The Clare People Archive

THERE was no birthday cake or can- dles but there was still plenty to cel- ebrate when the BurrenLIFE Project (BLP) turned three last week.

Much progress has been made to- wards environmental and economic sustainability in the Burren over the last two years of the project and hope are high that year three will see the BLP make even more progress on a number of goals.

Since Christmas, much of the fo- cus of the organisation has been on a programme of targeted scrub remov- al. This work is designed to protect

the limestone paving of the Burren by opening up stretches of land that have been overrun by scrub.

This allows cattle and sheep to once again graze on the land and prevent the further encrouchment of scrub.

The project has spent more than €150, OOO on scrub removal with €100, OOO been spent in the last three months alone. They have set up a register for skilled and semi- skilled workers which has lead to over 90 workers registering to help with the work.

‘Much progress has been made in the first 2 and half years of operation and the number of farmers interested

in participating in the BLP has ex- CITA Te Ro. qee eet Maer COM NCTC D BUT O Conchuir, Project’s Finance and Operations Officer.

“In recent months we have been extremely busy working with LIFE farmers to enhance livestock man- agement facilities on project sites.

“Direct site work related to scrub removal has been ongoing and inten- sive since the BLP established a Reg- ister of Workers in December.”

The vast majority of these workers are local farmers who have a deep understanding of the work. This has shown that conservation work can economically support local com-

munities and local communities can work to play a role in the active man- agement of the Burren.

According to Dr Sharon Parr, the Project’s Scientific Co-ordinator, the programme of targeted scrub remov- al has greatly assisted participating farmers to open up access for cattle and restore priority habitats to a bet- ter conservation status.

In excess of 20kms of access track- ways have been opened and in excess of 50 hectares of scrub has been re- moved. For further information on the work of the BLP’s and its ongo- ing programme is available on www. eUME ODER CoNee)NOe

According to a report, which was produced by McIver Consulting for An Bord Bia, the amenity horticulture sector has grown by 50 per cent since 2000 while there was a doubling in the value of output in the protected crop Sector, with both of these combined now worth around €120 million to eTowers.

The mushroom and potato sectors

were the largest individual sectors and were valued at EUR106m and BLUR SRO repacyeeshohlAeleeP

“The horticulture industry contrib- utes handsomely to a dynamic rural economy from both an economic and social perspective – it is an efficient industry, well positioned and operated by professional expert growers,” said Minister for Horticulture and Food at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Brendan Smith.

The Department of Agriculture as awarded capital grants in the region of €40 million across the industry to growers, packers and processors since 2000 under the National Development Plan.

‘These investments have gone a long way in putting the horticulture sector on a firm footing and we are commit- ted to carrying on with this support under the new NDP,” he said.

“A key element of this framework is the provision of grants that are strate- gically targeted which will improve the overall development and competi- tiveness of the sector and the Mclver Report will be very helpful in formu- lating the necessary investment pro- feaen abe (oe

Funding of the region of €49 mil- lion is being provided for horticulture producers and €8 million for potato producers in the new NDP to cover the period 2007-2013.

Minister Smith commented that con- siderable support was also available to fruit and vegetable growers under the EU Producer Organisation Scheme. Since 2000, twenty Producer Organi- sations have benefited from EU fund- ing amounting to €24 million.

“My objective in the negotiations is to strengthen the role of POs where- by growers can use their combined strength in the market place to combat the power of the multiples,” he contin- ued.

Minister Smith said that a scheme was currently being discussed by the Council of Ministers in the context of the reform of the Fruit and Vegetable regime.

STAFF at Shannon company, Hali- fax Insurance, have taken part in an eight-week Slimathon, to raise mon- ey for The Mid West Deaf Associa- tion’s new community centre, which is to open in Limerick shortly.

Three teams of seven colleagues followed sensible eating and exer- cise plans, losing a total of 155 Ibs between them. Their fellow workers showed their support by sponsoring them €1.27 per lb, for their efforts raising much needed funds for The Mid West Deaf Association.

The Community Centre will pro- vide extra facilities for deaf people

in the Mid west region such as Deaf Adult Education, seminars, social activities, recreational and internet activities. The money raised by Hali- fax has gone towards furnishing the community centre.

The three teams, “The Slim Shadys’, ‘The Love-Handlers’ and “The Little Bit Xtra’ were weighed in weekly and aimed to lose the highest percentage of weight collectively. “The Little Bit Xtra’ were declared the overall win- ners of the Slimathon, losing over 5 per cent of their collective body weight, so they had the privilege of nominating the charity.

