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A CLARE woman made history at the weekend when she was one half of the first two-person Irish relay team to swim the English Channel.

Maighread McMahon (33), who is from Kilmaley, and swim partner Lynsey Dunne battled fatigue, motion sickness, jellyfish stings and darkness to complete the swim from England to France in 13 hours and 53 minutes.

Accompanied by a pilot boat, the pair set off from the English coast at 9am on Friday morning. Alternating two-hour shifts in the water, the journey was eventually completed at 11.40pm when Dublin-born Sligo resident Lynsey climbed out of the water in France.

A jubilant Maighread told The Clare People yesterday that she was delighted to have been part of the record-breaking challenge. She said, “It was a long day but a good day.”

In crossing the channel, Maighread and Lynsey raised € 10,000 for the Irish Cancer Society. Most crosschannel swims are attempted in groups of six or as solo efforts. However, Maighread and Lynsey are believed to be the first Irish two-person team to complete the swim.

A former student of Killable National School and Coláiste Muire secondary school in Ennis, Maighread started training for the challenge last April.

She said, “I had been doing a lot of triathlons and swimming would have been my best event. So I said to Lynsey, would you be interested in swimming the channel?”

Training involved swimming six days a week in the seas around Ireland. Mairead, a quality manager with Diageo, explained, “It’s hard work when you are working as well. You have to do a lot of ‘carbing up’ to put on weight so you don’t get hypothermia.”

The rules of the challenge meant that Maighread and Lynsey could only be in the water for a maximum of two hours at a time.

Conditions may have been warm and relatively calm but the pair did have to contend with jellyfish.

Maighread said, “I got a few jelly- fish stings across the face. Some of them were really quite painful. But I thought, there’s no way a jellyfish is going to get the better of me.”

Despite temperatures hitting 29 degrees, Maighread had to stay well wrapped up while she was on the boat to keep her body temperature high. On board, she also had to fight the effects of motion sickness. However, the most dangerous part of the journey came right at the very end.

She said, “The tide changed and it was dark so you couldn’t see what was above or around you.”

Maighread is still in England, taking a well-deserved break. Now living in Carlow, she intends to take part in swimming events in Ireland and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of attempting a solo cross-channel swim. “I need to have a think about it. But after doing it, it would be fantastic to do it solo.”

THREE international high rollers are set to battle it out for the chance to buy their very own piece of the Banner County as interest hots-up on the 180-acre Mutton Island.

The island, which is located just half a mile from the Clare coast, has been owned by a number of high profile people since the departure of its last inhabitants in the 1950s and was even subject to a bid from The Beatle’s John Lennon in 1967. The Clare People understands that interest in the island is high with a number of solid enquiries coming from America and the Middle East. The island, which is home to a number of derelict building and a herd of wild goats, is likely to sell for less than the € 500,000 guide price.

The sale of the island is being managed by Philip O’Reilly Auctioneers in Ennis, who believes that it will take a person with “a lot of money and balls” to buy the island.

“We’ve had a lot of interest in the island. We’ve had a lot of interest from America, mostly from expats but we’ve also had interest from people in the Middle East,” Philip told The Clare People .

“At the moment there is nothing at all on the island but a herd of wild goats. But it is perfectly located, just a half a mile from the coast. You can see the island when you are teeing off of a lot of the holes down in Doonbeg and whenever I play down there people are always asking me what it is.

“It would take a person with a lot of money and balls to buy the island and at the moment there doesn’t seem to be someone like that in Ireland. But it is a great opportunity for someone – this is a 180-acre island which is likely to be sold for less than the asking price of € 500,000.”

While no official bid has been made for the island, The Clare People understands the there are currently three very interested enquires and a large number of others who have yet to show a formal interest in the property.

Planning permission for a tourism development on the island has been turned down in the past so and, according to Mr O’Reilly, the island is likely to be bought for a home rather than a commercial development.

A BURNING candle in the sitting room of a house may have caused the death of a 53-year-old man in a house fire over the weekend.

Michael Kennedy died after a fire broke out at a newly-renovated singlestorey home on the Grange Road in Ballina in the early hours of Sunday.

Two other people – Mr Kennedy’s wife and a friend – who were also in the house at the time, escaped from another room. However, Mr Kennedy became trapped in the sitting room.

He was pronounced dead at the scene and his body was taken to Limerick Regional Hospital for a post mortem examination, which was carried out by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis.

