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THE memory and music of Crush- een’s Joseph Browne will be the cen- tral focus at the second annual Joseph Browne Spring School of Traditional Music.

The school, which takes place in Gort from February 14 to 17, is or- ganised each year in memory of Joseph, who lost his life tragically in 2006.

“Last year was a great success re-

ally, maybe because Gort is such a central location. We had people here from Clare, Galway, Tipperary – we had people here from as far away as Mayo,’ said organiser Maire O Ke- BTR

“The concerts were great but the school itself was phenomenal. I re- member us sitting in the foyer and we could hear the strains of music from every different classroom. There was just a lovely feeling of passing on the music and the tradition to the next

generation.”

This year’s event will include a number of new elements, including a Special evening of music in Crush- een.

“We have extended it this year a little bit. The whole thing began be- cause Joseph died very tragically and he was such a great musician. It was first put together as more of a project. We applied to the Arts Council for funding and they were fantastic to us and helped us get it off the ground,”

continued Maire.

“But we did always intend to ex- tend it. So this year we have a project called Bridging Traditions. We have the West Ocean String Quartet, who marry classical and tradition music, and they are going to do a concert in Crusheen Church. This was Joseph’s church and I think this concert is go- ing to be really special.

“They are also going to do a col- laboration with the children who are learning at the school. The children are going to work on three tunes and come together with the quartet.”

A whole host of musical talent will be in Gort for the school with the likes of Nollaig Casey, Arty McG- lynn, Paddy Keenan, Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill, Tommy O’Sullivan, Brock Maguire Band featuring Paul Brock, Manus McGuire, Enda Sc- ahill, Denis Carey and the Kilfenora Céili Band.

Traditional session will take place over the weekend in Hennelly’s Pub in Gort, the Highway Pub in Crush- een and the Lady Gregory Hotel in Gort.

Se oer Duome- AVNET: lo) (om Oke) O GIN AYARS in Ennis or, for more information, call 087 0674335 or visit joseph- browne.org.

THE CLARE lake where the body of a murdered Limerick teenager was found was the site of a fishing com- petition in his memory on Sunday. Mary Kelly, mother of 17-year- old Richard ‘Happy’ Kelly, put up a bronze trophy for the competition as a way of thanking the fishermen who

snagged his skeletal remains and brought her 20 months of uncertainty to a close.

Mary Kelly vowed she would nev- er go to see Lough Bridget where her son’s remains – which had been weighed down with a concrete block – were found.

Gardai believe the young father may have been murdered after fall-

ing foul of a Limerick gang lord be- cause he stole a car containing gang drugs and ammunition.

Members of the Kelly family at- tended the fishing competition on Mary’s behalf.

“I will never go back there (Lough Bridget) but it was our luck that the fishermen went there that weekend,” she said. “I will never forget the 20

months I waited for news of Happy. Now I’m waiting to get justice for my son,” she said.

Mary said the organising of the competition and the presentation of the trophy – a bronze of fishermen in a boat – is a way of letting the anglers know what they did for her family.

The two anglers who snagged the Limerick teenager’s remains were

among those who took part in what is hoped will become and annual competition.

Happy went missing on April 26, 2006 and might never have been found except for the fishermen’s ex- pedition last November.

In a twist of fate, one of the anglers who found Happy’s remains is an ac- quaintance of the Kelly family.

ARTS groups in Clare were among the beneficiaries in the latest round of funding announcements by the Arts Council. Between them, 14 or- ganisations and individuals in Clare have been granted €444,000 by the Arts Council.

In revealing its funding decisions for 2008, the Arts Council has al- located funds of over €62 million to 538 organisations and individuals to date for 2008.

€100,000 has been allocated to Glor in Ennis. A spokesperson for

the Arts Council said the venue “has truly established itself as a centre of excellence for artists, audiences, per- formers and the wider community”.

The annual Willie Clancy sum- mer school was also singled out by the Arts Council. A spokespeson said the “ongoing expansion of the organisation’s student and audience base is a testament to the quality of the programme and the dedication of its staff”.

The Arts Council has again offered funding to Salmon Poetry, a poetry publisher established in 1981. Salm- on Poetry produces work by new and

established Irish poets and, more recently, a select list of international poets.

Salmon celebrated 25 years of pub- lishing in 2006 and published The Salmon Anthology in late 2007. The publisher is based in rural Clare and is led by editor and manager Jessie Lendennie.

The Arts Council offered funding to the Ennis Book Club Festival un- der the Small Festivals Scheme for an exciting programme of events in 2008. The Arts Council has priori- tised readership and reader activities as part of its strategy.

