A KILDYSART couple, who provide round-the-clock care for their terminally ill son, say they will have to do the unthinkable and sign the six-year-old into the care of the State if there are any further cuts in the carers allowance or services provided by the HSE.
Bridget and Eugene Lorrigan have been providing round the clock care for six-year-old Jason who suffers from a number of serious mental and physical disabilities – the cause of which have never been diagnosed.
UNEMPLOYED males in the Newmarket-on-Fergus area are invited to take part in a focus group for a local community needs assessment.
Community group Obair is carrying out a community needs assessment, with a view to putting together a range of events for locals. The aim is that those who are struggling with any aspect of their lives will be helped out. It is also envisaged that the findings will play a key role in shaping the future of the village.
Obair is inviting residents in the village and surrounding areas to take part in the survey, particularly unemployed men.
Co-ordinator Kirsty Horner has been working on the project for the past few months and is hoping to have all the information gathered over the coming months. A public meeting will then be held and locals will be encouraged to attend this and present their ideas for the future of the village.
Focus groups have been carried out involving single parents and those representing people with disabilities and their findings will be made available at a later stage.
“We still require unemployed males, within Newmarket-on-Fergus, to come forward and be part of a focus group for the community needs assessment. It is important that we have their input so that it is a balanced piece of research.
“Their point of view matters, and is important in moving the needs of the community of Newmarket-on-Fergus forward. It will allow us to iden- tify the issues faced by unemployed males in Newmarket-on-Fergus,” said Ms Horner.
“We are targeting specific groups, for example one-parent families, people with disabilities, unemployed males and the elderly. The aim is to create a profile of Newmarket and find out what the needs are in the village and what is here already. . . what needs to be improved and what needs to be added,” she said.
“We will form a social inclusion committee, where people who have never been on a committee before will be involved,” she said.
“It is important that people get involved. It’s a chance for them to have their say,” she said.
Anyone wishing to get involved in the project should phone Kirsty in Obair on 061 368030.
A MILESTONE will be marked in West Clare later this month when Baltard National School celebrates its 100th anniversary.
On June 24, locals in Baltard, Doonbeg, will gather at the school for a Mass to mark the occasion. It will be followed by what promises to be a memorable evening of nostalgia. Old roll books will be wheeled out, while photographic exhibitions will also form a central part of the celebrations.
Past pupils, parishioners and all those who have been associated with the school over the years have been invited to the event.
Over the years, the school has been refurbished and in recent times, new technology has been added including interactive projectors and computer systems.
A booklet is being compiled for the occasion and anyone associated with the school over the years is invited to contribute to this.
The school has reduced in size over the years. When it first opened, there were up to 100 students. There are just nine students enrolled at the moment. The event will be hosted by the school’s board of management. Chairman Michael Haugh said, “In more recent years we have been struggling to keep going. We lost some young people moving on to other parishes.
“We have to try to increase the numbers. The catchment area is not big. We are depending on people to come in from outside. It has been a problem to keep the school going and to promote it,” he added.
“Nobody wants to see the school closing. It is a focal point. It is like a junction in a city there is so much traffic passing,” he added.
Anyone wishing to contribute should contact the school.
TWO new tourism businesses are set to open in Clare in the coming weeks as more than 150 local operators came together in Ennis last week to show that the county is open for business.
Corofin locals Darragh and Aisling Quinn are preparing to launch The Farmyard later this month, one of the most innovative eco-tourism businesses ever launched in Ireland.
Meanwhile, Quilty natives Shane Ryan and Laura O’Dwyer have just launched Sugar Island, a cafe and arcade which will provide tourists and locals with something interesting to do in Quilty.
Located in the shadow of Mullaghmore, The Farmyard aims to provide an authentic family farm experience to tourists young and old. Set on a fully working farm, it will cater for children’s summer camps from July but plans to cater for a number of different groups, including residential tourists in the future and also has its own tea room and farm shop which will offer the public the best of local produce.
