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A 53-YEAR-OLD man is to appear in court today, charged in connection with the seizure of drugs at Shannon airport over the weekend.

The defendant, a UK national living in Spain, was arrested after € 12,000 worth of cannabis herb was seized by Customs officers at the airport in the early hours of yesterday (Monday).

The man had arrived at Shannon on a Ryanair flight from Malaga and the drugs were discovered in a suitcase.

He was detained at Shannon Garda Station throughout yesterday and will be brought before Galway District Court this morning, charged with possession of drugs and possession for the purpose of sale or supply.

GARDAÍ in Clare are advising home owners across Clare to be more security conscious, in the wake of burglaries in Ennis, Kilrush and Kilkee over the past week.

In one incident, an assortment of electrical goods was stolen during a break-in to a house on the Gort Road in Ennis, overnight on Friday.

Among the items stolen were a flat screen television, a dvd player, a hifi, laptop, several pieces of gold and silver jewellery, coins and savings stamps. Entry was gained after glass in a back door was broken.

A house at Lenabeg on the Lahinch Road in Ennis was broken into overnight last Tuesday. A kettle and two tins of paint were stolen, after a back window was broken.

In Kilrush, upstairs rooms in a house were ransacked after thieves broke into a house on Burton Street overnight on Friday. However, gardaí say it appears that nothing was stolen.

Gardaí in Kilkee are investigating a break-in to the local golf club at around 1.45am yesterday (Monday). The alarm activated and a number of people fled. An individual was seen running across the golf course.

Meanwhile, the theft of lead from a house being built on the outskirts of Ennis is being investigated by gardaí. The house, which is currently being built at Edenvale on the Kilrush Road, was targeted between 6pm on Friday and 8pm on Saturday.

Kilrush Superintendent Gerry Wall is advising home owners to exercise vigilance.

“People are not securing their property. They are going out for short periods of time and don’t take an extra couple of minutes to secure their property. It’s obviously opportunistic burglaries. People have alarms on their homes but don’t turn them on,” said Supt Wall.

AN ENNIS woman now living in London has recalled the “psychotic” scenes that developed near her home when riots flared across England last week.

Actress Denise Gough (31) lives in the Hackney area of London, which suffered from rioting and looting last week. Speaking on Wednesday, as law and order was being restored to the city’s streets, Denise described the damage done to homes and properties as “awful”.

She said, “I was at home on Monday all day and I noticed there was lots of helicopters and it was kind of noisy. I didn’t leave the house ‘til about 4pm and when I walked out my front door there were loads of buses that had been abandoned, lined up on the street. Then further down there were rows of police in riot gear.

“It’s quite grim. There is a really strange atmosphere. People don’t re- ally know what to expect. Yesterday there were people boarding up their shops. It was really sad to see all these small shop owners having to board up their buildings. It was really depressing. Then I heard last night in the area near me, London Fields, there were people being pushed off their bikes and being robbed. It just kind of seems like a free-for-all.”

Denise has lived in London for 16 years, acting in a string of theatre and TV roles. She said the scenes of last week’s riots were unlike anything she has ever seen in the city.

She explained, “The damage was awful. There’s a shop near the area where I used to live, which is on a place called Clarence Road, they just destroyed it. They even took his milk and his microwave from the back of the shop and these are people that have worked for years. That’s the sad thing. It’s not big conglomerates that these guys were targeting, these were small family shops.”

Denise added, “People say it’s young kids with nothing to do and I do understand the frustration of the government cuts in the poorer areas. The Government has slashed the funding for initiatives for keeping young kids out of gangs, but you can’t justify a mass mugging. That’s what happened. People stealing things like cigarettes, alcohol, phones, trainers; they’re all going down the sports shops nicking trainers. It’s so bad. It just looks psychotic.”

THE Clareman, who is Ireland’s Consul General in New York, can play his part in stimulating economic growth through job creation and tourism, a Civic Reception that was held in his honour in Kilrush was told on Friday night.

On what was his first official visit to his the west Clare capital since his appointment as Consul General for Ireland, the Kilrush-born Noel Kilkenny heard his achievements and many years service in Ireland’s diplomatic corps lauded by the local town council.

Surrounded by family and friends, the Mayors of Clare and Kilrush as well as agencies such as the West Clare Task Force, Shannon Development, the Mid West Regional Authority and members of Kilrush Town Council, Mr Kilkenny said it was “a very special occasion to be honoured in my native down as Consul General”.

