The Clare People Archive

BY 6pm, Clare’s largest polling sta- tion was humming. The flow of vot- ers had been steady all day at Ennis CBS, but now business was really picking up.

The narrow hallways rumbled with the purposeful steps of voters. Out- side cars and SUV’s were plonked on the footpath. Inside the walls, others jostled for parking spaces.

Normally you’d associate this kind of traffic with the daily school com- mute taken by parents and children to and from New Road.

But today there’s a different reason for the hustle and bustle. It’s Election Day.

Time to chose the men or women that will serve Clare in the 30th Dail. And the people are eager to have Dales DMITRY

“Oh it’s always this way,” says Cen- tre Supervisor Anne Monahan. Pre- siding officer Lawrence O’ Loughlin concurs, “You’ll always find it like that.”

Between them, Anne and Lawrence have over 50 years experience at the polling stations. Steady hands on hec- tic days. 3,800 voters drawn mainly

from the Tulla Road and Roslevan areas of the town passed through the CBS last Thursday.

Seven individual stations were di- vided between two buildings. The booths propped neatly in classrooms in the main building. Three more ar- ranged in a circle in a separate hall.

The school also housed the busi- est polling booth in the county – box number two where 860 of the coun- ty’s 79,883 potential votes were cast.

Anne checked the first polling fig- ures at 2pm and already turnout was high, at 18 per cent. By 6pm that fig- ure had risen to 30 per cent.

A staff of 15 people sat through the long hours of voting, making sure everything ran smoothly. A good thing too.

A power cut struck parts of Ennis on Thursday. Electronic voting may- be quick, easy and less cumbersome, but what happens when the lights go oD nia

‘That would be an absolute disas- ter. No one would be able to vote,” says Anne.

While we await the winner of the pencil versus keypad debate, there will still be plenty of work for pre- siding officers at election time.

For Lawrence, that means rising in the early light of 6.30am. The day isn’t done until 10.30pm when the last of the all-important ballot boxes are under lock and key in the West County Hotel.

It’s a day for people and their pri- orities. After a 15-hour day, there’s only one place the Boston, Tubber native is thinking of.

“It’s a long day alright. I remember we had a long one a few years ago. It will take about a half an hour to clean up. I’ll be aiming to hit Rory Kenny’s by twenty past eleven’, says Lawrence.

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The field, which is being developed jointly by Providence Resources and Challenger Minerals, has a massive reserve of one and a quarter trillion cubic feet of gas, as-well as 206 mil- hon barrels of oil. In total, the reserve is currently valued at €19.6 billion.

“We have agreed to work on this project with Challenger Minerals which is one of the biggest companies of their kind in the world. It is subject to the approval of Noel Dempsey, or whoever becomes Minister for Com- munications, Marine and Natural Resources after him,” said a spokes- person from Providence Resources.

“It is up to the Government when and how we proceed. Providence Resources have been undertaking a number of surveys and compiling a huge amount of information on the field. It is a very tightly regulated business as you would expect and there are many conditions and regu- lations which need to be adhered to.”

The Spanish Point field is located

around 200km off the coast of west Clare, just to the north of a Burren field of roughly the same size. No firm time-frame is currently in place for the development of the Burren field, which is also owned by Provi- dence Resources.

The Spanish Point field was discov- ered in 1981 by Phillips Petroleum and a consortium which included At- lantic Resources PLC, Providence’s predecessor company.

Providence Resources holds an 80 per cent interest in the field which is located in an area known as the Porcupine Basin, off the west coast. It is located underneath 300 to 400 metres of water over sandstone and is believed to date back to the Upper Jurassic Period.

Providence Resources PLC applied for and became operator of the Span- ish Point licence in November 2004, and now holds the licence for a 15 year-term.

Last month, Providence’s Chief Executive, Tony O’Reilly JNR, an- nounced a 10 per cent faring out of the Spanish Point project to Chal- lenger Minerals.

A spokesperson from the Petro- leum Affairs Division of the depart- ment said last week that there is at least €450 billion worth of oil lying off the west coast of Ireland.

OUTGOING Minister for Defence, Willie O’Dea, has topped the poll in Limerick East with a whopping 19,082 first preference votes- making him more popular than the Taoiseach in voting terms.

The other four seats were filled in order by Michael Noonan (FG), Peter Power (FF), Jan O’Sullivan (LAB) and Kieran O’Donnell (FG). Pharmacist Tim O’Malley (PD) was the most high profile casualty.

If Fianna Fail form the next Gov- ernment, O’Dea’s victory puts him in contention for a high profile ministry such as justice- a post he recently ex- pressed an interest in and left free as outgoing minister for justice Michael McDowell has lost his seat.

Noonan, former Fine Gael leader and long serving TD, came in a not so close second on the second count with 8,484 votes.

