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THE people of Ballynacally were in celebratory mode last night as the village scooped a county Endeavour award, at the national Tidy Towns competition.

Ballynacally increased its points from last year by 21, from 250 to 271. In doing so, the area recorded the single biggest improvement in Clare and won the Endeavour award for the second time, having first scooped it five years ago.

Frank Gavin, who is a member of

the hardworking Tidy Towns com- mittee, said everybody is thrilled with the results. ;

“It’s thanks to the residents, FAS and everybody that contributed. It was decided not to enhance the area too much, not to overdo it, and keep the village character,” said Mr Gavin. “Obviously it’s paying divi- dends. Flowers and colour can do a lot,” he said.

A committee of six people spear- headed the campaign to keep the area neat and tidy. They were backed by people living in the area. “We or-

ganised work evenings on Thursdays and some people turned out. We were delighted with that. The aim is to continue on and do well,” he said.

Mr Gavin said winning the En- deavour award was a huge reward for locals. “We are delighted with this award. We have been doing well in the Clare in Bloom competition for the past few years,” he said.

Kilkee also showed a remarkable improvement, with its points tally in- creasing from 256 to 270. That was the second highest increase in any part of Clare, when compared to last

year’s figures.

Secretary of the Tidy Towns com- mittee in Kilkee, Pauline Barry said she was thrilled with the result.

“Over the years, we have had major problems with Hodge’s Green and Allander’s Field. Major work has been done on both of those areas. They had previously been two ma- jor blackspots. I’m sure the marks in those areas increased,” she said.

“We are hoping to keep it going. The aim is to identify projects for the coming year, now that those have been completed,’ she added.

KILRUSH is Ireland’s tidiest small town with a population of 2,501 to 5,000 people. The west Clare capital was awarded the gold medal in the National Tidy Towns competition having received the highest marks in the Category D section.

Members of the hard-working Tidy Towns committee were celebrating, having secured the coveted gold af- ter two years of winning silver. For the committee and the town council it was a huge ambition achieved.

According to Murt Collins, Chair-

person of the Kilrush Tidy Towns Committee, “Key to our progress in the Tidy Towns scheme has been the partnership approach that we adopted some years ago. There is a broad range of groups and organi- sations now involved in promoting and enhancing the appearance of the town including the local Tidy Towns committee, FAS schemes, outdoor and clerical staff from Kilrush Town Council, the local business sector and the community of Kilrush.” Kilrush Town Clerk, Fiona Mooney said taking part in the Tidy Towns competition has impacted positively

on the appearance of the town.

“In recent years, Kilrush has been scoring consistently high in the areas of overall developmental approach, the built environment, landscap- ing, wildlife and natural amenities, litter control, tidiness, residential areas and general impression. This improved appearance has been ob- served and commented upon by the many thousands of visitors to the town each year. This can only have positive consequences for the town’s image and future growth,” she said.

“Winning a gold medal is a mas- sive achievement for everybody

involved,” Councillor Tom Clyne, Mayor of Kilrush added.

“T would like to particularly ac- knowledge the Kilrush Tidy Towns committee which has worked tire- lessly and selflessly to improve the ap- pearance of Kilrush. The volunteers have toiled throughout the summer in various public areas to create and maintain flowerbeds, keeps streets tidy, cut grass and pick up litter.”

Kilrush scored 290 points, an in- crease of eight points on last year when it secured silver for the second year in a row. It received bronze in 2003 and 2004.

ENNIS and Kilrush have once again won gold medals in the national Tidy SKeaelsmereyesloreisialeyee

The county capital scored 295 points, which is just four points be- hind the overall winner, Aughrim, from Wicklow, the results of which were announced yesterday. It shows an increase of seven points on Ennis’ tally of 288 last year.

Kilrush finished second in Clare, with 290 points (an increase of eight on last year), while Mountshannon was third, with 279 points.

Ennis won a gold medal, the county award for Clare, a national regional biodiversity award, along with a ‘building a bilingual society’ acco- lade. “Ennis is just four points behind the overall winner. For a town this size, this 1s a major achievement,” said the secretary of Ennis Tidy

Towns committee, Margaret Neylon.

Ennis, which won the overall na- tional competition in 2005, has in- creased its points tally, in impres- sive fashion, over the past few years. It scored 272 points in 2004, 279 in 2005 and 288 last year.

Many villages, townlands and towns in Clare showed huge im- provements in their scores in the na- tional competition.

