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A MAN whose eyesight was “hazed by cannabis fumes” stabbed his friend with a kitchen knife in a row over a girl during a drink and drugs leyU NT SXen

Martin Donegan (28), a native of Dublin and with an address at Kurva- hon, Main Street, Kildysart, pleaded guilty to assaulting Donal Downes (38), causing him harm, at St Clare’s Terrace, Ennis, on August 5, 2007.

The attack occurred during what was described in court as a rave. When asked by gardai was he trying to kill the injured party, the accused replied, “God no. He’s my friend.”

Garda Francis Brennan told Ennis Circuit Court yesterday that Donal Downes was one of three men liv- ing in the house where a party was held. He said it was a Health Board house.

He was stabbed by the accused with a kitchen knife which was 12 inches in length and had a nine inch blade. He said the accused and injured par- ty had been drinking together over the previous few days and drink and drugs were involved.

“They had drank a couple of bot- tles of vodka. They had hash and ‘e’ tablets. They had a falling out over a girl,” said the garda.

Mr Downes was stabbed a number of times to the chest and received a significant laceration to the sternum. The court was told that Donegan co-

operated but had suffered memory loss from the night of the row.

Defence barrister Brian McInerney said that Donegan has addictions to drugs and alcohol, for which he has received treatment.

‘The party at the house went on for a number of days. It might common- ly be described as a bit of a rave,’ he Cr HeR

“There is no element of pre-plan- ning in this case, or pre-mediation. It arose from consumption of intox1- cants,’ said the barrister.

‘IT would ask you to consider wheth- er there is a benefit to society at large in immediately incarcerating the accused, who seems to have made considerable strides to overcome the difficulties in his life,’ he added.

He asked for the sentencing to be adjourned to ascertain how much progress the accused could make.

Judge Carroll Moran said _ the number of stab wounds suffered by the injured party was a matter of concern. He said he accepted the ac- cused had taken steps to deal with his problems, but said the issue of com- pensation had not been addressed.

Mr McInerney said his client hoped to secure employment, “now that his eyesight is not hazed by cannabis fumes and the waft of alcohol”.

The judge adjourned the case until January 2009 and said if compensa- tion is offered and if the accused’s addictions are addressed, he would not send him to jail.

ONE of the hidden gems of Clare’s vibrant artistic scene will be brought to the fore this Thursday at the Court- house Gallery in Ennistymon.

North Clare’s Salmon Poetry will celebrate National Poetry Day by hosting a free poetry reading at the gallery from 7.30pm.

The evening will include a mixture of poets and styles with a line up fea- turing the best of local as well as na- tional poets. It feature locally based poets Frank Golden and Knute Skin- ner, Galway poets Caroline Lynch

and Peter Mullineaux as-well-as Paul Allen and Michael Heffernan.

“We have a number of visiting po- ets and some local poets involved so it promises to be a very exciting evening,’ said Jean Cusack of Salm- on Poetry.

“We are going to have a great mix- ture of poets. Knute is a very well established poet, Frank would be midway, while Caroline just pub- lished her first collection earlier this year. It’s great to get the newer poets in with the most established poets, it makes for a very interesting reading and give the poets and the audience a

good mix.”

Founded by Jessie Lendennie in Galway in 1981, Salmon Poetry has moved operation to the Burren in recent times. Over the years it has cultivated an image as an alterna- tive voice in Irish literature, focuss- ing greatly on promoting new and female artists.

Over the last quarter of a century the company have published some 200 volumes of poetry and have marked themselves out as great inno- vators in the Irish poetry scene.

“Events like this are great ways of getting poetry out there to the people

but also a good way to show off just how many poets we have based here in rural Ireland. A lot of Salmon’s poets are based in the west of Ire- land,’ continued Jean.

“We have more than 20 books of poems published this year at Salmon so people’s interest in poems does seem to be on the way up. But as well as publishing, it’s great for poets to be able to get their work out there and to perform in from of a live audi- ence.”

Salmon Poetry is based in Lis- cannor and can be contacted at info@salmonpoetry.com

ENNISTY MON students celebrated Sunday’s International Day of Peace in artistic manner.

The first years of the local Voca- tional School, under direction of art teacher Bairbre Geraghty, undertook an international project, Pinwheels for Peace, by ‘planting’ pinwheels with messages of peace on school grounds. They were underscoring a statement that peace needs to be- come more than just a word.

