Category: Uncategorized

IT was a bright February morning when we left Ennistymon and set out on the road less travelled. It’s a little daunting to leave the certainty of the yearly cycle at school and the secu- rity of family and friends behind but the adventure of life drew us towards Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).

With the process of selection, train- ing and preparation completed we were posted here on Pemba Island, Tanzania where we have a one year contract teaching at a primary teach- er training college where there are about 280 students and 12 staff.

The holiday brochures recommend Zanzibar as the perfect destination for honeymooners with its long white beaches and coral reefs. Its neighbour Pemba, on the other hand, is very re- mote, poor and underdeveloped.

The island is 40 miles long and about 12 miles wide with one main road through the centre which is serviced by cheap local buses called KORE er Nebo

Unfortunately, the island is sur- rounded by mangrove swamps so the beaches are few and difficult to ac- cess. Weekends lying out in the sun

are not an option.

The greatest challenge we face here is that 99.5 per cent of the people are strict Muslims, with religion play- ing a central part in their lives and the daily routine revolves around the calls to prayer.

The people of Wete, the town where we work, have really opened

their hearts to us although they found it difficult to accept a woman riding a bicycle.

There is only one other ‘msungu’ living in the area so everyone knows us and small children cry at the sight of our white skin and ‘funny’ hair.

The most striking feature of life here is the sheer poverty of the peo-

ple, how they struggle to survive and how they value education as a means to a better life.

Over the last seven weeks the stu- dents have been on block teaching practice and this has given us an op- portunity to visit primary schools all over the island.

Polygamy is widely practiced here so there is a huge school going popu- lation with up to a hundred in some classes. The standard of teaching is poor, books are scarce and often there aren’t even desks.

NINE months after doing a solo run on the appointment of a Clare foot- ball manager, the county board has come full circle and enlisted the help of the clubs in finding the right man for the job.

When the Clare delegation trav- elled to Paidi O Sé’s pub in Ventry late last November, they did so under the cover of darkness. Only a select group of board members knew of the impending approach, prompting an- ger among certain delegates.

“I think it was very, very under- hand the way it was done,’ said Ber- nard Hanrahan, Clarecastle delegate of O Sé’s appointment at December’s GAA convention.

Hanrahan’s remarks were knocked back by chairman Michael McDon- agh at the time, but this week the chairman confirmed that the board are two weeks away from receiving final correspondence from the Clare clubs, in relation to who the next man in charge should be.

‘“We’ve made contact with the clubs and we’re waiting for them to get back to us,’ he said. “Once that’s done, it’s a case of drawing up a shortlist over the following ten days or so.”

That the clubs of Clare have a say in the process may ensure that an

exhaustive search will have been un- dertaken, but it’s not guaranteed that success will follow.

While O Sé’s tenure as manager ended without many high points, the board were lauded by most in the winter for going after and securing a big name to help propel Clare up the football ladder.

It didn’t happen and as a result, the search is on for a Clareman to lead the county team from bottom-rung football next season.

“We’re anxious to get the right peo- ple in as soon as possible, but we’re not going to rush anything,’ added McDonagh. “The most important thing is we get the right men to do the job.”

Next Tuesday’s meeting of the board promises to be another action filled event. Besides the expected debate on the next man to fill the football manager’s shoes, talk will also turn to the position of hurling manager following Clare’s departure from the championship against Limerick.

It’s an open secret by now that a certain section of the board wished to remove Tony Considine, despite his two-year appointment. If this fac- tion gets it way, the board could be looking at an unprecedented four in- ter-county appointments in less than one year.

IT TOOK six gardai to overpower an angry prisoner after he was arrested and brought to Killaloe Garda Station, it was claimed yesterday. It’s alleged that a large number of the officers involved in trying to restrain Declan Browne, of 19 Cecil Street in Limer- ick, were injured in the struggle.

Browne appeared yesterday before Ennis District Court where Judge Leo Malone was told he had breached a condition of his bail by getting in contact with the Cahill family in Mill- stream in Killaloe.

The court heard that the accused had previously had a relationship with a daughter of the Cahill family.

He allegedly caused €600 worth of damage to the Cahill family home and the mother, Mary Cahill, was in court

to give evidence that he further threat- ened her.

‘He rang me to say that he was com- ing back with a couple of people to finish the job he started two weeks ago,’ she said.

