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PLANS for a €10 million windfarm seven kilometres from the east Clare villages of Tulla and Feakle have come under fire from local residents.

Last month, plans were lodged by Ventus Energy to develop eight tur- bines to supply electricity to 22,000 |aXeyaatercy

As part of the plan, the developers wish to remove 425 acres of forest plantation.

But in a strident appeal, residents say that the turbines proposed for the

site “are next generation machines optimised for off-shore use”’.

They state, ““As far as we are aware, there are no onshore wind turbines of comparable size operating anywhere in Ireland. The blade span is 93m or nearly twice as large as the turbines at Derrybrien for instance.

“The maximum blade tip height 1s 127m. The turbine tips will exceed the summit of Maghera mountain.”

The residents point out, “The pro- posed site is in a ‘preferred area’ for windfarms specified in the East Clare Development Plan. This is because

of its upland location and sparse hu- man habitation.

“However, the site is also desig- nated as a ‘vulnerable’ or sensitive landscape. Not all preferred areas for windfarms in Clare have this dual designation. Indeed, ECDP shows preferred areas nearby which do not have a vulnerable landscape designa- tion.”

ftom rons (eCcoe acum ontcaeUetcd elm aston eles landscape in close proximity to the proposed windfarm, close by to Lough Ea, which the residents state “is associated with Biddy Early in

local folklore. It is a uniquely Irish place and frequently visited by walk- ers, anglers, birders and the contem- tek ome

They say that the scale of the devel- opment would “represent a profane intrusion into this serene and private landscape.”

“The turbines will be visible form huge tracts of Clare and even Galway and Tipperary…

“Despite its huge visual impact, the power output of this development is very modest. With a rated capacity of 24 MW, the development will con-

tribute only OMW on average.

“The trend in responsible wind industry is towards larger off-shore installations. The project proposed by Ventus Energy has only seven per cent of this capacity, but may well come at a much higher cost in terms of our landscape heritage.

“The wind power developer has a strong financial incentive to employ larger turbines on higher ground. Unfortunately, both of these aspects are detrimental to the long-term in- terests of residents and visitors of County Clare.”

SURFING and orienteering have be- come firm favourites among the stu- dents of the Ennistymon Vocational School who have this year been of- fered the chance of doing both as part of their school curriculum.

Last Thursday saw the last group of students from the school finish their surfing course with the Lahinch Surf NY storey

The groundbreaking programme, which received a grant aid from the Clare Sports Partnership, is designed to encourage non-traditional sport- ing activities in the school.

“We ran two periods of six weeks of surfing where we organised les- sons through the Lahinch Surf School. As a result of that, we had 26 students who did surfing on Thurs- day from all the different classes and right through the years,” said school principal, Enda Byrt.

“We had an awards night during the week and a lot of the parents were coming up to us and saying that we had cost them money because their children were taking up surfing. That shows the interest in it and how it was successful.”

Alongside surfing, orienteering has proved very popular among the stu-

Cle

“It’s about introducing people into something new. The second element of this was the orienteering.

“We got the Falls Hotel grounds professionally mapped so we have our Own orienteering area here,’ con- tinued Enda.

“We competed in Munster this year, ran orienteering throughout the year at different stages and we sent a team to the All-Ireland and we had a young first year who came eleventh.”

The idea of offering non-traditional sports and activities is to encourage people who have interests and skills besides the traditional team sports

like football, hurling and soccer.

“We have the wonderful resource here at Lahinch which is turning into a surfers’ paradise. We have our map of the Falls Hotel which is also a great resource.

“They are established and popular now so we would definitely like to continue them on,” said Enda.

“If there was a student who had a particular interest or expertise in an- other activity, then we could have a look at that also.

‘But it would be on the basis of the philosophy that it is something that they can keep on in later life for a while.”

THE problems faced by Irish sheep farmers made national media head- lines last Thursday following a successful stunt by the Irish Cattle and Sheep Association in Dublin’s O’Connell’s street.

The farming organisation took ad- vantage of last Wednesday’s morato- rium of general election coverage in the media and succeeded in bringing the issue to a non-farming viewer- ship for the first time.

ICSA sheep farmers gave away their lamb on Dublin’s O’Connell

Street last Wednesday, giving more than 400 families a free and tasty evening meal.

