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MOUNTSHANNON is the place to be this week for fun-lovers and cul- ture vultures alike, with the Inisceal- tra Festival of the Arts in full swing until June 1.

The official opening of the week- long festival was performed at the weekend by Theo Dorgan, poet, writer, broadcaster and member of Aosdana and The Arts Council.

One of the highlights of this year’s festival is the family boat-building weekend, with craftspeople showing land-lubbers how it’s done.

Each family – or group – gets a kit which they put together under su- pervision, to be followed by a boat launching on Lough Derg to test how well the budding boat builders learned their craft.

With music, drama and dance per- formances from local and visiting eroups, some of the highlights of this year’s festival include musical performances by Eoin O’Neill, Orla Harrington and John Feely to name but a few.

There will be a film night, a free storytelling family event and an art exhibition, opened by well-known artist, Charles Harper.

The Fishbowl Youth Group present an acoustic evening of entertainment – music, poetry, prose and dance – in

a candlelit café-style setting. Visiting German students and young people

from The Alfa Project school will work with artists to create a sculp- tural riverside installation for the festival on the river bank from Scar- iff Harbour to Lough Derg. Free boat trips are being offered by local boat owners to see the resulting creation.

Also planned are a céili with The Four Courts Céili Band. Weekend classes and workshops will be held in sean nos dancing, traditional mu- sic and singing as well as African drumming.

‘Does It Grow Corn?’, the feasi- bility study to determine the need for a new community/arts centre for Mountshannon, will be unveiled during the festival and there will be plenty of music, craic and a family fun day with puppets and entertain- ment.

On Sunday, June 1, there will be a Green Fair at the Aistear. Hosted by members of CELT, the Irish Seed Savers Association, and the Alfa Project, this will feature demonstra- tions, information and workshops in a variety of traditional crafts includ- ing metalwork, stone carving, wood and willow skills and textiles.

THE innovative and progressive work of a west Clare primary school has ensured its place on the shortlist for the coveted AIB Better Ireland aN WLNKels

St Senan’s National School Kilrush has a long and distinguished history in providing specially tailored edu- cation for children with leaning and emotional disabilities.

As well as providing main stream education for the children of the west Clare capital, the 24-teacher school also caters for the specific needs of children with autistic spectrum dis- order, sever and mild general learn- ing disabilities and diagnosed emo- tional disturbance.

Since the introduction of a ground- breaking programme that uses tactile

and stimulatory equipment, the qual- ity of education as well as the quality of life of the children attending the school has improved significantly.

The aim of the initiative is to pro- vide a multi sensory programme that would increase the confidence and self esteem of the children so that they would be able to integrate with their peers, explained school princi- pal Paddy McInerney.

“We have many years experience in dealing with special education. We are the only school in west Clare with special need classes and an au- tistic unit attached,” he said.

Although the autistic unit is in place just over a year and a half the school principal has already seen the benefit of the programme especially for children with autism.

As the school has such a wide range

of children with different needs, they all respond differently to the various programmes and therapies provided. The impact of each therapy also var- ies from child to child.

“Sensory therapy and deep pres- sure techniques, musical therapy and Cranio Sacral are just some of the programmes that the children are ex- posed to,” said Mr McInerney.

The more therapies available to the children the more it improves their lives at school and at home as it has a very calming affect, he explained.

Should the school win the text competition for a €10,000 award from AIB Kilrush through the Better Ireland Programme the money will go towards providing more therapy equipment and supporting the pro- gramme that is already in place.

The branch will award the €10,000

to one of three local projects that tops the poll in a public text vote. Friends of St Senan’s school can do their bit to ensure the local school avails of the prize by simply texting KILRUSHC to 53099 before June 6.

If the school does not top the poll it will still benefit from the texts. Each text vote costs 60 cent and proceeds generated by the texts for the school will be donated to its special educa- tion project.

THERE was a mixed reaction in the farming community following the launch of the commission’s propos- als for the health check of the CAP.

Speaking on Thursday, ICOS Pres- ident, Padraig Gibbons, said docu- ments fail to provide a soft landing for dairy farmers in the lead up to the removal of quotas in 2015.

