The Clare People Archive

FOLLOWING calls from all the main farming organisations, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan, has announced that a request that provision be made for an advance payment under the 2007 Single Payment Scheme was ap- proved.

Speaking following a meeting of the EU Management Committee on Direct Payments in Brussels last week Coughlan revealed that she was pleased by the decision.

“T am particularly pleased at the Support our proposal received from the Commission and the other mem-

ber states,’ she said.

“This decision allows us to make advance payments, at a rate of 50 per cent, to those applicants whose ap- plications are confirmed fully clear, with effect from October 16, with balancing payments being made with effect from December 1.

“T am also encouraged by the com- mitment given by the Commission to examine payment arrangements for subsequent years in the context of the forthcoming Health Check on the CAP. My objective will be to en- able full payments under the Single Payment Scheme from October 16 in future years.”

Coughlan explained that her ap-

proach to the Agriculture Commis- sioner had been prompted by the very wet summer, which seriously NBCeKe meu NUDE

“T was particularly conscious of the difficulties caused for farmers, with crop growth being impeded, signifi- cant delays in production of winter fodder, fodder intended for use next winter being fed to animals and some animals being housed early, as land is too wet to graze,’ she continued.

The minister also announced the commencement of payments to farm- ers under the 2007 Disadvantaged Areas Scheme (DAS).

“These payments are worth in the region of €250 million and are pay-

able to over 100,000 farmers. I ex- pect that a very significant propor- tion of eligible farmers will receive their payments in the coming days,’ she said.

‘However, there are some who ap- pear ineligible under the stocking provisions; these farmers can submit appropriate evidence to my depart- ment’s Portlaoise office, following which their payments will then be released.”

The minister again urged farmers to reply quickly to any letters from her department in relation to Single Payment or DAS problems.

For more information call 1890 252 235 or 1890 200 502.

yes- terday, a member of The Clare Shell

to Sea organisation expressed his fears that big business, rather than the people of Ireland, will benefit from the find.

“In terms of European Union laws of sustainability, there are three main needs that must be addressed before any development can be con- sidered ‘sustainable’ — these are social, environmental and econom- ic,’ said Niall Harnett of Clare Shell to Sea.

“While attempts are being made by the department, under legal obliga- tion, to consider environmental mat- ters related to any such exploration, it should be a real source of concern to the people of Ireland, including all the communities along the At- lantic coast, that no public meetings are taking place and no consultation is being offered to them on the one matter that threatens the social and economic stability of this country, in terms of oil and gas — that our oil

and gas has been given away by Gov- ernment and remains the property of licensed industrialists to exploit, where no stake exists for the people of Ireland.

“Normally, when a country invites the oil and gas companies to process their reserves for them, it’s a 50/50 deal. In Ireland, it’s a 100/0 split. Bil- lions for them and none for us. If we want any of it, we must buy it back at market rate. When were we ever Loy eTTUN kere Mreloreletmns etl mam

Meanwhile, this Wednesday, Sep- tember 26, Rossport native John Monaghan will be in Glor to present a short documentary on the Shell to Sea campaign in County Mayo.

This will be followed by a second documentary, this one concerning the Hill of Tara and the campaign to reroute the M3. Experts believe they may have discovered bones belong- ing to members of Fionn Mac Cum- haill’s Fianna. Both events are free.

A PAN-European project designed to promote a more local approach to tourism promotion could help the industry in Clare to better cope with seasons with poor visitor numbers, such as those reported this year.

The CANTATA project, which in- volves members from Wales, France, Portugal and Spain, as well as Ire- land, hosts a conference entitled ‘An Experiment In Community Tourism’ in Ballyvaughan’s Burren Hotel this Friday.

“This 1s an experiment in commu- nity-based developments in tourism and promotion. We are trying to en- courage communities to take owner- ship of their own tourism develop- ment. It’s things like festivals, but the project has been going for three years and the purpose of the con- ference is for members from all of the countries to report back on how their experiences have gone,” said Candace Ingram, Executive Planner,

Clare County Council.

“They have all been undertaking different projects and each country has adopted a different approach to community tourism development. The idea now is that each country will report back — it’s a learning experience, we are all learning from each other.”

Among those scheduled to address the conference are Luis Cohen Bro- ssie, a tourism expert from Galicia in Spain; Paddy Maher, tourism com- munity activist and manager of the Michael Cusack Centre; and Flavio Imperial, CANTATA project officer from Portugal.

“We do think that this approach will help to offset bad years for tour- ism such as we have had this year. The visitor now is looking for some- thing a bit different from the usual. The idea of this is that it will attract people away from the usual places and show them a real tourist experi- ence, experience the people and how they live their life everyday,” contin-

ued Ms Ingram.

