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HAVING moved the Shannon-Hea- throw slots to Belfast in January, Aer Lingus have not been drawn by claims that the decision has been a disaster with vastly reduced uptake on the flights in comparison to the numbers carried in and out of Shan- Kone

But figures obtained by Oireactas Transport Committee member, Dep- uty Pat Breen, show that the take-up on the Belfast to Heathrow route is

“poor”.

Deputy Breen checked availability figures on Friday, July 25. He found that just 122 seats were booked of a possible 696 for travel on August 1 to August 3, one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. The bookings represent an 18 per cent take-up on the Heathrow route for that week- end.

Deputy Breen said he is calling on Aer Lingus to reinstate their Shan- non-Heathrow link adding that the airline has a ready made market of in

excess of 300,000 passengers in the region.

“At the recent Transport Committee Meeting I asked the Aer Lingus CEO Dermot Mannion if a year on from his decision to exit Shannon and es- tablish a base in Belfast if the move had resulted in significant growth in profits in comparison with business done in Shannon. In response Dermot Mannion said that Belfast is “holding its own,’ said Deputy Breen.

“However, Aer Lingus own seat al- location system tells a different story.

I decided to check their services on August 1, 2008, and returning on Sunday, August 3, 2008. Only 18 per cent of seats were allocated on Fri- day, the day I checked the figures on all Belfast routes to London Heath- row Outbound.”

Figures for other routes checked on the same day for travel on the Bank Holiday weekend showed that on the Paris route 19 per cent of seats were allocated, 10 per cent to Amsterdam, 16 per cent to Barcelona, 14 per cent to Rome while flights to Faro and

Malaga do better at 29 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

“IT am now appealing to Aer Lingus to reinstate their Shannon-Heathrow route, the market is here and when Dermot Mannion admitted during the Transport Committee Meeting that he regretted the damage that was caused to ‘our reputation in the Shan- non area during three or four months of last year’, 12 months on they have an opportunity to rebuild their repu- tation by committing to a Shannon- Heathrow link,’ he said.

THE stars of Hollywood will de- scend on Ennistymon this Wednes- day in the shape of new film by Clare based author and filmmaker Alan Cooke.

Home, which features appearances from Liam Neeson, Mike Myers, Su- san Sarandon, Rosie Perez, Alfred Molina, Frank McCourt and Malachy McCourt will receive it’s local debut at the Courthouse Gallery in En- nistymon tomorrow evening at 8pm.

Home in an autobiographic tale of Cooke’s own journey in New York and the general experience of mak- ing the Big Apple your home.

“I spent six years in New York be- fore moving back to Dublin. I spent a few months there and decided that I just didn’t want to be around there anymore. I’m writing a book about my time in New York so I wanted to find somewhere quiet to put my thoughts together while and that’s what brought me to Inagh,” said writer and author Alan Cooke.

“It was just after 9/11 so it was a fairly strange time to be moving to New York. I started writing a lot of pieces about the city which eventu- ally led on to the film. So now I have started going back to these original writings, expanding on them and putting the book together.

“It’s a documentary but its a mix- ture of different styles. A documen- tary is usually just a lot of talking heads but this is more like a poem or love letter to the city.

‘There are a lot of interesting visu- als about what I felt about New York and what the meaning of home is in New York.

‘Because so much happens in every moment in New York we were try- ing to capture that feeling visually, through the words and in the inter- views with regular New Yorkers and the starts who ended up being in the nubeee

Home received it’s Irish premier at the Eye Cinema in Galway last week

and this will be it’s first Clare show- ing. Following the show Alan will host a questions and answers session with interested audience members.

“It’s a study of how New York is in the 21 century but it’s also about how a person changes when they leave somewhere like Ireland and go to a big city like New York,’ he contin- ued.

To book tickets phone 065 7071630, email ennistymon@mail.com. Tick- ets cost ©7 and a trailer is viewable on www.homethemovie.com.

A NATIONAL funding project, which is expected to be scrapped, could spell bad news for the pro- posed arts centre in Shannon.

The provision of an arts centre in the town has been on the cards for several years. However, it will be de- pendent on funding.

According to the mayor of Shan- non, Councillor Gerry Flynn (Ind), the “Gateway Innovation Fund’ is to

come to an end.

The fund was put in place to facili- tate regional community initiatives and was to pump €3 million into projects across the country between now and 2010.

It was hoped that money would be funded for the Shannon arts centre under this initiative.

Cllr Flynn said he was in receipt of a report that suggested the scheme was going to be scrapped.

“T think it spells alarm bells for us.

We were hoping for funding under that,” said Cllr Flynn.

He said the centre ties in with the master plan for Shannon and given the economic downturn, he had fears for the overall project.

