Category: News

A NEW Clare group which aims to support and give a voice to people who choose not to eat meat is growing in numbers with every meeting.

The Clare Veg Group is a meet-up group offering a space for vegetarians, vegans and aspiring vegetarians. “Our primary aim is to enrich the lives of vegetarians by providing knowledge, inspiration and support. We’re innovative folk and we’re developing programmes to make alternative lifestyles easier, fairer and more fun” said one of the foundermembers, Julie Hyde.

Julie and her friend Audrey Shanala, both vegetarians, formed the group last November and attendances have grown bigger with each meeting.

“We welcome vegetarians, vegans and people who want to know more about vegetarianism,” said Julie.

The group has different activities each month, and have had talks from various speakers, gone out to dinner and organised ‘pot luck’ evenings where everyone brings food to share.

“We felt there was a lack of support and awareness about vegetarians in Clare. We exchange information, talk about where’s good to eat vegetarian food, exchange information, talk about animal rights issue, food production – things we’re concerned about and generally socialize,” Julie explained.

The group also provides a voice for vegetarians who often get a raw deal in restaurants.

“A lot of restaurants are very cooperative if you ring ahead, but then again, vegetarians are often left with a choice of one token dish. The point is that vegetarians should speak up and not just accept that their only choice for a night out is the dish of pasta. A lot of people who are not vegetarians would order vegetarian food if it’s good.”

Julie turned vegetarian after a spell of health difficulties and studying Aruvedic therapies.

The Clare Veg Group meets every first Thursday of the month at 7pm. For more information email clareveggroup@gmail.com or visit them online at www.clareveggroup. blogspot.com

IRISH Rail is planning a clampdown on passengers who buy discount offpeak tickets to travel from Clare to Dublin and other destinations.

With the train service between Ennis, Sixmilebridge and Limerick becoming an increasingly popular way for people to head for the capital for sporting and music events, or just for a weekend away, passengers are also taking advantage of the off-peak bargains available in rail travel.

But those who try to cheat the system by booking off-peak on-line and then travelling on peak-service trains on those tickets are facing fines of € 100 as well as having to cough up for the ticket they were supposed to buy.

Fares to Dublin are available online at discount rates on the Friday 5.30am, 10am, 11am and 20.55pm services. But with those fares costing either € 10 or € 15, many passengers are trying to pay the minimum while hitching a ride on the busiest trains.

A spokeswoman for Irish Rail said that when a passenger “reserves a ticket on a particular train it’s not transferable to another service. If you want to use that ticket on another train then you are obliged to pay a surcharge of € 20.”

Irish Rail have placed ticket checkers on trains and passengers found trying to use their discount tickets on full-fare routes face having to pay a fine of € 100 as well as the full cost of the ticket they need to travel on that service.

“Revenue protection and fare evasion is something we take very seriously and we have invested a lot in that area to ensure that it is effective,” the spokeswoman said.

FIFTY students from Scoil Chríost Rí, Cloughleigh, were among a host of performers who turned out to mark Love Live Music Day in Ennis on Friday.

The group included teacher David McMahon’s fourth class, the Blazing Bows Ensemble, who were performing in public for the first time with the Scoil Chriost Rí Band. Mr McMahon said the group have been learning violin as part of their school curriculum since September. He added, “They have been practicing very hard to be ready today.”

The event was one of several in Clare marking Love Live Music Day, an initiative by National Music Network, a celebration of all forms of music in Ireland through free nationwide music events which aims to promote access to live music for all. Other Ennis events included a performance of music by Bach at the Clare Museum and a lunchtime trad session at the County Council offices.

The combined group played a varied repertoire including traditional Irish tunes, film themes and blues numbers. Mary Fagin, visiting from Meath, was one of many onlookers who enjoyed the impromptu performance. “Today was a great day to be in Ennis. As I stepped out of the Temple Gate, I was serenaded by this wonderful music. The double bass player was great and the accordion solo from Titanic was brilliant,” she said.

Karen Vaughan, director of the school band, was delighted with the performance of her young musicians. “They are a very dedicated, enthusiastic bunch to work with. It is encouraging to see them engaging with their local community,” she said.

Fiona Power, principal, said, “I am very proud of the students. All the musicians will soon be busy preparing for their next event – the Scoil Chriost Ri Intercultural day at the end of May.”

Further information on the Blazing Bows music programme at the school can be found at www.blazingbows.blogspot.com, which is run by music instructor Cathy Desmond. Ms Desmond is the director of the Swinging Strings project in Ennis National School. The blog documenting the success of the Swinging Strings project was nominated for a prize at the Irish Blog Awards.

