Tag Archives: Kilfenora

AN Bord Pleanála has overturned the decision of Clare County Council in February to reject an application from Eircom for an 18-metre mast in Kilfenora. The telecommunications company appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanála, who have now granted approval. According to the original County Council decision, such developments can only go close to populated areas, but the An Bord Pleanála inspector was of the view that there had been a misinterpretation. “In my opinion,” wrote the planning inspector, “the Planning Authority have incorrectly applied the appropriate ‘last resort’ test in this instance. The test they applied relates to ‘larger towns and in city suburbs’.” The inspector was also of the view that the facility was required, due to the poor state of coverage in the area. “I have reviewed ComReg’s online Outside Coverage Map1 for this area and note that for Ireland’s three main service providers coverage generally ranges from ‘Fringe’ to ‘No Coverage’ for 4G, from ‘Fringe’ to …

A ROAD in north Clare has been closed today, as a crane is to be used to help right a cement truck that overturned there yesterday afternoon. The truck overturned on the R476 at around 4pm, at a location around 1.5 miles outside of Kilfenora, on the way towards Lisdoonvarna. Gardai said that no-one was injured in the accident. It is understood that the accident happened on a section where roadworks have recently taken place.

Half a loaf is considerably better than no bread as following the postponement of last year’s secondary adult club competitions, a condensed county league schedule is set to commence this bank holiday Monday. Four of the seven football leagues begin their campaigns on the first day possible of the government’s Covid-19 guidelines, with all divisions in both football and hurling limited to five matches which are based on last year’s fixtures. With no promotion or relegation at stake, the county leagues are primarily intended as a reintroduction to playing action following a minimum eight month absence. However, while clubs will be without their inter-county contingents, there’s still silverware on offer to retain a competitive edge remains intact as following the completion of the group stages, the top team in each division will be crowned champions. Cusack Cup – Division 1 Football League Round 1 Kilmurry Ibrickane v St Joseph’s Miltown at Quilty, Monday, 3.30pm (Referee: C Maguire) It’s a post-lockdown …

APPROACHING his 68th birthday, Padraig Howley is a late starter as an Instagram influencer, but in less than a fortnight his journey to veganism has seen him gain over 66,000 followers. On his account you can watch Padraig discuss the vegan foods he is choosing and preparing, while he frequently gives the viewers a song. A self employed welder and farmer, he says that going vegan hasn’t been easy, but he is seeing the benefits already. “Look it, it’s tough, there’s no point in saying it isn’t, but I’m going to stick with it a while and see how I get on. I’m learning and I’m getting a lot of help. “Anything new like that is tough but I have to do it for health reasons. I was told to give up dairy, but my daughter said why don’t you go vegan, so I’m doing it. “I think it’s going to get easier because a lot of people are contacting …

THE story of a Catholic priest who was brutally murdered during the War of Independence has been compiled in a new book by a Kilfenora native with a passion for history. Retired teacher Pat O’Looney, who lives in Loughrea, has painstakingly researched the history of Fr Michael Griffin, a man who himself had strong Clare links. The cleric’s death is one of the most notorious incidents of the dark year of 1920 and send shock waves around the world. Pat’s book A Zealous Priest tells the story of the young junior curate. As the war was reaching its height, Fr Griffin was a junior the parishes of Bushypark and Barna. A known IRA sympathiser, he was just 28 when he was taken from his home in Galway city and murdered by crown forces. “He had a number of Clare connections, though he was born in Ballinasloe,” explained Pat. “His grandfather was from Corofin and when Fr Griffin was ordained, his …

WORK on a new sewerage scheme for Ballyvaughan could begin next year, subject to planning permission, according to Irish Water. The utility outlined details in a response to a motion from Councillor Joe Killeen who asked for an update on schemes for Ballyvaughan and Kilfenora. In a reply sent ahead of the January meeting of the West Clare Municipal District, Irish Water said it anticipated acquiring lands and making a planning application this year for the Ballyvaughan Waste Water Treatment Plant (WwTP). “Irish Water is progressing with plans to construct a new wastewater treatment plant (WwTP) in Ballyvaughan that will serve a population equivalent of 1055, as well as a new pumping station and associated sewer network infrastructure,” the writte response outlined. “We are planning to acquire lands and submit a planning application to Clare County Council in 2021 for this project. Once planning has been submitted, these plans will be available for the public to view in the planning …

WEAK broadband infrastructural across Clare has been condemned by the county chairperson of the IFA, after online mart trading collapsed recently due to pressure on the system. Level 5 restrictions have severely curtailed the operation of marts across the country with all transactions now taking place virtually. Tom Lane of Parteen said that the inadequate state of broadband infrastructure in the county had been exposed and that speeding up initiatives like the National Broadband Plan was now an urgent matter. A technical glitch, outside of the control of Clare Marts, who use an external supplier for their streaming and online sales, meant that trading was interrupted for a time last Saturday week. “There was a major problem nationwide,” Michael McNamara, the manger explained. “One of the software providers that offer livestreaming, their server crashed or was unable to handle the volume of business. Thankfully, that got resolved. It was out for two to two-and-a-half hours, but got up and running …

MARTS will continue to operate under Level 5 restrictions, but all sales will move online and access to the premises in Ennis, Kilfenora, Scariff and Kilrush will be strictly controlled. Sellers are asked to book a time to ‘drop and go’. Similarly, buyers must pre-book a viewing time when they will be able to look at animals in the mart yard. They must then leave the mart and make their bids remotely either online or through an app. “It is going to be tough, there’s no doubt about that, but we’re determined to keep the service to farmers going,” said General Manager of Clare Marts, Martin McNamara. “We’ve already being conducting a lot of business online and Level 5 means our sales will now move entirely online. Sellers need to book with us in advance so that they can drop their animals off at the mart and go. Buyers, who might be working on behalf of a number of customers, …