The Clare People Archive

A LEAVING certificate student from Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna will this week be- come the first Clare person ever to compete in the British version of the Young Scientist Competition.

Kilfenora student Darren O’Gorman will travel to London to represent his country in the coveted competition. His entry, which was well received at both the Irish BT Young Scientist Competition and the Northern Irish competition, involved studies into the growing patterns of buttercups in and around turloughs.

Darren’s research uncovered a marked difference in the buttercups which grew in the middle of the tur-

loughs, where the waters are deepest, than the other areas.

“I went out to different turlough sites in my area and took samples of the buttercups growing in the basin and took measurements from them to see if there was different measure- ments in the flowers,” he said.

“It really was to see what impact the flood waters were having on the leaves and growth patterns of the plants. There was significant dif- ferences between the buttercups. I found a relationship between the ac- tual area of the leaf and the distance from the centre of the flood.

“My main finding is that as you moved away from the centre of the flood the size of the leaves on the flowers actually got noticeably big-

ger.”

Darren finished his Leaving Cert mock exams on Friday and will fly out to London for the competition on AYA(erebaTeTe rN

“The competition takes place in the Queen Elizabeth II Centre this week. I qualified for this exhibition because I got a Crest award in the Northern Ireland Competition. Five students from the Northern Ireland competi- tion were awarded Crests and we will be competing against people from all over the UK in the overall Crest Competition,” continued Darren.

“Beside the group in Northern Ire- land, there are qualifiers from all over the UK taking part. There will be something in the region of 200 projects in the Crest Competition al-

together.”

Over the last two decades Mary Immaculate Secondary School has established a strong tradition in the Young Scientist Competitions, win- ning a number of awards over the years and regularly having more than 10 projects in the final exhibition.

The schools endeavours in the com- petition are led by teacher John Sims, who has had students featured in the competition for more than 25 years.

A COMMON enrollment policy for primary schools in the Ennis parish area will be launched in Ennis on Thursday.

The policy means that all student enrollments for children attending schools in the Ennis parish area will now be handled by the Clare Educa- tion Centre at the Kilrush Road, En- nis instead of by individual schools.

The key features of the new policy

are a co-coordinated structure for all schools, and common advertis- ing dates, application forms, closing dates and registration sessions.

The policy is the product of a series of meetings organised by the Ennis Education Forum, a body that rep- resents all schools in Ennis parish. The process has been facilitated by St Senan’s education office in Lim- erick. The office provides support to the Dioceses of Limerick, Killaloe and Kerry.

Speaking yesterday Joe O’Connell Director at St Senan’s said the En- nis Education Forum had explored several issues when formulating the policy.

‘The six schools in the Ennis par- ish came together to formulate the policy. The forum met regularly and a sub-committee of chairmen of Boards of Management and school principals was formed. They looked at applying a common set of proce- dures for all the schools.”

Mr O’Connell said that prior to the introduction of the new system, schools operated their own enroll- ment policies.

“One of the issues that they were working towards was a common agreement on areas such as applica- tion forms and closing dates for reg- istration. There was a lot of collabo- ration on all of the issues that were raised and the forum has worked hard to achieve it.”

The enrollment policy aims to guar-

antee 25 per cent of all new school places for minorities, Travellers and foreign nationals.

The common enrollment policy 1s due to be introduced in September. The aim is to provide a common enrollment policy for all schools in the Ennis parish, to include Catholic education and a welcome for pupils of other faiths and traditions.

The policy will be launched at in the Old Ground Hotel, Ennis on Thursday, March 5 at 8pm

can reveal. The hotel, which has been closed

since early 2008, will be reopened later this month under the guidance of local hotelier Noel Mulhaire. The business will now be known as the Woodstock Hotel, Golf and Spa Re- sort and will open following a deal brokered by Wyndham Worldwide on behalf of one of their largest UK-

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While a franchisee has yet to be announced, Wyndham Worldwide are reportedly in discussion with a number of interested parties.

“The Woodstock Hotel is a magnif- icent property that should never have closed. It is ideally located on its own beautiful grounds, houses an 18-hole championship golf course and has all the facilities you could possibly want from a four-star property. The tim- ing is good to make long-term deals for hotel properties in Ireland,” said Jason Wischoff, Development Man- ager for Wyndham Worldwide.

Recruitment for 50 positions will start immediately, with the hotel set to reopen on March 27. A further 20 positions will come online during the summer months.

“When times are hard, it’s all about

the product offering, the service and the value you offer. If you look after your customer, the business will look after itself,’ said Mr Mulhaire.

