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THE council’s practice of leaving eravel margins on the side of roads Where they have acquired land for road improvements is providing an opportunity for illegal parking, a lo- cal councillor has claimed.

Cllr Joe Cooney told a meeting of Clare County Council last week that

the practice of leaving such land open gives carte blanche for illegal park- ing and in some cases, dumping.

“IT had asked that Clare County Council maintain and fence off all waste ground which the council ac- quired for road improvements on the sides of roads throughout the county. I’m not happy with the reply,” he Sr HKOe

In reply to his motion before the council, officials told Cllr Cooney that “in many cases, on relatively mi- nor road improvement schemes, ad- ditional land is acquired to make the road safer by just providing addition- al sight distance. In these situations it would not be appropriate to erect any fencing as this would interfere with the available sight distance. In other

cases the improved section can have CBN Arc Da rca eneeCcoOlMmrstseMmAeCoMB Koni UOLMmOerelI a lay-by remains.

‘There are a number of such lay-bys around the county and in many cases they have been treated to discourage unauthorised parking. Where prac- tical, in carrying out re-alignments nowadays we endeavour to return the by-passed section of road to agricul-

tural use.”

The officials added that if there were any specific locations where action 1S needed, these would be as- sessed on an individual basis.”

Cllr Pat Hayes said that the illegal parking of Travellers caravans in some areas 1s becoming a problem. ‘In one place there were 15 caravans parked along the side of the road.”

GORT is gearing up for a major addi- tion to the regional festival calendar with the inaugural Changing Colours Festival. The festival, which will take on May 27, has been designed to reflect the changing nature of the town, to celebrate the new alongside the old.

The central focus of the festival will be a large carnival parade through the streets of Gort but it will also in- clude an arts exhibition, original CD launch and a farmers market.

“The festival is designed to cel- ebrate the new multi-cultural Gort and the changing landscape around the area as well. There is an awful lot of building going on so the landscape

here is changing and the inhabitants of that landscape are changing as well,’ said Niamh Clune of Grace, who are organisation the festival.

“We want to try and develop some performance art and street theatre so we have gotten all the local schools involved, and they will perform three minute loops along the streets enact- ing the history of Gort from King Guaire extending his hand to the stranger right up to the arrival of the Brazilians.

“That 1s carnival time, we have dancers, drummers and all kinds of performers. We have some capoeira, which is a form of martial art and we have a really authentic Brazilian samba band. I will be very colourful and a lot of fun.

Another important part of the fes- tival is the Changing Colours Music Project.

“The music project consists of a number of special pieces of music that we are writing. We are trying to include as many local musicians as we can,’ said Niamh.

“We have some wonderful Irish musician playing with Brazilian drummers and we have sampled dig- ital sounds and hip-hop rhythms. It’s all mixed in and it’s all coming out so well. It’s about mixing rhythms and mixing styles. We hope that this will be the beginning of a community record label and we will be releasing music on Coole Records. We hope to help develop talent in the area and we would be looking for locals mu-

SICGAE-UOLSME- NOLO MN Oy- NOLO MUO KO)OO MEADE MESXo)IDKSI ILO help develop their work.”

Local artist Frank McCann will be one of the main focus points for the artistic element of the festival which will take place in the court house and in the streets of Gort themselves.

‘He is a very special local artist and he will be co-ordinating the art exhibition along with the Sharon Kelly and three other arts. We have asked all the shops to allow us to use their shop windows as exhibi- tions space for local people to exhibit their works. Anyone can get involved from new artists to professional art- ists,” continued Niamh.

For more information on the festi- val contact GRACE at 091 – 631203.

A TUBBER inventor has come up with a system of letting doctors know at a glance what medical conditions a patients suffers from and what me- diction they are taking.

The Medical CV is the brainchild of Michael Quinn and can even include such information as blood groups

and organ donor requests.

Michael has just finalised design- ing the website for his medical CV at www.mymedicalcv.com

The idea behind the CV is that it gives a pre-designed form which pa- tients can download for themselves, fill in their medical history and then print it out to be carried around with Wetoeee

“I got the idea to do something when I was in a hospital waiting room one day and a woman was having difficulty remembering what medication she was being prescribed and what dose.

