Tag Archives: Liscannor

CLARE county councillors will be asked to support a proposed upgrading of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Car Park, despite a claim this it is contrary to a previous Bord Pleanála ruling. In a report prepared for councillors for the adjourned meeting last Monday, deputy chief executive Ger Dollard recommended that the council proceed with the works as outlined, subject to a number of conditions outlined in a local authority planning report. “The effect of the works will be to upgrade the existing car park at the Cliffs of Moher from its temporary construction state to the standard expected in a car-parking facility and which serves the second most visited tourist attraction in Ireland. “Subject to tendering process and funding arrangements, it is unlikely that works will proceed until late 2017 at the earliest,” he stated. It is expected that councillors will decide to accept, reject or adjourn a decision on this Part Eight planning application when they reconvene next …

THE tragic sea accident off Kilkee last September, which claimed the life of Doolin Irish Coast Guard volunteer Caitríona Lucas during a search and recovery operation, will be recalled at The Clare Association dinner in The Falls Hotel, Ennistymon on Friday, February 25. In recognition of her bravery and making the ultimate sacrifice, the association will be giving her a posthumous award by naming her its Clare Person of the Year for 2017. The 41-year-old Ballyvaughan woman, who lived in Liscannor, lost her life when she was one of three volunteers on board a rigid inflatable boat, which capsized in choppy conditions while taking part in the search for a missing man. The two other volunteers, one of whom was trapped in a cave for several hours, were rescued. The Clare Association usually holds its annual function at a Dublin venue but due to the special circumstances surrounding this year’s award, the decision was made to facilitate the North Clare …

REVENUE seized approximately 75kg of cocaine, with an estimated street value of over €5 million, near Liscannor yesterday. The drugs were discovered with assistance from the general public through the Customs Drugs Watch Programme. Acting on a report from a member of the public, Revenue Customs officers from the South West region discovered a suspicious item on the shore near the North Clare fishing village, between Lahinch and the Cliffs of Moher. The “torpedo type” device was found to contain approximately 75kg of cocaine. The concealment may have been attached below the waterline of a cargo ship or other maritime vessel; however, it is not possible at this stage to say either where the drugs originated, or their intended destination. The public are asked not to put themselves in danger by approaching or interfering with suspicious items such as this. The Customs’ Drugs Watch Programme encourages those living in coastal communities, maritime personnel and people living near airfields to report …

A moving and emotional funeral mass for Caitríona Lucas heard the 41 year old mother of two described as “a gracious and wonderful woman,” by Liscannor parish priest Fr Denis Crosby. Thousands of people paid their respects at the Irish Coast Guard volunteer’s removal on Wednesday night and Liscannor church was packed to overflowing for Thursday’s funeral mass. She died following an accident on a coast guard rescue boat in Kilkee on Monday. President Michael D Higgns and An Taoiseach Enda Kenny were officially represented, while Transport Minister Shane Ross was amongt the congregation, which included several hundred people in the church grounds. Hundreds of Irish Coast Guard representatives were in attendance, along with representatives from all rescue services, local and national. The national flag is today at half mast on all state buildings across the country. Poignantly a big screen inside the church featured photos of the late Caitríona and her family. “She carried the light wonderfully into our …

Work on a wastewater treatment plant at Liscannor will not begin until 2017, Irish Water confirmed this week however the utility said it had replaced an outfall pipe in the North Clare village, a move described as a “Bandaid” by Patrick Blake of the Liscannor Harbour Amenity Organisation. “We are very disappointed in Liscannor. €68,000 has been wasted in producing another pipe to allow the sewage to flow directly into Liscannor Bay. We recognise that they already have started to do work but we feel, at the moment this, is only a Bandaid treatment. We want to stop sewage going in to Liscannor Bay,” Mr Blake stated. The popular seaside village made national headlines back in August when a ‘geyser’ of sewage was spotted gushing from a pipe there. The people of Liscannor have sought a sewage treatment system for the past two decades. This study was to “look at possible solutions for the upgrade of wastewater infrastructure” but a …

A whale that washed up on the North Clare coast last week will be left for “nature to take its course”, Clare County Council has confirmed. The body of the 6m-long adult female minke whale washed up on the Liscannor shore on Wednesday last. “In terms of disposal, that would normally fall under the local authority. This whale would be difficult to recover because it is a stony beach so you can’t bury it and it would be hard to bring it out. “It is not near houses and it is not on a popular beach so it is not a health hazard but we would still advise people not to touch it. It is expensive to recover whales and take them to an incinerator so we would see it as a waste of resources when it is not posing a risk,” Simon Berrow, chief science officer of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said (IWDG). According to the local authority, …

A ‘geyser’ of raw sewage was spotted gushing from a sewer pipe in a North Clare seaside village last week. The incident  happened at Liscannor on the Wild Atlantic Way on Wednesday and according to locals, the sewerage scheme in the area is so bad that it gets blocked up “about once every two weeks”. Patrick Blake of Liscannor Harbour Amenity Organisation described the scene in the seaside village on Wednesday morning. “When we saw the sewage geyser first, it was 20 feet high. It was around 11 o’clock and it took us about 20 minutes or a half an hour to get someone to take a photograph of it and, by that stage, it had gone down to about 10 or 11 feet,” he explained. “There was a group of people there in white coats and they said they were agents for Irish Water,” he continued. When contacted by The Clare Champion, a spokesperson for Irish Water stated that …

A woman is recovering in hospital after she sustained a head injury when she slipped on rocks at Clahanes, near Liscannor, yesterday evening. The woman in her 50’s had been walking along the shoreline when the accident happened. The alarm was raised by a passerby who called the ambulance service. The Irish Coast Guard was requested to assist and the Doolin unit of the volunteer service assisted paramedics recover the patient and take her across the rocks to a waiting ambulance before being removed to University Hospital Limerick.