Regional

Sr Margaret Mary Jordan left Lisdoonvarna after 64 years of active ministry and service. She retired to her native Mayo on Thursday, April 25.  Sr Margaret Mary was present when the secondary school opened its doors to students for the first time in September 1949.In 1955 Sister Evangelist encouraged Sr Margaret Mary to get a qualification in speech and drama. Each Friday from September to Christmas she travelled to Limerick and ended up passing her Senior Advanced by the end of December of the same year. In June 1956 she was awarded her Diploma in Speech and Drama from the London College. She continues to prepare and enter students for examination with the Leinster School of Music and Drama. This year she had 12 students from Grade 9 to Grade 4 all honour students. In 1990, at the age of 66, she formally retired from the teaching staff of Mary Immaculate. In the past 23 years, since her retirement, there …

A SOUTH Galway councillor is still waiting for white smoke, following his request to issue an open invitation to newly-elected Pope Francis to visit Galway.It may take a few weeks before Galway County Council gets an official response to its request for the new Pope to ensure Ballybrit racecourse will again be the location for a papal visit – 24 years after an estimated 280,000 packed the same venue to see Pope John Paul II’s visit on September 30, 1979.However, Councillor Michael Fahy was very quick off the starting blocks at a recent county council meeting, when he proposed that an invitation should be extended to Pope Francis to visit Galway. The proposal was passed at the meeting.He made the plea in view of the strong connection formed by the people of Galway with the papacy arising from the historic 1979 visit. Having joined the thousands of people at Ballybrit racecourse that day, Councillor Fahy noted the young people who …

AN East Galway TD is to raise concerns with the Ministers for Communications and for Social Protection, calling for a “coherent plan” for the future of the post office network.Reports in the media over the weekend have indicated that changes to payment methods by the Department of Social Protection could result in the closure of up to 400 rural post offices.The Irish Postmasters Union (IPU) have indicated they have no objection to people being given the option of receiving payments electronically but they believe people should still have the option of collecting them from their local post office, if they wish.Any move to make all payments electronic would result, the IPU claim, in a catastrophic drop in the earnings of rural postmasters and make many rural post offices no longer viable.“It is critical that in dealing with our current fiscal difficulties that we remember that the calculation of the cost of any reforms must include social or environmental costs. In …

THE population in the parish of Killaloe dropped by an alarming 33% as a result of the devastation caused by the Famine, according to historical records.The combination of a lack of food, employment and hope for a better future combined to reduce the number of people living in Killaloe parish from 8,007 in 1841 to 5,606 in 1851.While the town of Killaloe lost 191 people through emigration, like a lot of areas in the West of Ireland, the rural townlands in Killaloe parish were the worst hit by the ravages of the Famine. The devastating impact of the Famine in the locality was outlined by Una Kierse during her address at a local commemorative event as part of the National Famine Commemoration events, which are being held throughout the county between May 3 and 12.Over 60 people attended a reading account of an emigration scene at the Pier Head, Killaloe on Sunday with wreath-laying, music, song and prayer.It was fitting …

CALLS have been made for Killaloe to be recognised in a new commemorative coin, which will be issued by the Central Bank to mark the Brian Boru Millennium in 2014. Killaloe was once the capital of Ireland when Brian Boru reigned supreme at Kincora, until his death at the battle of Clontarf in 1014.Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dinny McGinley, confirmed in the Dáil that the 2014 millennium of the Battle of Clontarf will be marked with the issue of a €20 gold coin.Minister McGinley said the Central Bank will shortly submit its recommendations for the 2014 collector coin programme to the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan for approval. The Central Bank’s plans would involve the issue of a small gold coin with a weight of 0.5g and likely issue a limit of 10,000.Clare Labour TD Michael McNamara said the commemoration of the Battle of Clontarf and Brian Boru is good news.“I am …

THE East Clare village of Bodyke remains on a high this week following the success of its first ever festival, which drew up to 1,000 people.The Bodyke Gathering saw an estimated 1,000 people come through the village over the May Bank Holiday weekend to take part in the various events organised.“It was absolutely beyond our wildest dreams. It went exceptionally well. We are here nine years and we never saw the likes of it.“I wasn’t here at the time of the Bodyke evictions stone, which President Hillary unveiled, but the people are saying the gathering at that wasn’t half of what we had here,” according to Susan McMahon of the organising committee.Chairperson of the Bodyke Gathering Committee, Colm Wiley said, “There was up to 1,000 people in Bodyke over the weekend. We had a great turnout.”Ms McMahon said among the highlights were the sporting events organised on Sunday at the GAA field. She described the response as “phenomenal”.The event’s launch …

MEMBERS of East Clare Tourism signalled their strong opposition to plans for the extraction of water from Lough Derg at their recently held annual general meeting. Members voted unanimously to oppose the move.“The members strongly believe this would be detrimental to tourism in the Lough Derg area,” a spokesperson for the group said. It was also agreed that appropriate representations to Government on the matter will be undertaken over the coming months.The meeting also discussed the recent visit of Bobby Kerr, formerly of Dragon’s Den, and a film crew to Tuamgraney as part of a forthcoming television programme.The crew and Mr Kerr were brought to Reddan’s Quay, Tuamgraney by yacht and then on to East Clare Heritage tourist information point, where they were given a lecture on Brian Boru and the history of the Lough Derg area.Footage from the visit is due to form part of a television programme on the Lough Derg area that Mr Kerr will be presenting …

MOUNTSHANNON Community Council has been nominated by Clare County Council to represent Clare in the 2013 IPB Pride of Place Competition.The East Clare village has been selected as one of three nominees to represent the county at the annual all-island competition, which is run by Co-operation Ireland in conjunction with local authorities north and south of the border.The competition aims to recognise and celebrate the vital contributions that communities make to society.Clare was represented in last year’s Pride of Place by the Clare Sports Partnership and Cuimhneamh and Chláir.“In Clare we have a wealth of community focused groups and projects that provide services in keeping with the aims and objectives of Pride of Place. This year, we are delighted to nominate three local projects which we feel have in their own way contributed immeasurably to their respective communities,” Nicola Cullinan, Clare Pride of Place co-ordinator, said.Mountshannon Community Council is participating in Category 1 for population centres of up to 200 …