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THE race to succeeed Mary McAleese in Áras an Uachtaráin is getting congested, but when it comes down to the home straight it could be between two contenders from Clare, and even more parochially than that, candidates from the same parish.

They are Labour’s Michael D Higgins, who secured his party’s nomination to contest the election on Sunday and Pat Cox, who launched his campaign for Fine Gael nomination on Friday.

Higgins originally hails from Newmarket-on-Fergus, while Cox played his Clare card at the launch of his bid for the Park when talking about the years he spent living in Shannon when his family moved there in the 1960s.

Back then the emerging Shannon town was in the parish of Newmarket-on-Fergus, hence the real pros- pect of the contest of the presidential office turning into a very local affair if Cox manages to secure the Fine Gael nomination ahead of Máiréad McGuinness, Gay Mitchell and possibly Avril Doyle.

Already this week, Clare Fine Gael senator, Tony Mulcahy, who is Shannon’s first ever Oireachtas member told The Clare People he won’t be backing Pat Cox. “I will be either going for McGuinness or Mitchell,” he said.

However, Cllr Joe Arkins has said “for me Pat Cox is the candidate who has the knowledge, the experience and the judgement to be a candidate for the presidency. Cox is only electable Fine Gael candidate. He is the most able candidate presenting to Fine Gael”.

Councillors, parliamentary party members and members of the national executive will have a vote in deciding the Fine Gael candidate.

AFTER 34 years in existence, the Ennis Evangelical Church has found a permanent home of worship.

The official opening of the new church will take place this Saturday (June 25) at unit six, block E of the Quin road business park, at 3pm.

Church member Margaret Angland explained that the church was founded in Ennis in 1997 by a small group of people who met regularly for prayer and bible study. Over the past 34 years the Ennis Evangelical Church has rented various premises to meet, worship, pray and study. Now the church has managed to purchase and renovate its own premises.

“Ennis Evangelical Church is made up of all ages, races and backgrounds. As a church we reach out to the community with the good news of the gospel of hope,” said Margaret.

The church holds a club for children in Cloughleigh Community Centre on a Friday. There is also a youth club run in the church where teens meet and learn about the Bible. The church holds weekly Bible studies on a Tuesday at 8pm, which is open to anyone who wishes to come along. Sunday morning service starts at 10.30am.

THE Ennis Youth and Community Resource Building in Cloughleigh, Ennis, was officially opened on Friday by Frances Fitzgerald, TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, and Councillor Tommy Brennan, Mayor of Ennis.

The Junction, which was constructed on land owned by Ennis Town Council, features a youth café/drop in centre and will be used as a base from which youth services and programmes to targeted groups will be delivered.

The project costs amounted to € 645,000, of which € 357,000 was allocated to the Council under the Social and Community Facilities Capital Scheme 2006. The balance of the capital expenditure was provided from the Council’s own resources. The Council was the contracting authority for the construction of the building and has leased the completed building to Clare Youth Service.

Mayor of Ennis Cllr Tommy Brennan described the new youth and community facility as a major addition to the town’s community and recreational infrastructure.

He added: “The Council has worked closely with the Clare Youth Service to bring this project to fruition. A range of youth programmes will be delivered from this building and in addition the facilities here will also be available to the wider community.”

“I would like to compliment and congratulate the contractor Liam O’Doherty of Gildoc Ltd and the design team, which was led by Richard Rice of Healy and Partners, on completion of an attractive, modern energy efficient building.

Michael Byrne, Chairperson of Clare Youth Service, commented: “This new initiative will see the development of youth-led community facilities for the benefit of all. It will bring all sections together building the relationships which are the foundation of strong communities.”

He said the youth service was aware of the “myriad” of social problems affecting young people such as addiction, unemployment and youth emigration.

Mr Byrne added that communities around Ennis had recently been marred by “violent death and suicide”. He said, “There are still enormous needs as a community we need to respond to.”

Speaking at the official opening Ger Dollard, Ennis Town Manager, stated that extensive negotiations had taken place since the project was first mooted almost 10 years ago. He highlighted the roles played by Youth Service CEO, Margaret Slattery, and local young people in the development of the centre.

He added, “We have established an advisory board comprising of representatives of the Youth Service, local community, Town Council and Gardaí to oversee the development of the facility. Ennis Town Council looks forward to continuing to play its role in what we expect will be a very successful community facility.”

Clare Youth Service has been at the forefront of the development of many initiatives in its 42 years of working with young people and their communities throughout the county. Set up in 1969, Clare Youth Service today provides direct services to over 3,000 young people aged 12 to 25 years around the county.

THE contribution of young people in Cloughleigh to the development of a new youth and community facility was hailed at the official opening of The Junction on Saturday.

A team of volounteers, comprised mainly of young people from the area, played an important role in determining the need for such a facility when it was first proposed in 2006.

Among those present at Saturday’s opening were Clare Youth Service volounteers Victoria Hart, Aishagh Faithfull and Barry McDonagh.

