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A WEST Clare secondary school is leading the way in developing an international relationship with Italy.

Fourteen transition year students from St Joseph’s Secondary school in Spanish Point made their way to the north of the country as part of a stu- dent exchange, bringing with them samples of Irish culture.

The school reinstated its transition year this September after six years.

The list of programmes, modules and events outlined by the school for this year’s students is likely to ensure the class attracts a lot of interest dur- ing the next number of years.

The class began the term with an outdoor pursuits trip to Mayo and are now organising a trip to Paris.

In the interim the 14 young people, along with transition year co-ordi-

nation Deirdre Comber and deputy principal Harry Hughes, travelled with the class to Luino on the shores of Lake Maggiore.

Ms Comber struck up an alliance with the local ‘middle’ school during the Willie Clancy Weekend when one of its teachers Lorella Gallo and her husband Bruno attended the festival.

Armed with their musical instru- ments, the seven boys and seven girls from Spanish Point made the trip to link up with the “Scuolo Meda’ and were hosted by the local families and teachers. During their stay 1n the pic- turesque area of Italy the group vis- ited the city of Milan.

As well as a walking trip they also took to the lake for a day of sailing and visited the island owned by the Boromeo family.

While in the island’s palace, the

Irish group saw local historical treas- ures including Mussolini’s signature.

The Irish students played tradition- al music to more than 600 people in the local concert hall.

Iseult NiChoitir sang an_ Irish song, Sean O’Malley sang a Thin Lizzy song, Roisin Lillis and Aoife O’ Riordan played the fiddle and then Aoife joined Aisling O’Ryan for the brush dance, which almost brought the house down.

Anxious to forge links with west Clare, the Italians invited the teach- ers to a gala night where they were presented with gifts. A group of stu- dents from the school and some lo- cal dignitaries are now planning a return visit to Spanish Point in April. Ms Comber said that the school was proud of the pupils.

“They left a good impression of our

school and our area,” she said. “It was a very positive experience and we hope to make it an annual feature of transition year.”

The class is now really looking forward to a trip to France and a course studying local history. They will also take part in a 10-week driver education course.

Deputy principal Mr Hughes said the transition year can facilitate courses and study subjects that would not be possible during other years.

Italian is also back in the school as a subject for the first time since the 1970s, opening up another language and culture to the students.

AN extra 150 childcare places will have to be provided in County Clare during the next four years if the cur- rent level of childcare provision is to be maintained. However, a further 1,100 childcare places are required if the county if to achieve its proportion of the national targets. That was the message coming from the launch of the County Childcare Strategy 2007- 2010 last evening (Monday).

The strategy outlined the rapidly changing childcare contexts within the county, and identified the areas most in need of supported childcare.

There has been an increase of 4.8 per cent in the number of children and young people under 15 years of age between 2002-2006 and by 2006 they accounted for 23,973 out of the total population of the county of 110,950.

In 2006, there was a population in- crease of eight per cent in Clare and

figures from the recent census show 8,206 children are aged O to four years, 8,118 children are aged five to nine years and 7,649 are young peo- ple aged 10 to 14 years.

The strategy was complied by the Clare County Childcare Committee, which has been in operation since 2001 and was established with the key role of developing a co-ordinated approach to childcare in the county.

Reflective of the population increase and the high number of children in

Clare is a growing demand for child- care in the county and one of the committee’s key principles is to en- sure that there is a synergy between all the stakeholders represented and a collaborative response to the growing demand for childcare services.

There has also been an increase in childcare services throughout the county provided by both private and community childcare providers, many through funding under the Equal Op- portunities Childcare Programme (EOCP) and the National Childcare Investment Programme (NCIP).

The Clare County Childcare Com- mittee supports applicants both pri- vate and community through the NCIP process of developing funding proposals for the Office of the Min- ister for Children.

The strategy also pointed to areas in the county where there is under- provision of services. It discovered that there was a need for pre-devel- opment work with communities if childcare facilities are to be devel- oped in these areas.

The role of childcare committee has now become central to ensuring that funding is allocated to areas where AUSTIN MUO IM Ole NBUES ee

The group also launched a guide to setting up a childcare service.

