West Clare

THE cost of calling a fire brigade is too high and the public need to be made aware that there are waivers available, this week’s meeting of Kilkee Town Council heard.

Kilrush town councillor Tom Prendeville is urging people in the town and throughout the region to shop in Kilrush and help to protect local jobs.

Historian Eoin Shanahan is seeking information from people in Doonbeg and throughout West Clare in relation to the death of Resident Magistrate Alan Lendrum in Doonbeg on September 22, 1920.

A NEW service funded by the West Clare Mini Marathon will be unveiled next Tuesday at 2pm, when the cancer care centre in Kilkee opens.  

Kilrush Choral Society’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado will be presented in Kilrush Community School from next Tuesday until Saturday, April 10.

WEST Clare county councillors are fearful that sewerage schemes in Cooraclare, Labasheeda, Carrigaholt, Kilrush and Kilkee may not proceed due to a shortage of money.Although tender documents have been completed for the Cooraclare Sewerage Scheme and the tender is ready to be advertised, it is totally dependent on funding being available from Clare County Council. Local authority funding will be matched approximately 50/50 by funding from the Department of the Environment. The Cooraclare scheme is the most advanced of those underway in West Clare but is still not guaranteed to be completed.“If they can’t do it for Cooraclare, we can forget about the other schemes,” Councillor Patrick Keane said at Monday’s Kilrush Electoral Area meeting in the Vandeleur Walled Gardens.The meeting heard that the estimated cost of the Cooraclare scheme will be €1.57m, while Councillor Bill Chambers said that €260,00 has already been spent on the scheme.“Will Clare County Council be able to afford it? It’s all down to cash,” …

RYAN Tubridy broadcast his RTÉ  Radio 1 morning show live from Tubridy’s bar in Cooraclare on Tuesday morning.Among the guests was Pat ‘Butcher’ McCarthy from Quilty, who revealed the variety of nicknames that people in his parish answer to. Mark Tubridy, son of bar proprietors Martin Noel and Ann, also spoke to Mr Tubridy as part of a sports panel with Clare camogie player, Deirdre Murphy and RTÉ GAA commentator, Marty Morrissey.Cooraclare man Martin Morrissey and Coolmeen’s Grace Lynch spoke about the unemployment situation in West Clare, along with Clare Champion journalist Peter O’Connell.Other guests included Muiris Ó Rócháin from the Willie Clancy Summer School, Ben Escorcio, a finalist in the All-Ireland Talent Show, Keith Wood and John Rattigan, curator of the Clare County Museum.Siobhán King, Shannon Development tourism officer for Clare said, “We were delighted to assist the programme producers with their outside broadcast. Over 350,000 people listen to the Tubridy radio show and it was a great opportunity …

Fine Gael TD Pat Breen and his party colleague, Councillor Oliver Garry, held a meeting with Hutchinson 3G in Dublin last week to discuss the ongoing controversy surrounding their plans to erect a mast in Kildysart.