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PROMOTING a greater understanding of Clare’s rich heritage for both local and visitor alike has emerged as a major tenet of Clare County Council environmental policy from now until 2017.

This commitment going forward, in tandem with conserving and enhanc ing the county natural environment, is contained in the second Clare Heritage Plan (2011-2017) that has been put together over the last year.

The launch of the plan in the Vandeleur Walled Garden on Monday was followed by visit to Scattery Islands – considered to be one of jewels in Clare’s heritage crown – by some of the key partners in formulation of the ambitious six-year plan.

The publication of the heritage bluerprint marks the culmination of a year’s work by the County Clare Heritage Forum and brings together the interests and agendas of the 23 forum members and 64 submissions made by the public.

“There were 66 partners in the development of this plan,” revealed Heritage Officer, Conjella McGuire, “all of whom have generously committed their time, energy and expertise.

“As a result of this, the Heritage Plan brings together a wide range of backgrounds and interests.”

Launching the plan, the Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Hayes said “our heritage is about people, place, culture, nature and the opportunities that it can offer in the future.

“Our heritage is one of our greatest strengths in the county and I intend to lead the implementation of this ambitious plan for the benefit of the county,” added Mayor Hayes, who has been chairman of the council Heritage Forum since 2006.

“The plan has three overall aims which are supported by 14 objectives and in total contains 77 actions. It is an ambitious plan and seeks to complement and build on the achievements of the previous Heritage Plan 2003-2007,” said Ms McGuire.

“Community groups have fostered and enhanced their local heritage and a wide variety of community heritage initiatives are underway in the county at present, many of which are showcased throughout the county this week during Heritage Week,” said Cllr Oliver Garry, chairman of the West Clare area group of county councilors.

“Community groups and individuals require funding and technical advice in order to implement best practice,” he added.

A CLARE man says he is confident of winning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records next month when he attempts to swim 10km underwater in under eight hours.

Barefield diver Christopher Healy has been given the official go-ahead from the Guinness Book of World Records to go ahead with the dive on September 18 next. Because this will be a new category for the records, Christopher, who owns the Atlantic Diving School, has been set a target of eight hours to complete the 10km course in order to make the book.

“I am going to go 10 kilometres completely underwater. We are starting off at Crab Island in Doolin and we have a route mapped out which will take us about a quarter of a mile out into the Atlantic, then north up the coast and back again to Crab Island.

“We will be setting a new category for the Guinness Book of World Records. They have set us the challenge of finishing the 10k dive in under eight hours to make the record but I am confident that we can complete it in under seven.

“We are looking to smash the target that they have set and make it very hard for anyone who might want to come after us and want to break this record. We are going to push it all the way and make sure that if anyone wants to come and better us, they will have to earn it.”

The attempt will see Christopher being helped by three safety boats, as well as a safety snorkler and two guide snorklers.

“The guide snorklers will go ahead of me and drag a small lead weight along the bottom of the sea floor that is the mark that I will follow. It is very hard to tell directions under water,” continued Christopher.

“The idea is that we will have two guide snorklers and two safety snorklers who will take the journey in shifts. The safety snorkler will be my son and my wife who will both swim 5km each underwater.”

Sponsorship cards are available for anyone who wants to support Christopher’s record attempt, with all money raised going to the Share A Dream Foundation. To donate money, visit www.mycharity.ie/event/ 10k_world_record_attempt.

A NEW masterplan for the development and safeguarding of services at Shannon Airport is set to be unveiled in September, just ahead of the 75year anniversary of when the first sod was turned to start the construction of Ireland’s first transatlantic gateway.

In consultation with Dublin Airport Authority chiefs, the Shannon Airport Authority are now believed to be putting the finishing touches to the blueprint that will be expected to chart a new future for the former hub of the aviation world over the next decade.

The plan’s publication will be the culmination of a consultation process between the Dublin Airport Authority, SAA and the public, by way of taking submissions on the airport’s future from key partners in the wider airport infrastructure and catchment area, before finalising the key points of concern and concentration in Shannon’s drive to usher in a new era of profitablity.

“A key element in drafting such a plan is to elicit the opinions of airport stakeholders,” a Shannon spokesper- son revealed in April, after business groups in the mid-west region were invited to a think-tank aimed at coming up with new ideas for the airport going forward.

