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SHIOFRA Keogh aged 14 from Ar- dnacrusha has beaten off creative competition to be announced Octo- ber’s secondary school finalist in the Boyne Valley Book of Kells National Art Competition.

Shiofra produced a bespoke work of art based on the brief of using inspi- ration from either the Book of Kells itself, the monks who wrote and 1I- lustrated it, or life in the 9th century.

Malachy McCloskey, founder and chairman of the Boyne Valley Honey

Company and judge commented: “Shiofra’s creation really stood out from the crowd due to its level of fin- ish, use of colour and overall inter- pretation of the brief.”

Shiofra’s school Laurel Hill in Limerick now goes forward to the final, held in March 2010, and is in with a chance to win a Fine Art Facsimile copy of the Book of Kells worth €20,000.

Over the Christmas period Boyne Valley Honey is encouraging fami- lies to take advantage of the time off, and get the creative juices flowing by

entering – there are still four chances left with finalists being announced each month from now until March 2010.

Three Fine Art Facsimiles of The Book of Kells worth €20,000 each will be presented to the primary and secondary winning schools and to the individual from the third level and adult category, with runners up receiving cash prizes of €100, €250 Ane OOO OF

Miriam O’Callaghan who helped to launch the competition in September commented: “It’s a great initiative. The judges are looking for creativity, individuality and real pride in work. The Book of Kells is a national, vis- ual treasure, SO we expect exciting works of art to be created!”

Judges include; Malachy McClos- key, founder and chairman of the Boyne Valley Honey Company; Des Egan, renowned poet; Robin Adams, College Librarian and Archivist, Trinity College; Edward McPart- land, Fellow Emeritus, History of Art, Trinity College.

The culmination of the competition will be an exhibition of winning en- tries, with winners being presented their prizes by Miriam O’Callaghan.

See | www.boynevalleyhoneyart. com for further details / to enter or check us out on Facebook / Bebo.

Local wisdom can reduce flood risk

A STUDENT of St Anne’s Com- munity College, Killaloe, was one of the ten highest achievers in this year’s Junior Certificate engineering examination.

Christopher Balfe of Clonfada, Killaloe, brought the honour to the East Clare academy. He is son of Anne and Brendan Balfe and now in fourth year.

He has received a special certifi- cate from the Engineering Teachers Association of Ireland in recognition of an outstanding performance.

The presentation was made in Lim- erick Institute of Technology at a cer- emony attended by his family, John Fitzgibbon, principal of St. Anne’s, and Raymond Murray, teacher.

Christopher (left) is a keen sport- sperson and is a member of Smith O’Brien’s hurling teams.

ENNIS Town Council has been urged to listen to the views of the local peo- ple when it re-evaluates its flood risk assessment for all areas of Ennis.

Speaking at yesterday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) said local people, par- ticularly elder members of the com- munity, should be given an input into the assessment.

He said, “Will you take local knowledge into account before you get consultants to look at photos? Listen to the local people.” During last month’s period of heavy flood- ing, areas of Ennis were washed out after drains overflowed.

Cllr Brennan told yesterday’s meet- ing that some drains in the town “had not been touched in 40 years”.

“Talk to local people and sit down with the older people. They know where the water goes,’ he said.

Town Engineer Eamon O’Dea con- firmed yesterday that the council will be evaluating recent flood events.

In response to a motion submit- ted by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP), Mr O’Dea stated, “Following the evalu- ation of the recent flooding events in certain parts of Ennis, the council will be seeking funding to carry out works to reduce the impact of heavy rainfall events on certain areas of the rena tae

Mr O’Dea said the council had col- lected a substantial amount of data on the recent flooding. He also re-it-

erated that if it weren’t for improved river wall defences at Parnell Street and Woodquay, floodwater would have reached as far as Clonroad.

Cllr Meaney’s motion along with that of Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG), which calls for the construction and re-location of a flood barrage from Latoon to Clarecastle, will be sub- mitted to the next meeting of Clare County Council.

Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab) asked how much the council had spent on hous- ing a flood hit Traveller family of

nine in the West County Hotel.

Town Manager Ger Dollard told the meeting that he did not know the cost. He said the number of people currently in temporary hotel accom- modation as a result of flooding was going down.

