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ALTHOUGH the summer break from school is just underway, peo- ple are already being encouraged to consider courses for the coming au- tumn.

St Patrick’s Comprehensive School in Shannon has a wide range of courses on offer to suit a variety of needs and interests.

The school is running post leaving certificate courses, along with sev- eral FETAC courses.

The courses are suitable for post leaving certificate students, the un- employed, parents of school-going children, adults who wish to further their education and those who wish Kom) @nee

Courses on offer in the business area include business studies, secre-

tarial and information technology.

These courses lead to job opportu- nities in a range of areas including banks, computer firms, travel agents, airline companies and in the leisure or recreational industries.

A range of courses are also avail- able in the childcare area. These courses lead to job prospects in nurseries, pre-schools, creches, and nursing homes and as special needs

assistants.

All of the courses can lead to ad- mission to Universities and Institutes of Technology, through CAO appli- cations or the Higher Links Scheme.

Enquiry forms are available from Clare VEC, Station Road, Ennis.

The closing date for receipt of com- pleted grant applications is August 31. Enquiries can be made at the school, phone 061 361428.

SHARON Collins’s two sisters brief- ly gave evidence on behalf of the de- fence to the trial last Tuesday. Introducing themselves to the court in Irish, Maire Ui Liduihigh and Cait Ui Donnachan, between them,

spent less than ten minutes giving evidence.

Maire Ui Liduihigh explained how she was married to Sean and lived in Galway since 1994 or 1995. Asked by Sharon Collins’s barrister Paul O’Higgins had she stayed with her in Ennis in August 2006, she replied,

“No, absolutely not.”

She explained she was older than the accused. She said Sharon went to school in Ennis and left at age 18 or 19, having passed her Leaving Cer- tificate. She said Sharon got married at age 19 and had two sons. Asked when the marriage had come to an

end, she replied, “I’m not sure.”

She said her mother’s maiden name was Cronin and her father, Charles Coote, was deceased.

‘My parents were separated for a long number of years. I’d have been an adult when they separated. I think She would have been an adult as well,

possibly a teenager,” she said.

Cait Ui Donnachan spent two min- utes in the witness box, during which she said she was married to Conail. Asked did she stay with Sharon in Clare in 2006, she replied, “No, I did not. . . | wasn’t there in July or Au- gust 2006. I’m certain about that.”

PLANS by Ennis Town Council to create an amenity park around the site of the well-known Rocky Road area in Ennis have been put on hold. Local landowners had threatened court injunction proceedings over the proposal.

Earlier this year, the town coun- cil lodged plans with Clare County Council that would have involved the creation of a new paved entrance pla- Za, new circulation paths and railing along the stream edge, installation of low stone seat walls and sign walls. The plan would also have included the provision of street furniture; bicycle stands, a dolmen and rocky outcrop, grading of ground levels, tree and shrub planting, grassing and ancillary landscaping works.

A decision was due on the applica- tion last month.

However, the county council failed to make a decision after landowners George Gallery and Patricia Gallery Ryan threatened injunctive proceed- ings unless the council agreed to meet with their legal representa- tives.

In a submission to the council by Kerin, Hickman and O’Donnell so- licitors, the Gallerys state that “the proposed development flies in the face of the facts, which is not ac- ceptable under any circumstances as it is contrary to the established legal rights and interests that our clients have used for generations without interference, interruption or ob- struction”.

The Gallerys’ solicitors threatened that if the council failed to get in touch with them within 14 days of the letter “our instructions are to 1m- mediately issue injunction proceed- ings against Clare County Council

and Ennis Town Council without further notice and our clients shall be seeking an indemnity from the councils in relation to the costs in- volved in same”’.

The council was due to make a decision within that 14 day period. However a decision is still awaited on the proposal.

In 2001, a campaign to prevent the Western Relief Road of the €200 million Ennis bypass going through the Rocky Road failed after the then Minister for the Environment, Noel Dempsey, confirmed the Compul- sory Purchase Order (CPO) for the route.

Some 1,800 people put their names to submissions objecting to the by- pass cutting the Rocky Road 1n two. But their pleas only resulted in a roundabout originally planned to be located on the Rocky Road itself be- ing moved 30 metres to the west.

