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THE importance of continued re- search and innovation in the food industry was highlighted last week with the announcement of a major new postgraduate programme in- volving two of Ireland’s foremost universities and Teagasc.

The Minister for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan, last week launched the new initiative in postgraduate educa- tion in the agri-food sector. The Food Graduate Development Programme, has been allocated funding of €1.1 million for a five-year period by the Department of Agriculture under the Food Institutional Research Measure Coa OR

Pioneered jointly by Teagasc, Uni-

versity College, Dublin (UCD) and University College, Cork (UCC), the Food Graduate Development Pro- gramme will provide skills training to postgraduate students and research staff in Universities and Research institutions in Ireland engaged in FIRM food research projects.

The project is being co-ordinated by Professor Michael Gibney, Pro- fessor of Food and Health at UCD and the Director of Training is Dr Alan Kelly, Dean of Graduate Stud- ies at UCC.

“The aim of my Department, in funding the Programme, is to ad- dress the needs of the food industry by ensuring that postgraduate stu- dents and research staff engaged in food research projects gain an un-

derstanding of industry expectations and skills required for duties requir- ing rapid decisions on problem solv- ing in an industrial environment,’ said Minister Coughlan at last weeks launch.

This will complement the research skills acquired in the course of their research projects.”

Speaking after the launch, Profes- sor Mike Gibney, Professor of Food and Health at UCD, said that the overall objective of the Programme is to improve skills training through the creation of a modularised series of graduate training programmes.

Programme modules will have a strong emphasis on the skills re- quired of leaders in the agri-food sector, food industry and other re-

search institutions nationally and internationally.

Dr Alan Kelly, Dean of Gradu- ate Studies at UCC and Director of Training of the Programme, high- lighted the changing national context of postgraduate education and con- tinuing professional development, Where inter-institutional collabora- tion delivering high-level transfer- able skills allowing graduates to make the maximum impact in their careers in the knowledge economy. He described the Food programme as a pioneering model for how such programmes may develop in the fu- ne Ken

For more information on the Food Graduate Development Programme, check out www.foodpostgrad.1ie.

ENNIS Town Council is looking to win support for a proposal that would see the council increased from nine to 12 members.

Green Party councillor Donal O’Bearra put forward the motion calling for the council to make a submission to the local electoral area boundary committees to increase the number of council seats to 12.

Cllr O’Bearra said the explosion in development around the fringes of Ennis and the increases in popula- tion called for the expansion for the council.

He said, “I think it was the late ‘80s since the last changes were made to the Ennis boundary. We have spoken before about increasing the council membership from nine to 12 mem- lero Ece

“I think it’s time we make a sub- mission for greater representation on the council.”

Fianna Fail councillor Tom Glynn supported Cllr O’Bearra’s motion. He said the council had to look at in- creasing membership in the context of recent discussions on the exten-

sion of the Ennis boundary.

He said, “I think this is a good op- portunity to go ahead and do this, particularly when we are looking at increasing the town boundary. | defi- nitely would second that motion.”

The motion for the local electoral area boundary committees will also include a request for the regulations for independent candidates standing in local elections to be modified.

Independent candidates are re- quired to obtain the signatories of 14 people before their name can be put on the ballot paper.

Independent councillor Brennan said the procedure should only apply to independents seeking election for the first time.

“I don’t see why we should have to do the same thing again and again. If it’s for first-time candidates that’s fair enough, but I think it is unfair that we are discriminated against.”

Cllr Tom Glynn maintained candi- dates from political parties faced a similar challenge in trying to win the support of their part colleagues.

He said, “Its different but it’s the same. You don’t have to go before a political party.”

SCHOOL management at Ennis CBS Bunscoil, say the cost of using the Fairgreen means the school will have to cut back it’s physical activity joyueycau-beavea en

In a letter to Ennis Town Council, school principal Br Liam de Rdiste, Chairperson of the Board of Manage- ment Michael Gallagher and Chair- person of the Parent’s Association Jim McMahon, state that the charge imposed by the council for using the facility, is creating a serious financial burden on the school.

In 2006 the council approved a new rate paying system of €15 for a two hour slot in Tim Smythe Park, for clubs and sporting organisations, de-

spite calls for a special dispensation to be given to the school.

In the letter, school management express their disappointment that the council is continuing to charge for the use of the Fairgreen and has described the €750 bill the school has received for 100 hours usage as mo eles waste le ian

“We believe in the present climate of financial constraints on schools, that our request for special consider- ation (free usage) to continue to offer a comprehensive sports programme was both reasonable and deserving. We are disappointed that Ennis Town Council seemingly felt otherwise.

