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A TOUCH of midsummer madness is coming to Clonlara on Saturday next, June 23.

That’s the day of the first Clonlara Midsummer Festival and there’s go- ing to be heaps of family fun on of- oe

All the action takes place in or around the Angler’s Rest, Doonass from 3pm, starting with a fancy dress parade.

There will be fun and games and

music throughout the day, including seven-a-side football matches be- tween local pubs and ladies football.

The charity event of the day will be a Duck Race and it’s hoped to sell 800 ducks in aid of Milford Hospice. Ducks are already being sold but there will be some available on the day.

Music will be from the set your toes tapping Brendan Hearty Cajun Band who will swing into action around 9pm.

The day is being organised by the

Clonlara ICA but ICA member, Fio- na McKeon stresses that it’s not just about or for the ICA.

“We wanted to organise something that would be fun for the whole com- munity and we want people to come out and join in. We’ve tried to order some nice weather so hopefully, we ll be able to have a barbeque on the day as well as sack and egg and spoon races and fun competitions TTC) aYan de wenan ero

Buskers have also been invited to come along and entertain people at

the event and there promises to be a great atmosphere.

The organisers are hoping this will be the first of many Clonlara Mid- summer Festivals.

“We’re looking forward to a great day out for all the family and we want everyone to come along and have a good time. There’ll be food, fun and music and the charity duck race should raise some money for the hospice. We’re hoping it will be a great community get-together,” said Fiona.

THERE have been mixed reactions to meetings of the EU Farm Coun- cil, which took place in Luxembourg last week with the ICSA President expressing frustration with a failure to deliver in relation to farm inspec- tions.

Malcolm Thompson said that the current system “totally fails to ad- dress the concerns of Irish farmers”.

“It is very frustrating that we still haven’t a straight answer from Eu- rope on where we stand with toler- ances. ICSA will not accept that there is no room for leeway with in- spections,” he said.

“If a farmer is 95 per cent compli- ant, there is no reason to penalise him as severely as the current system

demands. Mariann Fischer Boel has promised much but delivered little,” he added.

“Unless we can get official EU sanction for reasonable leeway for farmers who are inspected, then the whole issue of inspections will con- tinue to be controversial right into next year’s CAP health check.”

He added that “Europe does not seem to want to accept that the sys- tem of inspections 1s far more favour- able to large scale tillage farmers in the Paris basin than it is to livestock farmers in Ireland”.

IFA President Padraig Walshe said he felt that further progress was made in achieving a tolerable and more reasonable farm inspection re- gime.

He added that the Department of

Agriculture could now discard the 66-page checklist and come up with a reasonable inspection programme, taking account of the variation and practical issues arising in everyday elusnbneree

“There was a discernible move in the commission towards a more practical inspection system, respect- ing the rights of farmers while main- taining good farming practice,’ Mr Walshe said, emphasising that there is a flexibility towards providing for advance notice for routine inspec- tions.

Meanwhile, Minister Coughlan said that the new fruit and vegetable regime agreed upon will bring con- siderable benefits to Irish producers, consumers and the horticulture in- dustry in general.

She said that three aspects of the new regime will have direct benefits including: Support for Producer Or- ganisations (POs), adoption of new promotion measures and inclusion of fruit and vegetables and potatoes in Single Farm Payment.

‘The new scheme provides growers with the necessary support to meet higher quality and environmental standards in the market place where the multiples now handle some 80 per cent of the retail sales of fresh produce. The scheme will empower producers to work together to form a larger supply base and work as a more equal partner with these multi- ple retailers’.

Full details of the agreements are available on www.consilium.europa. eu.

ON the weekend of June 30, Ennis will put on a major celebration of life, sport and people with events organised by Ennis Street Festival, Clare Community Games and the Tony Griffin Cycle.

On Saturday morning the Clare hurler and many cyclists will begin the final leg of his epic 7,000 mile

cycle from Canada in aid of cancer research and care from Dublin.

Saturday begins in Ennis with the finals of the Clare Community Games. The event will be preceded with a parade from Station Road in Ennis to the courthouse of the vari- ous areas taking part. It is fitting that Tony was once a competitor in the Community Games Final.

The Ennis Street Festival, which is

an annual event, will take place on Sunday, July 1, from 12pm until late.

A great day of music, dance, work- shops, story telling, magicians, pup- pets, art exhibitions, street entertain- ment, pub gigs and a gig rig in the upper market area between 2pm and 8pm will all take place.