Figures supplied yesterday by En- nis Town Council showed that of the 28 local authority houses damaged by floods, 23 were evacuated with 21 of those families being housed in the West County Hotel.

According to the council two fami-

lies have returned home, three have been temporarily housed in Ennis Town Council accommodation and 11 have secured private rented ac- commodation.

In terms of repairs 18 homes are ex- pected to be ready before Christmas with the balance through January.

IT’s the time of year when people’s thought turn to the first Christmas. But the East Clare Musical Society will be taking audiences on a jour- ney to the other end of that story when they stage their new produc- tion, starting tomorrow, December 9 and running until December 13. Described as the greatest story ever told, the musical has played all over the world and tells the tale of the fi-

nal week in the life of Jesus of Naza- olsen

The East Clare Musical Society have enlisted the talents of young- sters from Scariff Community Col- lege and East Clare national Schools to stage the all singing, all dancing production.

This spectacular rock musical fol- lows the last week of Jesus’ life, as told through the eyes of Judas. Au- diences will be enthralled with this incredibly moving show which is en-

tirely sung.

“It is an amazing story of love, friendship and ultimately betrayal.” the Musical Society’s Martina Canny SnCOE

The songs from the show have be- come so familiar that they are now classics, although when the parent production first opened – almost five decades ago now – it caused huge controversy because of the modern nature of it’s portrayal of Chris and particularly of Mary Magdalene as

she sang “I don’t know how to love avbee eae

The cast are gathered from all over East Clare and this year the show will run for five nights.

The Society have gained loyal sup- port in the years since they started staging productions, with the tongue- in-cheek production of ‘God Bless Archie Dean, followed by ‘Oakla- homa’ ‘Some Like it Hot.

The group recently held open evenings to get the numbers they

would need for crowd scenes in this year’s productions, but they came up against a problem with finding the twelve wise and holy men need to pay Christ’s apostles. ““We did have a bit of a search to find twelve men to play the apostles – we had to resur- rect a few of the lads.” said Martina.

There 1s a special reduced ticket price of €10 for Wednesday night and €15 for every other night.

Tickets will be available at Roger’s Centra or on the door.

yesterday (Monday) that the breast cancer screening unit will definitely be lo- cated in the county town, Ennis, but an exact location has not yet been

HCO CCVOLBUOLSLOME-DALG M-ea Rolo D

The unit is large and is usually lo- cated on the site of hospitals or in large car parks with nearby facili- Woe

Screening of women for breast can- cer began in Clare in August 2009 when women from the north of the county were invited to attend the BreastCheck Western Unit in Gal- WEN

A mobile unit must be rolled out to cater for the rest of the women in the county.

Breast cancer screening has been available in other parts of the coun- try for more than seven years, and women in Roscommon who, like

Clare women, are in the HSE West area, were last June invited for their second round of screening.

There are in excess of 8,000 eligible women from Clare to be screened.

BreastCheck provides free mam- mograms (breast x-rays) to women aged 50 to 64 on an area-by-area ba- sis, reflective of electoral divisions, every two years.

Women aged 50 to 64 in Counties Clare, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo and Tip- perary north are screened from the BreastCheck Western Unit and at- tached mobile digital screening OTOP LAE

BreastCheck advises all women

aged 50 to 64 to check that they are on the BreastCheck register.

Once on the register and known to the programme, women will auto- matically receive a BreastCheck ap- pointment.

Since early March, the breast clinic at the Mid Western Regional Hos- pital Limerick – the centre of excel- lence for the mid-west – is only pro- viding symptomatic mammography, with routine screening mammogra- phy now falling under the auspices of BreastCheck.

For more than a year, women from Clare, seeking a routine mammo- eramme (breast x-ray) had to pay privately for it in Galway.

CLUBS from across Clare’s soccer community are coming together to support an end of year fundraiser for the Clare Hospice, Cahercalla.

‘Soccer for Cahercalla’ – a super soccer blitz for boys and girls aged between six and 11 – takes place at the Lees Road sports complex, Ennis on Saturday, December 19.

