Gort and South Galway - DevelopmentEducation.ie

gort&southgalway
Friday, March 16, 2012
The Clare Champion P11
Contact Nicola Corless at [email protected] or on 065-6864147
Novel approach
to auctioneering
A SOUTH Galway auctioneer is following in the footsteps of one of Australia’s
most successful estate agents by holding “for the first time ever in Ireland”
a public auction in the front garden of
the property on sale. Colm Farrell is selling 19 The Maples, Glenbrack, Gort on
behalf of its owners, John and Maureen
Walsh.
Both widowed, John and Maureen
met in Italy in 2006. They married and
moved to Gort. Maureen’s family live
in Meath and Dublin and the long drive
and constant bag packing no longer
make sense. Late last year they decided
to move. They put their detached property in Glenbrack on the market and
quickly found an apartment in Trim.
With the deposit down, they waited for
their property to move. They are still
waiting.
“It was John’s suggestion to relocate
up in Meath. We are not getting younger
and we are so much time up and down
so we decided we would go for an apartment there rather than a house to cut
out the stairs. We found an apartment in
Trim a couple of months ago. We were
really happy with it but now we are sort
of stuck in the middle and with the climate as it is, this is not the best time but
we needed to move,” explains Maureen.
Both John and Maureen were becoming frustrated by the situation so they
approached their estate agent, Colm
Farrell, to see if there was anything more
they could do to sell the property.
“19 The Maples has been on the market for six months. We couldn’t sell
it. John and Maureen had a property
bought. They are retired and want to
move. They had the deposit paid and really want to sell. They asked me how best
to promote it. I got onto the estate agent
on the other side and he said he would
reduce the price of the other property if
we could get this one to sell. John and
Maureen came to me and asked me how
we could sell it or generate interest.
“I was after finishing reading a book
by John McGrath, an auctioneer in Australia and he was talking in it about sell-
ing properties on site because it gives
people the opportunity to see the property and get a feel for it. I ran that by the
owners and they were really delighted
with it so we decided to go that route.
We have got a good bit of feedback on
it and now the auction is taking place on
Friday,” Colm outlines.
A lack of interest in the early days,
Colm believes, was down to the common
mistake of overpricing.
“The asking price was too high on
€245,000. Then we reduced it to €215,000
and now since we went down this route
of advised minimum value of €150,000,
we have had seven or eight viewings and
there seems to be enough interest there
to get it sold,” he continues. “A similar
property in The Maples sold in the region of €360,000 in 2007.”
“Since we went down the auction
route, we have had viewings on the last
two Saturdays, compared to none before
that. For a lot of buyers, this is something a bit different for them. They are
looking forward to it and to be honest, I
n Auctioneer Colm Farrell gets ready for the forthcoming auction at 19 The Maples, Glenbrack, Gort.
am looking forward to it and I think it will
go quite well,” the Gort auctioneer and
valuer comments.
THE Seamount College community will take to the roads around
Kinvara next week in an effort to
highlight the daily experience of
women and girls in the developing
world.
On March 22, International
World Water Day, the pupils and
teachers, male and female, will
take part in a 6km walk around
Kinvara carrying water. The event
will show solidarity with their
peers in Kenya, where a young girl
travels the average daily distance
of 6km by foot, carrying up to 20
litres of water on the journey. As
a result of the time it takes to collect water, many girls are unable to
remain in education and without
education, find themselves caught
in a cycle of poverty.
International World Water Day
is held annually to focus attention
on the importance of fresh water
and advocating the sustainable
management of fresh water resources.
“It is a time to focus public attention on critical water issues,
n At the announcement of the grand marshall for Gort St Patrick’s Day Parade were (at
front) Mary Moloney, Andy Coen (grand marshall) and Siobhán Bell. At back: Padraic Giblin, Noel Corless, Gerry Coyne (outgoing grand marshall), John Lally and Seamus Killeen.
the Brothers of Charity in Gort.
There will be live music in the Square before
and after the parade. Francis Linnane will put on
a display of vintage threshing and there will also
be a working display of vintage farm machinery,
as well as a weapons display by the reserve defence force. The town has been decorated with
bunting for the occasion and businesses are encouraged to decorate their shop windows.
“Entrants with floats are asked to approach the
assembly area in Church Street via Glenbrack
Road and the Blackwater/Tubber Road to avoid
congestion in the town. The gardaí will operate
a diversion for local traffic while the parade is
in progress and parking in the town will be very
limited. In the interest of safety, no items of any
kind are to be thrown by entrants,” Padraic concluded.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Multmedia courses
GALWAY Film Centre is running a new range
of beginners multimedia courses aimed at filmmakers, designers and artists.
There are just six places on each course and
each participant is provided with a workstation.
Places fill quickly so early booking is advised.
Members can continue to use the machines a
year after the course is completed.
Galway Film Centre is located on Wellpark
Road, just five minutes from the city centre.
Contact Mary at 091 770748 or education@gal-
wayfilmcentre.ie for more information.
Ballinderreen concert
ACTOR Sean McGinley was among a capacity
crowd at the newly-renovated Ballinderreen
Community Centre recently when Máirtín
Ó Connor took to the stage in concert with
Brendan O’Regan and Jimmy Higgins.