“The proposed series of quota in- creases of one per cent per year from 2009 to 2013 with no increase in the year before the removal of quotas failed to give clear signals to farm- ers, processors and marketers in or- der to encourage them to make the

necessary preparations for the end- ing of quotas in a timely, orderly and Structured fashion,’ he said

“In addition, such minimal quota increases will do little to reduce or eliminate the cost of purchased quo- ta. ICOS continues to call for annual increases of up to two per cent, every year between 2009 and 2014, com- bined with a decrease in the level of super levy and a removal of the but- terfat adjustment.

“ICOS has been working with other representative organisations in Europe to deliver a clear signal to the commission that they cannot al- low the European dairy industry to continue to lose world market share.

Gibbons went on to state that mar- ket support instruments needed to be maintained and utilised, particularly during the uncertain period leading up to 2015 and beyond, and that ex- port refunds and other internal mar- ket tools need to be used to support the vulnerable butter market.

“It is totally unacceptable to con- tinuously cut the level of Single Farm Payment, against a backdrop of rap- idly escalating production and com- pliance costs, and general inflation, which will result in payments being worth a small fraction of their origi- nal value,” he said.

Clare TD Tony Kileen also spoke publicly on CAP last week saying

that he is looking forward to the presentation of the proposals to the agriculture council at the forthcom- ing informal council in Ljubljana on 27th May and the opportunity at that meeting for a first political discus- sion on the proposals.

“My view is that the health check must deliver real simplification that has concrete benefits at farm level,” |aTemncy-5 (6

“T will work on building alliances and understandings with member states as well as outlining my con- cerns to the commission in order to achieve progress on issues such as an acceptable and ambitious increase in milk quotas for Ireland.”

A MAN called ‘Tony’ called to Rob- ert Howard’s home and informed him there were contracts on the lives of himself, his brother and his father and sought €100,000 to cancel them, the court heard on Friday.

Robert Howard was at home at Ballaghboy, Doora, on the outskirts of Ennis on September 26, 2006, when he received a phone call on his mobile, at around 10.30pm.

“A male voice on the phone said, ‘T heard you lost a few computers’. I said, ‘I did’. He said, ‘I’ll be at your house in five minutes.’ That was it,” Mr Howard told the trial, during his 25-minute spell in the witness box on Friday.

“The next thing, I heard a knock on the door, five minutes later,’ he added.

Asked by prosecution counsel Tom O’Connell had he considered phon- ing the gardai, he said he had, but, “I didn’t know if someone was going to show.”

On hearing the knock at around 10.35pm, he answered the door.

A man standing at the door said to him, “Hello, I’m Tony.”

“I stood outside the door of the house. He picked up the blue Toshiba laptop computer and handed it to me,” he said.

Mr Howard said he then went into the house and told his brother Niall to call the gardai. He returned outside and was then told about the contracts on the three lives.

“He said there were contracts on the three of our lives, for €130,000. He said he didn’t want to do it. He wanted me to buy the contract out for € 100,000,” he said.

He said that ‘Tony’ also had paper- work in his hand, including directions

to his house and also to PJ’s house and to an address in Kilkee.

The conversation, he said, lasted about 20 minutes, during which time his brother Niall was inside the door “keeping watch.”

He said ‘Tony’ had a print-out from a computer, featuring two photo- graphs. One was a photograph of PJ Howard and Sharon Collins, while the other was a photograph of PJ ona

boat. “It looks like Spain,” he said.

‘He showed me the photograph. I took it from him. I wouldn’t give it back to him,” he said.

Mr Howard said he returned inside the house to enquire where the gardai were. When he went outside again, ‘Tony’ was leaving in a car.

He tried to follow him in his jeep, but the lights were switched off in ‘Tony’s’ car and he did not manage to

get the registration number. He said he “lost him at the crossroads.”

Asked to describe the man, he said he was about 5 foot 11, in his mid- 40s, wore a baseball cap and track- Suit, was clean shaven with sallow skin and wore glasses.

He said he thought his accent was Algerian, “even though he told me he was Italian.”

Later that night, at around 12.30am,

he said ‘Tony’ phoned him again, asking him if he had “started to get the money together” for him yet.

“T said ‘Yes’. He said he would give me a ring tomorrow,” recalled Mr Howard.

