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A NEW proposal calling for Clare County Council to set up a multi-agency emergency response to anti-social behaviour in council tenants will be debated at the authority’s July meeting. It has been proposed that co-operation between agencies is necessary to quickly and effectively deal with, and if necessary to evict, the small number of tenants who engage in persistent anti-social behaviour. Councillor Johnny Flynn, who is proposing this motion, said “neighbours from hell” whose persistent anti-social behaviour comes under the terms of the adopted Clare County Council Behaviour Strategy 2020-2026 need to be dealt with in order to protect adjoining residents and community and prevent damage to badly-needed housing stock. This strategy was adopted in 2021 to prevent and reduce anti-social behaviour in the 3,000 plus tenancies in areas across Clare where the council has tenancy dwellings, RAS and social leasing. This motion, which is being supported by Mayor of Ennis, Clare Colleran-Molloy and other Ennis councillors, also calls on …

Gardaí are investigating a serious road traffic collision in Co Clare that has left one motorcyclist in a serious condition in hospital. The collision, which involved two motorcycles and a car, occurred on the main N67 Kinvara (Galway) to Ballyvaughan (Clare) road at Munnia, Burren, near the turn off for New Quay village and about two kilometres from the Galway border. Two units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Ennistymon station responded to the incident along with National Ambulance Service paramedics and Gardaí. It’s understood that a motorcycle collided with car and then collided with a second motorcycle. One motorcyclist was taken to University Hospital Galway (UHG) to be treated for injuries that are believed to be serious. The second motorcyclist was also taken by ambulance to UHG with what are said to be non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the car is understood to have escaped injury. The road has been closed to facilitate an examination of …

With just over four weeks to go to the start of Galway’s 2022 Summer Festival, preparations are continuing apace in Ballybrit for what looks set to be a bumper week. Thankfully, things are back to normal now and the week-long meeting – that runs from Monday, July 25th to Sunday, July 31st – can look forward to big crowds and record prize money. This year’s Galway Summer Festival has a total prize fund of €2.164 million – representing an increase of €346,500 on 2021. Each day offers a minimum prize of €100,000 for the feature race, with the minimum value for any race at Ballybrit now standing at €17,000. Galway offers a mixed card for the week with National Hunt and Flat races being held on all seven days. The flagship Tote Galway Plate is one of the highlights of the week. This mid-summer showpiece now carries a purse of €270,000 (up €20,000 from last year) and it looks set …

FIANNA Fáil spokesperson on Aviation Cathal Crowe is calling for strong consideration to be given to the establishment of a hydrogen fuel farm within the Shannon Airport complex. He said this would see the airport establish itself as a world leader in terms of sustainable aviation, at a time of significant change in the sector. The Clare TD said he had written to the Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce, outlining his proposal to plan for a hydrogen fuel farm at Shannon Airport. “The Green Atlantic Windfarm planned off of the coast of Clare provides for a €50 million Synchronous Compensator, will convert electricity generated via the wind turbine infrastructure to storable hydrogen fuel. All of this will happen on site at Moneypoint, just 65km west of Shannon Airport. “Meanwhile, a fuel farm was developed at Shannon Airport in the 1970s and has the capacity to store 33,000 metric tonnes of aviation fuel. “It would make perfect sense for the hydrogen generated …

PLANS for a significant housing development for Tuamgraney have hit a hitch, with the local authority asking for clarity on a number of elements of the proposals. After a total of six objections to plans for 52 new homes on a 3.96 hectare site on the Dock Road, the planning authority has asked for clarification on several aspects of the application. The plans were lodged by Michael Pearl in April, seeking permission for six four-bedroom detached houses; 22 three-bedroom, semi-detached houses; 14 two-bedroom semi-detached houses; and ten two-bedroom semi-detached bungalows. The first concern raised in the Further Information (FI) request is over the road that serves the site. Planners have said that they consider that the L41341 “which is narrow and poorly surfaced, to be unsuited in its current condition to provide safe access to a multi-unit residential development”. The developer has been asked to consult the Killaloe area engineer to discuss how a minimum road width of 5.5 metres …

WOLFE Tones held the finals night of its Johnny Cregan Memorial Tournament last week. The hurling tournament for local national schools was organised to help promote the game with young people in the town, and to commemorate Johnny, who was a well known figure within the club for many years. After a blitz day on June 15, the finals night took place last Wednesday. Wolfe Tones Paul Hogan said, “We wanted to get the schools in Shannon engaged in hurling again, and to promote hurling within the town. “The best way to promote is through the schools and we felt that if we had a Shannon schools championship and get every school in Shannon to enter, it’d be one way of getting exposure of it into every school. “We’re going to do the same for gaelic football later on, after the Cumann na mBunscoil has taken place, but we just said that with the Clare hurlers going well we’ll tackle …

FIGURES released last week show that 2,452 Personal Public Services Numbers (PPSN) have been issued to Ukrainians in Clare, but the numbe of arrivals here may actually be much higher. Orla Ní Éilí of the Clare Immigrant Support Centre said, “We’re a bit confused by the numbers, they’re based on PPS numbers, which people have to have. “But we can tell you in the hotels there are around 2,500 people at this stage and out in the community there are a lot more. We would say that Clare has had 10% of arrivals from the word go.” Should that be the case, then there would be approximately 3,500 Ukrainian refugees in the county. Ms Ní Éilí said that many people are still coming, with around 26 arriving on one day last week alone. Clare Immigrant Support Centre has never had to deal with a situation like this, with so many people arriving at one time, she said, while noting that …

It was former Clare captain Gary Brennan who put it best after the Roscommon game when he said the air was going to get a lot thinner from here on in as the championship really kicked to life from the quarter-final stage. Gary knows. He was there and saw at first hand the difference between beating Roscommon in a final round Qualifier and taking on Kerry in an All-Ireland quarter-final in Croke Park. It was a quantum leap — in footballing terms, but also of the mind, body and spirit. Gary was the man in Clare’s campaign that year as he was for so many years, but for the All-Ireland quarter-final Kerry put Kieran Donaghy out around the middle and it ensured that Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s side had a strong foothold in the area, and from there on it went. Derry are no Kerry you might say, but maybe by the year’s end we’ll be saying that Kerry are no Derry, …