A YOUNG Clare singer is promoting the county in a major exhibition which has just opened in London.

15-year-old Ben Escorcio became a household name in the Banner County when he reached the finals of the All Ireland Talent Show last year.

But his latest venture is bringing the county to a wider British audience who can see a video of him singing beneath the stalagtite in the Doolin Cave.

The video is part of a project by well-known artist Dorothy Cross, who is currently exhibiting in the prestigious Fritch Street gallery in London.

Dorothy had seen Ben sing with the Lismorahaun Singers two years previously. “When we finally met, she told me she had been wanting to do a project with me since then,” Ben told The Clare People .

The two met for the first time when Ben’s singing teacher, Archie Simpson, introduced him to Dorothy and they went for a day out to see the cave.

“The stalagtite was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen. It was in the cave that Dorothy got the idea for the video,” he said.

Doolin Cave co-operated with the plan and closed the cave for the day, building a platform for Ben to stand on while he was filmed singing.

“The acoustics were just amazing. It was a great experience.” Ben said.

The five-minute video is now part of the artist’s show in London.

“It’s great promotion for Clare. People get to see the cave and the stalagtite and may well want to see more,” said Sandy Escorcio, Ben’s mother.

Ben got a private viewing before the exhibition opened.

The success of getting to the finals of the All Ireland Talent Show was “a fantatsic experience” which has opened doors for Ben. And the St Flannan’s student is still determined to pursue a career in music.

“The way my voice is going, it will be tenor. I would really love to have a career in the music industry. That would be just fantatsic,” he said.

ONE of the smallest schools in Clare has launched a national campaign to fight the cause of schools facing possible closure under the terms of the controversial McCarthy Report that wants all units with under 50 pupils shut down.

The ‘Save Small Schools Ireland’ campaign was launched two weeks ago by the parents of Doonaha National School on the edge of the Loophead peninsula, who now say that it’s set to “snowball nationwide” as primary schools across the country join forces to keep their doors open.

“The parents are leveraging the power of social media, by launching a Facebook campaign called ‘Save Small Schools – Ireland’ to allow the voices of all small schools to be heard,” Tony Collins said on behalf of the Parents of Doonaha National School.

“The response in just two weeks has been very encouraging, including responses from all across Ireland.

IN PLEDGING to take the fight for education to the floor of the Oireachtas, Clare Seanad Éireann hopeful Declan Kelleher has accused the new Government of making rural Ireland the “soft target” for cutbacks.

The Corofin National School principal has told The Clare People this week that as a member of the Upper House of the Oireachtas he would “interrogate” and “embarrass” the Government on its commitments to rural Ireland if it dares to press ahead with the controversial McCarthy Report provision calling for every school under 50 pupils to be either shut down or amalgamated.

“Closing schools is not prioritising rural and regional development,” blasted Mr Kelleher.

“In fact closing schools is downgrading rural infrastructure.

“My role will be to stand up and embarrass the Government, to interrogate the Government. The Government are looking at the easiest way to save additional funding and rural areas are soft target,” added Mr Kelleher.

THE number of people signing on the unemployment register in Clare fell for the second month in a row last month – but March still represents the fifth highest Live Register figures in the history of the county.

A total of 10,623 people were on the Live Register in Clare last month – a drop of 189 people on the February figures. The latest figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that the number on the Live Register in Clare shrank by 260 peo- ple or 2.3 per cent since the highest figures on record were recorded in January of this year.

However, it is still unclear whether the drop in Live Register numbers since its all time high in January is the result of an increase in employment or an increase in the number of Clare people who have been forced to emigrate in search of employment abroad.

The standard seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the county remained at 14.7 per cent of the workforce in March.

This latest decrease in the numbers signing on was largely down to a sizable decrease in the numbers signing on in East Clare with the Tulla regional office recording 1,517 people on the Live Register last month – an overall drop of 51 people or 3.2 per cent in just a month.

A similar decrease was recorded in Ennistymon when there were 1,697 people signing on – down 50 people from the 1,747 who signed on in February of 2011 or a drop of 2.8 per cent.

A large decrease was also recorded in Kilrush where 1,458 people signed on the Live Register in March – 43 fewer people or a drop of 2.8 per cent on the February figures.

The news was not as positive in Ennis last month with the county town lagging behind the rest of the county in terms of reductions in the Live Register figures.

