Tag Archives: East Clare

THE official opening of the 12 O’Clock Hills Project which has developed looped walks in these scenic East Clare hills will take place on Sunday, September 14 at 1pm. The 12 O’Clock Hills recreational and heritage project is based at Knockanuarha hill, which is located 5km to the southeast of Kilkishen village. The main summit stands at 309 metres or 1,014 feet above mean sea level, and there is another peak about 10 metres lower and 400 metres away to the west/south west. From the 12 O’Clock Hills much of County Clare is on view including West Clare, the Burren and the Shannon Estuary while locally Kilkishen village, Cullaun Lake and Steele’s Turret are prominent. With a little effort, the town of Ennis and many of the villages of East Clare will reveal themselves. With so much on offer from this vantage point the committee felt it was something worth developing on to share with the public. The project was …

A SCARIFF man who was missing in London has been found and is in good health. John Dowdall was found by police staying in a hotel in the Paddington area of the city on Wednesday night. He is now staying with relatives in London and is said to be in good spirits. Mr Dowdall had left his home place without informing relatives living locally. He checked into a hotel in London on July 31 but left it on August 7, leaving his belongings after him. On  Tuesday of last week it was established that he was alive and efforts to find him bore fruit late yesterday evening.  

THERE were 1,263 people signing on the live register at Tulla last month, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office. Clare has four social welfare offices, with Tulla the only one in the east of the county. According to the CSO figures there were 703 males signing on at Tulla, with 101 of them aged under 25. There was a very slight decrease in the number of men signing on during July, with the number down from 707 in June. The number of men on the live register at Tulla is well down on July 2013 when the figure stood at 810. Also in July of this year there were 560 women on the live register, 59 of them aged under 25. The number of women was up on the June figure, which was 539. However it was less than the figure for July 2013, which was 619. The overall figure of 1,263 in July was lower than the equivalent …

VODAFONE Ireland are seeking retention permission for their infrastructure at Ballyblood, Tulla, but the site notices keep getting taken on them. A letter accompanying their planning application stated, “Following recent repeated removal of site notices in regards to the attached retention application, we have been in contact with the planning department and enclose the following information. 1 We enclose copies of the site notice as erected on 23/07/2014. 2 Letter signed by the local Garda office acknowledging site notices erected etc. The Garda advised if we had similar problems again to contact them, and also noted we did not require an incident number. “Having spoken to the planning dept, we would appreciate receiving some contact/notice, in order to replace any missing notices. As discussed we will maintain a watch on the site notices, however given the problems we have experienced to date, we would appreciate the assistance of the Council, should the notices be missing upon inspection. “Any notices missing …

IT’S understood that a Scariff man who went missing in London last week is alive, but efforts are still being made to get in touch with him. Brief contact was made with him by phone late on Tuesday night, but police and relatives are still continuing the search. John Dowdall was last seen at 5pm on Thursday of last week at the Crown Moran Hotel in Cricklewood, London. He had been a guest at the hotel since July 31 but failed to return on Thursday, leaving all his belongings and valuables behind. John is 5ft 7ins tall and of large stocky build. He has diabetes but left his medication for it at the hotel. On Sunday, a relative was told by a police source that John had been found and was in good health but this proved to be a mistake on the police’s side. However, following Tuesday night’s contact, it is understood that he is okay. It is understood …

JAPANESE woman, Erika Mochizuki, together with another compatriot, have set up an Irish music project called Blackbird Music, which will see 11 musicians from their homeland come to East Clare this week. Dai Komatsu, who is an Irish fiddle-player based in a city called Nagoya in Japan, and Erika have been using their project to provide Irish music material over the internet. Erika originally had the idea of introducing this rich musical culture to Japanese people. She met Dai for the first time in Ennis in 2005, when he came there to learn traditional Irish fiddle-playing. The idea of this project gradually evolved from that first meeting. Together, they organise and coordinate concert tours and workshops in Japan for traditional Irish musicians. The music summer camp in East Clare is another element to this. Erika organizes instrumental lessons for Japanese people visiting Ireland and she also provides technical advice and translation for Japanese people interested in Irish music. They share …

AFTER more than 10 years waiting, the doors of the Lough Graney Community Centre are set to open. Ahead of opening for public viewing on Saturday,  Kathleen McNamara, secretary of Loughgraney Community Development Association, acknowledged, “There is no way we would have a community centre in Flagmount without CLDC.” The community development association received LEADER funding of €230,000 to build this centre and, subsequently, received€45,000 under Sports Capital funding to equip the centre. “CLDC have been brilliant. I know they are fighting this struggle about keeping LEADER funding administered by CLDC, but we have seen first-hand what it can do. If we didn’t have CLDC administering the funding, then a small community like ours would never have got it. I think it is vital for LEADER funding to be left with CLDC and our small rural parish and community is a case in point for it. CLDC have a great rapport with communities and they give you backup and support. There …

THE East Clare property market could be on the way back up with one local auctioneer recording more sales in the first half of this year than in the previous three-year period. John Tuohy of Brian Tuohy Auctioneering is currently seeking out properties and land to sell, due to demand following four property sales in Mountshannon in the last few weeks. Although he says it is a stretch to say there is “a boom” in the housing market in East Clare, he says there are half a dozen property prospectors waiting in the wings for the right opportunity to present itself in the region. “We have at least a half dozen people with money in hand looking for suitable properties,” he said. Half a dozen may sound small, he added, but to get six people who aren’t subject to finance and haven’t to sell a property in order to buy” is unusual”. The auctioneering company has a portfolio in East …