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THE people of the Burren are being given their final chance to get their spoke in ahead of the launch of a number of exciting new tourism ini- tiatives in the area.

The Ennistymon based Burren Connect Project is asking for any last suggestions before a range of new projects designed to foster a partner- ship approach to visitor management and environmental protection in the Burren will be unveiled.

Some of the most interesting ideas put forward by the project include the provision of information hubs at various locations throughout the Burren, the creation of designated viewing points for tourists and an

information booklet for hospitality businesses in north Clare and south Cr Ea

“The project team is currently fi- nalising the delivery of a number of programmes on information provi- sion and education, traffic manage- ment, conservation and access at Poulnabrone and Fanore, market research, and investigating the suit- ability of the Burren for designation as a Geopark,” said Carol Gleeson of the Burren Connect Project.

“In 2008 the team will continue fo- cusing efforts on education, training, socio-economic research, develop- ment of trails, traffic management, conservation and amenity projects, and ongoing monitoring and man- agement of developed areas.”

The Burren Connect Project was established in 2006 with funding from the Failte Ireland Development Scheme Fund, in partnership with Clare County Council, Shannon De- velopment, National Parks and Wild- life Service, National Monuments Service and Burrenbeo.

“The issues surrounding the pro- tection and sustainable use of a land- scape are complex and multiple. A truly sustainable approach to tourism can only be achieved with involve- ment and contribution from local communities,’ continued Carol.

“Thus, an important part of the project’s remit is to facilitate such contributions. The project will con- tinue to hold public consultation meetings on issues that have a direct

impact on communities in the Bur- ren.”

Recent public meetings organised by the Burren Connect Project have concentrated on such issues as traf- fic management on the Coast Road, signage and branding.

‘Future meetings will be advertised in local newspapers, parish newslet- ters and on local radio. They will also be posted on the new project website, which will feature a dedicated dis- cussion area, where people can offer suggestions and feedback in an open public forum,” said Carol.

PASSENGER numbers on the En- nis-Limerick line have increased by almost 40 per cent since the line was re-opened in 2004.

Figures released yesterday by Irish Rail show that 200,000 journeys were made on the line last year, an increase of 39 per cent on the 144,000 journeys that were recorded on the line in its first full year of op- eration in 2004.

According to the Irish Rail Busi- ness Manager for the mid-west, Jim Gallivan, the 200,000 journeys that were recorded on the line last year represented an increase of 20,000 on the 180,000 journeys recorded in paul ete?

The 2006 figure was, in turn, an increase on the 166,000 journeys on 2005.

‘The steady increase is very posi- tive as it reflects that passenger num- bers on the line are on a continuous upward graph,” said Mr Gallivan.

However, the line has been closed since the first week of February due to flooding.

Mr Gallivan yesterday conceded that, at the earliest, it would be March 15 or 16 before the line would be re- opened. “All we can say at this time is that the line will be re-opened in March, sometime after those dates.”

Mr Gallivan confirmed that it was costing Irish Rail €4,000 to €5,000 a week to provide buses to replicate the train timetable. He also con-

firmed that there had been a 20 per cent drop off in passengers who were opting not to take the replacement bus service.

Mr Gallivan confirmed that the Office of Public Works (OPW) had engaged consultants to carry out an assessment of the flooding at the scene. He said passenger traffic on the rail-line had allowed Irish Rail to meet all operational costs in running the service. The service was facing increased competition from road transport but at peak-time, the train was the fastest method by far of get- ting into Limerick.

“If you are travelling by road when you get to the Coonagh roundabout outside Limerick, it could take you 10 minutes or an hour,’ he said.

WITH 556 people seeking the help of Clare County Council’s Homeless Unit last year both the council and the local health service have been accused of turning their backs on the homeless and making it difficult for them to get accommodation.

A recently established voluntary eroup, Homeless Education Learn- ing Project (HELP), has already helped find accommodation for five homeless men.

However, they say their task is be- ing made difficult because of all the bureaucracy they have to deal with.

HELP was set up last month by lo-

cal women Josephine O’Brien and Ann Quinn and two others to provide support to the homeless in Ennis. To date the service has helped at least three Polish men and two members of the Travelling community find ac- commodation.

