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A GRANDMOTHER picking up her grandchildren from school was one of the latest casualties on the coun- ty’s damaged roads.

Barbara Robinson was driving from Tullybrack Cross to Shragh when her car hit a large pothole, bounced off the road on to the ditch, and rolled over.

The car was a write-off, and Mrs Robinson escaped with minor inju- ries, some aches and a harsh realisa- tion of what could have been.

The frightened grandmother was left terrified but with a sense of relief that she was on her way to the school and that the children were not in the

ore

This accident has highlighted for many people the dangers of roads with uneven surfaces and hidden potholes.

John Robinson – Barbara’s husband – is one of a number of local people annoyed by the state of the roads.

“T usually go to pick up the chil- dren, but I was busy this day and asked Barbara to go,’ he said. ““When one of the neighbours came and said my wife was in an accident, I went down and saw the car. I was horror- struck.”

Local woman Nicola diLuici said that the road in question was danger- ous long before the freezing weather, although the sub-zero temperatures

did exasperate the problem.

The young mother of two said roads between ‘Tullybrack and Shragh and between Shragh and Monmore had buckled under the extra traffic endured during the laying of water pipes in Doonbeg late last spring. These roads were used as a detour for traffic during this time.

‘I drive this road six times a day to pick the children up from school. It is used by people working in Kilrush and the Doonbeg Golf Club, going to and from school and to Kilrush on business,” she said.

“The council did one section of re- surfacing after the waterworks and this is still perfect even after the frost, but they just filled the potholes

in the rest of the road and they have all risen again. We also have a prob- lem with subsidence,’ she said.

“I don’t feel we should have to pay road tax and then be expected to drive these roads. The west has been forgotten on all accounts,’ she added.

Ms diLuici said she is frustrated to hear from the council continuously that there is not enough money to do the road.

TO the unobservant eye, the jerseys being presented to a group of under- age west Clare footballers are exact- ly that – a new kit with the name of a new sponsor on the front.

On closer inspection, however, these new jerseys are a symbol of the changing face of rural GAA clubs fighting to keep the game alive.

Shannon Gaels and Killimer GAA

clubs have ensured a new generation of west Clare footballers by joining forces to field underage teams as ru- ral parishes face population decline.

While the I1- to 20-year-olds of these clubs may now be taking on other teams as one, it is also impor- tant that they keep the identity of their own clubs.

For the past two years, the underage teams from Under 14 to Under 21 have been training and playing to-

gether, and now for the first time ever they have new jerseys that incorpo- rate both of their colours.

Thanks to a local contractor, a new jersey showing off the green and gold of Killimer and the red and white of Shannon Gaels has been designed.

Pat Kennedy of Pat Kennedy Con- structions sponsored the jerseys in the new colours for the underage teams.

Now the people of Killimer, Knock-

erra, Labasheeda and Kilmurry Mc- Mahon can see their own colours in these young footballers when they come to support them.

WHEN Bridget Beckley began paint- ing for this year’s ‘Art is for Every- one’ exhibition, little did she know that one of her paintings would be- come a form of art therapy and help her to mourn a terrible loss. Bridget’s life was devastated by

the death of her husband, Peter, in a horrific car accident last July on the Ennis-Kilrush road. Just before the accident, Peter had agreed to be the subject of the portrait Bridget was going to do for the exhibition.

“I knew the portrait course was coming up and doing a portrait is challenging, especially with a live

model and Peter graciously accepted the challenge of being a model and three weeks later, he was dead. I thought initially that I wouldn’t do i

After some time, though, she de- cided that painting his portrait was the best way to remember him.

“With each stage, each layer of paint I put on the page, I was trying to bring him back to life in some way and certainly with the techniques that I used, I had to use my fingers to blend the different shades and the different colours. It made it very per- sonal.”

For 10 weeks she worked off mem- ory, photographs and video footage. The result is indicative of the time, effort and emotion she invested. A fantastic piece of art that gives you a real sense of what the man was like.

“Certainly, doing the portrait has helped me a lot. You could say it was a form of art therapy really.

“The trickiest thing for me was to convey the kind of man he was, to capture his personality in his face, which 1s a difficult thing to do.

‘He was full of life and had a great sense of humour. He had a great presence about him and I was trying to get that across.”

Talking about her experience at the ‘Art is for Everyone’ school she said, “T feel really proud to be part of the art school and it’s great for the students who have never painted in their life, actually exhibiting their work and es- pecially in such a short space of time.”

