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Planning application by end of Decemnber for €1m investment in Ogonnelloe watersports facility A MAJOR upgrading of outdoor facilities on the outskirts of Ogonnelloe costing in the region of €1 milllion should be in place by the summer of 2023, it emerged this week. Ballycuggeran Watersports Activity Facility near Ogonnelloe and Waterworld in Kilkee are two of the 22 nationwide locations that will benefit from a total investment totalling €19 million, which has been approved by Sports Minister Catherine Martin. A planning application for the development of new facilities at Two-Mile-Gate, Kilkee and Dromineer will be made to An Bord Pleanála before the end of the year. It is believed that people will be able to make a submission on the development to the appeals board. Subject to approval in the first quarter of 2022, it is hoped the new facilities will be operational for the summer in 2023. While most of the funding will be provided by Fáilte Ireland, …

GARDAI have renewed an appeal for witnesses to an incident which occurred last Wednesday, October 27 in Ennis. A male was found with head injuries in the Clon Road area of Ennis town at around 9pm on that evening. Anyone who may have witnessed anything or may have dashcam footage from this area at the time are kindly asked to contact Ennis Garda station at 065 6848100 or any Garda station. There is one witness in particular that Gardai would like to speak to. This person assisted with traffic management before Gardai arrived at scene. The witness is a male and is described as being 5’8” in height with tight brown hair wearing grey tracksuit bottoms. Gardai are looking for this person to contact them at Ennis Garda Station.

SEVERAL units of the fire brigade and the Gardai are attending the scene of a fire, at an auto business, close to the Mart, on the Quin Road in Ennis. The smoke from the fire is visible from some distance away, while there are a large number of emergency personnel present, bringing the situation under control.

GARDAÍ at Kilrush are renewing their appeals to the public for assistance in identifying the remains of three people whose bodies were recovered in recent years off the coast of County Clare. The first case concerns the body of a female recovered on August 14 2016, near Doolin by a member of the Burren sub-aqua unit in the course of a training exercise. The deceased was removed to the mortuary at University Hospital Limerick where a post-mortem was carried out. Following examination foul play was ruled out and a DNA sample was harvested. Partial clothing on the body included denim jeans bearing the label Esmara and another item of clothing which was purple in colour bearing a size tag 40/42. A black belt with a woven pattern was also recovered. The deceased has never been identified and was buried on January 3 2018 at Drumcliffe Cemetery in Ennis. In the second case, on July 30 2010, the body of man …

THREE CLARE Lotto players came agonisingly close to winning the €19 million jackpot last week, matching five of the drawn numbers. Getting the five numbers last Wednesday October 27, has, however, earned 35 players around the country €22,872 each. With the jackpot again intact after Saturday’s draw another 42 players won €23,367 each. Amazingly two of the three tickets for the Wednesday October 27 draw were sold in the same Ennis shop, while the third ticket that came so close to scooping Ireland’s largest ever Lotto was sold in Corofin. The National Lottery has revealed the selling locations where each of the 35 tickets that matched five numbers in the Wednesday October 27 draw were purchased. The winning ticket holders from 13 counties will now go on to claim €22,872 each. As Wednesday night’s jackpot was capped, this meant that the funds that would usually be added to the jackpot were instead distributed to the next prize tier at which …

CLARE’S Fianna Fail TD has insisted that the Minister for Housing remains “committed in principle” to extending the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme to this county. Deputy Cathal Crowe also reaffirmed his belief that this will happen before Christmas. “I can’t see why the announcement can’t be made on the very same day the minister launches the updated grant scheme,” he said. “I’ve met and spoken by phone to Minister O’Brien a number of times since September and he’s confident there won’t be any delays.” Deputy Crowe’s comments come after further confirmation that the Department of Housing is to query the county council’s application to access the grant scheme. Last week, a written response was sent by the Department to Deputy Joe Carey. In recent days, Deputy Crowe received a formal reply from the housing minister, confirming that aspects of the council’s report on defective blocks in Clare are to be probed. The Fianna Fail TD was told by the …

ICSA chief says support for organic farming ‘excessive’ relative to other sectors CLARE’S suckling enterprise, which generates an annual injection of an estimated €60 million into the local economy, is being short changed under the latest CAP Reform proposals, a local farm leader has claimed. ICSA secretary, Eddie Punch has called on Clare’s Oireachtas members to address the significant underfunding of direct supports for Clare suckler, beef and sheep farmers under the government’s proposed package under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). While Mr Punch supports organic farming, he believes the proposed funding of €256 million for this sector is “off the richter scale”. In 2020, there were 66,232 calves registered as born to a suckler cow in Clare. This puts Clare as the third highest county in Ireland for suckler cows behind Galway and just marginally behind Mayo. ICSA secretary, Eddie Punch stressed the suckler enterprise is hugely important for sustaining rural towns and villages in Clare. “Marts like Ennis, …

At a well attended unveiling ceremony held in Corofin on Sunday last Dr Maccon Macnamara, President of Cumann Staire is Dúchais Chora Finne officially launched the Fr. Murphy and 40 Shilling Freeholders Memorial at the Creamery Cross. Dr Macnamara praised the actions of Fr Murphy in seeking to extend equal rights to members of the Catholic Faith and said his actions as one of the leaders in the efforts to elect Daniel O’Connell, in the famous Clare Election of 1828, deserve to be remembered. Fr Murphy, a Newmarket on Fergus native, served as Parish Priest in Corofin from 1818 to 1831 and proved his dynamism by building a church in the village in 1822, opening badly needed schools and standing up to a political system which allowed for discrimination against a very significant proportion of the population. When he suffered an untimely death at the young age of 42 he was attended during his final illness by Dr Michael Macnamara, …