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CLARE County Council has officially launched a new heritage plan and design guide for one of north Clare’s most important towns. The plan for Lisdoonvarna sets out proposals to inform and guide the town’s future development and ensure the conservation of its rich heritage. The Lisdoonvarna Heritage Plan and Design Guide proposes numerous upgrades, public realm improvements and developments. A Heritage Trail is proposed to connect the many heritage sites in the town, including the Spa Wells, bridges, significant buildings and views, which, alongside an audio guide, can highlight local stories, folklore and history along the trail. Other proposed upgrades include public realm improvements for the Main Square, Lower Main Street and Tivoli Terrace, along with conceptual drawings for the town’s arrival points, the Twin Wells, Rathlaun Wells, and the viewpoints at the Spectacle Bridge, Gowlaun Spa and Maryville House. The Heritage Plan and Design Guide also makes proposals for the Spa Wells complex. The Lisdoonvarna Spa Wells holds a …

THE development of Clare’s first MRI unit is being planned for Ennis by a leading provider of diagnostic imaging. At the moment patients in need of MRI scans have to travel outside Clare, with the nearest units in Limerick and Galway. Alliance Medical is seeking planning permission to allow for the development of an MRI diagnostic unit at the newly opened Primary Care Centre situated at the former Braid’s site on Station Road. The planning application seeks a change in use of an already permitted ground floor cafe/coffee shop unit, which is currently vacant, to medical use. The company has been given permission by the site’s owners Valley Healthcare to make the planning application to Clare County Council. A planning statement prepared by Coakley O’Neill on behalf of the applicant and lodged with the application outlines that Ennis, as the county’s key town “is ideally suited” to provide these facilities and “within Ennis, the newly opened primary care centre is …

EXTRA information is being sought by Council planners on an application for 16 new homes in the village of Quin. Abbey View Quin Property Development Ltd applied last November for the homes on a site of around one hectare which spans Maigh Dara and Ballyhannon North. The application also requests permission to amend an access road and ancillary services granted in 2017. It seeks permission too for a temporary access route from the public road at Ballyhannon North. This is for building purposes only, in order to avoid having machinery accessing the site through the existing Maigh Dara estate. In a letter sent to the developer on January 19, planners sought Further Information (FI) on nine aspects of the plans. Given the proximity of the site to the Poulnagordon Cave and Old Domestic Buildings Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), the developer has been instructed to carry out a screening assessment to determine the potential impact. The document must include a …

Off the back of a memorable championship summer in which Clare encouragingly made their championship mark, David Fitzgerald is relishing the prospect of trying to surpass that achievement in 2023. Just as the Banner’s swashbuckling provincial performances ignited the whole county, Fitzgerald was also performing to new heights in the Saffron and Blue jersey, scoring 2-18 in just seven championship ties on the way to deservedly becoming Inagh-Kilnamona’s first All-Star recipient (since Catherine O’Loughlin in 2005 at least). Being his seventh championship campaign, the stars had finally aligned for Fitzgerald in terms of finally nailing down a starting place. You see, prior to 2022, his versatility of being able to play in either defence or attack essentially made it difficult for him to be a master of one position as evidenced by 11 of his 24 championship appearances between 2016-2021 being from the bench. “To be honest, with the versatility, just trying to be consistent in a position was tough …

It was an enthralling hurling summer that Clare understandably never wanted to end but while supporters still bask in those indelible championship memories, the players and management themselves have long since parked 2022 and have been gearing towards not only emulating but eclipsing those feats in the coming season. Of course, with such ambitions comes heightened expectations, something which selector Ken Ralph only welcomes as they prepare for their first real tests of 2023 over the next eight weeks. “I would hope that expectations have risen because we had a reasonably good year last year. Obviously it didn’t end too great but we were happy with the majority of our championship run and we have to push on now. We have to kick on and improve and with that inevitably comes expectation and we hope to meet that this year and try and go a couple of steps further than we did last year.” Having incrementally finished each of their …

Brian Lohan has introduced ten new players to the Clare hurling squad for 2023 and points to the ambition among the new recruits and the established stars as they bid to take county seniors to the next level and win trophies, writes Joe Ó Muircheartaigh It’s hard to believe that it’s now a quarter of a century since one of the greatest examples of the real difference between league and championship was provided by a Clare team that had current manager Brian Lohan as a totem. It was 1998, when the great team that Ger Loughnane built rocked down to Semple Stadium for a joust with Cork in the National League semi-final on the first Sunday in May. Summertime had just kicked in and Clare had their chance to book a final place against Waterford. It was 20 years since the team that Ger himself was part of won the league for the second successive year — why not mark …

ERIN Hooban is the new chair of Shannon Chamber’s Human Resources Forum. Ms Hooban is Group HR manager with Enva, and has significant experience working within manufacturing environments and is vastly experienced in interacting with a diverse range of clientele from business leaders to operations including a global HR team. She has been a member of the Chamber’s HR Forum since its formation in 2017 and replaces Caroline O’Brien chief people officer with Shannon Engine Support (SES) Ltd., who held the chair in 2022. The purpose of the forum is to create the space, time, and an environment to support the thinking, reflection, sharing of ideas, best practices, and planning for the future of strategic HR. Shannon Chamber CEO Helen Downes said, “Ms Hooban has the ideal credentials to steer the HR Forum in 2023. She is conversant with strategic and operational HR activities and will use her unique leadership skills to take the forum on a new trajectory. “With …

FOLLOWING last Saturday’s meeting in the Town Park 22 people came forward for the formation of a committee to represent concerns in the community about the development of Unit 153 in the Shannon Busines Park as a centre for emergency accommodation. “We’re going to have a meeting, look at what people want. I think we’ll want to look at meeting with public representatives, look at getting answers with regard to the plans, what services and amenities will be put in place for the community with the backdrop of a proposal to use a significant sized building,” said Elaine Kingston Durbin, one of the organisers of Saturday’s meeting. She said there is a belief that several hundred refugees will be housed there, but it’s still unconfirmed. “This is a 137,000 square foot building, it’s not small. If they were going to bring in a smaller amount of people they would bring in a smaller building. “Based on other buildings around the …