Although Mountshannon scored

279 points, it dropped one point from last year. The village, which won the competition outright in 1981, has been impressive in Tidy Towns over the past few years, increasing its tally in fine fashion.

There were significant improve- ments for many areas, with Ballyna- cally top of the pile in this section, scooping an impressive increase of 21 points, which showed an increase of 8.4 per cent on 2006. Not far be- hind Ballynacally was Kilkee, which increased its tally by 14 points. Thir- teen-point increases were recorded in Quin (256), Ruan (238) and Kilmihil (243).

Ballyvaughan increased by 12 points (256). Tuamgraney increased by 11 points, to 259, while Labash- eeda increased by 10 points to 259. Nine-point increases were awarded in Lahinch (230), Scariff (230) and Carrigaholt (214).

Kilrush scooped eight extra points (290), as did Killimer (227), Kildysart (230) and Newmarket-on- Fergus (241). Seven-point increases were scored by Ennis (295), Feakle (233) and Tulla (218).

Sixmilebridge (254), Killaloe (230) and Ennistymon (224) increased by five points each. A three-point in- crease was recorded in Broadford (208), while Mullagh (214) and Shannon (254) increased by two points each.

UNIVERSITY College Dublin was the venue for the 58th Annual Meet- ing of the European Association for Animal Production held on Sunday, August 26 which was opened by the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Mr John Browne, ID.

Addressing the more than 800 Eu- ropean delegates, the Minister stated that “investment in research is piv- otal in ensuring that we meet future challenges facing the agriculture and food sector”’.

He congratulated the Scientific Committee for capturing such a noteworthy theme as “Sustainable Animal Production – Meeting the

Challenges for Quality Food. Sus- tainability presents a challenge for all concerned.” The Minister continued: “A challenge for researchers to pro- vide the best science based knowl- edge for cost effective sustainable and animal welfare friendly animal production, a challenge for farmers to deliver quality produce at com- petitive prices in an environmentally sustainable way, and, most of all, a challenge to all involved along the whole food chain from the farm to the fork to have a unified approach to ensuring the highest food safety and quality standards are achieved.”

The minister told delegates that the Irish Government has greatly increased its funding for research in recent years. Last year Strategy

for Science Technology and Innova- tion, which will run until 2013, was launched. “This Strategy,’ he said, “sets out the roadmap whereby Ire- land can develop as a knowledge based economy, and it explicitly recognises that the development of a sustainable agriculture and food sec- tor and bio economy is vital to our national economic well-being.” The Strategy foresees a doubling of both research funding and in the number of PhD’s produced.

‘This 1s not a doubling for the sake of it,’ said the minister, “but rather a vision of building a capability among the best young people to fuel the knowledge economy.”

Continuing the minister said that the Department of Agriculture and

Food is the primary funding agency for agricultural and food research in Ireland.

It provides core funding to Teagasc, the National Institute for Research, Advice and Education in Agriculture and Food, as well as funding through competitive programmes for which Teagasc and the third level institutes compete. The minister pointed out that these programmes provide sig- nificant funding for research in the animal bio-sciences.

In conclusion, the Minister hoped that the delegates would not only get a flavour of what is happening in re- search in Ireland, but that they would also have an opportunity to capture some of the sights, sounds and tastes of Ireland during their stay.

MACRA NA FEIRME’S national president, Catherine Buckley be- lieves education is the way forward in farming.

Speaking at the launch of the Tea- gasc programme for Adult and Life Long Learning she said providing “the best possible educational oppor- tunities to farmers would be the key to giving Irish agriculture a competi- tive advantage in the future.”

The Macra president pointed out that her organisation had long been involved in campaigning for 1im- provements in agricultural educa-

tion standards and she welcomed the fact that the existing 180 hour course will, in the coming year, be replaced with the new advanced certificate in agriculture. “While the new course will require a greater commitment from participants, it will leave them far better equipped to deal with the demands of modern farming. This new course will create a pathway for young farmers to acquire a broader and more life-long agricultural edu- cation,’ she said.

Ms Buckley pointed out that while it was vital that Teagasc continued to develop top-class specialised cours- es targeted at full-time farmers, she

said that Macra also fully supported the provision of agricultural training courses to part-time farmers or those who could not attend agricultural college.

“The responsibilities and pressures on so called part-time farmers are just as onerous as those on farmers with no off-farm employment and it is important for the future of the industry that this category of farmer has access to properly structured training,’ she said.

