TOUGH TIMES AHEAD AS COUNCIL RUNS OUT OF MONEY

The money is running out and running out fast. Numerous motions by councillors attending last Tuesday afternoon’s monthly area meeting in Fermoy were knocked on the head because Cork County Council hasn’t the money to do the work.

The following are just a few examples.

(1) no funds for the pedestrian crossing on Duntahane Road, Fermoy

(2) no funds for speeds ramps at Baile Ard (Strawhall), Fermoy

(3) no funds for traffic calming at Beechwood Grove, Mitchelstown

(4) no funds to hire additional plumber for Mallow town

(5) no funds for public lighting at Ballynoe in Kildorrery

(6) no funding for pedestrian crossing at Dispensary Lane, Rathcormac and so on.

The message coming from the top brass within Cork County Council is that existing services face significant cuts in the months and years ahead.

GOLD FOR COOLAGOWN … AND THE BIG ONE BECKONS

The overjoyed Tidy Towns committee in Coolagown this week has said that while the win is ‘fantastic and beyond expectation’, they won’t be resting on their laurels.

The village retained their gold medal in this year’s popular Tidy Towns competition but added the honour of being nominated to compete for the overall village winner to their resume.

“I just can’t describe the joy we all feel this week. It’s amazing,” said John Feeney, chairperson of the local Tidy Towns committee.

“It takes so much hard work to maintain what you have but to be nominated for overall village winner as well was the icing on the cake for us all. It was fantastic.

“But we don’t intend to be taking it easy, we are only 4 points behind Emly, the overall village winners so you never know, if we maintain the commitment, next year could be our year.”

The village has been involved with the Tidy Towns competition since 1991 and are this year working on their third consecutive five year plan, each of which have contributed to the success of the village.

“The upkeep and improving of the village is so much more than potting plants and sweeping streets. All the new estates are kept in marvellous condition by the people living in them, the FAS workers are highly skilled in stone-work not to mention all the committee members who go out evening after evening ensuring that Coolagown is looking as wonderful as it is.”

“There is no one person involved with this success. We have been supported greatly by all the members of the community, the local school, Flan Groarke and his team at Cork County Council, Breda McCarthy and her team in FAS, Coillte and the Avondhu Blackwater Partnership. We would be nowhere without them all.”

The village recently committed to a waste minimising pilot project with Cork County Council where 22 households were signed up to concentrate on an eco-householders course where they would learn how to eliminate waste, understand good recycling practices and learn proper composting methods.

“It’s a great project and even though we had huge interest locally we could only take 22 houses on board. It really has been a great asset to the community and I have no doubt it will help us greatly with all of our efforts to be a cleaner and more environmentally friendly village.”

YOUTH CAFE ALMOST READY TO ROLL

The long awaited and much needed Mitchelstown Youth Cafe is almost ready to go. Work on the facility, which will be located in what was once the Fox’s Den pub in Upper Cork Street, has been progressing over the last few months.

“The plans are to have the youth cafe opened early in October,” youth committee member, Ailbe Coleman, told The Avondhu.

“We are just putting the finishing touches to the building, there will be Internet access and TV with Sky Sports and MTV and the area at the rear of the building can be used for outdoor activities,” he continued. It is planned that the cafe will provide the young people of Mitchelstown with a safe and supervised environment to meet in.

“We want to give our young people a say in, not only the look, but also the running of the youth cafe as well. I would like to thank all the volunteers that put in such hard work to get the centre up and running. I would especially like to commend Anne McGrath for making the Fox’s Den available to us,” Ailbe Coleman said.

The Mitchelstown Youth committee is also looking for volunteers to help run the new youth cafe. Cllr Frank O’Flynn (FF), who is also a committee member, welcomed the new resource for the youth of Mitchelstown.

“This youth cafe has been long needed in the town and I am delighted to see that it is now about to be opened. I hope that the young people of the town and surrounding areas will enjoy and use the new centre and I am certain that this will be a positive addition to the town of Mitchelstown,” Cllr O’Flynn told The Avondhu.

Remembering Elizabeth Bowen this Sunday at Farahy This year’s annual memorial service for the author Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) will be held at 3.30pm on this Sunday, September 13 in St Colman’s Church at Farahy (near Kildorrery).

