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A LARGE majority of respondents to an extensive Clare County Council survey has indicated it would like to see some form of pedestrianisation in Ennis immediately. A total of 1,796 completed surveys were received and overall, 71.2% of all respondents stated they would like to see some form of pedestrianisation ‘immediately’; 20.3% in the ‘medium/long term dependent on provision of new infrastructure/service’ and 8.5% indicated ‘no-never’. The result was much closer between business owners surveyed, 54 of whom completed the poll. Some 38.9% favoured introduction of pedestrianisation immediately, 24.1% in the medium to long term, 37% selected No/Never. Of the 204 respondents over 65 years of age, 67.6% favoured the introduction of pedestrianisation immediately, 21.1% in the medium to long term, 11.3% selected No/Never. There were 102 respondents declared as ‘having mobility issues’ of whom 47.1% favoured introduction of pedestrianisation immediately, 21.6% in the medium to long term, 31.4% selected No/Never. Of those who indicated they would like to see …

FURTHER objections have been lodged in response to a plan from Eir to install a 21-metre mast on its exchange in Scariff.  Submissions are currently being accepted on the planning application, which could see the replacement of an existing 12-metre wooden structure with a much higher telecommunications mast with dishes, antennas and other equipment.  More concerns have been voiced locally, in recent days, this time from residents of the nearby Connaught Road and Derg View development. Additional letters of objection have estimated that the proposed structure would be located just ten metres from some of the homes in the adjacent estate. The submission contends that a mast on the scale of that proposed should not be allowed in such close proximity to the residential development.  Another submission, on behalf of a local family, says their property is already overlooked by the existing mast. “Increasing the height as proposed will result in an even larger eyesore”, the objection drawn up by …

THE pre-Christmas decision not to relegate any team from the 2021 Clare Senior Hurling Championship and proceed with an 18 clubs format for the coming season was reaffirmed by Clare GAA in Treacy’s West County Hotel this evening, reports Eoin Brennan. Despite granting the request of Broadford, Scariff, Smith O’Brien’s and Whitegate for a special meeting of the Clare County Board seven days previously to contest the legality, procedure and consequences of the 18-16 vote on December 21, new Clare GAA Chairman Kieran Keating informed the delegates that window of opportunity to appeal had elapsed. With no dissenters on the night of the vote or any appeal within the allotted three days of the December 21st meeting, the decision to void any senior demotion stood, with the Master Fixtures Committee currently formulating a fixtures plan for 2022 to include 18 senior hurling teams. Nonetheless, there would be continued debate for over an hour before the issue that has been to …

ENNIS Girls rugby season took another big step forward at the weekend when the U16s ran out 48-0 winners over Ballincollig in the Munster semi-final played at the Cork club. The Ennis girls have had a great season to date and their successful run in the league led to this semi final against the well-fancied Cork outfit. Straight from the kick-off and for the first ten minutes of the game both teams ran at each other’s defences to identify any points of weakness, but hard tackling from both sides restricted any attacking moves. The dry weather and hard pitch allowed for a fast pace and good handling was evident with few errors from either team. Ennis broke the deadlock at the 10-minute mark when centre Aine Long picked up an offload after a great run by winger Ellis Flaherty and touched down under the posts. The try was converted by scrumhalf Emma Keane. The Ennis forwards begin to gain a …

PLANNING permission has been granted for the development of four houses at Holland Street, Liscannor, on the proviso they are for permanent residents only. A planner’s report on the application by John Vaughan says that the site comprises two parcels of land on the north side of the street. Planning has been granted subject to nine conditions, one of which is that the dwellings be for permanent occupation only. Another condition requires that the buildings “shall be single storey or single storey with attic accommodation and shall have regard to the design and character of the built environment in the vicinity of the site.” This is said to be required in the interests of visual amenity. Another condition requires that the existing road boundary “be retained in its entirety except where its removal is required for the construction of an entrance to serve the dwellings”. “Side walls and piers of the proposed entrance shall be tied into the existing roadside …

THE provision of an Ennis town bus service “is a priority” for the National Transport Authority (NTA), with route selection currently being finalised. An update on the progress of plans on the long awaited bus service for the county capital were outlined at a recent meeting of the Ennis Municipal District. Deputy Mayor of Ennis Councillor Paul Murphy had sought the details, saying, “we need to have a local bus service for Ennis”. Leonore O’Neill, Senior Executive Officer, responded, “The Ennis Municipal District are in ongoing communication with the NTA Public Transport Service Planning Team who are responsible for the planning and design of the Town Bus Service in Ennis. The NTA are currently finalising route selection. Implementation is dependent on budgets being available to support the operational cost of providing the service.” Director of service Carmel Kirby told the meeting that discussions with the NTA are “at an advanced stage” with routes being finalised throughout the town. “The Ennis …

STUDENTS from Clare took home six prizes from the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2022. Anna Mae O’Driscoll from Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna and the team of James Blackwell and Oisin Coughlan from Ennistymon CBS both registered double successes. Oisin Jackson from Mary Immaculate and the team of Anna Browne, Emma Cantillon and Gemma Hannon from Colaiste Muire Ennis were also awarded prizes. Anna Mae won two awards for her project entitled “Does the Limestone in the Burren Keep it as Warm as People Say?”. In this project, she was investigating if the heat holding ability of the Burren limestone is as good as people think it is. For her research she was third in in the Junior Individual Chemical, Physical and Mathematical sciences category. She also won the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) award. This is the second year in a row that this award has come to Lisdoonvarna. Oisín was awarded a highly commended for …

A CLAREMAN who has been testing the resourcefulness of the Irish Postal Service with vague addresses for the past five years has reported another successful delivery. Gearoid Kelly and his friend, Tony McTigue, eschewing things like eircodes and actual addresses, have set an annual challenge for An Post with their correspondence. The pair have been sending postcards and letters with the likes of the following written on them: “That lad who studied commerce in NUIG who used to be in TradSoc, played in the Crane on Tuesdays, lives in Dublin now for the past few years, see him on Facebook a lot with dinosaur costume, Tulla…. or perhaps Feakle? Anyhow, just get this to East Clare and they will know who I am on about, Ireland” Even that level of obfuscation failed to stop An Post successfully delivering the letter. This year’s effort, however, needed a second sending, before it found its target, having first been sent in November 2020 …