“It was an area of funding that put forward the idea of regional and bal- anced initiatives. For TC2 and TC3 (the master plan for Shannon), there is every chance the developers we have on standby might decide not to develop. It cuts down our options,”

he said.

However, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) pointed out that while it was 1m- portant for the arts centre to be built, there were other potential sources of funding. “It is going to challenge us. It was a potential source of revenue, but not the only source of revenue,” she said.

Sixmilebridge-based Cllr John Crowe said the revelation was a “bombshell”, given that so much work had been put into the centre.

A CONVICTED killer who was caught with two bars of cannabis resin has been jailed for two years, one suspended.

Michael Nihill (33), formerly of Church Drive, Clarecastle, was con- victed in 2001 of the manslaughter of Mikie Shannon, who died in a row at Lysaght’s laneway, Ennis, on April 2, 2000. Nihill has served his sentence for that offence.

At Ennis Circuit Court yesterday, Nihill admitted possession of can- nabis resin for the purpose of sale or supply, at Limerick Road, Ennis, on July 1, 2006.

Garda Eric Stafford told the court that a garda surveillance operation was in place on the date in question. As part of this, gardai searched the driver and passenger of a car, but

found nothing.

They then searched the car and found two bars of a brown substance hidden in the boot. Analysis of the substance showed that it was canna- bis resin.

Gardai then carried out a search of a house, where they found eight packets of self-sealing plastic bags, a digital weighing scales and €1,060 cash in a holdall bag in a bedroom wardrobe.

‘The accused was interviewed. He indicated he had these two bars of cannabis resin for his own use. He said it was easier to buy it in large amounts,” said the garda.

The court was told the value of the drugs seized was €3,500.

Garda Stafford said Nihill had sev- eral previous convictions, including two for possession of drugs. He was also convicted of manslaughter and

jailed for eight years in 2001.

Defence barrister Michael Collins said his client had endeavoured to plead guilty to the charge in the dis- trict court, but jurisdiction had been declined.

Referring to the manslaughter con- viction, he explained that his client and another man had been charged with murder, after they attacked someone who had bullied them at school.

“The case went to trial. He was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years,’ said Mr Collins.

He said that his client was in a re- lationship and his partner gave birth to a baby girl just eight weeks ago. Nihill’s girlfriend told the court she lives with him in Corofin and she would probably have to give up her job if he went to jail.

Mr Collins said the offence before the court happened two years ago and his client hadn’t got into trouble since, adding, “given his previous offences he is a man who could find trouble if he looked for it”.

He said that Nihill worked as a plasterer until recently and has at- tended Narcotics Anonymous.

He asked for the commencement of any prison sentence to be postponed, because of his client’s personal cir- cumstances.

Judge Carroll Moran said that pos- session of drugs for the purpose of sale or supply was very serious.

“We are told incessantly it is an of- fence to be dealt with severely. I have to impose an immediate prison sen- tence. I may defer it,” he said.

He imposed a two year jail term, one suspended, and deferred its com- mencement until October 1.

AS much as €1 million will be spent on surf-lessons in Clare this year with millions more being generated in related industries, accommodation and food. An estimated 20,000 surf lessons will be given in the county in 2008, with the industry now direct- ly employing 15 full-time staff and more than 60 extra people at peak Wb eslene

With two new surf-based_busi- nesses having set up in Lahinch and Miltown Malbay in the past four months, the county now boasts nine surf related businesses. The oldest, the Lahinch Surf Shop, has existed in Lahinch for decades and was Ire- land first surf shop. The other eight, however, have all been established in the last seven years.

“The season really hots up in July and August, but it’s starting to get busy in June and in September as well. There is some level of surfing going on all the year round though,” said Sinead Finn, Manager of the Lahinch Surf School, who operate schools in Lahinch, Spanish Point and Kilkee.

“The Irish Surfing Association were on to us recently inquiring how many lessons we give in Lahi- nch each year and we estimate it to be roughly 7,000. If you add in the

school in Kilkee and Spanish Point the figure is probably around 12,000 each year.”

The surf industry in Clare has con- tinued to grow rapidly year on year

and at present shows no signs of slowing down.

“We don’t seem to be effected by the the recession or the loss of the Shannon-Heathrow flights or any-

thing like that. The vast majority of the people who come to surf are Irish people. We still do get a lot of tour- ists coming through. We have been getting a decent supply of Europe- ans, especially German people,” said Sinead.

“A lot of the people who we deal with are just dropping in, they hap- pen to be in the area already and decide to try surfing. That said, we do get a lot of people coming over from England who are booking a full package weekend of surfing – ac- commodation, surfing the whole lot. As well as that a lot of Irish people come back again and again. And in the second, third and fourth visit they are coming specificially to surf.

‘To be honest the biggest thing that effects us is nothing to do with the re- cession, it’s the weather. If we could get a few weeks of sun then Lahinch would be booming.”

