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AN EVENING of entertainment from some of Clare’s most talented musicians will help to raise funds for a charity which aims to support carers and help them cope with the stresses of the job.

The Feakle-based Ciunas Com- munity Centre for Complimentary Health has taken up residence in Feakle village since just before Oi tah aeet-ky

The service aims to help carers and their families cope with stress and to provide services which support Wetoeee

Ciunas, which is a charity, was set up by Anita Hayes, Catherine Pa- tience and Tonia Custers, three ther- apists who are themselves carers.

“Being a carer can be very tiring and what we want to do here is to provide carers – and the people they care for – with something which sup- ports and lifts them, whether that’s a massage, creative writing or sing- ing,” Anita explained.

Carers give a long-term commit- ment to looking after someone else’s needs and fatigue and depression are just some of the problems which can come with the job.

“We’re talking about preventative health care, we want to provide a bridge, an extra layer of support,’ said Anita.

Just opened in Feakle, the centre currently caters for a small number of clients but can cater for up to 100 and they hope to expand to these buss LeLSs ECR

“We are here for anyone who Is a carer, whether they are caring for someone with special needs or an elderly person and the people they care for can also come along,’ said Anita.

The centre can now call on the services of up to 15 fully-qualified therapists, from psychotherapists to massage therapists.

All of the professionals offer their treatments for €20 a session, about one-third of the normal fee.

The centre got a one-off grant from the JP McManus fund but the fees charged for treatments don’t come close to covering the costs so the mu- sical fundraising evening is vital.

“We think it will be a lovely evening and we’re keeping the cost of tickets down to €15 because we want carers

to be able to come too,” said Anita.

The concert takes place in St Mary’s Church in Feakle on Janu- ary 29 at 8pm and features Mar- tin Hayes, Mary McNamara, Mike Hanrahan, Tommy Hayes, Manus McGuire, Denis Carey and special guests. Paula Carroll is the MC.

Ciunas are located in the new building on the site of the old cream- ery and they can be contacted on 061 924837. For more information about the service, visit Www.ciunascentre. fey ene

show that there were 19 drugs seizures at the airport during 2009, which amounted to a combined value of €258,704. This was a fall from 28 seizures 1n 2008, valued at €411,487. Nine of the seizures were herbal can-

nabis; five were cannabis resin; three were cocaine and two were ampheta- mine. The cocaine was valued highest, with the three seizures combined val- ued at €151,340. The herbal cannabis was worth €87,660; the amphetamine was valued at €15,000, while the can- nabis resin was worth €4,704.

Last year, there were three significant seizures of cash at the airport – totalling €157,064 – which led to investigations being launched by Customs officials.

There were five weapons’ seizures last year, which were valued at €1,035.71 in total. There had been four weapons

seized in 2008.

While the number of cigarette sei- Zures increased last year – from 311 to 396 – the actual amount of cigarettes seized actually fell, from 1,113,675 to 791,796. The cigarettes seized in 2009 were valued at €343,189.90, which was an increase on €324,636.30 in the previous year. These were seized from passengers who exceeded their limit of cigarettes allowed.

There were seven seizures of spirits last year, an increase on two in 2008. The value of the spirits seized last year amounted to €728.85, which was an

increase on €100.16 in 2008. Twenty- one tobacco seizures were made by Customs last year – valued at more than €26,000. There had been 15 sei- Zures 1n 2008, which had a combined value of €18,897. There were 10 sei- Zures of medicine at Shannon in 2009, which was double the amount of 2008. The seizures of medicine in 2009 amounted to a total value of €71,037. Last year, there were 74 seizures of counterfeit goods, which totalled €411,837. Three seizures of meat amounted to €140, while seven sei- zures of food other than meat amount-

ed to €143.

There were two seizures under the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora). The most signifi- cant of those was the discovery of a pair of rhinoceros’ horns on Decem- ber 23, which were valued at around a ORO eles

According to Revenue, the reduction in some seizure categories was due to “a change in passenger traffic” at Shannon airport, allied to an increase in limits for passengers from the acces- sion States.