“We feel healthier, raised a lot of money for charity and had great

fun,’ said Joe McGauley, captain of ‘The Little Bit Xtra’.

Jerry White, Managing Director at Halifax said, “As a Company, we are constantly trying to find new ways to give something back to the com- munity. Colleagues here are fantastic at coming up with creative fundrais- ing ideas and are always willing to dig deep in support of worthy causes throughout the year.”

Colleagues at Halifax in Shannon raised over €1,600 and the HBOS Charity Foundation contributed a further €700, bringing the total funds raised to over €2,300. The HBOS Foundation operates as an independent company to HBOS plc

and works with charitable and not for profit organisations across the UK and Ireland, supporting people and their local communities through national grants and regional grants, colleague fundraising and HBOS No) LUtslKotom pte

RESIDENTS in Drumgeely will meet with Shannon council officials today, in an effort to find answers to questions regarding the local com- munity hall, which was destroyed by fire four months ago.

The blaze totally destroyed the derelict building last November. The hall had been the property of Shan- non Development until 1992 but was taken over by a private company then, which sparked mixed reaction.

The fire brought to an end con- troversy which had raged over the years, as locals were concerned that the hall was taken away from them.

The Drumgeely Residents Asso-

ciation now wants to know what the future of the hall will hold.

They have requested the meeting with council officials and council- lors in the Shannon area. They are concerned that the site has been in a poor state since the fire gutted the olepelennerce

They say that it is not safe and a valuable site is left in a disused State.

Chairperson of the Residents As- sociation, Beatrice Keville said they just want answers.

“We are very unhappy that the remnants of the fire are still there. The major part has been cleared, but there is still debris on the site,’ said Ms Keville.

“It had been lying unused for years and is such a shame,” she said.

‘Four months on, the site has not been totally cleared and is again derelict. The residents wrote to the gardai expressing concern about the fire and asking for information. They were told “investigations were ongoing”, nothing has been heard since,” she said.

She said that some locals would love to see the area converted into a tennis court, which it was previously used as.

“We are hopeful they will let us know what is happening. It has been going on for sO many years, and is in a state of limbo,” she said.

“Something has to happen. We

asked them at the last meeting, but we got no reply. The only thing we have been told is that it is privately owned,” added Ms Keville.

“Before shops and schools were built in the then new town of Shan- non, Drumgeely Community Hall was where these and social needs were met. Drumgeely was the first residential area of Shannon and was a thriving place, with a great com- munity spirit. There was an active tennis club, one of the first sporting clubs in Shannon,” she said.

Prior to last year’s fire, the hall had been damaged by another fire, in August 2001.

Only the annex was left standing ANAK amo etelme pales Ce(oyNlm

COLLEAGUES and friends of Shan- non Town Clerk Tomas MacCormaic gathered last week, to mark his 25 years in his job.

Tomas joined with his colleagues for a night out, under the pretence that the reason for the celebration was the birth of his granddaugh- ter Aoife. Aoife is the newly-born daughter of Tomas’ son Padraig, who works alongside his father at Shan- non Town Hall.

“They decided they would catch me out. The Town Manager Ger Dol- lard raised a glass and said ‘Every- one knows why we are here, except one person…that was me,” laughed Tomas.

A native of Kilkishen, Tomas first began working in Shannon 54 years ago. He worked in the duty free sec- tion of Shannon airport and with tex- tile company Lana Knit for a number of years.

“T cycled in to Shannon for my first three years working in Shannon,’ he recalled.

He and his wife Eithne (who passed away in 1994) had nine children and the cost of rearing them prompted Tomas to take up a part-time post as Town Clerk, in 1982.

“T did it initially to supplement the income. Now I am doing it as a hob- by. I enjoy it tremendously. I wouldn’t do it otherwise,” he said.

“I go to the States every year, with the mayor, as a representative and I

go to different parts of the country. I love it. There are occasions when you have bad days, but there are not Kolo meek DALVOvMnAal sss MMB A oMCT-BLCE

Tomas is very outgoing and his fa- vourite part of the job is mingling with people in Shannon.

‘The best part is working with the community. You feel as if you are doing something with the communi- ty. All of my nine children are living and working in Shannon,” he said.