O’Dea’s huge surplus of more than double the quota of 8,320, guaran- teed fellow Fianna Fail TD Peter Power the third seat as the marathon race for the remaining slots began.

Count after count followed at Lim- erick Racecourse in Patrickswell as Labour education spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan, young councillor Kieran O’Donnell and PD Minister of State, Tim O’Malley, led the field.

Votes from Trish Forde-Brennan (GP), Maurice Quinlivan (SF) and Noreen Ryan (FF) were added to tallies along with various eliminat- ed Independent candidates such as

prominent solicitor John Devane (the highest polling Independent with 469 votes total).

It took eight counts before O’Sullivan reached the quota and

O’Donnell, son of well known TD and MEP Tom O’Donnell, edged ahead of O’ Malley to be elected. The pro-O’Donnell roar was deat- ening as the results were announced

and as Noonan said in his speech, it sounded the end of an era for the Pro- gressive Democrats in their former stronghold of Limerick East.

The cousin of party founder Des

O’ Malley and nephew of former edu- cation minister Donagh O’Malley, said that he was “bitterly disappoint- ed” to lose his seat, conceding that politics is not for the “faint hearted”’.

His parting shot, “This is not the end for the PDs,’ echoed the defiant stance of many party members na- tionally as the PDs suffered massive losses including leader McDowell and deputy leader, Liz O’ Donnell.

Noonan added that Fine Gael’s vote management system had secured his party the same number of seats as Fi- anna Fail despite being 23 per cent below them overall in the constitu- STAY

It was 3.30am before the candidates had finished thanking supporters and election staff- a full eight hours after the count for Limerick West finished at the same venue. The west result of two Fianna Fail candidates and one for Fine Gael mirrors the east and so it seems that the voting trend for Limerick is clear.

VETERAN politician Brendan Daly is remaining tight lipped on whether he’ll run for election to the Seanad.

Senator Daly said he would first have to speak to the Fianna Fail par- ty in Kilrush and discuss a strategy for the future of Fianna Fail in west SEK

“We don’t want to leave the west without a representative,” he said.

Fellow west Clare politician Cllr Madeleine Taylor-Quinn was also remaining tight lipped on a possible Seanad election.

The former TD and Senator said

that it was too soon after her defeat in the general election for such a con- sideration.

“It is early days to make an assess- ment on the Seanad. We are only over One campaign.”

CUT RA U leer Olesbsvemny-lmme om se(om@ntle tural and Educational Panel from 1997 to 2002.

The two Fine Gael senators on the five person panel, Brian Hayes and Noel Coonan, were both elected to the Dail at the weekend.

But Cllr Taylor-Quinn would be the first to admit this does not auto- matically mean she will be returned to one of the most hotly contested

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Meanwhile, some of Clare county councillors are also considering a term in the upper house.

Ennis County Councillor Pat Daly has already been proposed by the GRA for selection by the Irish Con- ference of Professional and Service Association as one of its Seanad nominations.

The meeting on June 6, will see the association appoint their candidates for the Labour Panel, of which FI1- anna Fail Senator Brendan Daly is currently a member.

Cllr Bill Chambers (FF) said he was also considering his options.

The Cooraclare man said he believed that the west of the county needed representation at national level. But he added that he would wait to see the position of other candidates be- fore deciding.

Fine Gael’s Cllr John Crowe has also actively been seeking a nomina- tion from different bodies.

But he said he was conscious that his nomination would not clash with another candidate.

Other names being bandied about within their parties as possible Sea- nad candidates are Fine Gael’s Mar- tin Conway and Tony Mulcahy, and Fianna Fail’s Pat Hayes.

WEST Clare may not have returned a local TD to represent it in the 30th Dail but it can take heart that one of its own was among the 166 Dail deputies elected on Thursday.

Kilrush native, Dr Mary Upton was re-elected to the Dail for Dublin South Central after a long drawn-out count in the capital.

The Labour TD was elected on the ninth count to the five-seater con- stituency.

A qualified microbiologist and

former lecturer at University College Dublin, Dr Upton won her first Dail seat in the 1999 by-election follow- ing the death of her brother, Pat.

She was re-elected in 2002, and ap- pointed Labour Party spokesperson on Agriculture and Food.

Among her other achievements in politics was her appointment to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food from 2002 to 2007.

She is also a board member of Fa- tima Mansions Regeneration Board and of James’ Street CBS.

The 60-year-old Kilrush woman was chairperson of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland and the National Council for Educational Awards.

She previously held the portfolio of food safety, consumer affairs and health promotion.

Her academic background and her quietly spoken articulate manner saw her comments in these roles respect- ed and rarely challenged.

Dr Upton was educated in Colaiste Mhuire, Ennis, before attending Un1- versity College, Galway and Univer-

sity College Dublin.