“We would humbly request that En- nis Town Council would reconsider its decision or at least assist us in

some way to continue our sporting programme, bearing in mind that we are a non-profit making organisation Surviving on the meagre finances re- ceived from the Department of Edu- cation and Science”.

The letter acknowledges the coun- cil’s ongoing efforts to provide sport- ing and recreational facilities in En- ah

“In an age of computer technology itis crucial that the youth of our town have facilities 1n which they can ac- tively participate in sporting and out- door activities. Ennis Town Council has been to the fore in providing these facilities.”

However, management say that un- der the present financial situation, the school will have to review its sports

programme.

“We would, with modesty, say that we have contributed in no small way to the development of this town and beyond. We have been able to do this because we have had the use of the excellent Fairgreen facility to com- pliment our pitch. However, due to your decision, we will now have to review our monetary constraints”.

Speaking at Thursday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council. Mayor Tommy Brennan said that the flat rate system had been introduced in the interests of fairness and all users.

He said “It was a small bit of money and we agreed on it at the time. If it is free for the CBS then it has to be free for every other school, and sports club in Ennis”

THE Irish Farmers Association are gearing up for a major fight in the coming days on the issue of the World Trade Organisation. That was the message that came from an emer- gency meeting of the IFA Executive Council in Portlaoise on Thursday night.

The meeting was called in response to what the IFA called “the immedi- ate threat that the EU Trade Com- missioner, Peter Mandelson, would sell out Irish agriculture and particu- larly the beef and livestock sector”.

Michael Treacy from IFA’s Brus- sels office attended the meeting and update the Council on Mandelson’s latest maneuverings.

“The details were discussed and the prospects of the halving of beef prices to 60p/Ib, 1f Mandelson is not stopped, was top of the agenda,” said IFA President, Padraig Walshe.

The hit on Ireland would be at least €2 billion n per year with the loss of our suckler cow herd and thousands of jobs in the meat industry and on the supply side.

“On lamb under the Mandelson’s proposal, sheep farmers face a mas- sive increase in imports with Aus- tralia adding thousands of tones to even greater New Zealand volumes.

“The main dairy products – butter, skimmed milk powder and cheddar cheese – face tariff cuts of up to 70 per cent which would undermine the EU market and damage Irish milk

prices.

“It would be unrealistic to expect the farming community and rural people to vote for the Lisbon Treaty while Mandelson is planning the de- struction of the Irish and European family farm structure.”

An indication of the seriousness of the situation is that the IFA President has also invited County Vice Chair- man and Secretaries to the meeting, who together with County Chair- men will form action teams for each county.

Speaking ahead of the meeting Clare IFA President, Michael Lynch, said that the local beef industry now hangs in the balance.

“The WTO could have serious con- sequences for Irish agriculture,” he

PHO

“The last round of the WTO result- ed in the termination of the Irish sug- arbeet industry. It is the intentions of EU trade negotiator Peter Mandleson to offer tariff cuts to encourage cheap food to Europe from South America and other sub-standard countries in lieu off commercial banking and other commodity industries.

‘European agriculture is being sac- rificed at the negotiation table in Ge- neva, stated the County Chairman.”

BAREFIELD youngsters have been learning a thing or two about how their fellow students from far away Aol vector

As part of a series of ongoing ex- changes with the National School for Folklore Arts in Shiroka Laka in the Rhodope mountain region of Bul- garia, students in Barefield National School celebrated the National Day of Bulgaria on March 3.

The school principal, John Burns, welcomed Professors Toshko Zhelev and Sonia Zheleva from the Univer- sity of Limerick who represented the Bulgarian Embassy at the afternoon presentation in the school.

Professor Zhelev took over the class- room to entertain the third and fourth classes and to teach them a little more about life in Bulgaria.The students were then presented with Bulgarian handicrafts known as “martenitzas” specially made for them by their Bul-

garian counterparts.

Barefield pupils, in turn, presented Professor Zhelev with hand made St. Patrick’s Day cards and artwork to be presented to the Bulgarian stu- dents for St. Patrick’s Day.

The school band entertained the visitors with some Irish music and a Bulgarian polka and another group of pupils performed short dramatisa- tions in Irish.

A group of music students under the leadership of teacher Denis Lid- dy will travel to Bulgaria later this month to perform at a number of St. Patrick’s Day events in Sofia.