The promotion was designed to highlight the low lamb prices that farmers are currently getting while giving the public an opportunity to sample Irish lamb, which is at its very best at this time of year.

“The lamb giveaway this morning was a huge success. We are delighted at the public’s appreciation for Irish lamb, which is at its prime at this time of year, and also at the public’s understanding of the plight of the sheep farmers,” said ICSA president

Malcolm Thompson.

“They were genuinely shocked to hear that farmers are only getting €66 – €76 for their lambs, which would retail in the supermarkets for between €240 – €278.”

ICSA Sheep Chairman, Mervyn Sunderland, thanked members of the public for offering their support to farmers. “This kind of support for ICSA, and all sheep farmers, is very heartening. Maybe now the retailers will realise that the price they are paying for Irish lamb is unsustaina- ble, and that they had better improve their prices to farmers if they want

to maintain supplies and satisfy their customers.”

“If this doesn’t happen, the Irish consumer will be forced to buy sub- standard imported products at an inflated price, and today’s public response clearly demonstrates that they don’t want that.”

The best of cuts, including legs of lamb, chops and various joints, all reared in Laois, were handed out to the public, as well as hot lamb chunks, freshly prepared, so that the passing public got a sample to taste and a sample to bring home and try out with a simple recipe.

A PUBLIC meeting was staged last night in the coastal resort of Lahinch in a bid to stiffen opposition against a five-storey apartment complex planned for the promenade. Currently, Clare County Council is evaluating plans by developer, Sea- mus Carroll for the €3 million com- plex that involves the demolition of the existing McDonald’s amusement arcade and construction of a five story building, including 20 apart-

ments, 18 duplex units, six ground floor retail units and underground car-parking.

However, chairman of Lahi- nch Community Council, Donogh O’Loghlin claimed yesterday that Opposition against the plan was erowing.

“The proposal resembles those apartment blocks from the former Soviet eastern bloc. It would be ab- solute madness if this was allowed to proceed and I hope that the coun- cil displays some sense and decides

to refuse planning permission,’ he SP HLG

Mr O’Loghlin confirmed that the four newly elected TDs had agreed to attend the meeting.

“What is planned is absolutely hor- rendous. It will dominate the skyline. It is around the same height as the Spinnaker building alongside it. We don’t want another eyesore in Lahi- nch,” he said.

In a fresh submission on their be- half, Eric, Mary and Isobel McDon- ald have expressed concerns over the

Ke) (em

The submission states, “The upper floors of the development have been reconfigured such that there will be substantial overlooking of my clients’ private apartment at the first floor of their property.

“This will result in loss of amen- ity of their existing residence and also affect the development potential of the property in the future due to the establishment of rights to light. . . furthermore, the nature of their arcade business makes them vulner-

able to break-ins, and the provision of windows at first floor level could facilitate illegal access to their prop- aaa

In a separate submission, Tom O’Hanlon stated that the proposed development would overlook and overshadow the surrounding build- ings to the detriment of these build- These

He said, “I would like to say that Lahinch does not need further holi- day home units that are locked up for eight to ten months of the year.”

FINAL preparations are being made this week for one of the first heralds of the summer in north Clare, the an- nual Ennistymon Agricultural Show. The two-day show, which takes place this Saturday and Sunday, June 2 and 3, attracts large crowds to Ennisty- mon’s Falls Hotel, both to watch and take part.

This year’s show includes a number of new events which should keep young and old entertained over the bank holiday weekend.

“One of the new elements of this year’s show is the adult art section. Children’s art has always been very big, there was hundreds and hun- dreds of entries over the last number

of years. So we have a qualifier this year for the adult art All-Ireland,” said show PRO Maurice Harvey.

“There is also a new competition this year for the best dressed mother and child up to the age of 10. That’s a new one. The dog show has been growing very rapidly. It was surpris- ing last year, there were more people around the dog show than around e1- ther the cattle or the horses.”

Alongside the many arts and craft competitions, there is also a large ag- ricultural section which 1s a big draw for spectators.

“There would be about five horse All-Ireland qualifiers at the show and probably about the same in cat- tle. The standard has got so high in Ennistymon that the qualifiers would

normally be there or thereabouts at the All-Ireland,’ said Chairman James Garrahy.