Browne’s solicitor, Tara Godfrey, asked garda witnesses if they were aware that his former girlfriend, Ms Cahill, had come to his apartment in Limerick of her own accord.

“He will say that they were trying to patch things up and that he called to the Cahill home because he was locked out of his Limerick apartment and didn’t have his keys,” she said.

But having heard allegations that Browne, who suffers from attention deficit disorder, was extremely vio- lent towards gardai, Judge Malone re- manded him in custody to appear be- fore the court again next Monday.

TOUGH yet gentle, the Connemara Pony is one of Ireland’s true native beauties. Originally raised on the barren lands of west Galway, the ponies have managed to maintain a beauty that belies the toughness of their character.

In recent years, interest in these proud animals has grown greatly.

So-much-so in fact that, according to the Connemara Pony Breeders So- ciety, more than €5 million changed hands during the three main pony marts last year.

Ruan’s IJ Shannon has been breed- ing Connemara’s for more than 40 years. Since the arrival of Connie back in 1965, ponies have had an equal footing with music in the Shan- non household.

“We started off with just a few of them and we would sell off the foals. We started to keep a few then as the family got interested in jumping – Sharon, Mary and Gary. They used to have a rosette coming home from every competition,’ said IJ, who now keeps more than six Connemara’s.

“That went on until they were 16 and they weren’t eligible to take part in the shows with ponies after that,

they would have to get into horses. I suppose the music took over after dake

In the 60s and 70s the Connema- ra’s were working animals, but with names like Ruan Rocket, Banjo, Mandy (short for Mandolin) and Ba- Zookee, they quickly became more like members of the family.

“They are so placid, a child can even go up on them without a bridal or a harness of any description. When we got them first they were working horses. One used to do the ploughing and slinging the hay, you could do anything with them,’ continued IJ.

‘The first pony we had was Connie, she was with us for 20 years. All of the ponies out there are descendants of Connie.

“TI spend a lot of time out there with them. Any spare time I get I would be talking to them. They talk back, try to talk anyway with some kind of language anyway. They get to be like part of the family. The minute I go out in the morning, if I even cough, they’ll all answer.

“There would be more stone in Connemara than there would but here but they are tough enough ani- mals. They are very easily kept in comparison to the other horses. You could take them anywhere and they would thrive.”

The 83rd Connemara Pony Show takes place at the Showgrounds in Clifden from August 13 to 17.

THE company constructing the Ennis bypass has been accused of a breach of contract over placing a protected butterfly onto private land outside the bypass zone without the permis- sion of Clare County Council.

The placing of the Marsh Fritil- lary on lands formerly owned by JJ McCabe has sparked a row between consultants acting for Clare County Council on the bypass and GAMA Construction, where GAMA is deny- ing any breach of contract.

The placing or translocation of the rare butterfly has presented planning headaches to purchaser of the JJ Mc- Cabe lands, Stephen Harris in his bid to construct a €50 million retail park at the site.

Clare County Council has told Mr Harris that there remains serious concerns in relation to the presence of the butterfly on his lands.

Now, in correspondence released through the Freedom of Information Act, Bryan Hamilton of consulting firm Jacobs employed by the council wrote to GAMA in March to state, “We are extremely disappointed to read in this report that Gama Stra- bag Construction Ltd (GSCL) has worked outside the lands made avail- able for the works in relation to the original location of the species and the translocation area.”

In response, Project Manager with GAMA, John Cunningham said on March 29, “We note that in your

letter of February 14, you state that ‘there is no record that this location is outside the lands made available by the employer’.

“We consider that this comment is disingenuous as the reference clearly is to a location that was outside the alignment. For avoidance of any confusion, I note that I personally at- tended both meetings referred to.

“We made it clear on July 23, 2004, that we intended to move the marsh fritillary larvae and associated food plant outside the lands made availa- ble. You raised no concerns or sought

any clarification at the time.

“We further confirmed, as minuted on September 24, that we had relo- cated the plants and larvae and iden- tified the location to an adjacent field — JJ McCabe’s land.”

In relation to the claim of breach of contract, Mr Cunningham said, “We again state that we fulfilled our con- tractual obligations with regard to environmental mitigation in respect OM slow oer-vans meu lselt-)mvam

A BATTLE by Carrigoran Nurs- ing Home and local residents in the Newmarket-on-Fergus area to pre- vent a 100ft-high mast from going ahead is to continue.

This follows *3’ appealing Clare County Council’s decision to refuse planning to the third-generation mo- bile phone company for the mast at Carrigoran.

