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Around Ireland

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Stephen McKinley

MOURNE INITIATIVE

Tourists flocking to the Mourne Mountains in County Down are bringing an unwelcome problem — increasing traffic congestion in an area with almost no parking facilities, and the remote area is also proving to be a magnet for car thieves.

But a new initiative by the Mourne Heritage Trust involving area farmers may help to solve the problem, reports the BBC.

Farmers are being asked to open up farmyards as parking space. Three households have so far taken up the idea, and it is hoped that farmers will also see the potential for a tearoom or cafe, as well as hot shower and changing facilities.

Cars will be under constant supervision from theft and break-ins. The cost? About £3 a day.

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The farms, running back up into the Mourne foothills, also provide multiple places for visitors to start their climbing or hillwalking.

A Mourne Heritage Trust spokesperson pointed out that farming in the North has been in crisis for years, with annual farm incomes dropping to as low as £5,000.

HOLE-WITH-ONE

In Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, the folks are celebrating P.J. Richardson’s hole-in-one at the Eire Og Nenagh Classic golf tournament at Beechwood.

It was all the more remarkable because Richardson has only one arm — he lost the other in a farming accident at the age of 10.

His shot from about 150 yards went all the way, and sent the crowd wild with excitement.

Eire Og organizers were so pleased that they gave Richardson two tickets for the European Open at the K-Club. President of the Club Jack Kennedy presented him with a bottle of brandy as well.

Richardson, who also plays a mean game of hurling, took up golf a few years ago, and had traveled from Doon for this tournament.

His best pal, Conor Ryan, has encouraged him all the way.

"P.J. never got a hole-in-one before this, but he has always been a great sportsman and played hurling for Doon in his younger years," Ryan told the Nenagh Guardian.

BOTSWANA’S BEAUTY

A photographer from Birr entertained locals at the Ferbane Center for Heritage and the Arts with an exhibition called "A Year in Botswana."

Tina Claffey spent 2000 as a researcher and photographer for Graham McCullough, a doctoral student at Trinity College.

Their research site was in Botswana, where he is studying the huge population of greater and lesser flamingo on the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans.

"On my arrival, I was immediately immersed into the culture of the people of Botswana," Claffey told the crowd.

"Botswana is made up of many indigenous tribes, and the people are known as ‘Batswana.’ They knew little about Ireland, and were very intrigued when I spoke of its people and landscape. Many of the Batswana have never seen the ocean. Theirs is a landlocked country where ‘pula’ is the currency, which means rain."

KINSALE BASH

Kinsale threw quite the bash last week — a street fair with an historical twist.

More than 100 locals dressed up to represent Kinsale through the ages, in spite of, yes, you guessed, the inevitable rain.

The event marked the 400th anniversary of the Battle of Kinsale, so there were plenty of military-style outfits, and the overriding sentiment seemed to be complaints about how uncomfortable one’s gear was, 400 years ago.

The costumes ranged from country squires, peasants and soldiers from the time of the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, ladies in waiting in the mid 18th and 19th centuries, First World War soldiers, country gentlemen and even cardinals who in spite of their blessing to the pageant, failed to keep away the rain, reported the Southern Star newspaper.

ENNISKILLEN DIVIDED

A peace center that is to be opened in Enniskillen has set people at loggerheads all over County Fermanagh.

The William Jefferson Clinton Peace Center has caused "unprecedented dismay" among the locals, according to the Impartial Reporter newspaper.

The newspaper’s straw poll on the Enniskillen streets brought forth a range of negative opinions, from hatred of the location to "knock it down."

The center will be part of a complex that includes the former Enniskillen Orange Hall, which will be incorporated into the completed project.

Project Manager Barney Devine and Bill Maxwell, a partner with R.H. Pierce, the architects for the development, have appealed for people to stay their opinions until the building is completed. It is due for handing over by the end of this year.

"We got the funding to build the Peace Center there because of what happened [the Enniskillen bomb] in 1987," Maxwell said. "The total project is nearly £5.5 million, between the Orange Hall and the new building, so it has to be seen in the context of these two buildings."

Much of the public reaction turns on the bareness and the color (plum) of the gable wall, especially for people coming along Belmore Street.

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