“The doctor had to get hold of her GP who had to consult her records. I was thinking, there must be some way to record information like that

and have it to hand.”

The idea of how it could be done struck Michael sometime later when he was delivering a CV to a recruit- ment agency.

“T thought, if you can put your ca- reer details into a CV then why not have some form that would hold all your medical details? Then, if there’s an emergency, doctors know imme-

diately if you have something like epilepsy or what blood group you are without any time being wasted,” Michael told

FURIOUS business people in east Clare have slated the lack of fa- cilities for boaters and visitors to Mountshannon Harbour.

As the first Bank Holiday weekend of the season was blessed with sun- Shine last week, visitors flocked to the lake-shore village in boats and or NaS

But members of the East Clare Tourism Group were “appalled” to discover that all the bins intended for boat users have been removed and piles of smelly, unsightly rubbish were left piled up beside the recy- oA Tb aheam ey bake

The group says that the special pump-out stations, used by hire-boat tourists and boat-owners, haven’t worked in years.

‘This was the first busy week this year and there were hundreds of peo- ple in Mountshannon,” said Theresa Browne of the tourism group.

“It’s a disgrace that there were no disposal facilities for people. And the pump-out stations still aren’t working so people are going out into the lake and emptying the septic tanks from their boats. The harbour has mooring for 150 boats, which 1s a major asset to Mountshannon. It’s beyond belief that the county council can’t provide such basic facilities,”

said Theresa.

As the tourism group met last week in the wake of the sunny Bank Holi- day weekend, they learned that “the situation was no better at Two Mile Gate. There are no litter bins there either’, said Theresa.

“Lough Derg is the jewel in the crown of natural assets in this part of Clare. If we can’t provide the most basic of facilities for people, they won’t come here,” she said.

Local councillor, Colm Wiley, who is a member of the Tourism Board, said that he has met with officials of the local authority to discuss the matter.

“They are going out to inspect the

facilities and see what can be done,” said Cllr Wiley.

The local councillor said he spoke to the councils’ Director of Services, Ger Dollard, about the problems with the pump-out facilities.

“The engineers say they are work- ing. The system is that people on boats have to buy cards for the pumps from local shops, It does seem that this system is not work- ing successfully and it will have to be looked at again,” the Clare county councillor said.

THE Drumbiggle Residents Associ- ation is to meet next week to discuss an ongoing dispute with Ennis Town Council.

Last month the group opted to with- draw from participating in the RAP- ID funding scheme. The group cited a number of issues regarding housing policies, illegal dumping, unfinished road surfacing and anti-social behav- ior among the reasons why.

According to Ferdie O’Donoghue, Chairman of the Drumbiggle Resi- dents Association (DRA), the group want further dialogue with the coun- ote

“They haven’t come to us yet. We are not budging until they come to us. We are going to have a meeting next week to discuss the matter. This has been going back for years. All of these things should have been sorted out years ago.”

The DRA represents eight areas in the town Clancy Park, Waterpark View, Waterpark Heights, Waterpark Court, Radharc na hInse, Ard Carrig, Stone Court and McHugh Villas.

Mr O’Donoghue added “People might think that we are against RAP- ID, but we are not. Our fight is with the council they should do what they are supposed to do. They say they are going to start the showgrounds road now and that is going to take six months. It’s up to them to contact us.

We are waiting to talk to them. It’s up to them to make the move.”

Ennis Town Council and RAPID delegates have urged the DRA to re- engage with the process.

Ennis RAPID area comprises six residential areas. The areas include Drumbiggle, Dalcassian/Turnpike, Old Military Barracks, Hermitage, Clancy Park and Cloughleigh. RAP- ID Projects rely on an inter-agency (HSE Midwest, Ennis Town Council, Clare VEC, Dept of Social & Family Affairs, FAS, etc) and are based on a strong partnership with the commu- nity and voluntary sector.

The programme aims to ensure priority attention is given to tackling the spatial concentration of poverty and social exclusion within the 45 designated areas through targeting state resources

Under the scheme, communities in Ennis have benefited through the provision of amenity projects. Im- provement works carried out include landscaping, improvement of open Spaces, white lighting and _ traffic calming measures.

ESB officials told members of Clare County Council that there is little they can do to prevent further major flooding in Clonlara.

