EDITORIAL

THE Burren is unquestionably the most recognisable landscape of County Clare. The karst limestone, the rare gentians and the dolmens are part of our special heritage.
Thousands of people come to North Clare every year to enjoy the outstanding beauty of one of nature’s true wonderlands. It is, of course, very important to strike a balance between encouraging visitors and protecting the very thing they come to see.
The Burren is set receive one of its best ever promotional boosts, courtesy of An Post. Images of the unique landscape will be mailed to the far-flung corners of the globe on a new stamp.
The Burren National Park is one of six of Ireland’s national parks celebrated with a special stamp series launched this week. Designed by Steve Simpson, the stamps also feature Connemara, Glenveigh, Killarney, Wicklow and Ballycroy, County Mayo National Parks and are based on photographs by international photographer, Walter Pfeiffer.
On a more local level, visitors are being given an opportunity to learn about the Burren from people born and raised there.
Clare Farm Heritage Tours has unveiled its summer programme, which includes tours for all ages alongside daily farm tours to eight unique farms in the Burren region.
Starting off on June 25 with an historical talk and walk at Carron and continuing with farm walks near Lahinch in July, gardening in the Burren in August and stories of Máire Rua in September, the farm tours are designed to be both educational and fun.
The tours will be led by individual landowners, who will share their wealth of knowledge about local history and archaeology, landscape heritage, geology and farming practices, as well as innumerable anecdotes and tales about the area.
“With eight farms in our co-op we have plenty of variety to offer to our visitors and this summer we really want to showcase this both to tourists and the people of the west,” said Michael Davoren, chairman of Clare Farm Heritage Tours.
The co-op of North Clare farmers continues a tradition of farming in the Burren, which dates back over 6,000 years. More than 100 archaeological sites and monuments have been identified throughout land currently farmed and managed by members of the co-op.
With the establishment of the Clare Farm Heritage Tours Co-op, landowners can now offer guided access to these sites and monuments, which are representative of the treasurers of North Clare.
This is a fantastic initiative, which will give visitors a far greater understanding of the complete history of the Burren than they could have hoped for from any other tour guide. It is the kind of tour that Clare people would appreciate, never mind visitors from other counties or further afield.
The farmers will, no doubt, do justice to the story of the priceless heritage that they are so rightly proud of. They fully appreciate the fact that they have it in care for future generations.

Exams begin

ENGLISH Paper 1 and English and Communications. The first step on the bumpy road through the State examination process for 59,000 Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied students began on Wednesday morning. It is a road most must travel until June 24, when the final exams are held and then it is a case of wait and see until results day comes around in mid-August.
A further 56,000 students have started the Junior Certificate, a mid-point assessment of their performance in the second-level education system. The outcome will provide a very useful pointer as to where the focus of their Leaving Cert subjects should be. The outcome of their endeavours will be known in mid-September.
Between the Leaving Cert and Junior Cert, over 100 subjects will be covered by this year’s exams.
However, it is the here and now that students must focus on. The hard work has been done in studying and revising and there is no point in getting totally frustrated in advance of sitting each and every exam. Parents, family, teachers and friends can help ease the tension for students by supporting them over these important couple of weeks that will shape their futures.
Ennis-based ASTI president, Jack Keane has some good advice for exam students. “While it is perfectly normal to feel some anxiety, it is really important to keep things in perspective over the coming weeks. No one exam is going to make or break you as a person and while exams are important, they are not everything. Your worth as a person is not tested by any examination,” he said.
Almost 3,000 Clare students are sitting the State exams, with over half of these taking the Leaving Cert. A total of 1,474 students, 753 girls and 721 boys, are sitting the Leaving Cert, while 91 Clare students, 43 girls and 48 boys, are sitting the Leaving Cert Applied. Almost 1,400 Clare students are sitting the Junior Cert.
Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn this week sent his best wishes to students, who, he said, were getting “the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills across a range of areas. This marks an important milestone in their lives.”
Mr Quinn expressed concern, however, at the continuing decline in the number taking higher-level maths in the Leaving. A record low of only 10,435 candidates are registered to take the exam this year.
He hoped various initiatives, including the introduction of the Project Maths course, the planned bonus points for maths due next year and the Government’s national plan for literacy and numeracy, would help to reverse the trend.
Improving our young people’s performance in key subjects is important if we are to keep abreast of industrial and technological developments and be prepared to facilitate new enterprises spearheaded by Irish or overseas investors.