The leader of the young farmers’ or- ganisation said that in addition to the formal courses offered by Teagasc, the importance of various discussion

group Sessions, also facilitated by the organisation, should not be under-es- UbeereInoren

“In the last 12 months, Macra has established a number of specialised discussion groups for young farmers around the country which are facili- tated by professional Teagasc advis- ae

“The demand for this type of edu- cational opportunity has been huge as it provides a chance for young like-minded farmers to meet and net- work with others in the industry, and in turn assists them in making bet- ter decisions in relation to the future growth of their business,’ she said.

THE CPSSL will be running U8 and U1O blitzes at the following locations this Friday Night: Fern Celtic’s pitch and Ennistymon CBS from 6.30pm to 8pm and Lees Road Astro Turf from 6pm to 7pm. There will be close to 80 kids in action at each venue, along with parents, and spervisors.

SW sviM es molomabesbevrercmustaulr DUN me Vols the next three weeks at different ven- ex

Secondly, Monday night at 7pm and

8pm. The start of the FAI Regional Emerging Talent Programme will take place at the Auburn Lodge.

This is a education/training pro- gramme for the highest standard players in the Limerick/Clare/North Tipp region between the ages of 14 and 17.

Clare is represented by 10 players and head coaches in the centre are Declan Farmer and myself.

The centre is based at Lees Road every monday night from 7pm to O9pm from September 24 to March

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You are more than welcome to at- tend information night – and then maybe we can plan some regular media coverage of the center, player profiles, coach profiles, match fea- tures, etc over the course of the train- ing schedule.

The FAI Regional Centres are the next step from Kennedy Cup and are the foundations of our underage international squads and eventually will act as a source of the majority of the Eircom League players.

will include works from painters such as Paul Henry, Gerard Dillon, Jack B Yeats, Mainie Jellet, Mary Swanzy and No- rah McGuinness.

Curated by Fiona Woods of the Clare Arts Office, the works repre- sent a broad spectrum of Irish paint- ing and rates as one of the most high profile art exhibitions ever held in Clare. Many of the paintings have been sourced from the Arts Council and Limerick City Gallery of Art’s permanent collection.

To coincide with the exhibition, the Clare Arts Office is organising a se- ries of guided gallery tours, public

talks and workshops for artists.

Catherine Marshall, Chief Cura- tor with The Irish Museum of Mod- ern Art, currently on secondment as Visual Arts touring and Collections Advisor with the Arts Council, will provide the opening talk on Irish Painting.

On Saturday, September 15, Ennis- born artist Mick O’Dea RHA will give a talk about his work, followed by a closed workshop for artists.

The former National College of Art and Design tutor has won numerous awards including four Arnotts Na- tional Portrait Awards, the KMPG award at the 1992 and 1998 Oire- achtas exhibitions and a major Arts Council Bursary in 1986.

On September 22, leading contem- porary artist Micky Donnelly will give a talk about his work, followed by a closed workshop for artists.

Every Wednesday, Marie Con- nole MFA will give tours for school eroups, complete with educational material at 1.30pm. A guided tour for the public will be available at 3pm each Wednesday, or at another time by appointment.

The Fine Art Graduate of The Bur- ren College of Art received the Spire- sart Outstanding Student in Art, an accommodation and studio residency award in 2005 and tuition fees bur- sary in 2006/07 from The Clare Arts Office, and recently The Burren Col- lege of Arts Presidents Award.

She has worked at NCAD and IMMA and was a teaching assistant for life drawing and multimedia at the Burren College of Art. She has co- curated a number of shows and was one of the principles in the 2006 Tulca Fringe Festival in Galway. She exhib- its regularly in Ireland and Europe.

The exhibition will run until Sep- tember 23.

PREPARATIONS for the forthcom- ing National Ploughing Champion- ships began this week with the com- mencement of the layout construction of the site in Tullamore, County Of- faly. The championships, which will be held between Tuesday, September 25 to Thursday, September 27 are anticipated to attract in excess of 150,000 visitors and therefore exten- sive planning is needed in order to provide suitable facitilies and ameni- ties for the expected crowds.

Such is the scale of the annual event that planning for the following year’s event begins just days after the pre-

vious year’s competition finishes. Currently the organisers are in the process of laying 13 kilometres of trackway throughout the site and the pegging of the 800 exhibitor stands, which will take up a massive 60 acres of the impressively sized demonstra- tion area.