“One great achievement, about three years ago, was our number one and two horses finished first and sec- ond in the All-Ireland. The fact that it is early in the year encourages a lot of the people who would be bringing horses and who would be anxious to get them out and get them active.”

Although hundreds will come to the show to compete in competi- tions, many, many more will come to spectate and soak up the festival atmosphere.

“We would normally get a great crowd on the Sunday. The Saturday is all jumping, it popular with its own group but you would get a much big-

ger crowd on the Sunday. The biggest factor about the crowd on Sunday is really the weather,’ continued Mau- rice.

‘The one thing that really helps the show is that we have the hospitality of the Falls Hotel. It really helps a lot. There are very few shows who have a four -star hotel in the middle of everything. It means a lot, people can take a break to have something to ear or watch a match on TV. It is ereat to have it.”

NORTH Clare community groups will be prohibited from ‘hounding’ Clare County Council for top-up funding should they fall short in capital for developing playgrounds, it was decided at yesterday’s local area meeting of Clare County Council in Ennistymon.

A motion put forward by Cllr Flan Garvey (FF), proposed that Corofin playground would be granted one off top-up funding of €12,000 from the 2008 Playground Grant Scheme (PGS), but that no future proposal for extra funding for playgrounds would be entertained.

The proposal came following a dis- cussion from the council as to which playground should benefit from some €§3,000 available under the PGS for 2007. New playgrounds in Lahinch, Ballyvaughan and Kilmaley all made applications for the funding as well as the Corofin playground which re- ceived some €50,000 last year.

‘“T’m very clear in my conscience that our commitment this year is to Lahinch. I would suggest that we al- locate the €12,000 to Corofin out of next year’s funding,” said Garvey. “If committees know they can come back to us every year if they over- spend then they will be coming back and hounding us year after year.

“As from next year, no-one will

get extra funding should they over- spend.”

An informal decision was made last year to prioritise the Lahinch play- ground, which is being developed in parallel with a major council devel- opment on the village’s promenade.

“T have no problem with Corofin getting more funding we would first need to find out how much it would take to complete the playground in Lahinch. We don’t want to have a half finished playground in Lahinch. There cannot have a finished play- eround without money. We gave a commitment to Lahinch last year, a unanimous commitment from this committee,” said Cllr Richard Nagle (FF).

“The playground committee and local community in Lahinch have en- gaged in a load of fundraising events which have raise some €50,000. Everything is in place to proceed, with a view to the community sup- port and the commitment that we gave last year. I think we should pro- eTere Ma Laem ore Lie

After lengthy discussion it was de- cided that the Lahinch playground would receive the full allocation of this year’s funding, with Corofin to receive an amount of funding from the 2008 budget. Other playgrounds, such as in Ballyvaughan and Kilma- ley will also be considered for fund- ing in 2008.

TALK of internal dirty tricks have left a slight cloud over the celebra- tions of Clare Fine Gael this week- NOR

With no specifics given, the 1s- sue became apparent late on Friday evening at the count centre in the West County Hotel.

During her interview with local ra- dio station Clare FM shortly after her arrival Fine Gael candidate Council- lor Madeline Taylor-Quinn alluded to all not been well among the Fine Gael candidates.

She poignantly paid tribute to her county council colleagues, candi-

dates Tony Mulcahy and Joe Carey.

Later in the interview when asked if there was a dirty tricks campaign, the seasoned politician said, “No doubt there was an element at certain levels, but it is not the place to go into it now.”

She refused to be drawn on the issue later in the night and again yesterday (Monday), but she did not retract her accusations. The former TD refused to be drawn any further on the issue.

Re-elected TD Pat Breen was ada- mant that his party colleague was not referring to him.

When he arrived in the West Coun- ty, he told waiting reporters that he had fought a clean campaign.

“I don’t know what Madeleine was on about. I don’t think it was me,” he Said.

Four candidates running in the four-seater Clare constituency had caused inter-party difficulty from the SFB

Both Deputy Breen and Cllr Tony Mulcahy had been selected at con- vention last May, with Cllr Taylor- Quinn and Joe Carey added by head- quarters at a later stage.

