Regional

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 …

A WELL-known Ennis law firm has been named as a finalist in the National Irish Bank Law Awards 2012. Michael Houlihan & Partners i is up for an award in the Munster Provincial Law Firm category at this year’s event. The inaugural National Irish Bank Irish Law Awards 2012 will take place on Friday, May 4 at an awards luncheon in The Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, and will be hosted by leading current affairs broadcaster, Miriam O’Callaghan.Over 100 legal firms, individuals, law schools, and legal departments within the corporate sector were nominated for the National Irish Bank Irish Law Awards 2012.  The nominations were judged, and finalists were selected after deliberation by an adjudication panel of leading national and international legal experts, headed by chairman, Dr Eamonn Hall.  Dr Hall is principal of EG Hall & Co, former chairman of the Law Reporting Council for Ireland and currently a board member of the Irish Centre for European Law and member of …

FOUR completed applications for affordable houses at the Glaise na Rinne development in Cluain Airne have been received by the town council ahead of this month’s meeting.Town manager Bernadette Kinsella also disclosed that a further four were awaiting tax clearance certificates. She said if any documentation was missing from an application the whole lot was returned to the applicant but she didn’t know how often this had occurred.She said there had been some “slight concern” as when the council’s site representative on the day of the meeting, there wasn’t any visible presence of machinery. Prior to the meeting, independent Councillor Cathy McCafferty put down a motion asking, “In the interest of transparency, value for public money and fair competition, that the town manager provides all details of the public procurement process to appoint an auctioneer/estate agent to dispose of properties at Glaise na Rinne under the affordable housing scheme.”In a written response, Mairéad Corbett of the county council’s housing section …

The 75th anniversary of Captain Thomas Henry Brady-Browne’s death was commemorated at the Quakerstown point-to-point races recently. The Tulla man was master of hounds with the Clare Hunt after the reorganisation of the hunt in 1925. The Brady-Browne Memorial Race commemorated Captain Brady-Browne, the last member of the family to live at Newgrove House in Tulla. The captain had served as an officer in the Clare Artillery from 1900 to 1913 and in France during the First World War but died tragically in 1937 at Clonmoney Races. He was riding in the Clare Hunt point-to-point at Clonmoney when he suffered a heart attack during the first race and died after falling from his horse, Lord Francis.The Brady-Browne family were accomplished riders and Captain Brady-Browne’s nephew, Thomas Cullinan, won the Aintree Grand National in 1930 on Shaun Goilín. Captain Brady-Browne was a keen horseman himself and was a regular in the winner’s enclosure at the Clare Hunt races. His brother, Windham, …

AN Bord Pleanála has cleared the way for the construction of a new school building for South Galway’s only Educate Together primary school. The board of management of Kilcolgan Educate Together National School cautiously welcomed the decision by An Bord Pleanála. Galway County Council granted permission to Tom Quinn, c/o Enplan Consultants Ltd, Tuam Road, Galway, back in August 2011 for the two-storey eight-classroom primary school. The project was also to include an indoor recreation area with a staff room, library, meeting rooms, resource rooms and parents rooms, outdoor play areas including an all-weather pitch, a detached building comprising a crèche at ground-floor level, medical consulting rooms at first floor level, 55 car-parking spaces, access from the N67 with turning circle and drop off area, pedestrian and cycle access from the N18 and associated works at Kilcolgan village.This decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by Suzanne Quinn, c/o Brendan Slevin and Associates, Gort but last week the board upheld …

EFFORTS to increase the level of coach tourism business in the town have moved up a gear with new plans unveiled by Ennis Town Council this week. Additional bus and coach parking spaces have been allocated in the Friars Walk area of the town centre, located adjacent to Clare Museum.The council is also investigating a number of other capital projects, including the development of a dedicated bus park equipped with maintenance facilities for tour operators.Welcoming the initiative, Mayor of Ennis Councillor Michael Guilfoyle said, “Ever since the completion of the N18 Ennis Bypass, we have witnessed a decline in the number of bus and coach operators visiting the town. Coach tourism remains very important for Ennis businesses and therefore, the council and its elected members along with members of the local business community must continue to examine ways of facilitating operators with easier access to the town centre.”The provision of five additional coach parking spaces at Friars Walk is the …