Tag Archives: East Clare

ST Joseph’s Secondary School in Tulla were this week treated to a lunchtime concert by a young group of visiting traditional musicians from Vermont in the United States. The Young Tradition Touring Group, made up of 19 musicians aged between 12 and 19, are currently touring the West of Ireland and have stopped in Clare for performances in The Powerhouse in Tulla, Pepper’s and Shortt’s in Feakle. The group play North American traditional tunes, as well as Appalachian music, Cajun and some bluegrass. They also dance during their performances. The musicians are being hosted in Clare by Mary MacNamara and her group of young East Clare musicians. As part of this, they performed a lunchtime concert in the secondary school in Tulla on Wednesday for students and teachers. Students at St Joseph’s also played music, sang and danced for the visiting group. Most of the visiting group members are from Vermont, although a few hail from as far as Maine, …

A MICHIGAN radio show that focused on East Clare and was produced by local man, Eoin O’Hagan has been chosen for an award at the Michigan Association of Broadcasters’ upcoming Broadcast Excellence Awards. The Wild Michigan Outdoors radio show did a programme on Lough Derg, entitled Wild Ireland and it was submitted for review by an out-of-state broadcast association to the awards. The programme has been selected out of all entries in the Special Weekend Programme category for the Broadcast Excellence Awards, which take place on May 3. Eoin O’Hagan explained that efforts to produce this programme began two and a half years ago, when he met a producer of the Wild Michigan Outdoors show in Doonbeg, who put him in touch with the presenter, Duran Martinez. Eoin’s pitch was to highlight East Clare as a tourism destination for anglers in America. “I sent Duran emails, photographs and videos, teasing him about Lough Derg and I told him how empty …

AN East Clare woman gave birth in an ambulance in Scariff on Monday afternoon. The woman, who lives in Whitegate, had been driven to the medical centre in Scariff, who in turn called the ambulance service dispatch. The Scariff ambulance was immediately on the scene and the woman gave birth minutes after being placed in the ambulance. The incident follows concerns recently raised at the regular redeployment of ambulances from Clare stations to Nenagh and Limerick. A number of county councillors have stated the incident on Monday highlights the value of having an ambulance centre in Scariff and stressed the need for that service not to be further diluted or stretched. “The ambulance crew based at the Scariff Ambulance Centre received the call on Monday afternoon at 5.10pm. They were informed that a young mother was in labour and required assistance. The ambulance crew were on scene within minutes to assist the young woman. The crew immediately identified that the …

EAST Clare councillor Joe Cooney is pressing the National Monuments Service to change its guidelines on buffer zones around archaeological finds. Kiluran Cemetery Committee has just been refused permission to extend Kiluran Cemetery in O’Callaghan’s Mills due to a discovery of “significant archaeological features” at the site. The National Monuments Service is willing to allow the extension but only if there is a 75m buffer zone and that would bring the extension out of the committee’s land and into another landowner’s property. Councillor Cooney said it looks to be the end of plans to extend the cemetery but will press for a change in guidelines nationally. This week, Clare County Council refused the application for the extension to the more than 100-year-old cemetery on the grounds that, “it is considered that to permit the proposed development would injure or interfere with the historic remains and setting of the adjoining archaeological monuments”. “It’s very, very disappointing,” said Councillor Cooney. “We’re not …

East Clare based charity CELT, has received €14,000 in funding for a project which aims to provide skills and create employment in the local community. An environmental organisation located in Tuamgraney, CELT were approved for the financial aid to fund their woodland management and skills training programme. Part of  a £2.5million Skills & Opportunities Fund from Ulster Bank, RBS and NatWest, €14,000 was awarded to five Irish organisations, including CELT, to enable them support disadvantaged communities by helping people to learn new skills, get into the world of work or set up their own business. Organisations were required to submit a project proposal which had a special emphasis on helping their communities to develop new skills. CELT’s Woodland Management Skills Training programme will run over a six month period providing eight one-day workshops which will each cater for 25 participants. Speaking about the organisations success, Bob Wilson of CELT said: “With the help of Ulster Bank’s Skills and Opportunity fund …

Thousands of euro has been raised for the first online community radio station in East Clare. A group of eight people from Scariff were all on the one wavelength concerning the need for a new radio station broadcasting news and sport online at weekends and the promoters of Scariff Bay Community Radio are planning their debut broadcast later this month. While a definitive schedule has not yet been decided, it is expected the internet radio station will be live for two hours on Saturdays and Sundays. After Raidio Corca Baiscinn, which is based in Kilkee, this will become the second community station that is currently operating in the county. Jet FM operated for a seven-year period in Shannon until it ceased in 2011 and this was followed by an offshoot Rinn Fm, which broadcast for about a year. A fundraising target of €4,000 had been set by the promoters to cover the initial start-up costs and the estimated annual running …

ICSA rural development chairman, Billy Gray has called for a complete re-think on how to protect the hen harrier, an endangered bird that is found in the East Clare/South Galway region. Recent extensive gorse fires in the area increased concerns for the long term future of the bird. Mr Gray argues that the Government response to the hen harrier is a denial of reality which will not safeguard the bird but will continue to have a devastating impact on farmers with hen harrier designation. “The GLAS scheme is of some help to farmers with smaller areas of designation, but it is inadequate for many farmers,” said Mr. Gray. “The ban on afforestation needs to be reviewed as there are considerable doubts about whether it is actually warranted or whether a more nuanced approach could yield better results. Most importantly, the Government needs to wake up to the reality that the hen harrier cannot thrive in rural communities if its presence …

Two East Clare singers are among those battling to survive what has been described as a “brutal format” in The Voice of Ireland competition this Sunday night on RTÉ 1. Kate Purcell and Sarah McTernan have made it through to the live knockout stage, with folk singer Purcell warning they face a “brutal format” in the next stage. With 36 acts whittled down to just 12, the judges now face the task of picking their favourites. Each coach pitch three contestants against each other but there is only space for one from each team to go through. Tulla’s Kate Purcell is part of Westlife star Kian Egan’s team. She performed a powerful rendition of Rihanna’s We Found Love to advance through from the blind auditions. She next sang Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn in the battle round. While the 48-year-old mother-of-two would love to qualify for the quarter-finals, she says she has already achieved her initial ambitions. “Performing live on stage in …