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Burrenbeo Trust scoops top heritage award

A SOUTH Galway charity scooped the overall award at this year’s County Heritage Awards held last week. Representatives of Kinvara-based Burrenbeo Trust were presented with the top award at the event.The Galway County Heritage Awards ceremony took place in the Claregalway Hotel on Thursday. The ceremony, which was postponed from December 2010 due to bad weather, was well attended by elected representatives, community groups, schools and individuals from all parts of the county.Speaking at the ceremony, Councillor Jimmy McClearn, Mayor of the County of Galway, said, “Our heritage belongs to each one of us and it is vital that it is valued and appreciated at a local level if we are to manage, preserve and protect it. It is clear from the number, quality and calibre of the nominations for a County Heritage Award that our built, natural and cultural heritage is valued at a local level.”Scoil Bhríghde Naofa, Northampton, Kinvara was the winner in the Loughrea Electoral Area for …

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Contract difficulties for Gort-Tuam bypass project

THE National Roads Authority has “had difficulty” concluding the Public Private Partnership contract for the Gort to Tuam bypass due to the country’s financial insecurity, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has stated.Minister Leo Varadkar was responding to questions posed by Labour TD Colm Keaveney.“The N17-N18 Gort to Tuam project is being tendered by the NRA as a public private partnership, (PPP) but due to concern in the capital markets regarding Ireland’s overall financial situation, the NRA has had difficulty concluding this PPP contract,” Minister Varadkar stated.Deputy Keaveney said he had met with the minister “regarding concerns at unhelpful commentary in the national media about the future viability of the Gort to Tuam bypass”.“The Gort to Tuam scheme is being tendered by the National Roads Authority as a PPP. As such, we are reliant on private sector funding for the construction and for its operation. The contract for this critical infrastructure should have been awarded in 2010 and the …

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Kinvara school extension plans halted

A BITTER row involving a “reluctant objector” and changes to a primary school looks set to continue after a decision due on planning permission for an extension to the school was deferred while Galway County Council seeks further information.St Joseph’s National School in Kinvara, through consulting engineer Paul Feeney of Claregalway, applied for permission in early March to retain a single-storey classroom at the rear of the existing school building, as well as permission for a new two-storey extension to contain three additional classrooms, a general purpose room, circulation areas and bathrooms.A decision on the development was due this week but late last week, Galway County Council wrote to Mr Feeney advising him that the location for the proposed development is adjacent to a protected structure. The local authority stated it requires drawings, photographs, photo montages or other visual material to show the proposed development and its relationship to and potential impact on the protected structure. A decision will now …

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Authors to attend Peregrine Readings

AUTHORS John Connolly, Alex Barclay and Kevin Barry will read in Portumna this Thursday as part of the Peregrine Readings.Add to the mix the unmistakable playful voice of Kevin Barry and the evening will surely be entertaining also. The three writers will also discuss reading and writing as part of the Peregrine Readings on tour from the Irish Writers’ Centre.Noelle Lynskey of Portumna’s Arts Group is hosting the event. “This is a great opportunity for all the lovers of crime, the voracious reader and the lover of literature to hear writers read their work and share their own words in Portumna,” Ms Lynskey stated.John Connolly’s first novel, Every Dead Thing, introduced a character called Charlie Parker to his readers and this September, the 10th Parker novel will appear.Alex Barclay blends psychological suspense, multidimensional characters and edgy plotlines that will have people on the edge of their seats.The newly published and acclaimed novel of Kevin Barry’s The City of Bohane will …

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Student reveals the secret to his success

A former Gort Community School student who sold his Leaving Cert notes on Internet auction site eBay, is now collaborating on another online project in an effort to support himself through college. Website mocks.ie, founded by entrepreneurs and brother and sister team Ailish (30) and Eoghain (33) Ryan in late 2009, has enlisted the help of two students who racked up straight As in their Leaving Certs, to provide comprehensive study notes for second-level students. Cillian Fahy (pictured with his Leaving Cert results) from New Quay in North Clare is studying English and mathematics at Trinity College Dublin after receiving seven As in his Leaving Cert which he sat last year. He, along with Dubliner James Esses who earned 590 points in his Leaving Cert in 2010, is now collaborating with mocks.ie in an effort to provide comprehensive, up-to-date, grade-A standard revision notes.Fahy shot to fame in August 2010 when, after receiving straight As in his Leaving, he came up …

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Aughty Gathering gaining momentum

The South Galway and North East Clare regions will come together again this May for the 2011 Aughty Gathering. Caher House on the shores of Lough Graney, famed in Brian Merriman’s Midnight Court, will this year provide the backdrop for the sixth Annual Aughty Gathering, which takes place on Saturday, May 7.  The event was previously held in Crusheen, Kilchreest /Castledaly, Woodford, Tuamgraney and last year in Gort. The gathering is informal and is dedicated to hospitality. Everyone is welcome to attend and to share their knowledge and interest in the heritage of the Sliabh Aughty region.The Aughty Gathering itself has been gaining momentum over the past five years and each year in a different location aims to celebrate our wonderful heritage. Heritage takes many forms; ancient, built, cultural, artistic and literary and living heritage projects to include some hugely valuable initiatives, being undertaken at community level right across Sliabh Aughty Communities.The Gathering will welcome world-renowned musician Martin Hayes to …

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Ethiopian teachers help link the global north and south

TWO Ethiopian teachers recently spent just over a week in South Galway as part of an educational programme between schools in the northern and southern hemispheres. Gort Community School and Tana Haik Secondary School in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, are connected through the scheme which links the Global North and the Global South.

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