The Clare People Archive

THE Burren Connect Project and Burrenbeo have launched an educa- tion programme aimed at opening up the Burren Region’s vast and varied heritage to primary school students.

The Eco-Beo education programme will be delivered between next Janu- ary and June to eight national schools in North Clare and South Galway, offering over 200 primary school students and their teachers a unique insight into the Burren’s world fa- mous karst landscape.

The primary schools participating in the 2008 programme are Kinvara,

Kilnaboy, New Quay, Corofin, Kil- fenora, Doorus, Kilshanny and ‘Tub- ber with additional funding being sought to extend the course to other Burren schools in 2008 and 2009.

The launch of the programme took place at The Michael Cusack Centre in Carron, where course tutors, spon- sors and participating teachers came together to finalise details.

It was announced that over the 10- week duration of the course, par- ticipants would learn about various aspects of the Burren – its animals, plants, monuments, landscape and culture – through a series of colour- ful classoom presentations.

This will be followed by weekly quizzes, e-newsletters and assign- ments.

Professional course tutors, all of whom are experts in their individual areas, will deliver each module. Stu- dents will be taken on a Burren field trip, where they will have the oppor- tunity to put their new found knowl- edge to the test.

Eimer McCarthy of the Burren Connect Project said that the theme of the Eco-Beo education programme would be ‘My Burren Heritage’ to increase awareness and appreciation of the heritage of the Burren among the children who live in this special

place.

The Eco-Beo concept was original- ly developed by Burrenbeo, which introduced the programme to six Burren schools in 2004.

The Burren Connect Project, for- merly known as the ‘Environmental Protection of the Burren through Visitor Management Initiative’, is funded by the Failte Ireland Devel- opment Fund, Clare County Coun- cil, Shannon Development, National Parks and Wildlife Service and Bur- renbeo and is working to link com- munities, environment and tourism to conserve the Burren.

Carol Gleeson, Project Manager,

explained, “The key aim of the project is to ensure the sustainable use of the Burren as a tourism des- tination, through a co-ordinated ap- proach to visitor management and environmental protection.”

The Burren Connect Project is presently progressing a number of other initiatives, including a series of traffic management plans, and driv- ing, cycling and walking routes.

The project is implementing con- servation programmes at Poulnab- rone Dolmen and Fanore beach, as well as exploring the potential for the development of eco-tourism in the Burren.

A LEADING A&E Consultant has claimed that many people who die from cardiac arrest or sudden car- diac death do so because not enough lay-people know basic CPR (Cardi- opulmonary Resuscitation).

Consultant in Emergency Medicine at the Mid-West Regional Hospitals in Limerick and Ennis, Dr Cathal O’Donnell said, “We have a dismal outcome from cardiac arrest or sud- den cardiac death. Less than five per cent survive and on average, 14 people die from cardiac arrest every 24 hours. Many of them die because they don’t get CPR or a defi- brillator to them in the first four to five minutes.”

Dr O’Donnell, who is also Chair- man of the RESUS 2007, a confer- ence and skills showcase held in Limerick at the weekend added, “Irish lay-people do not know how to do basic CPR and this is the main reason that people die. Many more would survive if everyone could do CPR properly”.

The annual event aims to increase survival for cardiac arrest, trauma resuscitation, road traffic accidents and poisonings. 400 providers from

in-hospital and pre-hospital services as well as the voluntary ambulance sector gathered to hear national and international speakers outline cut- ting edge advances in resuscitation science and to see them in action

simulating emergency medicine pro- cedures in recreated A&E scenarios.