“The idea is that different groups can come onto the farm and engage in very simple farm and garden activities, such as feeding the animals or working in our organic polytunnel to see how fruit and vegetable grow,” said Aisling Quinn. “We are not trying to pretend to be something that we’re not – this is an authentic farmyard experi- ence and there is a market for people to come and experience that.”
After returning home from abroad, Quilty native Shane Ryan decided that he wanted to do something to make his town a better place to live in.
“The place is split into two sections, the back has a big pool and games for the kids out the back and at the front section we have a cafe for the parents so they can relax while they keep an eye on the kids,” said Shane. “There is nothing anywhere around us like this. When I was growing up in Quilty there was nothing there for young people to do so we decided why not do something good for the local people and liven the place up a bit.”
Meanwhile, more than 150 Clare tourism operators participated in the Gala Clare Tourism Networking Evening at the Armada Hotel last week. The free business networking event featured more then 80 tourism information stands from all over the county.
AN INITIATIVE by students at one Ennis primary school to encourage the re-use of household items has been given the thumbs up by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
Holy Family Senior School was the overall winner in Clare County Council’s ‘Give and Take’ competition, in association with the Free Trade Ireland website.
On Friday last, a delegation from the school attended the County Council offices for a presentation from the Mayor of Clare, Christy Curtin. The school received a new laptop while sixth class student Aoife Flouch won the overall students prize of a € 100 One-for-All voucher.
Teacher Eilís Sheedy explained, “Following this success, we were invited to Castlebar to the official launch of the Free Trade Ireland website. A delegation travelled to Castlebar on May 30. There, we were privileged to meet the Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who commended Aoife and the school on our success in the competition.”
FreeTrade Ireland is a web service designed to facilitate and encourage the reuse of household and business items.
There was also success for the Holy Family in the latest round of the Green Flag awards. The school received its second Green Flag at a ceremony in the Galway Bay Hotel on May 25. The school was commended for its initiatives on energy conservation. The school’s green code is “Wasting energy is not cool, turn off the lights and save our fuel.”
An Taisce awarded 14 Green Flags to Clare schools under the Green Schools programme
Clonmoney NS was awarded its first Green Flag for its work on litter and waste. A further 13 schools received Green Flags for their work on energy, water and travel including: Dangan NS; Holy Family Junior School, and Holy Family Senior School, Ennis; Lissycasey NS; Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna; Scoil na Mainistreach, Quin; Tubber NS; Clohanes NS; Colaiste Muire, Ennis; Scoil Realt na Mara in Kilkee; St Caimin’s Community School, Shannon; Querrin NS and Drumdigus NS.
BUNRATTY and the magical silver stag of Bunratty Castle are the focus of a new children’s novel, which has just been published. The Silver Stag of Bunr a tt y is the title of Eithne Massey’s new book, where adventure, conflict and danger await four children as they race to save the magical Silver Stag of Bunratty Castle from a gruesome death.
The book is set in Bunratty Castle in the 14th century and is partly based on fact, along with four fictional children.
Sir Richard de Clare, Lord of Bunratty, wants the head of the Silver Stag on his walls and is preparing to hunt down his prey. Dame Anna, the mysterious woman in the castle tower, warns that any harm to this stag will bring doom to Bunratty for generations to come.
The children must work together and fast, but they are soon out of their depth. As they become the hunted ones, the question is can they save the stag – and themselves – before it’s too late.
Based partly on truth, the adventure is full of mystery and magic and brings the incredible medieval fortress to life for a whole new generation.
Eithne, who is from Wicklow, chose Bunratty as the setting for this book, having spent time in the area. “When anybody thinks of castles in Ireland, they think of Bunratty. We thought it would be a good idea to do a story based on a medieval castle,” she told The Cla re People .
“I went down to the castle itself and got inspiration for the central image of the book, the stag,” she added.
“The surrounding countryside is featured. They [the children] have to take a trip up the Shannon and that landscape is included in the book. The castle is central to it,” she said.