Work on the project started in 2006 with the group conducting surveys and gathering the views of teenagers in Cloughleigh.

Aishagh (21) explained, “We’ve been involved since the start in planning the building and deciding where it was going to be and what is was going to be for. We were trying to get the young people on board to help us out. We knew from the start that there was a need for it.”

According to Barry (22), there was a clear need for more youth and community facilities in the Cloughleigh area. He said, “We knew ourselves because there wasn’t really anything around for us. I’m delighted with the way it turned out. I think it looks lovely. We can’t wait to get everything going; all the programmes up and running. It’s for the whole town and county not just the area around here.” Youth worker Tommy O’Hara has worked with the project’s core group of volounteers, helping them to get young people from the area and around Ennis to participate in programmes run at The Junction. He said, “The next step really is to try and get young people into the building and develop the café. My own specific job is to develop smaller project groups within the actual centre, to go out and physically recruit them [young people] and bring them up through in much the same way as the core groups came up through the youth service. That’s what we always aim and strive for, to bring young people to that level.” Tommy, who is also from the Cloughleigh area, said the building will serve a wider community purpose. He explained, “We definitely are looking at an inter-generational programme as well that would incorporate older people and young people together, such as gardening, computers or whatever that might be.”

HE’S the Government’s assistant Chief Whip, thanks to Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s latest round of key appointments to his Fine Gael/Labour coalition, but another honour has come Deputy Joe Carey’s way this week.

All because the assistant chief whip has been voted the sexiest Clare TD in Dáil Éireann, with the Clarecastle deputy topping the poll in the Clare constituency when it comes to sex appeal.

Deputy Carey, who has been a member of Dáil Éireann since 2007, edged out his government party colleagues in the county for the title of Mr Clare Dáil Éireann in an on-line opinion poll that rates the sex appeal of all 166 members of the lower house of the Oireachtas.

The www.sexytd.com rates Deputy Carey, who turns 36 this Saturday, as the 45th sexiest member of Dáil Éireann, a rating that places him ahead of party colleague Pat Breen, who also in the top 50 with a rating of 49.

Hot on Deputy Breen’s heels is Labour’s Michael McNamara – the first time TD, who was in the same St Flannan’s College class as Deputy Carey, coming 52nd in the sexy TD roll of honour, while Fianna Fáil Timmy Dooley, much like that party nationally received a disappointing poll rating, coming at 106 in the online survey.

A NEWMARKET-ON-Fergus national school hit the national airwaves twice last week – thanks to the good spelling practices of its young pupils.

Scoil na Maighdine Muire took part in the Ryan Tubridy Show Eason’s Spelling Bee, a nationwide compe tition aimed at encouraging young people to focus on their spelling. More than 600 schools participated and the Newmarket school was one of 12 schools selected for the final stages last week.

To mark the achievement, the Tubridy Show on 2FM broadcast the Munster final live from the school last Wednesday, in which one of the school’s pupils 12-year-old Amy O’Halloran competed with students from Cork and Kerry in a spelling competition. Amy won on the day and sealed a place for herself and her school in the national final of the competition. She travelled to Dublin with her parents Des and Bernie, along with classmates, school principal Ann McMahon and Amy’s sixth class teacher Eamon Curley. She took part in the national final on Friday in the RTÉ studios. Although she was not the outright winner, Amy did her family and school proud.

She received a € 200 voucher for Eason’s and a commemorative medal for the school, in honour of her achievement.

As part of the selection process for the prestigious competition, schools were invited to write a 200-word explanation as to why they should be selected. Mark Corbett, a sixth class student, wrote a piece based on the flood in the school on St Stephen’s Day, which destroyed the library, entitled ‘Reading is a good thing especially on a wet day.’

Ann McMahon paid tribute to both Amy and Mark. “In the eight years that Amy has been in the school, she has never missed a spelling in her spelling tests. We are so proud of her and so proud of Mark,” she said.

“It was a wonderful opportunity for the school. What a high to finish the year on. We are absolutely thrilled,” added the principal.

The group, which travelled to the capital by bus, thoroughly enjoyed the day in RTÉ and all students received a special pack from the state broadcaster as a memento of the special occasion.

THE phrase ‘give us this day our daily bread’ will have particular significance at one mass service in Ennis over the coming months.

Renovations to Fahy Hall in Roslevan means that from June 25 onwards, Saturday mass will be held at O’Connors Bakery on the Tulla Road, Ennis.

A note in the Doora Barefield parish newsletter explained that final mass took place in Fahy Hall on Saturday, June 18.

It added, “Fahy Hall will then close until further notice to facilitate major development. From Saturday, June 25, onwards. Mass will take place each Saturday at 6pm at O’Connors Bakery, Tulla Road, Ennis. Ample parking available.”

Speaking yesterday, parish priest Fr Jerry Carey confirmed that Saturday mass would now be said on the grounds of O’Connors.

He explained, “O’Connor’s are facilitating us by welcoming us into a building attached to the main bakery to facilitate 6pm mass on Saturday.”