The masterplan is being formulated against a backdrop of figures contained in the recently released Dublin Airport Authority annual report, which revealed that passenger numbers through Shannon in 2010 dropped by one million over the previous year.

This drop represented a 37 percent decline in passenger traffic, a 12-year low at Shannon.

Only 1,755, 885 passengers used Shannon in 2010, a figure that’s now lower than 1998 levels of 1,840,008 passengers when the airport was still reeling from the loss of its transatlantic gateway status in 1993.

The drastic fall-off in numbers, from 2,794,563 in 2009 represented the fourth year in a row that Shannon’s passenger count when into sharp decline.

Between 2004 and 2005 passenger numbers increased by a record 37.9 per cent as Shannon’s numbers grew to a record 3,639,046 from 2,395,116 over a two-year period.

It’s expected that the new blueprint will concentrate on stabilizing Shannon’s finances – rather that directly addressing the passenger decline with the transformation of Shannon into a worldwide cargo hub development seen as a potential saviour for the airport.

Into this category comes the Lynx Cargo trans-shipment facility, which is to be grant aided to the tune of € 6m by the DAA, while Shannon Development chairman, Dr Vincent Cunnane has said “the airport will not survive on passengers alone and needs a cargo hub”.

THE response of local authorities in dealing with floods that hit Ennis in 2009 was highlighted at a major United Nations conference last month.

A delegation from Ennis Town Council recently returned from the 2011 World Cities Scientific Development Forum held in Chengdu China. The Ennis delegation had been invited by its sister city in Phoenix, Arizona, to attend the Forum. The theme for the Forum was ‘Development and Cooperation among Cities: Building Liveable Cities for Humanity’. 33 countries and 14 different organisations were represented at the Forum.

Councillor Mary Howard (FG) deputising for the Mayor of Ennis and Gerard Dollard, Ennis Town Manager presented to the conference on the Irish approach to major emergency management, with particular reference to recent severe weather crises in Ennis. The opportunity was taken to highlight proposals included in the Clare County Development Plan for the development of a Global Logistics Centre at Shannon International Airport and the contribution such a centre could make to addressing aid issues that arise in major disasters.

Cllr Howard stated, “It was a great honour for Ennis to be asked to attend such a forum and to have an opportunity to contribute to the overall debate for disaster risk reduction. There were over 200 delegates from around the world at the conference and it was very beneficial to be able to present the Irish approach and in particular highlight the strategic location of Shannon Airport in terms of the role it could play in humanitarian aid following major disasters and crises. We were approached after our presentation by a number of parties, including representatives of the UNESCO Global Task Force for Building Codes and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) regarding the potential of the Shannon proposal. We will be following up the comments made to see how Shannon can be part of emerging plans for dealing with major global crises and disasters.”

Mr Dollard commented, “We were very impressed with the range of participants attending from all over the world. The issues faced by Ennis are no different to the issues being faced by countries around the world. The case for Shannon was strongly made and is boosted by the progress on the Lynx Cargo Project, the existence of US Customs and Border Protection facility, the 24/7 nature of the airport, use of the longest runway in Europe and the availability of a substantial land bank. These were all highlighted as being particularly relevant to facilitating a global hub for humanitarian aid.”

The travel and accommodation costs of the Ennis delegation were met by the organisers of the Forum.

THE Ennis Business Forum is doing its bit to try and transform the county capital into Ireland’s friendliest town. Now comes another initiative being pioneered by three-time former Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Frankie Neylon, to create buzz in the town for one day, in the hope that it can stimulate renewed interest and activity in the retail sector.

It’s being labelled as Ennis’ ‘Super Tuesday’ and it takes place on September 6 next – an idea that Cllr Neylon says can be “whatever businesses in the town want it to be to try and help their business”.

The idea for staging a once-off event where businesses can run special promotions, whether individually or in groups, was floated by Cllr Neylon earlier this month within the Ennis Town Council. Since then, thanks to a local marketing drive through the circulation of handouts and questionares among all the businesses in town, sufficient interest has prompted the designation of the first Tuesday of September as the county capital’s ‘Super Tuesday’.

“September 6 is around the time that Muhammad Ali came to Ennis,” says Cllr Neylon. “We can’t use his name for anything and a few people said to me that we should come up with a festival. It was difficult enough to get people to commit to anything.

