Regional

AFTER a lapse of two years due to the Covid pandemic, The 12 O’Clock Hills project team are once  again organising The Great East Clare Hill Challenge.   This is a 30-kilometre, eight-hour strenuous hike, which takes place on Saturday, July 9. The starting point is Two Mike Gate, Killaloe at 8am and the hike finishes at the 12 O’Clock Hills, Belvoir carpark at around 4pm. The hike takes a route to the summit of Moylussa at 532 metres, then across the Sliabh Bearna via Cragnamurragh and the Enchanted Lake. It then descends into Broadford village via O’Shea’s Acre. Light refreshments will be available in the village of Broadford and then onwards to the 12 O’Clock Hills via Hurdlestown, Seefin, Knock na mBuachaillí and Knockaphunta. These are a series of hills with panoramic views across Clare and beyond. The final climb will be The 12 O’Clock Hills at 309 metres and finishing at the Belvoir Carpark, where light refreshment will …

FIFTY-THREE years after its foundation, Shannon Town United officially opened its new clubhouse last weekend. “It’ll cost over €300,000 by the time the furniture and fittings and so on are done, well in excess of €300,000,” said the club’s chairman Ger Kelly. The clubhouse has four changing rooms, a referee’s room, kitchen, two reception rooms upstairs, a public toilet and an office. “We first put in the planning permission about four years ago, but when that planning application went in it was only for two dressing rooms. “Then with the growth of the schoolboy teams and girls teams we knew we needed bigger facilities, so we went from two to four. We also decided to convert the upstairs into a function room and a meeting room,” says Ger. The clubhouse means a major improvement to the facilities. “We’ve had a prefab, we have a steel shed down at our other pitch at Corrib Drive, but for over 50 years we’ve …

PLANS for the future development of Ennis have been described as “incredible, proactive and visionary” by the municipal district’s new mayor Councillor Clare Colleran Molloy. The Fianna Fáil councillor was elected mayor of the county capital at Friday’s AGM of the Ennis Municipal District. Speaking following her election she made reference to the Ennis 2040 Strategy, providing a comprehensive framework for the sustainable development of the town and the region. “This plan is a plan that sets out a future that isn’t one of stagnation but rather vibrancy for our capital town. It is a town that you will want to visit, will want to work in and will want to live in and that is something that we must applaud,” she said. This is the Ballybeg-based councillor’s second term as mayor of Ennis, having previously held the title in 2018. She also served as Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council in 2020. She told the AGM that it was her …

RTÉ’S outdoor recreation series, Tracks and Trails, will focus on Lough Derg next Thursday, June 30.  The hugely popular show returns to the national broadcaster for its tenth series, with a total of four programmes that will cover every corner of the country. This season, viewers are taken along trails that showcase Ireland at its most beautiful with a chance to explore some of the many walking and Blueway trails on offer for the outdoor visitor. There is also an easy urban trail by bike from Titanic Quarter in Belfast along the River Lagan and then for something totally different to a mountain trail for a hike steeped lyrical mysticism on Slieve Gullion outside Newry,; to the winding, mystical forest and pilgrim trails of County Wicklow; to heart stopping views of the Blasket Islands and the soaring majesty of the mountains on the lakes in Killarney. In this series producers promise  something for every level of hiker or visitor. In …

THE world premiere of a play focusing on one of the most intense incidents in the War of Independence in Clare will be staged in Doolin next Thursday, June 30. The drama, entitled Two Days in September, secured funding support from the Decade of Centenary Arts Project Awards, 2021, and will premiere at The Attic at Hotel Doolin, with curtain up at 8pm. Written by Doolin-based playwright Dermott Petty, the play tells the story of the Rineen Ambush. It traces, in film and theatre form, the events of autumn, 1920, when a British Army convoy was ambushed by the Mid-Clare Brigade of the IRA. It also follows the aftermath of revenge and the sacking, looting and burning of the villages of Ennistymon, Lahinch and Miltown Malbay by the Black and Tans on September 22 and 23. “West Clare in 1920 was recovering from a land war, famines, World War 1 and Spanish influenza,” said Dermott. “While a beautiful part of …

Gardaí are investigating the circumstances of a fire which caused extensive damage to a section of a protected building in Co Clare. https://twitter.com/tomhehir68/status/1540957797558386691?s=20&t=jBHRKwq18Y7SrlizoqcTWA The blaze at the former Our Lady’s Psychiatric Hospital in Ennis was reported at around 6am on Sunday when emergency services received a number of 999 calls. Three units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Ennis station responded to the incident at Dulick on the Gort Road, a short distance from the town centre. On arrival, fire crews found a large section of the building’s entrance area ‘well alight’ with flames bursting through the roof. Firefighters used a hydraulic platform to tackle the blaze from above and however, after the fire had been brought under control and contained to one section of the facility, crews continued to deal with small pockets of fires for some time afterwards. In one section of the three-storey building, all three floors collapsed into the basement making the scene particularly …

ENSURING students are placed at the centre of all aspects of the new €23 million Ennistymon Community School will be a key priority for newly-appointed principal, Orla Conway. Working as a teacher for 19 years, Ms Conway previously held an Assistant Principal position and is currently Acting Principal of Ennistymon Vocational School. In an extensive interview with the Clare Champion, she confirmed work is on track to ensure staff and pupils from the three Ennistymon second level schools will move to the new state-of-the-art facility in September 2023 following a 35-year wait. “My vision is that Ennistymon Community School will be student-centred in all aspects and will have a very happy inclusive culture,” she stated. Catering for 750 pupils, the new school will have 70 teachers in total including two deputy principals. With construction work almost reaching the third floor, it is expected the main metal part of the overall structure is due to be finished by next spring. Facilities …

AN Ennis housing estate has been “abandoned” by the local authority, an Ennis councillor has claimed. Calls have been made for the Ennis Municipal District to include the maintenance of trees and cutting of wide tranches of grass on either side of the main estate road at Cappahard estate. According to Councillor Johnny Flynn large Ennis estates such as Cappahard built in the first decade of this century are “being treated unfairly” when it comes to grass cutting. He outlined that residents in the Cappahard estate of 270 houses are paying around €9,000 to maintain the area. They receive a €350 grant towards this maintenance, the same amount as smaller estates with less costs. Councillor Flynn argued that older estates and council estates have their green areas cut by the council while private estates have to pay, despite high planning development levies paid during construction and property tax “with little or no services in return”. He said that there is …