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THREE Clare schools have been acknowledged for their roles in pro- moting a cleaner and better environ- ment.

Colaiste Muire, Ennis, Doora Na- tional School and Holy Family Na- tional School, Ennis have all been awarded Green Flags by Minster for the Environment, Heritage and Local

Government, John Gormley.

Mr Gormley raised the flags at the three schools during a visit to Ennis last week.

Doora National School was the first port of call for the minister. Staff and students there have been work- ing tirelessly to achieve green flag status. With the formation of a Green Schools committee, students under- took a comprehensive audit of all

the school’s waste. The committee set out a plan to drastically cut paper and other types of waste around the school. Waste paper is now shred- ded and given to the local Equestrian Centre and dog kennels run by the Clare branch of the Irish Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA).

Students also maintained gardens and developed a system for getting

rid of old batteries.

At Colaiste Muire, staff and stu- dents have also been engaged in a determined effort to reduce waste. Speaking after Minster Gormley had raised the Green Flag, teacher Sa- rah Griffin paid tribute to the efforts of the students and said the school was already aiming to win a second Green Flag.

Songs and celebration were very much the order of the day at Holy Family National School where stu- dents displayed their keen knowledge of environmental issues to Minster Corunna

Speaking at O’Connell Square af- ter the Green Flag ceremony, Mr Gormley praised the efforts of all the schools. “It’s always a great privi- lege to go from school to school. The Green Schools, I think, is one of the best aspects of my job. I really en- joyed coming to Clare to Colaiste Muire, Doora National School and Holy Family. That was fantastic; the singing was fantastic. Just to listen to the kids talk about the environment and their enthusiasm always inspires me,” he said.

The Green Schools programme is an international education programme, which helps students to recognise the importance of environmental issues. In Ireland, the programme is administered by An Taisce. The Green Schools initiative has gone from strength to strength since it was launched in Ireland in 1997.

EFFORTS by Kilrush Town Coun- cil to buy out of a contract that has already flushed away €305,185.58 of the council’s money, has been blocked by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

This month’s meeting of the town council was told that central Govern- ment refused to allow it get a loan to buy itself out of the contract for the public Superloo.

Last year the public toilet in the square cost the council €38,325, with an income of just €1,250.

This year the Superloo is to flush another €39,806 down the drain with an estimated income of €1,300. This will see the council losing €38,500 again this year.

The town council are bound to the contract until August 23, 2019. To remove itself from the contract, the council would have to give 12 months’ notice and pay a penalty of 25 per cent of the cost per year re- maining on the contract as well as the cost of having it removed.

Kilrush town clerk, John Corry told the members of the council on Wednesday, “The dilemma this council has is the cost of buying out Web ISe

“We have to remain in budget for the year. We are looking at budget- ing the €120,000 (buy out) for the

next year which would be a huge increase in the annual rate of valua- tion,’ he warned.

“We got a loan for Henry Street, why can’t we get a loan?” asked Cllr Deirdre Culligan (Ind).

“We have approached the depart- ment about a loan and they said no way, said Mr Corry.

‘The rent we are paying for the next three years would pay that (the loan) off with no rate increase,’ argued Cllr Marian McMahon Jones (FG).

“We all agree it is crazy, but we cannot raise the loan. Can I ask you to go back to the company?” said the mayor, Cllr Liam O’Looney.

Town manager Bernadette Kinsella told the councillors that their options were restricted.

“You either borrow, which there 1s a limit on nationally, or you look at the levies. You also need to consider what other facility do you plan to provide given Kilrush is a heritage town.”

Cllr Culligan pointed out that the council is not required to provide such facilities.

“If the Government is tying our hands and insisting we waste money, it’s no wonder the country is in the state it is in. If they are letting us squander money on a toilet and won’t let us buy ourselves out,” she said.