The group will then travel to the school in Shiroka Laka to take part in a joint St. Patrick’s Day concert with the Bulgarian students.

TOWN Engineer Tom Tiernan has admitted he did not honour his com- mitment to residents of Fergus Park affected by a leaking sewage line.

Speaking at Thursday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council Mr Tiernan said the project to repair and upgrade the system had been allowed to “slip through the cracks”.

He stated that the location of a manhole on privately owned prop- erty had imposed extra difficulty on carrying out the work.

Since March 2001, residents in Fer- gus Park have been plagued annually by sewage leaking into gardens in the area.

Independent councillor Frankie Neylon called for assurances to be given to residents that a solution be found and that upgrade work begin as soon as possible.

He said the delay raised questions about the commitment of the council in dealing with such problems.

He said, “Since March 8, 2001, people in Fergus Park have been dealing with a problem. It was rec-

ognised at the time by the town en- gineer and yet nothing has been done with it. I would be asking the town manager to give an assurance to the people of Fergus Park that the work will be done. Sewage has been com- ing up out of people’s gardens for seven years.

“I’m disappointed that assurances given weren’t lived up to. If that’s the way the council operates then we have to take a look at ourselves. If it takes 12 months to do now, then even that would be short enough.”

Town manager Tom Coughlan said

he had not been made aware that he would have to give assurances and that he didn’t know the full facts of the matter.

Mr Tiernan admitted that he hadn’t followed through on assurances giv- en when the problem first surfaced.

He said “I did give a commitment at the time that I would endeavor to find a solution… I did not honour my commitment. The project slipped thorough the cracks. In cases like this we do endeavor to resolve them as speedily as possible, but these things do happen from time to time.”

LOCALS in the Ballycar area of Newmarket on Fergus say insuffi- cient attention is being paid to their flooding plight.

The closure of a water-logged road left householders without access to their homes for several weeks. Some had to park their cars in a neighbour’s yard and trek across fields and other properties to get home.

The locals say that despite this most of the publicity has been on the clo- sure because of flooding of the Ennis to Limerick railway line at Ballycar. The line has been closed since early February.

At least three houses were inacces- sible for almost a month. This raised the question of how emergency serv- ices would get access to the homes in the event of a fire or a sudden illness. Several other houses and properties were also affected.

One local man said, “It hasn’t hap- pened to us before but who’s to say it won’t happen again. The road was flooded in three separate places and it suddenly dawned on us that if something serious happened, it would have proven difficult for the emergency services to get here.

“There is all this talk about the rail- way line being flooded but there is no talk about the residents of Ballycar

who have been affected. The OPW is now getting involved to see what can be done with the railway line. That’s fine. It’s easy raise the line what is going to be with the road,” another local said.

Traffic, including school buses, have had to take a detour around the Ballycar area as a result of the flood- ing while several other vehicles have had to be towed from the flood wa- oe

‘No one has said anything about the local residents in Ballycar, some of whom were cut off for weeks be- cause of the flooding,” according to local councillor, Sonny Scanlan GReoF

“I was a councillor for the area between 1985 and 1999 and we had this problem back then. At the time, it was agreed that the problem areas would be drained and even the local farmers stepped up and offered to buy the pipes that would have been needed but unfortunately it came to a full stop,” the Quin-based council- eyumcr BCE

“The problem is the water drains off into an underground river but it is draining too slowly. This is going to continue to happen until something is done about it. It is an appalling situ- ation that local residents can’t get up and down their own road and have to park a distances from their homes.”

CLARE suporters of Fr Shay Cul- len, a priest whose cause is to save children from becoming sex slaves, contributed €1,600 to a church gate collection held in Kildysart for him last week.

A dinner organised by Sean O’Connor of Bia na Dia in Ennis has added €1,900 to the coffers, with Sean rounding that up to €2,000.

Vera Reynolds, anative of Kildysart, and her brother, John Casey, were so touched by the plight of youngsters helped by the PREDA (People’s Re- covery, Empowerment Development Assistance Foundation) headed by Columbine priest and triple Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Fr Shay Cul- len, that they started the fundraising ball rolling for them in Clare last year.

PREDA works to save and heal abused children and women often trafficked into sex slavery through abject poverty.

Some of the children whom the organisation have helped have been abused after being jailed in adult prisons for stealing to feed them- selves. Others have been sold or snatched for brothels.

