultural, social and economic wellbeing of all the members of the community of Clarecastle and its environs

The first phase of mapping out a new blueprint for community-led development in Clarecastle was launched in January. At the time, the company sought feedback from local people.

A CCD spokeswoman explained, “Clarecastle Community Development Ltd has finally concluded a lengthy consultation process with the people and organisations of Clarecastle through which it aimed to establish the community’s future vision for the village. It has received input from individuals, the business community, schoolchildren, youth and individuals. It has met with over 40 organisations within the community and has received useful feedback from them.”

She continued, “From this feedback, Clarecastle Community Development Ltd will put together a development plan for the next few years but, in the meantime, certain projects have been identified as being of significant importance to the community. CCD Ltd is now considering how best to develop these.” She added, “The interim Board of Clarecastle Community Development Ltd would like to share some of the feedback and ideas for potential development with the community of Clarecastle, identify some priority projects and look at our next steps.”

In May 2011, a public meeting was held which identified positives and negatives about Clarecastle and produced ideas for developing the village and its environs. The then Acting Development Group made a recommendation in September 2011 that a Selection Committee would nominate a new Development Committee. An interim Board of Directors of the new development company was nominated and met for the first time in October 2011.

THE Kiawah Resort Associates group remains “fully committed” to its exclusive five-star Doonbeg golf course resort, despite fears this week that legal action in America could spark a fire-sale of its assets.

The golf course, which was designed by two-time British Open winner Greg Norman and officially opened in 2002, is part of an overall development built at a cost of nearly € 30 million by the South Carolinabased Kiawah Resort Associates group.

However, the company’s minority shareholders have filed a lawsuit claiming that Charles ‘Buddy’ Darby – the majority owner of the firm – has been “siphoning off” and “misappropriating” income and assets for the benefit of himself and his family.

The minority owners – who include members of Mr Darby’s extended family – want a Carolina court to order that both Doonbeg and a resort on the paradise Caribbean island of St Kitts be sold off and the proceeds distributed amongst all the beneficial owners.

In a lengthy complaint just filed in a Charleston court, minority owners of Kiawah Resort Associates have made a number of allegations.

They claim Mr Darby has engaged in a “systematic, unremitting course of conduct” over a number of years to exclude minority partners from the business and affairs of the Kiawah operation.

They say they’ve been denied access to corporate information and that Mr Darby has attempted to “freeze them out”.

Mr Darby, court documents say, secured majority control of the Kiawah business in 1997. The minority partners allege that he has effectively operated the business as his own.

“There is no board of directors to oversee Buddy Darby’s total dominion” of the Kiawah business, they’ve told the court. They say he has also “unilaterally directed profits” from Kiawah businesses to himself and other businesses that have links to his own immediate family.

“Personally, I am disappointed that this action has been taken,” said Mr Darby.

“I would have hoped that the matters could have been resolved out of court and that is still my wish.”

Mr Darby said that the Kiawah group remains “fully committed” to Doonbeg and its “continuing success now and in the future”.

The Kiwah group has accumulated losses of € 48 million, but the company has a target of turning a profit at the Doonbeg resort by 2014.

In 2008, the group valued the Doonbeg links at € 17 million and buildings at € 14 million. Th e e a rly o u t lo o k fo r n e xt we e k is fo r m o re c lo u d s, o c c a sio n a l ra in a n d n o re a l su n n y d a ys ye t .