THE deposit for the purchase of the €1.4 million Inis Cathaigh site in Kilrush has not yet been paid by the local authority.

In answers to a series of questions posed by Cllr Marian McMahon Jones (FG) relating to the purchase of the controversial site for new civic buildings, Kilrush Town Manager, Bernadette Kinsella said the council must first wait for the legal formall- ties to be completed.

“As is standard in property con- veyancing practice the acquisition is subject to contract and the legal formalities/checks are currently in train,’ she said.

These aspects are being dealt with by Clare County Council’s legal ad- visor, John Shaw of Michael Houli- han and Partners, Ennis.

The town manager said that work began on locating possible sites as far back as 13 years ago, and “some 17 sites in all have been considered by various administrations over the years’.

Those included were new build, greenfield and brownfield sites, re- furbishmet and lease buy options.

“More recently multiple possible options were narrowed down to four. The decision on the Inis Cathaigh site was made after having received

full professional feasibility and fi- nancial advice in various options at the following four different locations – Place de Plouzane, land at the rear of Pound Street, lease purchase op- tion and the Inis Cathaigh site.”

“The decision to purchase the site for a sum of €1.4 million was tak- en in May by the managers of both council’s following due consideration of the professional advice received. This is normal practice in local au- thority land acquisition. You will ap- preciate that for transactions of this nature it would not be appropriate to have discussions with individual members in advance,” she said.

The offer on the .49 acres Inis Ca- thaigh site was made on behalf of the council by valuer Paddy Browne and Associates.

Ms Kinsella said that she has no data available that corresponds with an offer of “7,000 square feet for €1.6 million at Quay Mills’, bought up by Cllr McMahon Jones.

“A lease buyout option was one of which professional advice was received. In considering the rela- tive merit of a lease buy out option, pricing and space data was provided by the developer of Quay Mills and clarification of the data provided was sought and received by our agent in respect of a lease buyout option at that location,’ she said.

EVERYONE hates the rain, right? Well, almost everyone. Since settling in north Clare more than 10 years ago American painter Frank Sanford has been enjoying all that the Irish climate offers – wind and rain.

‘T paint outside and in particular in the bad weather. I do a lot of land- scapes, often times featuring build- ings or maybe some objects. They are all painted early in the morning or late in the evening,” said Frank.

‘“T’m usually out there in the wind and rain – the light is so much bet-

ter. If you even go out on the Bur- ren rocks after some rain, it’s almost like there has been a snow storm, the rocks turn white and there are a lot of reflection but if you go out there on a sunny days it’s completely dif- Koa

Frank’s latest exhibition, entitled ‘Lashing Rain’, opened at the Russell Gallery in New Quay last Saturday and will continue until July 27.

“I prefer painting at that time of the day and in that sort of weather – the colours are more intense, the light 1s more interesting. It’s about getting low angle light instead of light that’s

coming from directly above. For me it’s more about painting the quality of the light than the objects them- selves.”

Frank has been a working artist for over 40 years and in that time he has exhibited in many galleries and shows across North America and Ireland.

‘The Burren has been a great source of inspiration. I look at the mountains and this great long curvy shapes that look like naked ladies lying on the landscape. It stunning – absolutely beautiful,’ continued frank.

‘IT remember a writer, a poet, once

said about my paintings that you don’t look at them, you look into them. That’s exactly the feeling that I am trying to create.

“I don’t want people to look at my paintings and to say that it’s just like a photograph. I’d like people to get lost in the painting, to be able to grow into the work and find something new for themselves in the painting.”

The Russell Gallery is open every day, Monday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm and on Sunday’s from 12noon to 6 pm. For more information con- tact the gallery on 065 7078185 or visit www.russellgallery.net.

SHARON Collins has been pilloried in the community and ridiculed in the media as a result of the allega- tions she has faced, according to her legal team.

Michael Bowman, BL, in his clos- ing speech to the jury said that she had “been to hell and back” and her family had been “torn asunder”.

‘“There’s a momentum in this case almost freewheeling to a conviction, which you cannot allow to happen. .. Put the brakes on,” he said.