“We are trying to take them off the street if we have the money. Some- times this means paying for B&B. We are out all day chatting and listening to them and they are very angry with the system,” said Ms O”’ Brien.

“We have been trailing around the town from the county council to the health board since before Christmas and still getting the same answer. We know of at least seven people who

are sleeping rough in Ennis but we are sure there are lots more.

“The county council and HSE need to step up and do something. The community welfare workers at the council and the health board are all in the same circle and are all hop- ping from one venue to the next and we are getting nowhere,’ Ms O’Brien re HLGe

‘There is one particular squat where some of the homeless stay and it is in a desperate state. It is all boarded up and it is just an awful place to visit never mind sleep there. There could be four or five at a time in there.

A PRIMARY school in Shannon has reduced its litter by a massive 80 per cent, as part of an environmentally- friendly initiative which has been undertaken over the past year.

St Aidan’s school is preparing for its very first application for a green flag and these plans are currently reaching their final stages.

Under the initiative, which is run by An Taisce, schools can apply for green flags every two years. The scheme is a reflection of a school’s efforts towards keeping the environ- ment clean.

A new composter has been pur- chased for St Aidan’s, while packag-

ing has also been reduced over the past year.

“We have cut down on packaging on lunches and the children take all their rubbish home in their lunch boxes,” said co-ordinator Brenda OE Te co

The school has put an end to the use of paper towels and the students bring in face cloths instead.

“We have cut down the litter that goes to the landfill by 80 per cent and we have also cut down on recy- cling by 80 per cent in the past year,” added Ms Clarke.

“We used to have 16 to 18 refuse sacks and two huge bins and now we have just two sacks,” she added.

As part of the school’s initiative,

an environmentally-friendly day was organised last Friday, February 29.

According to Ms Clarke, the school adopted the theme ‘Extra Day, Extra Green’, for Friday, which was the ex- tra day for the leap year.

“All the children were encouraged to bring in their lunches in reusable containers and the only snacks were fruit,” she said.

“We are trying to make the chil- dren aware of the amount of lit- ter that is caused by packaging and more aware of the use of paper in the school,’ she added.

An added incentive is a fun compe- tition run by the teachers every week. The children with the least amount of packaging get prizes at the end of

the week!

So why is the school now applying for the green flag, for the first time?

“We had looked at it for the past few years, because we were recycling pa- per and cardboard. It had been in the backs of our minds for a while, but needed the support of everybody in the school,’ she said.

The full backing has been given by the 14 teachers and 280 students and hopes are high that the flag can now rom-lesbeA (ore b

MILTOWN Malbay is leading the way in innovative ideas for rural liv- ing.

On Thursday, while the West Clare Resource Centre was celebrating the launch of its new information CD highlighting the many services pro- vided in the old vocational school, the Spraoi Family Resource Centre is already expanding its service.

After years of dedicated work from a group of volunteers, the family resource centre has opened and is catering for more than 60 local chil- Clone

The centre provides pre-school, af- ter school and a drop off service ca- tering for all age groups of children, and all the varying needs of local

parents.

Just weeks into its existence and an outside playground is already being prepared for the centre.

Manager of Spraoi Patricia Lineen said that people are signing up every day for the service.

It is hoped that the state of the art playground will be up and running within weeks.

Meanwhile a bus service brings children for the after school service to the centre from Rineen, Rock- mount and Annagh national schools.

The children are looked after and can do their homework before being collected by their working parents JE ICooup DOM OOlomen osu beTee

A total of 11 people are employed in the centre, five of them part time.

Leasing the land from the VEC the

Spraoi committee set about building the new unit onto the West Clear Re- course Centre.

The newly finished state-of-the-art family resource building 1s providing a variety of support services to par- ents from the area, including child- care facilities, a homework club, in- ternet café and a meeting room.

The brainchild of a number of lo- cal women, Spraoi Family Resource Centre, has the capacity to care for 80 children in total.

The innovated centre will not just cater for working parents, but will provide a drop off service for parents who wish to go shopping or keep ap- pointments and require a baby-sit- ting service.

