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A INNOVATIVE programme which encourages children to think posi- tively has been introduced at Scoil na Maighdine Mhuire, Newmarket- on-Fergus.

The ‘Incredible Years’ programme focuses on communication and en- thusiasm and is geared towards mak- ing children happier and more pro- gressive.

School principal Ann McMahon decided to introduce the programme in September, having seen the ben- efits achieved in other schools.

“T have always had an interest in positive behaviour management strategies. It is easier to lead children than to drive them,” she said.

The idea for the initiative was first mooted in 2006, but it took careful consideration by management and

staff at the school before any deci- sion was made to implement it.

“Richard Egan from NEPS (the National Education Psychological Service) mentioned the programme. It had been piloted in Cloughleigh in Ennis and had a huge impact in eliminating negative behaviour. We discussed the possibility of bringing it in,’ she said.

Nine of the 20 staff at Scoil na Maighdine Mhuire attended an in- formation evening on the project and were very enthusiastic about it. Two of the teachers – Moira McMahon and Elaine Ryan – went to Wales for training and the project was started in September.

The project will be achieved through commitment from teachers, parents and students. “It is a multi- agency approach, between teachers, parents and children,” she said.

The programme was devised in the US and has been taken up all over the world. Although relatively new in Ireland, Ms McMahon believes it will become hugely popular across WeTemeOLUUNLB AYA

“I believe this is a programme that will be adopted in every school in the country. You have the costs (to set it up) but the pay-off is massive,” she said.

“I found that previously I had to make telephone calls around nega- tive behaviour, but since we adopted this programme, I have made a point of making telephone calls around positive behaviour. Parents have been very supportive. The days of parents standing at the door of the school and coming no further are gone,” she added.

“Communication 1s critical, not just the children’s ability to communicate

with each other, but their ability to communicate with the staff and staff to communicate with parents,” she said.

While the programme is specifi- cally designed for children aged between three and 10, it has been adopted across the school and all 185 students will be part of it.

“The real proof of the pudding will be to come back in eight years’ time, when the juniors will have eight years of the programme. I firmly believe we will have almost no nega- tive behaviour. It can only augur well for Newmarket as a community,’ she added.

FINE Gael in Clare are calling on the Government to introduce emer- gency legislation to close a loophole which allows head shops in Galway and Limerick to sell potentially dan- gerous herbal-drugs legally. Concerns have been raised over the mental health implications of the use of a herbal version of ecstasy known as the ‘party pill’. According to South Galway Senator, Fidelma Hea- ly Eames (FG), two young people are currently undergoing treatment for

mental health problems in the area as a result of taking the ‘party pill’.

Herbal ecstasy contains a substance knows as BZP or Benzylpiperazine, which has been banned in most EU countries but remains legal in Ireland. According to north Clare county councillor and psychiatric nurse, Joe Arkins (FG), legislation is needed to tackle this situation.

“The onus is on the Government here to resolve this situation. If a sub- stance is dangerous then it should not be sold. Cannabis is a herb and that is not for sale legally in Ireland so the

same should apply here,” he said.

“These substances have been banned in most EU countries already but it is better later than never. If we had a good, quick bit of legislation on this then we could solve this problem very quickly.”

While no official figures exist on the usage of herbal drugs in Clare, anec- dotal evidence would indicated that both the ‘party pill’ and the halluci- nogenic herb salvia are both widely used in the tourists areas in the north and west of the county, particularly CLUN mn ercaMetomclUbevaeCoumeelOyelsetcy

Salvia, which is a variety of sage, is the only naturally occurring sub- stance known to induce a visionary or hallucinogenic state.

Last week gardai carried out searches in a number of head shops throughout the country as part of an investigation into the licensing of certain products.

HUNDREDS of mourners turned out on Saturday for the funeral of Gort mother of six, Kathleen Rock, who tragically lost here life in a road traffic accident on Wednesday evening last.