Deputy Breen publicly opposed the strategy, but he had to admit that the it worked when he was returned with running mate Joe Carey.

“My view was that a two or three candidate strategy was the best thing

to win two seats. My task always was to get two seats for the party and on this occasion the four-candidate strategy has worked well, because independent candidate James Breen lost so many votes.

“It’s astonishing that someone could lose over half of his first pref- erence vote. It goes to show you that no seat is safe.”

When asked how the strategy im- pacted on her election result, Cllr Taylor-Quinn said, “With four candi- dates one knew that the vote would be divided up.”

She said she was happy however that the party had increased its vote in Clare by 11 per cent.

AS the Hunt Season comes to a close this weekend, one north Clare trainer can look back at a very successful last few months over the fences. In his debut season as a trainer, Tub- ber’s John Staunton has made great advances, winning a number of com- petitions along the western seaboard from Cork up to Galway.

John has hunting in his blood, as both his father and grandfather schooled him in the art from a young age. With horses always around, it was no real surprise that the training came so naturally to him.

“We had a couple of thoroughbred. I started off with my own and then a couple of lads asked me to take on theirs. It started just a year ago so it

is happening very quickly,” he said.

“T ran two horses properly this year but I had a couple more getting them ready and a few breakers that prob- ably won’t run until the harvest. Pier Deal won the point-to-point up in Bellclare, which is up near Tuam and Volcanic Rock won down in Cork.

“The competition that Pier Deal won would have been against horses from all over Galway and Sligo, the competition in Cork was an open competition so any horse of the right age could enter. So there was good competition in both races. It’s hard to win any race with a horse.”

John has developed a technique for getting the best out of his horses by training them up in the heart of the Burren.

“It’s the same as any sport, you get

them as fit as you can. You start them off slowly, build them up and then get them as fit as possible. After that you school them, get them jumping fences. We try to school them in as many different places as we can. You could school them at home but the more places you go to the better. It smartens them up, makes them better able to tackle different situations,’ he Cr HTOR

“We would usually start off with the road work. About six weeks of road work and build it up from there. You can see when they are starting to get fit and then you need to go away to school them from there. The more places that you can get them schooled the better. There’s no point having them fit if they can’t jump.”

John is in the process of complet-

ing a number of new features at his stables including a walker, sheds and a two and a half furlong long glass gallop.

“It’s a all weather glass gallop for exercising the horses. Even around here the rock is too sheer, in the win- ter time the horses would be cutting into it and they might get injured. It’s about 2 1/2 furlongs all the way around it,” he said.

“It has been a big investment but if you are going at it you have to go at it right.

FITZPATRICK & Co are currently selling a Retail Unit in the Bru na Sionna development in Shannon, Clare. In a superb central location adjacent to SkyCourt Shopping Cen- tre and within easy reach of Shan- non International Airport and Shan- non Free Zone, Bru na Sionna when completed, will consist of approx. 230 residential units, 11 commercial

units and car parking.

Under construction by Paddy Burke Builders Ltd. and available through Fitzpatrick & Company is a 205 sq. m. prime ground floor unit with full planning permission for Retail use.

The unit will be ideally located within the Bru na Sionna develop- ment with adjacent parking.

For further details, please contact Rory Fitzpatrick at 061 361118.

A YOUNG man who was found witha knife in the sole of his runner claimed he carried it for his own protection. Leonard Keating (18), of Brook Av- enue, Togher, Cork, was found with a Stanley blade knife in the sole of his runner, at O’Connell Street, Ennis, on

December 16 last.

Inspector Michael Gallagher told Ennis District Court the accused told gardai it was for his own protection.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy said, “pos- session of knives is a very serious matter”.

Defending solicitor John Casey said his client currently works in a retail

outlet and hopes to study radio broad- casting in the future.

The judge asked, “Why does he need knives?”

The solicitor said his client has “*be- come a source for a certain individual in Cork. This individual has made his life an absolute misery”.

“He says he is terrified of this in-

dividual. He didn’t actually know he had it,” said the solicitor.

The judge replied, “It was in his runner. That beggars belief.”

Mr Casey said his client was “a nervous individual” and was in Ennis to get away from the other man.

The judge said he would adjourn the case to see how the accused behaves.