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AS classroom sizes and adequate school accommodation remains an issue throughout the county, two east Clare schools received planning per- mission for temporary accommoda- tion.

Just over a week ago Clare County Council granted Scoil Seanain Nao- fa, Clonlara, permission to install two prefabricated stand-alone class- rooms.

The permission was granted sub- ject to a number of conditions in- cluding that all surface water runoffs generated by the proposal shall be collected and disposed of within the site, and shall not be disposed of to public sewers.

The conditions also outlined that in the event that the proposed prefab units become obsolete, the Board of Management shall at its own expense remove them and return the site to its original condition. Otherwise the

planning permission is valid for five years.

The planning authority also or- dered that and existing pipes beneath the structure would be encased in 100 mm concrete.

Likewise, Scoil na Maighdine Mhu- ire in Broadford received permission last week to erect two portacabins to the south of the existing school building.

The first portacabin is to provide a classroom, resource room and two

toilets of approximately 120 me- tres squared. The second temporary building is to provide a resource room of 16 square metres.

Once again Clare County Coun- cil gave permission to the Board of Management to proceed with its plans subject to some conditions, including its request to remove the temporary building if it is no longer needed.

The permission had also a shelf life of five years.

A NEW project allows students at Ennis Community College to pursue a more practical approach to learn- ing.

ORBIT (Outdoor Research Brought Into Teaching) provides first year students at Ennis Community Col- lege with an experimental approach to learning the curriculum.

ORBIT essentially offers students an opportunity to leave the classroom environment for one day a week and visit sites of natural and _ historical significance to aid the learning ex- eae nleer

All junior certificate subjects are

dealt with under the ORBIT um- brella in an effort designed to make learning a more practical, hands-on experience.

The lessons taken outside the class- room are then channeled back into the mainstream learning environ- ment.

Since Ennis Community College took up the programme last Septem- ber, students have visited numerous local sites including Kilmacduduagh Round Tower, Corcomore Abbey, Bunratty Castle, Cliffs of Moher, Scariff Seed Savers and the Kilfeno- ra Heritage Centre.

Students also took part in a live ar- chaeological dig at Caherconnell.

Students have benefited hugely from the wide variety of activities. The highlight for many was meeting the Munster rugby team while on a visit to the University of Limerick. Others enjoyed making their own brew of apple juice at Scariff Seed- SE Noi

All of these experiences will be recorded in the ‘Make A_ Book’ scheme. This involves students pre- paring a compendium of short stories based on their trips around Clare.

The book will also feature a col- lection of photographs and a digital storyboard. It is hoped that Ennis Community College can continue to provide the programme for many

years to come.

Co-coordinator Catherine O’Donnell thanked everyone who contributed to making ORBIT such a valuable learning experience for students.

“We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Ger Cullen from the Bur- ren Outdoor Activity Centre, our school’s completion programme for all their support and to the many teachers who are participating on a weekly basis. This programme is a testament to the great efforts that have taken place between the main- stream and resource at Ennis Com- munity College. We look forward to similar initiatives in the future”’.

AS children from across the county return to school this week in their thousands, some small schools re- main under threat of closure in the coming years.

While an increase in population through returning Irish emigrants, new immigrants and the relocation of families through Rural Resettle- ment Ireland has turned around the fortunes of many one and two teach- er schools, not all have benefitted.

Chairman of RRI, Jim Connolly, said that a number of schools are in difficulty, but many more have ben- IOLA SLe B

During the past number of years, communities in danger of losing their school have contacted the Kil- baha based organisation in the hope of encouraging families to the area.

Although in many cases families have successfully been relocated to an area not all choose the local school.

‘Parents have a total right to decide where their children go to school. Families can’t be told what to do, therefore there has been disappoint- ments as well as successes,” said Mr Connolly.

“You do your best for the local school but parent choice is number one,” he said.

Small schools provide an identity and focal point for many small com- munities, particularly in west Clare, as well as providing for the local children’s education.

While some schools continue to struggle to sustain numbers to re- main open, many more have been hailed a success in the race to keep

children coming through the school eee oe

For the past 18 years, families have been relocating from Dublin to Clare and schools once under threat of closure are now seeing an increase in the number of names on the roll book.

For Jim Connolly the greatest suc-

cess of Rural Resettlement Ireland’s contribution to Clare schools is the second and third generation of reset- tled families that are now attending Weloeee

“IT am really tickled when I see grandchildren of families who moved going to the schools,” he said.

“These children are following in

the footsteps of their parents who moved west with their families to start school 18 years ago.