“We are trying to increase the num- bers that come to Clare, how long they stay in the county and also at- tract them to the lesser known attrac- nto) n cn

The conference will be hosted by Clare County Council in partnership with Shannon Development, and will be officially opened by Minister Tony Killeen.

“There are many types of com- munity tourism projects, including those in which the community works in partnership with a commercial tour operator,” said Minister Kileen. “However, one uniform characteris- tic of such projects is that they give local people a fair share of the bene- fits and a say in deciding how incom- ing tourism is managed. I look for- ward to hearing from some of those involved with community tourism projects across Europe.”

CLARE farmer have been granted two extra weeks to complete their applications for derogation’s under the new Nitrates Regulations. The deadline for a derogation for the con- troversial regulations was announced by Minister for Agriculture, Mary eee Mice

The deadline has been extended from it’s original date this Friday, September 28 until October 12.

“The availability of the derogation is very important for our intensive grassland farmers, particularly those in the dairying sector,’ she said.

“Grassland farms that apply for a derogation and meet the conditions

will be permitted to exceed the 170 kg of organic manure per hectare limit, up to a maximum of 250 kg per hectare.

“This extension to October 12 is in response to concerns raised by some farmers who felt that the original deadline of September 28 did not allow them adequate time to con- sider their position and decide if they needed to apply for a derogation in the current year.”

The European Communities Regu- lations 2006 legally oblige herdown- ers to limit the amount of nitrogen from livestock manure that is applied, including that which is deposited di- rectly by the animals themselves, on individual farms to no more than 170

kgs Nitrogen per hectare per year.

The Nitrates Derogation allows in- dividual farms to operate above this statutory livestock manure limit, up to a maximum limit of 250 kgs Ni- trogen per hectare per year, subject to specific conditions.

‘To further assist farmers, my de- partment is now arranging to provide 2007 Nitrogen and Phosphorus State- ments covering the period January | to August 31, 2007,” she said.

“Farmers will need to estimate the quantities of nitrogen likely to be produced by their livestock from September | to the end of the year to get an indication of what their overall stocking rate will be for 2007.”

Farmers who apply for a derogation

will not require a Fertiliser Plan in respect of 2007, although this will be a requirement from next year. For 2007, farmers will only need to complete the Record One as de- tailed the Explanatory Handbook for Good Agricultural Practice Regula- tions published by the department in 2006. This record should be kept on the holding.

Minister Coughlan also advised farmers that they should assess their 2007 situation as soon as possible, and if necessary make application for a derogation before the deadline of October 12.

Application forms and information packs are available on www.agricul- ture.gov.ie.

CLARE IFA Farm Forestry Rep- resentative, Martin Murphy, has warned farmers that they might require a licence from the Forest Service before they undertake scrub clearance.

This comes at a time when many farmers are carrying out develop- ment work for the Farm Waste Man- agement Scheme.

“Felling of trees is controlled un- der the 1946 Forestry Act. In gen- eral terms, if you want to cut down any tree or uproot any tree over 10 years you must lodge a felling notice with the Garda Sergeant at your local

Garda Station,’ he said.

“The Forest Service will then in- spect the trees that you intend to fell and issue you with a felling licence. The licence may or may not have conditions, such as a replanting con- dition, attached.

“Some farmers make the mistake of thinking that the scrub that they are clearing wouldn’t be considered trees but generally if you can see a single straight stem you will need a licence. It is better to check with the Forest Service first than end up in court later.”

The provisions of the act apply re- gardless of whether the trees were planted or grew from natural regen-

eration. Approval for grant aid or planning permission does not exempt you from requiring a licence.

‘Farmers should contact the local Forest Service Inspector or the fell- ing section of the Forest Service in Johnstown Castle before they start development work to be on the safe side,’ advised Mr Murphy.

Meanwhile, Mary Wallace, Minis- ter of State at the Department of Ag- riculture and Food with responsibility for forestry, last week announced the approval by the EU Commission of Ireland’s Afforestation Programme 2007-2013.

“I am pleased to announce the authorisation by the EU Commis-

sion for our new Afforestation Pro- eramme, which follows long and detailed negotiation between my de- partment and the commission,” she said.

“This provides welcome stability at a crucial time for Irish forestry and allows us to focus our efforts on new planting. As noted by the EU Com- mission, forest cover in Ireland 1s the second lowest in the European Un- eye

“It is my hope that this aid package, worth more than EUR900m over the period 2007 – 2013, will re-energise the forestry programme and that we will see a steady increase in our for- est-cover over the next seven years.”

STEP aside Chris Tarrant, the real Who Want to Be a Thousandaire is coming to Ballyvaughan’s brand new Burren Coast Hotel this October.

The charity evening, which is be- ing organised to help fund exten- sion work at Ballyvaughan National School, will take place on October 13 and will offer locals the real chance to grab some cold hard cash.

