Dublin's amazing chick flick

A flock of wild chickens running free in a north Co Dublin town are to become stars of the screen.

Filmmaker Cliff Parrott (yes, really) described how his interest was sparked when he saw a rooster near Skerries' train station on his daily commute.

"It's a funny one -- I'm not from a rural area, I'm from Boston and I moved to Ireland with my wife in 2008. The only thing I knew about roosters was (cartoon character) Foghorn Leghorn.

"My home is the other side of Skerries, by the bay, and I have to walk across the town to get to the train station in the mornings.

"I started noticing this rooster by himself by the railroad track. Then I'd notice another chicken, and another, and another, and then realised there was a gang of them."

The animator, who is in his late 40s, got the idea for a short documentary from watching the film Chicken Run with his young son and thought "these were the ones that made it".

Cliff has worked in animation since 1999 in California before moving here to set up his own company.

"Hopefully the film turns out well. It'll be a little tongue in cheek."

The short documentary will include Cliff's expertise in animation He also has contacts he hopes will set the soundtrack to the film, which should be released in September.

"I have a background in animation, working for Disney, so there will be a tangential animation piece that goes along with it.

"We're hoping for a September release, and we'll show it with the Skerries Rockabill Film Society."

(for the Evening Herald 29th June 2011)
(photo by Douglas O'Connor)

Golfing grandpa lands club's prize after 50 years of trying

IF at first you don't succeed then try, try again . . . for 50 years.

That's the lesson learned by golfer Tom Clarke, who won the Captain's Prize at St Anne's Golf Club after five decades of effort.

With golf headlines currently focusing on Rory McIlroy, veteran Tom has struck a blow for the more mature player.

McIlroy may have waited longer than he'd have liked to win his first major but, playing on the same weekend, 78-year-old Tom had been trying to win the Captain's (Larry Curran) Prize at St Anne's for nearly half a century.

The grandfather from Baldoyle in north Co Dublin admitted drawing inspiration from Ireland's newest major winner.

"Rory was an inspiration to me. I thought if he can do it, an auld fella like me shouldn't have a problem," he said.

"I was nearly 50 years trying to win it. I joined the club in Balbriggan in 1957 and I've been playing at St Anne's for nearly 30 years so it was a long wait."

Having failed to qualify on a number of occasions over the past few years, he did not have high expectations going into the event.

Playing off a handicap of 19, Tom led the qualifiers with 42 points but there weren't many expecting him to follow it up with another good score.

"I was the leading qualifier all weekend, I got a 34 on the Sunday and that was good enough."

A popular and figure in North Dublin golfing circles, Tom worked as a greenkeeper at Portmarnock, Royal Dublin and St Anne's golf clubs.

"I worked as a groundskeeper in St Anne's for two sessions of three years so I suppose I had a local knowledge," he added.

"The rest of the of the field were probably in their 40s -- it's seldom grandad who gets to win.

(for the Evening Herald, 25th June 2011)

Families' fury at threat of untreated waste in the bay

PEOPLE in the picturesque seaside village of Skerries were appalled after a threat to pour raw sewage into the bay.

A last minute intervention reversed the move but residents are concerned it could happen again in the future.

In a move slammed by locals and environmentalists, the Electricity Supply Board planned to cut power to the town's water treatment plant raising fears that contaminated fluids would have to be released.

Worried locals who had worked tirelessly to secure a Green Coast award for environmental improvements on the South Beach in Skerries were fearful that all their good work would have been for nothing.

They are now criticising Fingal County Council for having no Plan B in the event of problems at the plant.

On Tuesday a notice went out warning swimmers not to go into the water.

They were told that planned works by the electricity company could cause the waste water treatment plant to shut down. If this were to happen it would result in sewage being pumped into the South Beach.

Skerries Community Association warned: "We have been informed by FCC, that due to ESB work tomorrow, June 21, the pumping station at the Rugby Club, which pumps untreated waste water to the treatment plant will not have power to operate.

"It is likely therefore that untreated waste water will be discharged to the South Beach.

lobbying

"As such it is not advisable to swim on the South Beach, Springers or Captains tomorrow as the water may be polluted."

After sustained lobbying by local groups the danger was averted when the ESB and Fingal County Council bowed to pressure and agreed to work around the sewage plant.

The power company offered assurances that it would maintain enough power supply to keep the plant operational.

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, the ESB said it had "put a contingency arrangement in place with Fingal County Council which will enable ESB to carry out the necessary reinforcement work to the electricity infrastructure," and they would keep the facility operational "thereby preventing and discharge of untreated waste."

A local source said: "We got a result. Common sense has prevailed. The bigger question is that Fingal County Council need a plan B, why they don't they have a generator?

"The size of the generator they would need is huge, but from an engineering point of view, there should be a plan B."

Without electricity the treatment facility reverts to its failsafe and starts allowing untreated waste water flow out to sea. Many residents of the tourist town were completely unaware of the potential environmental risk associated with the ESB improvement works which have been going on in Skerries over recent weeks.

The source added: "All raw sewage from Skerries is pumped to the plant for treatment.

"If it loses power there is a mechanism to release the untreated waste into the sea.

"It is a safety mechanism so that sewage doesn't back up people's houses but obviously we want to keep the beach in good shape too."