He urged the jury not to “slavishly accept” computer evidence and to “look at the inconsistencies found in the prosecution case. Nobody paid any attention to Sharon Collins’ story.”

He said that Sharon Collins “plead- ed not guilty and stood firm with that

plea. She maintains her plea from be- ginning to end.”

“Bearing that in mind, I’d ask you to consider she took the witness box. She is not blind, she 1s not deaf, she is not dumb. She saw witness after wit- ness taking the stand. She knew what was coming,” he said.

He said that Ms Ni Raifeartaigh had used colourful language to describe Ms Collins, adding, “but PJ Howard knows Sharon Collins for far longer than that. That is at variance to PJ’s description of her.”

Mr Bowman said that witness John Keating, who told the court he spent the morning of August 16 with Ms Collins — when key emails were sent by ‘lyingeyes’ — was a “microcosm” or “snapshot” of the case as a whole.

He said that while he was a pros- ecution witness, when he said some- thing that could be advantageous to

the defence, “no expense was spared to tear the man asunder”.

“John Keating is a man who you can believe, a man who you can trust. It puts a question mark over the in- tegrity of all the other evidence,’ he ene

“If John Keating is an honest man, and I believe he 1s, he has been treat- ed appallingly,” he said.

He said that on August 23, 2006, an incoming US call, from Essam Eid’s mobile number, was made to the Downes and Howard business at Westgate Business Park in Ennis, lasting seven minutes, at a time Sha- ron Collins was out of the country. He said there was no explanation for this call.

“If there was an explanation con- sistent with the prosecution, it would have been introduced,” he said.

He said that gardai took several

trips to the US, Spain and the UK and “expense has not been spared in this case’, yet, in the face of this, E1r- com had not been required to provide evidence as they were “not prepared to provide resources”.

He said that ‘lyingeyes’ appeared to have a lot of detail, but in reality “not everything is adding up with regards the content of those emails”.

He said the investigation team was ‘like a dog with a bone, picked up the idea and ran with it” and maybe they were delighted to be going back and forth to the US, hanging out with the ja syR

“Nobody considered the alterna- tive. They declined the opportunity to make a liar out of Sharon Col- lins with regards the Maria Marconi Story.

““T thought we were going to get cell site analysis (relating to the tour of

Clare which Sharon Collins said she brought Maria Marconi on). Nobody took the time to go through the phone records with a ruler and highlighter,” he said.

He said that when Limerick prison was searched for ricin, everybody was “dressed to the nines in space- suits”. Yet, when the army officer was handed it, he was only wearing “rubber gloves, and no mask”’.

“You and I wear Marigold gloves washing the dishes. The third most dangerous substance known to man- kind!…”

Mr Bowman said that the chief prosecution witness Teresa Engle “took the oath and proceeded to tell lie after lie after lie”.

He said she had no regard for the truth and was self-interested, self- serving and a “convicted fraudster”’.

‘“She’s a bare-faced liar,” he said.

“DO you think it’s fair that you drink lots of beer while other people do lots of work?”’

That was the question a district court judge asked a 22-year-old who appeared before him charged with criminal damage after breaking the window of a pub.

Ronan Barry of 59 Killnasoolagh Park in Newmarket on Fergus plead- ed guilty to the charge in Ennis Dis- trict Court.

The court heard the man was “very drunk and shouting abuse and ob- scenities” when gardai arrived on the scene at the Cusack Stand bar in Newmarket at 6.40pm on January 2 last.

Judge Joseph Mangan told Barry to take the stand and asked “why were you angry with the window”?”’, to which Barry replied “I don’t know.”

The judge heard that Barry was neither in full-time education nor Le) Neb atee

‘And do you think it’s fair that you

drink lots of beer while other people do lots of work?”, the judge asked him.

The court heard that Barry’s moth- er had paid compensation for the broken window.

Judge Mangan was told that Barry had one previous conviction for a public order matter.

“When the garda met him, he was lying on the grass, very drunk. There is obviously a problem with drink,” his solicitor, Tara Godfrey said.