The full recipients are: Arts Office Clare County Council (€115,000); Corofin Traditional Fes- tival (€13,000); Deirdre O’Mahony (€22,000); Doran Piping Tiondl (€4,000); Ennis Book Festival (€3,500); Foram Gaeilge an Chlair (€2,000); Glor (€ 100,000); Inisceal- tra festival of arts (€15,000); Outsid- ers festival (€7,000); Russell Me- morial Weekend (€3,500); Salmon Poetry (€47,000); Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy (€90,000); Summer Music on the Shannon (€19,000); Winter Music Weekend Festival (€3,480)

A WEST Clare man is pioneering a campaign to take alcohol out of Soa F

Richard Hall from Doonaha West has begun the campaign by writing to the GAA, local print media and the providers of sports wear.

The gold pin pioneer maintains that something must be done to guard and protect children from the “perils of alcohol’.

“We are fully aware of the problems of alcohol in our society, in particu- lar the problems that face our young children day after day. As a society we must do all we can to protect our

younger generation. We are going to need them for our own welfare, in the future,” he said.

In his appeal to the GAA Mr Hall proposed that the sporting organisa- tion would display the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association’s (PTAA) emblem in Croke Park, as close as possible to the Guinness advertising.

He also suggested that the emblem be incorporated on to team shirts when requested by players wishing to wear it.

“There are many GAA players and team trainers/managers who are members of the PTAA and, as members of the Pioneer Associa- tion, | am positive that they would

be very pleased to see the benefits of membership of that organisation be- ing promoted to young and upcom- ing players and stars of the future,” he said.

“Why does the GAA not create a pioneer cup competition in football and hurling for both male and female players? The stipulation being that in order to play for a pioneer team, the player would have to be a member of the Pioneer Association,’ he said.

Mr Hall has also contacted the two largest producers of GAA jerseys. He asked about the viability of putting the pioneer emblem on the jersey at the manufacturing stage.

“If not from a financial point of

view then would you consider such a Suggestion as being a means of pro- moting the benefits of alcohol absti- nence. You could possibly produce a small number of shirts with the pioneer emblem on at the outset, to judge the market.”

“Your promotion of the Pioneer Association would be seen, I am pos- itive, aS a genuine step in the right direction in combating alcohol prob- lems amongst the youth of today and such action could only enhance the opinion of your customers in regards to your products.”

He has also approached a soft drinks company about sponsoring a pioneer cup.

MUSICIANS from all over Galway and Clare descended on Kinvara this weekend for the launch of the debut CD of the Kinvara Area Music Col- lective (KAM).

The CD, which was officially launched at a concert in the village on Saturday evening, features a host of local talent, all of whom turned out to play at the launch ceremony.

It features a cross-genred selection of musicians and is designed to show off the wealth of musical talent that exists in the locality.

KAM was established last year fol- lowing a series of public meetings to

“IT’S hardly a week since I left Gal- way and I’m already in Donegal. Yes- terday, I had the Donegal GAA boys, Niall McCready and David Walsh, pushing me along – and a good job they did too.

“IT met this mad DJ in Bundoran who’s changed his name to Pat Mus- tard and he’s even had the gobshite’s name tattooed up his arm. There is no sign of Daniel yet but I’m living in hope.

“Last week I was taken in by the guards in Castlebar. Lovely fellas they were too and all of them going onto cyberspace to look at me on my website.

“So far I’ve had pushers from Bos-

find ways in which local musicians could help each other and the local community.

“We started talking about how dif- ficult it was to find places to do gigs and places to see gigs in Kinvara. We realised that Kinvara, which has al- ways had a great reputation for trad sessions, had changed, something had happened,’ said musician John Martin.

“The gigs just didn’t happen as of- ten. Besides the music, we were los- ing out in a social way too. People were not meeting up in the pubs any- more, the community spirit was suf- fering as a result.”

After hosting more than 12 concerts

ton Scientific and Western Fire in Tuam and, Jesus, those Polish fellas can push a milkfloat!

“I can’t wait to get back to Clare though, back to my real home in Kil- fenora. Just 21 days to go!”

On ‘Tuesday, February 26,

last year, KAM decided to celebrate the years anniversary of the organi- sation by launching the CD.

“Kinvara is saturated with musi- cians of all different kinds. Part of the idea of this was to try and find a way that musicians could help each other out instead of being in compe- tition with each other,’ said KAM member, Rosaleen Tanaham.

‘The musicians featured on this CD are really only scratching the surface of the talent that is out there.”

