Regional

NEW housing could be horizon for O’Callaghan’s Mills, with planners considering an application for the development of three homes in the village.  Proposals for three four-bedroom homes were lodged by East Clare Construction, whose directors are listed as Joe and Teresa Cooney of Ballymacdonnell, Bodyke. Plans submitted show the proposed homes are detached, two-storey units, each with a garage. They are proposed for a site of just over half a hectare at Iragh, inside the village, owned by the company since 2015.  The floor space of each home is 167.5m squared and the application states that Part V of the Planning and Development Act does not apply in this case.  The development would be connected to the public water supply, and waste water management systems would have to be installed. A Site Suitability Report for one of the proposed homes, was prepared for the Waste Water Treatment System, in accordance with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) codes in July. The report …

A LOCAL primary school is set to expand its outdoor facilities for pupils. Barefield National School on the outskirts of Ennis has been given the green light by Clare County Council for plans to develop a 5m hurling practice wall and a school playground facility. The application for planning permission for the development was made by the Board of Management of Barefield National School. The proposed playground will have a total area of 275sqm and will be surrounded by a high green coated fence. In assessing the application, planners with Clare County Council noted that the lands are zoned for ‘community’ development and the site of the hurling wall and play area is within the curtilage off the overall school. With this in mind planners determined that the proposed development would be acceptable in principle. The hurling wall is planned to be constructed within the existing pitch / green area to the east of the school. Planners found “no adverse …

DISCARDED cigarette butts, food-related waste and extensive dog fouling has been reported from Lahinch in a survey by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) of beaches and harbours. The popular resort slipped to ‘moderately littered’ in the report, as did Doolin Pier and Harbour. On the plus side, Mountshannon was again found to be ‘Clean to European Norms’. Overall, litter levels are on the rise, with only 8 of 33 areas surveyed receiving the ‘Clean’ designation. Alongside its impact on tourism and recreation, IBAL is warning that coastal litter has grave implications for the future of our planet. The An Taisce report for Lahinch stated: “There was plenty of dog fouling signage, some attached to railings and rocks, some imprinted on the ground and an audio message – and yet dog fouling prevailed. “Cigarette butts were also obvious, particularly around the drains. Other litter items included plastic bottles, fast-food wrappers and sweet papers; marine related items included fishing lines / nets …

GOLD Star Homes 3 Limited has been refused permission for the development of a caravan park at Dough Kilkee. There had been a number of objections to the proposal, while permission was refused on a number of grounds, including one that the road network was inadequate. “The road network that serves as the access to the site from Circular Road is deficient in terms of its capacity, its horizontal alighment, surfacing and pedestrian provision in order to accommodate the volume and composition of vehicular and pedestrian traffic associated with the development. “In addition the proposed layout and boundary treatments would restrict visiiblity at the proposed access points and the existing adjacent access points to the east and west of the site.” The site is zoned for low density residential development and the Chief Executive’s report stated that “the proposed development is not in accordance with the onsite objective as it does not constitute an appropriate consolidation of the structure of …

KILRUSH is the town in Munster with the highest rate of commercial buildings that are vacant. The town has had an issue with vacancies for some time and regularly features at the top of the periodic Geodirectory issued reports on vacancies. The most recent one showed that in the second quarter of the year there was a vacancy rate of 25.1% at Kilrush, the highest in Munster and the fourth highest in Ireland. However, on the positive side, the rate of vacancy in Kilrush was nearly 1% lower than at the same time in 2021. Jack Kelly, who has a well known business in the town, said that there has been a fairly good recovery since Covid-19 restrictions were raised. “I would say things are picking up, but Kilrush is always behind the curve on that, it is coming back, but slowly coming back. There have been a few extra units taken up around the town. “Has it changed much …

AN Ennis woman competing in the upcoming Ironman World Championships in Hawaii has said the reality of the situation has yet to sink in. Becky Coughlan told the Champion, “It still kind of hasn’t hit me, I don’t think it will until I’m at Shannon Airport.” Amazingly Becky, a member of West Clare Tri Club, earned her place in the world championships in Kona, Hawaii after completing her very first Ironman in Cork. The challenge saw her swim 3.8km, cycle for 180km and run 42.2km and she admits that after that event in Youghal she was thinking to herself, “Enjoy this now, because I’m never doing another one.” However that all changed when she found out she had achieved a dream of competing in the iconic world championships in Kona. “I’ll never say never again,” she laughs. “It was a really cool experience, but it was tough. When I finished the race in Cork my supporters, my mam, Dave, my …

LAHINCH’S Marie O’Connor has been named Best Athlete at the 11th European Transplant & Dialysis Games in Oxford having won a staggering four medals. Marie began the week by securing gold in the Golf Doubles with partner Mick Dwyer from Cabinteely. Speaking after the win she said, “It was fantastic, we didn’t think we’d win gold, but we did. I know Mick and myself will say the same thing; our GOLD, we had it, (pointing to her kidney transplant) ever before we picked up a club, and God rest them that they give us the chance to do this. To win a gold medal and to be able to show we are able to say thank you.”  Marie went on to thank her donor and all Team Ireland donors. She followed this the following day with yet another gold in the Singles Golf event and won her third gold on Wednesday in the Petanque held at the splendid Blenheim Palace. …

STUNNING scenes from deep under the waters off the Clare coast, captured by a Lahinch-based film-maker, will be showcased on RTÉ next year.  As part of the national broadcaster’s new season, ‘North Atlantic’ will air early in 2023, providing what RTÉ described as “a reflective, insightful narrative … featuring blue-chip natural history scenes bringing the viewer into the actual moment of discovery of marine creatures”. The three-episode series follows Ken O’Sullivan’s highly-acclaimed, ‘Ireland’s Deep Atlantic’, which aired in 2018.  The new work, which has been in production for two-and-a-half years features scenes captured during the height of the pandemic when coastal areas were almost empty. “Our funding came through a week before the first lockdown,” Ken told The Champion. “We were listed as essential workers, but were very careful not to stick to the guidelines and to avoid going in among people in small coastal communities. I shot a lot of footage on my own in my kayak. There was …