Category: News

BOOK lovers from Ireland and the UK have been invited to take part in the inaugural Ennis Book Club Festival next March.

The event, which is being supported by Clare County Library, will be a social and literary gathering to bring together some of the 150 Library Book Clubs and 300 Private Book Clubs that exist nationwide. The Festival programme which will run from March 2-4 will also feature author visits, readings, lectures, music, workshops, exhibitions and cookery demonstrations in various venues around Ennis.

Mayor of Ennis, Cllr. Joe Reidy said the event – one of the largest of its kind in either the UK or Ireland – will provide a welcome boost to tourism while presenting a unique opportunity for book club members to meet and exchange ideas about all aspects of literature.

Throughout the three-day festival, events will be held in such venues as Glór Irish Music Centre and the De Valera Library as well as in various hotels, cafes, bookshops and restaurants around Ennis. According to Festival Chairperson, Frances O’Gorman, the programme is not confined to any one form of literature and will include poetry, drama, food, travel, and political writing as well as fiction.

“We are keen to give the book clubs an eclectic mix that won’t be found at any other literary festival and that reflects the reading passions of many in the country. There will also be a section for Irish language book clubs.”

“We are delighted that over twenty writers and a number of Book Clubs have already agreed to take part”, said Festival Committee member, Ciana Campbell. “It will offer an ideal opportunity for comparing notes and chatting with other Book Club members from all over the country. Non-Book Club readers are also invited to come along and to find out how to go about setting up a club in their own area.”

An official website providing information on various festival events has been launched. www.ennisbookclubfestival.com also provides links to other County Clare sites.

STAFF at the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre are to receive specialist firstaid training to operate the room provided by a US couple who lost their first-born baby at the Cliffs of Moher last July.

A County Council spokesman confirmed that all staff at the new €31.5 million Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience will receive first-aid training with two to four personnel receiving advanced training.

Last Friday, Delia and Kelly Stokes travelled to the Cliffs from their home in Phoenix, Arizona to thank all the staff who came to their aid last July when they lost their baby, Nicholas, at the site.

The couple pledged $86,000 towards the provision of a first-aid facility in memory of their prematurely born son. Clare County Council confirmed that it would be naming the new first-aid room the ‘Nicholas Room’ as part of its new visitor centre.

During the visit, Kelly recalled how the women working at the Cliffs centre showed no fear when he told them that his wife needed help.

“When I approached them at the desk and told them what was happening, they just did what they had to do. They were very compassionate, very comforting, told us everything was going to be okay, not to panic and that was the biggest blessing of all.”

Delia said she didn’t think there would have been a different outcome even if there was a dedicated first-aid room in place at the cliffs last July.

“I was 25 weeks pregnant and so, even if I was in a hospital, I don’t think it would have turned out any different. Our focus now is to take something positive out of our tragedy and the opening of the new visitor centre gave us the perfect opportunity to be part of something good.

“Our son is Irish. Nicholas lived for a short time, but I think he is having a greater impact than some people have in an entire lifetime. That is very powerful for us and we feel very blessed by it.”

The couple are due to return to the US today (Tuesday).

UNIONS have welcomed the decision of Aer Lingus worker/shareholders at Shannon and Dublin to reject the Ryanair offer for their shares.

The no-frills airline’s €1.4 billion bid for Aer Lingus is now almost certainly history after 97 per cent of Employee Share Ownership Trust(Esot) members voted against the bid with a turnout of 70 per cent.

The two main unions, SIPTU and IMPACT, have welcomed the employees decision. A statement from Impact said that the employees would not accept a take-over by Ryanair “at any price . . .The bid by Ryanair held nothing for the workers, the consumers or the airline and its defeat is a rejection not only of Ryanair’s employment practices, but it is a victory for common sense and consumer choice.”

Impact, which represents Aer Lingus cabin crew, pilots and middle managers said members were right to reject the take-over. Both IMPACT and SIPTU have nominees on the trust that runs ESOT. The situation could make for uneasy bedfellows in a shareholder relationship. The ESOT will hold a 12 per cent stake while Ryanair will hold a 19.2 per cent stake.

Ryanair has so far made no move to take up the board seats and has said that it will make its views known at annual general meetings. O’Leary’s airline is pressing ahead with its bid, despite the result of the vote. It is planning on convening an extraordinary general meeting on December 14 to get approval for the acquisition. But it is possible that the offer may be withdrawn before that.