World renowned resuscitation ex- pert, Professor Douglas Chamber- lain of Cardiff University said that “In the absence of such life saving

community action, people will con- tinue to die. International research shows that heart attack victims who get CPR have a better outcome than those who are first defibrillated. Hand compression can sustain life

for 60 minutes. It is vital that more people are taught this life saving ey ReLeere LUN Kome

Ennisman, Dr Brian Maurer, Medical Director of the Irish Heart Foundation echoed a call for govern- ment action. “There are a number of challenges for the Government in improving the health outcomes of those in need of acute emergency care in Ireland. Making CPR train- ing part of the school curriculum would make a huge difference. The Irish Heart foundation has requested a meeting with Mary Hanafin, Min- ister for Education, to discuss the development of CPR training within schools”, he said.

Chief Superintendent John Farrelly of the Garda Traffic Corps outlined the success of the recent ‘random breath testing’ initiative which had saved 72 lives this year alone. More than 400 drivers are caught through random testing every week and the commitment to further reduce blood alcohol levels will save even more lives, he claimed.

THE Santa Experience at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park will feature on RTE Nationwide on Monday, December 17 next when presenter Michael Ryan and an RTE Nation- wide film crew will be welcomed by the Shannon Castle Entertainers who will perform traditional Christ- mas carols for the crew.

The Bunratty Santa experience has been running for the past five years and is an important part of Shan- non Heritage’s calendar of events for the home market. The Folk Park has been transformed into a Christ- mas wonderland with activities and Christmas characters in every nook and cranny. Over 8,500 visitors from

all over will attend this year’s event. Although the Santa visit part of the experience is now booked out, visi- tors can still come to the Folk Park and enjoy the festive atmosphere. Also we will have the well-known Lambert Puppet Theatre putting on a performance of the Magic Toy Shop Puppet Show on December 28 to 30. Tickets are still available for this. The Folk Park Christmas experi- ence is designed for all the family, they can call in to see Mrs. Claus in her Kitchen as she prepares for Santa’s trip – making sure his clothes are ironed and he has plenty of food for his journey. A traditional Irish story teller is on hand to enthral both young and old as he recalls colour- ful tales of Christmas long ago. The

village street is decked with holly, and festooned with fairy lights and adorned with a Christmas tree. New this year is a polar bear exhibit which is causing quite a stir with visitors.

A troupe of Santa’s Elves will be on hand to welcome visitors and there are indoor play areas. Christmas themed shops selling traditional fare will ensure that visitors can get in a bit of last minute shopping. If the re- tail therapy is proving too much then a complimentary glass of mulled Wine awaits the adults in Corry’s Pub on the village Street.

A CLARE politician has vowed to go back to the streets to register the anger of women in the mid-west who may not be able to avail of the life- saving Breastcheck service in Clare or Limerick until 2009.

While eligible women can travel to Cork as of last week, mid-west TD, Labour Spokesperson on Health, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan has revealed there will be a two-year delay in roll- ing out the service here.

And Labour Councillor Paschal

Fitzgerald has pledged to go back on the streets of Clare to collect more signatures to add to the thousands he has already handed in at the Dail de- manding the service.

“Despite the news that the service will be available in Cork, it is still extremely disappointing that all eli- gible women in the greater mid-west will not be called for a screening service until the end of 2009,” Depu- ty O’Sullivan said.

Cllr Fitzgerald said that he and party colleagues “stood on _ the streets and collected thousands of

signatures calling for this service to be available in Clare and we will do ime: hex-0 00 ae

He continued, “The Government is ignoring the people of the mid-west. Broken promises are one thing but people’s lives are at risk here.”

The Breastcheck programme pro- vides a screening service for women aged between 50 and 64.

Since its inception, there has been an 80 per cent uptake by women of- fered the service to attend for screen- betes

Statistics have proven that where

a screening service 1S in operation, deaths caused by breast cancer have considerably reduced due to early de- tection.

The National Cancer Screening service spokeswoman could not say precisely when women from Clare might be called to avail of the serv- ice but said that the service is being rolled out as quickly as possible.

Deputy O’Sullivan welcomed the announcement that breast screening for eligible women started in Cork from last week, despite a delay of nearly five years since it was first

promised.

“T, along with my party colleagues, have been campaigning for a number of years to have the national free breast-screening programme extend- ed to the south and western parts of the country.

