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THE madness is about to return to Lisdoonvarna this weekend with the second Road Rocks Lisdoonvarna Fringe concert on Sunday. The open air free gig will begin at 4pm with You’re a Star favourite Onya, which will be followed by Fran E Fray, the T’Zerz and the Sons of Ginger- bread.

The free outdoor concert will take place at the Roadside Tavern in Lis- doon, there the first Lisdoonvarna concert was hosted earlier this sum- noe

“The first one went well, there was

a great cross section of people. At the early part we had a lot of young kids dancing. It was almost a family experience at the beginning and then in the evening we had a different vibe,’ said Peter Curtin of the Road- side Tavern.

“Tt was a bit of a marathon really – when you consider that we had seven and a half hours of music without stopping. We had a nice coming and going of people all day.”

First up on this weekends gig will be Onya, star of this weeks You’re A Star programme.

“Onya is areal heavy hitter – some- thing in a Joni Mitchell. So that

should add something interesting to the gig,” continued Peter.

‘Next up we will have Fran E Fray who is a local woman and this will be her first time ever getting up on the stage. She’ll be doing six num- bers.

‘Following that we have the T’Zerz from Ennis. They have a fairly lively set and should get the crowd going.

‘After that we have Sons of Ginger- bread back, they are the only band who we have back from the first gig. They will finish off the night and play to 11.45pm at the latest. We like to make sure that everything is done and dusted at that stage. It’s nearly

eight hours of music so they are all shagged out after it anyway.”

Like the first Lisdoon Fringe gig, this concert is offered completely free of charge.

‘Human beings are extraordinary. It’s written on the posters that’s it’s free but still some people don’t seem to think that it’s free,’ continued Pe- ter.

“It’s written on the poster and still some people don’t believe it. I think Pll write ‘I swear to God it’s free’ on the next poster. It’s free, free, free.”

The second Lisdoonvarna Fringe open air gig takes place this Sunday, August 10 from 4pm.

THE daughter of well-known musi- cian Pecker Dunne is making head- lines of her own this week as she represents the Banner County in an international beauty and personality eel e

West Clare beauty Sarah Dunne will spend a busy week promot- ing the county in the Maiden of the Mourne competition, and hopes to follow in the footsteps of last year’s Clare Maiden who won the competi- tion outright.

The 19-year-old from Kilimer has just completed a business course in Kilrush Community School and has received two scholarships for Irish Music in the University of Limerick.

Not surprising her hobbies include singing and playing musical instru- ments.

Sarah also works part time in Kel- ly’s Bar and Restaurant in Kilrush and plans to go to college next year.

Her beauty and talent ensured her the Clare Maiden crown at the Miss Clare competition this year.

On Saturday she travelled to War- renpoint with her mother Madeleine and sister also called Madeleine.

The talented young Clare woman will spend this week on numerous official duties including a visit to Parliament Buildings in Stormount.

She will also enjoy a trip through the Mourne Mountains, boat trips and other activities organised by the festival committee and local businesses, as well as visiting local

shops, shopping centres and the local council offices.

The highlight of the week-long fes- tival will take place in the Whistle- down Hotel on Saturday, with a se- lection of this year’s winner.

Last year west Clare woman Grainne Larkin was crowned “Maid- en of the Mourne”.

The 22-year-old Kilkee woman saw off competition from as far afield as America, Northern Ireland and Rus- sia to secure the title for the Banner County.

When the young Kilkee woman hands over the crown on Saturday night to this year’s winner the people of Kilimer will be hoping that it is to another west Clare woman.

While unable to travel due to ill- ness, musician Pecker will also have his fingers crossed for his daughter.

Regarded by many as the last of the “Travelling musicians” the 76-year old is best known for his banjo play- ing although he is also considered “a fine fiddle player” and singer.

FARMERS in Clare may no longer be able to afford health insurance for themselves and their family due to the collapse of community rating.

SUITE KMOelomm Yc DUObrOrcamseKOee me Daa Farm Family Chairperson, Mary Sherry, who last week called on the Minister for Health and the Govern- ment to urgently take “whatever leg- islative steps are necessary” to pro- tect community rating in the Health Insurance market.