All monies received from the blitz and supporting activities will go towards the Clare Hospice, Caher- calla.

The event is being organised by Robert McCarthy and his family with the help of many volounteers. Ennis- native Robert has been involved with underage soccer for many years and is currently manager of Avenue Unit- ed’s under 13 A team. His mother,

Kathleen, died on October 5 in the Hospice in Cahercalla.

Robert explained that the care Kathleen received and the support given to her family by the nursing team, doctors and support staff will never be forgotten.

“Tt is likely that almost every fam- ily in Clare at one time or another has or will need the facilities the Clare Hospice provides. To survive however the hospice needs our finan- cial help and this fundraiser from the Clare schoolboy/girl soccer commu- nity will help a great deal.”

Robert has set a fundraising tar- get of €5,000, but given the strong level of support the tournament has already received from the Clare schoolboys/girls soccer league, clubs, parents and staff at Lees Road, he is optimistic that the target can be

surpassed.

‘A lot of businesses have come on board, so we’re very optimistic that we’ll surpass the €5,000 target. I’ve been seriously taken aback by the amount of ordinary Joe-soaps who’ ve given €5 or €10. All the referees are giving their time on the day. It’s a huge community effort,” he said.

The focus of the event is fun for all the family but with some keen com- petitive action. Clubs are invited to bring along as many children as they wish. Games will be in 15 minutes in total and all children will have equal Oe-Nauercan ape nten

In addition to the soccer action, there will be lots of other activities for the family to enjoy and rumour has it that there may even be a visit from Santa and friends.

Registration takes place on the

morning of December 19. Clubs are asked to make a small donation to the Clare Hospice and each child is asked to bring €5 donation or what- ever they can afford.

The donation is not a requirement of participation and every child is welcome.

Robert hopes that the tournament can become an annual event. “We’d be looking to expand it next year. There is a lot of organisation with doing it the first year, but after that it should be easier the next year. We’ve built up a lot of links with clubs. Next year we’d be looking to invite teams from Limerick, Kerry, Galway.”

A CAUTIONARY budget for the county that outlines serious concerns about companies and _ businesses closing, and predicts a further drop in council income sources was un- (JOM) I ECOL AYA

At a special meeting the council members unanimously approved the 2010 budget which is five per cent less than last year with a gross ex- penditure of €112.6 million.

In drawing up and passing the budget the council had to use a cer- tain amount of guess work as the Minister for the Environment, Her- itage and Local Government John Gormley (GP) still had not advised the council of its Local Government Fund allocation for 2010.

The budget was framed therefore on the assumption that the fund would be 7.5 per cent less than last year or €1.1 million.

County Manager Tom Coughlan told the members of the council that the reduction in any public sector pay, predicted in the national budg- et, and the addition of additional sources funding such as the charge introduced on non-principal private residents, would be off set by this 7.5 OX ee MR LU(eLBLO IE

The budget has also been prepared on the presumption that a €400,000 allocation for water services will be forthcoming, an accepted additional risk to the income for budget 2010.

The council agreed to maintain the commercial rates at its current level in a bid to support the business com- munity.

According to the budget estimates “the effective valuation of Clare

County Council has increased over that provided for in 2009 generating additional income of €62,000”

“While this valuation listing in- crease 1S positive, an indepth review of our commercial valuation base identifies an increased number of va- cant premises,’ reported Mr Cough- Tee

“In addition the increase in the number of companies closing down, going into liquidation, examinership

and receivership in 2009 to date is a cause of serious concern.

The budget therefore provides for an increased level or rates refunds and irrecoverable rates of €500,000 over 2009 levels.

This represents an overall cost of approximately eight per cent on the eI Kem oyster

The council remains in the dark re- garding its exact funding for roads, as this Government Allocation is not

usually announced until early in the New Year.

The budget passed on Friday is therefore based on the presumption that the road grant for 2010 will re- main the same as 2009.

Roads own recourses are the only expenditure area that has been in- creased over 2009 levels.

WHAT to do when recession bites and bites hard?

You could always take the emi- grant’s boat and become another one of the farflung Clare diaspora in some nook or cranny of the globe, but do that and you’d probably find that it’s biting wherever you go to.