“There was a fair bit of research to make sure I got the geographical facts right and the history,” she added.
The book is aimed at 10 to 12 year olds. “I would hope that children would pick it up and read it for pleasure. It is a mixture of history and fantasy. The stag itself is a magical creature,” she said.
This is Eithne’s fifth book and is her second novel for children. It is published by O’Brien Press.
TEACHERS and parents along with students past and present gathered on Sunday to celebrate the official opening of the recently renovated 16-classroom Barefield National School.
Completed last year, work on the latest extension at the school included the construction of eight new classrooms, six special education teaching rooms, a general purpose/sports hall and multi-purpose rooms, stores, offices, toilets, boiler room, separate external store and a new roadside drop-off zone, as well as a new sewage system.
Work on an initial eight-classroom school was completed in 1997 with previous developments taking place at the site in the 1950, 1993, 1995 and 1996. The school has been a part of community life in Barefield for 115 years. Sunday’s ceremony was attended by staff, members of the board of management, parents association, local priest Fr Jerry Carey and local politicians.
Ronan Connolly, chairman of the board of management, said, “We are justifiably proud of having played our part as the Executive of the school who saw this project through to fruition and I thank all my fellow Board members for their countless hours of unselfish and voluntary dedication in achieving this outcome. We only could do so, however, as a result of the huge level of support and guidance we received from all of the relevant stakeholders who have vested their time and energies in this project.”
Mr Connolly also paid tribute to the work of principal John Burns and said that the school building project “exhibits very clearly all the wonderful attributes of the Irish meitheal concept and the force which a volountary community of parties working together can generate”.
He continued, “We were fortunate indeed to receive the necessary Government funding to allow this very positive development to proceed at a time when our country is sadly blighted with so much financial pain and negativity and the new school represents a wonderful beacon of hope for the future”. Michael Butler, chairperson of the parent’s association, said, “As parents of the children who attend Barefield National School, we know how fortunate we are to have such a dedicated team of people who look after our children’s education and development on a daily basis. Up to now, the conditions were not as we would have liked them to be. Now, however, with the opening of the new school, we can be truly proud of what is a first-class and future-proofed environment in which they will receive their education.” John Burns, principal, said that a striking feature of life at Barefield National School has been the “continuing generosity displayed by parents over the decades in supporting a range of activities at our school”. He said, “Barefield National School is a focal point for our community, educating generations of girls and boys since 1895. Our school’s close link with our community has always been an important feature of our growth and development over the years.”
FORMER pupils of Barefield National School fondly recalled their schooldays as the school marked its latest milestone on Sunday.
Sr Kitty Baker attended the school between 1925 and 1932. Her thoughts are contained in a memorial booklet produced by the school to mark the official opening of a new school extension. Sr Baker recalled walking five miles to school often through fields and bogs.
She said, “We had nice teachers, Master O’Riordan and Mrs O’Driscoll. The Master was a very good singer and he taught the choir. Mrs. O’Driscoll taught us sewing and knitting which I loved. I was not too good at the Irish but I was good at arithmetic and the teacher often gave me a pencil or a rubber as a reward. My sister Nelly was the best in her class.”
Sean Howard, who attended the school in the 1930s, explained his family’s long connection with the school. Sean, whose grandchildren now attend the school stated, “Barefield school has always been very near and dear to me and my family. My grandfather, John Howard, was the headmaster in Barefield National School from circa 1864 to 1907. In the early years, the school was located in the grounds where the church now stands and in later years (1895) the ‘new school’ was built in Drum- quin.”
John Butler lived in a cottage in Ballymaley with his father, mother and brother, Michael. He was a pupil at Barefield National School in the 1960s.
“Back then, rural electrification had not arrived in Barefield so we did not have electricity or running water, just candles and oil lamps and we carried water from a spring well for drinking and cooking and took water from a barrel off the roof for washing etc”, he recalled.
