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The production itself is already an historic one, as it will be the first Opera commissioned by the DIT

Conservatory of Music and Drama’s in more than a quarter of a century. Indeed, the conservatory has already invested more than €500,000 in the redevelopment the Gleeson Theatre in Dublin, where the opera will be staged.

‘This is an incredibly difficult chal- lenge. The opera last for about two hours and | think I’m physically on

stage for about an hour and a half of that. It’s a huge huge challenge so it will either make me or break me as a performer. We have a VIP night on the first night of the show which will have all the industry insiders as well as people like Mary McAleese,” said Peter.

“It’s a huge physical challenge as well. I have been going to the gym

three times a week, haven’t being go- ing out and have been going to bed early every night.

‘The is the fist time in a long, long time that the conservatory has put on an opera so it a very big deal up ite) Kemet

Peter is currently in the final year of his honours degree at the DIT Con- servatory of Music. After he com- pletes his formal studies in Ireland, Peter will have to go abroad, proba- bly to Italy, to continue his training.

‘Next year I’m going to take a year out, go back to Clare and work on the farm with my dad. I’m also go- ing to do a bit of teaching with Ar- chie Simpson from the Lismorahaun Singers and try to save some money, ” he continued.

“I’d like to do a two year Masters in Performance after that and Ill have to go abroad to do that, as it is not available in Ireland. It is very diffi- cult to find a teacher to take you on for this but I’d love to go to Italy and learn from the masters over there.”

Peter began singing as a young teenager with the Lismorahaun Singers alongside fellow Clare sen- sation Naomi O’Connell from Bal- lyvaughan and Dean Power from Clarecastle.

AN Ennistymon banker has packed in his ledgers and calculator in fa- vour of the artist’s easel and is now starting to make waves in the world ODay ore nenlwetee

After giving up a senior role with the AIB just over a year ago, Michael Hanrahan has quickly forged a repu- tation for himself as a budding artis- Wem E-NCoonl

Michael, who is about to take up a studio at the Courthouse Gallery Stu- dios in Ennistymon, will this month form a central part of the latest Do- lan Art Auction which takes place in the Marriott Hotel in Galway on

September 30.

‘I was always interested in painting and drawing, even from when I was a young man at the Ennistymon CBS, art was my favourite subject,’ said Mr Hanrahan.

“So after 37 years with the bank, I took early retirement back in 2006. Banking is a very high pressure busi- ness and I really wanted to give the painting a try. I felt I had some talent at it and I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to get out there and put in plenty time at it.”

Michael has just completed a sum- mer residence at the Burren Col- lege of Art in Ballyvaughan and has painted extensively around the Clare

countryside.

“Tm a landscape painter really and I’m a realist – I paint what I see. I love the colours, I love the changing moods of Ireland – the sunlight and the shade,’ he said.

“I love painting around Clare. I’ve painted in Ballyvaughan, Lahinch, Liscannor and in Ennistymon. I’ve done a number of painting in En- nistymon actually, I love the shop fronts up there.

“The art auctions are great. The general public is allowed to view all the works for a number of days be- fore the auction, they can just walk into the hotel and see what they like. But then the auction starts and they

just hold up your work and people bid. There is no name given with the paintings so the works really have to stand on their own two feet.

‘The people at Dolans do a fantas- tic job and they give great encour- agement to emerging artists like myself.”

For more information about his work contact Michael on 086 8251550 of e-mail mphanrahan55 @hotmail. com or preview some of the paint- ings on www.dolansart.com.

EXCITEMENT is reaching fever point as thousands of Clare farm- ers make their way to the National Ploughing Championships which open in Kilkenny today. Millions of euro 1s expected to be spent in Kil- kenny over the next few days as the largest farming event in Ireland this years takes place.

An estimated 200,000 people are expected to converge the champion- ships which will this year play host to 19 All Ireland ploughing finals over the course of the three days.

Besides the competitions on the field, the championships will also

feature hundreds of stalls drawn from every corner of country life.

Indeed, Specsavers in Ennis will join forces with the Road Safety Au- thority for the Specsavers Focus on Driving Campaign which will take place at the championships.

Last year, Specsavers screened more than 1000 people’s vision at the National Ploughing Champion- ships, in one of Ireland’s largest-ever eyecare studies and they hope to do even better this year.