ALMOST four thousand children attended events around the county during last month’s Children’s Book Festival 2006, according to Clare County Library.

Fifteen branch libraries hosted 73 events during the month-long festival which featured author visits, storytelling, children’s puppet theatre, animal road shows as well as history, science and art workshops. Participating authors included Darren Shan, novelist and short-story writer Ré Ó Laighléis, Bisto Book of the Year winner author Aubrey Flegg and Mary Murphy – author of numerous best-selling children’s books.

There was no shortage of variety during this year’s festival with sessions ranging from song writing workshops for small groups to events aimed at large audiences of over 250 children, such as author Darren Shan’s visit to Ennis and Shannon.

Popular events included the Magic of India puppet shows by Pignut Productions and Arran Towers, Billy Teare’s storytelling sessions, magic shows by Paul Beattie, Michael Moylan’s presentations on history and science, ‘The Animal Roadshow’ with Marie Lennon and the everpopular Rap workshops.

During the workshops, participants were invited to discuss a variety of personal, social and cultural issues and to decide what positive message they wanted to convey in their rap.

Meanwhile, the ‘Design a Bookmark Competition’ – run by Clare County Library in association with Children’s Books Ireland – was held for the fourth year in a row during Children’s Book Festival 2006. Ellen Brogan from Clarecastle National School was the Junior Category winner while Ellen Roche of Kilmurry National School came first in the Senior Category. The runnersup in the Senior Category were Colm McNamara, Corofin; Daire Crowe, Lahinch; Eleanor Collins, Lisdoonvarna; Eve Quinn, Sixmilebridge; Hannah Murray, Miltown Malbay; Niamh Moloney, Crusheen; Nicole O’Riordan, Quin; Nora Casey, Lisdoonvarna; and Ronan Gardiner, Lisdoonvarna.

This year’s Junior Category runners-up were Eimear Carroll, Ennis; Hannah Casey, Lisdoonvarna; Khiva O’Dwyer, Miltown Malbay; Madeleine Jarocka, Kilrush; Orlaith Lyons, Toonagh; Máire Garry, Ballynacally; Orla Mulchrone, Ennis; Rebecca Davies, Cratloe; and Silvia Koistinen, Kilmaley. All entries were judged by Siobhan Mulcahy, Clare County Arts Officer; Carrie Stafford, Executive Librarian, Clare County Library; Patricia Fitzgerald, Assistant Librarian, Children’s Services, Clare County Library; and Sinead Nestor and Fiona Woods from the Clare County Arts Office.

“The Design a Bookmark Competition continues to gain popularity among schoolchildren each year indicated by the ever-increasing volume of entries”, stated Patricia Fitzgerald, Assistant Librarian, Children’s Services, Clare County Library.

This year’s winning designs will become Clare County Library’s official bookmarks for 2006/2007 and will be distributed through all of its branches. The winning designers will also receive a €50 book token and an award certificate compliments of Clare County Library and The Youth Library Group of The Library Association of Ireland. They will be presented with their prizes in their schools on Friday next December 1. All runners up, meanwhile, will receive €20 book tokens from Clare County Library.

Ms. Fitzgerald thanked the numerous local sponsors of events and the participating schools for their support as well as the teachers who arranged for classes to attend events during school hours.

Clare County Library regularly hosts initiatives aimed at encouraging more children to read. Earlier this year, the Library launched the Children’s Summer Reading Scheme with the aim of promoting reading during the summer months. Children aged between 7 and 12 were invited to read books by at least ten recommended authors. Other library initiatives for children are World Book Day, Children’s Book Clubs and the library also runs a very popular Schools Service.

Meanwhile, the Clare Library Service continues to regularly renew and update its stock of children’s books in all of its fifteen public libraries. Each library has a reliable and modern collection of fiction, non-fiction and reference books for children for whom membership is free.

Children’s fiction is divided into picture books, junior fiction for 6-9 year olds and senior fiction for 9-12 year olds. Reference, non-fiction, and Irish language books constitute the remainder of the children’s stock in all branches. Members may borrow a total of four books from any library branch in the county.

ANGER is growing among Clare farmers over the implementation of the nitrates regulations. A full IFA ban on unannounced Department of Agriculture inspections took effect yesterday, November 27.