You can see Peter’s portrait and four other paintings by Bridget at the ‘Art is for Everyone’ exhibition in Kilrush Library from February 18 to March 12. Opening night is Thurs- day, February 18 at 8pm in Kilrush Library. There will be refreshments served and a raffle will be held in support of the Clare Lifeboat Serv- ice. All are invited to attend.

THE Kinvara Area Music Collec- tive (KAM) will open their season of concerts with their second ever Mardi Gras celebration next week- end in Kinvara.

Now in its third full year in opera- tion, the collective uses the Mardi Gras celebrations as a way of throw- ing a party for all the music lovers who have made their way to their concerts over the year.

This year’s celebration will also have a charity element, with all the money raised going to help the peo- ple effected by the recent flooding on south Galway.

“The Mardi Gras is like KAM saying thank you to all the people who have come along to our events throughout the year – it’s a party. But it’s also a charity event, and all the proceeds from this years event will go to the Gort Flood Victims,” said Rosaleen Tanham of KAM.

“One of the KAM founders, John Matryn, is very into Cajun music so the idea of hosting a Mardi Gras came from that as well. So it’s re- ally about celebrating with all of the people who enjoy the work of KAM throughout the year.”

This year’s party will feature three live bands, dancing, food, licensed bar and a fancy dress parade with eV Ae

Providing the beats this year will be Awsum Adudu, an Afro-Funk band hailing from Gort, who will be mak- ing their KAM debut at the event. They will be joined by the Kinvara- based Analogue Band, which fea- tures a bunch of well known local

musicians who have put together this country and traditional rock band.

The line up is completed by Gone To Grass, a locally-based bluegrass band, presenting a lively mix of driv- ing traditional bluegrass tunes and original Americana material.

“It’s a good platform for letting peo- ple know what is happening through out the year with KAM. We have a great schedule of concerts organised

coming after the Mardi Gras so we are looking forward to a very active year this year,” continued Rosaleen.

“We have hosted more than 50 con- certs at this stage so it’s been a very active last few years.”

The 2010 KAM Mardi Gras will take place at Kinvara Community Centre, County Galway on Saturday, February 13.

Admission for the event is €10,

with a family ticket available for €20 concessions from €8. More info, and tickets, available on www. kamcollective.com.

Tickets are available in advance from Healing Harvest in Kinvara O91 637176, Open Sesame in Gort O91 632778, the Gort Credit Union O91 631250, the Kinvara Credit Un- 10n 091 637154 and at the Gort Fam- ily Resource Centre 091 630902.

CLARE parents who paid up to €600 to have their young daughters vaccinated against cervical cancer last year will not have the cost re- funded, although the same vaccine 1s now free of charge.

However, some parents can get a percentage of the costs returned through tax returns. Provided the advice and treatment in question for cervical cancer vaccination was given by a medical practitioner, then the expenditure incurred in 2009 qualifies for health expenses relief.

This means that some of the costs in- curred can be recouped through the MEDI form as administered by the Revenue Commissioners.

Clare TD Joe Carey (FG) raised the issue with the Minister for Finance when he asked that parents be re- funded for the life-saving vaccine.

While some GPs nationally had de- cided not to charge for the vaccina- tion, for many the only way of avail- ing of the treatment was to pay.

‘Following the Minister for Health’s decision not to introduce a national vaccination programme last year, parents were forced to pay hundreds

of euro to vaccinate their daughters… When combined with regular smear tests, the HVP vaccine reduces the chance of developing cervical cancer by 70 per cent. The Government were wrong to ignore this fact last year. Because of the Government’s refus- al to roll out a national vaccination campaign many families decided to pay close to €600 to protect the well being of their daughters,” he said.

Now that the Government is roll- ing out the national vaccination pro- gramme, Deputy Carey sought to have some of their expenses recouped.

“IT am disappointed that the min-

ister in reply to my questioning has indicated that a refund will not be made,’ he said. “While I whole- heartedly welcome the introduction of the scheme this year, I don’t be- lieve that the public should have to pay for the Government’s dithering in 2009. Why should parents be pun- ished now for doing the right thing last year?” he asked.

The Clare deputy said, however, that there was consolation in the fact that some parents could recoup some of the cost through the MEDI form, but believes this does not go far enough.