The fire broke out after 2am. The scene was preserved and a Garda technical examination took place on Sunday.

“The fire started in the sitting room in the house. The sitting room was very badly damaged,” said Inspector John O’Sullivan of Killaloe Garda Station, who is heading up the enquiry into the tragic accident.

He said the two women who escaped from the house were “badly shaken” but fortunately did not receive serious burn injuries. Gardaí have taken statements from the ladies, in an effort to determine the exact cause of the fire.

A COMMUNITY is fighting back against vandals who smashed headstones in the historic Kilquane cemetary. The group, who put in massive work to restore the cemetery, are back in action and this time they are erecting a CCTV camera to stop further attacks on the Parteen burial place.

The pole for the camera was erected at the weekend, and local gardaí, as well as the garda helicopter, have been brought in to protect the cemetery.

“There hasn’t been as much damage done in that graveyard since the Williamites smashed headstones 300 years ago,” said Donal Ó Riain, a local historian who was closely involved in the restoration work. “This is one of the most historic structures in the parish. It dates back to the sixth century and the church building dates back to just after the time of St Patrick,” he told The Clare People .

“We’re putting up the camera and we’re working on repairing the headstones. We also had a meeting and invited the two local guards and they have agreed to keep a particular eye on the area.”

Local Fianna Fail councillor, Cathal Crowe, has been closely involved with the cemetery committee and he is helping them get the right camera for the job. “I’ve also asked the garda helicopter patrol, which flies over the city, to see if they can hover over Kilquane, particularly at weekends as it’s an isolated patch of ground,” he said.

The CCTV equipment will cost a large amount of money, but Donal is confident that they will achieve their goal. “We’ve always had fantastic support from the community for anything we’ve done at Kilquane because it’s such an historic structure. We’re having a fundraiser in the Tailrace Bar in Parteen this Friday, with Larry McEvoy playing. I hope we will get the same support we have always had,” said Donal.

AFTER more than 15 years of local campaigning, the dangerously corroded metal fence that protects the tens of the thousands of summer beach-goers from a 40-foot drop onto the rock at Lahinch beach is to be replaced.

The metal alloy fence, which was described as rust-proof when it was first erected in 1982, has been completely eroded by rust over the last 20 years, making it structurally unsound and, according to locals, a dangerous accident waiting to happen.

The fence, which runs for more than 140 feet along the most dangerous section of the beach, was damaged by construction work in the 1990s, with many sections simply breaking away.

A delegation from the Lahinch Community Council met with local engineers from Clare County Council in June, with the replacement of the corroded bars the top item on the agenda.

“The community council have been campaigning for these bars to be replaced for 15 years now so we are delighted with the news that they are going to be replaced,” said Gerry Hartigan of the Lahinch Community Council.

“When they were first put up, we were told that the poles were made from a special alloy and that they would not be affected by rust – but that proved not to be the case. Clare County Council have done their best to maintain them as best they could but it really is great news that they are to be replaced.”

Newly appointed Lahinch Cllr Bill Slattery (FG) welcomed the € 48,750 in funding for the project but said that Clare County Council must now get working on completing the much awaited Lahinch Prom Master Plan.

“This work has been delayed for too long already, due to the lack of funding. Now that the Government have resolved this issue, there can be no further delays in getting the job done,” he said.

“I am delighted with the work that has been done in Lahinch in recent years, particularly the new lifeguard facility and the recently opened playground. I am also calling on the council to speed up the completion of the much needed and long awaited Master Plan for the prom in Lahinch.

“There are hundreds of thousands of euro generated in car parking charges in Lahinch each year. The village needs this Master Plan in order to make the resort a world-class tourist destination.”

Meanwhile, a total of € 26, 250 has also been allocated to repair and upgrade the existing slipway at Liscannor. This project, which has been a long-term goal for Ennistymon-based Cllr Richard Nagle (FF) will see much needed repair works undertaken at the pier.

LAHINCH ar tist Michael Hanrahan wi ll later this mont h become the only l iving Irish ar tist to have a piece of his work included in the most exclusive ar t collection in the world.

Michael, who was the only ar tist accredited to cover the Queen’s historic visit to Ireland, will fly out from Shannon Ai r por t later this month to hand-deliver one of his works to Buckingham Palace.

The for mer banker, who reti red from the financial world to become an ar tist just five years ago, received a letter from Buckingham Palace last Wednesday, informing him t hat the Queen would be “ver y pleased” to receive the painti ng for her collection.