‘As far as Iam concerned what we tried to do is working,” he said.

ASPIRING musicians and perform- ers can learn from the best at the Chord Festival in Ennis this week.

A diverse and eclectic programme of live concerts and exhibitions is peppered with a series of workshops that begin on Saturday.

At last year’s Chord Festival, audi- ences were wowed by the flamenco guitar playing of Rafael and mes- meric flamenco dance style of Lola Rueda – both artists are back this year – but with a twist, they will be teaching their individual skills in a series of workshops – to which places are very limited.

Starting at llam, Lola will take a class – open to six to 10 year olds – who are invited to dress in “flamenco style’ if the mood takes them. This workshop will run until 12.30pm. In the afternoon from 2 to 3.30pm Lola

will run an all-ages flamenco dance workshop.

At similar times Rafael, an accom- plished teacher as well as working musician, will host flamenco guitar workshops. The morning session 1s targeted at beginners to intermediate level, while the afternoon workshop is geared towards moderately accom- plished guitar players upwards. All workshops take place at Glor and are ogee eel Oe Oe

At 5pm on Saturday at the Temple Gate Hotel, Rafael and Lola will join forces to perform a free “Flamenco Guitar, Song and Dance Show’, for one hour.

The festival will be officially launched at 6.30pm on Friday, Sep- tember 5 at the opening of Wallpa- per – a group exhibition featuring nationally established, plus locally emerging contemporary artists. The show features a wide range of

mediums from silkscreen to spray- paint/stencil, photography, paint and sculpture.

Wallpaper will take place at No. 7, O’Connell Street, close to The Square and will run from 6.30pm on Friday through to Sunday afternoon. Admission is free.

Later on Friday night, Brazillian band the Sonia Esquivel Trio, take Glor by storm. Sonia will explore the Brazilian musical tradition perform- ing a mixture of samba, bossa nova, choro and other Brazilian rhythms

The evening concludes at Chord- Festival HQ (Upstairs at Brogan’s on O’Connell Street), when, starting at 9.30pm, a series of live acts will take to the stage .

This ‘Homegrown’ event is, as the name suggests a showcase for the best and most promising music acts from County Clare, including Ver- tigo Smyth and Gargotha Sun. A DJ

set will follow until 1.30am. Admis- sion is £10.

The highlights on Saturday include performances by acclaimed Dublin band the Jimmy Cake and an ac- claimed one man travelogue from fiddle player Aindrias de Staic.

Later in the night the festival will reconvene upstairs in Brogans for it’s Festival Club, which will run until Pelee Tee

Sunday will see the festival wind down with a relaxed Family Day at Temple Gate Hotel. From 12.30 to 2pm, there will be live music and face painting.

Weather permitting the event will be held in the courtyard outside the Temple Gate (in front of the Muse- um), otherwise it will move indoors. This event is free.

For a full festival line-up of times and prices go to www.chordfestival. com.

CLARE County Council’s bid to se- cure millions of euro through naming rights for the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre has been dismissed as a futile exercise and a waste of money.

Local councillor Martin Conway (FG) made the charge after the coun- cil failed to name a single benefactor almost two years after it unveiled the Sol sles alee

In November 2006, the council announced it was seeking donors principally in the US to part with €1 million to have their names attached to the council’s “premium viewing

platforms”, including the famous O’Brien’s Tower overlooking the At- lantic Ocean.

The council was also offering nam- ing rights to seating bollards on the main concourse for €50,000 and seeking €©500,000 for viewing plat- forms on the cliff edge.

Those interested in having a slab named after them at the cliff walk were asked to stump up to €10,000 while anyone tempted by a bench with their name on it would have to shell out up to €25,000.

Also on offer were naming rights for facilities in the cliffs centre rang- ing from €200,000 for the audio-

visual theatre and €100,000 for the interpretative area.

The council has already named the first aid room at the cliffs after Nicho- las Stokes, the young baby who died there in July 2006 and whose parents Delia and Kelly pledged $86,000 for the facility in his memory.

The first aid room doesn’t come within the remit of the council spon- sorship scheme and the website page relating to benefactors showed no names and included outdated infor- mation.

Referring to the lack of response, Cllr Conway said that while he un- derstood the strategy, there was a

need to go back to the drawing board and not be “going around with the begging bowl”.

“The idea was to get soft money from the US, but there is no such thing as soft money and the notion of €25,000 to have your name on a park bench is not something that people have bought into.”

Cllr Conway said that the drive to secure money for the sponsorship scheme was a “futile exercise’.

He added, “It was a waste of money and I would like to know how much money was spent on trying to get the funding. I just don’t think enough thought went into it.”