A 21-YEAR-OLD man was in Garda custody last night after a 19-year-old man was stabbed and a 20-year-old woman assaulted outside a house in Newmarket-on-Fergus.

A row broke out at around llam yesterday (Monday) after a christen- ing party spilled over from Sunday. Several people had attended a chris- tening party at a house in Kilna- soolagh Park on Sunday and as the party continued overnight, an alco- hol-fuelled row erupted between two groups.

A 19-year-old man sustained a stab wound to the head and was also as- saulted in an incident in the front lawn of a house, according to gardai. He was taken to hospital but his inju- ries are not believed to be life threat- ening.

The woman sustained a suspected broken hand, for which she received hospital treatment yesterday.

A 21-year-old man was arrested, while gardai have taken statements from some of those who attended the party.

The 21-year-old, who sustained a facial injury, was being detained at Shannon Garda Station last night.

A technical examination of the Scene was carried out, while house- to-house enquiries were also under- way yesterday.

Inspector Tom Kennedy of Shan- non Garda Station is appealing for witnesses to come forward. “We have taken some statements and are appealing to anyone who was in the area at the time to contact gardai,” he said. Shannon Garda Station can be contacted on 061 361212.

EMERGENCY services in Clare are warning people to remain vigilant in this inclement weather even as the thaw begins in some areas.

Clare’s local authorities, including the Civil Defence and Fire and Res- cue Services, are working with other public service authorities such as the Department of the Environment, the Gardai and the Health Services Ex- ecutive to ensure a co-ordinated ap-

proach for dealing with the various TSS CeSe

Last night, the HSE predicted more risks to the public from slips and falls on icy footpaths in the days ahead.

Hospitals across the country are reporting a significant upsurge in the numbers of cases of fractures dur- ing this spell of severe weather while emergency medicine consultants are reporting that a high percentage of these fractures are complex, requir- ing surgery.

The minimum increases in the number of people presenting with fractures in the last week are in the order of 30 per cent with a large number of hospitals experiencing a year-on-year increase for the period of 70 per cent or more.

Exact figures for Ennis and Lim- erick hospitals were unavailable last payee ole

Meanwhile, the HSE 1s advising the public to wear well-fitted shoes with non-slip soles if they have to go

out but try to limit walking during the current cold weather. Boots with rubber soles and solid ankle support that are preferably waterproof are es- sential to preventing slips and falls on the ice. Clear the ice from your footpath and around your house and assist less capable neighbours in do- ing the same. If you have a fall, even a minor one, make sure you visit your doctor for a check-up.

Meanwhile, gardai in Clare say that while there were no major accidents

related to the ice and snow, there were several minor accidents across the county over the weekend.

‘There were a number of accidents around the county. The advice is to slow down and treat the roads with caution. Roads may look well on the surface, but there may be black ice and hidden icy patches. Drive within your experiences and capabilities,” said the head of the Clare Garda Di- vision Traffic Corps, Inspector John Grate

EDUCATION #£Minister Batt O’Keeffe has issued a ‘call-to- arms’ to rally volunteer engineers to go into schools across Clare to enthuse students about maths as part of Engineers Week 2010.

Speaking at a photocall with busi- ness leaders, Minister O’Keeffe welcomed the Engineers Ireland initiative and called on engineers and businesses to support the day. “T strongly welcome the efforts of Engineers Ireland to promote eve- ryday understanding of maths in schools through Volunteer Day and Engineers Week more broadly. These initiatives support the Gov- ernment’s strategy to move more students into science and technol- ogy-based higher education cours- oe

“Our curriculum reform plan – Project Maths – will begin in all post-primary schools in September as part of efforts to radically re- form the way the subject is taught and make it more relevant and ac- cessible.”