Mr Kilkenny’s role in helping foster an economic upturn was highlighted by a number of speakers at the Civic Reception that took place in the Vandeleur Walled Garden in Kilrush.

These included current Mayor of Kilrush, Cllr Ian Lynch, his precedessor Cllr Liam Williams, who moved the motion that Mr Kilkenny be honoured with a Civic Reception and Clare County Manager, Tom Coughlan.

“I am confident that many opportunities will materialise into sustainable job growth,” said Mr Coughlan. “I want to thank the Consul General personally for affording so much of his time to the Clare delegation when we visited New York as part of the St Patrick’s Day Festival. “Our time there was spent meeting with business people and devel- opment agencies, in our continuing efforts to seek enterprise development for county Clare. Already I am heartened by the number of business enquiries. I am also very pleased to note that tourism figures for the first half of this year are up considerably on last year’s figures and this is very encouraging. “The key to Irish economic growth, particularly in the short term, will be foreign direct investment. US investment is, and will continue to be, a critical element of the Irish economy. It is imperative that the representatives of the Irish government abroad reinforce the message that Ireland is open for business,” the county manager added. “When the Clare delegation visited New York last St Patrick’s Day, the Consul General took a lead role in introducing the delegation to many business executives and hosted a number of meetings to ensure that business contacts would be maximised,” said Cllr Williams. “The Consul General was extremely generous with his time and ensured that every avenue for business development, job creation and tourism potential was explored. The Consul General has an insatiable appetite for all things Irish, as is evident from his current role in assisting Irish people and promoting Irish culture and the arts in the United States,” added Cllr Williams.

A BELARUSSIAN infant who’s life-saving operation was paid for by money raised by the Burren Chernobyl Project in Clare has finally returned home this week – safe and well after her year-long ordeal.

The parents of baby Eva Razenkova were told last November that their 17-month-old daughter would be dead before Christmas if more than € 20,000 could not be found to fund a life-saving operation for their daughter.

After spending their life savings to get Eva the tests which diagnosed the condition, her parents, Yuri and Veronika Razenkova, came to the Burren Chernobyl Project for help. The couple had already raised more than € 20,000, or the equivalent of 15 years’ salary for the average worker in Belarus, to go towards the operation but had exhausted all their avenues of fundraising.

After an intensive fundraising effort the Burren Chernobyl Project were able to donate € 20,000 to help save Eva’s life – € 10,000 from money raised in Clare in just two weeks and a further € 10,000 from the group’s own emergency response fund.

Baby Eva went under the knife in a Belgian hospital Wednesday, December 8, in an attempt to correct a cholestatic hepatitis along with a number of cardiac abnormalities which, specialists say, would have killed the infant before Christmas if left untreated.

The operation, which was risky in its own right, was a success and after recuperating in Belgium for the last number of month, Eva, who has just turned 2 years old, was able to return with her family to Belarus last week.

Eva’s patents, Yuri and Veronika, have expressed their thanks to the Burren Chernobyl Project and to the people of Clare for their support that they have received.

“It was such an incredible response. We knew that we could always rely on the people of Clare to come up with the goods in an emergency situation like this, but Eva’s parents just can’t believe that so many strangers from Ireland have given so generously to help their daughter,” said a spokesperson from the Burren Chernobyl Project.

THE NUMBER of cars seized by gardaí has increased by almost a third so far this year, compared with last year. So far this year, 304 vehicles have been seized by gardaí, compared with 240 during the same period in 2010.

The cars were seized mainly due to them not being taxed, if those driving them were not insured, or because they had serious mechanical defects.

“A lot of those would be driven without insurance or defective or company cars being driven by crimi- nal gangs. There is no doubt this has resulted in preventing serious crime. The legislation is there to seize cars without insurance or tax,” said the head of the Clare Garda Division, Chief Superintendent John Kerin.

He said that gardaí are considerate when seizing cars that are not taxed and drivers are given every chance to ensure the tax is paid.

“The tax would be out a long time before the gardaí would seize a car. If the tax was out for one or two or three months because of the recession, there would be an understanding,” he said.

He said that the increase in seizures is “partly due to the recession. People can’t afford to tax them. There are a lot of young people who were working on building sites and who are now unemployed but still have the cars,” said Chief Supt Kerin.