Food will be for sale throughout the day at the market section in Market Place. Sunday will also mark the of-

ficial re-opening of Dan Murphy’s House with Irish music and danc- ing in memory of Johnny Patterson (1840-1889).

Music will continue throughout the evening in Ennis and with a welcome home event for Tony in the West County Hotel taking place later in the evening.

Tony and his group are due to ar- rive back into Ennis at about 4pm

and again everybody is invited to take part in a massive and colourful Siege on Ennis.

Further information on the weekend can be found at www.ennisstreetfes- tival.com and www.tonygriffinfoun- dation.com.

Further information on the Clare Community Games you can contact members of the committee on 087 TOPE

THE sustained protest by councillors against Clare County Council’s strict planning rules is having minimal 1m- pact on the council’s refusal rate for one-off homes.

New council figures show that in- dividuals were more likely to be suc- cessful in securing planning permis- sion in 2003 than last year despite continuing councillor complaints over the enforcement of planning MUN he

Planning continues to dominate the local authority’s monthly meetings, however, the council’s Director for Planning, Bernadette Kinsella, has revealed that the refusal rate for one off homes last year was 25 per cent compared to a 19 per cent refusal rate in 2003.

In response to a motion tabled by Cllr PJ Kelly CFF), Ms Kinsella re- vealed that in 200,6 204 out of 828 applications for one-off homes were Kod AUESLorOR

Along with the 25 per cent refused, a further 198 or 23 per cent were withdrawn giving an overall failure rate of 48 per cent.

In relation to statistics for one-off homes for 2003, Ms Kinsella said that of 917 applications for one-off homes, 176 or 19 per cent were re- fused. The statistics show that a

further 191 or 20 per cent were re- fused giving an overall total of 39 per cent.

Meanwhile the EU Commission could remove the non-local ban from the Clare County Development Plan.

The commission is expected to an- nounce within the month that many of the restrictions in Irish county CLAVe) Le) eyeatorelam ole Delcme-Dacms DUleseecU MUbOLe(on European law.

It finds that the provisions con- cerned are discriminatory, dispro- portionate and constitute restrictions on the free movement of capital and the freedom of establishment guar- anteed by the European treaties.

Leader of the Fianna Fail group at the council, Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) said: “I have highlighted the illegality of these rules a number of times at the council.”

Jim Connolly of the Irish Rural Dwellers Association said that the EU Commission’s move to scrap the “non-local” rule would “undoubted- ly result in a wave of compensation claims from those who have been denied their natural right to build a house”.

He said: “This will put into the halfpenny place any form of com- pensation claims against illegal gov- ernment Acts up until now because of the extent of the value of the assets that the people have been denied.

DUMPERS who foist their rubbish on others and dump their bin bags in beauty spots will be getting a taste of their own medicine if a local coun- cillor gets his way.

After another weekend in which bags and bundles of litter were dumped by the roadside in Meelick, an angry Councillor Cathal Crowe has threatened to trace the culprits and dump the rubbish back on their doorsteps.

‘“Meelick was once again scourged with litter dumping last weekend. Bags of litter and several bundles of loose litter were dropped at roadsides

in the Knockroe and Cappantymore areas of Meelick,’ the councillor nee

“The dumping of litter in this lo- cality has become a very serious and disgusting problem. At least once a week I am in contact with Clare County Council’s environmental pa- trol wardens regarding dump sites in the south east Clare area,’ he said.

Cllr Crowe said that he wants peo- ple to fight back by taking numbers of the cars dumpers and reporting aetoeee

“I would urge people to be vigilant of any vehicles pulling trailers or pick-up trucks driving suspiciously in the locality,’ he said.

And the councillor said he would personally go one step further. “I re- call hearing a story some years ago about a farmer who found an address whilst rummaging through bags of domestic waste dumped on his land. He brought the bags to this address and dropped them right at the front door. I am extremely fed up with the extent of dumping 1n our locality and I may well consider taking a similar approach in the future.”

Cllr Crowe said that while the council’s staff are doing “Trojan work” to keep on top of the litter problem, the reality is that many of the people who dump are undeterred y litter fines.

“It might be time for some of them to get a taste of their own medicine,” he said.

The councillor had recently to call in the local authority’s environment department because of the number of cars being abandoned and burned out at the side of the road in Meelick and Parteen.

After contacting the local authority with a complaint that the cars were being left in situ for too long, he was told that the regulations require that a vehicle be left for a number of days to give the owner a chance to recover 1

Only after that can the cars be tak- en away, the councillor was told.