Mrs Rock (51) died following a single vehicle accident on a minor road at Kiltiernan just off the main N18 road around 8pm on Wednesday abreaal

Originally from Ardrahan, Mrs Rock had been living in Gort for most of her life and had become a central part of the local community. She is survived by her husband Collie and their six children.

Mrs Rock was on the way to col- lect one of her daughters from Yeats College in Galway when the accident took place.

“The mood here in Gort is very sad at the moment. There is a huge outpouring of grief from the whole community to the family and friends of Mrs Rock. There is a lot of sad- ness in the local community, this has come as a great shock and the people are very saddened by it,” said Rever- end Thomas Marrinan from St Cole-

man’s Church in Gort.

Mrs Rock was the only occupant of the car and was brought to Univer- sity Hospital Galway where she died from her injuries.

According to a Garda spokesman the car overturned after crashing and finish up in a ditch.

“There was a massive turnout for the funeral, she was a very very pop- ular woman in the locality,” contin- ued Reverend Marrinan.

“She was a very popular woman and will be very badly missed. She was very well thought of here by her neighbours and all of the local peo- ple.”

Mrs Rock is the third person to die in single vehicle accidents on the roads around Gort in the last 18 months.

In April of this year a 19-year-old woman lost her life in a single vehi- cle accident near Kilchreest Castle on the Loughrea to Gort road.

In June of 2007, 20-year-old Gort man Daniel Kelly lost his life when his motorcycle hit a traffic control barrier at the outskirts of Coole Park. Mr Kelly, who has an address at Crowe Street, was pronounced dead at the scene.

THE Department of the Environ- ment has been accused of robbing Clare County Council of funding ring-fenced from motor-tax paid in the county.

Following the confirmation of a seven per cent cut in the council budget for next year, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said that the Gov-

ernment was going back on a deal to ring-fence money collected from motor tax for use in the county.

‘This Government told us that they were ring-fencing the money from motor tax for the local authorities but now they are using this money for their own issues,” the councillor renee

“They said that this money was protected so why are they taking it

from the local authority. The level of money being paid for motor tax has not gone down so I don’t see why our funding in respect to this should be cut.”

Meanwhile, it was also revealed that Clare County Council is being forced to take out overdraft facilities to cover budget shortfalls as a result of delays in receiving payments from the Department of the Environment.

THE ‘Incredible Years’ programme rewards children who engage in pos- itive thinking and communication, through a variety of methods.

One novel approach that Scoil na Maighdine Mhuire has taken is to send home positive notes to parents, such as ‘happygrams’!

These are comical photographs and a piece of text praising students for their efforts. They offer great confi- dence to both students and parents alike.

“In the past, if you got a note going home, it was bad. Since September

we have been concentrating on send- ing home positive notes. I have had parents ringing me almost in tears they were so happy,” said Ann Mc- Mahon.

Students who try hard also receive ‘superstar’ awards, while classroom behaviour is also rewarded.

‘Each classroom teacher has a be- haviour plan. There is a target be- haviour and strategies around that behaviour,’ she said.

Students who make big efforts are rewarded with tokens and at the end of the week they can use the tokens to buy presents or goodies for them- To AVore

Every Friday, the school holds an assembly and a student of the week in each class is awarded with a cer- tificate.

The emphasis is on fairness as the teachers ensure the prizes are spread among all students.

“The whole school is told why a student achieves the award.

“With the programme, if you give feedback to a child, it is specific,” she added.

Children are also encouraged to communicate their feelings, through a feelings barometer and this also fo- cuses on positive thinking.

“They are taught how to talk them-

selves out of the negative place and engage in dialogue. The theory be- hind it is that over time it reduces negative thinking so much that it saves children from things like drug addiction, anti-social behaviour or ending up in jail,’ said Ms McMa- steer

“It is a win-win situation. Already I can see a decrease in negative be- haviour in the classroom and in the school yard. We kept a record of in- cidents in the yard book last year. I already know there is a sizable dif- ference in the number of reported in- cidents in the yard since September,” she said.

