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CLARE County Council is facing a financial crisis after it emerged that funding for essential works across the county has not materialised.

In the first real sign of the eco- nomic downturn hitting local author- ity finances, figures for the first six months of the year show that Clare County Council and Ennis Town Council received a paltry €739,000 in developer contributions for new developments — a 74 per cent drop on the €2.9 million received during the first half of 2007.

Further underlining the slowdown

in the construction industry, the €739,000 received for the first six months is in contrast to the €10.7 million the councils received in de- veloper contributions for the whole of last year.

It also falls far short of the €21 million the council was hoping to generate in its new developer contri- bution scheme this year. Councillors have failed to adopt the draft scheme as they believe that the new charges AuomKOlOm opted eb

The monies from the developer contribution scheme are needed to part-fund council infrastructure throughout the county, including the

much needed €75 million sewage treatment plant in Ennis where the council have placed an embargo on all new developments due to inad- equate sewage infrastructure.

Leader of the Fianna Fail group, Cllr PJ Kelly said that the council is facing “a crisis of unbelievable pro- joe) male) ae

“There is ©260 million in approved capital projects for Clare, but the council has only money for half that amount,” he said.

“The large drop in contributions doesn’t surprise me. It 1s caused by the economic downturn and the dis- illusionment that people have with

planning in Clare.”

Mayor of Clare, Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn (FG) said, “It 1s a dra- matic drop and reflects the economic downturn in the county and it will present challenges to the council as it prepares its budget for 2009.”

Cllr Brian Meaney (Green Party) said, “The collapse in developer contributions has been dramatic and represents a serious challenge to the council. Combined with the way cen- tral government treats the funding of local government, it’s clear that tough decisions will have to be made and the council will have to study how it funds non-core items.”

IT’S all happening in Corofin this weekend. A drama of epic propor- tions is about to unfold, and the peo- ple of the locality have been invited to come along and enjoy the show.

On August 30 a mock wedding and garden fete will take place at Clifden House, with all money raised going to the refurbishment of St Patrick’s Hall. The event, which will include performers from the All-Ireland Drama Champions, the Corofin Dra- matic Society, will see well-known local socialite Ms Matilda Forde- Cortina marry a person of her fathers choosing.

If she fails to marry before sunrise on her 30th birthday on August 31, the family fortune bequeathed to her by her late grandfather Colonel Bar- tholomew Simpson-Prankster will be lost.

“Well it’s not much of a marriage of convenience but I don’t know who the gentleman groom is just yet. I believe that my father way be short- listing a few eligible bachelors as we speak,” said Ms Matilda.

“Unfortunately for me my heart lies elsewhere, just between me and you, I am in love with my gardener. He is my true love. But my father doesn’t approve, he believes that the a simple gardener is below our station in the

community.

“We have invited all the local peo- ple to the wedding. The family are putting on a great spread including a hog roast, live entertainment and the straw-boy. We will also be opining up the estate to the local classes of Corofin and we will have games for the little ones.

“I think it’s going to be a day of high drama. My heart does lie else- where, but if I don’t marry the man of my fathers choosing our fortune will be lost. I think it will a day of surprises.

“As it 1s a wedding, people should look their best. While we don’t want anyone to outshine me, the bride, we

will be giving a prize for the best costume on the day,” she said.

Tickets for this wedding are now on sale locally at a cost of €40. Other than the Forde-Cortina family the main beneficiary of this event will be Corofin Parish Hall with all monies raised going towards a planned ma- jor renovation project.

SPIN South West regional radio sta- tion has topped national listnership figures as the most listened to station among 15-34 year olds across Clare.

For the third time running, the of- ficial JNLR figures put SPIN South West number one in the critical “lis- tened yesterday” ratings. The figures show that over the past three months, 112,000 adults listened to the station on a weekly basis and 59,000 on a CPTI MMos IIe

SPIN South West Chief Executive, Clarewoman Aevann Upton said that the figures are tremendous news for everyone who has worked so hard to make the station a success.

‘To have made it to the top of the JNLR listenership charts so soon af- ter launching the station was a huge achievement. We’ve topped that by staying there for the past nine months which clearly shows that we’re keep- ing up the momentum. Our thanks must go to our listeners in Clare for choosing to tune in to SPIN South West and for remaining loyal.

‘“Today’s figures reinforce our be- lief that there is a very significant regional radio market out there,

particularly among 15-34 year olds. They also confirm the quality of our programming which clearly captured the attention of our target audience.

These figures are also important to SPIN South West is the region’s our sponsors and advertisers as they first dedicated youth station and show that we continue to deliver tre- broadcasts on 102-103 FM across mendous value for money.” she said. | Limerick, Kerry and Clare and on

9477 in North Tipperary and South West Laois. Live streaming and a series of podcasts are also available on the station’s website — www.spin- southwest.com.