Colour coded free car parks take up 350 acres with the actual ploughing competitions demanding up to 200 acres to accommodate the various finals involved. Six KVA generators will also be on site with a staggering 20 kilometres of cables required to power 30 floodlights and 600 power points throughout the site.

As well as these facilities approxi-

mately 500 staff, mostly volunteers are necessary to make sure the three day event runs smoothly, including 200 stewards from every county in Ireland and 110 judges and supervi- SOrs.

Visitor’s appetites are also catered for with 22 catering units selling a vast array of foods including organ- ic, asian, specialised coffee bars and traditional Irish as well as 4 bars, 7 confectionary shops and several ice cream vendors.

An estimated 200,000 gallons of water are also required which further highlights the extent of the organisa- tion involved.

There are also numerous activi-

ties for those who want to take their minds off the competitions with the Land Rover Terrapod off road experi- ence, the first Irish Stihl Timbersport series and the Austrian Schuhplatters as well as the regular exhibitions such as livestock, machinery demonstra- tions, forestry village, motor show, bio energy village, education and business centre, a tented trade area and various entertainment events go- ing on all around the site.

This year’s championships will be opened at midday on September 25 by the guest of honour, President McAleese with the National Garda Band in attendence for the opening ceremony.

POOR grain price offers by Glan- bia have resulted in IFA President Padraig Walshe seeking a meeting with Glanbia Chief Executive John Maloney to discuss the “derisory”’ sums.

The IFA President said, “Glan- bia’s on account prices of €170/t for barley, €180/t for wheat and €185/t for oats (at 20 per cent moisture ex- clusive of vat) are derisory and this move is clearly designed to under-

mine the market for green grain by €15 to €20/t.”

Mr Walshe said, “It is clear that the timing of the announcement by Glan- bia and a number of other co-ops 1s designed to dampen farmer expecta- tions at a time when competition for green grain has intensified.”

“Glanbia’s offer is all the more ri- diculous considering that their own managers are being authorised to compete for grain and do deals far in excess of their current price offer. In the last few days, up to €190/t and

€210/t has been paid for green bar- ley and wheat respectively collected ex farm (at 20 per cent moisture, ex- clusive of vat), as the main harvest gets into full swing.”

“It is clear that Glanbia is now try- ing to recoup a drying and handling margin of over €50 per tonne from wheat based on current market val- ues, a 66 per cent increase on last harvest. This is totally unacceptable. Based on current import values, the benchmark off which Glanbia sup- posedly works, green wheat off the

combine is worth €200/t and green barley €185/t (at 20 per cent mois- ture, exclusive of vat).”

“Where farmers cannot achieve a minimum price of €185/t for green barley and €200/t for green wheat off the combine, they should now consider a number of other options. They can tip and auction the grain, retain ownership of the grain and do a deal on drying and storage, which is available from €14/t (excluding weight loss), or trade the grain direct farm to farm,” he added.

THE HSE is facing criticism for not upgrading the mid-west’s Sexual As- sault Treatment Unit (SATU) – leav- ing it the only region in the country without a full time dedicated unit.

Last week the health service an- nounced that it was expanding its SATUs by opening two new units in Galway and Mullingar.

The HSE failed, however, to give

the same privileges to the mid-west which already has a part-time SATU in Limerick servicing the county as well as Clare and Tipperary.

The service for victims of rape and sexual assault began operating in February 27, 2006.

By the end of that year it had helped 31 people, a number that has now esrown to 66.

According to a report into the first 10 months of its operation, eight peo-

ple from Clare were sent to the unit by gardai from Clare. Four of those using the service in that period gave a Clare address.

The service includes access to emergency contraception, referral information on screening for sexu- ally transmitted infections and rape crisis counselling.

Prior to February 2006 sexual as- sault victims were forced to travel to Cork for such a service.

In 2004 14 people from Clare were forced to make the arduous journey south, while eight people from the county travelled to Cork for the serv- ice in 2003 and again in 2005.

Despite its use the unit in the mid- west 1s now to be overshadowed by a full-time, new service in Galway.

As aresult doctors appointed to the new Galway unit will receive pay deals and nursing back up not avail- able to the Clare and Limerick GPs

working with the service.

In the Midwest, Shannondoc pro- vides the call-out facilities for the service when a victim is referred by the gardai.

The Mid Western Regional Hospi- tal Limerick provides use of a desig- nated clinic room located in the Out Patients Department. The Limerick Rape Crisis Centre, a confidential service, provides a crisis response to victims of recent sexual assault.