THERE is a renewed confidence in the dairy sector following the Tea- gasc National Dairy Confidence.

The sector, which is entering a time of massive change, is welcoming an increase in market returns for dairy products.

The possibility of milk quotas in- creasing could create an opportunity for Irish dairy farmers to organically erow their milk production business for the first time since 1984.

Speaking at the conference at- tended by more than 1,000 farmers, Professor Gerry Boyle, Director of Teagasc, said, “This opportunity has been denied to a whole generation of milk producers who have been locked into a rigid quota system for most of their farming life. The pro- posed policy changes unveiled by the European Commission require care- ful evaluation and consideration.

“As director of Teagasc I am taking an active hands-on interest in this process, so that the best outcome is

achieved for the Irish industry. I be- lieve that there will be new oppor- tunities for young committed dairy farmers to develop profitable dairy businesses in the future, but we need to plan for that now.

“We must ensure that there are adequate numbers of high quality replacement heifers being produced, so that individually and collectively we are ready to grasp the opportuni- ties that may arise in the future,” he Sr nLG

“The technologies to optimise protf-

it are developed and the Teagasc ad- visory service has been realigned to transfer this technology onto farms to allow producers generate higher profits while safeguarding the envi- ce)eeetoale

“Better breeding coupled with higher production and better utilisa- tion of grass continue to be the cor- nerstones of profitable dairy produc- tion. Dairy farmers are increasing their income by thousands of euro by using the latest grass budgeting tech- niques,” Prof Boyle concluded.

FORMER ~ Lisdoonvarna parish priest, Brendan Kelly, was last week appointed as the new Bishop of the Diocese of Achonry.

Monsignor Kelly, who served as PP in Lisdoonvarna from 1996 to 2003, will succeed Bishop Thomas Flynn who has been in charge of the Mayo,

Sligo and Roscom- mon diocese for the last 30 years.

Speaking after the announcement _ the Bishop-elect said that he was happy to be in the diocese and had already been made to feel very welcome by the priests and all the people he has met.

He went on to say that he looked for- ward to working in the diocese and would concentrate his initial efforts on getting to know the priests with whom he would work and the people of the diocese.

Monsignor Kelly was born in Der- rybrien on the Clare/Galway border in May 1946. He was the second in a family of nine. He attended Craughwell National School before going on to St Mary’s College in Crea

When he finished secondary school he began his studies for the priest- hood in St Patrick’s College, May- nooth in 1964, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Divinity, and was ordained a priest in the diocese of Galway in June 1971. After his ordination he studied for his Higher Diploma in Education

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After serving a year as curate in Kinvara, he held a number of teaching posts, first in Colaiste Einde, and then in Our La- dy’s College in Gort until 1986 when he became president until 1995.

He received sab- batical leave in 1995 and served as chap- lain to the L’Arche community in Cul-

se-la-Motte in France.

Following his time in Lisdoonvarna he was appointed as parish priest for Spiddal in Galway where he served until he was announced as the Bish- op-elect for Achonry last week.

The Diocesce of Achonry consists of 23 separate parishes, with 39 priests and 47 Catholic churches. Ac- cording to the latest census figures the Diocese of Achonry consists of 35,224 Catholics.

THE Minister for Agriculture, Fish- eries and Food, Mary Coughlan said now is the time to pursue reducing the administrative burden on farm- ers. The EU Commission published its communication on preparation for the Health Check of the Common Agricultural Policy this week. Following the publication Minister

Coughlan said, “I anticipate detailed and intensive negotiations on the Health Check over the next twelve months or so.”

The Health Check of the CAP aris- es from planned reviews of the milk quota regime and the operation of the Single Payment Scheme.

Minister Coughlan said this was an ideal opportunity to pursue her ob- jective of reducing the administrative

burden on farmers by simplifying in a genuine and practical manner the requirements of Single Payment. She also recalled that Commission- er Fischer Boel has frequently stated that the Health Check is not intended to fundamentally change the CAP. “I strongly agree with this point,” she said. “I firmly believe that farm- ers need a period of policy stability to adapt to the new decoupled pay-

ments regime.”