‘I have seen several changes over the years. The biggest change was in 1959, when Shannon Development was formed and industry came to the place. Before that, it was just the air- port,’ he said.

“The take over by Clare County Council three years ago was a huge

thing for the town and for the coun- cil. Ideally the town should have been given full town council status, like Ennis and Kilrush,’ he said.

Tomas leads a very busy life. He enjoys around of golf and is very in- volved with Wolfe Tones GAA club. He is a former chairman of the Youth Council and has been involved with various residents associations in Shannon over the years.

Tomas was presented with a piece of Genesis, in the form of an owl, to mark the milestone, which he proudly displays on his office desk at Shannon Town Hall.

YOUNG SONGBIRDS from Crat- loe National School are raising their voices with children from all over the country to perform in a gala concert. On March 26, more than 350 chil- dren gathered in St Pauls Church in Dooradoyle to practice their songs for the National Childrens Choir. Under the stewardship of conduc- tor Eileen Fitzgerald, the children

hit the high notes with pieces from Beethoven, Mozart, the musicals, Sean nos and even a bit of Abba thrown 1n.

Seven primary schools from coun- ties Clare and Limerick are involved and joining them are Cratloe pupils, Jack Kearney, Maria Sheahan and Gillian O’ Donovan.

All the hard work culminates in a Show in the Concert Hall at the Uni- versity of Limerick.

This year, the childrens’ sweet me- lodious sounds will be heard on May pay

Collette Davis on piano and the Dolmen Quartet are providing the instrumental accompaniment.

The National Children’s Choir has been in existence since 1985. Chil- dren from all parts of the country in fourth, fifth and sixth classes are free to join the choir, where they learn a specific repertoire, and participate in

a regional concert. The objective has always been to foster a love of choral singing among primary school chil- Clone

Also taking part in the gala con- cert are St Pauls National School, Dooradoyle, Tineteriffe National School, Cappamore, Ballylanders National School, Ballyvaughan Na- tional school, Scoil an Spiorad Nao- imh, Roxboro and Murroe National School.

production.

“It enabled the musical society to make the gesture to the college, one that constitutes a huge contribution to the culture of music there and to the experiences of the students in- volved,’ a spokesman for the college Sr AKOe

“The east Clare region boasts a rich heritage of music-making that has been carefully nurtured and handed down from generation to generation, so that it is still intricately woven into the fabric of life in the area,’ the spokesman added.

“The college is endeavouring to continue this tradition.”

This is bourne out by the fact that music 1s an integral part of the cur- riculum at the college. Up to fifty students currently study the subject at either Junior or Leaving Certifi-

cate level.

And “Music World’, the college of music founded in 1999, which pro- vides tuition in a variety of instru- ments, continues to thrive, with more than 100 students of all ages taking part in the various programmes on offer.

The 265 students, their teachers and support staff returned to their newly refurbished building on February 12 after being in temporary accommo- dation on site for the past 18 months.

The €2.5 million roof replacement and general refurbishment was un- dertaken for health and safety rea- sons after an asbestos roof began to leak. Said Sean Daly, principal, “We had buckets in the corridors gathering the rainwater. It called for a complete redesign of the roof, and

we were very lucky to have Terri as the architect. The way it has been designed has brought so much more light into the building.”

As well as replacing the roof, the school has replaced all the floor cov- erings. The practical rooms have been refurbished and re-equipped, and all the furniture has been replaced.

As an added bonus, the school gained an extra car park, when the temporary car park created while the work was ongoing was turned into a permanent one.

PLEAS have gone out to Clare Coun- ty Council to put safety measures in place at a school before a car ploughs into a child.

In a chilling warning to the local authority, principal of Scoil Mhuire National school in Meelick, Dan Gra- ham, said it will be “too late when a four-foot coffin is being lowered into the ground and people are laying flowers on the roadside. Something is always done after a tragedy but that will be no comfort to a child’s griev- TbOrcap ec Ree DOA VAM

The entrance to Scoil Mhuire Na-

tional School is situated on a deadly bend, where cars regularly slam into rele emelealss

Some years ago, a driver was killed when his car went out of control and hit the front gate of the school.

The tragedy happened during the summer when there were no children around but Dan fears that a similar tragedy “is waiting to happen when children, staff and parents are walk- Tbeycaelel mae

“The road is used as a rat-run by motorists rushing to work and throughout the day. All it takes is for a five-year-old to step out and, between the poor visibility and the

speeds these cars are doing, that will be it. Over.”