Engineers Week is a campaign held annually by Engineers Ire- land to promote engineering as a career and the importance of the industry to Ireland. Volunteer Day on Thursday, Feb 11, Engineers Ireland’s first national volunteer day, will be a key day in Engineers Week 2010, which runs from Feb 8-13. On that day, it is planned that volunteer engineers, with the co-operation of local schools, will enter classes in Clare and across the country and spend a few hours working with pre-junior certificate students to improve their knowl- edge and appreciation of maths through puzzles and work sheets.

John Power, Engineers Ireland Director General, said: “Engi- neers Week is a critical campaign in the engineering calendar. En- gineers Ireland believes there is a direct link between the decreas- ing numbers studying maths and the shortage of engineers entering Irish industry. Leaving Certificate results showed that just 16 per cent of students took honours maths which is down on the 2008 figures. We need our students to become more comfortable with maths as it is a fundamental building block towards a career in engineering. Ireland already has a deficit of en- gineers and the situation is becom- ing more severe. A ready supply of engineers is critical to the Smart Economy and emerging industries such as the Green sector.”

Business Leaders came out in force today to show their support for the initiative. Representing in- dustry on the day was Paul Rellis, Managing Director, Microsoft Ire- land; Leonard Hobbs, Intel Ireland Research; Eamonn Quinn, Chair- man, Nualight and Paul Mallee President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

To get involved, please contact the engineering team on O1 665 1340 or email info@steps.ie. Engineers Week 2010 will run from Feb 8-13.

A SENIOR Clare County Councillor has said lessons must be learnt and new building practice put in place if water shortages and burst pipes are to be avoided during similar weather in the future.

Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) said that the spo- radic bursting of underground water pipes connecting the mains to homes across the county during the freezing weather conditions was due in large

part to a lack of regulation in pipe laying.

He went on to say that while the location the pipes are positioned in is a condition of planning permis- sions, how deep those pipes are set is not.

The building regulations then con- tend with the structure of the house and not what is underground.

“We have to have better practice of best practice when supplying domes- tic water to homes,” he said.

“TWe need] Better insulation and for pipes to be laid in a certain way so they are adverse to these traitor- ous conditions,’ he said.

“A thing is only a mistake when you fail to learn from it. There are going to have to be new codes of practice in this area.”

Senior Executive Engineer with the Water Section of Clare County Council, Sean Ward said that under- ground pipes in numerous houses across the county had been frozen in

the past week.

In the same housing estates, the pipes in some houses froze com- pletely while the water in neighbour- ing houses flowed freely.

He said that issues such as insula- tion and the depth of pipes could have contributed to these differences in circumstances.

Burst pipes and people letting taps run all night to avoid pipes freezing has also increased the water usage in the county by 10 to 20 per cent.

CLARE will learn of their quarter- final opponents in the Oscar Traynor Cup next week with the draw for the last eight round scheduled to take place in the Aishling Hotel in Dublin on Friday, January 22.

The Clare side, managed by Hugh Kelly advanced to the knockout stag- es for the first time since 2004 thanks to taking four points from their two games in Group 5 of the prestigious nationwide competition.

In their opening game with the Limerick Desmond, Clare secured a valuable away point when Rock Rov- ers’ Stephen Hickey grabbed a share

of the spoils with a goal in the 90th minute.

Then in the second game against the Cork Business League at Mc- Donough Park in Newmarket-on- Fergus, an injury time strike from Bunratty’s Con Collins gave Clare a thrilling 3-2 win and safe passage into the quarter-final stage.

Those teams who will be in the draw with Clare are Galway or Mayo from Group 1, Roscommon, Sligo or Don- egal in Group 2, Tipperary Southern & District League in Group 3, Cork AUL in Group 4, Wexford in Group 6, The Defence Forces in Group 7 and Dublin AUL in Group 8.

Manager Hugh Kelly, in resum-

ing the management reins for the 2009/2010 competition said “any- thing is possible and we could go all the way”. The Derryman was man- ager of the Clare team that scored a famous victory in the competition six years ago, when they beat the Dublin Senior League 2-1 in the final played in Ballycasey.

