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LIGHT, darkness and all the (lumi- nous) grey areas in between form the driving thematic forces behind this year’s Masters Of Fine Art Exhibi- tion at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan.

The exhibition, which is entitled ‘Quiet Dark Bonkers’, opened over the weekend and features the work of graduating Masters students Pam O’Connell, Aoife Cassidy and Cas- sandra Dorer.

“My focus in this exhibition is darkness in art. When I came to the Burren originally I was focusing on

brightness and happy paintings. But when I had my tutorials, my tutors used to say that my work wasn’t re- ally very happy at all. I disagreed with them and, instead of knocking it, I started to explore the darker side in art,’ said Pam O’Connell.

“T work in a diverse range of medi- ums. I am working firstly with clay and from the clay comes the paint- ings and the photographs. So there is a connection and a progression through the pieces.”

Pam, Aoife and Cassandra are the only Masters of Fine Arts Students that will graduate in Ireland, outside of Dublin, this year.

“Like Pam, I am quite drawn to the darker side, but I use a lot of humour as well. So I use a lot of glitter and fluorescence and childlike materials, so you wouldn’t know straight away exactly what the work is about,” said Aoife Cassidy.

“The work is really a homage to people who suffer from mental ill- ness. In this exhibition, I am really trying to push my own limitations and the audience’s limitations. For example, I have one room, I call it the Bird Hide, and I’m hoping to invoke the feeling of panic.”

Cassandra Dorer said, ““My work is nearly the opposite of the other two.

I am looking to create a quiet area of stillness with the idea that people can reflect on their own thoughts.

“The painting are based loosely on the landscape but there is little or no definite imagery in them. So a lot of it is based on colour as an emo- tive force. I think that the landscape here plays a big part in the work, the feeling or sense of spirituality in this area and in the west of Ireland as a whole.”

The exhibition will run daily until JDuCCl \Avate ul mene

To view some images from the exhibition, turn to page 45 of Clare- LIFE.

MACRA NA FEIRME has launched a scathing attack on the latest de- velopments coming from the World Trade Organisation talks, saying it would devastate the Irish agriculture industry.

Ms Buckley pointed out that the future of agriculture in this country was very much dependent on the out- come of the forthcoming WTO nego- tiations and warned that freer world trade is likely to lead to international food markets becoming like interna- tional energy markets, where low- cost economies could dominate and control world food markets through OPEC, like cartels.

“On the one hand, Europe under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) wants a European agricultural sec- tor based on a multifunctional model and with a commitment to encourage and make it easier for young people to enter the agri-food sector. Yet on the other hand, EU Trade Commis- sioner Mandelson is determined to dismantle and destroy the agricul- tural industry for young farmers.” she said.

GiecoNehmrecomat Ammo o mee EU farm holdings are run by farm- ers over 55 years of age and this situation will deteriorate further if Commissioner Mandelson is left to demolish the CAP, as young farmers who are responsible for the future of

the European farming sector will not select agriculture as a livelihood.

“Young farmers are just as fo- cussed as any other business people. They weigh up the return for their investment of labour and capital and, if it does not stack up, they won’t stay farming purely for the love of the land,” said Buckley.

“If this deal is to proceed, why would young people select agricul- ture as a career choice?”

Buckley said it was clear that Mr Mandelson has exceeded his mandate from the European Commission and is making disastrous blunders in the ongoing negotiations. The leader of the young farmer organisation, said that Mr Mandelson appeared deter-

mined to pursue a reckless strategy, of maximising market access for European companies involved in industry and services, while simulta- neously selling out on the EU agri- cultural sector.

‘“‘Mandelson’s open door policy will mean a race to the bottom on produc- tion standards, as the market will ul- timately be left to imports.”

“It is absolutely vital that the EU retains its own clean, safe food sup- ply, produced only under conditions acceptable to EU citizens. One only has to look at recent developments such as Foot and Mouth in South America and Bird Flu, to see the importance of being self sufficient when it comes to food.”

in Clare when he dropped his bombshell in Dail Eireann by mak- ing a complete u-turn on Ms Ge-

oghegan Quinn’s decision and sacri- ficing the special status Shannon had enjoyed since it became a world hub for transatlantic air traffic in the late ees

A radical restructuring blueprint put forward for the national carrier, Aer Lingus, by its then executive chairman, Bernie Cahill, proposing the abolition of the stopover was put forward by Cowen in the Dail and endorsed by 80 votes to 52.