THE second Building of Hope project being organised from Clare is already bearing fruit in Kenya, where twelve sewing machines have been bought so women can make a living.

The organisers of the building project have just returned from a planning mission to Migombani in Mombasa where Cranny priest, Fr Martin Keane, is working with the

poorest of families to provide basic education and training.

At a meeting of volunteers from the first Building of Hope Project in Missionvale, enough money was raised in a raffle to buy twelve sew- ing machines, which have been given to local women who will use them to make souvenirs which can be sold to help support their families.

Architect with the project, Jim Lynch was with the party and de- scribed the conditions in Mombassa

as “devastating. The people have nothing – they have little or no way to make a living and there is no social welfare support so they are barely SUrVIVINg. ”

Jim was also the architect on the last Building of Hope project, when almost 200 volunteers went to South Africa to build a hospice at Mission- vale run by Clare nun Sr Ethel Nor- moyle.

“Even the poverty there would not prepare you for this. But as far as the

work 1s concerned, we learned a lot in South Africa and we will be ready for some of the pitfalls this time,” he told

PLANS to build a €60 million retail development in Shannon could bring up to 430 jobs with as many as 200 more opening up as spin-offs from the project.

A proposal by Greenband Invest- ments would see 150 jobs created in the building phase, while 250 jobs would be created directly and 200 indirectly from the planned retail warehouse park and centre. The de- velopers are applying to Clare Coun- ty Council to site the park beside the Oakwood Arms Hotel.

The proposal includes the park, which would be an outlet for large household goods, a discount food- store and a neighbourhood centre which would include a convenience shop, hairdressers, chemist and a bookies shop.

If the planning application is suc- cessful, it 1s planned to start build- ing next June. The project will take about 15 months to complete and would open for business in 2010.

It is believed that of the two anchor tenants needed for the warehouse re- tail section, one has secured pending planning permission and discussions have begun with a second.

The development company believes that Shannon is under-serviced in terms of retail for the town’s resident population of 9,000 and the addition-

al 7,000 who work for the companies in the Shannon Free Zone.

The total retail space in Shannon is 3,000 meters squared, in comparison with Ennis, which has twice Shan- non’s population but twelve times it’s retail space. The imbalance makes Shannon a prime location for further development of stores and shops, the developers say.

Already the developers have been in consultation with the county coun- cil to ensure that there is no clash between this proposed development and the existing Shannon Town Mas- ter plan. The park is designed by award-winning architects, Thomp- sons of Limerick.

While the Shannon Town Centre enjoys a variety of supermarkets, large shops and boutique stores, for white goods and other large house- hold items, shoppers have to travel to Ennis, Limerick or further afield.

Statistics also show that more than 23 per cent of all convenience goods bought by Shannon residents are bought outside of the town, while 42 per cent of purchases of goods such as clothing footwear and large items are bought elsewhere.

One of the arguments in favour of the new development., Greenband, says would be to help halt the stream of shoppers who leave the area for large centres in Limerick, Cork and AV IMOrUANe Ne

AN east Clare councillor was among 47 landowners who received letters from the county council warning them that they have to cut back over- grown trees and hedges bordering their land or else run the risk of fac- ing prosecution.

But Fianna Fail councillor, Pat Hayes it transpired was sent the letter “in error’, it was confirmed by senior council staff.

The warning letters sent last month are getting a “positive response” with farmers rushing to get their hedge- rows cut, senior executive council engineer, Sean Lenihan said.

The council has now sent up to 50 more letters to landowners in the re- gion, he told a meeting last week of the Scarriff area committee of the

council.

The engineer started sending out the letters after councillors made nu- merous requests for hedgerows to be cut in the interests of traffic safety.

But the local authority does not have the resources to cut hedges everywhere in the county and it 1s proving to be a particularly expen- sive job in east Clare, as this part of the county has the largest number of roads and road frontage, Mr Lenihan explained.

