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KILLALOE residents are to be- come part of a bigger family after a visit from representatives of a city in Wisconsin which wants to make the Clare town a sister town.

Representatives of The Shamrock Club in New London, Wisconsin ar- rived in the lakeside town last week to put forward plans for the two towns to twin.

The group have been liaising with Clare County Council for several months to see whether there would be a welcome for the proposal here. They made contact with Clare Coun- ty secretary, Marie O’ Neill and Kil- laloe councillor, Tony O’Brien, who is a member of the twinning com-

mittee on the council.

“I was delighted to hear that New London was interested in twinning with Killaloe and to be involved with the plan. I believe it will be a very good fit. It will be good in every respect for both communities, culturally, educationally and for visitors,’ Councillor O’Brien said.

Twenty six per cent of the resi- dents of New London claim Irish descent, and the city changes its name to ‘New Dublin’ once a year for the week coming up to St Patrick’s day, to celebrate the big- gest Irish festival in that part of the United States.

Local groups gathered in Crotty’s Bar in the town to welcome the visi- tors and to hear more about the pro-

posed twinning.

Visiting delegates, Larry and Carrie Katerzynske and David Sar- na were introduced by Councillor O’Brien and they told the gathering that the Irish festival attracts 3,500 people to watch the parade. While visitors eat their way through 1,600 Ibs of corned beef, bars and restau- rants earn up to one tenth of their income for the entire year from the autor

The group decided to look at twin- ning with a Clare town. Carrie said “because myself and Larry have come here many times on holiday. Killaloe and New London have a lot in common with boating, fishing and the agricultural aspects”.

With the plan in place, the Wis-

consin community and Killaloe would enjoy exchange visits from schools, industry and dignitaries as well as signs being displayed to an- nounce the twinning.

The group arrived in Killaloe to be given a helicopter tour and the following day, met with the mayor of Clare.

Thanking all those who had turned out to meet them, David Sarna told the welcome gathering that “Irish people are undoubtedly the most friendly people we have ever met. People here are willing to take time out to smell the flowers, to talk and to be interested in others. I believe that although our two communities are separated by many miles, we will find we have a lot in common”.

FINAL preparations for the parish mission are underway in Ballyna- cally and Lissycasey.

Services will commence Saturday May 12 in Ballycorick Church and Lissycasey Church.

It is the fist time in four years the mission is being held and it is hoped that people new to area will get in- volved. Fr Tony Flannery, Fr Jimmy Buckley, will celebrate masses. In a new departure for the mission a lay- person – Anne O’Toole – will assist with the service.

The population in the area has ris- en to 2,000 and organisers hope that newcomers will come along over the

Neto

Pastoral council member Mary Hestor said there was an open invita- tion to everyone in the parish.

She also hopes the mission will of- fer solace to those people whose lives have been touched by tragedy.

“We hope to appeal to newcomers who might have moved to the par- ish in recent years and those who are living on the periphery. We hope that the mission will also bring sol- ace and healing to those who are bereaved and especially those who have lost young people in the prime of their life since the last mission. We also would like to remember the aged, the housebound and the lonely and those who feel isolated in the

community.”

There will be morning masses in both churches at 7am and 10am. The missionaries will preach at all mass- es on May 12-13.

Mass will take place at Ballycorick church on Sunday, Monday, Tues- day and Wednesday at 7pm and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8.30pm

Mass will take place at Lissycasey church on Sunday, Monday, Tues- day and Wednesday at 8.30pm and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8.30pm.

A series of different services will be celebrated over the week. Mon- day; Christ the healer, Tuesday; social gospel, Wednesday; right of

conciliation; Thursday; youth night; Friday; remembering the dead.

The council is also looking for young people in their mid-teens or early twenties to present the mission on Wednesday night. Names should be submitted by Sunday May 13.

SUMMER arrived with a bang last week and it was the perfect weath- er for getting out an about in the woods.

And the people who turned up for the workshops run by CELT – the Centre for Environmental Living and Training – were down in the woods to learn almost forgotten skills which can still be put to good use.

The east Clare-based national en- vironmental charity had a big line-up of traditional skills training courses on offer for their Weekend in the Woods event.

Qualified and professional tutors were on hand with courses in every- thing from basket weaving to natural oluunCenbanen

Eager students got to try their hands at wood carving, blacksmith- ing, greenwood-furniture making, gate-hurdle making, silversmithing, dry-stone and lime-mortar_ wall- ing, tipi making, sugan chair mak- ing, thatching, leather shoe making, bushcraft, felt-making, coppersmith- ing and learning herb lore.

