News

Everything is ship shape in Tuamgraney as the annual Tidy Towns competition approaches and the development association has enlisted the help of students to restore an old boat that has been installed in the village this week. Tuamgraney Development Association put out a request for the donation of an old boat that they could use as part of a flower installation on the approach into Tuamgraney from the Killaloe side.  Mary Cassidy and Liam Furlong from the development association spoke to Mark Curley, construction studies teacher, and Áine Purcell, green school co-ordinator, both of Scariff Community College, about the possibility of building a large boat to be used as a flowerbed in the centre of the village. Mark Curley suggested restoring a boat and a notice was put on the green school notice board and pupils were asked if they knew of anyone that would donate a boat.Fifth-year pupil Daniel Levie of Williamstown, Whitegate, spoke to his parents Angus and …

Last weekend’s dull weather failed to brighten up tourism prospects in North and West Clare, according to the Irish Hotel Federation president, Michael Vaughan. While numbers were up on Easter, the May Bank Holiday weekend failed to ignite the tourism season. Now, businesses are pinning their hopes on the June Bank Holiday weekend in just over three weeks’ time. “In Lahinch, I would say there were good numbers of visitors but this was the first weekend there was good business around. People would have thought it better than Easter for sure but further up the coast, in places like Ballyvaughan, there was some business but not as strong,” Mr Vaughan commented.“There were lots of day trippers in Kilkee and Lahinch and businesses were quite positive about that. I think the tourist season has definitely started and we would all be hopeful that with a bit of good weather, we might go well going forward,” he added. According to the Lahinch …

PLANS to increase coach tourism in Ennis are being driven forward with the announcement this week that the lower part of the Friars Walk car park is to be converted to a coach park.At Tuesday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, a draft scheme for the coach park was outlined to councillors. This is part of extensive plans to promote Ennis as a destination for coach tourism. It has already seen additional bus and coach parking spaces allocated in the Friars Walk area, adjacent to Clare Museum. According to the draft scheme the coach park will have a tap facility available for coach washing and a waste water disposal facility. The overall park would be covered by CCTV, which would be linked to Glór, where drivers could stay for the duration of their passengers’ visit to the town. The plan allows for coach drivers to drop off and pick up passengers next to the County Museum building.According to Ennis town manager …

THE decision by former Fianna Fáil deputy leader Éamon Ó Cuív not to leave the party his grandfather founded some 86 years ago came as no surprise to those who know him. He is a man with a deep sense of loyalty to Fianna Fáil and while he believes the party is now wrong on a number of issues, it would go against the grain for him to pull the plug on his membership. It was that loyalty, which also made up his mind for him to take a vow of silence and not to campaign for a ‘no’ vote in the European Fiscal Treaty. It was not a bad result either for the Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who has had his leadership accepted by Ó Cuív’s decision to obey the Cork man’s directives. Only time will tell if Ó Cuív will continue to serve under Mr Martin. He may continue to be a thorn in the side of …

THE Government’s controversial national recruitment embargo should be lifted to ensure staffing shortages don’t undermine new Health Service Executive recommendations concerning acute psychiatric care at Ennis hospital, which were drafted following the tragic death of a patient.

REPRESENTATIVES of Shannon-based Aer Lingus maintenance workers are due to meet CEO Christoph Mueller before the weekend, amid fears that the maintenance base will be transferred to Dublin with possible job losses.

SPEED restrictions on the proposed €100 million 10km dual carriageway linking South-East Clare with Limerick City could be as low as 60 kilometres per hour (40mph), it has emerged this week.