Work on Fahy Hall is expected to be completed by December. The project will see the complete re-development of Fahy Hall, including the addition of a kitchen, meeting rooms and toilets. Fr Carey explained that a new oratory would essentially provide a “24/7 church” for the local community.

The oratory, which will accommodate 95 people, will be linked with the community hall to facilitate larger crowds for Saturday mass and other, larger church services.

Fr Carey added, “The community centre will then be retained, almost as a separate part of the building, for the rest of the week.”

The project involves renovating and extending the existing community hall for community and ecclesiastical use, constructing a new site entrance, access road and carparking together with all associated site development works and services.

AMID fears that a radical overhaul of local representation to include the abolition of town councils and drastically reduced numbers of county councillors, Clare’s first citizen has leapt to the defence of local government in the county.

Speaking to The Clare People this week, Mayor of Clare, Christy Curtin has said the key to the survival of local government in the county lies in the development of closer links with the community.

“Going forward, in this time of scarce resources, local government must change,” said Cllr Curtin. “It must bond with the community more, become closer with the local community. That’s the way forward. I always believed in the concept of local government and I believed in the representation of people at that level.” He made his comments ahead of this Friday’s ceremony to mark Clare’s distinguished history in local and national politics. Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eamon Gilmore unveil a roll of honour in Áras an Chláir to those who have represented the county in the Dáil and Seanad as well all those elected to Clare County Council since the first post-independence election in 1925.

“There was a need to mark these people – those public representatives who have worked for the people, particularly those since the foundation of the state,” said Mayor Curtin.

“They were the first crop of politicians in a free Ireland and it was right to mark their contribution. As Mayor of Clare I felt I had to do that. This was one of the projects I set out for myself.

“For posterity it was only right that we put a record of service in county Clare. Putting it in Aras an Chlair, the premier civic building in the county. There has been some legendary characters to represent the people of Clare. They all had their own style, their own character and all made their own contribution in their own way. They had the supreme mandate from the people, that’s the vote,” added Mayor Curtin.

FINE Gael is the party of government with four Oireachtas members in the county for the first time in its history – now the greatest ever year for its Clare wing is set to be enhanced next Monday when two more party representatives take the mayoral chains of local government office in the county.

Fresh from Cllr Mary Brennan’s election as Mayor of Shannon last week, in the coming week Cllrs Ian Lynch and Elaine Haugh-Hayes are set to be elected as mayor of Kilrush and Kilkee respectively.

The annual general meetings of the two West Clare local authorities are set for Monday evening next, with the power-sharing agreements in place on both councils set to pave the way for the elections of Cllrs Lynch and Haugh-Hayes.

Both were elected to their town councils for the first time in 2009 and two years later will be given the signal honour of being their town’s first citizen for the next 12 months.

“I’d be hoping to get it,” Cllr Lynch told The Clare People this week. “I’ve been Deputy Mayor for the past year and it normally follows that the deputy steps up to become mayor the following year.

“When there’s a party in power, you might find that they share it out, but when you have situation like you have in Kilrush at the moment, with three Fine Gael, three Fianna Fáil and three Independents you have a power-sharing arrangement and it’s spread over the five years,” added Cllr Lynch, who at 33 years of age will become one of the youngest mayor’s in the West Clare capital’s illustrious local government history that stretches back over 100 years.

“We have to wait and see what happens on Monday,” Cllr Haugh-Hayes told

PART of Clare is going to be taken into Limerick when a decision is made in cabinet today on the Limerick boundary extension.

In a leak from a reliable source in advance of today’s decision, The Clare People has learned that land in Clare which has been, or is earmarked for, development by the University of Limerick is to come under Limerick’s control.

But fears that parts of Westbury, Shannon Banks and even Meelick and Parteen might be taken by Lim- erick in a boundary extension can be laid to rest.

It has also been leaked that no residential land in the Banner will be taken into the new super authority which will result from the amalgamation of the city and county councils in Limerick.

While anti-boundary extension activists in Clare have welcomed the fact that residential areas will be left alone, many are less than happy that the UL land is going into Limerick City.

“While the fact that no residential areas are to go into Limerick is to be welcomed, people are concerned that if one extension (of the Limerick boundary) is allowed in the campus area this will pave the way for future extensions,” said local councillor Cathal Crowe (FF).

“Clare has always facilitated UL in extending the university campus and that collaborative arrangement has worked very well. There is no need for the boundary to be changed. People will not be happy about this or the implications for the future and it will be opposed,” he said.

Jim Gullt, Chairman of the AntiBoundary Extension Committee, said that they will wait to read the Minister’s speech and see the official announcement before reacting.

In relation to the leak which points to Clare land in UL becoming part of Limerick, he said: “Our position is still the same. There is to be no cherry picking with this. It’s not the case that we’ll say ‘Okay, you left Westbury alone so we’ll concede UL’ – we are 100 per cent that no part of Limerick is to come into Clare.”

A spokeswoman for UL said they would make no comment until after the official announcement is made today.