Tag Archives: King Thomond

THERE are many things we complain about in Ireland, sometimes with validity. Our health service is creaking, our property prices are exploding, our weather is appalling, our capital is swallowing the rest of the country, our streets are filled with homeless men and women. All of these are daily complaints that fill our newspapers and chat shows but, for all Ireland’s failings, when we hear the stories of those housed in Direct Provision in Lisdoonvarna, we see that this is not such a dysfunctional society. One man who spoke to The Clare Champion fled the Congo because he feared he would be killed by state forces if he didn’t poison others. Who here will ever be put in such a position? It might seem unbelievable that anyone here over the age of 25 was born into an Ireland where homosexuality was illegal, but things have clearly progressed dramatically. Contrast that with the experience of Sihre Mkandla, who moved in the …

September has been the busiest month in a decade for Lisdoonvarna, according to local business people, with one hotelier highlighting last Saturday, in particular, as “well up on last year”. After eight years, the Spa Wells reopened this season and many are attributing increased visitor numbers in part to that. “We are getting about 200 people a day,” said Paddy Dunne, chairman of Lisdoonvarna Fáilte, the voluntary committee behind the reopening. “This committee only took over in January. The numbers are more than we expected. Word of mouth spread rapidly and we are getting good visitor numbers here every day. There is nothing like this anywhere else. There is this hall which holds 350 in the Spa Wells itself and then the Pavillion, which holds 650 and it is owned by the community and run by the community and everything goes back into the facilities we have here,” he continued. “This has been the biggest festival in 10 years and everyone would …