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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.

WHAT does a Californian boyband, reality television and the Burren have in common? Manband, a new feature film by Lisdoonvarna writer/director Dermott Petty, ties all three together in a seamless dark comedy.

The film, which was shot in Los Angeles last year, receives it’s Irish debut in Glor this weekend.

“Tt’s a feature film that I made in California. It’s a dark comedy about a boyband made up of middle aged men and a reality TV show,” said Dermott.

“It starts with a pair of record pro-

ducers who are going through a bad ey lKeee

“They decide to try the band with a group of middle aged men but it’s all a mess from the start. They can’t sing, can’t dance, they are hopeless. A video of them somehow get broad- cast by accident as a reality TV show and amazingly becomes a hit.”

Originally from Lisdoonvarna, Dermott left Ireland in the 1980’s and has been based in Los Angeles for the last 11 years.

“It was shot on a really small budg- et. If fact it was all shot on weekends because we all had full time jobs during the week. It was a really great

experience,’ he continued.

“We were able to break all of the rules, there is about 50 speaking roles in the film for example. After doing it I felt like I could do anything. That is one of the reasons why I decided to return to Ireland.

After years trying to break into the business as a writer, Dermott felt the time was right to go it alone and pull together a feature film off his own bat.

“T directed and wrote the film as- well-as doing a little bit of everything else. | have done a short movie before and a load a scripts.

A lot of them were close to being

taking up but for some reason or an- other they never quite made it,” con- tinued Dermott.

“So I figured I would just go out and make a feature film myself. I was a punk rocker years ago and it’s start- ing to become a similar situation in Hollywood. You have to go out and make things happen for yourself and be bold.”

Manband will be given it’s Irish debut in Glor in Ennis on Saturday, June 2, at 2.15pm.

For more information on_ the Manband gig check out www. burrenproductions.com or _ email dermottpetty@hotmail.com

THE Emerging Talent Programme concludes in Clare next Monday June 4, with a four county end of year “Development Day” featuring Clare, Limerick County, Roscommon, and North Tipperary at Lees Road.

The focus of the day is on player development with each league field- ing two squads each playing three games. One half of each match will be a coaching game where coaches will stop and coach players during the games.

Through the programme for under- age talent in Clare aged from 1I1 — 16,

the FAI are seeking to develop the game outside the traditional urban centres of Cork and Dublin.

The programme has been developed along similar guidelines to many of the European Countries such as Italy, France, Germany and Holland. The major difference between those pro- grammes and the FAI’s is that each Emerging Talent Squad is coached and administrated by qualified lo- cal people in each of the 33 School- boys/girls leagues in the country. The CPSSL agreed to join the FAI’s emerging talent programme last Sep- tember

The aim of the Emerging Talent

programme is to identify, monitor, and develop players from age 11 to 16 that are capable of reaching their full potential.

The CPSSL began year one with the selection of a Squad of 30 play- ers born in 1995 in August 2006. This squad was then enlarged to 44 players at Christmas 2006. The pro- gramme consisted of 34 coaching sessions run weekly from August to May. The sessions have to be con- ducted by minimum two qualified coaches.

These coaches who commit to working with league emerging tal- ent quads then get their additional

coaching qualifications funded by the FAI as long as they stay in the programme. The coaching sessions are designed and implemented in line with an age appropriate syllabus to try and produce all round players.

Eventually the players will be able to have the confidence and talent to express themselves in competitive situations such as Kennedy Cup and Umbro Cup. Each League Emerging Talent Squad has to meet strict set criteria during and at the end of year in order to receive tunding from the Wave

According to Denis Hynes FAI Re- gional Development Officer, “Any

kid now living in any part of Ire- land can now get access to the pro- gramme. There is no need for kids to have to leave their locality be that club or league to receive top quality coaching”.

All club coaches and parents to at- tend the day. The under 11 Emerging Talent Development Day begins at llam and runs to 3pm at Lees Road.

THE actions of a Clare man who lit a fire in the toilets of a Limer- ick nightclub could have had cata- strophic consequences, a judge has SrBLOR

Mark O’Donnell (21), Ross, Feak- le, was jailed for six months at Lim- erick District Court last week, after pleading guilty to causing criminal damage at the Trinity Rooms night- club, on September 22, 2006.

The court heard that Mr

O’Donnell, who had no previous convictions, was caught on CCTV footage setting fire to a toilet roll in the men’s toilets of the club.

Garda Diane McCauley told the court that €750 damage was caused to doors, walls and tiles in the toilets.

The court also heard that the nightclub was forced to stop admit- ting people after the fire because of toxic fumes.

This, according to the club’s man- agement, resulted in a loss of earn-

ings of €1,000.

Defence solicitor John Herbert said there was no “rational expla- nation” for his client’s actions and insisted he had not gone out with the intention of causing harm.

Mr O’Donnell he explained had lit a piece of toilet paper and thrown it away, thinking it had gone out.

‘There is no explanation for what he was doing but he is extremely contrite,” he said.

Mr Herbert said his client, who works as a JCB driver, was a “per-

fectly normal young man”.

He said Mr O’Donnell was very aware that the actual consequences of his actions could have been very serious and added that the “enor- mity of the event has overwhelmed abheeae

Judge Tom O’Donnell said it was “extremely shocking” that a fire had been started in this fashion and said it could have been catastroph- ic, if it had not been dealt with quickly. Judge O’Donnell jailed Mr O’Donnell for six months.

TOM Munnelly, one of the founders of the Old Kilfarboy Historical and Archaelogical Society and promi- nent folklorist, has been honoured with a book on his life’s work.

Twenty-eight friends and_ col- leagues contributed essays to the book on subjects such as traditional music, folklore, traditional singing and Mr Munnelly’s own work in col- lecting and cataloguing the largest number of songs ever by any one in- dividual in Ireland.

The first copy of the book, Dear Far Voiced Veteran: Essays in Honour of Tom Munnelly, was presented to Mr Munnelly at the Bellbridge House Hotel in Spanish Point on May 19

and it will soon go on general sale.

Contributors and friends gathered from all over Ireland and the world to attend the presentation. Guests were entertained by traditional music and storytelling into the early hours.

The book’s editor, Anne Clune, said that Mr Munnelly’s work was an outstanding achievement and the presentation was a testament to it.

“The presentation was one of the best kept secrets ever but we still had over 200 guests simply by word of mouth. He was delighted and he got a standing ovation. Director-Gen- eral of RTE, Cathal Goan, presented the book and lots of figures from the world of traditional music were there. So many people helped out on the project that it would almost re-

new your faith in humankind. The whole event was surrounded by a spirit of happiness.”

She added that Mr Munnelly, who lives in Miltown Malbay and cel- ebrated his 63rd birthday last week, was not just a legend in west Clare historical circles but a “national fig- Vi Kome

‘He has done incredibly important work in terms of indexing and pre- serving music. In the Encyclopedia of Irish Folk alone, he has a four page entry so he is very deserving of debecm eCeyecelen mm

Mr Munnelly’s career has spanned decades since he first began collect- ing traditional songs in the field in 1964. He has also catalogued poetry and stories.

He began working in the Depart- ment of Folklore in University Col- lege Dublin in 1975 and has lectured to every folklore and folk music body in Ireland and in all Irish uni- versities.

He founded the Clare Festival of Traditional Singing before forming the Old Kilfarboy Historical and Ar- chaelogical Society in 1999.

The society has gone from strength to strength and holds twelve walks and excursions a year.