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ST JOSEPH’S Community College in Kilkee played host to 16 teach- ers from Norway, Spain, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Scotland to mark the end of a three year edu- cational project designed to create links with schools abroad.

The Comenius 1.3 Project con- cluded on April 27 with the launch of www.theinclusiveschool.com – a website to allow partner schools to keep in contact.

School Vice Principal, Sister Mary O’Connell, said that the initiative had been a great success and many of the school’s teachers had benefited from

interaction with colleagues abroad.

At a reception in The Kilkee Bay Hotel to celebrate the success of the project, Hilda McHugh, Assistant Chief Inspector in the Department of Education and Science, also empha- sised the importance of making con- tact and forging relationships with fellow educators.

She reiterated the importance of teachers sharing ideas on best prac- tise in the classroom for the benefit of the whole school community.

Labour Affairs Minister Tony Kil- leen attended the event along with representatives from the education department and Léeargas and mem- bers of the parents’ council and

board of management.

Students entertained the visitors with music, song and dance as did the north Clare Group 2 & A Half Irish.

Several Kilkee teachers travelled and participated in each of the conferences in rotation. These in- cluded Ann Healy, Jean Lorigan, Clodagh Healy-Murphy, Theresa O’Donnellan, Geraldine O’Brien, Syl Barrett, Carmel Deloughery, Theresa McGrath.

St Joseph’s hosted the first meet- ing of the partner schools in October 2004. Each of the partner schools has hosted a three to four day meet- ing since the project began in 2004.

The penultimate meeting was in Ab- erdeen, Scotland in November 2006.

The school has been involved in European Studies projects since 1990 with the emphasis on language, industry and trade.

IT MIGHT not mean bankruptcy just yet, but Clare is on the verge of los- ing out on a place on the latest ver- sion of Monopoly, currently under development by Hasbro Games.

Using an on-line vote, the public has been asked to decide which 22 counties will feature in the All-Ire- land version of the game due to be launched later this year.

After a solid start, the Banner county has plummeted a full 12 plac- es in the last seven days and now sits in 29th place with just 1844 votes. The crash from the comfortable 17th position has put Clare in a situation where it is fighting for its Monopoly life and one of the coveted county Soy 1eone

“It would be really great for the county to be included,’ said Rita McInerney, CEO of Ennis Chamber of Commerce.

“We have two of the top three tour- ist locations in the country if you consider the Cliffs of Moher/the Burren and Bunratty. It is impor- tant for the continued promotion of prestige developments like Doonbeg Golf Course and also in relation to property prices.”

The counties are rated depending on the amount of votes they receive with the best supported counties be- ing given the more expensive proper- Won

Currently Roscommon and Tipper- ary are in pole position to claim the purple properties, formerly Dublin’s Shrewsbury and Ailesbury Roads, with 7442 and 7370 votes respec- tively.

“It will be very interesting to see which counties get which prop- erty value. Clare is often forgotten between Kerry and Galway. With Shannon International Airport, Clare should be leading the way for coun- ties in the mid-west. I will certainly be voting for Clare this week and I would encourage everyone else to do So as well,” she added.

Clare is currently ahead of Antrim, Louth and West Meath.

Despite this position, Clare is only 700 votes behind Kildare, which cur- rently occupies the final place on the board with 2580 votes.

To put Clare on the monopoly map, simply log on to Www.monopoly.ie/ vote.aspx and cast your vote.

Each person can vote once per day and the closing date for votes is May 25.

CRUSHEEN residents are prepared to “stand in front of the diggers” in order to prevent the construction of a controversial 3G phone mast at Bal- hyd bb aTer

A second meeting between rep- resentatives of 3G and locals is due to take place this Thursday, May 10, but to date the telecommunications company has failed to contact locals ~VoOltlmnatem neler b bares

“We went to Dublin and met 3G al- most two weeks ago now. They were supposed to make contact with the landowner and make arrangements

with us for a meeting this week and none of this has happened,’ said lo- cal resident, Corrina Rosengrave.

“Our next step is to wait and see if any contact is made over the next few days. I’m prepared to stand in front of the diggers if I have to and do whatever it takes. That mast is not going up here,” she added.

Residents have made a number of complaints about the mast, which received full planning permission from Clare County Council, includ- ing alleged problems with the site notice before planning permission was granted.

“As far as we can see there was no

site notice put up at all on the road. We live across from where the mast is planned, there are eight of us in the house and 3G are trying to say that all of us are blind,’ continued Cor- unt

She repeated her resolve to stop the joarcki im oXoseetoamo) UO DL

“It overlooks our house and that of our neighbours, it overlooks a field where young lads are playing every day of the week. We knew nothing about it until it was too late.”

The mast issue will be on the agen- da at the monthly meeting of Clare County Council, which will take place next week.

“The biggest problem that local people had with the whole thing was the lack of knowledge and consul- tation,” said Councillor Pat Hayes (FF).

“That is something that we will be addressing at next Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council,’ he said.

Cllr Hayes claimed that 3G had failed to comply with planning con- Chiao) rte

“One of the main issues was the failure of 3G to comply with a number of conditions of their plan- ning. They had to agree about traf- fic management with the council and that wasn’t done,” he said.