FEARS that budget airline Ryanair could be planning to pull the plug on routes out of its base in Shannon were calmed this week.

But staff at Aer Lingus are facing several weeks of an agonised wait to see if management are planning to sacrifice jobs or wage rates in the face of massive mid-year losses for the airline.

After announcing that he is drop- ping the East Midlands and Glasgow routes out of Cork last week, mav-

erick airline boss, Michael O’ Leary warned he would do the same thing at Shannon if charges increase there.

The board at Shannon are believed to be upbeat about the prospects for their deal with Ryanair when it comes up for renewal in 2010.

A spokesman for the board said last night that the “Ryanair base at Shannon has performed very well. There’s a very strong and positive working relationship with Ryanair and we look forward to working with the airline beyond 2010”.

O’Leary has blamed rising costs

at Cork for the decision to pull the routes and had warned that any in- crease in costs at Shannon would provoke a similar move.

Meawhile, Aer Lingus workers at the airport still have no idea whether the airline will again look to them to make savings for the company after announcing ۩22.3 million in losses TUOM Natoma Dec] mmc D.@paelO)O LO NTE

SIPTU representatives say they are not going to anticipate any move by the company, but are pointing out that staff have taken the brunt of the cuts in the past and cannot be expect-

ed to solve the difficulties caused by rising oil prices.

There was further speculation about the future of the airline’s trans- atlantic route to Chicago, which flies to Dublin via Shannon.

The airline issued a strong denial that it was considering dropping the route after revelations of falling pas- senger numbers.

Elected representatives have said they don’t trust the airline after it re- moved the Shannon Heathrow slots and transferred them to Belfast.

THE Clare branch of the Samaritans will hold the first of two information evenings this Thursday (Sepetmber 4) at the Old Ground Hotel.

Members of the Samritans will speak on the night and outline the work and duties carried out by the Service.

Another information evening will be held at the same venue on Monday Sepetmber 8.

Samaritans is available 24 hours a day to provide confidential emo-

tional support for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those, which may lead to suicide.

The organisation is looking for open-minded, non-judgmental peo- ple to get involved with the support Service.

All volounteers receive quality and detailed training before starting. Vol- unteers are shown how to develop the necessary listening skillsrequired. There is a strict code of confidential- ity and callers are given the freedom to talk openly.

90 people currently volunteer with the service in Clare. In previous years, interest has been high and the Samaritans are hoping for another good turnout.

Apart from the telephone the Sa- maritans can also be contacted by text and by email. The text and email services were established with the Samaritans conscience of the fact that different people will use differ- ent methods to contact the service.

A spokesperson for the service ex- plained, “We talk to people about who we are and what we do. We

would be looking for open-minded, non-judgmental people who would be natural listeners who would be prepared to give a commitment. In training we teach people how to de- velop listening skills”

He added, “We would be looking for people who are open-minded and accept other views. We don’t moral- ise or use philosophy or tell people what to do.

‘We are there to listen. Confidenti- ality is hugely important. We recog- nise the fact that people are given the freedom to talk in safety.”

TO celebrate National Organic Week, St. Tola’s Organic Farm will host a farm open day on September Key

National Organic Week will take place from September 15 to 21 and a host of events, including a tasting session at Wilde’s Organic Choco- late, will take place throughout County Clare to celebrate it.

The week, funded by the Depart- ment of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and co-ordinated by Bord Bia, aims to continue to raise consumer awareness of organic food, how to

recognise it and where to buy it.

St Tola goat’s cheese has been made in Inagh since the early 1980’s. Originally made by Meg and Der- rick Gordon, the business was taken over by their neighbour Siobhan Ni Ghairbhith in 1999.

Since then, new premises have been built, the process has been brought up to the highest standards and in 2001, St. Tola became a registered organic producer with IOFGA, the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association.

Both the farm and the cheesemak- ing operation are inspected individu- ally, by IOFGA inspectors, twice a

year.

Although more expensive and la- bour intensive than conventional farming, organic farming promotes principles and methods which co-ex- ist with natural ecosystems to help protect and enhance the environ- ment.

The 65-acre organic farm (none of which is treated with any fertilisers) provides herb rich grass and hay for the goats.

They also receive a supplement of organic grains for the winter, the price of which is around three times that of conventional feed.

In 2007 St Tola’s won Overall Best

Product at the National Organic Awards and Overall Cheese Cham- pion at the Irish National Cheese Awards.

The farm has won a Gold Medal at the Great Taste Awards and further prizes are hoped with the results of the World Cheese Awards in Dublin and the British Cheese Awards in Wales announced in September.