‘Pinwheels for Peace’ was begun by art teachers in 2005 as an art instal- lation project and a way for students to express their feeling about what’s going on in the world and in their

Taste

In its first year, groups in about 1,300 locations were spinning pin- wheels on September 21, amounting to a grand total of about 500,000 objects around the globe. Last year, the number came to over 1.2 million in 2,500 locations, including Ireland, across Europe, the United States, Asia, Australia, Canada, the Middle East, Africa and South America.

Says Bairbre Geraghty, “The word is spreading; we’d love to see more schools and groups join with us next year.”

The first year students in Ennisty- mon created windmills displaying their images and words of peace and tolerance as part of the creation

process, writing their thoughts about ‘war and peace/tolerance/living in harmony with others’ on one side. On the reverse they made collages to express their feelings.

“The project is non-political – peace does not necessarily have to be asso- ciated with the conflict of war; it can be related to violence/intolerance in our daily lives, to peace of mind,” explains Bairbre.

‘To each of us, peace can take on a different meaning but, in the end, it all comes down to a simple defi- nition: ‘A state of calm and serenity, with no anxiety, the absence of vio- lence, freedom from conflict or disa- ereement among people or groups of people.,” she said.

NEW REGULATIONS, which if adopted will mean that planners will have to consider global warming and rising water levels when looking at planning applications, have been given a general welcome.

Clare planners are now studying the Draft Planning System and Flood Risk Management published for pub- lic consultation last week jointly by Environment Minister John Gormley and Dr Martin Mansergh, TD, Min- ister of State at the Department of

Finance.

Unveiling the document, the min- ister said that the new regulations are aimed at ensuring a “more con- sistent, rigorous and systematic ap- proach to fully incorporate flood risk assessment and management into the planning system.”

The new draft guidelines, which have been prepared in response to the recommendations of the National Flood Policy Review Group, focus on considering flood risk in prepar- ing regional plans, development plans and local area plans, and in de-

termining applications.

They also take account of envi- ronmental considerations including the need to manage the inevitable impacts of climate change, and bio- diversity.

The draft guidelines will require the planning system at national, re- gional and local levels to avoid devel- Opment in areas at risk of flooding, such as flood plains, guide develop- ment away from areas that have been identified as being at risk through flood risk and incorporate flood risk assessment into the process of mak-

ing decisions on planning applica- tions and planning appeals.

Bernadette Kinsella, Director of Service for Planning and Economic

Development, said that her depart- ment of the County Council “will now study the new draft Planning Guidelines on the Planning System and Flood Risk Management. The Planning Authority will consider their potential impact in the context of the review of town and local area plans currently taking place.”

She said that the draft guidelines “will also be considered in the con-

text of their impact on the planning and development process in County Ori ow

Clir PJ Kelly, who is vocal on plan- ning issues said that he agrees that there is a need to take account of the risk of flooding and climate change when approaching planning matters.

But he added that it is his concern “that they will go for the easy targets yet again and that won’t be the big urban developments, it will be the person who Is struggling to get plan- ning permission to build a home in a rural area.”

THE Burren Smokehouse in Lis- doonvarna has received it’s second major accolade in a week with the news that it has been selected as one of the fine foods which will be served at the launch of the Volvo Ocean Race in Spain on October 9.

The smokehouse was selected by Tourism Ireland in conjunction with Good Food Ireland to be part of the prestigious launch dinner which takes place in Alicante in Spain later Woo)

The world famous race will this year feature two Irish teams and has also an Irish stop for the first time Oe

Burren Smokehouse founder Bir-

gitta Curtin will represent Ireland at the event alongside Peter Ward of Artisan Food Produce.

The menu for the evening will fea- ture a number of dishes from the smokehouse including honey lemon and pepper hot smoked organic Irish salmon, hot smoked plain and spiced Irish mackerel, honey lemon and dill hot smoked organic Irish salmon, smoked organic Irish salmon and hot smoked Irish silver eel served with lemon wedges.

Other Irish dishes including Con- nemara Irish lamb, Sowan’s organic brown soda bread, beef from James Whelan’s Butchers in Tipperary and Country Choice Cheese will also be Oy NEO)

This news comes just after a week

after the Lisdoonvarna smoke house, along with St Tola Goats Cheese in Inagh, was asked to participate in the Good Food Ireland Award Showcase in Dublin.

The showcase, which took place last night, is one of Ireland foremost annual cullinary events.

‘The key objectives of these awards are to honour those members who epitomise this philosophy and to raise standards within the food and hospitality industry,” says Margaret Jeffares, Managing Director, Good Food Ireland.

“The Good Food Ireland philoso- phy is to prioritise the core indig- enous ingredients of Irish cuisine and promote local and artisan food producers. Members are independ-

ently assessed by an expert judging panel.”