Mr Howard told the court that he was a director of a company, Downes and Howard property investment business, located at 7A Westgate Business Park, Kilrush Road, Ennis, of which his father PJ was the prin- leet e

His younger brother Niall also worked in the business, as did Sha- ron Collins.

He told the jury that on Septem- ber 25, 2006 – the day before he was visited by “Tony’ – he worked in the company’s office. His brother Ni- all was the last person to leave that Aon nenee

The following morning he returned to work and noticed that of the two locks on the door, the Chubb lock was not locked.

He went upstairs to the office and noticed that the alarm was not on.

“T had a quick look around. There was a laptop and computer missing,” he said. Also missing was a picture of old Irish money, a digital clock and computer cables.

He said the laptop, Toshiba brand, was worth around €1,000 and be- longed to himself. A desktop com- puter had also been taken from the reception area.

He said that just six people had keys to the premises and knew the alarm code – himself, his brother Niall, his father PJ, Sharon Collins, their handyman Dan Fitzgerald and their cleaner Kathleen McMahon.

“When the burglary took place, PJ and Sharon were in Spain,” he said.

, Mc- Namara has put it up to his players to deliver Clare from its abysmal record in Munster in recent years.

“The players are in no doubt that this is D-day, this is the day they must deliver,’ McNamara said.

Clare have only won one Munster

championship tie since 1999, a first round win against Tipperary back in 2003. Now, McNamara is deter- mined to bring an end to that four- year losing streak.

“Our performances in the Munster championship in the last few years have been poor to say the least. We need to start levelling that out and need to start presenting perform- ances — hopefully winning perform- ances.

“We have presented players of qual- ity for a number of years now, but teams of quality seem to be absent.

It’s now time for players to present themselves as a team.

“We now have a new system in the championship — it’s two strikes or you’re out. There’s no easy passage, irrespective of performance in the last couple of years, you finished up at worst in an All-Ireland quarter fi- nal.

‘That was the old system – it’s now defunct and gone. So our best foot must be put forward on June 1, which would be unheard of for the last cou- ple of years.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Ni-

all Gilligan is winning his battle to be fit for the big game, which would be his 50th senior championship ap- pearance.

‘He has more than a 50/50 chance of making it,” revealed McNamara.

“Waterford have been the high kings, the strongest team in Munster over the last couple of years. The challenge is huge, the target is high. We have had an incredible amount of sessions put in plus commitment and courage — everything has gone in from the players. Now is the time to deliver a performance.”

GIOVANNI Trapattoni may be look- ing to west Clare for future interna- tional stars as the county’s newest soccer club goes from strength to strength.

West Clare United Soccer Club takes its players from Cooraclare, Cree, Doonbeg, Mullagh, Quilty, Milltown Malbay, Kilmihil, Inagh and has two players from Ennis.

The club is based in Mullagh vil- lage with the sports field in Mullagh as the home pitch. There are more than 100 children – boys and girls – involved with the club.

“We are delighted with the phenom- enal response we have received in

getting the club off the ground in an area which would by many have been viewed as a GAA stronghold,” said one of the organisers Tom Egan.

This year the club is training teams at Under 8’s, 10’s, 11’s and 13’s level.

“We have three teams entered into the Clare Schoolboy League, two at under 11 and one at Under 13. We have brought in experienced coach- es, one of whom is Derek Dolan who has previously managed the county’s Kennedy Cup team, along with local people from the community with an interest in soccer to assist in training the children,” said Mr Egan.

“The committee of the sports field in Mullagh have been wonderful in helping us organize training and

match days and maintained the pitch in great condition which has been re- marked upon by all who have played on it. Our sincere thanks go out to them for all their help,” he said.

Mr Egan also paid tribute to local businesses that helped in the initial stages with sponsorship, particularly John McInerney Construction who paid for new goalposts.

The club’s jerseys, bibs, balls, first aid kits and other training equipment were all funded as a result of gener- ous donations.

“We have established a link with Avondale United in Cork who trav- elled to Mullagh to provide us with our first game. It gathered a large crowd for what was an entertaining

match played in great spirit and en- joyed by all.”