The painting, which depicts President Mar y McAleese and the Queen at the Garden of Remembrance, was on display at Kenny’s Ar t Galler y in Lahinch over t he weekend, and will hang at White Ar t Gallery in Dublin for three weeks before being hand-del ivered by Michael to Buckingham Palace.

“The letter came into my postbox yesterday and I knew it was an i mpor tant letter when I spot ted the royal seal on t he back of it. The letter had been sent from the Queen’s private secretar y telling me that the Queen would be ver y pleased to receive one of my paintings. I was overwhel med and ver y honoured,” said Michael.

“The Queen has one of t he biggest and most expensive ar t collections i n the world. Some are held in Buckingham Palace and some at another palace in Edinburgh.

“This work will be exhibited all around t he UK as par t of the Queen’s diamond jubilee next year and it is amazing to think that an ar tist from Clare would be par t of this collection.

“I will be t he proudest man in Ireland flying from Shannon over to London with that painting to deliver it to the Queen.”

Michael was t he only non-photographer given full access to record t he Queen’s visit to Ireland earlier t his year in its enti rety.

“I was there for t he four days of t he t rip and I think I had a unique role to play in recording the event for future generations. It was an historic occasion. Most of t he work was done back in the Cour thouse Gallery and Studios in Ennistymon,” continued Michael.

“As an ar tist, I had the oppor t unity to think about it and do somet hing a bit different. A painting is different from a photograph – it’s framed and it is an inter pret ation. I t hink this puts more of an emphasis on people to t hink about what t hey are looking at. This was an opport unity t hat I couldn’t pass up.”

ENNIS Golf Club has installed a new security system aimed at ensuring greater protection for staff and members in response to recent break-ins at the club.

Members must now type in an access code at the main entrance door in order to gain access to the clubhouse at night. Last year, a group of people gained entry to the clubhouse late at night by cutting a hole in the roof at the rear of the building and into the bar area, where a safe was removed.

Earlier this year, an intruder broke glass in the club shop before gaining access to the dressing room area.

Honourary secretary John Cullinane explained that in light of those recent events and given that staff are often alone in the building at night when they finish work, the club felt it was necessary to improve security.

He explained, “It was done more so for the health and safety of staff. Some nights you might only have one female staff member working alone.” Mr Cullinane added, “We have CCTV to identify members and an alarm system. We were looking at security issues in general for the club house.”

Meanwhile, Mr Cullinane added that members have responded positively by email and letter to Clare County Council’s request for submission to a proposed pedestrian crossing.

Speed ramps have been installed on a section of road near the golf club. The ramps form part of an overall scheme of traffic calming measures, which will include the installation of a pedestrian crossing, linking sections of the golf course.

Ennis Golf Club has contributed € 10,000 to the overall cost of the project, which members say is essential to protect members’ safety.

In May, the council launched a public consultation process with all submissions and/or objections to be submitted by June 24.

Speaking then, Town Engineer Eamon O’Dea that the ramps are necessary to slow traffic ahead of the pedestrian crossing. He said cars often travel at speeds of 70km per hour in an area where the speed limit is 50km per hour.

The measures had been opposed by some councillors who claimed they had caused disruption to motorists.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Cullinane said the gradient of the ramps had been lowered in order to address the concerns of the public. He said the crossing remained dangerous for maintenance staff and golfers, particularly the club’s 200 senior members.

Mr Cullinane added that engineers at both Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council had expressed support for the installation of a pedestrian crossing.

VOLUNTEERISM in Clare is at an all time high as unemployed people in the county offer their skill for free to worthy organisations in the county.

Figures released from by the CAO last week reveal that the numbers signing on in the county rose by almost 200 last month – the first monthly increase since the Live Register hit its all time high in the county in January.

The news that there were 10,400 signing on in the county in June is disappointing as it comes after four months of straight drops in the the Live Register figure in the county.

The chairperson of the the Clare Citizen Information Service, Paul Woulfe, said that while there is no sign in the number of unemployed dropping, there are now many schemes to help them when they do find themselves out of work.

“We are seeing more and more people coming into us – people are still being let go and the trend is not changing at all at the moment. But there are a lot of schemes there to help people and the information about them is changing all the time. We would advice anyone who becomes unemployed to come into the office to see us or to look at any of our websites to see what their options are,” he said.

