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THE village of Sixmilebridge liter- ally bent over backwards last week in welcoming a team of Danish gym- nasts for the Irish leg of the recipro- cal exchange with the local commu- nity.

The team, which specialises in rhythmic gymnastics, put on several acrobatic displays and a workshop as well as visiting many of Clare’s most famous attractions.

Joergen Madsen, one of the team leaders with the party of 60 from Haderslav, said that the trip was “a great experience and fun” as always.

“Our group wanted to make spe-

cial contact with another group and Kevin and Dolores O’Loughlin re- sponded over 20 years ago. People have been coming from Denmark since then and we have seen a lot of Ireland. Our two countries like sing- ing and music and performance and everyone loves the visits.”

He added that the young people got the genuine Irish experience staying with host families in Sixmilebri- dge and Kilmurry and had enjoyed events such as a special camogie match, social evenings and tours of the Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty and Ailwee Caves.

Even the cold and showery condi- tions had not put a dampener on the

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‘The weather has not been the best but we had some very good days. They still liked it very much and we will look forward to the Irish visit next year or the year after. We have a big festival every four years and our Irish visitors like this very much,” he Sr nLG

Over 45 members of the Sixmileb- ridge variety group spent nine days in Denmark last year.

The exchange has been going on since 1988 and according to Mr O’Loughlin, a formal twinning ar- rangement could be on the cards for the 21st anniversary next year.

‘Hundreds from the village have

participated over the years and they all learned about new customs and had the challenge of adapting. Peo- ple from the first visit are still friends today. It’s a big voluntary effort lo- cally and Dolores and the committee do a lot of work to organise it.”

He paid tribute to all involved and thanked everyone for helping with the huge fundraising effort to cover 40. ene

SEAPOINT College in Kinvara is to close in June of 2012 but first year students will be admitted next year, it emerged over the weekend.

After a week of contradictory re- ports concerning the future of the school, the RESCUE Seamount eroup released a statement on behalf of the Seamount Board of Manage- ment on Saturday evening.

“The Board of Management of Seamount College can confirm that the Mercy Trustees have agreed to

accept first year girls at the school in September 2007 on a five year cycle,’ said a spokeswoman from RESCUE.

“The trustees authorised this intake of students on the clear understand- ing that the school will close in June 2012. The students who wish to en- roll in Kinvara this September will not have transition year option avail- able to them. The Board of Manage- ment welcomes this decision by the Trustees.”

The validity of an agreement for the staged closure of Seamount and the

construction on a new school came into serious doubt when an argument erupted between the Sisters of Mercy and the Department of Education last week over the timetable for the school’s closure.

The nuns had agreed to take in first year students next year, but only if the Department of Education guar- anteed a new school would be com- pleted before 2010.

When this commitment was deemed impossible by the depart- ment the entire agreement looked set to collapse.

HUNDREDS of people are expected to converge on Sixmilebridge this weekend for the fifth annual Sum- mer Festival.

Among the highlights of this year’s festival will be performances by Prison Love and Robert Mizzell, who will play on Friday and Satur- day nights respectively.

The activity will kick-off with a balloon race on Friday night. Five hundred balloons will be let go, from near the marquee, which will be erected on the old soccer pitch on

the Shannon Road.

The balloons will travel for miles and some may even fly overseas. Name tags will be attached to each balloon and the owner of the balloon that travels the furthest will get a prize of a Smyth’s toy voucher. Last year, the furthest balloon travelled to Scotland.

Organiser Vicky Ward said the fes- tival will present a variety of events for everybody.

“Sunday will be the family day, with bouncy castles, magicians and face painting, while Saturday will be a mixed bag, with go-kart racing

– with home-made go-karts – and a car boot sale,’ she said.

The go-karts participating in the race must be home-made and will feature a variety of components, in- cluding old wheels, pellets and old pram parts, all in the name of fun!

“It will be fun, seeing 50 children between the ages of eight and 16 fly- ing down the road in carts,” said Ms Ward.

Saturday night’s events will also in- clude a barbecue, while another bar- becue will take place on Sunday.

The Kilfenora Ceili Band will bring the festival to a close, with a

performance at the marquee on Sun- day night.

“Everybody is talking about the festival. We have been going door to door selling the balloons and have got great feedback,” added Ms Ward.

“People will travel here from all over the country,” she said.