“Landowners may not realise that they have an obligation in law to keep their own hedgerows trimmed. We want to get the message out there that wherever hedgerows are beside a public road, the landowners have an obligation to keep them cut back,” said Mr Lenihan.

Council workers in each area have

been asked to report any growth which is not cut back, Mr Lenihan said.

The senior engineer told councul- lors that there has been “ a very posi- tive response to our first letters, with people ringing us for names of com- panies who do the cutting and a big flurry of activity”.

He confirmed that one of the mem- bers of the area committee, Cllr Pat Hayes, had been sent a letter “in er- ror”.

Asked for clarification by the mem- bers about the same legislation ap- plying to dangerous trees overhang- ing the road, Mr Lenihan said that he would “back anyone who has to cut a limb of a tree which is a danger on the road but this is not a licence for people to go out and fell whole trees without a felling licence”.

WITH a very ill wind being one that blows no good, the rise in unemploy- ment has in turn created the need for more staff in the dole offices.

Four new staff are being allocated to the Ennis office of the Depart- ment of Social and Family Affairs to assist job seekers and those sign- ing on.

Ennis is one of 48 local offices countrywide which will get a total of 115 additional staff, a spokesman for the department confirmed.

The number of people signing on in Clare has climbed by 57 per cent in the last year.

According to CSO figures, the number of people signing on in Clare has gone up by more than 2,000.

Ennis saw a rise of 52 per cent, with jobless numbers going from 2,426 to 3,705 last month.

Ennistymon had a jump of 6/7 per cent in unemployment figures, from 600 to 1,005 in the last twelve months.

In Kilrush there was a 46 per cent increase with 859 people now sign-

ing on there in comparison to 586 in October last year.

But the largest increase was in east Clare where there was an increase last month of 80 per cent in the num- bers of people signing on, bringing the jobless total in the area covered by that office to 859.

The total number of people now claiming either Jobseekers benefit or allowance in Clare has risen to OR PAee

As well as allocating extra staff to local offices, the department has also extended temporary staff contracts

and allocated additional overtime to try to beat the back-log of benefit and allowance applications which have to be processed as additional people come into the system.

One of the largest sector increases among those joining the dole queues is in the building trade, where the market for new homes has all but collapsed and major building projects are being shelved for lack of funding.

The CIF has warned that up to 4,000 jobs could go in the mid-west before the downturn bottoms out.

THE Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) has confirmed that the air- port’s overall traffic for the first nine months of 2008 is down 13% on the corresponding period for last year with transatlantic traffic down 24% and London traffic down 16%.

The downturn in these sectors is due to the ending of the Shannon stop-over with the advent of ‘open skies’ in May and the ending of the Shannon-Heathrow route in January.

For the first nine months Shannon had a throughput of just under 2.5 million passengers.

Terminal traffic at 2.2 million is down 11% while traffic for the full year will be down about 400,000 – a decrease of 14% on 2007”.

Announcing its half-yearly results, Ryanair re-iterated its threat to dras- tically reduce its services at Shannon from next November because of the Government’s €10 air travel tax.

In recent days, CityJet boss Geof- frey O’Byrne-White said that the air

travel tax move could result in his airline scrapping plans to begin a service between Shannon and Lon- don City Airport.

CityJet has been examining the fea- sibility of this route for some time, but was constrained by a lack of available aircraft.

Mr O’Byrne-White said the move upset Midwest interests as a number of international flights from Dublin to places such as Manchester and Liverpool will qualify for the lesser €2 exit tax for flights under 300km,

but none from Shannon meet the cri- our

Aer Arann chief executive Pad- raig O Céidigh has also launched a fresh attack on Ryanair’s influence at Shannon in a press interview at the weekend. “They’re in Shannon for around three years now and in that time Shannon has lost seven or eight different airlines. Ryanair are now doing roughly two out of every three flights in and out of Shannon so it’s become a Ryanair airport, while oth- er airlines are being squeezed out.”