Regional

CLARE County Councillors have decided to leave the residential zoning for a controversial €3 million social housing scheme in Shannon intact, despite submissions to have the lands zoned as open space.The county council had planned to build 60 affordable houses in Cluain Airne but ran into a series of difficulties when the first contractor went out of business and was subsequently hit by Government cutbacks when funding was substantially reduced for local authority housing.The first phase containing 22 houses, including 16 affordable and six step-down three and four-bedroom dwellings are nearly completed following a long delay and are almost ready for occupation.However, it remains unclear as to when the remainder of the proposed development will be completed over the coming years due to the lack of Government funding for social housing.The lands were zoned in the draft Shannon Local Area Plan as residential and submissions were received to have the lands zoned as open space.Local county councillors including PJ Ryan, …

Lough Graney was where a young Slievanore woman learned to row a boat, an unusual talent for someone from this region. However, on April 15, 1912 the same young woman had to use this skill to row herself and the passengers on lifeboat 13 to safety.Mary Agatha Glynn, aged 19, was one of the few steerage passengers to survive Titanic and on Sunday a very special tribute was paid to her as people travelled to her native parish to remember what happened that fateful day.  The event attracted upwards of 300 people and began at 9.20am, marking 100 years and seven hours after Titanic sank and the time when lifeboat 13 was rescued. In preparation for this occasion members of the organising committee tracked down Mary Agatha Glynn’s husband’s niece, Peggy who lived near them in Washington over a 10 year period. Peggy, who now lives in Kerry, told the committee her uncle Pat O’Donohue paid for her to come …

“CERTAIN guidelines were ignored” when planning was granted to a number of developments on South Galway flood plains, one local councillor believes. Granting planning permissions on South Galway flood plains was “madness” Councillor Gerry Finnerty said after a report published this week by An Taisce, the national trust, singled out a number of planning decisions in Gort for specific criticism.Another local representative acknowledged that too much land was zoned in the area over the course of the economic boom. State of the Nation: A Review of Ireland’s Planning System 2000-2011 was published this week and gave Galway County Council an F grade in planning or 31%. It was ranked joint 28 out of 34 local authorities nationally. Galway City Council came in third best with a C grade. “Isn’t hindsight wonderful? Yes, without a doubt, we rezoned far too much land in all town plans and we don’t need An Taisce to remind us of that now, Fine Gael Councillor …

Ennistymon looks set to make a national first next month when it hosts a literary festival and a book fair concurrently.In addition to the Dylan Thomas Literary Weekend, which will be based at the Falls Hotel on May 18, 19 and 20, Ennistymon will be hosting its first annual book fair.   Organisers believe this will be the first time Ireland, with all its separate literary festivals and book fairs, will see both elements in the same place at the same time. The Western Writers’ Centre and the Falls Hotel have produced a programme of events that will be complemented by the book fair. “There will be something for everyone, from children’s activities as part of the literary weekend to children’s books on sale at the fair. For lovers of books and reading, these two events will offer a variety of interests and activities, which should satisfy all tastes,” said Gerry Harrison of Banner Books, Ennistymon. Following the example of the …

  TWO local schools struck a chord with the judges of a prestigious music competition taking first and second prize in the national finals this week.Holy Family Senior School was named the winner of the Waltons Music for Schools competition for primary schools after performing their rendition of One Small Voice in Dublin’s National Concert Hall on Monday. And coming in second place with their own original composition Unfinished Seasons was Knockanean National School . Both schools were among 12 finalists, six primary and six secondary, performing at the concert hall in the first annual national competition celebrating music in schools.Holy Family’s 77 strong choir, with 11-year-old soloist Andrea Sheahan, wowed the judges at the finals with director of the Waltons New School of Music John Mardirosian telling The Clare Champion, “We were very impressed by Holy Family Senior School, on behalf of the organisers, I would like to thank them for participating in this competition. To have two Clare …

DEARBHLA Edwards Murphy, a third-year pupil at Kilrush Community School finished third in the Green Dragon Agri Aware Innovation Challenge 2012 final, which was held at Croke Park last week.The competition was a search for Ireland’s most innovative pupils, who exhibited their ideas and concepts for new products and services for the agriculture, food, environment and health and safety sectors.From over 300 entrants to the regional finals in Athlone, Dearbhla’s project was included in the final five in the health and safety section.Dearbhla’s project was a smart phone application alerting users to the presence of carbon monoxide via a bluetooth connection to a wireless network in the home. The app alerted the smart phone user, issued instructions on the emergency of the situation, informed the user of the appropriate immediate action to be taken and contacted emergency services dialling 999.The judges were Jim Power, economist; Ella McSweeney, RTÉ; Hedi Corr, Dublin Innovation Centre and Eugene Heary, winner of the Apprentice …

ATTRACTING coach-based tourism to Ennis is the key to boosting tourism and job prospects in the town with a possible tourist spend of €500,000 a week, according to a local councillor.Councillor Johnny Flynn has urged Ennis Town Council to push their plans to promote coach tourism and to create even more coach park spaces.It was announced by the local authority last week that additional bus and coach parking spaces have been allocated in the Friars’ Walk area of the town centre, next to the Clare Museum. The move has been widely welcomed by local businesses and coach providers, who expect a boost to the amount of coaches visiting the town.Ennis Town Council are also investigating a number of other capital projects including the development of a dedicated bus park equipped with maintenance facilities for tour operators. The provision of five additional coach spaces at Friars’ Walk is the first in a two-phase tourism strategy by Ennis Town council to attract …

THE huge tourism potential of twin communities on the banks of Lough Derg has been described as a “hidden tourism secret” by a Minister of State.Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Alan Kelly, who officially launched the Discover Killaloe and Ballina event on Monday, is delighted the tourism initiative has come to fruition.“The Ballina-Killaloe area is a hidden secret and I’m delighted Fáilte Ireland, working with Waterways Ireland, have chosen to recognise its great tourism potential. I only see that growing into the future.“I want to recognise the efforts of all the local tourism and hospitality operators, as well as the broader community of Ballina and Killaloe, for their support for this and other initiatives that will go a long way to promoting the area and supporting local job creation,” he said.Discover Killaloe and Ballina takes place on Sunday, April 29 from 1pm to 6pm, as locals and visitors alike are encouraged to come along and enjoy an …