‘HE has to spend the rest of his life knowing that he killed his little sis- ter.” The words of a grieving mother who has lost her youngest daughter at the hands of her only son.

Claire O’Dwyer held her nerve as she took the stand in court yesterday to speak about the effect the death of her young and carefree daughter had on her and her family.

She had earlier wiped away the tears as the court heard details of how young Marguerite had been brutally killed in the sitting room of

their family home.

In November 2004 Claire and her husband Paddy had left the country to go on a short holiday to Spain, content in the knowledge that ‘Pa’ and ‘Mags’ were caring for each oth- er at home, like “two peas in a pod.”

Their joy at having a relaxed break away together came to an abrupt end laced with agony — their only son had killed their youngest daughter.

Patrick O’ Dwyer killed his sister as she lay on the couch of their family home, smiling up at him. Marguerite thought he was messing but he was gripped. Gripped, he claimed, by the

presence of a mental disorder. Throughout the six-day trial in April, O’Dwyer showed no emo- tion and his impassive demeanour continued yesterday as sentence was passed. Earlier, as he waited for the judge to appear in court he smiled and laughed with his family and le- gal team. He later hugged his parents and sister Louise prior to being led away to continue serving his jail sen- tence. He had buried his face in his hands as details of the horrendous killing were recounted to the court. As the six-year term was imposed yesterday, O’Dwyer looked ahead.

Moments later when the court rose he held his mother’s hand.

Claire and Paddy O’Dwyer return to a very different home from that which they left two-and-a-half years ago to go on holiday. They went away believing that their three children would greet them with open arms on their return. Sadly, their home is now a quieter place. A daughter deceased, a son in Wheatfield prison where he will mark his 22nd birthday in a fort- night’s time.

Life will never be the same in the O’Dwyer home at Shrohill, Ennisty- mon.

Down through the years Mary Im- maculate Secondary School in Lis- doonvarna has proved to be a hotbed of talent when it comes to volleyball and they’re branching out right now and getting their transition year stu-

dents involved in coaching the ac- tion.

A number of trophies have come to the school since the start of the 1980s and this year the transition year stu- dents were began coaching primary school students in their own area.

The programme was run by the

Volleyball Association of Ireland in conjunction with the Irish Sports Council and Women in Sport and was open to transition year girls only. Last November eleven girls from the Lisdoonvarna school participated in a training day followed by further training in January.

In February they began coaching in two primary schools, Lisdoonvarna and Kilshanny and when the training was complete they took on two fur- ther schools, Fanore and Kilfenora. In total about 90 primary school pu- pils received coaching.

The culmination of this initiative 1s

a volleyball blitz organised by these coaches for all students who had tak- en part in the coaching. This blitz is completely organised by the transi- tion year coaches and went ahead on Friday at the Ennistymon Commu- nity Centre where a huge amount of talent was on show from all schools.

ONE of Shannon’s longest serving companies and biggest employers, Molex Ireland Ltd, returned to profit last year with gains of €2.8 million after tax.

The company announced last week that it would consolidate its opera- tions at Shannon by closing down its Cork-based plant with the loss of over 100 jobs. In response to reports that up to 50 jobs could be lost from its Shannon plant, Molex Ireland has stated that it has begun a month long

consultation phase with all of its em- ployees. A company statement said: “Until the review period is complete, no further information or comment on the extent of possible changes is available or possible at this time.” The profit was recorded in the company’s latest returns to the Companies Office and contrast with losses of €3.5 million in 2005. The accounts also showed that the com- pany’s turnover rose to €122 million last year from €113 million in 2005. According to a statement attached to the accounts, “the directors expect

the general level of activity to con- tinue for the foreseeable future”’.

The loss in 2005 was partly attrib- utable to restructuring costs of €1 million. During that year the num- bers involved in production at Molex dropped from 497 to 433.

Restructuring continued at the com- pany last year at a cost of €443,000.

The company’s operating profit of €2.8 million after tax was helped by a dividend of €5.5 million giving a retained profit of €5.7 million at the end of March last year.

‘The turnover grew by over 8 per

cent in the year with most of the erowth originating in EU markets. Growth was achieved in a market- place that continued to be competi- tive.

Cost of sales grew by over 7 per cent reflecting the increased costs of production and purchasing manu- factured product during the year,’ it continued.

The statement added that directors did not propose the payment of a div- idend for the year.

“The principal business risks and uncertainties faced by the company

in the future are currency risks in dealing with entities with non-Euro denominated currencies as well as the possible effect on sales volumes and margins of end user market de- velopments in relation to new prod- ucts giving rise to product obsoles- cence and loss of competitiveness,’ the statement concluded.