The centre contains a baby sleep and awake room for nine babies, 20

‘“waddlers” for children aged nine months to two years and pre-school facilities for 40 children and after school facilities for 20 more chil- Clone

Plans are also in place for summer camps in Spraoi during the holidays in July and August.

The camps will cater for sport and music lovers and will be available to schoolchildren.

SW ilomereyrNCosns ecm KOLO eeMDOM Nsom GcNliRe is also available to the local commu- UIA

Just to prove how far the centre has become part of the local commu- nity in a few short weeks, the chil- dren of Spraoi will take part in the St Patrick’s Day Parade in Miltown Malbay on March 17.

For information call 065 7079893.

PLANS are running to schedule to open the first phase of the Galway to Limerick rail link next spring.

The move should see a connection between Ennis and Athenry up and running within the year.

larnnrod Eireann is seeking per- mission from Galway County Coun- cil for stations at Gort, Ardrahan and Craughwell. The company says that it is hoped that this section will be open for business next spring.

The investment to complete the re- development of the line between En- nis and Athenry is €106 million.

Chief Executive Officer of the En-

nis Chamber of Commerce, Rita McInerney, said that businesses would warmly welcome the opening of the link.

But she added that the issue of crossover connections needed to be addressed now.

“Crossovers need to be looked at for Athenry, Oranmore and probably Craughwell to ensure that the fre- quency of links is sufficient if there are problems like a breakdown.

‘We are very conscious of this, par- ticularly looking at what happened with the Ennis to Limerick line.

“That had to be closed because of flooding and that’s not a situation we want to see with Galway”, she said.

THE Enterprise Acceleration Centre at Limerick Institute of Technology is looking for Clare participants in its second intake for its Limerick Enter- prise Acceleration Platform (LEAP) joyueycau-ueavsaten

There are three Clare-based par- ticipants among the eleven people in the first programme, and the wel-

come mat is out for more applicants from the county.

The closing date for applications is this Monday, March 10. The ap- plication form is on www.lit.ie/leap, which also has further information. The programme starts on April 14.

“After a very successful first year, the LEAP programme is gearing up for its second intake of entrepre- neurs,’ said Graham Royce, who

manages the programme at EAC.”

LEAP is a tailor-made programme designed to support entrepreneurs in their quest to establish growth-ori- ented companies that deliver inno- vative products and services to the market.

Speaking of the first programme, Mr Royce explained that the start- ing point in February last year was to recruit eleven individuals that had

the ambition and drive to set up their own business.

“In April 2007, the LEAP par- ticipants took up residence (free of charge) in the Enterprise Accelera- tion Centre,’ he said. “They began a full time 12 month programme that integrated a range of supports fo- cused on strategic planning and prac- tical business set-up including man- agement training, business coaching, mentoring and consultancy.

“A year later it is fantastic to see the progress that these early stage entrepreneurs have made with their respective businesses. Without doubt, LEAP offers 12 months of unparalleled supports for entrepre- neurs at such a critical stage. We are anticipating strong demand for the programme this year and we are de- lighted to have Tipperary, Limerick and Clare based role models for the 2008 group.’

Mr Royce and Donncha Hughes, EAC Manager are available to meet with prospective candidates for a confidential chat prior to the closing date for applications.

, came in the wake of calls for the farmers’ market to be reinstalled.

The market moved to SkyCourt, having been operational at Drum- geely for two years previously. Whilst in Drumgeely, it had fallen victim to the weather on several oc- casions and then moved to the new plaza at SkyCourt almost two years ago. However, it has since faded out.

Councillor Patricia McCarthy (In- dependent) said she is hopeful that the market can get back up and run- ning in Drumgeely “as a priority”.

“I’m just wondering can we resur-

rect it. It was good for Shannon. I’m hoping we can get it going again.

“TI just don’t want it to die. It worked well in Drumgeely. It is a good idea if we get it going again. People want it back,” she said.

In a statement, management for SkyCourt said, “The farmers mar- ket at SkyCourt was initiated on the town square in May 2006. Widely advertised and promoted, it proved popular and successful for the first two months. However, it became ap-

parent that the number of producers available was no longer sufficient to provide a diverse range of foods for Shannon customers.