Pat Naughton, Manager of the ESB’s Hydro Stations gave members of the council a detailed explanation last week on how the power com- pany deals with outflow from Lough Derg and the volume of water going through the Ardnacrusha turbines.

Shocked councillors, who had made representations on behalf of house- holders who had to be evacuated from heir homes last Christmas, heard that there is every chance that the flood- ing may happen again.

Rainfall during December and Jan- uary of last year was “exceptionally high” with almost a metre of rain fall- ing, he said.

A major problem in dealing with water levels in the river Shannon, he said, is that the power company is dealing with narrow. channels and large lakes.

“In flood conditions, the ESB has to spill water down the river. If we don’t match inflows with outflows, we are in breach of our statutory duty,’ he said.

While the company make every ef- fort to anticipate what will happen us- ing advance weather forecasts, it can be “unpredictable, with wind and lo- cal rainfall affecting conditions. With

sustained rainfall, the ESB’s influ- ence on flows is marginal,’ he said.

In December and January last, the power company started spilling water as soon as levels rose and continued to do this on an increasing basis as rain became heavier, members were Ke (en

Records show that the Shannon has flooded on a cyclical basis going back to the 1930s, and the floods experi- enced recently are not even the worst that have happened, Mr Naughton Sr HLee

“The power company 1s co-operat- ing with the Office of Public Works in cleaning out the section where the Mulcair meets the Shannon, but there is no way of telling if this will help

the situation,” he added.

Councillor Cathal Crowe said that it seems “the statutory requirements in relation to levels in Lough Derg seem to need revising. Homes three quar- ters of a mile from the Shannon were under water. There were fish in back gardens and slurry and sewerage in contact with fresh water.”

He added that the ESB “needs to re- view its system of communication to warn people about flooding”.

Cllr Paschal Fitzgerald asked why the power company “only told people in the area six hours after the water had been let out”, while Cllr Tony O’Brien said that there should be “a single advisory body dealing with flooding on the Shannon’.

IRISH farming organisation gave a lukewarm response this week to the new Farm Improvement Scheme which is nearing the final stages of preparation in the Department of aNcau(Gullalvuce

Details of the scheme are not avail- able to the public but the organisa- tions were given a sneak preview by the Department of Agriculture last week.

The new Farm Improvement Scheme will replace the Farm Waste Management Scheme and the Dairy Hygiene Scheme which are currently operating. A general grant rate of 40 per cent will be available for most in- vestments, while some mobile equip-

ment will only receive 20 per cent.

Everything that qualifies for grant aid under the current schemes will continue to receive grant aid under the FIS while there will be a few new additions like rubber mats on slats and cubicles, automatic feeding systems for the dairy, computerised calf feeders, outwintering pads, meal bins, meal stores and meal silos.

“While everything that we sought to be included has not been accepted by the Department of Agriculture and Food, we will continue to pur- sue the inclusion of these items in an effort to enhance labour-saving and health and safety on the farm,” said Conor Creedon of the ICMSA.

The IFA have meanwhile called for the scheme to be implemented im-

mediately and have set May I as a deadline for this to take place.

‘The introduction of the FIS is an Opportunity to grant aid for the first time in many years to the moderni- sation of agricultural holdings,” said IFA Rural Development Chairman, Padraic Divilly.

“Grant aid under the new scheme will be 40 per cent with an additional 10 per cent top-up for young farmers less than 35 years of age. The invest- ment limit will be €120,000.”

In relation to the dairy hygiene scheme, a separate €120,000 invest- ment limit will apply with increased investments limits of €25,000 for bulk tanks, €40,000 for milking ma- chines. In addition feeders in the par- lour will be eligible for grant aid.

Divilly expressed serious concern that the Department of Agriculture iS proposing to discontinue grant aid for splash plates slurry tankers from the end of December 2008 with ap- plications having to be lodged by De- cember 2007.

“This 1S unnecessary as many farmers requires small scale invest- ment to meet their slurry spreading requirements”, he said.

‘There was no reason why the new FIS could not be introduced over the next number of weeks. Many farmers are anxiously awaiting this scheme, which will in many cases compli- ment investments which are already been undertaken under the Farm Waste Management Scheme.”

DUST off the quiz books, unearth family quiz games and get a friend’s phone number ready.