Youngsters under 14 got stuck in too and had a go at various wood- vA

“These skills have been around for

centuries, yet have taken on a new relevance in today’s world with the threat of increasing oil prices and the effects of climate change,’ a spokes- man for CELT said.

“Also, for many people, this is a great opportunity to connect with nature as well as learning a new skill and meeting people from all walks of life and all corners of Ireland, and usually a good few overseas visi- Key ace

Almost on hundred participants turned out and more than a few lo- cal people took advantage of the good weather to come and admire the work.

The workshops were held in Bealkelly Wood in Tuamgraney, Bealkelly is a sustainably managed native Oak woodland by the shore of Lough Derg. The event was being partly subsidised by funding from the Heritage Council. CELT runs regular educational and environmen- tal events. Further information 1s available from the website at www. celtnet.org, email info@celtnet.org or telephone 061-640765.

FEARS that hundreds of Clare farm- ers would miss out on this year’s Single Payment/Disadvantaged Ar- eas Scheme were allayed this week as the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan, announced an extension of the closing date for receipt of applications.

With farmers taking advantage of the recent spate of good weather to get work done on the land, it had been feared that thousands would lose out on valuable revenue because of not having the application in on time.

The scheme is a vital source of revenue for many Clare farmers and missing out on the scheme could have had a disastrous effect on farm- ing in the county.

Minister Coughlan has extended the final deadline for receipt of ap- plications under the scheme until this day week, Tuesday, May 15.

“IT have decided that the closing date should be extended to Tuesday, May 15, the latest date for receipt of applications as provided for under the governing EU Regulations,” said Minister Coughlan.

Despite the extension to the closing deadline, the processing of applica- tions under the 2007 Single Pay- ment/Disadvantaged Area Schemes worth over €1.6 billion annually to Irish farmers was already well under way in the Department of Agricul- ture.

However, the Minister indicated that by extending the date she was ensuring that farmers could not be

penalised for submitting a late appli- cation provided they submitted their application by the new deadline.

“I have already ensured that each farmer concerned was written to by my department, in order to ensure that everyone knows precisely the implications for their entitlements, should they fail to lodge an applica- tion under the 2007 Single Payment Scheme,” she continued.

‘Farmers are already aware of the exciting development of online regis- tration, following earlier correspond- ence from my department. The on- line application has several benefits, from the built-in validations, which will result in fewer errors in applica- tions being lodged, to the acknowl- edgment of receipt of the application by my department.”

The move was welcomed by Chair- man of Clare ICMSA, Martin Mc- Mahon.

‘Many farmers have run into prob- lems in relation to getting sufficient land in order to draw down entitle- ments and the extra period of time will give these farmers the oppor- tunity to maximise their payments under the Single Farm Payment,” he said.

“The problems in accessing land clearly highlighted the need for further improvements in the con- solidation arrangements and ICMSA would continue to argue that, in order for farmers to be able to draw down their full entitlements going forward, the conditions for consolidation need to be expanded and ‘the heat’ taken out of the rental land market.”

AS STAFF at Parteen National School were getting to grips with fit- ting to their recently delivered new pre-fab classroom, there was more good news deliver for the school.

Education Minister, Mary Hanafin, has approved another prefabricat- ed classroom for the school which should be ready by the time the next influx of pupils arrives in Septem- ber.

The local school has seen numbers swell in recent years, as Parteen and Arnacrusha underwent a_ building boom and young families bought homes to move into the area. As part of the long-term plan to expand facil- ities, a prefab classroom was brought on site two weeks ago and was last week being fitted out for teachers and pupils to use. Local councillor, Cathal Crowe, brought a deputation from the school’s Board of Manage- ment to a meeting with Minister Wil-

lie O’Dea two weeks ago.

“Following that meeting both Min- ister O’Dea and I made the case to Minister Hanafin that Parteen Na- tional School was in urgent need of additional classroom accommoda- tion,’ Cllr Crowe said.

“IT am very aware that the school has an high enrolment. due to the extensive development that has tak- en place. This community is one of the major growth areas in south east Clare and it is vital that the school

is in the best possible position to ca- ter for all the children in the catch- ment area. If the locality continues to grow Parteen may well be in line for a new school building, but the most important thing for now is that an immediate classroom is provided to deal with the short term deficit,” he added.

