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The Green Party has published legislation, which will be debated and voted on in the Seanad on Wednesday, aimed at tackling vacancy and dereliction in city and town centres. This is an issue that has been discussed on numeroous occasions in County Clare where such problesm exists in a number of towns, large and small. The Derelict and Vacant Sites Bill 2017 aims to increase the levies on vacant sites from 3% per annum to 5%, to bring forward the date from which they apply from 2019 to mid-2017, and to include all sites under the legislation, as currently sites under 500m2 are exempt. Speaking ahead of the debate in the Seanad, Green Party Senator Grace O’Sullivan said,“We are bringing this legislation to tackle what we see as fundamental flaws in the Government’s approach to vacancy and dereliction in our town and city centres. Throughout the country, in our villages, towns and cities, we are seeing countless examples of underutilisation …

Ballyea 1-19 St.Thomas 2-14 Ballyea had to survive a huge fight back by Galway champions St.Thlmas in the finalten minutes of this All-Ieland club hurling semi-final at Semple stadium in Thurles this evening. In the end the Clare champions prevailed and deservingly reecorded a two point win to seal their place in the All-Ireland final at Croke Park on St. Patricks Day when they wll face either Cuala from Dublin or Slaughneal from Derry who meet in their semi-final at the end of February. For three quarters of this tie Ballyealooked set to record an easy victory.Ballyea were in a strong position at half time when they held a seven point advantage, leading on a score of 0-10 to 0-3, and they were full value for that lead. The Galway champions may point to some missed opportunities from inter county man Conor Cooney, but there is no denying the fact that the Ballyea defence was well on top and gave …

St. Brendans, Killarney 2-17 St. Flannans 1-11 St. Brendans Killarney jusified their ratingas favourites for the Munster colleges senior A football championship title (Corn Ui Mhuiri) when they recorded a marited win over St. Flannans at Neville park in Rathkeale on Saturday. An outstanding performance from midfielder David Shaw \9Dr. Crokes) who missed the side’s quarter final as he was overseas taking part in AFL trials, laid the foundation for this victory by the competition title holders. Shaw kicked six points from play and had a hand in many of the team’s scpores on a day when their movement proved too much for the Clare side. The winners raised into a three point lead inside the opening five minutes and from here on St. Flannans were chasing the game. It was 1-4 to 0-2 after thirteen minutes after the winners had opened up the St. Flannans defence for Dara Moynihan to score their opening goal. The goal sparked a strong …

APPROXIMATELY 150-200 people attended a protest outside Shannon Airport last night, against the implementation of a ban on immigration to the US from seven Muslim majority countries and the use of Shannon by the US military. While the protest was peaceful, a minority of protestors did engage in verbal abuse of Gardai particularly after the demonstrators were prevented from entering the airport. This was by far the largest demonstration at the airport in recent years, the turnout more striking when one takes into account the wintry conditions. A small number of Syrians were among the protestors, refugees who have been resettled in Newcastle West, Co Limerick. The demonstrators began assembling beside the roundabout closest to the airport before 6pm, with a noticeable police presence there also. The crowds were then addressed by a number of speakers, all of whom were critical of Trump and the restriction on US immigration. Some also hit out at the continued use of the airport …

ENNIS District Court has heard of the perils of social media after gardaí outlined how a Shannon man uploaded Facebook profile images of female friends to a porn site and added explicit captions. Evan Meehan (23), of Dernish Lawn, admitted to 30 charges of knowingly making a false report tending to show that an offence had been committed, contrary to Section 12 of the Criminal Law Act 1976. The offences relate to dates between October 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014. On Wednesday, Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that Meehan had taken images of a number of girlfriends who were known to him from Facebook and he wrote comments on the pictures. “He then put them up on a porn site. Because of the comments he had written and how the ladies were dressed, there was sexual connotation attached. They found out and were very upset and distressed,” Inspector Kennedy stated. He said Meehan was identified as the person …

Applications are being sought by Clare County Council under two conservation grants schemes announced by Government this week. The local authority has been allocated €50,000 under the Built Heritage Investment Scheme 2017, which is aimed at the repair and conservation of protected structures and generating employment in the local construction sector. Eligible structures include those listed in Clare County Council’s Record of Protected Structures (RPS), and those within Architectural Conservation Areas (ACAs). Funding awards made under the Scheme will range from a minimum of €2,500 to a maximum of €10,000 per application. Successful applicants will be required to fully match the funding awarded. Meanwhile, €824,000 is being allocated nationally under the 2017 Structures at Risk Fund (SRF),which supports conservation works on a number of protected buildings in private and civic ownership. The Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs says it will consider no more than two applications from any local authority, only one of which may be …

For more than 100 years, The Clare Champion has been the paper of record and choice in Clare. Now, in a changing media landscape, The Clare Champion, is association with Limerick Institute of Technology, is conducting an online survey, which can be found at survey.clarechampion.ie. We are anxious to get feedback and hear what our readership has to say, while, in the new year, we will also be taking to the streets to get the views of the general public. All who participate in the online survey will be entered into a draw for an iPad Mini, with a 12-month digital subscription to The Clare Champion. Also in this issue, we are delighted to offer our readers a chance to win two tickets to see Robbie Williams in the Aviva Stadium in June. The coupon required for the competition is on page 2, with more details on page 6.

TWO young people and a 14-month-old baby are “lucky to be alive”, having had a narrow escape when they were involved in a single vehicle accident at Ballycar on Wednesday at approximately 1.40pm. Moments after their car left the road and overturned, smoke was seen coming from the car. Local garda Declan Fawl arrived at the scene to assist the trapped occupants, before the car became engulfed. He explained that the driver’s door handle had come off in the crash, so he came to their assistance to get the three occupants, including their baby, out through the back passenger doors. Garda Fawl said the car had hit the ditch and flipped onto the other side of the road. The crash was witnessed by another motorist and Garda Fawl just happened to be driving on the same road when the call came in. “I got them out through the back passenger door. The car was smoking and little flames were coming off it but then about two minutes later, it went up. It was nothing really major; they are just lucky to be alive really. They were worried …