The historic 18th century church has strong associations with the Bowen family and stands in a tranquil pastoral setting with an atmospheric graveyard containing not only the final resting place of the author and her husband but also a famine grave.

It stands close to the former Bowenscourt estate where the ruins of the author’s ancestral home bear melancholy witness to past indifference towards some aspects of local heritage: an indifference thankfully no longer prevalent, as the attendance at the annual Trevor/Bowen Summer School as well as the enthusiastic audiences at the summer concerts in St Colman’s and the regular congregations at the yearly memorial services demonstrate.

The address at this year’s service will be given by the distinguished academic Dr Maud Ellmann, Professor of Irish Studies at Notre Dame University in the States and author of a prize-winning critique of Elizabeth Bowen’s work ‘Elizabeth Bowen: the Shadow Across the Page’.

It has been described as an exceptionally fine and well-judged biography not only of Bowen herself but of the Anglo-Irish Protestant ascendancy between the 1920s and the mid 20th century, and also of wartime London. It stands out for the subtlety, originality and intelligence of its close readings of Bowen’s novels and short stories.

Many people who come to these services just enjoy a quiet and reflective hour in calm and attractive surroundings, but it will be a particular treat for Bowen enthusiasts to hear the thoughts and ideas of such a perceptive interpreter.

FERMOY LEISURE CENTRE LAUNCHES NEW AUTUMN SEASON

A new season of fun has been launched at Fermoy Leisure Centre this week. Considering recessionary restrictions on patrons, the management have put together a programme which will suit everyone.

“Times are tough for everyone so we want to give our customers and the people of the community an opportunity to still have something they can do and won’t cost them a fortune,” explained Caroline Casey, manager of the centre.

The centre is happy to welcome ‘pay-as-you-go is for adult swimming lessons which will allow people to get their classes without having to commit to the weeks and without having to pay out a lump sum.’ These classes cost €6.55 each and are held on Monday afternoons.

For parents who enjoy a swim but can’t afford the childcare a new aqua creche has been opened for children between 3-5 years where a supervised service will ensure that parents can enjoy their swim knowing their children are safe.

“We often find that parents can’t fully relax or enjoy themselves because the have to watch their children so we have organised for the kiddies creche to be supervised by a lifeguard every Tuesday morning and afternoon,” continued Ms Casey.

An activity camp for children will run at the pool in late October and parents are advised to have their children booked in early by October 1. The course costs €65 per place and will allow children learn how to swim and important water safety along with fun and games every day.

For the months of September and October a special ‘beat the blues’ offer will reward anyone who purchases a 3 month off-peak membership for the price of 2 months at a cost of only €100. Off peak swim times are from 11am to 6pm

FARM FAMILIES FEARFUL FOR THEIR FUTURE

With farm incomes dropping, cuts to REPS expected and, now, the axing of the rural transport scheme a distinct possibility, it’s not only the weather that has the rural community of North Cork fearful for the future. According to a recent report, the amount of agricultural land on the market has fallen by 50% in the first six months of 2009 and prices are also dropping.

“At the moment the price of land is heading back to what it was in 2002. On average, prices have dropped by 35% across the country. In North Cork we have seen a huge fall over the last 12 months. Our average price for farm land a year and a half ago was running at €20,000 per acre, today we are seeing prices at less than €11,000,” Eamonn O’Brien of CCM Properties told The Avondhu.

Apart from the value of land, farmers throughout the region are finding prices for their produce are also at a record low.

“Milk is back at the same level it was in the 1980s. It costs between 24 and 26 cent a litre to produce milk and, at the moment, the price we get for it stands at 20 cent a litre,” one dairy farmer told The Avondhu.

Cattle farmer, Jim Fitzgerald from Galbally, has been in agriculture for almost 50 years. “At the moment the land is so wet that we have cattle in the sheds here for the last five weeks and they are now eating silage that was made only a few weeks ago.

"Because of the bad weather it is going to cost an awful lot to get the cattle ready for market. I have never seen it so bad. Prices are down a lot from last year and, with the lack of silage available for the winter, I am going to have to reduce the size of the herd. It’s one thing when you have a bad year with the weather but add to that low prices and high costs and then the worst recession in a generation, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel at all,” he told The Avondhu.

North Cork County IFA chairman, John Coughlan from Buttevant, has never seen such a serious situation in farming before.