The organising committee is in- debted to the local business commu- nity, which will help to finance the event again this year.

Tickets for the concerts are avail- able in advance from The Bridge Complex, phone 061-713666.

THE Government’s economic and tourism plan for Shannon Airport in- cludes a series of wide ranging pro- posals for the development of infra- structure, tourism product, tourism promotion and institutional reform.

Junior Minister, Pat “The Cope’ Gallagher, told the Dail that the plan will be considered by the Govern- ment in the coming weeks and sub- ject to approval, will be published as soon as possible.

“The report and its recommenda- tions have been examined by the relevant departments in the prepa-

ration of the proposed tourism and economic development plan for the Shannon catchment area,’ he said.

Minister Gallagher added that there was “considerable overlap between the proposals and existing initiatives that are underway or planned”.

The minister also welcomed the input to this process by the liaison eroup established by the mid-west Regional Authority which also in- cludes Clare County Council, Shan- non Development, the Shannon Air- port Authority, SIGNAL and IBEC.

In his contribution, Limerick East TD Kieran O’Donnell said: “Open Skies is effectively now in place for

Shannon. A transitional period was Supposed to operate from October 2006 to April 2008 but flights can be stacked and averaged over the pe- riod, three for one.”

He added that airlines are using Open Skies for Shannon Airport has “grave implications”.

“Three airlines are about to pull out from Shannon Airport. American Airlines, which flies year round to Chicago, will be gone from October. Air Canada, which flies year round to Toronto, will cease operations on August 10. Delta, which flies to At- lanta…will be gone from this win- oa

He added that this is a serious is- sue for the “six new hotels in Limer- ick, one of which 1s down 2,000 bed nights for 2008 because of uncer- tainty around future flights”.

He asked the minister of state to confirm that “CIE International Tours is redirecting all of its US business to Dublin because of that same uncer- tainty with disastrous consequences for the region in 2008 and 2009”.

“The Government has neglected the mid-west region to date. I want to know when the plan will be imple- mented, how much will be spent and who will implement it,” he said.

THE allocation of almost €2 mil- lion for a voluntary housing project in Shannon should further reduce housing waiting lists in the town, according to the mayor.

Last week, funding of €1.85 mil- lion was allocated by the Govern- ment for a ten-unit voluntary hous- ing project at Tullyvarraga Hill.

It comes in the wake of Clare County Council announcing details of a new 60-house development at Cluain Airne last month.

That project will consist of 45 three-bed houses and 15 two-bed dwellings. This project is subject to local approval.

With 165 people waiting for social

housing in Shannon, the council be- lieves the project is critically impor- tant. However, local residents have reservations that the number of 60 is too high, in the area.

The Tullyvarraga scheme is under the auspices of Respond, an organi- sation which rents out the accom- modation to those who are waiting to buy houses.

The project is geared towards those who are attempting to purchase pri- vate houses or who have a desire to buy under the affordable scheme.

The mayor of Shannon, Council- lor Sean McLoughlin (FG) believes there is a need to address the hous- ing waiting lists in Shannon. How- ever he stressed the importance of ensuring green areas are maintained

throughout the town.

‘There is a huge need for housing in Shannon. The existing Respond scheme, at Rineanna View, has been a huge success and there are good community facilities there too. The people there are very happy,” said Cllr McLoughlin.

‘“Hopetully the development at Tul- lyvarraga will start shortly and fin- ished within 12 months,” he added.

Along with these projects, a six- unit scheme, for the aged and elderly, is to come on stream in Ballycasey, while a major private housing devel- opment in the Cronan area – of more than 500 units – will also address the need of potential house buyers.

The mayor believes every effort must be made to tackle the waiting

lists.

“It will just take some time. If the development in Cluain Airne goes ahead, it will take people off the list, within the next year or two,” he Sr HTOR

‘There is a huge amount of people who couldn’t get a house in Shannon, because there were none available. They will be able to move back into the town now, with the new develop- ments coming on street,” he said.

‘There is still a need to keep green space in Shannon. We don’t want overcrowding and we should try to balance everything. I would also like to see amenities going into these developments as well,’ added the mayor.

THE early impact of the phased in- troduction of the Open Skies avia- tion deal is being felt at Shannon Airport where transatlantic traffic has dropped by 5 per cent to date this year.

In figures for the first six months of 2007 released yesterday, the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) confirmed that transatlantic traffic had dropped 5 per cent to 325,000.