“IT would also add that our UK partners have a great track record in staging large events and spectacular banqueting.”

Meanwhile, the Shannon Branch of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) is warning that hotel opening on Sun- days may soon come to an end as bosses struggle to pay higher rates to staff.

“Current wage costs of over €20 an hour for Sunday working are un- justified and completely out of step with other countries,’ said Lahi- nch hotelier and chairperson of the Shannon Branch of the IHF, Michael Vaughan.

“Hoteliers have now been forced to

curtail services on Sunday as a result of the statutory requirement under the archaic Joint Labour Committee SAKURA OOM cerca DIE NUN ASN E: lore lished back in 1946 – and requires hotels operating outside of Dublin and Cork cities and Dun Laoghaire to pay double-time for work per- formed on Sundays.

‘There is no doubt that a more rea- sonable wage arrangement would re- sult in increased employment oppor- tunities on Sundays. Hotels simply cannot bear these high rates in the current market.

“It is jeopardising the viability of hotels which cannot sustain this level of cost and find themselves curtail- ing services on a Sunday,” added Mr WET ted athe

DRIVING around a roundabout on the incorrect side or driving through a red light could be potentially fatal, a judge stated yesterday.

Judge Timothy Lucey made the comment in the case of Ali Lynch (31), of Marlee House, Keevagh, Quin, who was charged with failing to give a sample to gardai and also two counts of dangerous driving, arising out of the incident on Octo- ber 16 last.

Inspector John O’Sullivan told En- nis District Court that a garda came across the defendant who was driv- ing a Mitsubishi Colt at 2.30am.

He said the car appeared to be sway- ing on the road at one stage. The garda activated the patrol car’s blue lights and siren and a pursuit took place.

The defendant’s car crossed to the incorrect side at the Maid of Erin roundabout and proceeded around the roundabout on the incorrect side.

The car drove through the red light at Club Bridge and the driver nearly

lost control, before being apprehend- ed by gardai on Abbey Street.

Lynch’s solicitor said there was not much traffic around at the time. “It’s accepted that this was appalling, bad driving. It’s accepted he should have stopped,” he said.

‘He panicked and started digging a hole for himself. In these cases, you make one bad decision and this leads to another,” he said.

He said that the accused had at- tempted to blow into the machine on a number of occasions but was

unable to provide a sample as he has chest problems.

Judge Lucey said it appeared there was a litany of mistakes and bad driv- ing. “It was a particularly bad series of events. Going around roundabouts the incorrect side and through red lights are all potentially fatal situa- tions,” he said.

He banned the accused from driv- ing for four years and imposed fines totalling €1,200. He postponed the commencement of the driving ban until September 1.

AFTER a trial which lasted three days, a jury took less than 30 min- utes to find a Ballyvaughan man not guilty of assaulting an off-duty garda, knocking him unconscious and breaking his nose.

Brendan d’Arcy (22), of Glenfort, Bally vaughan, had pleaded not guilty to the charge of assaulting Adrian

Cosgrave in Ballyvaughan on Janu- ary 1, 2008, causing him harm.

Ennis circuit court heard various witnesses say that the accused had either kicked or headbutted Mr Cos- grave after the injured party went to remonstrate with him about his driv- bite

It was claimed Mr Cosgrave’s pas- senger was sitting on the door frame with his hands on the roof of the car

as he drove through Ballyvaughan.

Mr d@’Arcy denied that Mr Cosgrave produced his Garda ID before he tried to take the keys of the car out of the ignition.

He said in a statement to gardai that Mr Cosgrave was shouting and was very aggressive and he feared that Mr Cosgrave was about to attack him.

He agreed that he punched the in- jured party but said that he did so in

self-defence.

In the witness box, Mr Cosgrave said he and a large group of friends had gone to Ballyvaughan for the night to celebrate.

After summations, Judge Raymond Fullam sent the jury home on Fri- day and told them they could begin their deliberations on Tuesday. They returned a not guilty verdict on Tues- day morning.

A FRIGHTENING escapade, on im- pulse, was how a judge described an attack on a van by a man wielding an iron bar, during the Willie Clancy music festival.

As a result, a three-month jail term was imposed on Shaun O’ Hare (29), who pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage to a motor van and also to producing an iron bar, at Spanish Point, on July 8, 2007.

