CLARE GAA county secretary, Pat Fitzgerald favours completing the Caherlohan project, near Tulla, ahead of improvements at Cusack Park. In his report, which will be presented to the annual convention on Thurrsday night next, he says, “Personally speaking, I think we have to prioritise Caherlohan ahead of Cusack Park. That’s my opinion but ultimately it is you the clubs of Clare who will be the final arbitrators. He acknowledges the board will have to invest further in upgrading Cusack Park, particularly the playing surface. “After any prolonged period of rain, the surface badly deteriorates and this year, not for the first time, games had to be moved to alternative venues in order to avoid the embarrassment of the county grounds not being able to host games. This year’s county hurling final was played in a continuous downpour and on a pitch that cut up badly. So bad were conditions that Sixmilebridge supporters were banned from getting onto Cusack Park to …

KILRUSH town councillor Tom Prendeville has revealed that Fianna Fáil has no registered members in the West Clare capital. “Within Kilrush there is no registered member within five or six miles. We haven’t got the members. People are not coming forward. So don’t be lulled into a false sense of security and say everything is ok. We effectively tonight sent out a message that we are a rural organisation. It’s inconceivable that where we have the municipal capital of the new electoral area, we won’t have a Fianna Fáil candidate. That’s not good for Fianna Fáil. We are in trouble, big, big trouble in the urban areas,” Councillor Prendeville told Monday night’s selection convention in Spanish Point, where he failed to win a place on the ticket for the 2014 county council elections. Responding to news that Fianna Fáil membership is non-existent in Kilrush town, Deputy Niall Collins asked why that was the case. “I’d ask the question why isn’t …

  IN a detailed report to next week’s Clare GAA convention, Clare secretary Pat Fitzgerald had nailed on the head the notion that nepotism came into play when his son Davy was appointed as Clare manager in 2011, writes Seamus Hayes. “I have to admit I was taken aback by the degree of cynicism to the appointment of Davy to the Clare job initially. Opinion was clearly divided and he had to work hard to win the cynics over”, Fitzgerald says in his report which is being circulated to clubs this weekend. “I came in for a share of criticism myself, being accused of nepotism, matching the cronyism that has dogged the Irish political system over the years. But such an assertion couldn’t have been further from the truth. Davy’s appointment was based on his coaching pedigree not on family loyalties. I was subjected to a lot of stick, but I stuck to my guns and I think as events …

NELSON Mandela and his wife, Graca Machel transited Shannon Airport on April 7, 2000. He hadn’t sought re-election as President of South Africa the previous year but undertook a number of foreign engagements. This historic moment was captured by Mary O’Reilly,  Shannon Images

THE Mayors of Ennis and Clare this week joined the Clare Cystic Fibrosis Association in ‘lumbering up’ to launch the third annual Irish Christmas Tree Throwing Championship. The event, which is based on age-old lumberjack traditions and is commonplace across Germany and Austria, will see members of the public competing to achieve the longest distance for throwing a standard 1.5 metre tree. Organisers, Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council are hoping to make the January 5 event at Active Ennis Tim Smyth Park a record breaker. Last year’s winner, John O’Dea from Limerick launched a Christmas tree 10.2 metres, just less than 2 metres short of the World Record held by Klaus Pubnaz who hurled a tree a distance of 12m at an event in Germany three years ago.

STRONG opposition to controversial plans for the abstraction of over 350 million litres of  water daily from Lough Derg to address waster shortages in the Dublin region by 2020 was expressed at a recent public meeting in Scariff. This comes hot on the heels of criticism of the Government’s failure to guarantee  water levels on Lough Derg will remain at a specified level at all times in the event this proposal, which has to be approved by An Bord Pleanála goes ahead. East Clare Tourism organised the public meeting in Scariff to support the campaign led by the River Shannon Protection Alliance (RSPA) against this plan. It was decided East Clare Tourism in conjunction with RSPA and local fishing clubs will continue their campaign against this proposal. RSPA has already dismissed reassurances from Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O’Dowd that the proposed water “abstraction” from Lough Derg “can only be done properly in environmental terms” as “empty promises”.

AS Shannon Town Council discussed the foul odours that have plagued the area this year, it was claimed that local children have been left dizzy and too ill to go to school. While the odour hadn’t been very noticeable for some time, there were complaints that it was as bad as ever in the early part of this week. A report prepared for Tuesday’s town council meeting by Ger Dollard, director of services with Clare County Council and Sean Water, senior engineer, water services, said a major upgrade of Shannon’s wastewater plant and sewer network would cost €22 million, while an interim scheme would cost between €2m and €2.5m. However, they didn’t hold out much hope of the work happening very soon. While Irish Water is set to take over responsibility for maintenance of the network, Mr Dollard and Mr Ward’s report said, “The approach of Irish Water in its early years is likely to concentrate on smaller and/or interim …

A PALL of sadness hung over Dromoland Castle last night after the death of South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela (95). The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was jailed for 27 years for anti-apartheid political activity, stayed in Dromoland Castle during a two-day private visit in March 2000. Dromoland Castle managing director, Mark Nolan, told The Clare Champion staff were saddened when they learned about his death. He said Mr Mandela presented his daughter Gillian, who was six at the time, with a signed copy of his autobiography, The Long Walk to Freedom in exchange for a bouquet of flowers. It included a brief note, “To Gilly from Nelson Mandela”. The former ANC leader insisted on meeting all the staff in a formal line up outside the old entrance to the castle. Mr Nolan was struck by his great presence and charisma during the visit. “Nelson Mandela wanted to meet all the staff. There was a whole line including …