Cllr Crowe said he would continue to communicate with the board of management to see what the schools needs will be into the future.

THE soon to be introduced new Ear- ly Retirement Scheme (ERS) should significantly change the situation for farmers who apply under the joint management rule with particular ref- erence to the state pension, accord- ing to the IFA Rural Development Chairman, Padraic Divilly.

“A joint management application allowed the spouse of the farmer to apply for the ERS even though they did not own the land. This was par-

ticularly relevant where the farmer was older than his/her spouse and, as a result, secured a greater number of years of payment from the scheme,” said Divilly.

“However, when the older farmer qualified for the state pension that amount of money was deducted from the ERS, thus reducing the value of the EU pension.”

Following discussions on the new scheme, transfers of lands to the younger spouse will be allowed be- fore joining the scheme and, as a

result, the deduction of the state pen- sion from the ERS will not arise.

In the old scheme, such arrange- ments were not possible unless they were done prior to the introduction of the scheme.

The IFA Rural Development chair- man said that in ERSI and ERS2 many farmers felt aggrieved that the state pension had an effect on their EU pension and this change in the new scheme will avoid a repeat of this anomaly.

Divilly called on the Agriculture

Minister Mary Coughlan to intro- duce the new scheme without any further delay.

“The scheme negotiated as part of the partnership agreement last Oc- tober involves an annual pension of up to €15,000, and a more flexible arrangement for transferees with a widening of the age limit to qualify the retiring farmer.

“The new scheme must be imple- mented in a more flexible manner than previous schemes,” Divilly con- cluded.

THE Midwest could be staring down the barrel of a €42 million bill for polluting unless we clean up our act.

A leading renewable energy asso- ciation has claimed that the Midwest is living beyond its means, in terms of its impact on the environment.

Renewable Energy Skills (RES) has based the claim on figures from the European Environment Agency showing that Ireland currently has a carbon footprint of 5.0 global hec-

tares per person, more than double the global average.

The ecological footprint or carbon footprint is an environmental ac- counting tool that measures the land area required to support an individ- ual, business, community or nation, providing for its needs and absorb- ing its wastes.

It is quantified by calculating the land area required to produce the re- sources needed and dispose safely of wastes produced.

Cllr Johnny Flynn, Chairperson of RES and Ennis town councillor said

that “energy emissions in Clare are above the Kyoto target by 300,000 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide.

“This figure could rise to over 490,000 tonnes by 2010 leaving the county to face a bill of over €17 mil- lion in carbon levy.”

Meanwhile, Limerick county and city energy emissions are above the Kyoto target by 409,000 tonnes of CO2. By 2010, Limerick could be 713,000 tonnes over and face a bill of over €25 million in carbon levy.”

Meanwhile, the Limerick Clare Energy Agency, said that a number

of target actions aimed at reducing carbon emissions were included in the recently launched Government White Paper.

“Some of the targets for renewable energy production will be well with- in the abilities of coastal counties such as Limerick and Clare,’ said Pat Stephens, Manger of LCEA.

Mr Stephens, who has worked in building services design and energy management for more than 15 years and in the construction industry for more than 25 years, added, “to achieve our national targets, some

local targets will have to be more ambitious.

‘This includes the provision of bio- mass firing at Moneypoint generat- ing station by 2010 and ten per cent biofuels penetration by 2020.”

Other targets outlined by the Lim- erick Clare Energy Agency include the use of Pure Plant Oil (PPO) in local authority and public bodies ve- hicle fleets, a review of the National Building Regulations in 2008 and the introduction of smart metres for all electricity consumers over next five years.

yesterday that it would be a very different story if the election was not so close.

“I don’t see any point in the PDs pulling out now, not at this stage. We don’t know what has gone on yet, maybe it will come out before the election and maybe it won’t,” he said.

‘As a PD, I believe we were elected to hold up honesty and integrity in government.

“But at this late stage, I don’t see any advantage in collapsing the Gov- ernment just for the sake of it.”

The Fianna’ Fail/PD coalition looked destined to collapse over the weekend when a meeting of the Pro- gressive Democrats’ high brass was called to discuss revelations con- cerning the personal finances of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.

Mr Ahern’s then partner, Celia Larkin, is reported to have received £30,000 from Manchester business- man Michael Wall in 1996 towards

the renovation of a property.