However, the decision had short- term consequences for the Fianna Fail organisation in Clare, with Dep- uties Sile de Valera and Tony Killeen resigning the party whip in protest.

This lead from Clare’s two Fianna Fail TDs was followed by similar resignations by the 17-strong Fianna Fail complement on Clare County Council. It meant that for a period of six months before the councillors’ return to the fold, Fianna Fail was no longer the majority party on the local authority for the first time in over 60 erase

THE players of the Corofin Drama Society will next week make the long trek to Strabane in Tyrone where they will fly the flag for Clare in the All- Ireland One-Act Play Finals.

The society has cleaned the boards in all competitions so far this year, taking four first-place and two sec- ond-place finishes out of six com- petitions, and are full of confidence going up north.

Local people are being offered one last chance to catch their spectacular production of “The Beauty Queen of Leenane’, which will be staged in Corofin this Friday, April 11 from §.30pm.

“It’s a great play in the first place. It’s a lot easier to get an audience to really enjoy a play if it’s a great play to begin with,’ said producer John Clancy.

“Our cast in this play deserve a lot of credit. They have won a lot of awards among them for their per- formances. But the unsung heroes are the guys who work behind the scenes, who set off at eight in the morning and get the show ready and then bring the whole lot home at God knows what time when everything is finished. You can’t do it without these people.”

This will be the society’s last time to play in front of a home audience before they take on the best in the

country at the national finals, which will take place in Strabane from Friday, April 18 to Saturday, 26 of ele

“This is our second time reaching the All-Ireland. The last time was in 1985 with a production of *Phila- delphia Here I Come’. We still have a few of the people involved from those days. We have Eileen Lahiffe, Peter Daffy, Rhona Lyons and Willie Lahiffe, of course,’ continued John.

“We did the play in Corofin before we Started on the circuit. We got a great response. There would always be a good regular crowd here in Corofin who would come along and tell you what they thought about it.

“But now that we have had that bit

of extra success, we are hoping to get some local people who might not usually come to plays to come along. The parish is buzzing with talk about the play so we are hoping that we will get a lot of new people in for a look.”

The Corofin Drama Society are the only Clare group to make it as far as the All-Ireland Final this year.

AS THE EU treaty referendum draws ever closer, Clare TD, Timmy Dooley (FF) has warned Clare farm- ers that he believes a no vote would seriously harm Clare farming com- munities.

“Treland always has issues to deal with of a national importance in Eu- rope. But we must deal with these is- sues from a position of strength and not from a position of weakness,’ he said.

“A No vote against this treaty would weaken Ireland’s future negotiating capacity at a European level.

For example, the Common Agri- cultural Policy for the period 2009 – 2013 is being reviewed over the

next six to eight months under the forthcoming French Presidency of the European Union.

“From an Irish viewpoint, there are a number of serious issues in the context of this CAP review that we want dealt with during this review OKO en cee

According to Dooley, a no vote against this EU treaty will weaken Ireland’s negotiating hand during this CAP review process.

“I would also like to remind farm- ers that Libertas, which is leading the No campaign with Sinn Fein against this treaty, wants to destroy the Common Agricultural Policy in its entirety,” he continued.

“IT am not satisfied that Peter Man- delson is adequately dealing with

Irish concerns in the context of the Doha round of World Trade Talks. His negotiating approach has been an unbalanced one. The Irish beef industry is the fourth largest beef industry in the world after America, Brazil and Australia.

“We must continue to impress upon Peter Mandelson that his negotiat- ing strategy is simply a wrong one. At the last meeting of EU Agricul- ture Ministers, 20 countries out of 27 spoke out against his negotiating strategy.

“This round of WTO talks has been going on for the past six years in Ge- neva and these talks are not without difficulty.

“No WTO deal can be secured un- less there is an agreement on what 1s

known as non-agricultural market CCAS

“The EU has asked that Brazil, China and India open up their mar- kets to imports of goods and services from the developing world but the ef- forts of the EU have been met with strong opposition from these three countries to date.

“Between the years 2007 and 2013 Irish farmers and rural Irish commu- nities are receiving €12.2 billion in financial support from the European Union for the operation of the annual single farm payment and a variety of other different programmes includ- ing the rural environment protection scheme, on farm investment, re-for- estation initiatives and the disadvan- taged area programme.”

