Tag Archives: Congella McGuire

THE heritage sector has experienced “increased pressure” with closures, job losses and falling visitor numbers resulting from Covid-19, according to Clare County Council’s heritage officer. Congella McGuire was speaking as she encouraged Clare heritage projects to avail of a funding opportunity being made available by the government. The Heritage Council is inviting applications from County Clare to its Community Heritage Grant Scheme as part of the Rebuilding Heritage: Covid-19 Stimulus Fund for the heritage sector, announced by the Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan TD. The aims of the grant scheme are to support capital projects that improve access and inclusion at heritage sites and that apply good heritage practice to the management of places, collections, objects and buildings. The scheme also supports the purchase of essential equipment. Congella McGuire, Heritage Officer, Clare County Council, said, “Like other sectors of society, the heritage sector has faced closures and job losses as a result of the Covid-19 …

Clare County Council is encouraging people to make submissions to Ireland’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage, launched by Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Once compiled, the Inventory will acknowledge and promote Ireland’s living culture through official State recognition. In tandem with this, it will fulfil Ireland’s obligations under the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which Ireland signed up to in December 2015 to raise awareness of, and respect for, our unique living culture. Congella McGuire, Clare Heritage Officer, said, “The goal is to record elements of our national and local living heritage that are still being practiced and passed down from generation to generation. The practices must be living practices in one form or another: still taught or practiced, and passed on. The idea is that the more that becomes known of these practices, then the better their active cultural contribution is acknowledged.” She continued, “There’s such a wealth of cultural …

INDIVIDUALS and groups around Clare are being encouraged to to get involved in National Heritage Week 2017 by registering an event in their community before next Wednesday. National Heritage Week – the theme of which is ‘It’s In Your Nature’ – takes place nationwide from August 19 to 27. Coordinated nationally by the Heritage Council, more than 450,000 people are expected to participate in over 2,000 heritage events. Each year events range from night-time bat walks, wildlife walks and lectures, classical music and poetry recitals, traditional music sessions, storytelling, historical re-enactments, and local history walks and talks. Congella McGuire, Clare Heritage Officer said, “Clare County Council encourages people to view Heritage Week as an opportunity to display their own area of heritage, be it natural, built or cultural, to the broader public. She explained, “Events can be held at a variety of venues, such as monuments and historical sites, parks and gardens, woodlands, wildlife reserves and inland waterways, schools, libraries and heritage …

The Loop Head Heritage Trail has been named a finalist in the Culture and Heritage category of this year’s 12th annual World Responsible Tourism Awards. The winners will be announced at a ceremony held during World Responsible Tourism Day at World Travel Market in the ExCeL London Exhibition and Convention Centre on Wednesday next. The 60km Loop Head Heritage Trail takes in 14 local attractions including Carrigaholt Castle and Bay, Bridges of Ross, Kilkee Cliffs and Pollock Holes (WAW Discovery Points), Church of the Little Ark (WAW Signature Point), Bishops Island, Dunlicka Castle, Loop Head Lighthouse, Pilots Memorial and Kilbaha Bay, Grave of the Yellow Men, Rinevella Bay and Submerged Forest, Kilcredaun Churches and Holt Well, Querrin Pier and the West Clare Railway. The Trail was launched by Loop Head Tourism with funding from Clare County Council, Clare Local Development Company, The Heritage Council, Fáilte Ireland and BIM. Brian Coakley, CEO, ActiveMe, based in Kerry, who specialises in digital mapping and the …

THE East Clare economy soared by an extra €500,000 last year, thanks to the lure of the first successful breeding pair of white-tailed sea eagles in the country in over a century. Clare County Council, which funds the popular White Tailed Sea Eagle Viewing and Information Point at Mountshannon Pier, confirmed the facility generated more than €500,000 for the local economy in 2014. A visitor survey conducted last year found that 43% of people reported the attraction of the sea eagles was the primary factor influencing their decision to visit Mountshannon. More than 10,000 people flocked to the shores of Lough Derg between mid-July and September 2014 to catch a glimpse of the eagles which had nested on Bushy Island, off Mountshannon Bay. A person from Northern Ireland on a sabbatical completed a visitor survey of those attending the viewing and information point. Dr Allan Mee of the Golden Eagle Trust acknowledged that some day trippers visiting Mountshannon last year …

The ongoing search for and survey of the wreck of a Spanish Armada vessel off the coast of Quilty, is among local projects that will benefit under The Heritage Council’s 2015 Community-based Heritage Grants Scheme Clare County Council has welcomed the allocation of €32,000, which will go towards a village development strategy for Clarecastle, a study of the history of the iron industry in northeast Clare and a heritage audit of the Loop Head Peninsula. “I am delighted that 13 separate community groups have been afforded the opportunity to enjoy, record, conserve, restore and celebrate the distinctive qualities of their local heritage, their community and their environment,” said Congella McGuire, Clare Heritage Officer. “The work carried out on these projects in 2015 will complement the wonderful range of projects that have already been carried out on a voluntary basis by many communities throughout Clare over the past number of years,” she added. The funding recipients in Clare are the Clare …

MORE  than 2500 visitors have so far flocked to see the White Tailed Sea Eagles viewing and information point  in Mountshannon since it was officially opened on July 4 last. Located at Mountshannon Pier and funded by Clare County Council, the new tourism development features telescopes and information and displays about Ireland’s largest and most spectacular breeding birds, including the first of the species to be born in the country in 110 years on Bushy Island in Lough Derg. The facility is being operated by the Mountshannon Eagle Group, Mountshannon Community Council and the Golden Eagle Trust, and will remain open until the end of September. Congella McGuire, Clare Heritage Officer said the introduction of the viewing point has further increased public interest in the local White Tailed Sea Eagle population without disturbing them in their natural habitat. “Since the birds first arrived in Mountshannon three years ago, the council has worked closely with the Golden Eagle Trust and the local …