The game will follow the formula of the popular television programme, and will even include a video up- link to the competitor’s ‘Phone a Friends’.

“In terms of numbers, the school is fairly solid with 65 or so students. The problem is the size of the class- rooms. It is quite small at present.

The department has guidelines which say that if you are building a new school, each class should be 72 Square metres, our classes are only 36 square metres,’ said school prin- cipal, Michael Canavan.

“We decided that the best thing would be to put in three proper sized class rooms. A principles office, staff room and two smaller room for our two learning support teachers. The Government will provide a certain amount of the money, but we do need to raise in the region of €60,000 or €70,000 to complete the project.”

Once the extension has been com- pleted, the school plans to convert an upstairs area in the extention to a new computer room and library for the students.

“It’s a real community thing. We

have three main sponsors – the Bur- ren Coast Hotel, the Ailwee Caves and M&M Construction. They are all local which is great,’ continued Mr Canavan.

‘“Ailwee cave have children in the school, M&M will soon have chil- dren in the school and the Burren Coast have just opened up down the road from us and have been very generous.

“We have about 40 or 50 smaller advertisers, who are mostly all lo- cal people who have also been very generous. A lot of people who have holiday homes in the area have also given money.

“School is becoming a very fo- cal point in the community. A lot of times, school is the only place where parents would meet these days.”

Tickets for the big ‘Who wants to be a Thousandaire’ are available lo- cally from all members of the fund- raising committee or at the door on the night. The evenings competitors will be drawn from the tickets sold.

THE students of Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna last week presented the Stella Maris day care centre with a cheque for €5,500 – the proceeds of a very unu- sual charity marathon.

Earlier this year, the students of the school took part in a day long Sports Marathon, organised by the school’s fifth-year students.

“It was part of out LCVP exams in fifth year. We spoke to Mr Sims and Mr Harrison about what previ- ous years had done and we decided it would be good to run a Sports Marathon,’ said Ciana Garrihy from

Doolin.

“We handed out a questionnaire to all the students to see which sports were the most popular.

“We then printed up cards for all the students to raise money for the Stella Maris.

“We decided on the Stella Maris because it is something that effects everyone in the area. It’s local and they wanted to raise money for a Sec- ond bus to bring more people to the Conlsione

The school was divided into teams, each representing a local area. In the end, the bragging rights went to the Kilfenora team, who won the most points during the marathon.

“We decided that we would play volleyball and soccer. Each game was half an hour long, half the school played football in the morning at the pitch while the rest played volleyball in the school,” said Sean Cormican from Lisdoonvarna.

“Halft-way through we got a free bus from Peter Mooney and swapped around. Everyone really got into it and the teachers played a big part. They reffed the matches for us and helped out a lot.”

Along with scoring points for their performance in the marathon, each team was also awarded a point for every €5 raised for the Stella Maris. Third year student, Michael Griffey,

was the top earning student, raising more than €300 from his sponsor- ship card.

“We had a points system in place. The school was split into six different teams and awarded points depending on how they got on in the matches,” said Laura Sims.

‘But as well as that, each student got a point for his or her team for every €5 raised for the Stella Maris.”

School principal, John O’Loughlin congratulated all the students who took part.

“Projects like this are wonderful. They show a community spirit which is wonderful thing for a mercy school to have,” he said.

ST COLMAN’S Church in Gort will be the venue for a_ special charity concert which will bring together the talents of the Gort based Coole Voic- es and the legendary Lismourahaun Singers for the very first time.

The concert, which is in aid of the Tractors for Africa Project, will unite two of the regions most talented vo- cal groups for an evening of heavenly singing

Coole Voices was started in 2002 by Katharina Baker, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and founder of the Coole Music School. The Lismourahaun was founded by Archie Simpson and

has gained national and international renown in recent years because of the quality of their method and per- formances.

All proceeds from the evening will go towards the provision of a tractor, to aid in the construction and mainte- nance of a Christian Brothers school in the Zambian village of Kasama.

“T went to Africa to visit a friend of mine a year ago. Out there I met with the White Fathers and a Christian Brother called Brother Dominic. He was sent out there by the Christian Brother to set up schools. All he had with him was what he was able to carry himself,” said Pat Canavan of the Tractor for Africa Project.

“He had a group of blocklayers

from Waterford who built a shed for him for the school. But he said that if I was able to get him a tractor that it would be a great help to him.

“When I got back in Ireland I came across a guy who was repairing old tractors. He had a small tractor, a Massy Ferguson 135 I think, and he agreed to give me the tractor and I told him I would pay him something KOvms DOO som ab ine I Rone

There are many children orphaned in this area of Africa due to the Aids epidemic and other diseases. These children depend on education as a means of living a happy and full Tate

A friend of Mr Canavan arranged for the tractor to be transported to

Zambia where it will now be used for essential building work and farming.