The regional youth radio station, which employs 43 people, has cap- tured the 15-34 year old audience by delivering a brash and upbeat style of broadcasting. SPIN’s programming consists of urban, dance, rock and pop music, a daily youth oriented current affairs programme called ‘SPIN TALK’ and a heavy focus on sports including GAA, rugby and soccer.

SPIN South West shareholders include former Lions, Ireland and Munster rugby star Keith Wood from Killaloe; Clare Community Radio Holdings; Liam O’Shea, Man- aging Director of Clare FM who is also Chairman of SPIN South West; Setanta Radio Limited; Tralee businessman Jerry Kennelly; John O’Connor, Independent Radio Sales and the Communicorp Group Lim- Krew

A PIONEERING new initiative, de- signed to map and conserve the sea- life around the Irish coast, will begin in Doolin this weekend.

Sea Search is the first course of its kind to be held in the country and the organisers believe that it could prove a critical step in the fight to preserve precious fish stocks and plant life.

The course, which is being organ- ised by the Burren Sub Aqua Club, will give divers the skills required to create the first map of the sea life off Ireland’s coast.

‘This is the first time that a course

like this has ever been tried in Ire- land. It’s a bit of a test in many ways, and depending on what happens here the Irish Underwater Council might decide to broaden it out around the country,’ said Tadhg O’Brien of the Burren Sub Aqua Club.

“The long-term goal of this is to create a map of the sea-life and plants around Ireland and track how that is changing.

“Sea Search aims to use sports divers to record marine life in their particular areas and to build up a database as to what is happening with the marine life over time. This is critical information for the bigger,

long-term goal of preserving the ma- rine environment into the future.”

The course is aimed at experienced divers and has a very limited number of places available.

“It’s a simple enough idea, where divers just have to take note of the animal and plant life that they see when they dive in specific spots. The course will train divers up to become observers and to have enough infor- mation to recognise different species and record what they see,” he contin- Tere

‘The basic equipment here is a per- sons eyes and a simple slate for re- cording what you find and possibly a camera. It’s a simple process in itself but the key is to have the knowledge about what you are looking for. The course is really for qualified divers. You have to be comfortable with all the other things involved in diving SO you can concentrate on looking at what is around you.”

For more information contact the Burren Sub Aqua Club on 086 8180044. The course consists of lec- tures and practical work and take place in Doolin this weekend, Au- gust 23 and 24.

A PIONEERING new initiative, de- signed to map and conserve the sea- life around the Irish coast began in Doolin last weekend.

Sea Search is the first course of its kind ever to be held in the country and the organisers believe that it will prove a critical step in the fight to preserve precious fish stocks and plant life.

The course, which is organised by the Burren Sub Aqua Club, gives divers the skills required to create the first map of the sea life off Ireland’s coast. “This 1s the first time a course

like this has ever been tried in Ire- land. It’s a bit of a test in many ways, and the Irish Underwater Council might decide to broaden it out around the country,’ said Tadhg O’Brien of the Burren Sub Aqua Club.

“The long-term goal of this is to create a map of the sea-life and plants around [Ireland and track how that is changing. “Sea Search aims to use sports divers to record marine life in their particular areas and to build up a database as to what is happening with the marine life over time. This is critical information for the bigger, long-term goal of preserving the ma- rine environment into the future.”

Undertaking work of this kind is aimed at experienced divers with good experience under their belts.

“It’s a simple enough idea, where divers just have to take note of the animal and plant life that they see when they dive in specific spots. The course will train divers up to become observers and to have enough infor- mation to recognise different species and record what they see,” continued Mr O’Brien.

“The basic equipment is a persons eyes and a simple slate for recording what you find and possibly a camera. It’s a simple process in itself but the key is to have the knowledge about

what you are looking for. The course is really for qualified divers. You have to be comfortable with all the other things involved in diving so you can concentrate on looking at what is around you.”

For more information § contact the Burren Sub Aqua Club on 086 8180044.

NASA and the opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds in science beckons for Clare man Rory Murphy.

Rory, who hails from Inch, will take part in a FAS led initiative, which will take him to the National Aero- nautics and Space Administration (NASA), the University of Central Florida and the Florida Institute of Technology, next month. Rory is an electrical craftsman working in Ro- che Ireland and his study programme and work placements will include fi- bre optics, advanced process control, instrumentation as well as alternative energy systems.

Rory has taken advantage of sev- eral opportunities to further his edu- cation, skills and knowledge in the past both in Roche and academic institutes like LIT. He described this latest opportunity as “the chance of a lifetime”.