Bríd Baker was a student at the school from 1983 to 1991. “The highlight of the year had to be our sports evening. We paraded from the school behind the marching band up to the small sports field where all the events took place. A boys and girls relay team were picked from this to represent the school in the parish sports competing against Doora National School and Knockanean National School,” she recalled.
AN ENNISTYMON man who launched an unprovoked attack on a Polish national in Lahinch was yesterday remanded in custody, after a court heard he has not paid all of the compensation as directed by a court.
In February of last year, a threeyear suspended jail term was imposed on Christopher Collins (19), after he pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Cezary Leszczynski in Lahinch on April 28, 2009.
The victim was knocked unconscious in an unprovoked attack as he withdrew cash from a pass machine.
Six of his teeth were broken in the assault, his nose was broken in three places, while his left cheekbone was also fractured.
At Ennis Circuit Court, the sentencing judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said he had “rarely seen so much physical damage done to an unfortunate victim as was done in this case.”
In suspending the sentence, the judge ordered Collins, of Kilcornan, Ennistymon, to pay € 20 a week to cover Leszczynski’s dental costs, which cost € 3,000. The case was subsequently adjourned on a number of occasions and the compensation issue was monitored. At Ennis Circuit Court yesterday, Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan, said that to-date, € 1,300 of the total of € 2,655 should have been paid. However, “only a sum of € 345 has been paid,” said Mr Coughlan.
“At the moment he is in default to the tune of € 955,” he added.
Defence Counsel Pat Whyms, BL, said, “I am not really in a position to contradict any of that. He is in default.”
Mr Coughlan said, “He has had ample opportunity to make the payments.” He told the court that 11 payments – ranging from € 20 to € 80 – have been made in total.
Two payments were made in June 2010; one in October 2010; three in November and one in December. Two payments were also made in February and another two in March of this year.
Mr Whyms told the court: “It’s a question of the payments being made but not being paid every week.”
Judge Carroll Moran noted that it was recommended by the judge who heard the facts in the case that the three-year sentence had been suspended on condition that the compensation be paid. He said he would have to think about it and adjourned the case until Thursday of this week. “He is to stay in custody until then,” said the judge.
ENNIS is one of three locations nationwide chosen to take part in a pilot initiative combining the county’s court offices.
The district and circuit court offices for Clare have been combined into one, as part of the Public Service (Croke Park) Agreement.
Ennis, together the Monaghan and Naas, has been chosen for this project, which is expected to eventually be rolled out nationally.
Essentially it means that both court offices will work together, rather than be separated, as is currently the case. The aim is that the combination of smaller offices will provide opportunities for the improvement and enhancement of the offices to ensure the better use of staff time and resources in maintaining frontline services.
Josephine Tone, who has been the manager of the district court offices in Ennis, has been appointed office manager of the combined offices.
Brid O’Dea, Paul O’Gara, Tara Hayes and Brid Curtin will deal with crime lists in both the district and circuit courts. Brian Caden, Susan Dermody, Mary Greene, Ann McMahon and Noreen Cahill-O’Keeffe will work together on the civil and family law lists in both courts.
As part of the changes, the county registrar Pat Wallace’s role will change from that of office manager to one where he will make legal decisions. Mr Wallace is also manager of the Tipperary office at the moment, after the position became vacant recently.
Spokesman for the Courts Service Brendan McDonald told The Clare People the measure “is an efficient way of optimising the limited resources we have, to provide the same care”.
“Ennis and Naas were picked because Naas is a large office and En- nis would be smaller. We needed one in the region. There is a mixture of challenges,” he said.
“Our business has gone up by more than 28 per cent since 2008 nationally and staff numbers have gone down by 12 per cent and are likely to go down even more,” said Mr McDonald.
“It’s about sharing resources and sharing information. It is about sharing knowledge by pooling our resources. We will be able to provide for family friendly measures for staff (in terms of working hours).
“When the customer comes in there is now one public office,” he said.
“This is the biggest change we have had since 1922 in the courts system. The offices have always been separate,” he said.
The initiative will be reviewed after a few months.