Castlebar, Co Mayo, a runner-up in the Information Age Town competition two years ago, won't be losing too much sleep over its namesake on the Web. Castlebar, California, is a site populated by Californian ladies who offer surfers such "comforts" as bondage, domination and sado-masochism.
"Sure, we don't need that. Haven't we got everything else here?" quips Michael Kilcoyne, a member of Castlebar Urban District Council.
What the town certainly does have is the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), the standard introduction to computer training.
The initiative dates back to the information-age town entry, according to Jerome Quinn. A sub-committee was established to co-ordinate a common approach to basic computer training and standards. It found that while different courses were on offer in the town, people keen to learn often found it difficult to decide which one to enrol for.
In August 1998 it was decided to aim for the ECDL qualification, and there was a very enthusiastic response. Every training provider became an accredited test centre, and three secondary schools also embraced the challenge. In the first year more than 900 people had signed up for ECDL.
The initiative spans all ages and walks of life. Castlebar Information Age committee is funding the costs of skills cards and examination fees for transition-year students over three years. This means that some 750 students may have the ECDL before they open a book for the Leaving Certificate.
Meanwhile, arts week at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) in Castlebar winds up today with a concert by the Ballina singer and songwriter Denis McAlmont. This is the third year for the highly successful event, representing a collaboration between students and staff of the college and Mayo County Council.
Over the past few days, there has been a series of lunchtime music gigs, ranging from salsa to classical, and workshops in film, life drawing and comic mime given by the award-winning producer, Paul Tully, a local artist, Anthony Pilbro, and a community development worker, Stephanie Troy. There was also a mixed-media show, staged by tutors of the art and design course at the Westport VEC.
In Galway tomorrow the Saw Doctors are to lend their support to a new music training programme backed by the Galway City Partnership.
The Access Music Project (AMP) is a two-year community employment scheme, designed to provide long-term unemployed participants with the skills, knowledge and training to find work in the music industry or to undergo further education.
FAS is supporting the project, along with the Galway Community Development Arts Initiative and St Patrick's Brass Band, which has provided its band hall in Galway. The parttime training began last July with 24 participants. A range of modules is to be covered over two years, according to Kevin McNicholas, co-ordinator of AMP, including instrumental tuition, music theory, song-writing, music technology, music teaching skills, self-employment skills and much more.
Also in Galway, the Irish soccer manager, Mick McCarthy, and the FAI president, Pat Quigley, recently endorsed a project funded by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and backed by the Minister of State at that Department, Frank Fahey. The £20,000 initiative aims to provide a soccer school for young people, under the direction of the Galway United soccer manager, Don O'Riordan.
About 30 of the most talented and dedicated young soccer players in the city have been recruited and will be given access to Galway United resources, such as training, courses on diet, nutrition and first-aid, and outdoor and indoor facilities.
Fortunately for them, they will also be special guests at international soccer matches played in Ireland.