Fr Shay came to Clare last week to meet people who are supporters of his work and to talk about PREDA’s

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“Everyone was very generous and he met a lot of people after Mass,” said Vera.

“Cahill’s pub were also very gen- erous. They provided tea and coffee and sandwiches,” she said.

This was the second fundraising dinner which John hosted at Bia na Dia and futher events in the pipeline include a poker classic in Kildysart and a concert in Kilkee.

Anyone who would like to donate money to PREDA can do so through an account in the Ulster Bank, En- nis, account number 00626779, sort code 985680, or send cheques made payable to the Columban Fathers to John Casey, 5 Woodview, Claureen, Ennis. Ideas for fundraising can be passed to Vera at 00441442851204 or verareynolds@aol.com

In May, a concert is planned with Fr Shay, a number of the children he has saved and other performers, in- cluding traditional musicians from OE

The West County Hotel, which is the venue for the concert, are spon- soring accommodation for the priest and his choir.

“The work which Fr Shay does is very important. These vulnerable children look to him for help 1n situ- ations where they are being com- pletely exploited, said Vera.

ENNIS is Clare’s first Fair Trade sRedvaen

The county town is leading the way in tackling poverty by supporting the Fairtrade Mark Ireland.

As far back as 1999 Mairead Sheedy, chairperson of the Ennis Fair Trade steering committee, first became involved with Fair Trade produce when her daughter took over Fourth House Fair Trade on Francis Sake e

Since then the Ennis woman has worn down a lot of footwear encour- aging other shops and businesses to

take part in the fair-trade ethos.

It all paid off last October when En- nis was finally named a Fair Trade Oak

The Fair Trade town was launched by Luis Armando Choco a cocoa pro- ducer from Columbia in the Grove in Roslevan.

The Grove is the flag ship business in the town for Fair Trade, with Yum having the accolade as the town’s first every fair trade restaurant, ac- cording to Ms Sheedy.

“Tt is important that people can see it is fair trade in businesses in the town,’ said Ms Sheedy.

“There should be no trade but fair

trade,’ she added.

Ms Sheedy’s next ambition is to make the whole of Clare Fair Trade.

Fair Trade aims to tackle poverty by enabling disadvantaged produc- ers from poor countries to receive a better deal.

As part of a Fair Trade Town the town council passed a resolution sup- porting Fairtrade, and an agreement to serve Fairtrade coffee and tea at its meetings, in its offices and can- Koto th

The town could only secure the title when a range of Fairtrade is availa- ble in the town’s shops, and served in local cafes/catering outlets. Catering

outlets should serve 100 per cent Fair ‘Trade Mark coffee.

The Fair Trade Mark products must also be used by a flagship business as well as 12 other local businesses and organisations. This should include schools, churches, large offices and local voluntary groups.

A significant number of schools must also become Fairtrade Schools. The Colaiste Mhuire in Ennis is one such school. Girls from the school are planning to visit other schools to inform them of their work to date.

A special fairtrade sale is held in the Friary in Ennis on the second Sunday of every month.

; ese terday, larnrod Eireann spokesman Jim Gallivan claimed that it was far too early for any guarantees to be given regarding the flooding situa- tion but did confirm that a consultant would be brought in to examine the Ennis to Limerick line once the cur-

rent flood had subsided.

This is despite media reports last week which claimed that flooding would not be an issue in the work- ings of the Western Rail Corridor.

‘Nothing has changed. We have to wait until the flooding goes down and then we will be able to assess what the situation 1s like, not before,” steamy Ble

‘When that happens, the OPW have told us that they will hire a consult- ant to put together a set of recom- mendations as to what would be the best course of action for the future.

‘But at this point, we have no idea what is the best course of action. Will it be a major programme of drainage to be undertaken by the Office of Public Works or will it be a track-ris- ing programme by lIarnrdd Eireann, which would be very expensive? At the moment it is impossible to tell.”

Rail services between Ennis and Limerick have been suspended since February 7 due to intense flooding. The latest readings, taken last Fri- day, show eight inches of water still remaining on the line.

This is down from a high of 18

inches when the flooding was at its worst mid-February.

“It has come down a lot over the last few weeks. It was down to eight inches on Friday and dropping at an neem mer NA

“It is impossible to know what can be done until the flooding has com- pletely gone,’ continued Mr Galli- Web

“We have said to the OPW that we don’t want the corridor stopped and as far as we are concerned that is the situation. It will happen, but how and when 1s not clear.”