The Minister announced that she would establish a consultative com- mittee to advise her on the health check. This group will work in par- UOC M A 100MM eComOrOyeeULe-1O Romeo nelt1OMr-0 Ee ready announced on dairy quotas.

It will include all the main industry stakeholders with an interest in the issues encompassed by the Health Check.

TWO elderly men living alone fell victim to a conman who called to their homes posing as a priest and demanded money in Bodyke and Broadford on Sunday afternoon.

The man, wearing a priest’s collar, called to the two homes, shortly after

2pm on Sunday, claiming he was the new priest in the area.

In the Bodyke home, he ordered his 73-year-old victim to change his trou- sers in order that he could take pos- session of his wallet, which were in the trousers he was wearing. He took the wallet which is believed to have contained at least €200 in cash.

An 85-year-old man was targeted in the Broadford area a short time later. The ‘priest’ told him he was “the last of the old priests” and also sought the man’s wallet. Gardai believe he didn’t succeed in taking hold of that man’s money.

Gardai believe the man is in his 40s and are appealing for anyone who

may have seen a blue Volvo car in the Bodyke or Broadford areas on Sun- day afternoon to come forward.

“This was a devious crime. These were two vulnerable people. We have received two reports from two men who live on their own. We are satis- fied the motive was monetary gain,” said a garda source.

THE TOURISM arm of Shannon Development suffered a 42 per cent drop in profits last year according to the most recent returns to the Com- panies Office.

Shannon Heritage’s profits dropped from €196,000 in 2005 to €113,000 last year.

However, a major contributory fac- tor to the drop in profits and drop in attendances at its visitor attractions across the region was the closure of O’Brien’s Tower at the Cliffs of Mo- her in 2006 to facilitate the construc- tion of the new visitor centre.

The accounts show that 81,000 tourists visited O’Brien’s Tower in 2005 and the absence of these tour- ists last year resulted in the overall number of tourists visiting day-time attractions dropping from 512,000 in 2005 to 449,000 in 2006.

Overall numbers going to night

time attractions also showed a mar- ginal drop from 66,999 in 2005 to 65,168 last year.

The combined total for day-time and night-time attractions dropped from 625,615 in 2005 to 562,139 last year.

The profit last year of €113,000 put Shannon Heritage on a firmer finan- cial footing with accumulated profits now of €847,000.

The accounts show that the com- pany secured a gross profit last year of €8.9 million, however, Shannon Heritage’s “administration expens- es” increased from €7.9 million to €8.8 million. The company now has €1.353 million, while staff costs last year were €5.2 million employing 210.

In spite of the drop in profits, the statement accompanying the ac- counts states that Shannon Heritage “recorded one of its best results for

many years’.

A CLARE GP has expressed concern at the lack of knowledge regarding the pneumococcal vaccine. A TNS MRBI poll showed that just two per cent of people have been vaccinated against pneumococcal disease.

According to Dr Dermot Boyle, this is a very worrying Statistic given the serious side effects associated with the infection.

“The pneumococcal vaccine is free to all people aged 65 and over and to those at risk of contracting the dis- ease, including people with diabetes,

a weakened immune system or heart disease. I would encourage all those at risk and over 65 to speak to your GP about getting vaccinated against pneumococcal disease,” he said. While 77 per cent of Irish people believe that pneumococcal disease iS a more serious condition than the flu, only 11 per cent of respondents knew that a pneumococcal vaccine was available. This compared with 40 per cent who had been vaccinated against flu. However, between 1996 and 2006, more than 200 Irish peo- ple have died per year as a result of contracting pneumococcal disease.

The vaccine against pneumococ- cal disease is a single vaccination for most people.

The Immunisation Guidelines for Ireland recommend that all people over 65 years of age should be vac- cinated against both pneumococcal disease (pneumo bug) and the flu.

The survey carried out for Sanofi Pasteur MSD also showed that 29 per cent of respondents had heard of pneumococcal disease highlighting the need for increasing awareness levels. The research also demon- strated that confusion exists around the diseases that can be caused as a

result of pneumococcal infection.