Cllr McMahon Jones asked for the costing of a small building for a to1- Colm Kom orom chek, armel oy

THE behaviour of a business class passenger on board a flight forced the aircraft to divert to Shannon air- port on Friday evening.

The 46-year-old passenger, a ga- rage owner in Germany, was travel- ling on board the Condor Airlines flight between Frankfurt and the Dominican Republic when the pilot took the decision to divert to Shan- non after other passengers and cabin crew were verbally abused.

Arising out of the incident, Rainer Wainhart with an address in Munich was brought before a special sitting of Ennis District Court on Friday night.

He was charged with being intoxi- cated and engaging in threatening, insulting or abusive behaviour on board the aircraft.

Inspector John Galvin, prosecuting, said the cabin crew felt it was safer to land, after the passenger made a total nuisance of himself, having had too much to drink.

Garda Kevin Blehein told the court that the defendant had consumed al- cohol and became abusive towards cabin crew and other passengers. “He attempted to stroke a cabin crew member on the arm, which the cabin crew found offensive,” said the ee N Ker

He said the accused pestered cabin crew for alcohol and other passen- gers in his vicinity requested that he not be served any more alcohol.

“He became extremely un co-op- erative and demanded alcohol. He was refused due to his intoxication,” he added.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client was travelling from his native Germany to the Domin1- can Republic, where he was to join

his girlfriend on holidays. The ac- cused, she said, owns a car dealer- ship in Germany and was travelling on business class.

‘He accepts that he drank too much. He wanted to speak to the people beside him. They were very snobby. They didn’t want to talk to him. He felt offended by this,” said Ms Godfrey.

However, she said the defendant was denying that he was “in any way threatening” and said he has no pre- vious convictions in his native coun- try.

The court was told the accused had two small glasses of wine prior to the flight and had another three or four during the flight. These affected him, as he doesn’t normally drink much.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a fine of €100 on one of the charges and took the other into account.

WALKERS, runners and joggers are being encouraged to take part in a 10k event in Shannon next month — in aid of Milford Hospice and Ca- hercalla Community Hospital and J Coyj oy (eer

The Midwest 10K, on Sunday, June 7 (2pm), is being organised by Shan- non resident Peter Webb, in memory of two of his siblings who died at Mil- ford Hospice. His brother Mike died at Christmas, while his sister Eileen died in the hospice four years ago.

Having seen the success of the 10K – organised by Derek Barrett of Peach Recruitment – over the years,

Mr Webb felt that there would be sufficient interest in the town in such an event, this year.

He saw at first hand the good work being done at Milford Hospice and this prompted him to set about or- ganising this event.

“Any kind of money we can raise at all will help out. I have been there [at Milford Hospice] quite a bit. The work they do is fantastic. I just want- ed to help out in some way,” said Mr Webb, who is chairman of Park AFC soccer club in Shannon.

Mr Webb decided to organise the event himself, after efforts to get the support of soccer clubs in Clare and Limerick failed.

“We had the support of the Clare and Limerick leagues’ management committees. They had endorsed the idea and thought it was great. We then sent letters to the clubs and only four or five responded,” he said.

He said that while the lack of sup- port disappointed him, he was still keen to organise the event.

“We are hoping to get the support of Shannon and surrounding regions. It is for a good cause, which a lot of people in Clare and Limerick are af- fected by,” he said.

“Tt is more about the fundraising than anything else,” he added. He said that depending on how successful this event is, it may become a regular fix-

ture in the calendar every year.

The route will vary from the tradi- tional Peach 10K route in that it will start at Shannon Credit Union and will conclude at Lidl supermarket.

It will move down past Texaco, Shannon Town Hall, out onto the new road and back up by St Caimin’s Community School.

While most of the route will be flat, there will be a couple of hills — Tul- lyglass Hill and Drumgeely Hill will form part of the route.

Entrants should register for this event online, on the website www. midwestlOk.com, and fundraising forms will then be sent out. There is no entry fee for this event.