“I mentioned Super Tuesday to a few people and they thought it was a good idea, so I ran with it a couple of weeks ago. The idea for the day is that instead of making a profit for the day that they might make a customer. It’s to have a special day. They can do whatever they want. It’s left totally to themselves to do what they want.

“We’re inviting all the traders in the town to take part. We want them to join us to have one good day of shopping in Ennis. We want each trader to have their own Super Tuesday – they can do whatever kind of promotion they want with their business.

“I can say that it has proven to be a success so far, and that’s even a good bit ahead of the event. Up to 30 of the businesses around town have been on to me already and they are taking part. We circulated a handout to all businesses. We collected those last week and now we’re getting ready for the day,” he adds.

A SECOND major climbing accident of the summer took place in North Clare this Saturday when a man had to be airlifted to safety after falling more than five metres at the Ailladee area, just north of Doolin.

The man, who is understood to be a Czech national living in Ireland, was “free climbing” with three others on Saturday evening when the accident took place.

Free climbing mean climbing without the use of ropes and is considered to be more dangerous than abseiling using ropes.

A 41-year-old man was airlifted to hospital after his climbing equipment apparently failed and he fell five metres from a cliff face, crushing several vertebrae in his back. The man was airlifted to by Rescue 115 to the University College Hospital in Galway.

Meanwhile, a passenger ferry ran aground in low tide in Doolin last week – forcing it’s crew and captain to remain on board for several hours until the tide changed again.

The Rose of Aran, which is operated by Aran Doolin Ferries, was arriving in Doolin to collect passengers before travelling to the Aran Islands when the incident took place.

The Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard assessed the vessel and concluded that it was neither in danger of capsizing or a pollution risk.

“The tides were very low last week and the ship ran aground. It is something that could happen any time at Doolin except for the skill of the skippers who are navigating in that shallow area,” said Matty Shannon of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard.

“The boat didn’t list and there was no immediate danger. This is the sort of thing that wouldn’t happen if there was a new pier in Doolin.”

PEOPLE with old sewing machines that are no longer in use are invited to donate them to a group in Shannon.

The Shannon Musical Society is gearing up for its spring production ‘The Pyjama Game’. The show, which will be the society’s 34th production, is based on a trade union dispute in a sewing machine factory.

This is the second time the society has staged this production, following a successful run in 1990.

The group will have its first meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, at the Shannon Knights Inn, where newcomers are invited to attend and meet several of the society’s existing members.

“We have a brilliant crew. Our committee are very young and enthusiastic,” said the PRO of the society, Mary Forde.

“We are trying to encourage new members to join. We have a lot of new people in the past few years but we need to keep adding,” she said.

The show is based on the Richard Bissells novel Seven And A Half Cents , which has been in existence for decades.

Given the show’s topic, she said that the hunt is on for sewing machines. “We would welcome anybody out there with old sewing machines to donate them,” said Ms Forde.

“This is a time for the long-standing members to meet up again after the very successful ‘Wedding Singer’. It’s also a great opportunity for new members to become involved in the society and to meet existing members and get acquainted with the organising and running of the society,” she added.

Carmel Griffin, who has been involved for several years, is the musical director, while Karen Barrett – who also features regularly in the shows – is the choreographer. Donal Cantwell from Dublin, who is involved for the first time, will be the producer.

Rehearsals will get underway on September 6, while the show will be staged at St Patrick’s Comprehensive School from February 12 to 18 next year.

Anyone wishing to get involved in the show should turn up at the Shannon Knights tomorrow, Wednesday, at 8pm, or phone 087 6270107.

AN AMATEUR west Clare DJ has built up a cult following for himself on German radio, with around 8,000 Germans tuning in to hear his programme each week.

Kilkee DJ Patrick Linanne began his career at Radio Corca Baiscinn around six years ago and, after taking a number of training opportunities, he began to podcast an hour-long Electrohouse show over the internet.

The podcasted show, which was entitled ‘Groove On the Loop’, built up a small cult following of listeners, which gave Patrick the inspiration to submit his shows to German dance station Wheee FM.

“I heard about Wheee FM, which is a radio station based in Munich, and I sent them a few of my sets. I didn’t think anything of it but a few weeks later I got an email telling me that I was going to get a regular weekly slot, which was amazing,” said Patrick.