“The recent Supreme Court ruling in relation to risk equalization has left every family with health insur-

ance in Ireland vulnerable to inflated and unaffordable health insurance, as they get older,” she said.

“It is wrong to suggest this ruling will benefit younger people in favour Ome) G

“We all get old and while our chil- dren today may benefit marginally from cheaper health insurance, they will face the same dilemma of not being able to afford to maintain their health insurance cover, as they get Oeloe

“In effect, health insurance will be- come the prevail of the minority and this is totally unacceptable.

‘The only winners in this Supreme

Court ruling will be profit driven in- surance companies who will cherry pick the young, taking excessive profits out of the market place and leaving the industry starved of the necessary resources to support the old and sick in the future.”

Sherry said that IFA has approxi- mately 25,000 families in its health insurance group and because of their age profile, being in the middle to old age category, one insurance group currently operating in the Irish market showed little or no interest in quoting for the group.

“If this Supreme Court ruling is not addressed, there will be inevitable

cherry picking of customers and the vulnerable will pay the biggest price in the short term but every family will pay in the long term,’ she con- mbOLeCoem

“We have a health insurance sys- tem that has served Irish families well for decades and it is now up to the Minister Mary Harney and the Government to address the problems CAKer Kerem ON MADR MUO EDTA

“Tf risk equalization is abandoned then community rating will unravel and health insurance in this Country will become unaffordable for vast majority of families in Ireland,” she added.

THREE young chefs have taken the Ballyvaughan Farmers Market by storm this summer with their very special selection of confectioneries and cakes. The budding bakers are 9- year-old Hannah McDonald, her 11- year-old sister Molly and their friend Aine Fahy who is just 10 years old. For the last two months the young entrepreneurs have been wowing locals and tourists alike, regularly selling out their full stock of cakes NICO MOLISE

“Our mom is really good at baking and she has always been getting us to help out with some baking. We

went on holiday to Kerry and friends of ours were baking for their local market down there. We helped them out and it was really good fun,” said WZ Cold hia

“So we figured we’d give it a go. We were able to bake before that, but we only really started baking seri- ously when we decided to join the market.”

The girls have been involved in eve- ry market this year – a huge achieve- ment considering that all of the work is undertaken on a Friday evening, often after a full day at school.

“We bake all different kinds of cup cakes – we have lemon, chocolate, coconut and vanilla,” said Hannah.

“Tt’s a lot of work, it takes us about five or six hours every Friday. We always do the baking on Friday eve- nings so that everything will be extra fresh for the market.”

The girls, who attend Ballyvaughan National School, became interested in the market when their school was visited by market organiser Tracey Kelly. “I like the selling best I think. The baking is nice too, but when we are doing the selling we get to meet a lot of people. Lots of times people come back and buy more. I think that once they try them they want to have more and more,” said Aine.

“Three people from the market came to visit our school and told us

all about it. They told us that they would like to make a picture to be displayed at the market. We all got interested then and started hanging out at the market.”

The market will continue at St John’s Hall in Ballyvaughan every Saturday from 10am until 2pm. For more information on the market con- tact Tracey Kelly on 065 7076963 or email ballyvaughanfarmersmarket@ eircom.net.

AN AMBITIOUS €30 million plan to double the size of Kilmihil has been dramatically scaled back in re- sponse to local concerns.

Last September, Kilmihil Con- struction Ltd lodged plans for 150 residential units, 15 commercial units and a two-storey 50-bed nurs- ing home.

Gerry Johnson of Kilmihil Con- struction said at the time that those choosing to live in Kilmihil would be “halfway to Heaven” being 15 min- utes from a host of beautiful beaches and only 20 minutes from Ennis.

However, the plan comes against the background of the village hav- ing little or no growth in population in recent years with the 2006 census showing that the village’s population increased by just two in four years from 576 to 578 — during the 1996 census period, the village suffered a drop in population of 62.

Kilmihil Community Develop- ment Ltd expressed concerns over the plan and arising from the local opposition, the council asked the de- velopers to submit revised plans.

The company has now scaled back the number of houses from 147 homes to 100 — a drop of almost one third.

