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Kilkee councillor calls for bypass proposal to be shelved

ATTEMPTS by Kilkee county councillor Pat Keane to remove the proposal for a bypass linking the Carrigaholt Road with the Kilrush Road in Kilkee is unlikely to happen soon. The proposal is contained in the current West Clare Local Area Plan and was first submitted to the 2003 plan.Councillor Keane told last week’s Kilrush Electoral Area meeting that Clare County Council should ditch the proposal and allow the land in question to be used for alternative purposes.“It’s unfair to a person that their land is tied up. The main question is, will this ever be done? My view and the view of the people of Kilkee is that it will never be and that it shouldn’t be done,” Councillor Keane said of the bypass in Kilkee.He said traffic heading West of Kilkee should have to pass through the town to be of economic benefit.“If anybody is going West to the Loop Head Lighthouse, you need to bring them through the …

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Be afraid, be very afraid for our futures

Bailed-out banks spent almost €7m on legal fees over the past three years to repossess homes from people who have fallen on bad times.That was the chilling heading in the Irish Examiner during the week as we sink deeper into the economic mess that our leaders have created for us.It is just one other small example of the sort of stuff that has been driving Irish people to despair since the bubble burst four years ago.As financial adviser James Fitzsimons said in an article in this week’s Sunday Independent, “Those who pay back what they owe are burdened with the debts of those who do not”.We are living in an Alice in Wonderland world where nothing makes sense. Banks gambled and lost but the rest of the people of Ireland – especially the most vulnerable – are forced to make huge sacrifices as a result. The guilty bankers continue to pay themselves huge salaries, pensions and bonuses.As we approach budget …

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North Clare man raises issue of ‘dangerous’ road flooding

A North Clare resident described flooding on a stretch of road outside his home as “dangerous” and called on the local authority to address the issue.David Spencer, and his wife Joan, have lived at Ballyreen, Doolin for the past 15 years. According to Mr Spencer, there had been regular flooding approximately 200 yards from their home until five years ago. Since then, in times of heavy rain, the water flows along the road outside his home. This change, he said, coincided with Clare County Council raising the level of one section of the road by between 2.5ft and 3ft. Mr Spencer said this, combined with relief pipes inserted at the time, has resulted in the water “being pushed” towards residents’ houses.“The flooding is terribly dangerous,” Mr Spencer told The Clare Champion.“This is on the coast road from Doolin to Ballyvaughan and on to Galway. It gets a lot of tourists in the summer but even then, when there is a …

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Minister to address forum on mental health

The Minister of state with responsibility for mental health will be in Clare this weekend addressing a forum aimed at eradicating the stigma of mental illness in rural Ireland. Junior Minister for disability, older people, equality and mental health, Kathleen Lynch TD and Limerick TD Dan Neville, president of The Irish Association of Suicidology are among the speakers at the seminar on Mental Health in Ennistymon on Thursday.Well-known Clare speakers are community activist and doctor Billy O’Connell GP, as well as psychiatrist Dr Moosajee Bhamjee. The event takes place at the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon at 7.30pm.  

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People asked to shop local

Clare people were advised to shop patriotically by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, when he spoke at the National Tourism Conference held in Ennistymon at the weekend. Minister Varadkar was due to be the guest speaker at the conference banquet on Saturday night but instead, due to a scheduling conflict, addressed delegates earlier in the day.Minister Varadkar suggested that shopping in Northern Ireland after the Budget was not the answer to the country’s or its citizens’ financial woes. He pointed out that for those considering travelling from Clare it was particularly uneconomical when the cost of travel, the exchange rate and man hours were taken into consideration.The potential for economic growth in tourism was the subject of the 23rd conference, which is organised by Clare Tourist Council in conjunction with Clare County Council.“We were delighted to have Minister Varadkar come to the conference because it has been a few years since we had a minister here. It …

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Poison of racism alive in Ireland

It will be over a week since Fine Gael Councillor Darren Scully spouted race hate on radio when this column is published. At the time of writing, he is still a member of the main party of government in the Irish state. The latest information available states that a decision on his membership will be taken halfway through the month of December. This will be a good month after he made his statements over the airways. This is a clear indication of how seriously Fine Gael is taking his poisonous words. The fact that he was not immediately dismissed from the party and told that he was not welcome to be a member says a lot about the ideals the party and its executive holds to be its own. What Councillor Scully said cannot be dismissed as mere ignorance. It was a shameful affirmation of a stinking undercurrent of hatred that resides just below the surface in Irish culture. The …

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Garda recalls pier rescue

Garda Margaret Purcell vividly recalls St Patrick’s Day 2003. Then based in Kilrush, Garda Purcell was only in her second week serving in West Clare when, with Garda Denis O’Herlihy, she got a call to head for Cappa Pier as a woman was in the water. “It was a beautiful sunny day. I was only 10 days into my new duty in Kilrush. I hardly even knew where Cappa Pier was. We didn’t know what we were going to. We heard there was a woman in the water but for all I knew I could have got my ankles wet,” Garda Purcell told The Clare Champion. “I remember exactly what happened. It’s not something that you forget. I remember it all very clearly. It certainly wasn’t over quickly and it wasn’t one of those things that went in a blink,” she recounted.Garda Purcell availed of her swimming skills and dived into the water at the pier, joining Anne Marie Histon, …

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Knife attack bravery award for Paudie

ENNIS resident Paudie Sheahan was presented with a national bravery award at a ceremony held in Farmleigh House recently following an incident in the county town where he confronted a dangerous knife-wielding man in 2001. Paudie was one of 18 recipients at the awards ceremony and was presented with a bronze medal and certificate of bravery for his efforts to rescue a woman being threatened by a man wielding a knife. He explained how the incident unfolded on Christmas night in 2001 and how he was faced with the split-second decision to go up against an armed man in order to rescue a woman in distress.   “We were sitting in our sitting room, the DVD player was new and we were trying to figure out how the thing worked. It was around 9pm and we had two children aged two and nine months at that stage. “My wife, Trofi, heard someone screaming outside. I opened the door. I really thought …

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