The figures have emerged in the wake of figures from Clare County Council showing that 102 cars were abandoned during the whole of last year.

“Clare County Council has a procedure in place from receipt of complaint to resolution, involving the issue of a warning letter to the relevant vehicle owner and removal if the abandoned vehicle remains in place past a specified period of typically seven days,” said a council spokesperson.

Meanwhile, thefts from cars are on the decrease in County Clare, by 28 per cent. So far this year, there have been 89 thefts from cars, compared with 123 last year.

Gardaí are attributing the decrease to increased vigilance.

“We have placed a lot of emphasis in the past couple of years in putting patrols in place in tourist areas,” said Chief Supt Kerin.

A PILOT ferry service connecting Ballyvaughan and Galway City looks set to be established early in 2012 after initial feedback from the Spyria Partnership feasibility study has given a thumbs-up to the ambitious project.

While the report in full won’t be published until the middle of next month, The Clare People has learned that the research undertaken by the independent Scottish company will show that tidal conditions are conducive for the service to be established and that there is a demand, both in North Clare and Galway, for the service.

Following the official publication of the report next month, the Ballyvaughan Bay Hop Group will put out a tender, looking for a local ferry owner to operate the service. It is expected that the “hop” will first run for an initial six-week trial basis this spring but hopes are high that the demand will exist to extend the service indefinitely after that.

Once the initial commuter demand has been met, it is hoped that the service could be expanded to ferry tourists between Ballyvaughan and Galway during the busy summer months.

The Ballyvaughan Bay Hop in the brainchild of Ballyvaughan woman Gwen Ryan, who began the project as a means of aiding her own daily commute to and from Galway City. The group itself is a not-for-profit organisation and Gwen is hopeful that a local ferry owner will see the potential for the service, rather that the Ballyvaughan Bay Hop Group having a role to play in directly organising the service themselves.

“We have got initial research back from a company in Scotland and they are very happy that the service that we envision is possible. This is taking into account both the local conditions and also that there is a good demand for the service from the local people. Of course there are some who are not in favour of the service but the majority of people are in favour of it,” said Gwen.

The Ballyvaughan Bay Hop Group has also just launched a small fundraising drive to help pay for the completion the feasibility study conducted by Spyria Partnership. The vast majority of this has been paid through a Leader grant but a small amount of local fundraising is required to pay the balance.

The group are using “crowd funding” to raise the money. The idea of crowd funding is that a relatively large number of people each donate a small amount to fund a community project.

To entice people to donate a number of rewards have been set up for donators, including an invitation to the launch party when the ferry is launched next year to a place on the ferry’s first trip between Ballyvaughan and Galway City.

To donate visit www.ifund.ie/ projects/37/help-us-float-our-boat.

MICHAEL Flatley will not take to the stage when his ‘Lord of the Dance’ spectacular comes to the Cliffs of Moher this September, but he has pledged his full backing to the event, as well as to the Cliffs’ bid to be named as one of the 7 New Wonders of the World.

The world famous dancer disappointed his legions of fans from all over the world at the weekend when he announced that, for the time being at least, he has hung up his dancing shoes.

The multi-millionaire began a series of media events last week highlighting the Cliffs’ bid to become one of the 7 New Wonders on the World.

“He has taken ownership of the Cliffs of Moher’s Seven Wonders bid and also the ‘Lord of the Dance’ at the Cliffs, which is absolutely great news for everyone in this county,” said Oliver O’Connell.

“They say that this can bring € 300 million in tourism to the county so the fact that Michael Flatley has gotten behind it is a major boost. He is a person who just doesn’t have following in Ireland, he can get people from all over the world behind the Cliffs.”

Flatley invited the world’s media to his € 30 million Cork mansion last week in an effort to get support for the Cliffs of Moher bid.

“My reason for inviting everyone was to help these people accomplish their goal. I want to promote Ireland and Irish interests and I feel these people are doing a wonderful thing,” he said. “Last time I danced it was for the Prince of Wales and Camilla at a private function at Buckingham Palace. That was in February. I’ve never danced at all since then.”

Flatley went on to say that while he wouldn’t rule out dancing altogether he “can’t see it” in his future.

Tickets for the ‘Lord of the Dance’ at the Cliffs of Moher are reportedly selling well and organiser have urged locals to buy their tickets soon to avoid disappointment.