There was a heated public meeting hosted by delegates of the Department of Agriculture and Teagasc and attended by more than 200 farmers in Ennis last Thursday.

The meeting was designed to inform Clare farmers on how best to conform to the controversial new regulations, but instead it prompted widespread confusion and anger among the farmers in attendance.

“There are so many areas and it is so complicated that a lot of farmers don’t have a grasp of it. Even some of the people on the stand at the meeting, well, we were not happy with some of the explanations that they gave. They were not able to explain it 100 per cent,” said Clare IFA President, Seamus Murphy.

“You can’t expect farmers to be up to date on something like this when it comes at them from out of the blue. Every farm is different and these rules apply differently from farm to farm. The department should put in a lot more effort to getting the information across to farmers on how this will work.”

Should farmers run into difficulty and fail sections of these on-the-spot tests, they stand to lose on a portion of the Single Farm Payment, which is the lifeblood of many Clare farms.

“This is quite a big deal,” continued Mr Murphy. “This is the only income on a lot of farms. We also feel that when inspectors leave, that farmer should be given a signed receipt on how the inspection went.

“At the moment, you don’t even know how the inspection went or even what areas of your farm have been checked until you receive the letter in the post.

“We don’t know what they are looking for and we don’t like these on-the-spot inspections.”

Last week, the IFA urged its members to refuse access to the farms to nitrate and cross-compliance inspectors who fail to give farmers any notice of inspections.

“We wouldn’t have a problem if they gave us 48 hours’ notice before inspections,” continued Mr Murphy. “There is a lot of concern and fear of the unknown.”

THE planned construction of a second entrance into Gort from the proposed Gort/Crusheen bypass has, once again, been thrown into doubt this week as Galway County Council has stated that it does not believe the second junction is necessary.

Following a lengthy campaign by the Gort Regional Alliance for Community and the Environment (GRACE), the National Roads Authority (NRA) had agreed to build and fund the second junction earlier this month.

However, this latest revelation has cast doubt on that commitment as the local authority looks unlikely to upgrade the supporting roads.

In a statement received by The Clare People , a GRACE spokesperson commented that they had been “delighted” to learn that the NRA approved the second junction and they “thought it would be only a matter of course that the county council would be willing to upgrade a local road”.

However, according to GRACE, the road section of the county council does not accept that Gort needs a second entrance, despite all the figures which suggest the contrary, and despite the NRA’s acceptence of those figures.

The key road which needs to be upgraded is the Gort to Tubber road and this was not included on the list for the EU Co-Financed Specific Improvements Grant Scheme sent up by Galway County Council to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

The current argument centres around different interpretations of the current and projected populations for Gort.

The Chief Executive of the NRA, Fred Barry, informed GRACE that Gort has the “potential to increase in population significantly” from its current level of some 3,000 people, which is already well in advance of the 1,500 to 2,000 people required to automatically be entitled to a second entrance.

However, the local authority has refused to recognise these projections.

THE €2 million expansion of a filling station and shop in Shannon has been put on hold because SkyCourt has refused consent for the development.

Local businessman Darragh O’Connor closed his Texaco filling station and convenience shop a month ago and had commenced its redevelopment. This was to incorporate knocking and rebuilding the site and the opening of a Spar store on the premises.

The project was to include the construction of a shop, treble the size of that which existed previously. Mr O’Connor had planned to locate the retail unit on the ground floor, with offices and store rooms upstairs.

The business has been operated by the O’Connor family for the past 30 years. Mr O’Connor was granted planning permission four years ago for this development. It is part of the SkyCourt centre complex. Texaco have leased the site from the town centre management company.

However, SkyCourt has now informed Mr O’Connor that they are “refusing consent” for the development. In response to a query from The Clare People , SkyCourt issued a brief statement on the issue, stating, “In general, SkyCourt welcomes the development of new units and the expansion of existing outlets at our shopping centre in Shannon. However, in this instance, regrettably we were obliged to refuse consent for reasons of good estate management and in the interests of overall trade at the centre.”

A spokesman said, “It is not an objection per se. It is a refusal to grant consent. The management company is refusing consent.”

Mr O’Connor, who took over the business from his parents Al and Mary 10 years ago, expressed frustration at this development taking place at such a late stage.