Garda Ian Kelly told Ennis Cuir- cuit Court that three young men were sleeping in their van in a car- park when the accused approached. Initially he went away but returned a short time later – around lam – with bottles of drink, which he offered to

them. The garda said he banged and kicked at the van, in an attempt to ee RSME

He said the occupants of the van told him they didn’t want drink and he then broke a bottle outside the van. O’Hare – of Newtown, Clon- lara – who was barefoot at the time, jumped from the van and stood on the glass bottle that had broken.

The incident eventually settled down. However, at Yam the follow- ing morning, O’ Hare returned to the van with an iron bar and damaged the van. Gda Kelly said the damage to the shell of the van was almost €600 and this did not include dam- age to the windscreen. None of this had been paid by the accused, but it was presented to the court.

Asked what gave rise to the in- cident, Gda Kelly said, “It was a drink-related incident. Shaun O’ Hare approached these youths. I got the impression from the witnesses they didn’t want to be in his company and they were only in his company through fear.”

The court was told O’Hare has a number of previous convictions, in- cluding one for assault and some for public order.

Defence counsel Michael Fitzgib- bon, BL, said his client had no previ- ous convictions of a similar nature to what was before the court.

He said his client lost his temper af- ter his partner had pointed out his foot injury to him the following morning. He reacted “very badly and disgrace-

fully. It was in a fit of temper.”

“If there was any misfortune, Mr O’Hare was the author of his own misfortune. He dropped a bottle of beer. He stepped on it. . . He decided to take matters into his own hands,” Jntemncy-HK6b

He said the accused has acquired employment and his employer would give him a glowing reference. He said he has attended a treatment cen- tre and also attended a programme to address his anger issues.

‘He has been making trojan efforts to deal with his alcohol problem and his anger problem,” he said. He said his client recently lost his brother, in tragic circumstances.

Judge Raymond Fullam said when O’Hare banged and kicked the van,

the occupants were in fear and said it was a “frightening escapade”.

“Tt was an inexcusable and outra- geous offence. The iron bar that he wielded was, clearly with the amount of alcohol that he had, a dangerous weapon,’ said the judge.

However, he noted that a guilty plea had been entered and that the offence was committed “on impulse”.

“While these men were in fear, they didn’t suffer any personal injury, which was a blessing,” he said.

The judge said he gave a consid- erable discount for the accused’s circumstances and imposed a three- month jail term. He granted an ap- plication by the defence to postpone the commencement of that term for a fortnight.

between June 2007 and No- vember 2008.

Police property applications in re- lation to them were made before En- nis District Court on Friday, where Judge Joseph Mangan ordered that the cars be surrendered to the Min- ister for Justice, who would decide how to dispose of them.

Sergeant Paul Slattery told the court that during one of the incidents, the occupants of the car fled the scene, leaving the vehicle behind.

“The car was hot-wired at the time,” he said.

He said he was applying to have the vehicle destroyed.

Another of the cars was seized by gardai last August, as part of an in- vestigation into a burglary, while an- other car came into the possession of the gardai in connection with a crimi- nal damage incident.

That car had been extensively dam- aged, said the garda.

The fourth car had been abandoned in January 2008 and was seized by garda

TANAISTE and Minister for Enter- prise, Mary Coughlan paid tribute to the workers and the organisations in the Shannon Free Zone when she came to announce a €50 million in- vestment at Intel last week.

“It is down to the calibre of the people on this site in Shannon that they have been able to get this invest- ment…investment in our people and our skills is how we are going to re- main competitive.”

She added that the gain of up to 134 jobs in research and develop- ment are the result of the “smart economy building on the knowledge economy .

Intel will invest more than €50 mil-

lion in a major expansion, supported by Shannon Development, over the next four years, bringing the total employment to approximately 300. Congratulating Intel on theirinvest- ment the Tanaiste said, “Knowledge is now the key to competitive advan- tage in smart economies. Growing the level of R and D investment by new and existing multi-nationals in Ireland is a key Government priority. Today’s investment announcement by Intel gives very real meaning to our ambition to develop Ireland’s smart economy, and is a wonder- ful testament to the highly talented skills base at Intel Shannon.” Welcoming the announcement Vincent Cunnane, Chief Execu- tive of Shannon Development said,

“This major investment at the Shan- non Free Zone is a further vote of confidence in Shannon as a competi- tive location for high tech knowledge based investment on a global scale. We are delighted to have secured this expansion for Shannon, in collabora- tion with IDA Ireland.”

“We are delighted with the expan- Sion decision,’ commented Jonathan Walsh, General Manager of Intel Shannon. “It comes as the result of our world class track record of R and D over the last eight years, the highly developed technical market- ing competencies and also our suc- cess in attracting the highest quality research talent, domestically and in- ternationally.”