The overall aim is for the partici- pants to transfer and apply the skills

and knowledge they gain to their future careers. This in turn benefits Ireland’s academic institutions, and future employers, and _ ultimately, enables the country to move up the value chain as a knowledge-based society.

Cyril Treanor, Director of Human Resources at Roche Ireland said the company is delighted to be support- ing Rory. “Our company is very in- terested in opportunities to provide

increased training and development to our employees.” He added, “The programme will provide a valuable opportunity for Rory to realise his potential by developing a deeper un- derstanding of technologies, gaining insights to potential opportunities and enhancing his skills.”

In association with participating companies from all over the country FAS founded the Science Challenge. It comprises two distinct programmes – Up skilling and Internship – en- gages young people learning science and engineering and exposes them to new technologies and research op- portunities.

FAS has also forged partnerships with Space Florida, BioLink USA- Ireland, the National Space Biomed1- cal Research Institute (NSBRI) and a multitude of related companies and academic institutions. The overall aim is for the participants to transfer and apply the skills and knowledge they gain to their future careers.

aE 0 AN CnC emt OmNet-lmoaion when BreastCheck reaches Clare there will continue to be a huge gap in the systematic screening of wom- en for breast cancer.

In a week when the failure of the national breast screening service to reach Clare some seven years after it was first introduced by the Gov- ernment was described as a “time bomb” by politicians in the mid-west, Dr Michael Harty indicated that pub- lic breast cancer screening outside

the 50 to 65 age group is a thing of the past unless there is a change of policy and practice.

Since early March, the breast clinic at the Mid Western Regional Hospi- tal Limerick is only providing symp- tomatic mammography, with routine screening mammography now falling under the auspices of BreastCheck.

However BreastCheck, which is trying to ensure that all women aged between 50 and 65 have a mam- mogram, are still unsure when the service will reach Clare. It could be as late as February 2010 with the 27-

month programme now in Mayo.

Chairman of the Clare branch of the Irish College of General Practition- ers (ICGP) Dr Harty said if a patient now asks for routine mammogram, even when concerned due to family history, she can only be referred to a private clinic.

Under new HSE policy that offers mammogram’s only to women show- ing signs of breast cancer, women who wish to have a systematic exam must pay for a private exam – even those with medical cards.

For the women of Clare that is a

trip to the Bon Secours Hospital in Galway or the Galway Clinic, as Barrington’s Hospital Limerick can no longer carry out the procedure. ‘The private hospitals are reluctant to take the referrals and carry out mammograms in isolation because they are terrified if they will get caught out or miss something,’ said Dr Harty. “The private hospitals do not have the follow up services that are available in the breast clinic.” The Kilmihil GP pointed out that even when BreastCheck finally reaches Clare there would be no form

of systematic screening for women outside that narrow age bracket.

“It is a Serious issue as BreastCheck is dangled as the answer, yet it is not available in the county and when it is, itis just for a certain age group.”

Mayor of Clare Cllr Madeleine Taylor Quinn (FG) said that “mam- mograms should be available to all Keynetss ae

‘This element of preventative med- icine has been totally eradicated by this extraordinary decision by the HSE and as a result women’s lives are being put at risk.”

A BOOK commemorating a highly successful five-year rural art initia- tive in Clare will be launched next month at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan. Since 2003 some 16 Irish and international artists have participated in Ground Up, Clare Arts Office’s rural arts project. This resulted in 12 temporary public art- works being commissioned in vari- ous rural contexts in the county.

“It seemed clear to me that some- thing needed to be done to address the position of visual arts in the rural areas of Clare. Down the years visual art has always been for urban peo-

ple in an urban setting,’ said Fiona Woods of the Clare Arts Office.

“The idea was to challenge artists to bring their work into a rural set- ting for the local people. Firstly there is no infrastructure – no galleries or anything like that.

“So we decided to make that into a strength by challenging ourselves to make art in that context and to make it relevant for the people who live in these areas.”

Ground Up features the work of par- ticipating artists Vladimir Arkhipov (Russia), Amanda Dunsmore, Maria Finucane, Paul Forder (UK), Pa- tricia Hurl, Tamas Kaszas (HUN), Maria Kerin, Aileen Lambert, John

Langan, Fiona O’Dwyer, Deirdre O’Mahony, Aine Phillips, Therry Rudin, Sean Taylor, Vince Wall and Fiona Woods.

“All of the works are temporary public works or projects. There was a huge range on the art – we had comics and land art, work set in the centre of rural communities and ones which were more hidden away in the country for people to discover.

