Breaking News

Well-known Clare heritage sites, St Flannan’s Church of Ireland Cathedral and Frawley’s Bar in Lahinch and have been awarded significant funding to conserve notable historic structures. The sites have been awarded funding for diverse reasons including renewal of timber structures and reinstallation of slates, repairs to buttresses, re-pointing of masonry etc. to prevent serious damage to historic fabric and internal ornate elements. St Flannan’s is to receive €152,000 for significant reslating, repairs to buttresses, repointing of masonry to prevent serious damage to historic fabric and internal ornate elements. Frawley’s meanwhile will receive €40,000 to renew the timber structure, reinstall Blue Bangor slates to the main roof and Liscannor Stone to an outbuilding. A total of €4m was awarded nationwide through the Historic Structures Fund, administered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in partnership with the 31 Local Authorities. The announcement follows that of €4m in funding under the Department’s other built heritage grant scheme, the Built Heritage …

TWO companies have pleaded guilty before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to breaching safety laws which led to the death of a Clare stonemason, who drowned whilst carrying out specialist maintenance work on a bridge in Limerick six years ago. Bryan Whelan, 29, of O’Briensbridge, died alongside father-of-two Tim ‘TJ’ O’Herlihy, 36, from Castleisland, Co. Kerry, after they became trapped beneath the surface of the River Shannon in Limerick City, on August 29, 2015. The men were working from a steel platform that was suspended over the side of Thomond Bridge and held by a wire attached to a winch-crane, when the platform plunged into the river. Mr O’Herlihy and Mr Whelan, who were both wearing life jackets, were also each harnessed into the platform and failed to get out of the structure and died under water. Paul Murphy, 26, from Askeaton, Co. Limerick, who was working alongside Mr Herlihy and Mr Whelan on the platform, managed to escape and was …

HOUSE prices in Clare increased by just under 18% between the first quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year, new figures from Daft.ie shows. The property website’s research also shows that there was a 2.8% increase in the asking price for houses in Clare in the first three months of this year. The average asking price in the Banner now stands at €227,645, an increase of 90% compared to the low point of the market, seen during the recession. While there were increases in price throughout the country, they were particularly noticeable in the west of the country, with Leitrim seeing a 26% increase and Mayo one of 22%. Writing in the Daft.ie report, Ronan Lyons, Associate Professor of Economics at Trinity, said that housing shortages are widespread in Ireland. “National figures of course hide regional differences – but if Covid-19 has done anything to the housing market in Ireland, it has been to take a …

ENNIS Musical Society members old and new are coming together this April for an evening of song with A Night at the Musicals. The society will be back on April 10 in Hotel Woodstock where they will be performing numbers from musicals of all eras for all ages to enjoy. Expect songs from favourite shows such as Les Miserables, Wicked, Rent, Seussical to name but a few. The concert comes following the postponement of the society’s 2022 show Legally Blonde until next year due to Covid-19. The society were also unable to put on a show in 2021 because of the pandemic, and their 2020 production was cancelled after just two performances. Ennis Musical Society chairperson Rachael Culligan tells us they have had a “terrific response” to the plans for the upcoming concert. “We initially had planned on doing Legally Blonde but with so many members getting Covid, we just felt that we couldn’t manage that scale of rehearsals with …

LESS than a year after receiving formal approval from the Department of Rural and Community Development, the River Fergus walkway is proving one of the most popular recreational amenities in the Ennis area. In fact, the positive public reaction to the paved cycling and walking route from the Quin Road to Clareabbey has prompted a move to extend it to the Quay in Clarecastle where a trailhead development is being planned. Local Fine Gael TD Joe Carey says that proposals for a walking and cycling route linking Clarecastle to Ennis and on to the proposed West Clare Greenway have been under active consideration for several years. “The extensive engineering work on the Ennis South drainage scheme provided the opportunity to develop a walkway alongside the 1.5 kilometre length of the embankment. Because some of the groundwork and infrastructure was already in place, a high standard walkway could be delivered at a very competitive price,” Deputy Carey explained.  “Last March, Rural …

JOBS for Ukrainian professionals could help to provide support for those fleeing to Ireland and minimise the impact on services, Clare’s Fianna Fáil senator has said.  During a Seanad debate, all three of Clare’s senators commended the efforts made in this county to welcome refugees. Senator Timmy Dooley said that, after speaking to a number of health and education professionals, he believes they have the capacity to support their community.  He said that following his own first-hand experience in Ukraine and Poland, the scale of the crisis has not yet become apparent. “I do not think we have seen anything like the scale of the demand just yet,” he said. “I hope and I have great faith in the Irish people that they will stick with it. Everybody I have met wants to be part of the solution right now. “This will require holding the nerve as numbers increase. We are at 10,000. It is a long way to 100,000 …

A DELEGATION from Clare was among over 200 young Irish people who made their voices heard at Dáil na nÓg 2022 on Saturday. The biennial event took place at Dublin’s Convention Centre and tackled a wide range of issues under the overarching theme of equality. This year marked the 20th anniversary of the event which platforms the voices of young people on the issues which matter most to them. Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman made an address and engaged with young people at the event. This year’s event explored the theme of equality as young people, through their local youth councils (Comhairle na nÓg), have been investigating the challenges and opportunities in a variety of areas including mental health, climate change, body image, drugs and alcohol, youth facilities and LGBTIQ+. This theme was chosen by young people as the area of most importance to them. Previous years’ themes included climate action, education, and transport. In …

CLARE is set to get special promotion of its tourism attraction to US markets this year as part of a new initiative. Tourism Ireland is rolling out its ‘twinning’ initiative this year, which involves overseas markets ‘twinning with’ a specific region or area in Ireland. The United States is ‘twinning’ with Clare and Limerick, so Tourism Ireland in the United States is placing a special focus on both counties this year. The tourism body held its March board meeting in Limerick last week and met with regional tourism representatives to discuss activity to restart overseas tourism to Ireland this year. The extensive promotional programme which Tourism Ireland is undertaking to highlight Clare and Limerick, the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland around the world in 2022 was on the agenda also. Speaking after the board meeting, Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “We were delighted to have the chance to meet with representatives of the Clare and Limerick tourism …