The original plan also included 14 commercial units and the revised plan comprises of eight shop units, a supermarket, a warehouse, a tutorial centre, a créche and two offices.

SW slemeveyenl or henmereniconeKmsst-lm leew Kom vised design prepared in response to the further information request fully satisfies the guidance contained in the Urban Design Manual circulated by the Dept of the Environment.

In a fresh objection against the plan, Patrick J O’Connell and Ange- la O’Connell state, “We have grave concerns with a proposal of this type and stature which is not in keeping with a rural traditional village like

Kilmihil as it would overdevelop this area far too quickly.

They add, “We see this occurring in our larger towns and we have no desire to see it occur here. Currently we have a further 80 homes with planning permission for construction and we see that as being more than adequate.”

They add: “It is an accepted fact that the sewerage treatment plant is currently at full capacity and the do- mestic water supply is another con- cern. This proposed development will lead to total chaos.”

A decision is due on the applica- tion later this year.

CLARE farmers could loose out on essential grant payments if the De- partment of Agriculture does not adopt a flexible approach to the man- agement of the Farm Waste Manage- ment Scheme.

The scheme, which was brought in to allow farmers to complete works in order to bring their farms up to the standards set out by the nitrate regulations, is set to wrap up this December.

However, many farmers have in- vested money in farm improvement but now fear that they wont be able to complete the work and collect the grant in time.

Last week IFA Rural Development Chairman Tom Turley said that the momentum of completed work un- der the Farm Waste Management Scheme can be sustained if flexible arrangements are put in place at the end of the year to allow all farmers who commence work to secure grant zaTen

‘A record number of farmers have completed work with €160 million already paid out in grant aid to over 5,000 farmers this year,” he said.

“IFA predict that a further 20,000 farmers are currently carrying out work under the scheme but many will have difficulty in completing their work by the end of year dead- line.”

The IFA Rural Development Chair- man called for flexible arrangements to be put in place by the Department of Agriculture to ensure that any farmer who has commenced work is not denied grant aid. Completing work by the end of the year is going to be very difficult due to a lack of capacity of farm builders.

“The recent Teagasc National Farm Survey clearly highlights the scale of investment on Irish farms with €1.4 billion spend in 2007 and at least an equivalent amount in 2008.

‘This investment can be continued if the Government show flexibility to the end of year deadline, which in turn will have a huge knock-on effect in sustaining employment in the con-

struction industry in rural areas.

“Tf all farmers are allowed to com- plete work it will generate further investment in 2009 and will have a knock-on effect in the wider econo- neha Meanwhile, the Road Safety Au- thority is advising the public that the deadline for the submission of views on the use of agricultural vehicles on public roads has been extended.

The closing date for receipt of com- ments is now Friday September 26, 2008.

The Road Safety Authority is invit- ing the public to submit their views on a consultation document regard- ing the use of agricultural and works vehicles on public roads.

THE young people of north Clare will be toddling off to a brand new eco-friendly creche this September with the opening of the Lisdoonvar- na Community Childcare Centre.

The new créche, which will hold an open day this Saturday, August 9, has been built to be friendly to the environment and includes solar pan- els and environmentally friendly un- der-floor heating.

The creche is the latest develop- ment to come online in the North Clare Sports and Amenity Park. It follows the re-opening of the Pavil- ion “Town Hall’ Theatre last month while a community playground 1s set

to be completed in September.

“We can cater for children from four months and up which will be very useful for people. These days most families have to have both peo- ple employed so it’s very important for people to have good child care,” said Patricia O’Leary-Darcy, man- ager of the new facility.

‘As well as that, a lot of parents job-share so we will do our best to Ie-TOoUDLE-IKommn NOY: I MMR SLO 0 UME N OD KccomrOr:hYAnrO) em three-days-on and things like that. We will try to be as flexible as pos- sible.”

The creche has been built to the highest modern standards, including a number of energy saving devices.

“It’s great to have the solar panels

and the under-floor heating. It has been up and going for a while now and is working well. It’s great to have that bit of independence when it comes to energy,’ continued Patri- cla.

