East Clare

A POPULAR walking route in the Tuamgraney area will be surveyed by the local authority, following concerns over the condition of the footpath. The matter was the subject of a motion from Councillor Pat Burke at the Killaloe Municipal District meeting who raised concerns about the section between Niland’s Filling Station and Nuala’s Restaurant. “I have had a number of representations on this from people in Tuamgraney,” he said. “It is one of the busiest paths in the area. People drive to Scariff and then park up and walk to Tuamgraney. The route is lit and people are out regularly in their high-vis vests. “I thought it was in relatively good condition until I walked it and saw sections which need repair.” Cathaoirleach, Councillor Pat Hayes noted that the area has been a popular walking route for some time. He welcomed an allocation of €28,000 for flooding in front of Scariff Community College. In a written reply, Senior Executive Engineer …

NEW Directions, Maps and Journeys are the themes of Poetry Day and the inspiration behind a project being undertaken by Mountshannon Arts, as the community organisation reflects on its 25-year history. Poetry Day takes place on Thursday, April 29. Poet Róisín Bugler notes that it will also mark the first outing this year for Moutshannon Arts, whose festival has been inspiring and entertaining audiences from East Clare and far further afield, for a quarter of a century. “We are still curtailed by Covid-19,” Róisín said, “but Poetry Day will be our first opportunity to showcase Mountshannon Arts this year on the 25th anniversary of the festival. “We’ve been doing something a little different for Poetry Day and this year people have been responding to the popular and beautiful local art trail.” This ‘ekphrastic’ poetry project – where one art work is inspired by another – has been embraced enthusiastically, with inspiring results. “Ordinarily, I would put out a general call …

Peter Lacey’s cache of photographs from the 1930s to the ‘60s have only recently seen the light, reports Dan Danaher. MEMORIES of learning to swim at Pier Head, Killaloe have come flooding back for numerous people in the twin communities after a treasure trove of “gold” negatives were developed by the local historical society. Peter Lacey, who was elected at the first Lord Mayor of Killaloe and Ballina in 1980, taught hundreds of people in the locality how to swim, despite the fact he wasn’t a strong swimmer. A keen photographer, he also took countless photographs of people and places in the riverside communities. The negatives of old photographs extending from the ‘30s into the ‘60s were kept in a small Major cigarette box. Even though the negatives are very small, Killaloe Ballina Historical Society secretary, Deborah Dudgeon managed to find a way to bring them back to life through digital processing and has circulated them on social media. Deborah …

KILKISHEN Community Playground will shortly have its full range of facilities restored, after a successful campaign to raise funds for vital repairs. A risk assessment recently revealed problems with some of equipment in the popular amenity and meant that the swings had to be removed. When the repair bill ran to €2,500, it presented a challenge for Kilkishen Development Association, who look after the playground. “The risk assessment identified items we needed to repair as soon as possible,” said Treasurer, Olivia King. “The swings had to be taken out. The bill looked massive when we got it first, because all of our traditional ways of fundraising were closed off to us. We couldn’t hold the usual fundraisers like cake sales because we couldn’t bring people together during lockdown.” The solution came by way of a Go Fund Me campaign which received a hugely positive response from the local community. “It worked out really well and, in the end, the target …

OGONNELLOE Hurling Club is striking a major blow for the local community by not only developing East Clare GAA’s first indoor astro-turf arena but, in the process, a much-needed physical education facility for the parish’s local national school. One of the county’s smallest clubs, Ogonnelloe GAA has embarked on an ambitious but targeted “Building Our Future” development plan that is focussed as much on delivering for community than results on the field. The new indoor centre will go way beyond acting as a facility for advancing the skills of the club’s hurlers. Instead, it will serve all age groups in the close-knit community, including delivering local primary school a dedicated physical education facility. On the GAA side, the 40 metre by 20 metre facility will be central to the club’s plans to regenerate hurling in the parish among children and young adults after a difficult decade or so. It will also be a major boost for one of the great …

THE Cathaoirleach of the Killaloe Municipal District has called for more financial incentives to prevent vacant properties from become derelict and dangerous. Councillor Pat Hayes’s comments following the closure of a section of the footpath on Main Street in Tulla after a dangerous structure notice was issued on an empty building. “The situation typifies a problem I have been raising for a considerable period of time,” he said. “The new rural development strategy encourages the redevelopment of buildings in towns and villages and it is not in anyone’s interest to have a situation like we have in Tulla at the moment. Traffic problems are being created, as well a negative image of the place. I would encourage the owner of the property to engage with the council and for all of the owners of vacant buildings to do the same.” The Fianna Fáil member said that existing schemes to support owners to redevelop vacant properties are not working. “Under the …

PRE-PLANNING consultation has begun in South East Clare as a German renewable energy company prepares to lodge an application for an eight-turbine windfarm, early next year. RWE Renewables Ireland Limited (RWE), which describes itself as one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies, launched an eight-week pre-planning consultation exercise at the start of this month. It says that feedback received from residents and stakeholders – whom it aims to meet virtually while Level 5 restrictions continue – will inform the design of the windfarm, proposed for a 320-hectare site 6km south west of Killaloe and 1.5km north of Bridgetown. As a mandatory element of windfarm projects, RWE will administer a community fund in the event of securing planning permission from Clare County Council, a figure which could range from €168,000 to €288,000 per annum for 15 years. A brochure on the project also outlines the potential for community shared ownership. It details the creation of up to 70 jobs during …

A MOUNTSHANNON man’s innovative start-up company is funding ground-breaking research on marine microplastics, with a view to proving how prevalent the issue is. Dr Alvin Orbaek White, who works at Swansea University, has pioneered a technology that changes waste plastic into valuable compounds for the energy industries, reducing plastics pollution in the process. The research will be instrumental in addressing the global transition to more efficient, cleaner energy resources and providing a new life for waste plastics, keeping them out of land and sea. Dr Orbaek White’s company TrimTabs is supporting research currently underway in Barcelona where artist and boat builder Mark Reddan is working with marine scientists to look at how plastics are entering the food chain. “Part of what we want to do is to get our technology out of the lab and addressing the issue of microplastics which are in everything from our tea to our washing machines,” Dr Orbaek White said. “There’s an annual currach festival …