Besides running gigs and making CDs, KAM would like to involve as many local people as possible in whatever music-related activities that they can dream up.

“Organising concerts and making CDs is only one part of what KAM can be doing. We would like to see more and more people get involved in the group and hope that it will evolve along with the interests of these people. Whether that means more gigs, music workshops for youngsters, talks or more CDs,” continued John.

“If people want something to hap- pen, then we say go ahead. Talk to us and we will help you as much as possible, but you will have to be will- ing to do the work.”

The CD is currently available from most shops and pubs in Kinvara and from www.openear.ie.

AS a multi-national supermarket chain prepares to open on the out- Skirts of Kilrush, the local Chamber of Commerce has plans in place to ensure the future of the town centre.

On February 24, Tesco will open its doors on the Ennis Road, with free car parking provided to its shoppers.

From next Monday, however, shop- pers will also be able to avail of free parking in the town centre, as 23 businesses in the town provide a Parking Refund Scheme.

The Kilrush Parking Refund Scheme stipulates that customers and motorists who spend a specified amount in the participating business- es will be entitled, on proving their parking cost, to either a €1 refund or

a free parking scratch disc.

The scheme will apply to Kilrush Town Council’s dual system of pay parking, including scratch parking discs and street parking meters.

Work on this initiative began un- der former chamber president Karen Whelan and will be brought to fruition by the new chairman, Paul Coady.

“The objective of the scheme is to encourage customers to shop in Kil- rush and enjoy a refund of their park- ing cost,” he said.

Kilrush Town Council supported the initiative by altering the street metres to provide ticket counterfoils.

Shoppers who use the street metres will hand over the ticket counterfoil to participating businesses (upon paying for purchases) and will re-

ceive a €1 coin refund or free scratch disc. Similarly, shoppers who have a scratch disc will need to retain the scratched disc and the receipt of pur- chase to hand over to the participat- ing business on their next visit.

Town Clerk, Fiona Mooney said, “The chamber should be praised for its initiative. However, it must be pointed out that the Kilrush Town Council parking byelaws will remain in place between 10am and 6pm, Monday to Saturday.

“Valid parking tickets and discs must also be displayed during these Wb enone

Mayor of Kilrush, Cllr. Tom Clyne (Ind) said, “It 1s marvellous to see Kilrush Chamber and its members actively encouraging the people of west Clare to shop local.”

ALL-IRELAND winning Clare hurler Niall Gilligan has challenged a Clare County Council ruling that all the homes in a €7 million hous- ing development he plans for Kilkee be used for permanent occupation only.

Last month, the council gave the Sixmilebridge man planning permis- sion for 27 homes at Dough, Kilkee, on condition that each home would be the principle place of residence for the owners.

He was also told to omit two houses from the application.

The council has recently begun to implement a policy that new homes in Kilkee and Lahinch be used as per- manent rather than holiday homes.

Mr Gilligan’s appeal to An Bord Pleanala to have the conditions over- turned states that he is “extremely exasperated with the council deci- sion as he believes that at no time during the course of the application did the density of dwellings on site form part of correspondence.

“It represented a further reduction of his usable land, especially when he had already adhered to the green Space requirements for the develop- ment.

“In relation to the council requiring that the homes be used for permanent

residence, he believes that this cond1- tion should only proportionally rep- resent a percentage of his proposed housing stock and this should be re- flected as part of this condition.

“This would therefore allow for principle places of residence in nu- merous current and future residential zoned locations within the town of On rr

“In this case, by implementing this condition enblock to all dwellings, county council decisions will fur- ther increase the numbers of vacant dwellings in the off-peak season for upcoming developments once the permanent residence housing stock requirements has been fulfilled.”

A local resident opposed to the de- velopment, Ray O’ Halloran, has also lodged an appeal against the coun- cil decision placing a question mark over the entire development.

Along with the Kilkee application, Mr Gilligan also has two separate planning applications for his home village of Sixmilebridge where he is seeking to construct 14 apartments, two shops and a pub.

The council has put these applica- tions on hold after seeking further information from Mr Gilligan.

Mr Gilligan has operated his own auctioneering business in Sixmileb- ridge since 2000.

He continues to play for Clare.

DEMANDS are to be made for the post of a development officer for Shannon to be filled.

The post was vacated last April, when Padraig MacCormaic’s con- tract was not renewed.

At the time, local residents were concerned that the post was not go- ing to be immediately filled. At the time, it was indicated that the job

would be re-filled at a later stage.