Good Food Ireland is the only all- island food tourism marketing group. Members come together to be pro- moted under the brand.

It is a not for profit organisation and is driven by the industry in a bottom up approach.

The steering group, executive com- mittee and members all work on a voluntary basis.

The Good Food Ireland members vision is to grow Ireland as a food tourism destination by promoting to domestic and international visitors places to stay, eat, cook and shop that are all committed to using above all else Irish, local and artisan food pro- duce.

THE PROBLEM of algal bloom in Lough Derg is “destroying” an al- ready hard-pressed Clare tourist in- dustry, it has been claimed.

Calls have been made to speed up approval of sewerage schemes to stop raw sewerage ending up in the JEN cor

Speaking in the wake of the latest toxic bloom warning, with notices being placed at the lake-shore last week, Teresa Browne of East Clare

Tourism says solutions are not being implemented fast enough.

“I’ve been told by fishermen that there was raw sewerage in the river at Scariff and it follows that that flows into the lake. We’ve had this problem for years now and we’ve been promised a solution but it hasn’t happened yet”.

The tourism businesswoman said that the incidents of algal bloom had not been as frequent this year, largely due to high water.

‘The truth is that even if the weath-

er had been better, visitors wouldn’t be able to go into the water when there’s algal bloom. This is destroy- ing the tourism trade and things are difficult enough”.

While providing treatment plants around the lake are an important part of solving the problem, Teresa says things are not moving fast enough and season after season the lake is being hit by the toxic bloom.

“Look at Scariff – we have a whole new network of pipes almost finished but the money for the treatment plant

hasn’t been approved yet. When is that going to happen?”’

The warning signs on the shores of the lake are to alert people to the fact that there is blue-green toxic algae in the water, which can cause rashes in humans and have previously proved fatal to dogs.

High water temperatures have contributed to the toxic bloom, ac- cording to North Tipperary County Council, who were responsible for erecting the notices.

Local county councillor, Pat Hay-

es, says he is confident that approval will be given in the near future by the minister to finance tenders for the upgrading of the Scariff sewer- age treatment plant.

“Thing have improved in recent years. The Blue Flags for water qual- ity at Ballycuggeran and Mountshan- non are testament to that,’ he told

has learned.

Speaking during his visit to Clare on Friday, the Minister for Commu- nity, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Ea- mon O Cuiv said that his department would like to take a leading role on a project to reopen the railway as a

tourist location.

“There is huge potential in cycle based tourism in Clare. Cyclists want to be out in the countryside but they don’t want to have to battle their way around traffic on small country roads. That is why I think that the idea of opening the old West Clare Railway track as a cycling way is an idea with huge potential,” he said.

“We would need the good will of a lot of landowners but I feel that this project is a very viable one that the

department can support. The com- munity has to be behind the project. If they are really concerned about the challenges facing the tourist industry in Clare then this project is one that they can take a positive step with. “If people can take a larger view and pool their resources on this I be- lieve it can be achieved. Clare has always been at the forefront in terms of innovation in the tourism sector – right back from the early days at Bunratty and place like that. If we

all work together then this slump is something that we can overcome.”

O’Cuiv admitted that areas of Clare had been under funded in the past but said that he viewed this as a chal- lenge for the future rather than a vote of no confidence.

“It is true that things have not been developed to their full potential but I would take a totally different view on this that calling it a failure. We are where we are in terms of history, and I think that it is great to see that

there are things that are still to be done,’ he said.

“There is no point of focussing on the developments that were not com- pleted in the past, I would always prefer to focus on the challenge of completing these development in the future. We would be in a bad situa- tion if we woke up one morning and discovered that all that had to be de- veloped was already developed, that would be a very depressing situation indeed.”

THERE are some stories that are too good to be left untold. Like that Spring afternoon back in 1934, when a plane fell from the sky in a field in Moy and the attention of the world was all on north Clare.

Decades before Air Lingus or Shannon Airport had even been conceived, the crashing landing of the Leonardo daVinci in a field in Clooneyogan made national headline in Dublin, New York and Rome.

Piloted by American Captain George Pond and Italian Lieutenant Sesare Sabelli, it was attempting to become the first craft ever to fly from the US all the way to Italy. As we ap- proach the 75th anniversary of the crash, a group of locals are planning

the first formal commemoration of the flight of the deVinc1.

“Their goal was to fly direct from New York to Rome. At the time that would have broken the distance record for flying across the Atlantic. It had been tried before on a few oc- casions be they hadn’t made it,” said Michael Hayes of the Moy Historical Society.