“I think it is a shame that somebody can come and object. I had expected to be off for five months working on this project and had intended to open in March or April next year, but it is gone back at least two months now,” he said. Mr O’Connor said he may now have no option but to go to arbitration in an effort to sort out the issue.Local councillor Tony Mulcahy (FG) said SkyCourt’s refusal to consent was a shame.

“This family have been in business in the town for many years. It is disgraceful that anyone would object to someone growing their business.”

CLARE doctors are paying up to €14,000 per annum for locum late-night cover, according to the Chairman of the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP Committee, Ian McGuinness.

This service, which provides cover for late-night ‘red-eye shifts’ in coops, has become a growing expense for small rural practices, such as those in west and north Clare, in recent times.

Galway-based GP, Dr Martin Daly, commented last week that a number of doctors in Clare were paying up to €14,000 each year for cover. In addition, doctors in Mayo were paying as much as €9,000, while some WestDoc doctors paid out close to €7,000.

“While this might be viable for larger general practices, it is not so for smaller ones.

“The Government and health management are storing up a massive well of frustration among our GP members in relation to out-of-hours work,” said Dr Daly.

It now looks likely that the members of the Irish Medical Organisation will push the doctor’s union to seek the exclusion of responsibility for out-of-hours work from any proposed new GP contract. Dr Daly added that since 2001 it has been impossible to engage with the Department of Health and the Government and to have any meaningful talks about out-of-hours work.

According to the Irish Medical Organisation, if Irish GPs were to follow their British counterparts and opted out of providing out of hours services, it would cost the government and Health Service Executive much more than it is costing at present.

A WOMAN’S nightmare of seeing her husband plunge to his death while performing a circus act with her, was recalled last week.

The inquest into the death of Vitaly Kharapavitski (26), a Berarussian trapeze artist who died while performing with the Russian Royal Circus in Scariff, heard that he had been performing with his wife Sasha, when he fell some 20 feet to his death.

Vitaly and Sasha had been suspended on a cage attacked to a cable and hoist, when the accident happened at the GAA field in Scariff, on August 28 last.

Ennis Coroner’s Court heard a deposition from Vitaly’s wife Sasha, who accompanied him in the act. She said he put up the equipment that evening, with his assistant. “My husband is very careful and makes sure everything is safe,” she said.

The equipment in which they were performing should be changed every five years and had been changed three years ago.

“I was in a harness, suspended underneath. He was in the cage. He was leaning out of the cage. Suddenly I fell to the ground. I did not hear anything, or see anything,” she explained. She heard someone saying he had no pulse. “I knew he was dead,” she said.

Eddie Moloney, who was one of 300 people at the circus, recalled in his deposition, the steel cable either snapping or coming loose. The cradle fell 15 – 20 feet, bringing the couple with it.

“His head crushed under the steel cradle and some of his limbs had been trapped inside it,” he recalled.

Patrick Doyle, who was close to where the accident happened, said it appeared to him that the man threw his wife clear, saving her life in the process.

Ringmistress Michelle Courtney said the act had been rehearsed an hour before the show and “all went well.”

“They are normally very meticulous in everything they do and if there is any doubt, they wouldn’t have performed,” she said.

Dr James O’Driscoll, who carried out a post-mortem examination on Mr Kharapavitski’s body, said death was due to cardiac respiratory failure, associated with the fracture of his skull into multiple small pieces.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea said it appeared that Mr Kharapavitski “pushed his wife out of the way and her injuries were less severe.”

She said the Health and Safety Authority had carried out an inspection on the circus, where the equipment for the act was set up.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

A VISIT to his native Wexford proved a fortunate journey for Willie Carr from Dun Aras, Hurlers Cross, Shannon when he purchased the national lottery ticket that got him entry on to last Saturday night’s television gameshow.

Willie, who is originally from Castlebridge in Co. Wexford, won prizes to the value of over €25,000 on the popular RTE programme hosted by Derek Mooney .

He has been living in Shannon for the past six years and is attached to the army transport corps at Sarsfield Barracks in Limerick. Married to Lorraine, who is a native of Shannon, they have an eight- month-old baby daughter, Leah.

He is interested in all sports and played hurling up until last year. He shared in the excitement of the local Wolfe Tones county championship win and is also a big fan of the Wexford county side.

Photograph shows Willie being presented with his winning cheque by Gerry O’Donoghue, National Lottery Security Manager as Derek Mooney gives the thumbs up.