However, almost ten months on, Fine Gael councillor Tony Mulcahy is now calling on Town Manger Ger Dollard and Clare County Council to confirm a date for the re-instatement of the post.

“As far as I was concerned, we were given a commitment by the manger last year. While the post had to be discontinued for some time, we were led to believe it wouldn’t be forever,”

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“The post of development officer has to be reinstated,” the councillor rE HLGe

Mr MacCormaic had been deeply involved in several key projects in S)it-NevelOssMmeNClOOMEOT:Mmm OD Mmn ODDS COMEBDOMEENAT®

post.

He had forged strong links with the local community and the business sector.

‘He was involved in plans to draw

up the extension of the boundary for Shannon and did a huge amount of work on the bus shelters and the Shannon website, Shannon.ie,” said Cllr Mulcahy.

“The town benefits from having a development officer liaising with groups and attracting businesses,” he AYOCe(oxen

“We don’t have a full-time town council in a town of its status. It isn’t acceptable,” he said.

deserve great credit for exposing the fact that EU farmers were not playing on an even pitch with Brazilian producers and for persisting in their campaign against the background of scepticism by the EU Food and Veterinary Office,” she

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ICSA president, Malcolm Thomp- son also welcomed the full ban but said that the campaign against Bra- Zilian beef was only beginning.

“ICSA has always maintained that restrictions were inadequate and nothing but a full ban was ever go- ing to be enough, until the Brazilians produce beef to EU standards,” he Sr HLOe

“ICSA has delivered this temporary ban for Irish farmers by initiating the campaign to ban Brazilian beef in June 2002, and it has been a long and hard fought campaign, but we do not necessarily believe it 1s over, and it will not be over until the EU finally

concedes that imported food must be produced to the same high standards as domestically produced food.”

Speaking before the announcement of an all-out ban, Clare TD Timmy Dooley (FF) welcomed the action against Brazilian beef imports and said that is only right that the same rules that apply to EU food produc- ers should apply to companies seek- ing to sell their products in the EU.

‘This debate has been ongoing for some months now and the EU gave the Brazilian Government numerous opportunities to clean up it’s act with regard to the operation of the beef in- dustry,’ he said.

“Every time EU veterinary offi-

cials visited Brazil, they came back to Europe with more questions than answers. This was simply an unac- ceptable situation and the European Union had to respond accordingly.

“EU Governments and the EU Commission together have taken the decision to significantly curtail Bra- Zilian beef imports into the European Union and it starts this Thursday.

“It 1s only fair that there is a level playing pitch and that the same rules apply to farmers and the food sec- tor outside and inside of the EU. No other decision would have been fair to farmers and beef producers in Ire- land, or indeed to the consumers of beef in Ireland.”

THE 14th annual Clare Community and Sports awards were held in the West County Hotel on Friday night with a large crowd of over 300 peo- ple in attendence. Organised by the Clare Vocational Education Com- mittee, the ceremony rewarded vari- ous people from all aspects of Clare society who excelled in their particu- lar fields in 2007.

The biggest winner on the night was Clooney’s William Loughnane who along with his award for his Special Olympic achievements was also presented with the Overall Per- sonality of the Year award. William won six gold medals and a bronze in six different disciplines for Gymnas- tics in last year’s Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai and has deservingly received many accolades and awards since for his momentus accomplishments.

In all, 17 awards were presented during the night. Tulla hurler Brian Quinn won the hurling award for his part in Tulla’s first county champion- ship win in 74 years and the subse-

quent run to the Munster final. Cathal Hill picked up the football award for his impressive displays in Lissyca- sey’s double winning season. Claire Commane’s player of the match dis- play in the All-Ireland junior final as well as being Clare’s top scorer in the championship saw her win the cam- ogie award while West Clare Gaels captain Marie Kelly was presented with the Ladies Football award after leading her side to the All-Ireland Junior Club Final.

Other sporting winners were the Ennis Ladies ‘Team for their National Senior Cup win, Avenue Utd School- boys for their domination of the local Soccer scene, Veronica Colleran for her victories in cross country, Derek O’Connor for his record breaking point to point season, Christopher Ryan for his achievements in swim- ming, Marie O’Connor for her five medals at the World ‘Transplant Games and Louise Woods who picked up the Young Sports Person- ality award for her talents in a multi- tude of sports.

The community awards went to Fr Donagh O’ Meara for his involvement

in Kilkee, Seamus Spaight for his contribution to Meelick GAA, Joe Garrihy for his work in Lisdoonvar- na and John and Emma Hanrahan for their tireless work in Labasheeda.