DESPITE all the doom and gloom about recessions and downturns, one north Clare business is beating all the trends.

Last weekend the Lahinch Surf School opened up new premises on Lahinch’s Main Street, bringing to four the company’s representa- tions around the county. The school, which was founded by senior Irish surf champion John McCarthy seven years ago, now operates surf schools in Kilkee, Spanish Point and Lahi- eee

The new premises will serve as a

booking office and surf shop, as well as showcasing some of the areas best SUM ROE- Iho m-vae

“The school has being going since 2002 and we have been based down in the beach-hut on the Prom since Wee

“We will be holding on to the beach-hut, that’s still where it’s all happening, but the shop is going to be somewhere that will be open all year- round and where people can drop in when the weather isn’t great,’ said surf school manager Sinead Finn.

“We will be selling our own brand materials there like t-shirts and tide tables, anything to do with the surf

shop. As well as that we have gotten on to a few local artists and photog- raphers, people like Ann Vaughan from Liscannor who has sent us in a few pieces.

We also have a number of surf pho- tographers from people like Paudie Scanlan and George Karbus, Al McKennon and Mikey Smith.

‘So as well as a shop it 1s an exhi- bition space and people can come in and buy the artwork and photographs TUE A OCA Vane 00

Over the past number of years La- hinch has been transformed into the surf capital of Ireland. Besides the hundreds who flock to the village

throughout the summer months the local surfers also won a place in the Guinness Book of Records in 2007 for the most surfers to surf the same wave at the one time.

School founder, John McCarthy, was also one of the group who first surfed Aileens Wave, the monster wave under the Cliffs of Moher.

The Lahinch Surf School is open seven days a week from 1lam to 6pm and is fully approved by the Irish Surfing Association.

People can book surf lessons at the new surf shop on Main Street, at the Surf-Hut on the Prom or by ringing 087 9609667.

A RESCUE operation was launched after a man got into difficulty while snorkeling in Kilkee on Saturday.

The man, in his mid 20s and from Limerick, suffered a bruise to his forehead and cut to his nose after he appeared to misjudge the depth of the water and hit the rocks.

A rescue operation, involving Kil- kee Marine Rescue, Shannon coast- guard helicopter, ambulance services and local gardai, was sprung into ac-

tion and the man was flown to Cork University Hospital.

Manuel Di Lucia of Kilkee Ma- rine Rescue said it was the first time a helicopter landed on the Pollock Holes.

‘Because of the nature of his inju- ries, we felt it was not a good idea to have him moved by ambulance,” said Mr Di Lucia.

Initial fears were that the man had sustained a spinal injury, but this was not so and he was later discharged from hospital.

THE garda investigation into allega- tions of false pretences and decep- tion took place over a three-and-a- half year spell and culminated in the five-week trial of Paschal Carmody.

In 2004, gardai in Killaloe and the Irish Medicines Board received complaints from former patients of Paschal Carmody and William Por- om

These complaints prompted an in- vestigation to be launched, but what took those involved by surprise was

how extensive the probe was going to be.

The complaints, relating to Mr Car- mody and Mr Porter, were numerous and dozens of witnesses were inter- viewed. Searches of the East Clinic in Killaloe, along with various other premises were carried out in July 2004, as part of the investigation.

A full-time team of gardai was ap- pointed to the investigation which was headed up by Killaloe-based Detective Sergeant Oliver Nevin. Members of the Dublin-based Na- tional Bureau of Criminal Investiga-

tion (NBCI) were brought in to assist in the complex probe.

After months of extensive inves- tigations, a file was prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). This file related to 11 patients and in December 2007, the DPP ruled that 44 charges be brought against Paschal Carmody, relating to Six patients.

No charges were brought in rela- tion to Mr Porter, who had left the jurisdiction. He is now believed to be bm Ov ebb

Mr Carmody appeared before Lim-

erick District Court last December, on 44 charges. 19 of those charges were later dropped and he went on trial last month, facing 25 charges, relating to six patients.

In summing up at the end of the evidence, Judge Rory McCabe di- rected the jury to find Mr Carmody not guilty on eight of the charges.

One of these related to John Sheridan, three related to Jose- phine Durkan, two related to Mary O’Connor and two related to Karen Kurvink.

The jury found Mr Carmody not

guilty on two charges relating to John James Gallagher and disagreed on two other charges relating to him.

Of the six charges relating to John Sheridan, Mr Carmody was found not guilty on four and the jury disa- greed on the other two.

The jury could not decide on any of the seven charges relating to Conor O’Sullivan and recorded verdicts of disagreement on those.

The matter will now go back to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who will decide if Mr Carmody is to be re-tried on those 11 charges.

WHILE conventional large-scale tourism is enduring a difficult period throughout the county, the evolution of eco-tourism in Clare is providing some hope for the future.

