Marty called me on the ould ringer today and confirmed that Dolly is indeed safe with him in the house. He confirmed that he is a bit paranoid in case Dolly is kidnapped or sheepnapped again. He warna all that he has indeed got security cameras and is armed with some of that new garda mace spray. While he admits paying a ransom for Dollys return he wont confirm the amount. In honour of Michael and his troubles we have come to the conclusion that we will adopt Dolly as our mascot in the Volvo Ocean Race game.

Aran Islands Information

In anticipation of the visit of the Volvo Ocean Race visit to Galway we have entered a yacht  in the online version of this amazing race. The name of our  entry is mis-spelt and we can’t change it now. The name of our entry is Aran Isalands Winner. Check out our progress at Volvo Ocean Race Game

A true cautionary tale – and believable – only in America !

A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against all risks,

among other things – fire.

Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against

the insurance company.

In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost ‘ in a series of small fires.’

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in

the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued and won !

Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the Insurance Company that the claim was frivolous..

The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the Company, in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable ‘fire’ and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the Insurance Company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigarsthat perished in the ‘ fires ‘.

After the lawyer cashed the cheque, the Insurance Company had him arrested on 24 counts of arson !

With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was

convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

This true story won First Place in last year’s Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.

Inisheer to go green.

Paddy Crowe of the Inisheer Co-Op has been on RTE television to tell us about plans for Inisheer to become energy independent from the Mainland. Inisheer like the other Aran Islands presents many possibilities for alternative energies.

It is hoped that the need to import oil from the mainland will in time become unneccessary.

Many houses already have wind generators and more are on the way.

Aran Islands Information

New Harbour on Inishmaan

At a cost of nearly €14m the new harbour on Inishmaan has been completed. thousands of Island made x shaped concrete blocks were used. This new harbour and breakwater will improve ferry access to Inishmaan and with the impending completion of the harbour on Inishmore and developments on Inisheer the Aran Islands harbour developments show a huge commitment by government to Island development. Minister O Cuiv is certainly deserving of credit and must be enjoying his regular openings and announcements. With a population of only 200 or so Inishmaan is the least populated of the 3 Aran Islands. This excellent improvement to the infrastructure can only help future tourism and commercial developement.