“The financial crisis and the Government cutbacks through the various schemes plus the bad weather now means that many farming families are finding it hard to make ends meet. There is little or no income in dairy farming and many are thinking of getting out of the industry.

"The Government will have to reintroduce the schemes that they have cut over the last few months, then they will have to lobby within Europe for more export refunds to be put in place.

"It must be remembered that average farm incomes have dropped to 40% of the standard industrial wage. Farm incomes were low in the first place but now we have the worst summer yet on top of three years of bad weather.”

“There is a 30% shortfall in the amount of winter fodder required for 2009. Grain farmers are facing another disastrous year with 40 to 50% of the grain in the North Cork area still to be harvested and the price of grain well below what it was last year.

"However, there are areas of help out there. Teagasc and the IFA will be running meetings with personnel from the two groups to help farmers on a one to one basis, more details of these meetings will be available in the coming weeks,” John told The Avondhu.

So, what kind of a future can the next generation of farmers expect?
Dr Caroline Crowley from University College Cork has been asking young people who are planning to take up farming what hopes they have for the future.

“Young people do not feel under pressure from their parents to farm and in some cases had to argue their choice with parents who do not want them to take up farming. They are encouraged to pursue their chosen career and, farm mothers, in particular, actively support their search for college courses. Farming is rarely discussed as a career choice in secondary school.

"By late 2008, young people were positive about the future of farming considering issues of food security and the lack of job opportunities in the general economy but poor market prices across farming commodities will have dented this confidence.

“Although most reported that farm numbers were stable locally, they believed that there would be a decline in farms in the next 10-15 years due to lack of interest among their farm offspring peers locally and this was seen as an opportunity to expand by leasing land. The overwhelming response when asked about their desire to settle in their home farm, live locally, or at least live in a rural area was a positive one.

“They all hope to live in a rural area, although some concede that initial professional employment may necessitate a few years in an urban area,” Dr Crowley said.

While it seems that there are many young farmers out there who want to continue farming in their communities, the question must be posed - With the current state of the industry how many will have viable futures for themselves and their children?

SHEEPDOG TRIAL SUPREMO FORCED TO PUT TRIP ON HOLD

It was just one more of the many cold days of last spring when I first set out to the mountains with Brian Casey. During the journey Brian told me about the forthcoming sheepdog trials.

That evening in January was surely on of the coldest of a bad spring but Brian and his dogs were, even at this early stage, working towards the national trials. This was really my first time watching at close quarters the supreme shepherding skills of this gentleman and his dog. I had often heard that the folk along the hills were good at working the hills and that they had some brilliant dogs.

As I watched Brian and his dog, Tweed, collect the sheep, sometimes when the dog was out of sight away at the other side of a deep raven, the only communication was by away of a whistle that Brian used to give commands. We could hear the sheep in the distance but they were still out of view, after about fifteen minutes a few appeared over the brow of the hill and soon a few more.

It would be a few more minutes before Brian’s prize winning Tweed would peer over the hill, to me they seemed to be a long way away but they were heading in our direction.

It was a marvel to watch and listen as Brian issued instructions to his dog to go left, then right and weave a path through the heather heading for the old slate house, now derelict, but once used as a shepherd’s outpost.

From a point where both sheep and dog were out of sight, the only means of communication was by way of a shepherds whistle, and, to me, this was a marvellous display of communication between one man and his dog.

As a bad spring gave way to an equally bad summer the day of the national sheep dog trials was coming ever closer.

There was a great air of excitement about the forthcoming trials, it attracted media interest, though it must be said not all the interested media displayed a great understanding of sheepdog trialling, except, of course, for a marvellous interview by Donna O Sullivan for the farming programme on RTE Radio.

The trials were set to be the biggest event in hill farming history for many years. Over the summer months a lot of planning and a lot of long hours would go in to making the trials a success.

And, when the weekend arrived, they were, indeed, an outstanding success. Brian Casey provided the sheep for the three-day event, in all over six hundred. After a long hard summer work by Brian and his fellow committee members, it was great delight that people from the hills and lowlands greeted Brian’s selection for the team to travel to Cumbria.

We were all looking forward to his trip to the Lake District to represent his Ireland but this, unfortunately, was not to be due to temporary ill health this week. The aborted trip meant bitter disappointment but hopefully there will be many more trials in which he will take a leading role.

For now, we wish Brian Casey a speedy recovery to full health.