HOW soon work will begin on the second phase of the rejuvenation project in John Paul Estate depends on funding being available from Hse NM OCovourveeroele

Kilrush Town Council prepared a detailed project brief in October 2008 in respect of a continuation of Remedial Works at the council es- tate.

This brief specifically identified proposed works in terms of specific je atone

It was then submitted to the De- partment of Environment, Heritage and Local Government on Novem- ber 12 last seeking funding under the Remedial Works Programme 2009-2011.

The department requested clarifi-

cation on some points on the sub- mission in late February 2009 and these were immediately responded to by the council.

An inspector from the Department of the Environment then inspected the estate and the proposed works in April 2009.

He suggested some amendments to be made to the council’s brief. These amendments are being final- ised.

“The feedback which I have re- ceived from the DoEHLG is that they would be very positively dis- posed to the continued remedaia- tion of the estate and that it 1s next in line in a group of projects to be approved subject to funding being available,’ Town Clerk John Corry told this month’s meeting of the town council.

With four weeks to Clare’s crucial Opening championship appearance, the county’s preparations appeared to suffer a significant setback in the last week as injuries to Jonathon Clancy and Gerry O’Grady made their avail- ability for the Munster semi-final clash with either Cork or Tipperary ime Co)v lo)

Clancy sustained a broken fin- ger last week during training with his club, Clarecastle, ahead of the first round tie against Tubber while O’Grady had to be withdrawn af- ter only six minutes in Crusheen’s Group | match with Corofin in Kil- lanena on Sunday after injuring his foot.

Initially, it was rumoured that de- fender O’Grady had broken a bone in his foot but it 1s now thought that the injury is not as bad as first sus- pected.

With the countdown to the Munster championship well underway, man- ager Mike McNamara is hopeful that both players will recover in time to

take their places in the side.

‘Jonathon broke his finger so hope- fully he will be back in harness in three to four weeks which might be cutting it tight, but that would appear to be the prognosis for now.

“With Gerry O’Grady, we are still awaiting the final report but again af- ter the initial reaction, there is now certainly hope that he will take part in the June 21st match.

Wa 0) er: SBMA AEE LMA WE DODLBE-DUR YANO ICE pected so of course, anything less than that would have to give us hope. To lose either of those players would be a horrific loss as both of them are part and parcel of the plans to launch an assault on the Munster champion-

Jah] one

With more club action scheduled for a fortnight’s time, McNamara says he hopes there will be no further injuries to his squad.

‘As well as the second round of championship matches in two weeks, we also have a series of challenges matches which may take their toll as

well – but we have to go all guns blazing now.

“We must re-address where we stand and we must put ourselves in a

rightful position for June 21. If we can remain injury free for the next couple of weeks, then I can see no reason why we won’t finish the job that we started last year.”

Kilkee tourism take a running jump

CLARE’S only candidate in the Eu- ropean Election Michael McNamara has called for all counties to be al- lowed elect its own local mayor.

The Independent candidate, who believes an overhaul of local govern- ment is long over due has asked can those in the provinces not be trusted to elect the heads of their local gov- Simone ate ome

“While the announcement of a di- rectly elected mayor for Dublin 1s positive for Dublin, one has to won- der why it wasn’t extended beyond the pale, where it is most needed in light of the centralisation of power in this country’, he said. “It does not change the fact that on June 5 coun- cillors will be elected in Clare.” Yet, all executive power is in the hands of the County Manager who is ap- pointed from Dublin. Is this local democracy?” he asked.

Con (onmsslomanunleUbelcans(OUse-DUMBDOMNele counties local authorities, difficult decisions will have to be made in the months and years after the upcoming election. Indeed they are already be- ing made as we see from news from the Roads Section. There decisions must be made by democratically elected representatives who have to answer to the electorate for their de- C1Sions.”’