“While I welcome the announce- ment which will allow women throughout the mid-west to avail of the screening programme in Cork, the full roll-out of this vital service throughout the country must be pro- eressed without further unacceptable delays,” she said.

FARMERS organisations gave a lukewarm welcome to last Wednes- day’s budget with very mixed opin- ions of how Minister Cowen’s figures will effect farm incomes.

According to IFA President, Pad- raig Walshe, the increased capital allocation to the Department of Ag- riculture of €35m to help fund the major level of necessary farm invest- ment currently taking place is posi- tive.

“However, a significant shortfall still exists relative to the demand for the two main investment aid schemes, Farm Waste Management and the Farm Improvement Scheme,” he said on Thursday.

The IFA welcomed the Govern-

ment’s response to IFA’s proposal for relief from capital gains tax where joint ownerships of farms by family members are dissolved.

“However, no progress was made on the IFA proposal for targeted re- lief from CGT where a farmer sells and buys land for the purpose of farm consolidation.”

Macra na Feirme national president, Catherine Buckley, also welcomed the increased provision of €35 mil- lion for next year’s Farm Improve- ment Scheme, stating it was critical that young farmers and new entrants are supported in their farm develop- ment plans.

However, she said she was disap- pointed that the Minister for Finance hadn’t taken the opportunity to in- troduce a direct support for young

trained farmers to allow them re- structure their holdings without be- ing liable for transfer taxes.

‘“Macra had lobbied for changes in relation to Capital Gains Tax and Income Averaging issues for milk production partnerships. I welcome the fact that these issues are to be ad- dressed,” she said.

“The number of anomalies has acted as a significant disincentive for some people who wish to engage in Milk Production Partnerships and pointed out that all remaining bar- riers to genuine farm partnerships must be removed to allow farmers to gain economies of scale by farming in partnership.”

Reacting to Budget ‘08, ICSA Pres- ident Malcolm Thompson said that it contained little of any use to cattle

and sheep farmers.

‘‘A number of key issues still remain unresolved, such as the discrimina- tion against farmers and other self employed people arising from the failure to amalgamate the PAYE and persona tax credits,” he said.

“Although the additional money for the Farm Waste Management (FWM) scheme is necessary, many cattle and sheep farmers have been badly affected by the premature closure of the Farm Improvement Scheme (FIS).

‘Measures on farm partnerships are necessary, but the reality is that it is of no benefit to the vast majority of farmers. Most farmers who wish to expand their holdings will continue to pay very high levels of stamp duty on agricultural land.”

MINISTER for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan, has welcomed the provi- sion of more than €1.9 billion for her department in 2008 in last weeks budget. In addition to voted money, the department will spend approxi- mately €1.4 billion in EU funding, primarily in the form of EU direct payments.

“This 1s an increase in voted ex- penditure of six per cent over the equivalent gross estimate for 2007.” “When the carryover of capital sav- ings from 2007 to 2008 is taken into account, and allowing for the adjustments to include fisheries ex-

penditure, it involves the net addi- tion of €91 million to the funding announced when the pre-budget out- look was published in October,’ she Sr BKOE

“The key priorities for this addi- tional funding are the Farm Waste Management Scheme, the Suckler Welfare Scheme, afforestation and the White Fish Vessel Decommis- sioning Scheme.”

Coughlan said that this Budget, in circumstances where economic con- ditions were tighter than they had been for a number of years, marked a strong commitment by the Govern- ment to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food sectors.

“The ongoing Government invest- ment in Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will enable Irish operators to capitalise on the surging demand for and increasing price of food global- ly,’ she continued.

“In the current climate, it 1s more important than ever to ensure that such investment is focussed on ena- bling operators to improve competi- tiveness and innovation.

“This investment and the additions announced on budget day focus on measures which I consider to be crit- ical to the development of a sustain- able agriculture, fisheries and food sectors into the future.”