Judge Mangan remanded him to

September 19 for a professional re- port on drug and alcohol abuse, or- dered that he report daily to Shannon Garda Station sober and write a let- ter of apology to the publican, a copy of which is to be produced in court. By the remand date, he is also to be in full time education or training or have a job, the judge said.

Ms Godfrey suggested that the dai- ly signing would mean he would not have time to look for work, but Judge Mangan said the walk to Shannon “will do him good”.

WHEN, in the late °90s, Kilmurry Ibrickane finally found a field to call their own they set about filling the place with footballers.

The pitch established Kilmurry as a fixed presence in the community. Then they needed to recruit. Coach- es were dispatched to the five schools that serviced the parish — Quilty, Mullagh, Coore, Annagh and Scro- ude

Emphasis was placed on nurtur- ing talent and developing individual skills. Drills were devised to enhance peripheral vision and teach the value of touch and control.

The initiative was driven by men like Michael Talty, and then minor club chairman Pat Murrihy.

In the schools Murrihy and Talty found principals like Michael Brack- en (Quilty), Sean McMahon (Mul- lagh), David Dillon (Coore) who shared their enthusiasm for football. The road to success, like so many in the GAA, would start in school.

“When? – there was never a ques- tion of what time’, says Pat Murrihy who for almost 20 years now has coached underage teams in Kilmur- ry Ibrickane. “You could go in there at nine in the morning and take two classes out. That was a big, big help to the club and one complimented the other.”

A population explosion meant the schools were full of kids who wanted to play ball in the big new field. The schools won tournaments and the kids drifted, like a conveyor belt, into the club. The skills learned were implemented on the pitch and suc- cess inevitably followed.

In 1992, Kilmurry won their first under 12 title in 27 years. The club knew they were on to a good thing. There were other milestones, other signs the future would be bright.

‘Every year after that our underage structure got stronger. We started to win A titles,” says Murrihy. “We ac- tually won the under 14 Féile in Clare in 1999 and we won the under 14 championship for the first time in 27 years. That was a very good side now. The All-Ireland division one winners at the time were Salthill, they beat us by three points. They went on and won the division one title. The fol- lowing year we actually won Féile in Croke Park against Baltinglass with Shane Hickey, Noel Downes, Keith King, Martin McMahon’.

Minor A titles followed in 2002,

2003 and 2004 but it is the club’s phenomenal record at under 21 level (nine titles between 1995-2007) that is the real legacy of the work done in the early 90s.

“When won our minor champion- ships and 21s, we could always call on at least 8 of the age. Once you have seven or eight guys on the age, that’s a big thing, its easy fill the spaces after that.”

Parallel to Kilmurry’s rise at minor and under 21, was the club’s ascent at senior level. The two streams con- verged gloriously in ‘O04 when they won county and Munster titles.

Kilmurry maintained their stran- glehold on the under 21 champion- ship after 2004 even as the senior side struggled. Kilmurry were beaten in the 2005 senior decider by Kilkee, but in the last two years have failed to qualify for the knock out stages.

“What happened after 2004 is we lost probably the spine of our team. Aidan Moloney, Martin Cahill, Martin Keavey, all these guys,” says Murrihy, “I don’t care what team you are, but you don’t replace them over

night. I like the look the Kilmurry now. I like the attitude, there 1s a de- sire and a hunger there now”.

Less people live, or have reason to live in West Clare, than was the case in the early 90s and Kilmurry and the schools are feeling the effects. The number of children attending Quilty National School, for example, hovers around the 50 mark. 10 years ago that number stood closer to 140.

But Murrihy and Kilmurry Ibrick- ane persevere. The club won the under 12 B title this year and could have gone further.

“We were only a kick of the ball away from going into the A final. Lissycasey beat us in our division. We had 14 wides against Lissycasey and they beat us by three points”, says Murrihy ruefully.

“But, look it, it just shows we are progressing nicely, and its now the work begins”. And the cycle contin- Wen

A TWELVE metre long art instal- lation was unveiled in the middle of Liscannor bay over the weekend. The spectacular installation, which has been constructed by Aran based art- ist Maeve Collins, begins on a bea- con in the water off Liscannor pier and runs out into the water of Liscan- nor bay.