“We are also working with League of Ireland club Athlone Town and will be bringing children to Athlone for some training and some chal- lenge games against local opposi- tion,’ added Mr Egan.

This Sunday night the busy young club will hold its only fundraising event.

The fundraising Race Night will be held in the Quilty Tavern on Sat- urday, May 31 beginning at 9.30pm Serna oy

Anybody interested in any further information about the club or who might like to help in the coaching can contact Tom Egan at 085 7455391.

AS THE WTO grows ever closer, Clare man, Eddie Punch, was at the centre of all the action this week, leading an ICSA delegation to met with EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel in Brussels on Thursday,

Punch and a number of top level ICSA delegates highlighted a number of concerns of Irish farmers regard- ing WTO and the EU health check proposals. The delegation consisted of Punch alongside Malcolm Thomp- son, ICSA president, sheep chairman Mervyn Sunderland and Gabriel Gilmartin, ICSA rural development at-boweet-nee

ICSA emphasised the threat posed

to the beef and lamb sectors by the WTO proposals and_ underlined that even the sensitive status clause would not be sufficient to keep these sectors viable. ICSA also outlined its concerns over modulation proposals that would result in an eight per cent cut in the Single Farm Payment for all payments in excess of €5,000.

“The WTO is now an outdated re- sponse to the issue of global food se- curity. We must first insist on main- taining the viability of the maximum number of EU farmers,” said Mr Punch.

“Europe must retain the ability to feed itself, rather than allowing itself to become over dependent on im- ports. ICSA believes that this WTO round needs to be replaced by a com-

pletely different approach and we will continue to insist that the Irish Government vetos a bad deal.”

He also highlighted the particu- larly difficult circumstances facing the sheep sector and emphasised the importance of implementing key recommendations in the Aylward report. “The priority message that we delivered was that sheep farming would not survive in Europe without a commitment for additional sup- port. However, even this may not be enough if the WTO deal goes ahead,’ he continued.

ICSA also briefed the commis- sioner on the impossibility of get- ting work completed under the Farm Waste Management scheme by the deadline of December 31, 2008.

Following the release of further re- vised papers on Agriculture and Non Agriculture Market Access under WTO, Catherine Buckley, Macra na Feirme National President said it 1s time for the Irish Government to call a hault to Peter Mandelson’s solo run on WTO.

“Mr Mandelson has exceeded his mandate from the European Com- mission and the Irish Government must intervene and put a stop to it, he is failing to recognise the views of all the commission and the heads of state. Mandelson’s open door policy will mean a race to the bottom on production standards, as the market will ultimately be left to imports re- sulting in a Worst Trade Outcome for farmers and consumers,” she said.

SHARON Collins was interested in inheritance and often sought infor- mation on this on computer websites, according to the prosecution.

Prosecutor Tom O’Connell told the jury on the second day of the trial last Thursday, that Ms Collins ar- ranged a marriage to PJ Howard, but he did not go through with it.

“She was keen to get married to Mr Howard. She was very much

concerned with inheritance and fre- quently visited various websites in- terrogating the computer about her position,’ said Mr O’Connell.

He said that after Mr Howard’s wife died in 2003, Ms Collins was “anx- ious and agitating to get married to Mr Howard.

“It seems he didn’t wish to marry her as it would complicate inherit- ance matters. He wanted whatever fortunes he had to go to his two sons.”

“Apparently a marriage was. ar- ranged, at her instigation, to take place in Rome in 2005,” he said.

However, PJ Howard “pulled out” of this, but the couple went to Sor- rento in Italy, where they pledged themselves to each other, “but no marriage took place”.

When the couple returned home, Ms Collins told people that they had got married and a wedding reception took place in Spanish Point in No- vember 2005.

The same year, she “conceived and organised through the internet, a proxy marriage, under Mexican law, that was done without the knowledge of PJ Howard,” said counsel.

He said that Ms Collins paid $US1,295 for a certificate testify- ing to the proxy marriage. The cer- tificate was sent to her accountant in Kilrush, Matt Heslin, and she later collected it there.

On February 22, 2006, she trav- elled to Cork and in due course she

obtained a passport under the name of Sharon Howard.