John Faulkner, Tony Trundell and Paul Mulligan opened proceedings on the night, which
also boasted food from the Market Providence
Restaurant in Clarinbridge. It was somewhat
a reunion for Máirtín and friends, who were
joined by Seán McGinley, best known from his
role in Braveheart.
Fresh from the final night of his tour with the
Máirtín Ó Connor band, firm favourites such
as The Road West were well appreciated by the
audience who enjoyed the encore.
“Given the excellent sound and superb lighting of this new venue, it is likely to be a feature
of many concerts to come,” one of the organisers commented.
Fundraising concerts
for Pieta House
Galway Choral Association will perform the
West of Ireland premiere of the Dvorak Mass in D
in St Nicholas Collegiate Church, Galway on Saturday, March 31 and in the Cathedral of the Assumption, Tuam on Sunday, April 1.
The two concerts are fundraising concerts for Pieta House West, the campaign spearheaded by Tuam
businessman John Concannon to establish a service
in the West of Ireland to help people with suicidal
thoughts and those who self harm.
Galway Choral Association will be joined by soloists Sarah Skerritt, Joyce Byrne, Eoin Hynes and
Patrick MacLynn for the two performances. The 50strong community choir will be conducted by musical director Norman Duffy and accompanied by
Ronan de Burca (piano) and Raymond O’Donnell
(organ).
Announcing the event, chairman of Galway Choral Association Michael O’Hare said, “Galway Choral Association is particularly pleased to perform
the West of Ireland premiere of Antonin Dvorak’s
Mass in D in support of Pieta House West. We are
delighted to welcome back former members of Galway Choral Association’s Youth Choir, Sarah Skerritt, Patrick MacLynn and Eoin Hynes, who join us
as soloists for the two performances.”
Commenting on the forthcoming concert, John
Concannon said, “We are indebted to the Galway
Choral Association for coming on board and assisting us in our fundraising efforts to establish Pieta
House West – a local support service in the West of
Ireland for people with suicidal thoughts and selfharming behaviours. We are confident that we will
reach our target of €150,000 and that Pieta House
West will be opened in Tuam later this year.”
Tickets for the concerts are available from Opus
2, High Street, Galway at 091 500 300 and Quinn’s
Newsagent, Bishop Street, Tuam at 093 26060.
NEWS IN BRIEF
The Ireland Reaching Out series of
five lectures about the heritage and
history of South-East Galway, entitled
My People, My Place, My Heritage,
continues next week. The lecture series
includes the following topics: local history, archaeology, built heritage, genealogy and biodiversity.
The second lecture about Aspects
of Built Heritage in East Galway will
be given by Rory O’Shaughnessy. He
will specifically looking at items such
as stone walls and enclosures, types of
stone walls and their characteristics and
different types of stonework
The talk will be held at the Loughrea
Hotel next Tuesday at 8pm. There is a
nominal charge for the lectures.
Sign condition criticised
A Galway county councillor has
criticised the condition of signs on regional roads in South Galway.
At a recent meeting of the local authority, Councillor Gerry Finnerty
such as the fact that 6,000 children
die every day from diseases associated with lack of access to safe
drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Ending the
water and sanitation crisis will help
break the poverty cycle, increase
school attendance and save lives,”
according to Aidlink, the NGO
encouraging schools around the
country to hold an event marking
the day.
To mark Seamount’s participation in their World Water Day activity, five of the students took part
in the John Murray Show on RTÉ
Radio 1 on Tuesday.
“The whole school is taking part,
including students and staff, male
and female. We will be walking
around Kinvara in the morning
between 11am and lunchtime on
Thursday next. Our development
education teacher Eileen Fitzgerald brought the idea to us. We
have a strong relationship with
Aidlink, having travelled to Ghana with them before. When she
made the suggestion, we decided it
was a great idea and just went for
it. Since then, a number of other
teachers have got involved because we recognise that it crosses a
number of curricular programmes.
We are doing this primarily as an
awareness activity, rather than a
fundraising one but we may raise
some funds too and if we do, that
is great. The walk is to raise awareness about what girls’ lives are like
in the Third World,” explained
school principal Maighread Mhic
Dhomhnaill.
“The girls who took part in the
John Murray Show walked from
the River Dodder to RTÉ studios,
along with girls from Loreto Beaufort, Rathfarnham. They were basically launching it countrywide.
There are schools in Waterford and
Cork doing it as well, so we won’t
be on our own but I think Aidlink
are trying to get more schools involved. We will be carrying water
with us on the walk but the key is
to use the water too and not waste
it. We will bring it back to the
school and put it on the plants to
show that water is precious,” Ms
Mhic Dhomhnaill concluded.
n Jenny
Kinnane
from
Seamount
College,
Kinvara,
draws
water from
the Dodder
as part of
an event
with the
John Murray Show
to promote
walks
on World
Water Day
for NGO
Aidlink.
n Ardrahan’s Declan Fuery,
a former pupil of Gort Community School, achieved the
highest marks in the country
in graphics and construction
during his Leaving Certificate
Applied exams last June. He
was recently acknowledged for
his achievement at an awards
ceremony in GMIT, organised
by the TechnoTeachers Association. Declan is currently
studying furniture making and
design at Galway Technical
Institute and hopes to progress
to Letterfrack next September
to undertake a Bachelor of Science degree in furniture design
and manufacture. He is pictured with his teacher Michael
Moylan; Minister for Training
and Skills Ciarán Cannon and
chairperson of the Techno
Teachers Association, Padraig
Cawley. Photograph by Reg Gordon
Ireland Reaching Out
Photograph by John Kelly
on the day and pay 10% of the agreed
price before completing the sale within
28 days.