This follows American Airlines withdrawing its dedicated Boston Tos mats een

Airport Director, Martin Moroney said: “We are pleased that Aer Lin-

gus, Continental Airlines, Delta A1r- lines and US Airways have commit- ted to Shannon for next winter and summer.”

However, the overall figures for Shannon remains very positive with the six month traffic report showing an increase of 9 per cent in interna- tional terminal traffic.

A record 1.4 million people trav- elled to and from international desti- nations since January | this year.

A statement from the SAA states: ‘Record traffic figures were recorded for the month of June also. Interna- tional terminal traffic numbers rose by 12 per cent when compared to the same time period last year.”

Mr Moroney said, “Our key focus in the coming months will be to en- sure that with significant reductions in our cost structure Shannon will become a viable, self sustaining busi- ness, with capacity and efficiency to grow its airline network in the inter- ests of the region.

We will continue to compete ag- gressively with all the other airports and consolidate our position as Ire- land’s second largest airport.”

Mr Moroney added, “We are pleased with the strong perform- ance of our traffic to date and the outlook for the remainder of the year looks positive. Passenger throughput for the month of June alone is well

ahead of expectation with short haul and transatlantic services increasing by I5 per cent and 4 per cent respec- tively.

The statement continued: “In the six-month period to the end of June the short haul European and UK scheduled network has grown by 16 per cent to over | million passen- ae

“This strong growth is mainly at- tributed to the development of new routes by Ryanair and ongoing de- velopments by Aer Lingus and Cen- Wee DAY eNO nSace

“On charters, over 100,000 passen- gers traveled from Shannon to sun CLA a a reLu (eye hone

A 61-YEAR-OLD man has admitted producing a hatchet in the course of a row in which his son was involved.

James Keane, a father-of-six, of Hermitage, Ennis pleaded guilty to the charge, arising out of an incident at Woodquay, Parnell Street, Ennis, on July 11, 2005.

Keane had denied assaulting David Halligan, causing him harm, on the same night.

He was found not guilty by a jury on that charge at the end of a day-

long trial last Wednesday.

Garda Eric Stafford told Ennis Cir- cuit Court that Keane was standing near the River Walk in Ennis with a hatchet while his son and another man were fighting.

He said that Keane was carrying a handbag which contained a vice grips.

Defence Counsel Lorcan Connolly said his client maintained graves in Ennis, “off his own bat”’.

“Td ask you to consider community service,’ said Mr Connolly.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain said he

accepted the accused had no previous convictions and had pleaded guilty.

‘“That’s impressive. He is not likely to re-offend. In the circumstances, he got carried away,” said the judge.

“It’s a one-off, but he did have and hold a hatchet,’ he added and im- posed a fine of €500.

During the trial into the alleged assault, the court was told that Mr Halligan (25) and his girlfriend had stopped to have a cigarette, on their way home from town.

They were approached and Mr Hal- ligan was assaulted. It was alleged by

the State that Mr Halligan was hit on the nose with an implement, which was being carried by the accused.

Mr Halligan told the trial that he “sot a belt of something. I didn’t know what it was at the time”’.

Mr Connolly said his client admit- ted he was present and admitted he SPT Or Dw MAD Otcar- bomb este) (se slo tlm

‘At no stage did he assault you. Any of the blows you got were from An- thony or James Keane Junior,’ said Mr Connolly.

Garda Albert Hardiman said he observed Anthony Keane taking an

implement from his father, the ac- cused, and threw it over his shoulder into the river.

The accused told the trial if he hit a person in the face with a hatchet, “his face wouldn’t be there no more”.

Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan put it to the accused that Mr Halligan was quite sure he was struck by a hatchet. The accused replied, “Not by me. . . I didn’t get involved.”

After deliberating for a short peri- od, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on the assault charge.

A FEAST of traditional music, song and dance will kick off this week when Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann beings a Series of seisiun all over the county.

Seisiun 1s a music trail through all four Provinces of Ireland where the visitor can join with local traditional musicians, singers, dancers and sto- rytellers for an evening of native en- tertainment. In the seven years since its highly successful re-introduc- tion in 2000, Seisiun has gone from

strength to strength and continues to entertain and delight audiences both visitors and locals alike.

In Clare there are four venues of- fering plenty of traditional enter- tainment most nights of the week throughout July and August.