“She admits obtaining the proxy marriage certificate,” said Mr O’Connell. “It is the State’s case that she intended to use the marriage cer- tificate to stake a claim in PJ’s estate on the death of him and his sons,’ he added.

“It could be inferred by using the documents, she was trying them out to see if they would pass official scrutiny,’ said Mr O’Connell.

THE public will be alerted if water quality in Ennis deteriorates or the risk posed by consumption increas- oe

Town Engineer Tom Tiernan was speaking at the May meeting of En- nis Town Council. Called to defend the council’s handling of a recent En- vironmental Protection Agency re- port critical of water management in Clare, Mr Tiernan said, “When you go out with a message about crypt- osporidium, you create panic”.

Mr Tiernan said that since the in- troduction of a temporary treatment plant, “The risk has not increased, it has reduced. It is absolutely mini- mal”.

Mr Tiernan said on the day the EPA

audit was carried out 17 per cent of the water supply for Ennis did not pass through the filtration system.

Mr Tiernan said, ““We manage the risks, people get the facts if the sup- ply deteriorates or the risk increases. 100 per cent of the water supply is going through the filters for the past few weeks”.

Mr Tiernan said that while certain sections of the community remained vulnerable, the risk of illness from drinking the public water supply had been exaggerated.

He said, “I opened up a prominent tourism website and it stated that En- nis water is unsafe to drink. Some of the pictures put up there send out a scare message about Ennis”.

Town Manager Tom Coughlan said, “If there was an increased risk

the HSE would implement the boil notice. We are trying to manage the situation without provoking panic.” |

Green Party councillor Donal O Bearra criticised the council’s reac- tion to the EPA’s findings.

He said, “In a town that has had water problems for the past 16 years any EPA report should be sent to all councillors. It 1s the public interest that guides us.”

Fianna Fail councillor Tom Glynn said, “I would agree that our image has been damaged. We should be in- formed”.

Fine Gael councillor Johnny Flynn said the EPA report “highlighted the benefits of external auditing”.

A pre-cautionary boil notice re- mains in place in Ennis for vulner- able groups including people with

immuno-suppression, children under five and visitors.

TENSIONS within an Ennis Travel- ler family have escalated since one brother killed another last year.

The revelation emerged during the sentencing hearing of Patrick Mc- Donagh for the manslaughter of his brother, Charlie, in January 2007.

After hearing prosecution and de- fence submissions at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, Mr Justice Paul Carney adjourned sentencing until this (Tuesday) morning and re- manded the accused in custody over-

night.

McDonagh’s | barrister, Brendan Nix, SC, said his client’s family has ostracised him since the incident.

Sergeant Darragh O’Sullivan told the court yesterday that “there were numerous allegations of incidents on both sides”.

However, Mr Nix replied to this, “On both sides? I suggest not.”

He said that the windows on his client’s caravan, which has been lo- cated on the Bishop’s grounds in En- nis for several months, “were put 1n” Ais CO)M nents glare

Caroline Biggs, BL for the Prosecu- tion, told the court that the DPP takes the view that this case came “at the higher end of manslaughter”’.

The accused’s wife Donna — who is pregnant with the couple’s fifth child — told the court she and her husband “deeply regret the death of Charlie and miss him very much”.

“Patrick used to love Charlie to come down to the house,” she said. ‘Patrick is the best husband there 1s. He does everything for me and the kids. His kids are his life, his prior- ity,’ she sobbed.

Psychiatrist Dr John O’Mahony said the accused suffers from post- traumatic stress disorder and depres- sion and is currently on the maxi- mum dose of anti-depressants.

He said he would have “grave con- cerns” about the availability of such treatment in “an average prison” in Ireland. “There is no forensic psy- chiatric service outside the Pale,’ he said.

Asked did McDonagh have remorse for killing his brother, Dr O’Mahony said, “I have no doubt. He sees my- self and a psychologist and a recur-

rent theme is he would do anything he could to bring his brother back. He has frequently expressed a death wish, if he could be dead and his brother alive.”

Mr Nix read out a letter from the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, who referred to the incident as a “dreadful family tragedy”.

Mr Nix said, “People set out to have a few drinks and enjoy each other’s company. Nobody went out that night to cause any insult or injury to any- body. Tempers certainly got the best of everybody.”