The newly returned TD now lives in Dundrum. She was the third TD to be returned to the hotly contested Dublin constituency, with a first pref- erence vote of 5,987 and a surplus on the ninth count of 1,261 votes.

The transfers were not enough how- ever to bring in running mate Eric Byrne.

Byrne lost out in a lengthy battle with sitting TD, Aengus O Snodaigh (SF), who eventually took the seat by 69 votes after a recheck of ballot papers.

PRESSURE is mounting on the Eu- ropean Commission to introduce an all out ban on Brazilian beef follow- ing an IFA survey into the South American beef sector.

IFA President, Padraig Walshe, presented the results of the study to EU Commission officials in Brussels last Thursday which he claims in- cludes “extensive factual evidence” that raises major questions over sec- tor.

During the 7-day visit to Brazil, a team from the IFA and the Farmers Journal visited 15 farms in the states of Parana, Mato Grosso de Sol and Mato Grosso. In addition, the team observed farming practices on a fur-

ther 27 farms on their travels.

‘Based on the evidence we found of non existent cattle traceability, wide- spread illegal removal and cutting out of tags, totally inadequate move- ment and FMD controls and the use of hormone growth promoters, the only conclusion for the EU Commis- sion is to immediately impose a total ban on all Brazilian beef imports into Europe,” said IFA national livestock chairman John Bryan, who was part of the Brazilian trip.

Bryan went on to accused the EU Commission, particularly ‘Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, of pursuing a politically-motivated trade agenda on Brazilian beef imports.

“On the few farms where there were tags, we found routine and widespread removal and cutting out of the official SISBOV tags in order to facilitate illegal movement,” he SrHTOR

“It is clear from our visit that the movement of cattle from FMD re- stricted states into unrestricted clear states 1s widespread.

“This explains why actual imports into the EU have fallen by only 2 per cent, despite restrictions on states which accounted for over 60 per cent of EU imports before the FMD crisis new lO ey

“We saw evidence of large scale cattle movement across state borders driven by higher prices in the unre- stricted states.”

Bryan went on to say that Irish and European farmers operated to the highest international standards of food safety, animal identification and traceability and strict controls on animal medicines and residue KRU NTS

‘European consumers expect that all beef on sale in the EU meet these standards. Producers and consum- ers rely on the Commission to up- hold European standards across the board,’ he continued.

“By accepting Brazilian beef im- ports, which clearly fall below Euro- pean standards, the EU Commission are failing in their duty to European consumers and undermining Euro- pean producers.”

CLARE farmers are being urged to attend an IFA Skillnet training workshop which takes place later this week at the Auburn Lodge Hotel in Ennis

The survey, which has been or- ganised by the newly appointed IFA Skillnet Network Manager and Clareman, Karl Skehan, will provide IFA members with the opportunity to get trained in completing the Farm Safety Code.

“Tax planning for succession 1s

very important, there were a number of tax issues which should be consid- ered when transferring assets such as the family farm,” said Clare IFA county chairman Seamus Murphy. “Any farmer making a will needs to clearly state the allocation of the Single Farm Payment in their wills that where the Single Farm Payment was not addressed in a will that it falls into the residue of the estate and were this to happen it may become inactive as there may be no land on which to activate the payment.” Meanwhile, IFA President Padraig

Walshe, launching the IFA Skillnet Safety Training Project in Dublin last week.

‘Already in 2007 there have been six farm deaths. These are great tragedies for the farm families con- cerned.

“The IFA Skillnet courses will as- sist farmers to manage their farms with safety and health to the fore, by completing the new Code of Prac- tice,” he said

IFA Skillnet is a member of a na- tional group of learning networks. These provide innovative, non-man-

datory training for a range of sectors. Skillnet organisations are funded by the National Training Fund operated by the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment.

The workshop will take place from 10am 4pm at the Auburn Lodge Hotel, this Friday June 1. Places are limited and should be booked through the IFA Office in Limer- ick on 061-314196. There is a €50 charge per place for IFA members and €100 for non members. Lunch will be provided for all who attend the training event..

A NATIONAL charity won’t be looking a gift horse in the mouth this June bank holiday weekend as a line of horse-drawn carriages makes a 150 mile journey to west Clare in a bid to raise money.

The unusual cavalcade, benefiting the Barretstown therapeutic recrea- tion programme, will saddle up in Kildare at 6am on Saturday, June 2 before travelling south.

Local volunteer Noreen O’Brien said that at least 20 carriages as well

as horse boxes and support staff from the Kildare Horse Driving Club will pass through Killaloe on Saturday afternoon before stopping in Inagh for the night.