It was Clare’s first national cup suc- cess since the Clare Youths won the Irish Inter League Youth Cup in 1971 thanks to a 2-0 win over Dublin Ath- letic Union League in Ennis Show- erounds. Clare’s Youths are also in the knockout stages of the FAI Youth Inter League for the first time since the 1970s.

CLARE County Council was forced to switch off the water supply to areas across north Clare over the weekend, as the impact of the big freeze con- tinued to be felt by local families.

The local authority was forced to temporarily shut off the supply to ar- eas around Lahinch, Liscannor and Ennistymon on Saturday and Sunday last because of low levels of water re- corded at the reservoir.

According to a spokesperson from the Ennistymon Area Office of Clare County Council, they are continuing to closely monitor the situation but levels at the reservoir appear to be returning to normal.

“We have also advertised in the media where people can collect wa- ter from the council yard in Ennisty- mon. A number of individual houses in the north Clare area have frozen stop-cocks and, even though there is water flowing in the mains system, it is not able to get into the house,” said the spokesperson.

“We have had to monitor water Supplies in Ennistymon, Lahinch and Liscannor closely over the last number of days. We have decent water supplies in the reservoir at the moment, but that situation can change quickly.

Meanwhile, the roads connecting Lisdoonvarna with Kilfenora and Ballyvaughan were closed by Clare County Council yesterday at the re- quest of the gardai. According to a council spokesman, the area around the Corkscrew Hill were particularly dangerous.

“We are monitoring the situation as closely as possible and we can say that all the major routes between the major towns are open at the mo- ment,” said the spokesman.

“Once you get onto the smaller, secondary roads then the situation is more difficult. It 1s a constantly changing situation. For example, the road between Lisdoonvarna and Kil- fenora was impassible this morning (Monday) but that situation could change again very quickly.”

2009 presented an exciting new dawn for Clare camogie as they am- bitiously met the double challenge of playing at the top level in both league and championship head on in a bid to establishing the county as a new senior force.

After several attempts during the decade, Clare finally made _ that breakthrough on the back of an un- precedented 2008 in which a Nation- al League Division 2 and All-Ireland AUT eb Ce) MMOL O(c) Rom UITDO A aRcecDuIEsIen

However, the beginning of 2009 also brought great change in Clare camogie. Orla Considine was ush- ered in as county chairperson, Clare subsequently entered two adult teams for league and championship for the first time (one at senior and one at intermediate level) and a new man- agement team of Bertie Sherlock, Catherine O’Loughlin, Kevin Ryan, John Sheedy and Fintan McNamara was introduced to guide both panels into the new unchartered waters.

In hindsight, it was perhaps too demanding to initiate such an ambt- tious two pronged set-up in the first year. The lack of numbers were an constant issue which meant there was a significant doubling up of play- ers and possibly a year at junior level would have served the second team better in their inaugural year.

That said, Clare can feel quite un- fortunate not to have taken more points in both the league and cham- pionship, especially at senior level. Clare entered the league in typical determined fashion but overall, in- experience at the top level was to repeatedly prove their undoing. Des- perately unlucky to be edged out by a point in their opening tie against eventual finalists Tipperary, Clare then led by 0-8 to 0-5 with less than 25 minutes to go against defending champions Kilkenny in Meelick only a week later before conceding nine unanswered points. Unperturbed by such set-backs, Clare finally got their just rewards with a final day 2-7 to

2-6 victory over Dublin in the capital and it was enough to give them re- newed confidence for the champion- ship campaign.

The intermediates on the other hand had a largely fluctuating league debut in Division 2. Going down by seven points in their opening tie against Tipperary in Cashel, the young side actually claimed a major scalp in their next outing by comprehensively beating defending All-Ireland inter- mediate champions Kilkenny by 0-11 to 1-O in Meelick, inspired by Carol Kaiser, Roisin McMahon, Chloe Mo- rey and Danielle Sheedy.