The official figures for March showed that 5,998 people signed on in Ennis last month. This represents a month on month drop of 47 people or 0.7 per cent in the numbers signing on in the county town.

SIX years ago this June, The Clare 10k took it’s first tentative steps. As we begin to look forward to the event on June 25, it is the hope of the organising committee that we will welcome back many old faces and say hello to many more new ones.

2010 saw our biggest numbers to date and we are confident that 2011 will see another rise in participants.

Over the coming weeks we will furnish you with training plans, tips on how to stay healthy and more importantly information for the day itself.

Clare Sports Partnership have come on board for 2011 and with their links to the sporting community we will follow the progress of six people who will run 10k for the first time.

It is now 11 weeks until The Clare 10k so there is no more time to be wasted. Get your training gear out, put that extra daylight to good use and get ready for The Clare 10k.

For more information check out www.clare10k.com.

CUIMHNEAMH an Chláir, the Clare oral history and folklore group, is preparing to spread its wings as far as the nation’s capital in an attempt to track down and interview older Clare people living in Dublin.

The voluntary local group has recorded and saved the stories of countless Clare people over the last two years. The group have recorded the stories of a number of Clare people who have sadly since passed away including recordings of Ireland’s old- est man, 106-year-old Paddy Gleeson, before his death in September.

The new initiative, which is entitled ‘A part of what was Dublin’ was launched by the group last week.

Two Dublin-based Clare natives have been trained by the group in recent months and are ready to start documenting the lives of older Banner natives who are based in Dublin.

The work is to be carried out by East Clare natives Bríd McNamara and Tara Sparling, who have been trained under the Cuimhneamh an Chláir Cuairteoir programme and have also conducted their first interview with 91-year-old Ennis native Mai McNamara.

“It’s great to be involved in documenting the history of Clare lives in Dublin. As a Clare woman, I’m delighted to be working with Cuimhneamh an Chláir on this project,” said Brid.

“It can’t have been easy for these people to leave their homes to find work in Dublin when they did and I’ve no doubt that they all retain a strong sense of identity as Clare people and will be happy to tell us their story.

“The recording with Mai McNamara, who left Clare for Dublin in the 1950s, already demonstrates the wealth of memories that exist among the elderly Clare natives in Dublin.”

Immigration from Clare to Dublin was at its highest level since the Famine in the 1950s and the group is hoping to tell the stories of many of the Clare people who were forced to leave during this period.

“We are very conscious that Clare people who migrated or emigrated in the past often retain a strong connec- tion to the county and also have picture perfect memories of their youths in Clare,” said Cormac McCarthy of Cuimhneamh an Chláir.

“We have gotten strong support from the Clare Association in Dublin and hope that with a media campaign in the capital that we will hear from many Clare natives who should be recorded.”

Anyone who wishes to nominated elderly Clare people in Dublin are asked to contact clarememories@eircom.net or telephone 087 9160373.

TOURISM interests on the Clare side of Lough Derg are banding together to create a range of activities and packages to take advantage of the imminent launch of seaplane services into Mountshannon.

A meeting of tourism providers in Pepper’s Pub in Feakle heard from Seaplane CEO Emyly Heapes that plans are running on-schedule for the first commercial flight to land in Mountshannon in mid-May.

“We hope to have the airstrip up and licenced by then,” he told The Clare People .

Mr Heapes told the meeting of more than 20 Clare tourism providers that he wants them to be creative and give people cause to stay in the Lough Derg area and spend their money.

“We’ll bring them in but the business people need to give visitors a reason to come here. Flyfishing classes, packages, horse-riding, golfing – whatever it takes to bring people in. We have to pull together and help ourselves, because if anyone is waiting for the Government to bring business in for them, they’re out of their minds. It won’t happen,” Emylyn said.

Gary Pepper, a member of the East Clare Tourism Forum, said that he is very optimistic about the new service bringing extra vistors and revenue to East Clare. “We would like to see a scaled down version of Shannon Airport in East Clare when these planes arrive. Anything which brings people in is to be welcomed. We need every advantage we can get.”

The Feakle publican said that the area “has fantastic things to offer. We have walking trails, boating, water sports, fishing, golf, music, food – everything and Lough Derg is the nerve centre of all that. Now we have to work together to attract people to use the new service and to come here.”

It’s envisaged that the seaplane service will ferry passengers between Mountshannon, Cork and Galway.

The proposal ran into stormy waters when it was originally proposed, with objections from a number of bodies and individuals who feared that landing planes would interfere with boating and wildlife on the lake.