“I got involved because my kids are into showjumping and we have friends in this club in Kildare. One of the organisers, Pat Commane, 1s originally from Miltown Malbay so that inspired a ‘Kildare to Clare’ trip. We are distributing lines locally and there will be buckets for dona- tions as they pass through.”

The cavalcade will leave Inagh at

midday on Sunday, June 3 arriving in Miltown Malbay an hour later and finishing in Quilty in the afternoon. There will be more fundraising that night in the Quilty Tavern with mu- sic and a raffle as the club try to pass the post for their €15,000 target.

Ms O’Brien added that the entire operation would be massive.

“The line itself is only one thing. They will have lorries with horse boxes because they will change to fresh horses every 10 miles, as well as a bus in front of them. Barrets- town is the only facility of its kind

in Ireland. It is like a summer camp for children recovering from serious illnesses so it’s a huge effort but for a very worthy cause.”

She said that anyone with their own carriage can join the line along the way but regretfully sulkies are ex- cluded because they are not covered by insurance.

It is hoped that the event will be successful enough to ride again next year.

To make a donation and support Barretstown, telephone Noreen on 065-7084708.

ACTIONS speak as loud as words for Cooraclare School of Speech and Drama with five of its students win- ning awards for performing from the Irish Board of Speech and Drama. Three students won gold medals and two senior students were given special awards with distinction for their achievements after completing their final grade examinations. Grade Four student Jenny Ryan from Kilrush and Grade Three stu- dents, Saoirse Griffin from Cappagh and Breda Quinn from Cooraclare

were awarded gold medals by the board while the other distinctions were given to Kate O’Gorman from Cree and Edel Tubridy from Coora- OE NKeor

Founder of the school, Bernie Tu- bridy, said that the examiner had congratulated all of the girls on the high standard.

“They all put in a lot of work get- ting ready for the exams. Different exams consist of recitation of po- etry, reading, mime and dramatic solos. The younger students would have given an impromptu talk about themselves as well.”

Ms Tubridy added that all of the school’s students, over twenty be- tween the ages of six and 16 years, also took part in an annual show.

“All of the children performed on the stage in Cooraclare Community Centre for parents in March and there was a variety of short plays, solos and poetry that night. They all take a great interest in it- especially on the drama side of things. We put a big emphasis on that and communi- cation skills of course.”

Since 1994, the school has had many graduates from its weekly classes perform in local drama pro-

ductions.

‘“Cooraclare has a strong dramatic tradition with well-known producer Tom McNamara organising plays for the Doonbeg Drama Festival. One of our award winners, Edel, played Molly in this year’s Cooraclare Dra- ma Group play –

WEST Clare was the last stop for events on Saturday as Clare Biodi- versity Week came to a successful end with a walking tour of the Van- deleur Gardens in Kilrush.

Members of the West Clare Wild- life Club were instrumental in or- ganising the inaugural awareness and activity week which involved a variety of events all over the county.

One of the founders of the wild- life club, National Parks and Wild- life Service (NPWS) ranger Barry O’Donoghue, led a walk around Loop Head on Tuesday, May 23.

“It was a lovely evening with beau- tiful scenery, moody seas and a va- riety of wildlife on display such as

gannets, chough and dolphins. The club supplied binoculars to all the walkers and everyone really enjoyed it.”

The woodland walk and talk later in the week focused on flora and fauna, with moth traps set the night before to put moths and butterflies on display. Other events included Dr Simon Berrow, one of the founders of Clare Biodiversity Group and the wildlife club explained what Biodi- versity Week was all about.

“The week gives everyone a chance to enjoy and explore the glorious wildlife and wild places of Clare. The county has everything from lakes in east Clare to the Burren in north Clare. Biodiversity is the vari- ety of life on our planet. We are hop-

ing that the week becomes an annual event. Last year, there was a day but the weather can be unpredictable so spreading the events out is a good idea.”

The West Clare Wildlife Club runs all year round and is now preparing for its Summer outings.

“We started it up last winter and arranged different guests speakers, both with local knowledge or broad- er interests. Generally, we have a talk once a month on the last Thurs- day and a trip out on the Sunday after to see what we spoke about. We have 80 members and usually get 30 on average at events,” said Dr Berrow.

The summer programme is now in motion with a trip to Scattery Island as one possible event.

When the winter programme be- gins in September, some of the lec- ture subjects will include underwa- ter marine life with John Flynn and diving with Robert Tweedy. One of Ireland’s foremost wildlife and land- scape photographers, Mike Brown, will also pay a visit to the headquar- ters of the Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Foundation in Merchant’s Quay, Kilrush where the 8pm talks ANKoM IO

“Clare has led the way for biodiver- sity in Ireland and we will continue working to maintain that enthusi- asm,’ he added.

For more information on the West Clare Wildlife Club, membership and club events, log on to www. WCWC.1E.