“The big thing for people when they lose their job is dealing with the immediate financial issues. A lot of people have mortgages and other expenditures so they have to change their budget a lot. If there is serious debt there or if they are finding that they are running into debt then we can refer them onto MABS who can help them with that.

“We do help by advising people on how they can fill their time in a good way. They might be interested in doing some voluntary work so we would be sending them onto the Clare Volunteer Centre who could assess their skills.

“People have more time on their hands than they are used to so we would be encouraging people to look at their options for upskilling and pointing them towards the VEC or other organisations. Or we could send them to the Adult Guidance Service if they want to get back as a mature student or to a jobs facilitator at the social welfare office if someone has an idea and wants to go out on their own. So we can look at the various options and then advise them where they can go and get more information and support that can help them.”

For help from the Citizen Information Service check out losingyourjob. ie or call into the Clare Citizen Information Services offices on Bank Place in Ennis.

IT TOOK a week longer than expected, but the heroic efforts by a Quin man to raise money for the Alzheimer Society of Ireland came to a joyful conclusion on Sunday.

52-year-old Brendan Cooney set out the aim of kayaking 124 kilometres from Athlone Weir to Two Mile Gate in Killaloe within a four-day period.

The challenge, in memory of his mother Nancy, was initially timetabled from June 23 to 26. While the first two days were a success, Brendan encountered tough conditions when he got to Meelick last Saturday week, June 25. He put the challenge on hold, but efforts to continue the following day were also hampered by the poor weather. He waited for a few days and managed to complete his challenge over the weekend, culminating on Sunday.

“I had to come out of it [last Saturday week]. The weather was just too bad, I had to walk out from the canoe on Saturday. We went back on Sunday morning but I was advised to go no further,” he told The Clare People .

He kayaked from Meelick to Rossmore in Galway to Williamstown to Mountshannon, before eventually reaching his destination, Two Mile Gate, on Sunday. He got great assistance along the way from his brother Austin who provided short support.

“I got to my destination, even if it was a week late,” he said. “If I took until Christmas, I was going to finish. With the type of canoe I had – a solo canoe – the wind has a big bearing,” he said.

Now that the kayaking is out of the way, Brendan will set his sights on collecting money for the Alzheimer Society. He hasn’t set any targets in terms of fundraising and says he doesn’t mind if he raises € 100 or € 10,000.

“That’s the next job. I have to take up the [sponsorship] cards and money. The aim is to raise awareness of the disease and also the carers. They do a great job,” he said.

He is also considering the possibility of doing a similar event next year, after a well-earned rest! “I’ll see what happens and how things progress from here. It’s a long way between here and next summer,” he said.

A NEW group which aims to fight for the right of the unemployed and marginalized in Clare will be officially formed in the coming week. The group, which is a collection of employed and unemployed volunteers, is currently working under the name ‘Hope for the Marginalized’ but is aiming to host an AGM before the end of July and officially launch the group.

The first aim of the group will be to lobby for practical and inexpensive changes to education, social welfare and local business strategies which they feel could have a massive effect on the lives of young unemployed people.

“We have found that we can work towards and very workable ideas that we could lobby the Government to introduce changes which will make our country a better place to live in,” said Ennis woman Paula McNamara of Hope for the Marginalized.

“At the moment the unemployment crisis is so massive, especially in this part of the county, so our first aim to work in that area but after that we would hope to broaden out our work to other parts of the community who are marginalized.

“The group isn’t just people who are unemployed – it is a wide cross section of people in Clare. If anyone who has any ideas that they think might help the situation then we’d love to hear from them.

“We are at a crossroads now, we have to make a choice about how we want this country to be. Do we want it to be focused about bailing out the banks and forget about the weak and vulnerable or should we think about this in a different, more sensible way.”

Some of the ideas put forward by the group include targeted training in universities, colleges, VECs and FÁS, which would see a greater focus on offering courses in areas where there is a realistic prospect of a job.

The group is also looking for all people on social welfare to be given a single case worker to oversee every aspect of the case, from benefits to retraining opportunities and is calling for a greater emphasis to be put on alternative local opportunities for creating jobs.

“We know that the country is broke – that is why we are not calling for big schemes, we are looking at practical solutions which could help drag us out of this situation,” continued Paula.

Anyone who wants to be involved in Hope for the Marginalized can contact Paula on hopeforthemarginal ized@gmail.com.