LABOUR Affairs minister, Tony Kil- leen, has expressed his disappoint- ment at An Post’s decision not to re- introduce full services at Kilmaley Post Office.

The minister said that he had re- ceived a letter from An Post which stated: ““We are not aware that the re- cent downgrading of the service has had an undue impact on customers in the area.”

However, according to Mr Killeen, the loss of full services has affected local people and public opinion told him that there was a demand for them

to be re-instated.

‘Nobody wants to lose a vital serv- ice, which is why I can neither under- stand nor agree with An Post’s asser- tion that the downgrading of the post office has had no negative impact on customers in the area,’ he said.

Mr Laurence O’Brien, who took over the running of Kilmaley postal services when the former postmistress retired and the post office was down- eraded, said that the lack of a full service “doesn’t make sense”’.

“If a person is living rurally on their own they might only get a lift into town every few weeks to do their shopping and collect their pension. If

people want to put money in a savings account here we can’t do that. They would have to go to Ennis, which may as well be Timbuktu. If people want to pay their ESB bill we can’t do it. Local businesses can’t even send registered letters or parcels,” he said.

He added that the town has no ATM so there is no facility for withdrawing money between Ennis and Miltown Malbay.

Mr O’Brien said that Kilmaley Post Office had a higher turnover than oth- er small post offices with full services and predicted a huge future demand because planning permission has been granted for over 280 houses locally.

“It seems to me that the Government haven’t thought it out. One man who comes in phrased it perfectly when he said that when we had nothing in Ire- land we had post offices but now with all the money in the country, they are closing them down. It is completely ridiculous.”

Mr Killeen said that he had spoken with the Minister for Communica- tions, Marine and Natural Resources, TD Noel Dempsey, about the situa- wtOyNF

Mr Killeen said that the decision was not “irreversible. It makes perfect business sense to put in place a service that is in demand”.

DESPITE a request for focus on playing matters, off the field contro- versies surrounding Clare hurling are to be the subject of further ex- amination.

That was the contradictory view expressed by the Clare County Board in a statement released late on Thurs- CP hasan rcanle

The statement pertained to matters discussed at a behind closed doors meeting of the County Board where a proposed vote of no confidence in manager Tony Considine was dis- cussed at length, but later withdrawn with no vote taken.

Beforehand County PRO Des Crowe informed assembled local and national media that they would not be allowed to report on the meeting.

SU slepaslereb MVE KE Ones NO eBE ROK! at the request of the board, he said. This decision, according to Crowe,

was based on sensitive legal issues that arose out of an investigation car- ried out by Chairman Michael Mc- Donagh and School’s Liaison officer John Fawl into the events which led to the departure of players including Davy Fitzgerald and coaching staff from the county set up.

“Trust us” urged Crowe, who said that a full statement on the meet- ing would be provided in I5 to 20 minutes. Any documents discussed would also be furnished, he stated.

The meeting started at 8.55pm but there was no word after 20 minutes. There was still no official word after an hour. 11.02pm and finally, white smoke.

Crowe rushed down stairs to the assembled media and flung open the doors leading to the almost empty bar.

The statement, written on A4 pa- per, contained one clear message — the focus is now totally on the May

27 clash with Cork in the quarter-fi- nal of the Munster Hurling Champi- onship. But then Crowe read, “After a full and frank discussion it was agreed that the matters would be rested at this time”.

In other words, the book was closed – but only temporarily. Crowe also confirmed that a motion of no con- fidence in manager Tony Considine had been tabled.

The motion was seconded, but after further debate was withdrawn. Smith O’Briens delegate Tony O’Brien put forward the motion and according to Crowe the seconder did not want their identity made public.

Crowe said, “There was a seconder for it. It was genuine, it came from genuine people. After the thing was discussed, the delegates spoke with the total focus to be on May 27. There was no problem for the proposer and seconder withdrawing the motion. I’ve been told not to [give name of

seconder]. It would be fair to say that the team manager was hardly men- tioned. It would also be right to tell you that in view of the fact that the Chairman and John Fawl had been investigating matters and talking to people, they spoke with all involved in what has been known to every- body in the media over the last three or four months in Clare GAA. There was a call from members of the team including the captain that there is full confidence in the training and the management and all they wanted to do tonigh wast put this thing to bed, forget about it and go forward and focus on the Clare/Cork game on May 27”.

However, when pressed further, Crowe confirmed the matter would be re-visited.

“This is the end of it as far as the County Board is concerned, as far we re all concerned. After the motion was withdrawn it was unanimous that

the focus is on Cork on May 27, but as we said in our official statement, the matter will be revisited further down the road”

He added, “Obviously it’s not going to happen between games. That’s a problem that people pointed out to- night, but at the end of the day the problem at the moment is we’re three weeks away from a Munster Cham- pionship game. But I won’t deny the fact that there were very strong feel- ings in the room. There were hurtful views. But at the end of the day eve- rybody is unanimous that the focus must be on Cork for the 27 and after that, who knows’.

Who knows indeed? This one could run and run.

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.