A particular emphasis has been

placed on the continuing need for productive capital investment, to enable Irish operators to gear up to meet the competitive demands of an increasingly globalised market place.

With this in mind, the Munister said that more than €238 million had been provided in subhead H for capital investment in development of agriculture and food.

“I am satisfied that the estimate as framed would support the strategic priorities outlined in the National De- velopment Plan and help to prepare the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food sectors for the challenges ahead.”

A FINE Gael TD yesterday raised the spectre of criminals with outstand- ing warrants for their arrests roam- ing free in the Clare countryside.

According to Deputy Joe Carey, the criminal justice system is failing people living in these rural areas who are becoming increasingly afraid of being victims of crime. Deputy Carey was responding to revelations that there are over 2,100 outstanding warrants in existence from the Clare area.

In the Dail last week, the Minister of Justice, Brian Lenihan revealed that there are 2,145 outstanding war- rants in Clare.

The breakdown of the figures show that there are 1,521 penal warrants outstanding, 541 bench warrants and 83 committal warrants.

Committal warrants relate to peo- ple convicted of offences in their ab- sence and who should be in prison but have not been arrested, while bench warrants are issued for people who have not turned up in court to answer a charge against them.

In response, Deputy Carey said, “I think these figures clearly show that the Gardai need increased resources to help them do their work compre- hensively and effectively.”

He added, ““The increases are wor- rying particularly as the number of warrants are increasing by about 25 per cent each year. In rural ar- eas, people are rightly worried that criminals with outstanding warrants, who should be in prison, are roam- ing free.

“These people should be brought to justice otherwise they will con-

tinue to re-offend and be a menace to society.”

Deputy Carey added, “The number of outstanding warrants in Clare is equivalent to the population of a large rural town. That is not accept- able. The system is failing people, particularly in rural areas, who are increasingly afraid of being victims of crime.”

A total of 111,453 court warrants remain outstanding nationally, in- cluding 36,000 bench warrants, is- sued after arrested people have failed to turn up in court.

THE Government are to blame for the rampant spread of cocaine throughout Clare, according to north Clare county councillor, Martin Con- eM a OaF

Cllr Conway yesterday blamed the Department of Education for failing to take drugs education seriously in

schools.

“The Government seems to be completely missing the point when it comes to day-to-day education on the dangers of drugs. They are all fo- cused on points instead of the prac- tical things like drug education and road safety,” he said.

“They are so caught up with the whole Catholic Ethos on sex educa-

tion but yet when something is really important, something like this that is actually killing people, it isn’t a proper part of the school cycle.

“I know as a matter of fact that co- caine 1s rampant in north Clare, from Spanish Point all the way up to Bal- lyvaughan. The best we can do 1s ap- peal to the children about it.

“The whole Katy French incident

has focused the minds of everyone on the issue of drugs. Some people may have seen it as something that does not effect their lives, but every parent needs to look into their soul and ask is their child involved with drugs. It all needs to starts at home.”

Cllr Conway has called for a major overhaul of the Department of Edu- cation’s treatment of drugs and for the establishment of a targeted co- caine awareness campaign.

“It is alarming that cocaine use has become fashionable, particularly among the young.

“Cocaine has infiltrated all sec- tors of society, from professionals to young people in school or col- lege. That view must be dispelled by adopting a new approach to Ireland’s erowing drug culture.

“The drug barons and dealers are only interested in making money and do not care about the consequences for those who take drugs.

“We need a two-strand approach involving education and early inter- vention schemes in the community. The Government’s current educa- tional programmes are not working as effectively as they should.

‘There has been no systematic re- view of the effect of public aware- ness campaigns and these must be immediately overhauled.”

IN what is being heralded as a major moral victory in the campaign to ban imports of Brazilian beef, the Oire- achtas Joint Committee on Agricul- ture last Thursday backed the Irish Farmers Association’s (IFA) Brazil- ian Beef plan.