Matchmaker blames recession

THE Government has revealed that ‘certain EU issues’ are holding up progress for an international logistics transport hub at Shannon Airport.

Last year, the Shannon Airport Au- thority (SAA) and the Lynxs Group signed a Memo of Understanding (MOU) for the purpose of jointly developing a major international lo- gistics hub and business facility at Shannon.

The agreement was seen as a Sig- nificant step towards the delivery of a state-of-the-art international cargo facility on a 200,000 square-feet site at Shannon Airport.

The Shannon-based Atlantic Way organisation believes that the devel- opment of a global freight logistics centre has the potential to create and support over 10,000 new jobs within a five to ten year timeframe.

However, chairman of the Task Force, Denis Brosnan said that in order for the hub to proceed, €7 mil- lion needs to be given to the Shan- non Airport Authority, which has not eleetiw Kee

He said: “The debate has been go- ing on for 12 months or longer, but the money hasn’t appeared.

In the Dail, the Minister for State at the Dept of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Dara Calleary said that the Tanaiste, Mary Coughlan has discussed the Lynxs project with the Minister for Transport, Noel Demp- TAs

He said: “It appears that certain EU issues need to be resolved if progress is to be made. We are addressing them at EU level.”

Minister Calleary said: “The Lynx Cargo Group and the Dublin Airport Authority are now completing an ex- amination of the feasibility of devel- oping a major cargo facility there.”

Fine Gael Limerick East deputy, Kieran O’Donnell said: “During the Dail debate, the minister, Deputy Willie O’ Dea, said that an announce- ment on the Lynx Cargo project was “imminent”. I would like to know how the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, would define “imminent”, as he appears to be suggesting that an announcement is a little further ee Nl

Clare Fine Gael deputy, Joe Carey said: “The potential benefits of de- veloping the Lynx international car- go facility at Shannon are endless. We are now at a critical juncture as rising unemployment and the loss of

inward investment means action is jLeXer (ore EDEN TL ONT

“In order to make this a reality Government must put their shoulder to the wheel and drive this project until it becomes a reality.

Mr Denis Brosnan, Chairman of the Mid West Taskforce has outlined how beneficial this project could be.

“The €7 million investment re-

quired from government would cop- per fasten the deal with Lynx and would be money well spent as it will create and sustain jobs into the fu- ture. Yet there is a total lack of ur- gency shown by government towards this project.”

He added: “There has been enough talk about this project. We now need to see the investment required from

government. The Lynx cargo facil- ity represents a viable way forward for the development of a major inter- national hub at Shannon. Action is needed immediately to make this a reality.”

Shannon transport hub hits snags

KILRUSH paid posthumous tribute to one of its great community activ- ists and an all-round gentleman on Thursday night last when the late Charles Glynn was named the over- all winner of the 2009 Gradaim Ui Ruachain Civic Awards.

The annual awards were established in 1993 by Kilrush Town Council in memory of its late chairperson, Cissy Roughan. The awards were to give public recognition to the great work, commitment and dedication of Cllr Roughan, a member of the coun- cil from 1980 to 1991.

In doing so, these awards were also promoting and encouraging partici- pation and achievement in the arts, social, business, entrepreneurial, education, sporting and general life of the town.

The awards, which are usually pre- sented during the summer, were de- layed last year due to the local elec- tions.

The awards were instead presented on February 4 by Mayor of Kilrush, Cllr Marian McMahon Jones (FG).

The presentation and celebration was also attended by the 10 2009 nominees and their guests, and by council representatives Cllr Ilan Lynch (FG), Cllr Mairead O Brien (Ind) and Kilrush Town Clerk John Cosas

The 10 nominees that were recog- nised on the night included Mary Hamilton, Martin Cahill, Mat Kelly, Brendan Egan, Kilrush RNLI Fun- draising, Kilrush Ladies Football, Therese Young, Vinny O’Hallaron, John Fennell and the overall winner, the late Charles Glynn. Charles’s son Charlie accepted the award in mem- ory of his father.

The Cissy Roughan awards are open to everybody. Those nominated do not have to be from Kilrush or resident there but are considered to have made an outstanding contribu- tion to Kilrush society.

“Kilrush Town Council is aware of the vital importance of community spirit and activity to the town, and of the positive contribution and ef- fect of those who strive for commu- nity spirit and welfare in a range of endeavours. Such people play a vital role in sustaining and improving the quality of life to be enjoyed here,” said Cllr Lynch.