(for the Evening Herald, 22nd June 2011)

Traffic chaos on the decline in Dublin

TRAFFIC chaos is declining in Dublin, according to a survey of Europe's most congested cities.

The capital now ranks as Europe's 24th most gridlocked city in -- an astonishing 9.7pc drop on last year.

Brussels remains the continent's most frustrating traffic hotspot and was found to be getting worse, according to the list compiled by GPS firm Tom Tom.

It may not always seem like it but for Ireland, overall, it is good news, with traffic jams easing across the country.

The fall in congestion could be put down to a number of factors, including an improvement in traffic infrastructure as well as the rise in unemployment.

Paul Heffernan, of Dublin City Council, told the Herald that they "would have seen a drop in vehicle volumes, but we would have also seen that the composition of the vehicles has also changed".

"There are probably around the same volumes of cars but the numbers of heavy goods vehicles and in particular construction has dropped very dramatically."

In the North, Belfast remains in 12th position, despite a fall in congestion by 2pc.

Meanwhile in the UK, London has seen a reduction in cars on the street, though is still climbing in the rankings.

Manchester and Edinburgh also feature in the top 10, which marks Britain as the most congested country in Europe.

Despite the improvements, Dublin still has work to do to beat Cologne, in Germany, which is bottom of the list of 50 with just 18.9pc of its roads in gridlock.

The fall in Ireland is echoed around Europe, with six of the continent's most congested cities having significantly reduced traffic last year, including Wroclaw in Poland and Toulouse in France, though they remain in the top five.

The data seems to indicate that along with Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, Hungry and the Czech Republic have the most stress-free roads.

The top five congested cities were Brussels, Warsaw, London, Wroclaw and Toulouse.

Cities were ranked according to how fast cars travelled on street networks in major cities.

Bookies say Norris is slipping in race for presidency

THE controversy surrounding David Norris's sexual beliefs has severely dented his presidential chances, according to bookies.

The senator, below, was the long-time favourite but the odds on him winning have now drifted out to 4/1 from 5/4 just a few weeks ago.

It has been a volatile week in betting for the presidency with Gay Mitchell having surged from a rank outsider at 100/1 at the start of the week to 9/2 fourth favourite today.

Paddy Power's Ken Robertson suggests that "Gay Mitchell is the one to keep an eye on. His odds have only been going in one direction".

"We reduced his odds to 66/1 on Tuesday and had to cut it to 9/2 today."

Pat Cox became the bookies favourite almost as soon as he entered the race and is currently at 6/4, despite the fact that the Fine Gael candidate has yet to be named.

"It now looks set to be a head to head contest between Mitchell and Cox with Mary McGuinness sliding to third favourite win that contest."

Michael D. Higgins has remained a constant throughout at second favourite, occasionally going ahead of Norris and staying second when Cox entered the fray. Niall O'Dowd and Fergus Finlay could also be good outsiders.

Another Plan for the Carlisle Pier in Dun Laoghaire

A MASTERPLAN to overhaul Dun Laoghaire Harbour could create as many as 1,000 new jobs.

The highlight of the ambitious €230m plan will be an International Diaspora Centre in place of the dismantled Mail Boat Terminal on Carlisle Pier.

Harbour authorities also want to develop a berthing facility for Next Generation Cruise Ship.

However, some residents are not happy with what they see as the exploitation of the existing local amenity.

Some opposition to the plan is already mounting and a protest march is being planned for Monday to coincide with a meeting of the Harbour Company.

Local architect and chairperson of the Sandycove-Glasthule residents associations Paul O’Callaghan told Herald that “some local people will be unhappy about the commercialisation of a public amenity”.

With Stena HSS fastcraft sailings having reduced from a peak of three to just one sailing a day, the Harbour company is looking to new ways to generate income.

The masterplan will go on public display this Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon to 6pm in the terminal building at the harbour.

Gerry Dunne, the Chief Executive Office of the Harbour Board says “the Masterplan will position Dun Laoghaire Harbour as a marine, leisure and tourism destination of international calibre”.

Some €230m is to be invested in the proposed scheme which hopes to create 1,000 jobs through tourism, marine services and retail over the next 10-15 years.

There is history of confrontation between locals and the harbour authorities over proposed developments in the area.

During the boom, an imposing design for Carlisle Pier by Heneghan Peng Architects was to include a 127 bed hotel, 229 apartments, retail and leisure facilities and a floating stage.

The proposal for a ten storey apartment block surrounded by the low-rise Victorian buildings on the seafront was met with much local opposition.

Similarly a proposal for apartments at the site of the Dun Laoghaire Baths was met with a petition 14,000 signatures against the development in 2004.

This time around a series of public consultations session have already taken place for the proposal and information was offered through a dedicated section of the harbour website and at public meetings.

A survey of people walking the popular East Pier has also taken place.

Minister for Transport, Mr Leo Varadkar has visited the harbour to inspect the model and drawings of the proposed scheme.

The development could tie into a scaled back proposal for nearby Sandycove at the dilapidated baths near the base of the East Pier, as well as proposals for a library near the Royal Marine Hotel.

Dun Laoghaire harbour was first built in the 19th Century response to a maritime disaster in which the 400 sailors lost their lives when they were driven onto rocks between Blackrock and Dun Laoghaire while attempting to navigate out of Dublin Bay.