“It you look at the figures from the show, we know that we are getting more than 8,000 listeners a week in Germany. The radio station has some really big-name DJ’s contributing. The ethos of the station is all about promoting new talent and putting them alongside big name DJs. Anyone can join it and if you are good enough you can get a show.

“The station broadcasts online 24 hours a day across the world. It is mainly online but it does broadcast on a frequency in Germany although there is no real way of knowing how many people are tuning in for that.

“The show is really a 60-minute set. I have put some talking between the music on some sets but sometimes I don’t even bother. When I do talk, I talk in English. Myself and Sebas- tian had that conversation back at the very beginning and we decided that, because so many German people can speak English and because they will hardly be able to understand my west Clare accent either way, that there was no point in my trying out the German.”

‘Groove on the Loop’ can be heard on www.wheee.fm/cms each Saturday at 2pm and repeated on Wednesday’s at 12 noon.

THE Kinvara Farmers market will continue trading in 2011, even if difficulties in obtaining a license to trade in the town’s square cannot be overcome. The future of the market had looked in jeopardy earlier this month due to ongoing delays in completing legislation to clarify the standing of markets hosted on public areas.

The market, which has proved a huge success since it was first set up in 2009, has up until now traded on private property at Johnson’s Garden but this area will be unavailable to traders next year. The market had originally been designed to trade in the Square in Kinvara but delays in drafting market legislation had forced them to take up residence in Johnson’s Garden.

With this legislation still some way off, the future of the market for 2011 had seemed in doubt. However, an innovative new approach by the market has secured the market’s future whether the market legislation is drafted in time or not. Last week, the Kinvara Farmers Market successfully secured a road closure license which allowed them to trade at the Square in Kinvara without the need for the farmers market license. A meeting of traders will now take place next month, where the various options available to the group will be outlined.

“I think we proved that a market can work well in the Square in Kinvara. Despite difficulties with the weather, we got great feedback from customers” said Antoinette Hensey of the Kinvara Farmers Market. “What we can do next year is apply for a road closure for every Friday morning during our trading season and that will allow us to trade each week. This would, we think, cost less that a license and we are not at present able to get a license so there is a solution to our problem. The market will be back next year, one way or the other.

“This is a very unusual route that we have taken and we think that it could be used by other markets who are in difficulty with the licensing regulations. There are lot of conditions to be met but, once you have achieved this, it is relatively straightforward.

“We need to have a stall-holders meeting to see what we will do for next year. There are many who believe that business will be better in the Square but there are other who have an emotional attachment to the space in Johnson’s – which might still be available to us for next year.”

Anyone who wishes to find out more about getting a road closure licence can contact Antoinette Hensey on 065 7078042.

THE construction of a new € 200 million wind farm in Mount Callan will stem emigration from West Clare – not just by the jobs it creates but also by showing the young local population that anything is possible.

That is the opinion of local farmer and member of West Clare Renewable Energy John Talty, who believes that the wind farm will keep West Clare communities alive.

“This will keep the next generation here. It will keep the young people here in West Clare not just by the employment that it generates but also because this will show people that anything is possible,” he said.

“What this was about right from the very beginning was generating employment in our community, in West Clare. Anyone who knows this area know that this is an area that is crying out for local employment. People are taking the Hand road down to Ennis and Shannon every day for jobs and this can now open a real opportunity for people in West Clare.

“It is not just about the construction and operation of a wind farm this will have major spin-offs for the whole region. Part of the plan is to build proper walking trails and cycle ways into the design of the windfarm and we believe that this project will become a big draw for tourists coming into the area.”

The wind farm, which has been a local project for more than 16 years, began to take shape properly in 2006 when West Clare Renewable Energy was first established. It was given the green light by An Bord Pleanála yesterday who actually increased the number of turbines allowed on the wind farm to 29, from the 28 which Clare County Council granted permission for earlier this year.

“We’re delighted today. This has come about after a lot of hard work and struggle by a lot of people and we are all really over the moon with the decision,” continued John.

“What we really want to do now is to thank all of the landowners and the wider community for the support that they have given throughout this process which has been brilliant – people like the Traders Association in Miltown Malbay who have been so supportive of this project from the very beginning.

John also paid special to the late Robert Tottenham, one of the groundbreaking thinkers in forestry in Ireland and the person who first conceived of bringing wind energy to Mount Callan almost 20 years ago.