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A Lisseycasey councillor is pressing Clare County Council to offer a solution to the Lough Donnell sluice problem at Clohaninchy saying it is “unfair” to the 30 or more local landowners who are affected. Local landowners are fearful that their properties could be flooded by seawater, which could cause significant damage to farm land. Clare County Council said it continues to work to address concerns at Lough Donnell, and a consultant representing the Council met the contractor on site in late February to inspect the culvert. The local authority said a report looking at the options to provide an engineering solution will be prepared, and the preferred option it decides upon will first have to be agreed with National Parks and Wildlife Service and Inland Fisheries Ireland. Councillor PJ Kelly (FF) told Wednesday’s meeting of the West Clare municipal district that no progress has been made on the matter since he last raised it at December’s Clare County Council meeting. …

The rich history of one of Clare’s most influential traditional music families is being pieced together for the first time in a new online archive of sound, images and memories. The Russell’s of Doolin archive was launched at last month’s Russell Festival and tracks the life, music and stories of Micho, Packie and Gussie Russell. The archive is the brainchild of local musician and co-organiser of the Russell Festival, Charles Monod, who has spent the last year conducting interviews and sourcing images, audio and video about the famous Doolin brothers. Charles came to traditional music comparatively late in life, but once he was bitten by the trad bug, he was hooked for life. Originally from Switzerland, he came to Doolin for a summer as a teenager, but like so many lovers of traditional music, he found it difficult to leave. “When I came here for the summer I started playing the tin whistle as something to do. My aim was …

  Clare people have decided by an overwhelming majority to reject proposed amendments in the twin Family and Care referendums. The 39th Family Referendum was rejected by more than a two-to-one majority. The No vote totalled 26,574, 67% while 12, 573 voted Yes, 33%. There was also a decisive rejection of the 40th Care Referendum. The votes cast against the proposal came to 28,979, 74%. In total, 10, 132 voted Yes, 26% giving a No majority of 18,848.   The result is an embarrassing verdict for all the political parties, the Government, and organisations who advocated a Yes vote in the two referendums. There were 90,101 people living in Clare who were entitled to vote, but less than half of them chose to do so. The official turnout in Clare was expected 44% after 39,65o people cast their vote. There were 503 spoilt votes giving a valid poll of 39,147. This result means Clare people have decided to reject eight …

Local efforts to promote and protect plants and wildlife in West Clare have been given a huge boost with a local sand dunes conservation group receiving its first grant funding for its biodiversity work. Seafield Conservation Forum €5,000 grant is to support the future development of its community biodiversity action plan, according to Caroline Egan, Co-Moderator of the Forum. The voluntary association is dedicated to addressing coastal erosion, and to the restoration and conservation of Seafield’s sand dunes. It plans to work with experts, the local community and land-owners to implement actions which not only respond to the biodiversity emergency but will also provide a template to help protect the sand dunes at Seafield as a natural resource for all people. Welcoming the recognition of the forum’s work, Ms Egan said: “Seafield Sand Dunes has been a haven for bird life and an abundance of nature for millennia. Given the biodiversity and climate crisis that threatens unique sand dune habitats, …

Early indications suggest Clare voters have voted No in the two Referendums on Friday. In total, 98 out of the 177 boxes have been opened in the count centre at Woodstock Hotel, Ennis. The preliminary turnout is expected 45%, which is subject to change once all the votes are counted. Counting staff are currently reconciling the number of votes in every box with the number recorded by the presiding officer to make sure they tally. Staff will start counting all the votes when the reconciling process is completed. It is expected that a final result will be announced after 3pm this afternoon.       Dan Danaher

Concern has been expressed about the cessation of respite care at Ennistymon Community Hospital for two separate five-month periods due to staffing shortages. Councillor Liam Grant (GP) has expressed his disappointment that staff shortages have led to the ending of respite services from August 2022 to January 2023 and from August 2023 to January 2024. The palliative care bed and five respite beds are currently available for admission. Councillor Grant asked for a comprehensive report on the services provided at Ennistymon Community Hospital and HSE plans for future development at an HSE West Forum meeting. The Green Party Councillor also requested figures for how many beds are available for long-term, respite and palliative care, the occupancy rate and whether were there any staffing issues affecting what the hospital can provide. Welcoming the submission of an application to the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to register six new beds, Councillor Grant said he hoped staffing issues don’t arise at the …

Frank Custy, one of the major figures in Clare traditional music, passed away last week, with his funeral taking place on Sunday and Monday. As a teacher Frank inspired many young people to take up music and Toonagh National School where he worked became renowned for its promotion of traditional Irish music and singing. Among those who learned music at the school were Sean Conway and Mary Custy while Sharon and Gary Shannon also learned their trades during classes organised outside school hours. Frank was also a hurler, and won a Harty Cup with St Flannan’s in 1957. He was the goalkeeper on the Ruan hurling teams that won senior county championships in 1959, 1960 and 1962. He was also a selector when the club reached the 1988 county final. A tribute to him published on social media by Ruan GAA Club lauded his contribution to the community, “Frank was synonymous with life in Toonagh for over half a century. …

The groundwork has been laid for a major restoration of the Ballymacraven River in North Clare, which was devastated by pollution last year. The Restore Ballymacraven River Association hosted a public meeting in Ennistymon last Friday, and outlined their plans for the river for this year, and into the future. The river, which is a tributary of the Inagh River, was the site of a significant water pollution event in May of last year, with thousands of fish and other wildlife being killed. Earlier this year, Uisce Éireann were fined €10,000 for the incident, which threatens the viability of the river’s population of Atlantic salmon and eels among other species. Local community group, the Restore Ballymacraven River Association, now plans to help restore the waterway, starting with the area around The Glen in Ennistymon. The first step is to remove a large number of invasive trees from the river bank and replace them with thousands of native trees. This will …