Farmers In Suckler Welfare Scheme Must Register Calf Births

Junior Agriculture Minister Tony Killeen T.D. has reminded all Clare farmers in the Suckler Welfare Scheme that they are required to use the Animal Events System to register calf births from 1 January 2010.

The Clare Fianna Fail Deputy said the scheme will continue this year at the rate of 40 euro per animal and that payment will issue over the coming weeks in respect of the 2009 Scheme year.

He stated: “Clare farmers should be mindful that they must meet the various requirements under the scheme in order to ensure that they will qualify for payment in due course.”

Minister of State Killeen said that the scheme had been very successful in its first two years. He continued: “The high standard of animal husbandry on participating farms is showing through when weanlings are being sold. The quantity of breeding information, a combination of ancestry, bulls used, performance data and weanling quality, now being collected on farms around the country and submitted to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation is already making a huge contribution to improvement in the genetic quality of the suckler herd. The real payoff will be in the long term and it is vitally important that we keep up the flow of data to the ICBF and at the same time maintain the high standard of animal welfare for 2010".

Minister of State Killeen also urged Clare farmers to take the opportunity of using better genetics in their herd by making use of ICBF services, including the bull search facility on the ICBF website www.icbf.com.

Schools Management asked to consider weather conditions

STATEMENT FROM CLARE COUNTY COUNCIL AND AN GARDA SÍOCHÁNA - Clare has endured very severe weather conditions with sub zero temperatures consistently over the last few weeks. The most up to date information to hand from Met Éireann indicates that these conditions will prevail up to and including the weekend at least.

In view of the foregoing, Schools Management should consider whether or not to reopen their schools this week following the Christmas break. This decision should be made having regard to local conditions.

All road users are reminded that during this cold spell they should avoid making any journeys, unless necessary, in the interests of road safety.

Every School In Clare To Receive Online Encyclopaedias

Every primary and secondary school in County Clare is to get free access to online versions of the popular Encyclopedia Britannica and World Book as part of a nationwide e-Learning initiative announced by the Department of Education and Science.

The online encyclopedias use text, video clips, three-dimensional simulations, research aids and other new media in presenting information to students. The Department pays an annual licence fee of 450,000 euro to Encyclopedia Britannica and World Book to authorise schools to use the online resources.

Local T.D. and Minister of State Tony Killeen said he strongly supported efforts by the Government to integrate information communications technology into teaching and learning. He added that the Government is committed to building schools’ ICT capacity in today’s increasingly knowledge-based society.

Minister of State Killeen said: “The Government is making enormous strides in developing our schools ICT capacity. For example in 2009, it launched a 150 million euro plan for ‘smart schools’, which will give every classroom in the country a teaching laptop, software and digital projector over the next three years.”

The North Clare Deputy continued: “The provision of these online learning tools marks the next phase in the Government’s ambition to develop our schools into centres of e-learning and to make technology an integral part of the learning process. The range of information available to Clare schools through these encyclopedias will enrich students’ learning experience and deepen their knowledge of the sciences, humanities, arts and other areas. Furthermore, the schools broadband network enables us to deliver targeted digital resources directly to teachers and students through the scoilnet.ie website.”

With over 11,500 learning resources and an average of 180,000 visits each month, scoilnet.ie is an important online resource for primary and post-primary schools.