‘‘As autumn looms and the evenings become darker, it is more important than ever to ensure that your eye- sight isn’t putting you or other road users 1n jeopardy,’ said the director

of Specsavers in Ennis, Mayleen van der Merwe.

“By joining forces with the RSA, we aim to educate drivers on the im- portance of eyesight.”

Meanwhile, Macra na Feirme has announced a packed programme of activity for this year event. Apart from showcasing all the best the or- ganisation has to offer, with details of upcoming Macra projects, events and travel opportunities for mem- bers, Macra will host a number of key activities which will undoubt- edly prove popular with the crowds attending this year.

These include competitions with the Gleneagle Hotel, programmes

to promote farm safety and an inter- county and company bucking bronco eee

The FBD young farmer of the year will also be on site along with Kil- kenny Macra members who will be present on the stand to recruit new members to local Macra clubs in the area.

Galway Macra will be on hand to provide details of the upcoming Na- tional Conference (Rally) in Salthill in October.

Macra na Feirme’s national presi- dent, Catherine Buckley, will also be on site over the three days to meet and speak with visitors to the Macra display area.

FOR Kilmihil student Eimear Con- sidine, this year seems to be bring- ing just about everything together in sporting as well as academic achieve- ment.

On the brink of All-Ireland success in intermediate football with Clare, she already has had a once-in-a-life- time opportunity in the US Scholar/ Athlete Games run annually by the Institute for International Sport.

It all began with a chance encoun- ter at the University of Limerick sports arena for the girl from Leitrim outside Kilmihil while she was on a second-level break.

Emer was taking part in a badmin- ton work-out when a scout for the US games spotted Eimear’s ability in that sport and immediately “booked

to uae

The end result was a 10-day stay at Rhode Island university at the end of June where she fielded with the Athens team. Only two other Irish students were selected to participate – a student from Donegal and another from Limerick.

Eimear, now back in University of Limerick in an entirely different role – 515 points from the Leaving Cert. ensured a place in her choice of the physical education course – has won- derful memories of the American experience, for which she has ex- pressed thanks to the several Clare businesses who sponsored her trip.

To concentrate on her more recent sport involvements, she was voted player of the match in the Intermedi- ate Football semi-final against Long- ford that has brought Clare into the

All-Ireland decider against Tipper- ary on Sunday week.

She wil be following on _ the achievement of younger sister Aul- ish, a student at St. Michael’s, who already has an All-Ireland medal by virtue of Clare’s recent under-16B football win over Tipperary in which she scored a goal and a point.

As well as her recent sporting achievements, Eimear has played club football in all grades with Kilm- ihil as well all grades for Clare from cailiini 6ga to this year’s intermedi- ate grade; she was also captain of the Clare minor A team that won the Munster championship.

She also plays camogie with Kilma- ley and this has brought her county u- 14, 1-16 and u-18 medals in the sen- ior league, Munster u-16A and u-18 A and appearance in the All-Ireland

final against Kilkenny in the recent u-18A decider.

She is a Community Games AII- Star with the college’s basketball team and was chosen sports star of the year 2008 at St. Michael’s Col- fexer

She is also active in volleyball and athletics and achieved grade 8 in pi- ano as well as completing coaching and refereeing courses.

For Eimear Considine, it seems that there are not enough days on the week to accommodate all her inter- SSE

THE sand-dunes in Fanore will be the setting for a community nature day out this Saturday, September 27.

The free guided walk will be given wildlife expert John Murphy from the Clare branch of Birdwatch Ire- land and has been organised by the Burren Connect Project.

The project, which began last year, aims to deliver a co-ordinated ap- proach to environmental protection and visitor management in the Bur- ren area.

“We will be hosting a walk around the dunes on Fanore beach. John

Murphy will lead the walk and he will explore the unique environ- ment that is up there and hopefully we will see some of the wildlife that JTAtCorses DOME DOCG Ur: e000 s(C GN NOL omOLUDSlercmMMmy-nTG| Edel Hayes of the Burren Connect Project.

“The walk is really open to anyone from the local community who is interested in nature and wildlife and would like to find out more about the habitat up there in Fanore.

“One of our aims is to protect the dunes in Fanore and make sure that they survive as a protected area. A lot of people don’t realise that they are a protected area and home to

some rare wildlife.

“We first want to protect the special grasses in the dunes and that will en- Sure a Safe environment for the birds and other animals that live there,’ added Ms Hayes.