In Ennis, on Tuesday and Satur- day nights, Cois na hAbhana will be the venue for music and dance. Teach Cheoil in Ennistymon will host events on Monday nights start- ing July 16, while Teach Cheoil in Corofin will run events on Thursday nights. On Wednesday nights Teach

Cheoil in Kilrush will be the venue for a lively seisiun.

For further information on seisiun in Ennis contact Frank Whelan on 086— §260300 or email ceoltrad@eircom. net. For information on events in En- nistymon telephone John Moloney on 065—7071467. In Kilrush telephone Siobhan Curran on 065—9052821 and for Comhaltas venues in Corofin contact Peggy Liddy on 065-6837762 or 065—6837676. Alternatively, you can go online for information on all the venues around Clare and nation- ally at http://comhaltas.ie/events.

TWELVE members of the Clare branch of the Irish Red Cross are making final preparations ahead of their participation in the biggest first aid event to be held anywhere in the world this year.

Members have been put on high alert ahead of the FACE Internation- al First Aid Competition, which will take place in Ireland for the very first time at the University of Limerick this Saturday, July 7.

More than one thousand people from 26 countries right across Eu- rope will travel to Ireland for the competition. As hosts, the Irish Red Cross members are prevented from taking part in the competition itself, but will have the greater task of man- aging the safety of the competitors as they take on the designed scenarios.

The competitors will face more than a dozen specially constructed disaster scenarios which will each use the latest of special effects tech- nology to make the situation as real- istic as possible.

According to John Costin of the Clare Red Cross, the members will never have faced a more demand- ing event in their time with the Red

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“IT got involved in the Irish Red Cross because after I joined FAS as an instructor, I was on the Limerick Road a lot and that Limerick Road was next only to the Belfast Road for accidents and I found I was coming across a lot of accident but I could do nothing,” he said.

“It’s a big challenge to us in the Irish Red Cross to organise this event because we are just volunteers organ- ising the event in our spare time and keeping all our other local services going as well,” he continued.

“But most importantly it’s a great chance for our young members and for young people who want to know more about the Red Cross to get involved because it’s going to be a huge event, as big as the Special Ol- ympics.”’

John joined the Red Cross in 1980 and has used his skills in a number of voluntary organisations over the dec- ades including the Civil Defense. On Saturday he will take charge of the of the count centre where the scores of all the competitors will be tallied.

Admission for the public is free and their will be a regular free shut- tle buses from Limerick City Centre to UL all day.

IRISH farmers are once again breathing a collective sigh of relief this week as the collapse of the latest round of World Trade Organisations have seen them dodge a potential disaster, at least for the time being.

In an increasingly familiar pattern, the latest round of the WTO talks collapsed in Potsdam in Germany on Tuesday last leaving the future of agriculture in Ireland and across the EU zone in a continued state of limbo.

Commenting after the collapse IFA President, Padraig Walshe, launched

an astonishing attack on EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, describing him as “completely dis- credited, his negotiating tactics in shreds.”

‘There is now a very serious ques- tion mark over Peter Mandelson’s ability as the EU trade negotiator, and the EU Commission should se- riously consider removing him from the WTO trade negotiations/”

Before the collapse of the talks the IFA had claimed that strategy being employed by Mandelson in relation to the WTO would cut EU farm in- come by €20 billion, and the G20 proposal would mean an income cut

of s37 billion.

“It is evident from analysis of the October 2005 EU offer on agricul- ture, that the beef sector is the most vulnerable to tariff cuts ranging from 60 per cent in the case of unproc- essed full carcass beef to 50 per cent in the case of beef cuts,” he said.

“The beef sector accounts for one- third (34 per cent) of Ireland’s agri- cultural output, and involves about 90,000 farmers. It is clearly a vital national interest for Ireland, worth $1.5 billion.”

Indeed, in a letter delivered to Commissioner Mandelson before the collapse to talks, the IFA President

said it is clear from our analysis that the tariff cut offers you have made in the case of “high value beef prod- ucts” will undermine the EU price by almost 50 per cent.

‘Farmers in the EU are obliged to meet high standards with regard to food safety and tractability, animal welfare and protection of the envi- ronment. IFA has first-hand evidence that standards of production in some major food exporting countries, for example Brazil, fall far short of the standards demanded from EU farm- ers, and indeed far short of the stand- ards necessary to guarantee safe food to consumers in the EU.”