If untreated, pneumococcal disease can lead to the development of pneu- monia, meningitis and septicaemia.

The research also revealed that low levels of people who were at risk of contracting pneumococcal disease had been vaccinated. A weakened im- mune system, heart disease and dia- betes are all conditions that can result in the person being more susceptible to pneumococcal disease. However, only 18 per cent with a weakened im- mune system, nine per cent of those with heart disease and 11 per cent with diabetes had been vaccinated.

THE PLIGHT of people applying to Clare County Council for planning permission to build homes, who fall foul of the Local Rural Person rule, was hotly debated at a meeting of the local authority yesterday.

Councillor PJ Kelly (FF) said that interpretations by planning staff was giving rise to situations whereby someone who had lived “nine years and nine months in the county can be given planning permission as a local rural person but someone who was born here and went away for the last couple of years and then came back is deemed not to be a local rural per- son’.

The councillor quoted High Court judgements against other local au- thorities which showed, he said, that planning staff were “precluded from interpreting the county development plan. It is the courts’ preserve”.

He told the meeting that in one case for which he was giving reference details to the officials, “a non-local can get planning permission in 33 days but a person whose family has been living here for four generations can’t. What interpretation resulted in those decisions?”

Meanwhile, Cllr Bernard Hanra- han (FF) raised the issue of people seeking permission who had been lo-

cal rural people but who had been re- classified as urban after the extension of town boundaries under “decisions which are outside their control.

“They have been rural people all their lives but when they want to build a house in a rural area, they are turned down because a line on a map was moved.”

Mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia Mc- Carthy (Ind) said that the committee which had been set up to examine the issue and definition of a local rural person had been meeting regularly. They had been debating that question with the planners over the last two months and were “working very hard to come up with a solution which we can live with and which the ordinary people of Clare can live with”.

She asked Cllr Hanrahan if he would agree to defer the motion he had on the issue before yesterday’s council meeting until that commit- tee finished its debate. The council- lor agreed but said that he wanted to see a report in the near future as the issue had “caused untold suffering to people around this county”’.

Councillors told the officials at- tending the meeting that the issue of what constituted a local rural person was one with which they were faced regularly, particularly where people had fallen foul of the planning proc- ess.

THE countdown is on for underage basketball in north Clare with just three days to go to the throw-in for this year’s Lorcan O’Connor Cup.

In the three short years since the reformation of basketball in Ennistymon, the Clare Cascaders have quickly grown to a club of more than 100 young boys and girls.

‘The numbers have been increasing every year. The season starts in the first week of September and keeps go- ing on to Easter so we are very very busy,’ said Stephen Leigh of the club. “It’s a huge commitment, both from the players and the coaches, but it is going really well. Our under-12s are

undefeated at the moment and our boys teams beat the Limerick Lions in every age group when they came up to Ennistymon earlier this month.”

One of the highlights of the year is the Lorcan O’Connor Memorial Cup, which begins this Friday. This competition, organised in the mem- ory of one of the true greats of En- nistymon basketball, pits under-12s teams from within the club against each other with the final held in late December.

‘That was the highlight of our year last year. The kids are really looking forward to it. It’s a mixed under-12s tournament and is great success,” added Mr Leigh.

“We also have a very good group of

transition-year students. We wanted them to get involved, not just as play- ers, but also as coaches and referees. So five of them went off and did the Basketball Ireland coaching course and have started to coach at under- age level and in the schools.

“It’s about getting a club structure going. These kids are taking on more and more for themselves. They are showing a great interest and this shows their commitment to the club and to basketball.”

“We have six coaches and 10 peo- ple on the committee. We get fan- tastic commitment from all of them. The workload is shared and we get a lot of satisfaction out of it.”

The success of the club has also

seen the re-instigation of mini-bas- ketball for kids under the age of 10 on Saturday mornings. The sport has also spread into the local schools, with the CBS in Ennistymon seeing off a number of established basket- ball schools to win their way through to the Munster level of the Basketball Ireland U-19 league last week.

If anyone is interesting in forming a new basketball club in Clare, contact Michael O’Mahony from Basketball Ireland on 086-8112955.