The Burren Connect Project will also host a series of night classes be- ginning in October.

The free classes are open to anyone from the north Clare area and will focus on the wide range of biodiver- sity found in the area of Fanore.

“Our aim is really to give people a little bit more information about the wildlife that is right there on their doorsteps.

‘We want to work alongside the lo- cal people, to let them know what we are about and to help to provide them with as much information about their local environment as we can,’ con- tinued Ms Hynes.

The guided walk begins this Sat- urday at lam from the car park at Fanore beach. The night classes will commence on Thursday, October 9 and run until October 23.

Classes will take place in the na- tional school at Fanore and com- mence each evening at 8pm.

For more information see the par- ish newsletter or visit www.burren- Toys batse Ie

AN ENNIS worker who, it was claimed, tried to under cut the com- pany which employed him has been awarded a total of €4,600 for unfair dismissal by the Employment Ap- peals Tribunal.

Thomas Moroney, of 75 Inis Ealga, Shannon took a case against I-Homes Limited, Quin Road, Business Park, Ennis after they fired him, claiming he was dong nixers for their custom- ers, undercutting them to get the business in the process

Moroney denied the claims and

said that he had never been given a chance to properly defend himself against the allegations before being dismissed on October 9 2007.

The tribunal heard evidence from the company, which carries out in- Stallation of home automation, that they had trained Moroney.

The company became aware that Moroney was carrying out private work in what they said was direct competition.

He was given two verbal warnings and in October 2007 as a result of a tracking system which was installed on all company vehicles, Moroney’s

jeep was tracked to a number of lo- cations which placed him in areas where he should not have been dur- ing the course of his work. He was dismissed for gross misconduct on October 9, 2007.

Moroney said in evidence that he had never been made aware of the seriousness of the accusations and had variously been told he should not have the company vehicle in sight if he was doing work outside his com- pany business and that is was not ac- ceptable to use the jeep while work- ing on Sundays.

He denied ever working in competi-

tion with his employers and said that he was not informed of his right to have representation at the final meet- ing at which he was dismissed.

The tribunal found that Moroney had not been made aware of the grav- ity of the accusations and given a fair chance to explain himself and that a witness who claimed he had heard him underprice jobs had never raised this with the company until two days before the hearing.

The tribunal made an award of €3,000 for unfair dismissal and €1,600, two weeks wages under minimum notice regulations.

THE reputation of Ennis Hospital lies in tatters this morning, after it emerged that a second cancer patient was misdiagnosed at the hospital. The family of Edel Kelly (26) from Kilrush have called on Health Min- ister Mary Harney to resign. The call comes after mother-of-two Edel died from cancer in June, having been misdiagnosed at Ennis General in

December 2006. She suffered from cancer in her breast, liver and bones.

Edel’s parents John and Una said questions must be answered by those responsible for the misdiagnosis at Ennis General.

The Kellys took the decision to air their grievances after learning of the misdiagnosis of Ennis resident Ann Moriarty. She died from breast can- ten N Oe UMM NTR Det mmole MESA os MEALS all-clear at Ennis General. Her hus-

band Karl Henry went public a fort- night ago and last night reiterated his calls for a full independent enquiry into practices at Ennis General.

He strongly fears that further mis- diagnosis cases will emerge.

“IT wasn’t expecting another situa- tion quite as appalling as that of Edel Kelly appears to be,’ he said.

The HSE said his wife’s case was an isolated one, but the Edel Kelly case proved otherwise. He said this

left him feeling “angry and bitter”. ‘The claim that my wife’s case was an isolated one has a particularly hollow ring to it,” he added. But he said he would not support calls for Minister Harney to resign.

THE Fianna Fail party in Shannon is struggling to find nominees to contest the next county council elections.

With most areas around the coun- try having returned their nominees to Fianna Fail head office by the September 5 deadline, sources close to the party said Shannon town is struggling to find a candidate to con- test the expanded Shannon electoral area.

The party met in Shannon on Sun- day night however to propose nomi- nees to run for the town council, just a week after its two sitting council- lors announced that they would not

be running again.

Among the three nominated is a Polish national, a director of elec- tions and a well known community “oO Mane

Director of elections for Fianna Fail in Shannon during the last gen- eral election Noel McNamara will be hoping to get the nod from head of- fice to run as a candidate in the next election.