A number of organisations, pre- dominantly based in the Burren region, have begun to evolve a new system of tourism based on offering a small scale and uniquely personal experience of holidaying in Clare.

One such organisation is the Bur- ren Farmers Ecological Co-operative who have begun a series of farmer- led guided Burren walks this year.

“There is untold potential in eco- tourism in the Burren. A lot of peo-

ple have been involved in eco-tour- ism for more than 20 years but just WTEAYos OM OXees OOO U UROL SB LLUOT-T MOET D (OM \CEC: airi O Conchuir of the Burren Farm- ers Ecological Co-operative.

“It’s about a different type of tour- ism. What people are looking for is a real experience with real people. Things like the farmers led walks in the Burren where they can interact on a one-to-one basis with farmers and have a cultural, archaeological or agricultural tour of the real Bur- ren. It’s the kind of experience that you can’t get anywhere else.”

The walks represent the beginning for the co-operative, with plans al- ready in place for the creation of au- thentic live-in Burren farm holidays

and farmhouse self-catering units.

“We are looking to moving into farm based accommodation. Real farmhouse accommodation where people can come and actually get a genuine experience of the Burren,” continued Ruairi.

“That can also be expanded into working holidays where people will actually pay to live on a Burren farm and work – either doing farm work or conservation work in the Burren. It happens in a number of places al- ready but we have a much greater po- tential for it in the Burren.”

Another organisation to explore the possibilities of eco-tourism is Heart of the Burren guided tours. The com- pany has this year begun hosting a

twice weekly guided walk and plans are already afoot to increase this service dramatically in 2009.

“The market has vast potential in it. The demand for guided walks is something that is growing and I think will continue to grow. Clare is uniquely placed to take advantage of this – there is a huge range of activity based holidays on offer in the county at the moment,’ said Tony Kirby of Je ( 1U0eRo) MORO) O0uce

“*T think it is even starting to be rec- ognised by the tourist authorities that the demand for tourism is changing. Shannon Development now promote the walking trails on their website – we are able to compete with the very best of these attractions both nation-

ally and internationally.

‘The forecast for the future is that mass tourism may not be able to ex- pand any further, it may even decline. But the smaller scale tourism, the eco-tourism, still has vast expansion to do. Mass tourism has probably re- alised most of it’s potential now at this stage where as eco-tourism still has huge potential to realise.

‘“Tl’m very pleased with the season to date. It’s been a challenging year across most of the tourism sector and I guess I’ve just been lucky to get go- ing with this when I did. I can see this as something that can benefit the whole community. It will benefit the visitors centres, the transport and ac- commodation providers. The lot.”

TULLA and Feakle are both host- ing traditional festivals this year and both promise to be musical treats.

The second Tulla Trad Festival kicks off on September 12. World- famous fiddle player, Liz Carroll will be peforming. Other household names in the world of traditional mu- sic include Micheal O’Raghallaigh, Matt Moloy, Catherine McEvoy, Kathleen Loughnane, Mary Bergin, John Carty and Arty McGlynn

All set dancers can start getting the shoes ready for the ceilis where they can dance to the Four Courts on the Friday night at Minogues, Tulla Ceili

Band will be playing for the Ceili- Mor on Saturday 13th at the Second- ary School and Andrew MacNamara on Sunday night. Nora Butler and Maire Ni Cheallachair will be sing- ing at the Powerhouse on Saturday night while Robbie McMahon will be Teach OI on Sunday afternoon.

The Feakle Festival will be offi- cially opened Wednesday, August 6 and the opening will be a platform to honour local flute player Paddy O’Donogue.

A well-respected musician and composer Paddy recently released a CD of his music with his son Cyril.

Eurovision winner Emear Quinn will perform with a string quartet in

Kilclaren Church on Thursday. This is the first time the beautiful church has been used as a festival venue.

Friday night’s concert in St. Mary’s Church in Feakle features Frankie Gavin and Roisin Elsafty for the first time.

TG4 Musician of the Year and local legend Martin Hayes together with Dennis Cahill will top the evening.

The gala concert on Saturday night in the Community Hall will be a lively mix with new and up coming traditional artists with Mayo band Céide, Tulla favourite Andrew Mc- Namara and Rob Stein and many more.

A special festival three concert

ticket price of €60 is available for these concerts. Bookings can be made to info@feaklefestival.ie or by calling 087 9678020.

The workshops continue to be very popular and attendance has increased yearly.

Besides the regular classes this year’s Festival sees the introduction of four new workshops, for whis- tle, beginner’s concertina, sean nds dancing and a one-day workshop in traditional song writing.

Full details of the festival pro- gramme, which also features ceilis, music and singing sessions, are on the festival web site, www.feak lefes- Ae oe