“This event will be the most spectacular event ever to take place in Clare – you will never see anything like this again,” continued Oliver.

“Ticket sales are steady and we believe that we can still fill the Cliffs for both nights but this project is about more than money – it’s about a once in a life time event at a once in a lifetime venue. People are getting behind the project and if everyone gets behind it then who knows, maybe something could happen again in 2012. This is a major event – every B&B in North and West Clare is booked up because of this and I have been getting calls from all over the world about the concerts.”

Some 20,000 people are expected to attend the ‘Lord of the Dance’ at the Cliffs on September 1 and 2. The official 7 New Wonders of the World list will be announce on November 11.

FRESH wild mushrooms are the latest ingredient to be added to the list for the fourth annual Clare Harvest Banquet which will take place at the Auburn Lodge Hotel in Ennis this August.

The charity banquet, which is made up solely of fresh ingredients which can be found within the county borders, will come to Ennis for the first time ever, having completely sold out its three previous banquets in Ennistymon.

This year’s event will be cooked by five expert Clare chefs, with one chef taking responsibility for each of the courses on offer. All proceeds from the event will go towards the ASTRAL Charity, which helps protect families in some of the poorest parts of Mongolia.

The charity has a long established link with the county and felt made by the charity in Mongolia is currently sold in the Upstairs Downstairs charity shop in Ennistymon.

“The format of the event is the same. If we want salt, then we need to dry sea salt from off the Clare coast; if we want butter, then we need to make it ourselves in the churn,” said event organiser Sinéad Ní Gháirbhith.

“We have two mushroom experts this year who are going to find us some Clare mushrooms to use, which should be interesting. There is no one farming mushrooms in Clare at the moment so this will be a new thing for the banquet.

“Every year, we seem to be able to find new ingredients and this year is no exception. You need to have experts when you are talking about wild mushrooms because you need to be sure that they are not poisonous.

“We are in Ennis this year for the first time so we are hoping to unite the county and bring people from the east, west, north and south of Clare together for the event. The banquet will take place in the Auburn Lodge, who have been very good to us and giving us the run of their kitchen for the evening.

“Every penny raised will go to the Mongolian charity. I am so dedicated to this charity because I know that this is a matter of life and death if this money goes out or not.”

This year’s banquet will take place on Saturday, October 1 and tickets are available from the Auburn Lodge on 065 6821247 and from the Upstairs Downstairs shop in Ennistymon.

AFTER a successful comeback in 2010, horse and pony racing will return to Ballyvaughan later this month, with a large crowd expected to descend on Newtown Castle Lawn for the spectacular event.

The races returned to north Clare last year after a 35-year absence and the organising committee are now hopeful that the event is back for good and will once again become an annual event in the racing calendar.

“The Ballyvaughan Races returned last year after an absence of 35 years, and we were tremendously heartened by the immense local support and large turnout on the day,” said David Quinn, PRO for the Ballyvaughan Horse and Pony Racing Committee.

“It was a thoroughly enjoyable day for all involved and we antici- pate an even greater attendance this year. None of this would be possible without the generous support of local businesses and the broader community, for which we are extremely grateful.”

One of the highlights of last year’s event was its spectacular location, with the races taking place against the backdrop of the scenic Burren mountains.

The races will take place at Newtown Castle Lawn, which has again been provided for the event free of charge by landowner Mickey Vaughan.

Recent inspections of the track have revealed that the ground is in good condition and should provide a difficult challenge for the jockeys.

“All the horse owners and jockeys were very impressed with the facilities available and the professionalism shown by those organising last year’s race meeting,” said Mary O’Connor, Secretary of the Midlands Horse and Pony Racing Association.

“There has been huge interest in the return to Ballyvaughan this year.”

The committee are hoping to create a real family atmosphere for this year’s event. Besides the races themselves, the Ballyvaughan Farmers Market will take part, while there will also be bouncy castles and funfair amusements for young people, as well as face painting and a tug-ofwar competition.

A first for this year’s event will be the inclusion of a Best-Dressed Lady Competition.

This year’s Ballyvaughan Horse and Pony Club committee are Ailish Hynes (chairperson), Declan McNamara (secretary), Kieran Linnane (treasurer), David Quinn (PRO), Mickey Vaughan (president) and John Queally (vice president).