“There is really a great need in the area for a service like this. It’s not just for the people of Lisdoonvarna, we have a lot of interest from all over the region – from Lahinch right up to Ballyvaughan.

“We have a capacity for around 50 kids or the equivalent of 50 full-time children. We could have maybe 60 children attending but some of them could be part-time.

“Because we are a community scheme it means that we get some

funding from the Office of the Min- ister for Children. This means that we can cater for a wide range of peo- ple and offer a range of fees to suit peoples particular circumstances. Anyone who wants more informa- tion on this should contact me and we can discuss all the options avail- able for people.”

For more information on the créche contact Patricia on 065 7075668 or 087 0525986.

ENNIS firemen claimed yesterday that lives lost in the River Fergus could have been saved if they had proper training and equipment to Lau COMO MUR MLSE oe

A spokesman also revealed that firefighters have to perform their du- ties without the most basic of equip- ment — a defibrillator for victims suf- fering cardiac arrest.

Without the training, firemen have- to stay six metres back from the riv- er’s edge in a river rescue operation.

“If we see someone in the river in trouble and want to go rescue that person, we are told “if ye go into the river, ye are fired”.

The spokesman said that on aver- age, Ennis firefighters received five river rescue call-outs each year.

“We need this training, especially with the amount of river rescues we are having. If we were allowed into the water, a lot more people could have been saved. That is a fact.

“We can have a boat in the water in six minutes and in that time you have a fair good chance of saving people.”

The fire service’s shortcomings were exposed in the recent rescue at- tempts for young Martin McDonagh who drowned in the River Fergus last month.

“We carried out CPR on him for 20 minutes because we had no defibril-

lator. A defibrillator was essential WN Komee

The fireman said that itis not known if having a defibrillator would have saved young Martin’s life as it is not known how long he was in the river before being taken from the water.

He said fire service management had a wrong set of priorites where it spent €100,000 on training and equipment for a chemical incident where there has been only two call- outs over the past two years.

Clare Fire Chief, Adrian Kelly said they hadn’t refused funding for a de- fibrillator or river rescue training.

‘The level of equipment, fire appli- ances and training provided is on a par with the best in the country.

“The HSE ambulance service pro- vide advanced first aid, including de- fibrillators and we have been in talks with the HSE regarding how call-out arrangements could complement their services while still maintaining our primary function of providing fire cover.

“All firefighters have received water awareness training, mainly for their own Safety but it also included tech- niques in river rescue. We are there to assist the gardai who are responsible for co-ordinating any such rescues, and the coastguard who are highly trained in water rescue. Equipment, including flotation devices and throw bags, were also purchased for this purpose.

THE success of the Ballybeg Com- munity Alert scheme will be marked by a community summer festival on August 24.

Launched in April, the scheme sees the local community liaise closely with the gardai on the issue of crime prevention.

In building on the success of the scheme so far and in a continued effort to increase the community awareness and participation, the Bal- lybeg and Rockmount community alert group are facilitating the festi- val for all the community young and old. The event will take place on the

grounds of Clarecastle GAA club.

The community alert programme was established by Muintir Na Tire in 1984 in partnership with An Garda Siochana, with the aim of providing an effective Community Policing and Crime Prevention Network.

There are now 1250 Community Alert Groups throughout the coun- try.

It evolved in response to a rise of crime in rural Ireland, particularly attacks on vulnerable people (in- cluding the elderly) living alone. It is a voluntary crime prevention pro- gramme for rural communities and it encourages the community to pro- actively participate with Muintir na

Tire and An Garda Siochana in im- proving the quality of life and safety of the community in general.

There are now 1250 community alert groups throughout the country. Each group is organised on a rec- ognised local community basis and has an elected committee, a Liaison Garda and Community Relations/ Crime Prevention Officer who link the garda and local communities to- gether to provide an effective Com- munity Policing and Crime Preven- tion Network.

Community alert is community driven and is absolutely flexible in serving the needs of local communi- ties. Local volunteers identify com-

munity needs and collectively ad- dress them in a holistic way.

It is hoped that the community fes- tival will build to an annual event that the whole community can par- ticipate and contribute to.