“The number of farmers markets throughout the country has grown without a corresponding increase in the numbers of producers. SkyCourt remains very supportive of the farm- ers market concept and is willing to have discussions with any parties in- terested in relaunching the Shannon market,” said the statement.

GROUP water schemes in west Clare are to benefit from the single big- gest allocation for upgrading of the schemes.

Cahermurphy (near Kilmiuhil), Glenmore/Kiltumper (also near Kilmihil), and Mountrivers (near Doonbeg) are all part of a €1.8 mil- lion investment by the Department of the Environment and Local Govern- ment.

An additional €1.5 million will be used to complete work on the four eroup water schemes involved in the bundled treatment plant project Dysart/Toonagh, Killone, Kilmaley Inagh and Lissycasey).

The west Clare water schemes are also to benefit from the €1.3 million for upgrading schemes.

Farrihy (between Kilkee and Doonbeg), Lisheenfruir (nearly sure itis near Lissycasey), Loophead Ross Section, and Moyasta are to benefit under this scheme.

Making the announcement on Fri- day Clare’s, Minister of State for Environment and Energy Tony Kil- leen said that Clare had received an allocation of €5.5 million under the 2008 Rural Water Programme.

Speaking in Claregalway, where he launched his department’s annual programme, Minister Killeen said that the grant aid, which represents a 50 per cent increase on last year’s

allocation, would fund a wide range of schemes all over Clare.

“T am delighted to be able to pro- vide funding to support Clare Coun- ty Council’s ambitious and compre- hensive work programme for 2008,” he said.

“When the upgrading is completed the schemes will be taken over by Clare County Council and will be- come part of the public water sup- ply network. A further €900,000 is going to Clare County Council in response to the proposals to intro- duce improvements to a significant number of small public water and sewerage schemes around the coun- ty,’ he explained.

Minister Killeen said that the top

priority in 2008 must remain on ad- dressing water quality problems in the county’s privately sourced group water supplies.

“Clare’s allocation will ensure that the county will remain to the fore in the national drive to eliminate sub- standard rural water supplies.

“The headway made in dealing with substandard water supplies has only been possible through their hard work, dedication and spirit of partnership. I would particularly like to acknowledge the contribution of group scheme activists who, for nearly half a century, have worked tirelessly for the betterment of their neighbours and communities,’ the minister said.

under the Freedom of Infor- mation Act show that the proposed link had a benefit to cost ratio rang- ing from .13 to .17, pointing out that a 1.0 benefit to cost ratio is normally required.

The report points out that the link would allow a 25-minute journey to Limerick and a 65-minute journey to Crea

A note for the Minister for Trans- port, Noel Dempsey points out, “The poor outcome to the economic evalu- ation reflects the high specification of the line which is necessary to ensure an attractive service and the small benefits to users in time savings due to the relatively good road-based services serving the airport.”

A separate note for Minister Demp- sey concluded, “In essence, there is very significant capital outlay for a minimal return for passengers in terms of time saved.”

It continues, “There would be sig- nificant capital expenditure and on- going increase in subvention to ena- ble passengers to save very little time on their journeys.”

The report recommends that an ‘all bus’ option would give the same ben- efits at a much lower cost.

A separate memo concluded that the cheapest option of €245 million would involve an irregular service every 75 minutes at a cost 1n excess of that for the whole of the Ennis to Tuam Western Rail Corridor and would not achieve journey-time sav- ings. The report forecast that the most basic service would result in 260,000 journeys in the first year, while the full service, including fast trains to Galway, would provide one million journeys in the first year.

Apparently ending any hope of a rail-line into the future, the consult- ant’s report states in relation to popu- lation projections that “even the most optimistic projections do not materi-

ally alter the financial and economic analysis of the project”.

The report forecast that 15 per cent of airport users would use the rail- ihe

A separate memo points out that the “economic case for the rail-link is poor and that road-based public transport offers the best short term solution for public transport access to the airport”.

It goes on to state that at this stage, Irish Rail will be taking no further action on the issue and that it should be noted that the project is not in- cluded in Transport 21.