The council turned down the con- tentious plan after it concluded that all options for the co-location of the mast have not been maximised in re- spect of the proposed development.

Residents will be concerned that the reason put forward by the coun- cil is not a strong one and they are expected to make submissions to An Bord Pleanala to counter the argu- ments made by °3’.

In their initial objection, Sr Chris- tina Murphy of Carrigoran Nursing Home said, “Our nursing home is within 200 metres of the proposed mast. The nursing home has 152 beds and a staff in excess of 70 people.

“Our mother house in the US is extremely concerned, particularly because of the health hazard created by the development and of the high level of energies emitting from the development.”

However, in its appeal, °3’ stated,

‘In assessing this appeal, it is 1m- portant to consider that *3’ 1s under a Government obligation to provide 3G broadband coverage to this area of Newmarket.

“The evidence provided…demon- strates the technical need for a 3G base station at the Urlan farm and highlights the lack of suitable alter- native sites in this search area that provide both a technically viable and feasible acquirable solution.

‘The Urlan farm site has been de- signed to have as low a visual impact as possible using a slimline mo- nopole construction with expansion for additional operators in the future and without compromising the qual- ity of signal to the objective in the surrounding area.

“The reason for refusal implies that we had the option to co-locate on the Meteor monopole 1.5km away but that we did not do so, which 1s fundamentally wrong of the council to imply. We sought permission from the landowner to swap out the exist- ing structure for a larger one but this was refused.

“We would contend that we have exhausted the possibility of co-locat- ing on an existing structure in the area…and that we are in full compli- ance with the local area plan.”

A decision is due on the application later this year.

AS SHANNON prepares for a visit from the judges in the national Tidy Town’s competition, the chairperson of the local committee has asked lo- cals to be more vigilant and report people who indiscriminately dump their refuse in the area.

Tess Barry was speaking ahead of the imminent arrival in Shannon of the competition adjudicators.

“We have worked very hard in the town since the Tidy Town’s Commit- tee was established here in 1973 but

there are still people who drive to Shannon just to dump their rubbish in our town.

“T would ask people to try and get the registration of these cars and re- port the matter to the town hall. Only this week, a car drove into the town and dumped three bags of household waster in a grassy area. The young child who saw this reported the inci- dent but unfortunately wasn’t sure of the number of the car but at least she had the sense to try and remember the number.”

Shannon has won several awards in

recent years and Mrs Barry has asked residents and businesses to make a final effort to ensure that their local area 1s litter free.

“We don’t know when the judges will arrive but we want to be ready. We would ask householders and busi- ness people to just check in the area around their homes and premises to ensure that there is no litter.

“We have a terrific committee and core group of people but we could not do the work with the locals. The Town Manager, Ger Dollard has done sterling work in the town

and we are very grateful for that. Of course our mayor of Clare Patricia McCarthy has been hugely proactive in the area of the environment for many years and she deserves great credit for that,” Mrs Barry said. “The opening of our new recycling centre last week is also a huge boost to the town and I would encour- age people to use the facility which is free of charge. With this facility now available to not just the people in Shannon but also the surrounding areas, there 1s no excuse for people to drop rubbish,’ Tess Barry added.

SOME of Clare’s lesser known tour- ist sites and attractions are being tar- geted by Clare tourist organisations who embark on a week-long promo- tional trip to the US next week.

Clare County Council, Shannon Development, the Clare Tourism Fo- rum, the Clare Tourist Council and Shannon Heritage will be promoting some of Clare’s lesser-known attrac- tions at the Milwaukee Irish Fest in Wisconsin.

“The promotional campaigns of national bodies such as Failte Ireland and Tourism Ireland Limited are un- doubtedly crucial to the overall suc- cess and development of the industry throughout the island at a very chal- lenging time in the global tourism market,” said Tomas Mac Conmara, Acting Heritage Officer, Clare Coun- ty Council.

“The Clare Tourism Forum and Shannon Development have under- taken a huge amount of promotional work in this area. However, the pro- motion of the lesser-known heritage attractions throughout the country 1s often overlooked even though they hold the key to revitalising rural communities and contributing to the sustained growth of the Irish tourist sector.”

The sites that the organisations hope

to sell to prospective tour organisers include the county’s 5,000-year-old portal tombs, its 23 surviving cran- nogs, 220 holy wells, King Brian Bort’s doorway in Tuamgraney, the Michael Cusack Centre in Carron, over 100 12th-century castles and 224 recorded surviving ringforts.