He predicted Intel “will emerge

from this downturn stronger relative to our competitors than we were go- ing into it”.

The investment is in further de- veloping leading edge 32 nanometre design capabilities for embedded processors.

Intel predicts that there will be 15 billion connected devices by the year 2015. The Intel investment will in- volve two separate R and D projects. The first is a new hardware project involving advanced 32nm _ silicon design and validation, which aims to enable the next generation of products for small- to medium-sized businesses. The second project is a software development project, which will benefit sectors including the au- tomotive and security sectors.

THERE has been a wide welcome in Clare for the announcement that In- tel will create 134 new jobs over the next four years.

Junior Minister Tony Killeen TD has described Intel’s decision to in- vest €50 million in a major expan- sion at its Shannon Free Zone op- eration as a “major boost” for the mid-west region’s information and communication technology sector.

““Intel’s decision to invest further in its Shannon operations confirms the Free Zone’s position as the flagship location for international industry in this region,” he said.

The Clare TD noted that knowl- edge was now the key to competitive advantage in smart economies.

“Growing the level of Research and Development investment by new and existing multinationals in Ireland is a key Government priority. Intel’s investment gives very real meaning to our ambition to develop Ireland’s smart economy, and is a wonder- ful testament to the highly talented skills base at Intel Shannon.”

Deputy Joe Carey(FG) TD said, “This 1s a welcome announcement, following a series of difficult closures in the region over the past twelve months. These are the types of jobs which will sustain our economy in

the future. The announcement today hints at the region’s potential for fu- ture development.”

Deputy Pat Breen (FG) said that “it is now very important for the Government to refocus their atten- tion on investing in R&D projects”. Deputy Breen went on to say that “if we invest today, we will reap the benefits tomorrow” and he is urging the Government to provide the nec- essary resources to the Third Level Institutions in this region so that they can “continue the production line of science graduates”.

Attending the formal announce- ment, IBEC Director for the mid- west region Chris O’Donovan com-

mented,

‘This is a significant investment by a successful and ambitious company, which is among Ireland’s most 1m- portant business sectors.

“The announcement today, gives a clear signal that Ireland continues to have the skills and strengths re- quired to support global technology businesses.”

He added: “The expansion was secured by Shannon Development and I want to commend the agency for their efforts in this regard. Over 7,000 people are employed in over 100 companies at the Shannon Free Zone, which is managed by the De- velopment Agency.”

THE world-famous London Sym- phony Chorus will make it first ever Irish appearance this year when they perform as special guests of the Lis- morahaun Singers in Ennistymon.

More than 200 singers and musi- cians from the London Symphony Chorus, the Lismorahaun Singers and the City of Dublin Concert Orchestra will perform Mozart’s ‘Great Mass in C Minor’ in honour of north Clare author and poet John O’ Donohue.

The author, who passed away in early 2008, was born just beside the townland of Lismourahaun in Lis- doonvarna and was the man respon- sible for naming the choir.

The concert also marks the tenth anniversary of the Lismorahaun NTIS ESE

“This is the London Symphony Chorus’ first ever visit to Ireland and they are not going to Dublin or Bel- fast or Cork or Limerick – they are coming to north Clare,” said Archie Simpson, founder of the Lismoura- haun Singers.

“They are so excited about the prospect of singing with us – about the prospect of performing with real people and in front of a real commu- nity. I think the fact that they have decided to make Ennistymon their first ever port of call says a lot about both choirs.”

The London Symphony Chorus is one of the world’s premier choral en- sembles and already has more than

100 recordings to its name.

The Lismorahaun Singers will wel- come back some of its most high- profile exports for this concert, in- cluding Naomi O’Connell who is currently studying at the Juilliard School of Music in New York and Peter O’Donohue, nephew of the late John O’Donohue.

“John has meant a lot to the choir personally over the years. He was al- ways So supportive of us and indeed it was him who first gave us our name,” continued Archie. “When we sang in the early days, we didn’t have a name but John invited us to sing at one of his Masses and introduced us as the Lismorahaun Singers. The name just stuck after that.”

The concert will take place on April 17 in the Church of Saint Michael in Ennistymon.

Tickets, at a cost of €40, will be available from March 6 at Scéal Eile in Ennis, Crosbies in Ennistymon, Jordans in Lisdoonvarna and Moon- eys in Ballyvaughan. For credit card bookings, contact the Burren Col- lege of Art in Ballyvaughan on 065 7077200.