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FANORE gardener Carl Wright has certainly reaped what he has sowed with his hard work at Caher Bridge Garden seeing him named among Ireland’s Garden Heroes. Carl, who is originally from Devon and moved to Clare in the 1990s, appeared on the new RTÉ One show Ireland’s Garden Heroes last Thursday, wowing the judges with his creative use of space and winning the show. Speaking to The Clare Champion Carl told us he is delighted with the win, adding that he was “quite surprised” when judge Ingrid Swan turned up to give him the good news. “They managed to cover their tracks pretty well. They said they were coming to do a bit of filming that hadn’t gone right last time, so we just assumed that’s what they were doing and then they turned up and surprised us”. He hadn’t seen the show, or the other gardens he was up against, until Thursday night. “I didn’t know what the other …

WORKS on a new footpath and pedestrian crossing for Clooney will begin in a matter of weeks and the local community development group will be informed shortly about the time-frame, writes Fiona McGarry. The matter was raised at the July meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District when Councillor Pat Hayes tabled a motion seeking an update. The Fianna Fáil member noted that Clooney and Quin had been added to the East Clare district in recent years and that Clooney now has an active community group. “The group are proposing to create a sense of a centre for Clooney,” Councillor Hayes said. “They have raised issues around paths and crossings and I would like to thank the Killaloe district team for their efforts to move this up the line and get greater funding opportunities for the works,” he said. “The works will clearly show the commitment of Clare County Council to the community of Clooney. The council should always embrace efforts …

A BID to buy more time to thrash out controversial aspects of the new development plan for Clare has been successful. At a special local authority meeting on Wednesday, a motion invoking new legislation that makes provision for the disruption caused by the pandemic led to the granting of an additional seven months to finalise the blueprint. While the extension of time was granted in strict compliance with the provisions of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act, 2021, several council members have pledged  to use the additional time to ensure the new plan is as favourable as possible in terms of the development of rural Clare. There were some dissenting voices from the Ennis district with two members reluctantly backing the extension and expressing reservations about potential delays in major projects for the county town. At the council’s July meeting, 11 members had tabled a motion seeking a stay on the plan for 12 months. Councillors Murphy, Hayes, Cooney, Gerry …

THE 2021 Capital Plan has made an allocation of €6 million for health facilities in Clare, with six projects earmarked for investment this year. The blueprint unveiled by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and seen by The Champion allocates €1.89m towards the provision for what is described as a “fit-for-purpose residential addiction treatment service” to replace the existing facilities at Bushy Park, outside Ennis. In respect of the replacement community nursing unit for St Joseph’s Hospital, which will comprise two 50-bed units on a green-field site, 75 of which will be long stay and 25 short stay, an allocation of €0.95m has been made by the Department of Health. Provision for the equipping of the new Out Patient Department (OPD) at Ennis General Hospital – which will include the provision of an X-ray room and other diagnostic facilities has been made and represents a spend this year of €0.44m. Meanwhile, Phase 1b of the redevelopment of Ennis General Hospital which will consist …

Eoin Brennan previews the county football championship action with focus on games across all divisions THE overly-familiar West Clare derby of Kilmurry Ibrickane and St Joseph’s Miltown represents the perfect start for this year’s race for the Jack Daly. Of course, it’s their fourth championship meeting in less than two years, with the spoils split evenly so far and what makes it even more intriguing is the fact that they have now shared the last six senior crowns evenly (Kilmurry Ibrickane 2016, ’17, ’20, St Joseph’s Miltown 2015, ’18, ’19). As defending champions, Kilmurry Ibrickane certainly had the upper hand in last year’s championship opener, but a combination of key injuries to Shane Hickey and Dermot Coughlan allied to Miltown’s Cusack Cup winning form have certainly swung this year’s momentum towards the men from Miltown Malbay. In an unforgiving group, last year’s finalists Cratloe will also be keen to keep pace at the top as they face Cooraclare this Sunday. …

THE founder of the Clare Pyrite Action Group has warned of the serious mental and physical impact of any delays in extending redress to homeowners in this county. Dr Martina Cleary welcomed the news week that, last Friday, the local authority made a detailed submission to the Department of Housing asking that The Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, which is currently only open to Mayo and Donegal, be extended to Clare. She cautioned, however, that any delay on the part of the government would have a detrimental effect on the mental and physical health of those living in defective homes. “The minister now has everything he needs to make the decision to extend the scheme,” Dr Cleary said. “He has the proof that the problem is the same as in County Mayo. There is no reason now to delay. The longer we’re left out of the redress scheme, the more our homes are going to deteriorate. What’s worse is that …

Munster Minor Football Championship Semi-Final Limerick 3-11 Clare 0-12 CLARE’S hopes of reaching a fourth Munster Minor Final in five years were dashed by a vengeful Limerick who raided for three timely goals to floor their hosts in Cusack Park, Ennis this evening, reports Eoin Brennan. After eight successive defeats to their neighbours in as many seasons, Limerick were full value for victory as their physical superiority and greater scoring efficiency overpowered Dermot Coughlan’s young side who never recovered from a wasteful opening quarter. Despite facing into a sizeable breeze, the Banner hit the ground running but seven shots at the posts only yielded a Craig Riordan free by the tenth minute. Those misses would almost be immediately punished when Limerick, in a rare attack, managed to put Emmet Rigter through on goal only for his attempt to ricochet off the crossbar and line before bouncing into the welcome arms of goalkeeper Cian Corry. A relieved Clare did finally hone …

Michael O’Connor on a glorious night for Feakle as they took their first Clare Cup in 33 years THE thunder was in the air and also on the field for the first quarter of this superb Clare Cup game played in Kilmaley. For Feakle, it was the chance to dream of 1988 heroics, knowing a win of some proportions allowing for Cratloe winning against SIxmilebridge might bring the title back to Biddy Earley country. For Kilmaley, a last chance to fine tune and prepare for what many have titled the group of death. The exchanges throughout the game were fierce and uncompromising. Michael O’Malley, who made an unexpected exit soon after, opened the scoring in the first minute with a superb score. It comes as no surprise that Shane McGrath once again took the scoring honours and he had two frees on the board after five minutes as Feakle were operating with Con Smyth as a sweeper and indeed at …