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A MASTERPLAN is needed to prepare for the ambitious Green energy hub to be developed by the ESB at Moneypoint, according to a member of the Council’s Economic Development committee. Addressing the January meeting of the local authority, Councillor Johnny Flynn called for advance plans to facilitate the ESB’s multibillion euro Green Atlantic hub, and to address what he described as the “huge impacts” on the county’s road networks, its service and population growth.   “As a member of the economic SPC. I think that as a county, we need to do a master plan on how to deal with the impact on our services of what the ESB are proposing at Moneypoint and also offshore,” he said. “There’s going to be huge impacts on our road network. There’s going to be significant impacts on our services delivery, whether it’s water, sewerage, and population growth.” The Fine Gael member said a recent presentation by the ESB to the SPC had …

MOTORISTS have been urged to avoid parking on narrow access roads to amenities in the Killaloe area after the local fire service encountered difficulties during a recent rescue. Killaloe Fire and Rescue Service was tasked on a call to provide assistance to an injured person on the trail up to Moylussa recently. There have been occasions when firemen would be requested to bring a casualty out of the woods into the ambulance. In this case, the casualty was near the road on the way up to the mountain. Due to careless parking, firemen were not able to use their fire engine and had to instead use their fire truck. The ambulance was just about able to squeeze through with very little to spare. Killaloe Station Officer, Graham Tuohy recalled the difficulties local firemen encountered. “It wasn’t ideal. It was the upper car park where we encountered the difficulty. As luck would have it the van went up first and they …

GENERATIONS of students and the wider community will benefit for years to come, thanks to an ambitious project to invest €250,000 in an astroturf facility at St Joseph’s National School, Miltown Malbay. An information and fundraising campaign for an all-weather pitch will be launched at the school at 2pm on Friday (February 3). The event will showcase the multiple benefits for pupils, local clubs and sporting organisations, as well as the Miltown community as a whole.  Principal of the 113-pupil school, Mr Aidan Looney said that while significant work had been done on the school building over the years, the outdoor facilities were in need of an upgrade. “Part of the school building dates to 1963 and the second phase was done in 1973,” he outlined. “In 2008, I secured funding for an indoor refurbishment, but there has been no real development of the outdoor playing facilities in all of that time.” Thanks to a funding boost of €50,000 from …

EUROVISION hopeful Adgy will be cheered on by his Clare family this Friday as he battles it out for the chance to represent Ireland at the 67th annual song contest. Singer-songwriter Andrew Carr, who performs as Adgy, is among those who will be performing on the The Late Late Eurosong 2023 Special for the chance to perform in the finals in Liverpool this May. The Donegal performer has strong connections to the Banner County. He is the grandson of the late Mary Carr nee Sullivan, who originally came from Boreen in Ennis before moving to Hermitage. She then emigrated to England where she met Andrew Carr who she married, later returning to Ireland to Andrew’s native Donegal. Mary’s brother Jimmy Sullivan still lives Ennis as well as having other relatives in the county. Tony Fenton, Adgy’s second cousin who lives in Ennis, tells us all of his relations in Clare are looking forward to seeing him perform, and they wish …

‘HELL’ has been predicted, when people start to receive tax bills on zoned land in their ownership, under next year’s Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) regime.  The comment was made by Councillor Shane Talty on foot of a motion tabled by Councillor PJ Ryan. The Shannon member called for a derogation, for a fixed period, on the RZLT. He voiced concern at the number of people looking for their lands to be dezoned, and the impact that that might have on the provision of housing. Supporting the motion, Councillor Talty said many people were unaware of the implications of owning zoned land. “I think this is going to blow up into serious controversy when these Revenue letters arrive, the actual bills,” he said.  While there was widespread support for the motion, Councillor Ryan deferred it on the advice of Council Chief Executive Pat Dowling, to give time to examine recently-received public submissions on the RZLT.  Outlining a topic that generated …

A NEW arts collective in Gort is celebrating the nation’s latest Bank Holiday with a series of events in the town. Gort Arts Collective is hosting a series of events to celebrate the new St. Brigid’s bank holiday between February 4 and 5 with events including a procession, an outdoor large-scale projection onto the town’s courthouse, an art exhibition, and theatre performances. The Gort Arts Collective, a group of 40 artists who work in a variety of art forms: painting, sculpture, the written word, and filmmaking aims to bring the community together to celebrate old traditions and create new ones through the medium of the arts. Noreen Scully from the group said, “Ours is an old Irish market town that enjoys a rich and diverse cultural community – and it’s important for everyone in the town to feel that they belong. “The arts are a great way to do this and Brigid is the perfect opportunity. Brigid was a saint, …

A WEST Clare councillor has called for the reclassification of regional roads in the district to facilitate more regular gritting during a cold snap. Councillor Murphy proposed the R487, R488 between Kilkee, Carrigaholt and Kilbaha, and the R473 between Kildysart and Labasheeda, be included as strategic regional routes in future winter service plans as Priority Two. Speaking at a recent West Clare Municipal District meeting, Councillor Murphy said these two strategic regional routes were not included in the Winter Plan for treating roads, despite the fact they served significant populations. The Kilkee Councillor said the R487 is effectively a main road to the Loop Head Peninsula for about 3,000 people. “These roads should be treated as Priority Two, which means their treatment will not be done on an ad-hoc basis. This would ensure they are a core part of the treatment of roads rather than we will get to them if we can. “This is exactly the kind of stuff …

A JUDGE has stated that she is not going to criminalise four respectable north Clare farmers involved in a row over a right of way in Bellharbour in the Burren. At Ennis District Court, Judge Mary Larkin told the four men, “You can’t be pushing and shoving and rowing about a right of way. I am happy for the circuit court to resolve the right of way matter.” In the case, the four men deny the assault charges against them before the district court. Twin brother and farmer, Terence McGann (43) of Turlough, Bellharbour, denies  the assault of Joseph Forde at Turlough, Bellharbour, on October 4 2021. Mr McGann’s twin and farmer, Justin (43) of the same address denies the assault of Emmet Forde at the same location on the same date. Arising from the same incident, Emmet Forde (32) of Glenoir, St Senan’s Road, Ennis, denies the assault of Justin McGann at the same location on the same date …