“There is general agreement on the need for greater accountability in government but at the moment it remains just a slogan to glibly throw out. Accountability has to begin somewhere. All politics is local, the say. So it has to begin locally,’ he Sr nLe

“In the time spent campaigning throughout the constituency, since my late entry to the race, one issue has stood out in the vast and var- ied constituency. That is a sense of increasing alienation from govern- ment, including local government, by citizens and community groups. This growing chasm is very worrying and needs to be bridged,” he added.

‘Perhaps, the answer is less local government with greater power and a more regional approach. I think that the people of Clare feel a strong affinity with Munster. Indeed the re- cent Clare FM poll where the major- ity felt that the voters of Clare are not adequately represented in being part of the North and West European Par- liament Constituency is noteworthy in this regard.”

TUBBER’S Derek O’Connor reached another landmark in his remarkable Point-to-Point career in Fermanagh last Friday when becoming the first ever jockey to ride 100 winners in a season.

O’Connor, who has been in the form of his life this season reached this century landmark at the En- niskillen Point-to-Point at Necarne When he guided Greenandredpar- son past the post in first place in a maiden race.

“It was great to reach the 100 win- ners,’ O’Connor told

THE picturesque twin towns of Kil- laloe and Ballina are getting ready to look their best ahead of the Fashion Weekend, which takes place from May 22-25.

In the inaugural hosting of what will be an annual event, the Killaloe- Ballina Fashion Week will showcase the sister towns as ideal shopping destinations.

Event organizers Ruth Vaughan, Lorraine Hassett and Grainne Cum- mins explained the aim of the fash- ion week is to showcase Killaloe and Ballina as “one-stop shopping and pampering destinations”’.

Ruth Vaughan explained, “This is a really special place and that’s very much recognised by the population explosion here over recent years, with so many people wanting to live

in and visit Killaloe-Ballina.”

“We are happy to say that not alone are we able to satisfy local fashion needs but so many people from out- side the towns are also now flocking here and availing of what’s on offer,” commented Lorraine Hassett.

Grainne Cummins said, “We just felt that considering we now have so much for people to come here and enjoy, not least in the fashion stakes, it was time to put structure around this by showcasing it all properly so that we maximise the potential of the eda oh

The Fashion Weekend will see participating businesses offering 1n- store promotions, discounts, beauty consultations and free draws, while there will also be face-painting for children (on Friday afternoon from 3- Spm). Participating businesses will display their involvement with

purple and pink balloons outside their premises.

Friday night will also play host to the Fashion and Fun event at The Lakeside Hotel, Killaloe. The evening, which will be built around a fashion show, commences with a champagne and canapés reception, with ladies getting the opportunity to visit the many stands.

Models from the Hilary Thompson Model Agency will display clothing and footwear from local boutiques. There will be prizes for best shoes – sponsored by Rockin Reptile – and also for the best dressed lady.

Ladies will also be treated to wine and finger food during the fashion show, followed by entertainment by Atomic Chicken. Tickets are €30, with raffle proceeds to Killaloe Playground. Champagne has been sponsored by Super Valu, the “Diva’

cocktails by The Lakeside Hotel and wines for the night are kindly spon- sored by Heaney’s Costcutter, Goos- ers Bar and Restaurant and Wines Direct.

Participating business in the Fash- ion Weekend are Lorbees Boutique, Cerise Shoe Boutique, Spirit, Kel – C – Kidz, Forme, Hotspot, Sweetie P’s, The Beauty Boutique, Greene Room, Fine Rags, Shoes 2 Choose, ML’s Hair Studio, Joanne’s Fashion House, Catwalk, Collins Pharmacy and Country Chic.

Anyone wishing to find out more about the event can contact organ- ising committee members Ruth Vaughan of Cerise Shoe Boutique on O61 374384 or 087 9386622; Lor- raine Hassett of Lorbees Boutique on 061 622966 or 087 8513867; or Grainne Commins of Kel – C – Kidz on 061 374429.