The Who Wants to Be a Thou- sandaire quiz night is all set to go this Friday and Queally’s Super- value in Killaloe are right behind the cause, putting up the cash this week for what promises to be a great night.

While smart competitors stand to walk away with the thousand crisp ones, the real winners from the night will be the communities of Tuamgraney and Scariff, with hopes

high that €20,000 can be raised for projects in the two areas.

The 50/50 joint effort of the Scariff Community Council and the Tuam- eraney Development Association’s organisation on the night will help fund a playground for the riverside park development, which has been improving every year and the contin- ued development and upgrading of the memorial park in Tuamgraney.

The Palace Marketing Group have been brought on board to stage the event, which will be just like the real SUVA deveeree

“It should be a great night out and people will have loads of fun. If

someone doesn’t want to compete personally, they can nominate anoth- er person or we will pick someone for them at random from a panel. But the person who bought the ticket gets the prize money,’ said Damien Heaney, spokesperson for the organisers.

A huge amount of organisation went into the night, with six teams of six working under two co-ordina- tors, Margaret O’Meara, PRO of the Tuamgraney Development Associa- tion and Harry O’Meara, Chairman of the Scariff Community Council.

Local businesses have also rowed in behind the event, with Centra in Scariff, Finsa Forest Products and

Sports World Netting coming in as three of the sponsors.

The organisers are expecting up to ten rounds on the night at Scarf Community College from 8pm.

Tickets are €10 each.

THE Department of Agriculture last week announced a series of last minute events designed to help pre- vent the expected chaos as the dead- line for the applications under the Single Payment and Disadvantaged Area Schemes.

Informal information roadshows will take place nationwide and the help-line number will have extended hours of operations to help farmers deal with the complex application ORO ete

Minister Coughlan confirmed on Friday that personalised Single Pay-

ment Scheme application forms, complete with pre-printed data con- cerning land parcels and start dates have been issued by her Department to all Single Payment Scheme partic- ipants. It was also confirmed that the department will provide an enhanced customer service in the run up to the closing date for the receipt of appli- cation forms on Friday, May 4. This will involve information meetings throughout the country and helplines which will also operate outside of of- fice hours.

“I believe farmers should have the most up-to-date information avail- able to enable them to correctly com-

plete and submit the 2007 SPS ap- plication forms by the closing date. For this reason I have made provision for the information roadshow and in- creased helpline facilities.” she said.

“I am aware that some farmers would prefer to speak directly to ex- perienced staff from my Department prior to the completion of their SPS application forms. In response to this need I have made arrangements for information sessions in 26 locations throughout the country between 16 April and 1 May where my officials will also be available to meet appli- cants.”

This will be achieved through

an extension of the opening hours of the Department’s help lines un- til 10.00pm on weekdays and from 1.00pm to 6.00pm on Saturdays and Sundays commencing _ yesterday, April 16, and continuing until the closing date for the receipt of appli- cations on May 4.

“The additional opening hours of my Department’s helplines and the opportunities being afforded to farm- ers to meet with staff will greatly as- sist them with inquiries about these and related matters,” she said.

Details of information meetings and lo-call numbers will be an- nounced in the coming weeks.

TWO west Clare communities are this week grieving the loss of two young friends who were tragically killed in a road crash at the week- end.

Eoin Glynn (21) from Shanaway, Miltown Malbay and Shane Donnel- lan (17), from Kilmore, Knock, were

killed when the van in which they were travelling left the road, close to Kilmihil, shortly before 5am on Sunday.

Two others, who were also in the van at the time, survived the crash.

Mike Morrissey (20), from Kilmur- ry McMahon is in a Serious condition at Limerick Regional Hospital with internal injuries, while Enda O’ Leary

(24), from Kilmihil, sustained multi- ple fractures to his leg. The accident happened on the main Ennis/Kul- rush road, close to Goldburn Bridge. Their black Volkswagen transporter van veered out of control and hit a hedge, before plunging into a field some distance away. The four young men, who were in the front seat, were not wearing seatbelts and were flung

from the car.

They had earlier socialised at a friend’s 2lst birthday party in Knock. They had returned to a house in Kilmihil before leaving the house and heading in the direction of Kil- rush. Gardai in Kilrush are appeal- ing for witnesses.