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‘Locked out’ of home but paying mortgage

A KILLALOE married couple, who have been spending almost €1,400 a month on rent and a mortgage for over four years, remain “locked out” of a fully completed four-bedroom house in a local ghost estate. Remarkably, this situation has continued despite the recent sale of the entire estate.Michele Burke and William Buck, both aged 33, who are renting a house in Ballina, paid a booking deposit on a house at Ard na Deirge, Killaloe on September 7, 2006 and were about to move in December 2009 when a receiver from KPMG was appointed by AIB, after the original developer ran into serious financial difficulties.The couple insist they are now at their wits end, claiming the new developer’s representative, Brian Whelan, stated services may not be completed in the near future and the developer may re-apply for another extension of the planning permission when the current An Bord Pleanála ruling expires.Mr Whelan has declined to comment on any of the couple’s …

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Record attempts beneath the waves

SETTING one world record in a lifetime would probably be enough for most people. However, diver Christy Healy is set to take on an even greater challenge this summer by making an amazing four record attempts, including an underwater dive from Scotland to Northern Ireland.Christy, originally from Kilmaley but living in Barefield, set the world record in 2011 for completing a 10 kilometre underwater dive without surfacing in Lough Derg. The dive raised funds for the Share a Dream Foundation.This summer Christy is hoping to raise even more for both Share a Dream and Temple Street Hospital with his four record attempts.On July 7, Christy will return to Lough Derg to try and beat his time of six hours and 21 minutes for the 10km dive. He is confident he will be able to make the dive in six hours, after coming up with a new method of changing his diving bottles.If he crosses the finish line in time, there …

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A road less travelled by school tours

IT’S hardly a secret that many parents are under serious financial pressure, struggling to keep their children fed and clothed.While the day-to-day expenses are hard to cope with for many, those with teenagers often face additional pressures with school tours to foreign countries on offer.Cathal Oakes, president of St Vincent De Paul in Clare, said such trips can make things harder for struggling parents.“It can put an awful lot of pressure on people who are trying to keep a mortgage going and trying to live up to the expectations that their children might have had a couple of years ago and maybe they can’t afford it.”He said, in some cases, people who are struggling make a particular effort to keep the best side out. “Unfortunately, a lot of the time people who are less well off are more conscious of it and they tend to extend themselves maybe a little bit more, so as to not appear less well off.”Trips …

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410 fish farm submissions lodged

A total of 410 valid submissions about the proposed construction of a giant fish farm off the North Clare coast were made to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, it was confirmed in the Dáil last week.Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) is applying for a license to facilitate the development of a deep-sea salmon farm in Galway Bay at two sites northeast of Inis Oirr. The proposed farm will have two identical units at a northern and southern site and will be able to produce 15,000 tonnes of organic-certified salmon each year.Fishing and community groups have raised concerns about the size and scale of the farm and about sea lice, escaped fish, waste and the impact on wild salmon stocks. Hundreds of people took to the streets of Galway in recent weeks protesting against the proposed farm.Last week, Galway West Government TD Sean Kyne called on the minister to provide greater “transparency in all issues” relating to the fish …

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Revenue’s online property tax guide ‘confusing’

THE Revenue’s property tax website is confusing and adding to the distress of homeowners, a County Clare TD has said. Deputy Timmy Dooley expressed concern about flaws in the valuation of homes in some areas listed on the website and has called for political leadership to sort it out. The Revenue’s Local Property Tax, Property Valuation Guide, uses shading to indicate what valuation band homes fall into. The site only takes into account location, type of accommodation and whether or not it was built pre or post 2000. Size, condition and facilities are not taken into account in the guide.Two apartments side by side on Lower Market Street in Ennis, according to the Revenue’s site, could be in different valuation bands based on the boundary system used. Users of the site then have to go to a different webpage to find out what property tax rates apply to the different valuations.“The confusion created by glaring discrepancies on the property tax …

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Early resumption of transatlantic flights

AMERICAN tourism has been important to Clare’s economy for decades, particularly as the county benefited from the Shannon stopover from 1945 to 2008.While the loss of the stopover has inevitably resulted in the loss of some business, there have been some positive signs in the last few months with the resumption of Philadelphia and Chicago services announced. This week, Aer Lingus resumed its transatlantic services for the summer season at an earlier stage than has been done in recent years.While much has been made about the importance of Ryanair business to Shannon, traditionally, US tourists are far higher spenders than Europeans and getting business from America has the potential to deliver greater benefits to the tourism sector.This week, Lahinch-based hotelier Michael Vaughan, who is president of the Irish Hotels’ Federation, welcomed the early resumption of Aer Lingus’ services and said there are hopes Aer Lingus will make itself more competitive on the Shannon-US routes.“We are delighted they are extending the …

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Airport benefits from adverse weather

SHANNON enjoyed some unexpected business over the last week as unfavourable weather at Cork, Dublin and Knock saw numerous flights divert to the Clare airport.On Thursday, 10 flights diverted to Shannon, five of which were supposed to go to Dublin, three of which were headed for Cork and two that were due to go to Knock.Aer Lingus passengers coming from Paris, Bristol and Heathrow were supposed to go to Cork, while Ryanair passengers coming from Lanzarote and Luton had been en route to Knock.There were around 800 passengers on the five flights.In addition, passengers had to be bussed from Knock to Shannon to fly back to Luton and from Cork to Shannon to fly to Heathrow.On the same day, Dublin-bound Aer Lingus flights from Heathrow and Chicago had to divert to Shannon, along with Ryanair services from Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester.On Monday, another eight flights diverted to Shannon from Dublin. These included Ryanair services from Prestwick, Leeds/Bradford and Kaunas in …

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Bowel cancer screening to start in May

The waiting list for colonoscopy at Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis has been dramatically slashed from two years to a maximum of three months for routine cases.Now, all urgent colonoscopies are done within 28 days and it is expected this waiting time will be reduced even further when bowel cancer screening is introduced at the hospital for people aged between 60 and 69 in May.People from Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, South Galway, North Cork and parts of North Kerry will soon receive invitation letters.Ennis hospital’s endoscopy service has been approved by a top-level accreditation body, a move which opens the way for the introduction of bowel cancer screening at the hospital for the people of the Mid-West. The endorsement was given by the UK-based Joint Advisory Group (JAG), which is the standards body for endoscopy throughout the National Health Service. Former Ennis hospital manager Frank Keane said the new service is another vote of confidence in the hospital, which has a “bright …

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