THE Government’s commitment to the mid-west has been called into question after legislation was de- ferred for the development of a new €20 million Customs and Borders facility at Shannon in time for the busy Summer season.

In order for the facility to proceed, the Government needs to have put legislation in place and concluded talks with US authorities. However, the necessary legislation was not on the schedule of bills to be enacted before the summer recess which was published by the Government last week.

Last year, the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) secured planning permission for the proposal and is ready to construct the facility once legislation is passed. In response to questions from Deputies Joe Carey and Pat Breen, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey said that negotiations took place with the US authorities on January 29 and further discussions are envisaged.

“I look forward to making good progress with the US authorities in the period ahead,” he said. “Given HD OT-LaM A OCoam OOTeTARe) MB KCMIO DOOMED OLOLs) um t(ox%O]8T- tion it is too early to say when I will be in a position to publish any neces- sary legislation.”

This failure to have the legislation in place to coincide with the ending of the ‘Shannon stop-over’ follows the months-long delay in publishing the economic and tourism plan for Shan- non. Earlier drafts contained a com- mitment to provide €20 million over five years. However, this was deleted from the plan published in January and the region is to receive only €3 million for a marketing campaign for the US and UK this year.

Deputy Joe Carey commented yes- terday, “Despite promises, this Gov- ernment has not delivered for Shan- non and the mid-west. I understand negotiations with the US authorities are still ongoing but it was intended

that these negotiations would be completed before open-skies came into effect. This hasn’t happened.

“I also note that the Minister for Justice did not discuss the extension of the customs and borders facility at Shannon when he visited the US re- cently. I find that very disappointing.

“IT am calling for the new Fianna Fail leader to take an active interest in the issues facing this region. I ask that the negotiations with the US be committed to wholeheartedly, and that a comprehensive, adequately funded marketing and promotion fund is put in place immediately to advance the positives of this region to the international market,’ he added.

AN effort to adapt to the changing needs in a parish in east Clare will be made over the coming weeks When locals compile a community TOTS H ESE

Through the initiative, all 1,200 households in Parteen, Meelick and Coonagh will receive ‘listening census’ forms in the coming weeks. They will be asked to fill out the forms and return them to the organ- isers of the initiative, the parish pas- toral council.

The aim behind this project is to compile a list of events and initia- tives that locals feel are lacking. The organisers then plan to do as much as

they can to implement key changes in the local community and address the needs highlighted in the census.

The forms are divided into three areas – how local communication can be improved, suggestions regarding social improvement in the commu- nity and involvement in church ac- tivities.

Residents are also being encour- aged to make any additional sugges- tions which they think would help develop the community.

Project manager Peter O’ Mahony explained the idea to carry out this research.

‘Towards the end of last year, we realised it was getting more difficult to get in touch with every household

in the county. We then came up with the idea of a listening census.

“It means that we will listen to the community and then inform them we do have an active community. They will be asked if they would like to be involved locally,” said Mr O’ Mahony.

This census will vary in some ways, to the national census of population, which was compiled last year.

“It is different in that it 1s option- al. You are not obliged to fill it out. While the national census 1s to iden- tify future needs, we don’t have in- dependent funding as it is voluntary work,’ he added.

“One of the first things we will do is get an email address, phone number

and postal address for every house in the community. It is about forming a key part of our new communications strategy which is going to allow the community to communicate better with itself,’ he added.

They said that the third part of the census, which relates to the church, will give people the opportunity to get involved in this particular area.

— was quizmaster for the tense and action-packed two-and-a-half hour final. This was the 17th Credit Unions quiz and Doolin took vic- tory in the Under-13 competition. The team was made up of Keelan McMahon, David Nagle, Orla Burke and David Sims.

After five rounds, they trailed the leaders by three points. At the 10th round, they were one point behind the current leaders (Ennis National

School).

In the 11th round, they got six clear points and were catapulted into the lead. And in the last round, if they scored three points they were tied; but four or more points meant they had won. They scored five points and were the clear and final winners.

Winning team members each re- ceived a Sony PSP and commemo- rative salver, while their school re- ceived €1,270 and the Credit Unions Schools Quiz cup. Every finalist also received a special certificate marking their achievement and a fun gift-bag filled with goodies.

Uel Adair, President of the Irish League of Credit Unions, presented the winning teams with their prizes.

“It’s always exciting for us in the Credit Union movement to see an event like this.

“Here are great teams of young people who have shown that hard work and a great team spirit can tri- umph when it matters,” he said.