This property, which was owned by Mr Wall, was rented to Ahern at a nominal fee.

Tm stcKmoeeoe mer Mbsom\y Eble tence businessman bequeathed the prop- erty to Mr Ahern in his will.

“It’s a difficult position for Mc- Dowell to be in. He is going to be criticised no matter what position he takes on this.

“We should hold a firm position on this. Only for it is so close to the election, it could be a very different StOry.

‘The grassroots members and gen- eral election candidates haven’t been

informed of what information Mc- Dowell has yet.

“This is a decision that will be made at ministerial level.”

Meanwhile, the Green Party yes- terday put pressure on Michael Mc- Dowell to put the information he has about the Taoiseach’s finances into the public domain.

“Michael McDowell also has a re- sponsibility in the national interest to put the information he has into the public domain, so that the statement from Bertie Ahern can be judged in the context of what Michael McDow- ell knows,” said party leader Trevor Sergeant yesterday.

SHANNON company, Peach Re- cruitment, will give local people a run for their money to benefit four charities with their third annual 10k run in the town on Sunday after- noon.

As this is the last time that the company will organise the Peach 10k Shannon run it is hoped that this year’s event will raise over €35,000, to reach an accumulated target of € 100,000.

Derek Barrett, Managing Director of Peach Recruitment, said that the event has been enormously success- ave

“The first time around we raised

€38,000 and over the past two years this event has raised in excess of €65,000 for charity, which is a phe- nomenal achievement for a locally organised event. For many partici- pants, this is the perfect opportunity to contribute to charity work on both a local and national scale. Our ab- solute priority for the run will be to raise as much awareness and money for each nominated charity as possi- ble. People are extremely generous,” he said.

This year’s nominated charities are local branches of Multiple Sclerosis and Children with Special Needs as well as Milford Hospice in Limerick and Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Dublin.

The company ensures that money raised locally stays locally.

‘We have supported lots of differ- ent charities but they are all chosen because people have been involved with them in some shape or form. For example, there is funding available for multiple sclerosis but not enough and we’ve specifically asked that the money will be spent on physiothera- py in the Shannon area,’ he added.

Runners can also nominate their own charities and they are asked to register with the company so that an official record can be kept of dona- tions.

Mr Barrett hopes that another eroup or company will keep carry- ing the 10k torch.

“We decided to finish up because we felt that we had dipped into the same well for three years running. We all help with stewarding and or- ganisation and people dig deep. Now someone else has a chance to get in- volved and contribute to charity.”

The Peach 10k Shannon Run will start at 1.30pm from Wolfe Tones GAA Club (where changing facili- ties will be open) and will continue around Shannon town before return- ing to the club for refreshments.

People can print off registration forms from www.peach.ie or call into the office in Peach House for forms and sponsorship cards. For further information telephone O61 362000.

CLARE senator and general elec- tion candidate, Timmy Dooley (FF), yesterday criticised his party leader, Bertie Ahern, over the decision to hold the general election on a Thurs- day.

Senator Dooley, who alongside Tony Mulcahy (FG) and James Breen (Ind) was given a five star rating by the National Youth Council of Ire- land, said he would like to have seen the election take place closer to the weekend to accommodate students

living away at third level institu- tions.

“Personally I am _ disappointed. I haven’t made a big issue out of it but personally I would have liked to have seen the election take place on a Friday or even on a Saturday,’ said Senator Dooley.

“It is a situation creating a balance between the students who want to vote and the people in the cities who would be going down the country for the weekend.”

Dooley was one of only five Clare general election candidates to re-

spond to a survey on young people’s issues conducted by the National Youth Council of Ireland. Each can- didate was rated according to their answers to a series of youth related question and given a Star rating.

Senator Dooley received a maxi- mum five star rating along with Tony Mulcahy and James Breen, while Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG) and Brian Meaney (Green) received four Star ratings.

Each of the respondents, except for Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, responded ‘yes’ when asked should the vote be

given to 16 and 17 year olds.

‘“T have had the view for a long time that children are more educated now than they were 20 or 30 years ago. With the improvements in technol- ogy and communications they know more about voting and politics than ever before,’ said Dooley.

“I would argue that giving them the vote at an early age would get them more involved and make them more interested in politics. If people were allowed to vote from 16 it would goa long way to tackling the problem of apathy in a lot of voters.”