It should have initiated a new level of confidence in the predominantly teenage side but they were soon brought back down to earth by a 3-

14 to 2-04 defeat to Antrim and in fact, were unable to field in their final game against Derry a week later.

The final nail in the second side’s coffin came in their intermediate championship debut against neigh- bours Galway. With a largely experi- mental side, Clare were simply over- ran by a vastly experienced Galway who were ruthless in a 7-13 to 1-03 victory in Athenry. Clare chose to pull out of the competition after that while Galway eventually went on to win the intermediate championship O)binw resale

There was a similar camogie lesson for the senior side that afternoon as Clare supporters were left scratching their heads after totally contrasting halves. Despite being without the

experience of Sharon McMahon, Laura Linnane and Aimee MclIner- ney, Clare more than matched the All-Ireland finalists in the first half, only to undo all that good work with an abject second half display as Gal- way eventually ran out 3-17 to 1-04 victors.

It would have been enough to de- rail most sides but Clare had recog- nised long before the Galway game that their derby tie with Limerick would be the most pivotal game of their championship season. A tense, nail-biting encounter subsequently ensued with both sides craving the points to remain in the race for the semi-finals. In the end, Clare’s resil- ience saw them prevail by the bare minimum after the sides had been

level on three occasions in the final minutes. It was also a significant coming of age performance from Under 16 Chloe Morey who took responsibility for the final, pressu- rised free from 65 metres that sealed victory for the home side. That dis- play would subsequently earn her a national Gala Performance Award and also ensured that Clare’s hopes of advancement hinged on their fi- nal game against league champions Wexford a fortnight later.

Essentially a_ straight play-off in Bodyke, Clare battled hard but were unable to cope with Wexford’s smooth interplay and superior scor- ing ability who eventually ran out 2- 15 to 0-03 winners.

Overall though, Clare will feel sat- isfied that they were extremely com- petitive in their inaugural season at senior level. Wins over Dublin and Limerick, a one point defeat against Tipperary and the fact that they were still in contention for a semi-final place going into the final round of championship games indicates that they were far from daunted by their more experienced opposition. On the flip side however, sizeable champ1- onship defeats against Galway and Wexford mean that Clare still have a bit to learn before they can realis- tically challenge for honours at this Aree

The key to Clare’s future at the top level though could rest with their burgeoning underage system. The county have been consistently knocking at the door of All-Ireland glory at Under 16 and minor level in recent years and much like Kilkenny, that continuous supply to the senior squad, combined with the experi- ence of their more established play- ers means that the future is certainly bright for the county. Consequently it’s simply a matter of when, not if.

A WEST Clare man has become a “soft target for unscrupulous people” and is easily manipulated, his solici- Koym erm Ke) (em meeltiae

The comments, from solicitor Eu- gene O’Kelly, came in the case of Gerard Meade, (20), of Milford, Mil- town Malbay.

He admitted passing as genuine a counterfeit €50 note at Cullinan’s bar, Church Street, Ennistymon, on August 10, 2009. He also admitted entering a barber’s shop in Miltown Malbay as a trespasser and commit- WTercam a etod Am

Ennistymon District Court heard that that the accused went into Cull- inan’s bar and ordered a vodka and blackcurrant. He handed over a €50 note and received change. He drank it and left the premises immediately.

Defending solicitor Eugene O’ Kelly said his client “1s of such disposition that he is easily manipulated.”

“*T believe he was subjected to such manipulation by people unknown to me. I believe he is a soft target for unscrupulous people,” he said. He said the publican was only at the loss of €10.

Meade was also convicted of driv- ing without insurance in Lahinch. Mr O’ Kelly said, “The reality of the situation is it doesn’t appear to sink in with him he was driving while dis- qualified.”

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a one-month detention term and dis- qualified Meade from driving for six years. He fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.