Congratulating the winners and all the finalists on their dedication and achievements, Mr Adair added that, ‘For the past 17 years, we have organ- ised and funded our quiz to help stim- ulate children’s curiosity about the world around them, as well as helping them to develop their research, social- ising and teamwork skills.”

NUMBERS unemployed in Clare have reached an 11 year high accord- ing to the latest figures from the Cen- tral Statistics Office (CSO). The live register now totals 5,126 — the high- est number since March 1997 when 5,253 were unemployed.

The figures show that the unem- ployment rate has increased by al- most 20% in the past 12 months, the lowest level having been in October 2000 when only 2,778 were on the live register.

The slowdown in the Clare con- struction sector in recent months is believed to be responsible for a large

slice of the increase.

It’s not all bad economic news for Clare, however. Ennis has proved to be one of just two towns in Ireland that are bucking the national trend of a shopping slowdown.

According to a _ just-published Retail Excellence Ireland review, O’Connell Street saw an increase of 39% in terms of hourly footfall be- tween March 2006 and March 2007. The number of people shopping in the street was up from 1,917 per hour to 2,658 per hour.

Responding to the unemployment figures, Deputy Joe Carey (FG) called for the fundamentals of bal- anced regional development to be

implemented to ensure Clare is well- positioned should the economy re- bound later this year.

“There is little doubt that the in- ternational banking and credit crisis has impacted on the Irish economy, fuelled by a downturn in the housing market, and I believe that sustained investment in the mid-west is vital for the region,’ he said.

On recent job losses in Clare, Dep- uty Carey commented: “We have seen these at companies such as Aer Lingus, Tyco Electronics, John Crane Ltd and Thompson Financial. We have also seen companies going on three-day weeks, unsure of what their future 1s.

“We have not seen this rate of in- crease for a very long time and there is nothing to indicate that either the rate or overall number will abate in the near future.

“So, as far as the region’s econom- icS are concerned, we need to start boxing clever”

Sinn Féin spokesperson Cathy McCafferty reacted to the CSO fig- ures, “The blame for this increase lies squarely with Government. De- spite unprecedented tax returns over a number of years the Goverment failed to plan ahead, deciding in- stead to rely on construction and the spending boom to keep the economy on track.”

DUST off your best rags, or better yet, come along to the Scariff Fash- ion Show which takes place later this week. The show, which is a charity event, takes place on Friday evening in the Scariff Community College from 8pm.

“The show is a fundraiser for the playground and for the Harbour Fes- tival Family Fun Day. We have all local amateur models, and they will be modeling clothes from the spring/ summer 2008 collection from some fabulous shops in Killaloe, Scaruiff, Feakle and one from Shannon,” said one of the organiser’s, Joan Crotty.

“There 1s good craic to be had out of the show, especially with the local

models. We have around 450 tickets sold at this stage so I would say that people are really looking forward to ia

The show will include a wide va- riety of clothing and is sure to have something to meet everyone’s taste.

“We have one menswear shop, one children’s shop, one costume hire shop and the rest then are ladies bou- tiques, inlcuding one show boutique, ’ continued Joan.

“We even have one shop which includes organic clothing which is something a bit different.”

Work has already began on the Scariff playground and some of the money raised will go to that very worthy cause.

“A lot of events are being organ-

ised to fundraise for the playground and they have received some grant funding also, but there is still more than €50,000 to be collected for it,” continued Joan.

‘The rest of the money will go to- wards the Scariff Harbour Festival’s Family Fun Day. The festival takes place each year on the August Bank Holiday weekend. On the Saturday of the festival we like to organise this fun day for young people and ie Daee sony

“We have puppet shows, bouncy castles, slides and lots of other in- flatables. We try to keep the price as low as we possibly can for people. Last year we were able to give the children access to all of the enter- tainment and a Supermacs meal for

just €3 each. So the more money we raise the more things we will be able to organise for this great fun day for all the family.”

“There will be a superb raffle on the night with over 100 prizes on of- fer, with a value of over €3,500 in total. Prizes include a family week- end break, hampers, concert tickets, gift vouchers, bouquest of flowers, a designer handbag and jewellery, to name but a few.”

The fashion show takes place this Friday, April 11, at Scariff Commu- nity College. It begins at 8pm with a cheese and wine reception.

Tickets are available from Karena’s Boutique, Centra Supermarnet and from O’Meara’s Pharmacy in Scar- hee