Showing solidarity on
the roads of Kinvara
St Patrick’s Day parade goes online
AS emigration continues across South Galway, Gort’s St Patrick’s Day parade committee has come up with a way for its diaspora
to feel connected this Saturday.
For the first time, it will be possible to view
the Gort St Patrick’s Day parade worldwide
on the Gort Inse Guaire Facebook page.
“No doubt emigrants would love to view
the parade and we are asking locals to pass
on the information of the broadcast to relatives overseas and in other parts of lreland,”
explained Padraic Giblin.
“We are really looking forward to this
aspect of the parade. This is something we
can do because of Ballybrit company Solid
Media,” he added.
The organising committee is this week
making final arrangements for Saturday’s
parade, which will start with the traditional
blessing of the shamrock by parish priest, Fr
Tommy Marrinan outside the church immediately after 12.15pm mass. Fr Tommy will
also distribute the shamrock to members of
Gort Reserve Defence Force.
A colour party of the force will lead the
parade, followed by Andy Coen, the parade
grand marshall. Andy will be accompanied
by fellow members of the Gort senior hurling team, the county champions.
The St Patrick’s Pipe Band from Tulla
will follow the numerous youth and school
groups who are expected to take part.
Among the community and commercial
groups who have indicated their involvement are St Colman’s Camogie Club (Féile
na nGael champions), Gort No Name Club,
Kilbeacanty National School, Peterswell
National School and Fun City Play Centre,
The Grove.
Gort Monuments and Stoneworks, which
will have a float in the parade, will officially open its premises at Courtney House,
Georges Street with a charity event after the
parade. Light refreshments will be available
and any donations received will be in aid of
The auction takes place in the front
garden of the property on Friday at midday. A buyer must sign a binding contract
called on Galway County Council to
ask the National Roads Authority
(NRA) to clean and, in some cases,
replace signs on regional roads within
County Galway as many are “black and
weather beaten”.
A representative of the council responded, explaining that the cleaning
of the signage is “part of road maintenance and will be carried out by Galway
County Council”. However he added
that “the replacement of signs will be
costed and submitted to the NRA for
funding”.
Septic tank grants sought
Galway East Fianna Fáil TD
Michael Kitt has repeated calls for
grant aid for septic tank owners facing hefty bills to upgrade or replace
their systems. This follows claims by
the TD that “County Galway homes
have been identified in the initial hit
list”.
According to reports this week,
more than 16,000 septic tanks at
homes and businesses in the Western
Region have been identified as posing a risk. This includes 2,890 homes
around Clarinbridge/Kilcolgan area,
1,090 tanks around the Mask area and
3,309 tanks near the Clare River.
“The Environment Minister Phil
Hogan and his Government colleagues have consistently attempted
to underplay the impact of their controversial Septic Tank Bill on rural
dwellers, claiming that only 10%
of systems nationwide would be inspected. But according to reports in
the Irish Independent, 165,000 septic
tank owners across the country have
already been identified for inspection, as they are believed to pose a
risk to water sources,” Deputy Kitt
commented.
“Approximately 35,000 of these
will be targeted in the first wave of
inspections from early next year and
County Galway homes have been
identified in the initial hit list. These
systems have already been identified
as ‘at risk’ and homeowners are facing bills of thousands of euros to upgrade or replace their septic tanks,”
he commented.
“Given that we now have confirmation that the inspection regime
will be on a grand scale nationwide
and not minimal as the minister previously claimed, it is imperative that
a system of grant aid is put in place.
Rural dwellers cannot be expected
to bear the entire cost of upgrades
themselves, when urban dwellers are
not expected to pay such costs, as
the State heavily subsidises sewerage
schemes,” the Fianna Fáil deputy
claimed.
Deputy Kitt criticised Minister
Phil Hogan for “refusing to be honest with septic tank owners about
what his legislation means for them
and what costs they are facing as a
result”.
“He rammed his controversial bill
through the Oireachtas, while blocking debate on crucial issues such as
the inspection standards. He has
been exceptionally light on the detail
and has sought to mislead the public
on a number of occasions about what
he has announced. His refusal to answer the questions and concerns of
septic tank owners truthfully has created fear and confusion among thousands of homeowners,” he claimed.
Deputy Kitt called for a new approach to the septic tank issue.
“The harsh reality of Minister
Hogan’s bill will hit rural dwellers
across County Galway in a matter of
months. The Government must address the real concerns of septic tank
owners and listen to their calls for
State support,” he concluded.