Why not go to school on the re- cession instead? Look around the county and beyond and see if there’s a niche business opportunity there, something with recession in mind, but at the same time something that could under the radar of the reces- sion at the same time.

It’s what one enterprising law graduate is about to do this week — it’s not a case of undercutting the bevy of solictors in town by offering legal aid at knockdown prices.

“Knockdown prices yes,’ says Fiona Allen, “but nothing to do with law,” she adds setting out on a ca- reer path totally divergent from the EM

‘I hope and intend to go back into the law,” she says, “but for the time being I think there’s a real niche market out there for vintage design- er clothes in Ennis.

“I know there are other shops out there that you’d call second hand shops, but this is different,” she stresses. “It’s hard to get work in the law at present and I looked at a dif- ferent avenue to explore and came up with this. I always had a huge interest in fashion and felt there was a huge opening in Ennis for a shop that catered for young people interested in vintage and designer clothes at a fraction of what you’d pay on the high street.

“The shop is mixture of vintage used clothes for both men and wom-

en and designer clothes from recent fashion graduates. There are also accessories like shoes, hats and jew- ellery. And all the items are hand- picked, but going around to shops in places like London, Leeds, Bel- fast and Amsterdam — nothing was bought on the internet or from cata- logues,’ she adds.

And, Babylon that’s located in the basement of number two Bank Place also offers something different in

what could be described as a throw- back to different retail times.

“It’s not just clothes on rails,” says Allen, “but it’s like a shop/house with antique furniture, Victorian china and a burning fire going, etc. It’s a little bit different to your or- dinary retail experience. It’s off the beaten track and what people will be able to buy are distintive one-off pieces that you wouldn’t see any- Where else and I’m really looking

forward to the opening this Saturday where there’ll be plenty wine, the burning hot fire and those clothes at knockdown prices.”

A MID-AFTERNOON head-on col- lision between two cars close to the townland of Darragh resulted in both drivers being killed, an inquest into their deaths has heard.

Peter Beckley, a 40-year-old man who lived in Tullycrine, Cooraclare, and Raymond Stack, aged 61, from Limerick, lost their lives in the ac- cident at Bansha, Darragh — on the main Ennis/Kilrush road — on the afternoon of July 16 last.

Teresa Lyons, a paramedic, had at- tended an inquest in Kilrush that af-

ternoon.

She was on her way back to En- nis and was travelling behind a Ford Mondeo car. She noticed the Mondeo overtaking a number of vehicles when it was safe to do so.

A short distance before she reached Darragh, she noticed the Mondeo pulling out again “in what appeared to be an overtaking manoeuvre.”

She saw a Silver vehicle approach- ing. “My immediate thought was that these two vehicles were going to col- lide,” she said.

She said that the Mondeo then ap- peared to spin around in mid-air and

the other vehicle, a silver Volvo, spun to her right-hand side and ended up near a fence.

She stopped her car and contacted the emergency services.

She went over to the cars and saw that a child was crying in the Mondeo. The child was thrown across the back seat of the car, but was still in the child’s seat. Ms Lyons said she tried to find a pulse in the man in the Mondeo but was unable to do so.

She said she believed the Mondeo was travelling at a speed of between 50 and 60 miles per hour at the time.

Mr Stack’s wife Ann recalled trav- elling in the car with her husband and their grandson, Donnacha. They had left Kilkee at around 3.25pm, having been in Doonbeg earlier.

She remembered her husband driv- ing along and all of a sudden there was an accident. She was taken to hospital, where she was treated for injuries.

The inquest heard that both men were pronounced dead by a doctor at the scene of the accident, shortly before 6.30pm.

Garda Niall Doody explained that he received a call to attend the scene

of an accident at 3.55pm that after- noon. He said it was a dry, clear, sun- ny day. He said that Mr Beckley had been driving a Volvo, while Mr Stack had been driving a Mondeo.

There was no response from either driver when he checked for pulses. He said that the bodies were removed from the scene shortly before 7pm.

Post mortem examinations con- cluded that both men died due to multiple traumatic injuries including Skull fractures, consistent with hav- ing been involved in a road accident. Verdicts of accidental death were re- turned in both cases.