The festival programme will reflect old traditions and emerging cultures, new businesses, arts, crafts, music, dance and exhibitions.

The organising committee would like to hear from all community members that would like to exhibit, demonstrate, dance, play music, or- ganise games or participate.

You can contact Joe Murphy on 087 6777178 or Martin McDonnell on 087 7637899 for futher information.

THE 2008 Galway Races will once again be remembered for the remark- able achievements of Dermot Weld who won the leading trainer award for the 22nd year while also record- ing a landmark 200th winner at the Ballybrit track on Wednesday.

But it will also be remembered in Cooraclare for Thursday’s success of the Thomas O’Doherty owned Skip Two ridden by Barry Cash came home to victory at 9/1 in the Guin- ness Novice Steeplechase.

Weld ended the week with ten win- ners for the fifth time at Galway hav- ing made a flying start to the meet- ing with an impressive four winners on the opening day of the seven-day festival. Bookmakers were running for cover after two more winners on both Tuesday and Wednesday and Weld must have been a short price after the first three days to set a new

Galway record of more than ten win- ners but, much to the relief of the lay- ers, he drew a blank on Thursday and DUCA A

The highlight of Weld’s opening day four-timer came in the feature race, the GPT Amateur Handicap, where Majestic Concorde ran out a convincing winner under Robbie McNamara. Given a fine ride by the stylish amateur, the 7/1 chance went for home on the uphill climb and he stayed on strongly to win by four lengths from Power Of Future with Arc Bleu and Fantoche making up the places. This year’s victory con- tinued Weld’s fine record in the two- mile handicap which he first won as a jockey on his father’s Ticonderaga in 1964 while also training and riding Spanner to win the big race in 1972, 1973 and 1975. The other three win- ners which completed the 494/1 four- timer for the ‘King Of Galway’ came from Broad Meaning (/f maiden),

Ghimaar (1m4f handicap) and Battle In Hand (2m bumper).

The bookmakers were left reeling following the William Hill Galway Plate as Oslot proved a hugely popu- lar winner of Wednesday’s feature having been backed from an open- ing show of 11/2 to 11/4 favourite. The €240,000 handicap chase was a long-term target for the Paul Nichol- Is trained six year-old who became only the third British trained winner of the Plate under an exemplary ride from Ruby Walsh. The locally owned Oodachee ran a fine race for connec- tions and trainer Charlie Swan to fin- ish second at 14/1.

The mighty Ansar continued his love-affair with Galway when stay- ing on strongly for Denis O’ Regan to snatch third place from Brave Right. It was another great effort from Der- mot Weld’s twelve-year old who was appearing in his sixth Galway Plate and running at the Ballybrit sum-

mer festival for the tenth consecutive year.

The Guinness Galway Hurdle, the big race on the fourth day, was won by the John Kiely trained Indian Pace who provided his trainer with ample compensation for the absence of the long-time ante-post favourite, King Rama. A good fifth in Monday’s big race, the well-backed 7/1 chance ap- preciated the underfoot conditions under a great ride from 17 year-old Paul Townend who rode the first winner of his career at last year’s fes- tival. Last year’s third placed horse, Eagle’s Pass, ran another fine race to finish second with the well-backed favourite, Northern Alliance, close in third under Ruby Walsh.

In a week that was highlighted by the big race victories for the younger brigade of jockeys, Danny Mullins, Paul Townend and Chris Hayes, 18 year-old jockey Sam James provid- ed Kevin Prendergast with another

big Galway success when guiding the 12/1 chance Almass to win the feature race on the final day, the 7f Michael McNamara premier handi- cap.

Despite the effect of the current economic downturn, there were still some phenomenal attendances and betting figures over the course of the seven days at Galway. The total number of people who paid through the turnstiles for the week was 174,521 which was only a 5% reduc- tion on last year’s attendance figure. Unsurprisingly, the biggest crowd of the week came on Thursday when there was a massive turnout of 46,186 people which was a huge crowd con- sidering the poor weather on Ladies Day. The Tote turnover of almost €7.3 million was down 14% on last year’s figure while Ruby Walsh and Pat Smullen claimed the top jockey prizes with three and six winners re- spectively.