News

To celebrate the 149th anniversary of WB Yeats’ birth, the Lady Gregory Yeats Trail group and Coole Music are holding an evening of poetry, song, anecdote, harp and traditional music in Loughrea. Words and music from the West: poetry by WB Yeats and music by Turlough O’Carolan will be performed by Tale of the Gael. At the event, which will take place in Loughrea Library this Saturday, art work of Jack B, Lilly, and Lolly Yeats will be on display and a short talk will be given on the Loughrea-Yeats connection. The programme combines the works of 18th century Irish composer of harp music Turlough O’ Carolan and poet WB Yeats in a way that reveals similarities in the lives of both. The musical group Tale of the Gael, has an international reputation for setting some of Ireland’s most beautiful music into historic context, and has represented Ireland abroad on several occasions, most recently at European Culture Week Strasbourg in …

A negotiating team representing the political parties and independents on the new 28-member Clare County Council will meet for the eighth time this Wednesday evening to try to broker an agreement on the rotation of  the Mayor of Clare position. The situation must be resolved in this for the annual general meeting of the council on this Friday afternoon. In the past, the post of Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council was retained within the majority party but for the past decade or so, the position [now mayor] has rotated among parties and independents. The outgoing mayor, Joe Arkins lost his seat in the recent local elections, an outcome that was due in no small measure to the redrawing of the electoral areas. It is understood that Fianna Fáil will have two terms  and at the crux of the matter is how to strike a balance of sharing the role of mayor between the seven independent, joined with the one Sinn Féin councillor, …

Ryanair’s announcement this Wednesday that it is to add five routes onto its winter schedule at Shannon has been welcomed as another significant boost for the airport. Shannon Airport’s  winter schedule, which starts at the end of October, will see Ryanair retain its new Paris, Berlin, Fuerteventura, Warsaw and Krakow routes, all of which commenced in April. In all, Ryanair will operate 10 routes this winter, five more than last year. The other routes operated by the airline across the winter schedule will be Gatwick, Lanzarote, Liverpool, Stansted and Wroclaw. Shannon Airport CEO, Neil Pakey said, “This is a very important commitment by Ryanair to its Shannon schedule. We are already experiencing a significant upswing in summer passenger numbers thanks to the airline’s nine new routes, which started at the beginning of April. “A major objective of ours after securing those new summer services was to bolster the winter season and this is a significant move in that regard.” Also welcoming …

As around 2,800 Clare students began the first of the main Leaving Cert, Leaving Cert Applied and Junior Cert examinations this morning (Wednesday), the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU) has issued a reminder about its annual blog. “The exam blog goes live on Wednesday and students from across the country will be blogging throughout the exams, letting us know how they’re finding the exam process, and what they think of the exams themselves,” said ISSU president, Craig Mc Hugh “Students in Ireland should take care to relax over the next few weeks and avoid cramming, the most important thing is for them to present what they’ve learned over the course of their studies, not in the night before. As a fifth year student myself, I can only begin to imagine the feelings among exam students, but I’d like to urge all candidates to relax and realise that they are only human and can only do their best,” he said. ISSU …

FIVE Clare restaurants celebrated their success at the Munster Regional Irish Restaurant Awards and will now go on to represent their county for the national titles at the All-Ireland Irish Restaurant Awards 2014. The Best Restaurant in Clare is Gallagher’s Seafood Restaurant; Best Chef in Clare David Hurley of The Dining Room at Gregan’s Castle Hotel; Best Hotel Restaurant in Clare The Dining Room at Gregans Castle Hotel; Best Casual Dining in Clare L’Arco Italian Restaurant, Best Gastro Pub in ClareVaughan’s Anchor Inn, Best Wine Experience in Clare Earl of Thomond @ Dromoland Castle Hotel and Best Customer Service in Clare Earl of Thomond @ Dromoland Castle Hotel. The All-Ireland Irish Restaurant Awards 2014 will take place next Monday in Dublin.. The night will see an expected crowd of up to 800 restaurant owners, staff and industry experts to gather to celebrate their work. “In their sixth year now, the Irish Restaurant Awards continue to go from strength to strength. …

TUAMGRANEY’s community weekend attracted record numbers to the East Clare village this past bank holiday weekend, as the festival elected a new mayor, and celebrated the life and times of Brian Ború. After a hotly contested election campaign the new Mayor of Tuamgraney was announced as Frank O’Meara, representing Hassett’s Bar. A first time candidate, Frank beat off competition from Michael Daly representing Teach Uí Bhrian, Mary Hogan representing East Clare Equestrian Centre, and Louise Carey representing Ryans Fuels. With 2,200 votes cast across the whole weekend, it came down to 49 votes separating the mayor from his nearest rival, Louise Carey. The new mayor was announced at an event on Sunday night and the chain of office was presented to Frank O’Meara, by Councillor Joe Cooney, who knows a few things about poll topping, on Sunday night to a gathering of approximately 700 people in the Marquee at Hassetts. Frank’s first official duty as Mayor was on Monday when …

AN application has been submitted to Clare County Council seeking an extension of planning permission for a significant residential development at Tullyvarraga in Shannon. The application has been made by Jim Woods Building Contractor Ltd who is seeking an extension of planning granted in 2009 for the construction of 33 houses. The houses would consist of two blocks of five town houses, two blocks of four town houses, one block of three town houses, four blocks of semi-detached houses and five detached houses. There would also be one four-storey apartment block, with 38 apartments included. Of these 27 would be two beds, three would be one bed, four would be three beds and there are also be four two bed penthouses. It is also proposed that parking for 55 cars would be included for the apartment block. The application for an extension of planning permission claims that there is local demand for housing once again. “The site is serviced and …

CELT, the Centre for Environmental Living and Training is running three events as part of Biodiversity Week, which is focused on recording and identifying mosses, lichens and liverworts. On Wednesday they will hold a Raheen Oakwood event with students from the ALFA project, Active Learning for Adolescents, which is based in Tuamgraney. The surveying is being held to raise awareness of this microscopic world, which is part of our biodiversity. “Native woodlands are the richest land based habitat for biodiversity, Irelands authentic landscape is Western Atlantic temperate rainforest dominated by Oakwood, this habitat is rich in bryophytes and epiphytes (mosses, lichens, ferns, liverworts) due to the high moisture content and unique adaptability of the Oak woods through time,” Andrew St Ledger, native woodland specialist and CELT biodiversity co-ordinator outlined. The event involves recording mosses, lichens and liverworts in Irish oak woods, with separate identification sessions using a microscope as well as manuals the results will be compiled and then shared …