“Clare boasts some of the world’s most famous heritage sites and tour- ist attractions. However, the county has much more to offer than just the famous tourism landmarks with a vast array of local heritage sites and attractions available to tourists,” he continued. “If promoted at local, na- tional and international level, they are likely to benefit from existing tourism business in the region, as well as attract other visitors.”

Marie Slattery from Shannon Her- itage said we would be doing our- selves an injustice to forget the less- er-known attractions.

“Everyone knows that Knappogue Castle is ideal for weddings and the castle’s medieval banquets, but Knappogue’s walled garden and cas- tle tour as a daytime attraction help to keep the visitor in the area for longer, benefiting everyone including the actual visitor,’ she said.

“Promoting the lesser-known attrac- tions in conjunction with the world- renowned products is the only way to show the true promise of our region.”

THE company constructing the En- nis bypass has been accused of a breach of contract arising from the numbers of badgers and otters killed by motorists since the opening of the road last December.

A letter released through the Free- dom of Information Act, shows that Bryan Hamilton of Jacobs, on be- half of Clare County Council, told GAMA on March 27, “We are ex- tremely disappointed to read in a report that badgers and otters have been killed in different areas on the new N18 Ennis bypass.

“We are particularly disappointed that the mammal fence that you un- dertook to erect in advance of the road opening is not complete. We consider that the lack of the suitable mammal fence…is contributing sig- nificantly to the deaths of these ani- mals on the road.

“This failure on your part to con- struct the works in accordance with your design is not only a breach of your requirement to protect wild animals…but it may also constitute a road safety hazard.”

He continued, “Given that you have failed to implement the very meas- ures you designed to reduce the im- pact of the road on these mammals

..we Shall withhold payment for these sections of the works until they are completed with the contract.”

Mr Hamilton’s letter arose from a report carried out by environmen- tal consultant Howard Williams of Inis Environmental in March 2007 who said that “badger mortalities have been recorded along the newly opened bypass in the recent past. This could be directly attributable to underpasses being unfinished…”

In the report carried out on behalf of GAMA, Mr Williams added, “It is the intention of the contractor to complete the remaining works…by the end of April 2007.

“Some mortalities have been re- corded prior to completion of the ot- ter ledges so it will be important now to monitor each culvert on a monthly basis to assess the usage by otters and that there is no otters using other areas to get onto the bypass.”

The issues have been addressed and the project manager on the by- pass, John Cunningham, has told the Department of the Enviroment that, in relation to the next section of the road, the N85, “it is GAMA’s full in- tention to have all wildlife crossings on Phase 2 of the N85 structurally complete and fully operational be- fore this section of the road opens to the public”’.

FADO, fad6 (well last April to be ex- act) two young boys went to school every day to learn all about maths, Irish, history and geography. They would draw pictures and write sto- ries and do their homework, like all good little boys.

SW elossMeyelomee-hasremvaNeuDamsalosbmmcOleuusn| and fifth class teacher Theresa Red- dan told their class about a competi- tion that would see 26 children from across the country make a television programme by telling old legends and illustrating their stories.

From the 32 children in Ms Red-

dan’s classroom ten were chosen for a screen test by Keg Kartoonz, the company that are producing the 26 four minute documentaries for RTE.

Then the two boys, Liam Fahy and Cian O’Mara, were chosen from 1,000 children nationwide to be part of the series.

The talented storytellers had to write a piece of local focloir or a bet- ter-known popular myth and submit it to the company.

Liam wrote the story of Kilanan Lake but it was too long for the four- minute slot so it was back to the drawing board.

With the help of his teacher and his

Mum he researched the local story of “Fireball McNamara” and on Wednesday last his narration of the StOry.

Fireball is somewhat of a local hero in Quin, who fought in Vinegar Hull.

Cian chose a more traditional myth to tell and illustrate – the Children of Lir. At Fenlo Lake on Wednesday he was filmed telling his story.

Both boys from Scoil na Mainist- reach, Quin, have been described as natural seanachi.

“We are very proud of them,’ said their teacher Ms Reddan.

“It was a great opportunity and the children loved it.”

The boys will be going into fifth class in the 175-pupil school in Sep- tember. The school has been grow- ing during the past number of years and will next year expand from a six teacher to a seven-teacher school.