The IFA plan received unanimous Support from the cross party com- mittee.

“The latest EU Commission Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) report on Brazil contains irrefutable evi- dence that Brazilian beef imports fail to meet EU standards on that critical animal health and consumer issues of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and traceability,” said IFA President,

Padriag Walshe, addressing the com- mittee.

“Commissioner Kyprianou now has the detailed evidence of serious deficiencies in Brazilian controls from his own veterinary experts. He cannot continue to expose the EU to unnecessary risks and has no choice but to impose a ban on Brazilian beef into Europe.”

Mr Walshe told the committee that the primary focus of the IFA cam- paign is about the failure of Brazil to meet European Union production standards and food safety controls.

He said there must be a level play- ing field on standards for European producers and the current policy of double standards on imports was un- tenable.

“In fact, if the Department of Ag- riculture found the Brazilian failures on an Irish farm, the animals would be destroyed and removed from the food chain; the farmer could face court proceedings, and a possible jail Sentence,” he continued.

The IFA President said the FVO report fully vindicates IFA’s own findings and our insistence that there should be a total ban on all Brazilian beef imports into Europe.

In the European Parliament in Oc- tober, the EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou stated, if the situation in Brazil did not improve, then ‘the EU will take the necessary action includ- ing the implementation of a ban on beef imports by the end of this year’.

In presenting the detail contained in the latest FVO report, Walshe said the Brazilian FMD controls are total- ly inadequate and their vaccination is haphazard, jeopardising certification of beef exports to the EU.

He said the Brazilian traceability and movement controls are a sham- bles. Regionalisation has failed and the FVO found “meat from an animal declared non-EU eligible formed part of a consignment exported to the EU’.

Environmentalists have linked the five-fold increase in beef exports from Brazil in recent years with the rapid destruction of the rainforests in the Pantanal and Amazon regions that is a major cause of global cli- mate change.

SPEAKING just before last Wednes- day budget, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mary Coughlan, announced the commencement of balancing payments under the 2007 Single Payment Scheme.

She explained that for the majority of applicants under the Single Pay- ment Scheme, these payments, worth in excess of €575 million, represent the balancing 50 per cent payment due under the Scheme. This brings the total amount paid under the 2007 Single Payment Scheme to in excess of €1.1 billion with a further €250 million paid under the Disadvan- taged Areas Scheme.

“Following my approach to the

Commissioner earlier this year, agreement was reached on a 50 per cent advance payment, payable from 16 October last,” she said.

“IT was particularly conscious that the difficult weather conditions for farming, which prevailed in the late spring and summer, had adversely affected farmers’ cash flows.”

Minister Coughlan confirmed that she is continuing to press the Eu- ropean Commission, as part of the CAP Health Check negotiations, to amend the Regulations in order to provide for an earlier payment date for the full amount of the Single Pay- ment in future years.

She also confirmed that payments will continue to be processed by her Department in the coming weeks.

Coughlan said that almost half of the payments under the Single Payment Scheme are being paid directly into farmers’ bank accounts.

Under current European Commis- sion requirements, from mid October 2008 all payments to farmers must be made to a bank account so this is effectively the last year that the Sin- gle Payment Scheme will be paid by cheque.

She pointed out that her Depart- ment has written to farmers, still be- ing paid by cheque, requesting the submission of the authorisation to make payments to a bank account in order to meet this requirement.

The minister urged farmers to re- spond to this request and return their bank details to the department as

soon as possible.

“Tam greatly encouraged by the re- sponse of farmers to the introduction of this facility, which was introduced on a somewhat restricted basis for the 2007 Schemes.”

‘“‘However, given its success, I am determined that the facility will be vigorously promoted in advance of the closing date for the 2008 Schemes,” she said.

“It is my intention that all Single Payment and Disadvantaged Areas Scheme applicants will be written to in the coming weeks, outlining the benefits of the on-line facility for submitting applications and explain- ing the process of getting signed up to avail of it.”