The company’s gross profit in- creased from €12 million in 2004 to €14 million last year.

Molex Ireland Ltd was established in 1971 at Shannon as the first Euro- pean facility for Molex.

WEST Clare is to play host to what promises to be one of the most excit- ing events in the Irish music calendar

this year.

Sony Ericsson and MCD are launching the “new boutique music and surfing festival” in The Lodge at Doonbeg Golf Club tomorrow

QU eretiTeeE ASF

Details of the event remain a close- ly guarded secret among organisers but The Clare People has learnt that a three-day music and surfing festi-

val is planned in the coastal towns of Kilkee and Doonbeg.

Surfing will be organised during the day at the White Stand beach in Doonbeg while the concerts will be held at night in the popular tourist resort of Kilkee.

Among the acts rumoured to per- form at the concert are Republic of Loose and The Blizzards.

Speculation also suggests that Ocean Colour Scene, who were originally scheduled to appear at the launch, may also be playing at the event.

Republic of Loose, The Blizzard and a new band called “28 Cos- tumes” are to visit Doonbeg for the launch during which the date of the event and further details will be re- vealed for the first time.

Meanwhile a series of events have been announced to mark the home- coming of Clare hurler Tony Griffin. Saturday June 30 will see a major celebration of life, sport and peo- ple with events organised by Ennis Street Festival, Clare Community Games and the Tony Griffin Cycle. On Saturday morning Griffin will begin the final leg of his epic 7,000

mile trip which started in Canada and ends with a cycle from Dublin to Ennis. The day begins with the finals of the Clare Community Games in Ennis. The finals are preceded by a parade from Station Road in Ennis to the courthouse.

Details have also been revealed of another festival to hit the streets of Ennis on the same weekend. The En- nis Street Festival will take place in the town on Sunday July 1 from 12 pm until late. Music, dance, work- shops, story telling, magicians, pup- pets, art exhibitions, street entertain- ment, pub gigs and an outdoor gig rig will be held in the Upper Market area.

Griffin and his group are due to arrive back to Ennis at about 4pm. The celebrations kick off later that evening in the West County Hotel.

Further information on the weekend can be found at www.ennisstreetfes- tival.com and www.tonygriffinfoun- dation.com

AN assertion by Patrick O’Dwyer’s mother that he had no control over his actions when he killed his sister was disputed by the trial judge.

Mr Justice Paul Carney reflected on Claire O’Dwyer’s Victim Impact Statement, at the sentence hearing in the Central Criminal Court in Dub- lin yesterday.

“Mrs O’Dwyer has said that Patrick had no control over the events that

happened that night. If that were the Situation, he’d be entitled to an ac- quittal on the grounds of insanity,” said Mr Justice Carney.

“Diminished responsibility is ex- actly what it says. It reduces your responsibility. It doesn’t extinguish it,’ he said.

“In my view you still bear respon- sibility for this savage killing,” said the judge, in reference to a case in the UK, where the defence of diminished responsibility was utilised.

“It is obviously a particularly tragic case. It’s something that happened within a family but it’s not a family law case. There is very live public in- terest in it,” he said.

“If people go out and behave as this man did one morning they wake up facing either a rape or a homicide tbe exen

“Everybody must have great sym- pathy for the family in this case,” he rae

He said he was taking into account

the remorse expressed by O’Dwyer and that he had no previous convic- tions.

“IT am ruling out a suspended sen- tence. It’s far too grave and serious for that,” said the judge.

He imposed a six-year jail term, backdated to November 30, 2004, when the accused went into custody.

“In view of the fact that this is the first case arising from diminished re- sponsibility, I am granting a certifi- cate of leave to appeal,’ he said.

He refused a request to suspend a portion of the sentence.

Earlier, O’Dwyer’s defence barris- ter Patrick Gageby, SC, said the kill- ing was “not a premeditated crime.”

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Paul O’Connell — who gave evidence dur- ing the trial – told the court yester- day there was a noted improvement in O’Dwyer’s mental health since he started taking Lamotrigine, a mood regulating medication last year.

He said O’Dwyer had participat- ed in group therapy and a cookery course in Wheatfield prison.

‘He is making progress, better than I anticipated,” he said.

He said, however, that his disorders would require “a lifetime manage- ment”.

He said the absence of intoxicant use would be an “absolute require- ment” in the future reintegration of O’ Dwyer into the community.