“The left from New York and after 33 hours of fling they crash landed in Clooneyogan.

‘The plane had bad engine trouble during the crossing and more than once Pond had to clime out on the wing and fix a problem with the fuel Wb avery

‘There was a lot of competition to be the first to do it and when they crashed in Moy they were of the

opinion that their fuel lies had been tapered with. They were trying to do an emergency landing at Lahinch but the tide was in so they had to circle – but they eventually ran out of fuel and crashed here in Moy.”

After landing in Moy they were re- ceived by Eamon de Valera in Dub- lin before returning to Clare to finish their journey.

After encountering more engine trouble they landed in Wales before eventually landing in Rome on June 12 where they were greeted by Pope Pius XII and Mussolini.

The Moy Historical Society are compiling information on the flight and are trying to raise enough money to commemorate next years anniver- Se HMe

We have contact both the Ameri-

can and Italian embassies and they are keen on the idea,’ continued Michael.

“Michael McTigue is putting to- gether the place but we are looking for anyone who has information on the plane but also for anyone who might be interested in sponsoring the plaque and helping us to get this project off the ground.”

For more information § contact Michael Hayes on 087 9025283 or Colm Hennessy on 086 8123811.

FOURTEEN rural roads in Clare will benefit from €376,399 funding under the 2008 CLAR Programme. The projects, which are co-funded by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and the

Department of the Transport were proposed by Clare County Council.

According to Minister of State and local TD Tony Killeen, the CLAR fund is an investment programme designed to tackle the problem of de- population, decline and lack of serv- ero UO Melee D Er: Dustakce

He said the grant allocation to GETMAIN Yee elena Zounlae meu tcaatshyI of all allocations received by local authorities in Ireland, would be of enormous benefit to local commu- nities. The allocations were deter- mined by the county’s percentage of the total population in CLAR areas.

The roads to benefit under the 2008 Programme are at Ballyartney, Coolmeen (€49,880); Decomade, Clondagad (€27,/720); Cloontabon- niv, Kinturk (€22,000); Mount Cal- lan, Formoyle (€50,000);

Lehaknock, Killanniv (€20,000); Ballyvaskin (€25,000); Tullygarvan,

Moy (€13,000); Killanniv, Kilma- ley (€15,000); Derryabbert, Ayle (€24,000); Ballylaghnan, Ogonnel- loe (€32,000); Magherabaun, Ayle (€44,000); Clogholia, Castlecrine (€13,399); Hurdlestown, Kilseily (€20,000) and Ballydonnell/Fahy, Fahymore (€20,000).

ONE of West Clare’s greatest sport- ing heroes returned to his home patch yesterday as the county’s most successful dog trainer, Pat Curtin, returned to his roots at Mullagh Na- tional School.

Pat, who himself attended the na- tional school in years gone by, re- turned to where his nephews now go to school to show the students his recently won trophy for the Irish Greyhound Derby.

Earlier this month Shelbourne As- ton, which is trained and co-owned by Pat, picked up the €175,000 first prize for winning the Paddypower.

com Irish Derby. This was Clare’s first Irish Derby success in 39 years and has already been described as one of the greatest finals ever with Shelbourne Aston passing out four other dogs in the last 75 yards.

The victory insured both dog and trainers place in history as Shel- bourne Aston became only the third greyhound ever to win both the Champion Stakes and Irish Derby.

“It’s great to have Pat back down to us. He is a past pupil of the school and he now has the very successful Ballygodoon Stud up in Tipperary,” said Connie Sexton of Mullagh Na- tional School.

‘His two nephews now go to school

with us here in Mullagh. All the school is very proud of him. It’s great to have someone who came out of Mullagh do so well. His father was always a great greyhound man here in the village as well so there is a ereat family tradition in it.

‘There is a great interest in grey- hounds locally and Pat would be a relation of the Doherty’s in Coora- clare who were the last people from Clare to win the Derby.”

Pat holds joint ownership of the dog in partnership with Noel Hehir and Margaret Montgomerie. Shelbourne Aston is the son of Just The Best and Queen Survivor is now expected in the English St Leger at Wimbledon.

‘No other dog has ever done the Irish Derby and the St Leger back-to- back and that’s something I’d love to do. And the Leger is over 660 yards which would suit the dog down to the ground,’ Pat said after the race.

“But we’ve still to make up our minds on what exactly we’re going to do. Over the past two days, there’s been a lot of interest from Australia and the United States, but we haven’t made any decision yet.”