The installation is called Contem- porary HyBrasil, a reference to a mythical island of HyBrasil some- times called Tir na nOg. Indeed some believe that Liscannor Bay is the mythical entrance to Tir na nOg.

“There is a line going from the bea- con in Liscannor Bay out to sea – to

where HyBrasil might be. The idea is to link the physical land with the sea,’ said Maeve.

“On the line are hung clocks show- ing different times, some of the clocks are working and some will probably stop working after a day or two in the water. Besides the clocks we have things like an umbrella, brushes, a black dress, shoes and a fiddle. They all have been chosen for their infer- ences and the ideas that they might lead off for people.

“It’s really up to the viewer to put their own meaning on this.”

The full exhibition comprises three altogether different pieces. Apart from the installation in Liscannor bay, Meave will also be creating an

audio presentation on all the ferries travelling to Aran from Liscannor, Doolin and Galway and will also be taking part in the Trading Spaces in- stallation in Ennistymon.

“The Ennistymon installation will be an attempt to mix the everyday with the other. If people look at it they will be getting a distorted re- flection of themselves and the town of Ennistymon as well. It’s like the material world mixing with some- thing conceptual,’ continued Maeve.

“The boats will house two audio pieces with an elderly lady from the Aran Islands. In the piece she talks about knowings or exaggerations. On one piece she is talking about a per- son who was able to calm the seas by

throwing sand from the shore into a part of the ocean.

‘There is meant to be Lough Mor between Galway and Clare – in Gal- way bay. She tells stories of fisher- man who brought up an oven that they say is from this submerged city and, they say, there was a cake in the oven when they brought it up.

“You wouldn’t know from _ her whether she believes the stories or not – she’s a great story teller and doesn’t give it away.”

The exhibition will be officially launched on July 12. For more check out www.hybrasil.ie from that date on. The project has been funded by The Arts Council and Udaras na Gaeltachta.

THE jury was advised to concentrate on the ‘technical’ and ‘complex’ evidence presented over the seven weeks of the trial.

Mr Justice Roderick Murphy spent over six hours summarising the evi- dence, between last Friday afternoon and throughout yesterday.

He then directed the jury to begin deliberating, at 3.44pm yesterday.

Last Friday, the jury raised a query on the conspiracy to murder charge and yesterday the judge said he wished to clarify this, im- mediately prior to sending the jury to Cl) lelore-lnes

“The matter is simple at one level and a little bit more complex when you get down to it.

“It takes at least two to conspire.

One would have

thought it followed

logic. If there is

a failure to prove

against one, auto-

matically there is

a failure to prove against the other. Be careful in some cases that there is Some evidence against one and not evidence against the other.

“T don’t want to complicate the matter a little bit more than is neces- sary,’ said the judge.

He told the jury of eight men and four women that where there is a doubt, the benefit of that doubt must be given to the accused.

The judge made reference to the evidence given to the court by John Keating, who said he spent the morn- ing of August 16, 2006, with Sharon Collins, in Ennis.

Mr Keating told the trial he was sure of the date, having just returned

from a relative’s wedding in the UK.

Last week the trial heard from a witness from the ferry company who Mr Keating said he had travelled with. That witness said there were no records of anyone of that name. However, a search of records later established that he, in fact, had trav- elled on the dates he had said.

“You should take into account Mr (John) Keating’s very clear evidence and the concession by the prosecu- tion that he had in fact travelled. It is

a matter for you the diary (belonging to Mr Keating) on the 16th of August,” he told the jury.

He urged the jury to focus on _ the evidence heard in orelveam “however complex that was, however technical iW etAlmaY ein

“Tt’s your decision, not the counsel’s, not the court’s,’ he

nem After spending over three-and-a-

half hours deliber-

ating, at 7pm the

jury was sent to a

hotel for the night and will resume deliberating this morning.

Mr Justice Murphy told the jury he would recharge it this morning, on “one item undated, in email traffic’.

“We will give updated versions to- morrow and we will deal with requi- sitions from counsel then,” he said.

“Relax this evening. Don’t bother deliberating. Relax this evening and have a drink as well. You are entitled to that at this stage,” he told the jury.

The jury will return to court this morning at 10am to resume delibera- tions.