Teresa Brophy, head of Home Mar- kets Bord Bia, commented, ““Nation- al Organic Week encourages people to buy locally produced food but it also provides a great opportunity for consumers to learn about the origins of their food.”

A CLONLARA company has been ordered to pay more than €5,000 in redundancy money by the Employ- ment Appeals Tribunal.

A case for redundancy payments was made against Bellisle Proper- ties Limited, Bellisle, Clonlara by employees, Damien Leo, 2 Belf- 1eld Crescent, Faranshone, Limer- ick; Brendan Rainsford, Aranleigh, Lower Meelick; Barry O’Sullivan,

‘“Fermoyle’, Bartleystown, Clonlara; Andrew John Dolbear, Merlin, Bal- lysimon Road, County Limerick; Barry O’Connell, 23 Derryvinna, Clonlara and Thomas O’Connell, 23 Derryvinna, Clonlara.

All six gave details of their claims to the tribunal. The members of the tribunal heard they had all worked for the Clonlara company, some on a number of different sites.

They had been let go between Octo- ber and December last year after be-

ing told there was no more work for them, the tribunal heard.

In his sworn evidence, Andrew John Dolbear told the tribunal that the re- spondent company had approached him the previous week offering him his job back. He said that he had not responded to that job offer as he had not wanted to affect his claim be- fore the tribunal and he confirmed that he wished to proceed with his redundancy claim. When originally let go, Dolbear said, he asked about

redundancy and holiday money and the owner’s brother had told him that redundancy and holiday money was not his department. He had heard nothing more from the respondent company until last week when they offered him a job.

The tribunal was satisfied that the respondent had been properly noti- fied of the hearings. However, there was no appearance by them or on Web mL olo eT ee

Accepting the uncontested evi-

dence of the six former employees, the tribunal awarded Damien Leo €535, the equivalent of one weeks pay. Brendan Rainsford was awarded £628.86, Barry O’Sullivan €650, Andrew John Dolbear €1,278, Bar- ry O’Connell €627.39 and Thomas O’Connell €1,500.

The awards were made subject to the appellants having been in insur- able employment under the Social Welfare Acts during the relevant pe- riod.

THE only people that don’t look for- ward to the Dan Furey weekend in Labasheeda are the school children because just as the Rose of Tralee hails the end of the summer holidays, the approach of this set-dancing weekend means a return to school.

For everyone else the first week- end in September has for the last 13 years been known as the Annual Dan Furey Weekend of Set Dancing in Labasheeda.

The fancy dress and float parade take the sting out of the September blues for the children every year and this year promises to be no differ- ele

The parade takes place on Sunday next at 1.30pm followed by an after-

noon céili with Johnny Reidy Céili Band at 3pm.

This year’s Dan Furey’s festival will be officially opened by Mayor of Clare Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn (FG) on Friday next at 9.30pm fol- lowed by a céill.

On Saturday the workshops begins Pla Ler-te0

Not surprising, considering the origination of the festival, the first workshop is in set dancing with Mike Mahony followed by step dancing with Michael Tubridy.

At 3pm the céili begins with a com- memorative Mass at 8pm followed lar NON MecI Ee

At 10.30am on Sunday the now traditional visit to James Keane and Dan Furey’s graves will take place followed by the dancing at Kilkerrin

Battery Castle.

A huge crowd is expected for this, not only for the entertainment but because TG4 are recording events for ‘Muintir na Mara’.

The highlight of the festival for many is the parade at 1.30pm with an afternoon and night ceili wrap- O)UeTmbN OMA Lone

Hot meals will be served at St. Ki- eran’s Centre during the festival.

The community centre will also be used for a live screening of the All Ireland Senior Hurling Final between Kilkenny and Waterford.

The popular set dancing festival, the profile of which is raised not just by the hard work of the organising committee but the strong tradition of dancing in the area and the work of Dan Furey and his life long friend

James Keane teaching the Labash- eeda set dances around west Clare.

Since their passing, both Dan Furey and James Keane have become icons for followers of the dancing tradi- tions of the area. They are credited with being the saviours of the tra- ditional dances of Labasheeda. Dan was known far and wide for teaching dancing in the schools of west Clare and latterly came to prominence at WATom ABOU E Com ONE TITCAYAN COUR LAUR

Dan was single-minded in his teaching and dedicated his life to this art form. He was familiar to many in the county not least for his fiddle ac- companiment for the dancers.

Dan and James were firm friends all their lives and Dan learned most of his dances from James’ father Charlie Keane.