Polish native Woyceich Wieviewski is anew name and face to politics in Shannon, and those nominating him will be hoping he appeals to the non- national vote.

The third nominee is Ollie Allen who is hoping to capture the local

community vote.

Shannon town councillors Sean Hillary and Geraldine Lambert told the Sean Lemass Cumann last week that they would not be contesting the next local elections, leaving the town council, like the county coun- cil without any returning Fianna Fail councillor from Shannon.

The current Shannon area has fa- voured Independent candidates for the county council with former may- or of Clare Patricia McCarthy and Cllr Gerry Flynn both from Shan- non sitting on the town and county council.

Fine Gael Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) is the other county councillor from

the town.

While the Sean Lemass Cumann may be struggling to find candidates for the county council elections, oth- er cumann preparing to contest the expanded Shannon Electoral Area have no such problems.

In Sixmilebridge they have already nominated former council candidate PJ Ryan and new candidate Pascal avis

Sitting Fianna Fail county council- lor Pat McMahon and Robert Frost have been nominated by Newmar- ket-on-Fergus, while former county councillor Pat O’Gorman has been nominated by the Cratloe Cumann to contest the Shannon area.

CLARE Youth Service are to under- take a comprehensive survey aimed at establishing literacy levels among students and staff.

The survey is being orgainsed as part of events for National Adult Literacy Awareness (NALA) Week, which runs until Friday, September 26.

All staff and students working in Clare Youth Service are being asked to take part in the survey, along with members of the public availing of in- ternet services at the Youth Centre, Carmody Street, Ennis.

Volunteers will record answers us- ing audio equipment, with a prize

also available for the most imagina- tive method used to record respond- ents answers.

The theme of this year’s NALA Week has been broadened to “the benefits of learning in the communi- ty’, chosen to highlight the benefits of improving literacy and numeracy levels among different communities in Ireland.

Theresa Larkin of the Adult Litera- cy Programme with the Clare Youth Service, explained the project is be- ing undertaken to help broaden the understanding of literacy problems.

“We want to raise awareness, first and foremost. There are a lot of peo- ple out there who experience difficul- ty reading and writing. There is such

a stigma attached to illiteracy and it is our job to get the best of people.”

She added, “We are always aware too that some of the people taking OL Na MONO MM OOCoMmCLED A VoavMB OCU TcAlMmOT-A/oMOODUUCS culty filling out forms, so the people asking the questions will have audio equipment with them. The prize will be for the most novel form of answer- ing, be it singing dancing, anything.”

Meanwhile eight students of Com- munity Employment Project with Clare Youth Service received their certificates for completion of FETAC level four training at a ceremony in the Old Ground Hotel on Friday supra al

The students completed their train- ing on the FAS supported scheme at

the Hospitality Academy in Doon- beg.

Tina Byrt of Clare Youth Service said the students had worked ex- tremely hard over the course of the project and were delighted to have received their certificates.

SHARON Shannon is only one of the many musicians who credit retired Toonagh schoolteacher Frank Custy for inspiring her passion for music.

“It’s thanks to Frank Custy that we got a great love of music. We used to be just mad for music” she comments in the first of a six part TG4 series featuring some of Ireland’s finest tra- Cia CeyereUmeNlUKT(ervIhe

The September 28 ‘Sé mo Laoch programme celebrates Frank Custy’s many musical achievements, and his invaluable contribution to the future of Clare’s traditional music.

Featuring contributions from musi- cians Sharon Shannon, Ian O Cathain, Siobhan Peoples, members of the Di- seart Ceili Band, as well as Frank’s son, Tola Custy and his daughter,

Mary Custy, the programme looks at the huge influence banjo player and teacher Frank has had on genera- tions of young Clare musicians and how, through his work as a teacher, he generated and passed on a love of music to hundreds of young players.

Fiddle player Siobhan Peoples re- calls: “He taught us how to be con- fident individuals, to be able to go places, and take our music or singing or sport with us and to have no fear of being good at something.”

Next week’s programme features Dubliner Mick O’Connor. Other mu- sicians featured in the new series of ‘Se mo Laoch include Connemara box-player Johnny Connolly, Brian ETCMe OS LUCT IC UUW meme ceeemmauaentcrsate Cork singer Sean O Sé, and Tommy Peoples, who spent much of his life in Clare before moving to Donegal.