‘They have no machinery out there whatsoever,’ continued Mr Canavan. “They have to do almost everything by hand. When the tractor arrived in the shipping container they had no way of taking it off the lorry. So they had to tie the container to a big tree and slowly drive away. That was the only way of getting it off the truck.”

The concert takes place on October 6. Tickets, at a cost of €15, are avail- able from the post office in Gort or on the door on the night.

A BUDDING author from north Clare was last week nominated and short-listed for the most prestigious prize in literature in Ireland today. Micheal de Barra, who hails from Kilfenora, is one of just five writers short-listed for this year’s Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge Adult Book of the Year prize for his book An Bothar go SY-eLe Ee rexey

Micheal was born and raised on the outskirts of Kilfenora, an area he considers his ‘spiritual home’ but is currently living in Kildare with his wife Siobhan.

Having spent a number of years as a primary and secondary school teach-

er in both Ireland and Argentina, An Bothar go Santiago is Micheal first prose work.

An Bothar go Santiago tells the story of Micheal’s experiences along the pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Europe’s most famous pilgrim walk.

The camino or path begins in France and ends in Spain, covers 900 kilometres, and is a real challenge for any walker who attempt it.

Besides An Bothar go Santiago, de Barra is also researching a book on the notable Irish figures who went to Argentina between 1500 and 1900 under the working title “Gaeil 1 dTir na nGauchos’. ;

Micheal will take on Liam O Muirt-

hile (Sanas), Eoin Mac Lochlainn and Ciaran O Coigligh (Aiséiri/Req- uiem), Séamus Ennis (Mise an Fear Ceoil) and Brian O Conchubhair (Gearrscéalta Ar Linne)

Leabhar na Bliana 2007 is a unique literary competition, focusing main- ly on excellent publishing standards, while also acknowledging the sig- nificant role of the authors.

Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge and Oire- achtas na Gaeilge organise this event on an annual basis and this year’s winners will be announced at the O1- reachtas na Gaeilge festival in West- port on November 2.

“In presenting these awards, Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge manages to ad- vance the various aspects of our

mission statement – to sustain Irish- language writing, publishing and reading,’ said Aedin Ni Bhroin, D1- rector, Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge.

‘This is a great opportunity to in- form the general public of the wide range of excellent Irish-language books available, as well as giving well-earned recognition to the dif- ferent publishers and writers.”

Meanwhile, the prize for the young readers Book of the Year will be contested by Biddy Jenkinson (An Bhanrion Bess agus Gusai Gaimbin), Laoise Ni Chomhrai (Ag Taisteal le Tarlach sa tSeapain), Dermot Som- ers (Buaic) and Caitriona Nic Sheain and Andrew Whitson (Gaiscioch na Beilte Uaine)

TRAVELLERS living in Shannon are poised to be allocated space to keep their horses, following an agreement by councillors last week.

Shannon area members of Clare County Council agreed in princi- pal with a proposal that the issue be progressed, in that land should be made available to Travellers for the ZNODUOOTAN ESE

The initiative is part of a plan to improve the quality of life for travel- lers, under the programme ‘Strategy for the co-ordination of public serv- ices to the Traveller community in OE TroA0 Oe 0 OTe

Director of Services at Clare Coun- ty Council (Community and Enter- prise) Tom Coughlan explained the background to the idea.

‘Traditionally, Travellers have kept horses, but traditionally they would have had nowhere to keep them. That has been a point of conflict. We are looking at the possibility of leasing land to Travellers so they can keep their horses on the land,’ said Mr Sree

“We have to identify land owned by the council, which we can lease to Travellers. It has been raised as an issue by the Travellers themselves,” he added.

A number of Travellers live in Bal-

lymurtagh, Shannon, and the council is hopeful that suitable land will be found for the horses, as near to the houses as possible.

“We will try and come up with the most suitable land. We will progress it and see 1f the land is suitable,” said Mr Coughlan.

The decision taken by the council- lors last week gives the council the go-ahead to make efforts to secure the land. The size of the land will depend on the number of horses the travellers hope to keep there and the land will be leased to them.

This proposal regarding land for the horses arose as a consequence of the strategy, which stated that it would

“establish mechanisms to identify rentable land adjacent to Traveller accommodation’. In that, Travellers identified a need to rent land to allow for grazing of horses and for the care of valuable sulkie ponies.

It was suggested that as the request coming from the group was broad- based and could be difficult or take time to effect, the feasibility of run- ning a pilot project in Shannon would be investigated.

In June, a subgroup of the Accom- modation Actions group met with representatives of the Tralee Com- munity Horse Project, to gain an in- sight into how this particular project is organised and managed.