The school’s request for a lollipop lady has been turned down. “I’ve been here 23 years and this needs to be tackled now. It’s urgent and if there is a fatality, then the council will be responsible,” the principal said.

Dan says he cannot understand why neighbouring Parteen National School “has all kinds of safety mark- ings and precautions, which is what should happen. Yet they are on a side road and we are on a very busy main road and we can get can noth- ing done”.

Local councillor, Cathal Crowe, 1s

a teacher at the school, which has 15 staff and 146 pupils.

He is calling on the local authority to put a footpath and safety railing in front of the main gate.

‘Almost three years ago, flashing lights were erected approximately 100 metres either side of the school gate. These lights tell the law-abid- ing motorist to slow down but they do very little to protect the school chil- dren and passing pedestrians from speeding cars,” he said.

“I feel that a footpath running the length of the bend and linking the school to the church would go along way to making the road safer for all.

A ONE-WAY traffic system is being considered for the town of Scariff to ease the traffic congestion which is blocking the streets there on a regu- lar basis.

Councillor Colm Wiley was told, in answer to a question he posed at last week’s area council meeting about means of alleviating the snarl-ups, that various methods are being con- sidered. These include making the village one-way, putting down double

yellow lines and introducing parking restrictions at pressure points.

“There will have to be negotiations locally about a one-way system. There can be a lot of resistance to that. But we would also hope that a new shopping complex development which is coming on-stream for Scar- iff will provide extra parking,’ the councillor said.

He added that he is also asking the local authority to buy up land if it be- comes available to create parking for the town.

Meanwhile, the councillor was giv- en good news in relation to a number of problems in Tuamgraney.

Recent severe flooding near the school had created a hazard for cars and pedestrians alike, Councillor AAU CCA Yat BCG

He was told by Council Engineer, Sean Lenihan, that the problem was with a stretch of drain which had col- lapsed underground, leaving the wa- ter nowhere to go.

This is to be repaired in the near future, the engineer said.

‘“l’m very pleased to hear this. There was a considerable amount of water on the road near the school which was terrible for people trying to avoid getting soaked and a hazard for cars that had to drive through it.”

And ugly, heavy wires to provide street light will soon be redundant in Tuamgraney, Councillor Wiley was Ke) (en

The overhead wires and their poles are to be decomissioned in favour of underground wiring and silver metal lampstandards.

A CLARE councillor has said that the problem of large numbers of red deer running wild in Clare could be turned to the county’s advantage, if game hunters can be attracted here to shoot detoeeF

Councillor Colm Wiley caused up- roar at a council meeting last week when he called for wild-life rangers to be brought in to cull the herds, add- ing that he feared the stags might mate with local cattle.

“They’re breaking down fences and grazing farmers’ grass. They graze during the night, and you don’t know what they’re at,” the councillor said.

Clir Wiley added that one of the most serious dangers of having such large numbers of deer 1s that they “jump out in front of cars as people are driving”.

One woman who contacted the coun- cillor, Mary McCarthy from Clarecas- tle, says a stag and about eight does are regular burglars in her garden.

“They break through any fences I put up and they graze the lawn and break

things. The stag is very big, and I’d be very nervous of him,” she said.

Councillor Wiley had asked that army sharp-shooters be brought in to cull the herds, but Minister Willie O’Dea said the soldiers had “better things to do”.

Meanwhile, Conor Kelleher, Chair- man of the Irish Wildlife Trust, said the prospect of deer breeding with cows “is scientifically and genetically impossible. It just doesn’t happen. I’ve never seen a cow out there with antlers — the man doesn’t know what he’s

talking about”.

Now Cllr Wiley says that what is a problem could be turned to an advan- tage “if we brought in stalkers who have proper licences to shoot game. There are plenty of them, here and in England. We’re already very well known for our excellent fishing and we could develop the shooting and fishing tourism and get the numbers of deer olen yia tae

Clir Wiley said that there are cur- rently 2,000 deer culled in Ireland every year. “The advantage of venison

is that it’s edible all year round,’ he Sr BIOR

But Clir Wiley’s call for a cull has not met with unanimous approval.

Environmentalist Colin Wilson of the educational charity, CELT, asked which species did the councillor want culled? “Why not just take out any- thing that moves – and a few things that don’t,” he said. “Let’s do away with nature and science altogether and pretend everything will be fine! Or we could try another solution – cull a few old farts.”