‘The book focuses on the different strands of the project and each of the artists, but along with every artist is an essay commissioned on the sub- ject of public and rural art. That was to give it a bit more weight as a dis- cussion point rather than a document

OMIM one

“We have also commissioned a two hour documentary from Clare film- maker Fergus Tigue which will be going out with the book. It tracks the works being made and gives a real insight to the process inside Ground Up.”

The book will be launched on Wednesday, September 17, at the Burren College of Art in Bally- vaughan and on Friday, September 26, at the Atrium of the Temple Bar Gallery in Dublin

For more information on_ the Ground Up commissions check Db www.shiftingground.net/O02_ projects_about.htm.

AT only eighteen, Clare minor cap- tain Carina Roseingrave already has a sizeable list of honours and achievements that most veterans of the game would severely envy. Mun- ster inter-county Intermediate and Minor, County and Munster senior club, county and provincial schools titles as well as underage club med- als of every grade.

If that wasn’t enough, there is even a Munster schools soccer and a ladies

football schools county title thrown in for good measure.

Still, for a player of such undoubt- ed talent, an All-Ireland medal still eludes her and the fact that this is her last opportunity to win a medal at this grade, Roseingrave is doubly determined to add it to the list.

“It would mean the world to me, ab- solutely everything to get an All-Ire- land medal with this group of girls, who are all great friends.

“A Munster medal is a fair acheive- ment but if we could go one step fur-

ther and do what no other team in the county has done before, it would be brilliant.

‘I’m very proud to be captain of Clare’s first minor All-Ireland team. It’s a great achievement and now I can’t wait really beacause it’s never happened in Clare that we have been in an All-Ireland final but we are go- ing to give it a go.”

She also has the added experience of playing in last year’s All-Ireland Junior final, a heartbreaking occa- sion for all involved but with another

All-Ireland Junior final appearance to come in the middle of Septem- ber, the future is certainly bright for Clare camogie.

However, Kilkenny are bidding for their third successive title and having played them previously, she realises that Clare are up against it.

“Kilkenny were definitely the side to beat all year. We played them two years ago in an All-Ireland semi-fi- nal and they stopped us in our tracks so they will be very strong and are a very confident side.

“We will have to get at them early and hard and hope for the best. If we can do it, it would be a great boost. I do the summer camps so a lot of kids would be talking about it so if we did bring home the All-Ireland, it would boost the game even further in Clare and more kids would want to play camogie.”

Even for all her stack of medals, winning this one would be her big- gest achievement yet.

AUGUST may have been a wash-out, but one hardy group of cyclists have been out on the road braving the ele- ments. For the past two months the Ennis Parish Team and Friends have travelled the highways and byways of Clare through wind and rain as they prepare for the fifth annual Ennis Parish charity cycle.

The 19 strong team will hope that all the hard work pays off when they set of from Ennis next Saturday (Au- Paul mel ODE

The 70 mile route takes the team from Ennis Cathedral to Limerick, on to Birdhill, across to Killaloe and home to Ennis.

On arrival back in Ennis, the cy- clists will head to the Kingfisher Let-

sure Centre in the West County Hotel for a well earned swim and jacuzzi, as Kingfisher have very generously allowed all cyclists the use of their facilities.

This year the proceeds of their ef- forts will go to Cuan an Chlair, the new housing and daycare centre which will be built on 15.5 acres of land at Cahercalla, donated by the Diocese of Killaloe. Cuan an Chlair Phase | will see the development of a daycare centre to cater for 60 people daily and the construction of 12 in- dividual houses. This development is expected to cost €2 million.

Phase two will see the conversion of the old farm yard buildings, adjacent to Cahercalla Hospital to provide a café, meeting rooms, a garden and other appropriate facilities. It is esti-

mated that delivery of phase two will cost in the region of €1.5 million

A committee has been set up to oversee the project and they will be holding a number of fundraising events over the next year.

Previous cycles have raised money for the a variety of projects, includ- ing the restoration of the Cathedral spire. Last year, the Ennis parish team took to the road to highlght the work of Fr Jackie Sharpe, a Holy Ghost Missionary, who has worked in the African country of Gambia for over 42 years

The cyclists taking part are: Tik- ki Daly, Fr Martin Blake, Maura Brooks, Fr Damien Nolan, JJ Coun1- han, Fr Jerry Carey, Ed McMahon, Damian Lavin, Senan McDermott, Fr Tom Hogan, Paul Kelly, Fr John

Molloy, Kevin Keane, John Brody, John Casey, Mary Curley, Charlie O’Meara, Kevin Duffy and Kieran Moroney.

You can support the team by col- lectiing a sponsorship card from the Parish Office or by donating spon- sorship to the cyclists as they set of Oye AeterPUM OLED UTA Ys

The cyclists depart from Ennis Ca- thedral, Saturday an 9am and hope for plenty of support to see them off.