Regional

A COMMUNITY information meeting will take place in North East Clare to highlight the work of an important water quality initiative.  The event, which will focus on the catchment of Lough Graney, will be held at Lough Graney Community Hall in Flagmount at 7.30pm on Wednesday, October 5. The Graney Catchment is one of six pilot catchments in Ireland which have been selected for inclusion in a new €20 million European Union funded project called ‘Waters of LIFE’. The initiative aims to address the decline in water quality in Ireland’s most pristine and sensitive river catchments, like the Graney Catchment, which covers East Clare and part of South East Galway. Pristine, or near pristine waterbodies (rivers and lakes), are called ‘high-status objective waterbodies’ and are assigned a ‘Blue Dot’ to distinguish them as ‘the best of the best’ among Irish waterbodies. Blue Dot waterbodies are mainly located in remote and lightly populated areas, with many of them found in upland …

ADVENTURER Declan McEvoy is back on the road for Stage Six of his Round-the-Word Motorcycle Journey.  The much-travelled Quin native has already broken records on his global odyssey. Earlier this month, he set out from Lusaka in Zambia, with the aim to travelling along the West of the African continent, all the way to Dakar in Senegal. His daring itinerary, which will involve diplomatic, navigational and mechanical skills. The 10,000km trek is set to take him through Namibia, Angola, Congo Kinshasa, Cabinda, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau. “Last year my efforts were thwarted in Oshakati due to the Angolan border being closed because of Covid,” Declan said. “This year I’m feeling more optimistic of making better progress and the visa chasing game is currently in full swing.” Arriving in Zambia, in the South of Africa, Declan was well prepared to make the most of local Irish contacts. “I immediately felt comfortable to …

FIONA Staunton has given her heart and soul to scouting in Ireland and this week she reflected on the life changing effect it has had on her. On the day when scouts past and present gathered to celebrate the opening of the new scout hall in Ennis, some of the biggest cheers and warmest tributes greeted Fiona as she accepted a special award for a lifetime of service. “I’m humbled and I’m emotional. It’s nice to get an acknowledgment from your friends and your peers and people who mean a lot to me. We’ve put an awful lot of work and effort into this, particularly over the past two years”, Fiona told The Clare Champion. Now chairperson of Ennis Scouts, Fiona’s links with the organisation go back to a time when women were not allowed to be involved. But her love of the great outdoors and the support of fellow scouts would see Fiona go onto become the first female …

A DECISION on funding for the long-awaited Inis Cealtra Visitor Experience Centre is expected to be made in the coming weeks, Deputy Michael McNamara has been told in Dáil Éireann. The Independent TD questioned Minister Heather Humphreys as to when there would be news on a major funding application made by Clare County Council. A Category 1 application was made, in April, by the Council to the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF). Deputy McNamara sought a statement from the Minister for Rural and Community Development in relation for the timeframe on that funding decision.  The Fine Gael minister told the Scariff TD that she understood that the application in question was made to the fourth round of funding, which closed at the end of April. “My Department received 42 applications to this call, together seeking funding of over €149 million,” Minister Humphreys said. “I understand that an application was received for the project referred to by the Deputy.” She …

AN APPLICATION for a major private housing scheme in Tulla is the subject of several objections, over issues including the density of the proposed 60-home development. Wiskin Property Developments is seeking permission for 15 detached houses; 36 semi-detached houses and nine terraced houses on a site of just over three hectares at Loughaun South. To date, four submissions have been sent to planners by locals living close to the site, and a representation has been made by Councillor Joe Cooney. A submission from one local couple has raised questions over the density of the development, which they maintained should only be eight to 12 units per hectare, according to the current zoning. Wiskin Developments has proposed to build 18.3 units per hectare. The submission also questioned the adequacy of parking provision and potential disturbance and intrusion from additional traffic. Another resident noted a high level of undeveloped residential land within the Tulla settlement boundary, where planning permission exists for 108 …

CALLS are being made to revitalise the inks between West Clare and North Western France, on the 40th anniversary of the Kilrush-Plouzané twinning initiative.  Councillor Ian Lynch proposed that the local authority would reinvigorate the long-standing connection with the Britanny town, which shares historical links to St Senan. The Independent member outlined to the recent meeting of the West Clare Municipal District (WCMD) that the twinning had been established in 1982, under Kilrush Town Council’s auspices. Links between the two towns had been unearthed in the late 1970s by a Breton historian who was looking into the history of Plouzané. The settlement, close to the major French city of Brest, looked at the origin of the name ‘Plouzané’, which means ‘church of Zane’. He then established that Zane was the Irish monk, Senan, whose home was Scattery Island. St Senan established churches in Cornwall and Brittany  “As this would be the 40-year anniversary, now is the right time to reinvigorate the twinning,” …

AN Ennis mother of a child with Cystic Fibrosis has vowed to continue to fight so her child and others can access ground-breaking treatment at the centre of a dispute between the HSE and a pharmaceutical company. Barbara Buckley was among hundreds from across Ireland who last week gathered outside Leinster House for the “Support the Kaftrio 35” protest. Cystic Fibrosis Ireland estimate that around 140 children aged six-years-old to 11-years-old are already are on the drug Kaftrio, but 35 children with a particular genotype are not as they are outside the 10-year Portfolio Agreement that was signed by the HSE and Vertex in 2017. Barbara’s daughter is almost six years old and had expected to begin the treatment after Christmas, however without a resolution to the dispute she is set to join those who have been excluded. “Time is vital. Every day and every week ahead counts, CF won’t wait for the HSE and Vertex,” she told The Clare …

A MOCK wedding that took place in Scariff 11 years ago, will end in ‘divorce’ next month in Mountshannon. The novel events are part of a fundraising campaign spearheaded by Shay O’Neill and Niamh Waterstone. The ‘wedding’ raised €12,500 for cancer services, and it is hoped that the ‘divorce’ will generate around €10,500 for Raheen Community Hospital. The comedy night, which takes place at Cois na hAbhna in Mountshannon on October 1, will also pay tribute to the memory of two East Clare women who worked at the Tuamgraney facility. Members of the families of the late Maria Bugler and Annette Turner, both of whom were from Mountshannon, are also involved in the fundraiser which will support dementia services. “Maria was great craic,” Shay said. “She was one of the bridesmaids at the mock wedding. She and Annette are really missed. We were thinking about them. I got in touch with their husbands about this idea and they were delighted. …