News

“RISKY” footpaths around Tulla are to be upgraded, however a funding allocation from the Department of Transport will not cover pavements repairs in one of the area’s oldest housing estates.  The matter is one of ongoing concern in the East Clare town and was back on the agenda at the most recent meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District. Cathaoirleach Joe Cooney appealed to the authority to replace the main footpath in O’Reilly Park in conjunction with the upgrade works for the centre of the town. The Fine Gael member tabled a motion calling on the Council to take the opportunity to address a long-standing problem for residents.  In a written response, Senior Executive Engineer Niamh Madden said the funding available to the Council only covered the town’s main streets. “ The footpath upgrade works for the town of Tulla are being funded by a grant awarded by the Department of Transport as part of the Active Travel scheme,” her response …

WITH UL and Clare County Council having sought a strategic development zone designation for their ‘new town’ proposal, opposition to the plan within government was criticised by a local councillor. When Transport Minister Eamon Ryan addressed the County Council last week, he spoke about bringing university courses to Ennis, given it has existing infrastructure, which prompted an angry intervention from Councillor Tony O’Brien. “Are you trying to close down East Clare?” he bellowed at the Green Party leader. Referring to the UL project, he said there are 214 acres of land for development in East Clare, but if the Minister got his way the people of the area could “pack up our tents and go away”. Speaking to the Clare Champion subsequently, Councillor O’Brien said that Minister Ryan’s opposition to the development, and to the Northern Distributor Road is contrary to the principle of having effective local Government. “We have a county development plan, which we voted on and which …

THERE IS a status orange wind alert in place for Clare from noon today until midnight. Storm Franklin will cause gale force westerly winds with severe and damaging gusts. These winds combined with very high seas will lead to wave overtopping, which may result in coastal flooding. ⚠️An Orange wind warning is in place for Clare on Sunday from 12:00 until midnight and for Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo from Sunday at 23:00 until Monday 07:00 due to #StormFranklin. Wind warnings also in place for NI. More detail ⬇️https://t.co/Xg3aMJlyuS pic.twitter.com/ZPOi4pzvn5 — Met Éireann (@MetEireann) February 20, 2022 Rain will turn heavy at times for the early part of the day with localised flooding, before clearing southeastwards to showers through the afternoon. Some showers will be heavy with isolated thunderstorms and hail, with sleet possible later. After a mild start, it will turn much colder as the rain clears with afternoon highs of 5 to 7 degrees. It will remain very windy tonight …

A WOMAN in her 30s has died following a single vehicle road traffic collision in west Clare on Saturday evening. A man in his 30s was arrested at the scene and is currently being detained at Ennis Garda Station. Gardaí are investigating the incident that occurred at approximately 6:40pm on Saturday, at Lahinch and the scene is currently preserved for technical examination by Forensic Collision Investigators. Local diversions are in place. A female passenger of the car involved, aged in her 30s, was pronounced dead at the scene. No other serious injuries to persons was reported. Gardaí are appealing for any witnesses to this collision to come forward. Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and were travelling in the area at the time are asked to make this footage available to investigating Gardaí. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Ennistymon Garda Station on 065 707 2180, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, …

A MAN accused of repeatedly hitting his wife and dragging her across the kitchen floor during an alleged assault in Clare has been refused bail, writes Ronan Judge. The alleged incident occurred at the couple’s home address in Clare on Tuesday. A 38-year-old-man was brought before an in-camera sitting of Ennis District Court this week charged with assault causing harm to his wife. He is also charged with possession of a small amount of cannabis. Both charges arise from an alleged incident at a house in Clare on Tuesday, February 15. A local garda gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. The court heard that in reply to one of the charges, the accused man said, “It’s everything, correct”. Solicitor Tara Godfrey was assigned legal aid to represent the accused and she said her client was applying for bail. The application was opposed by the State. The garda said bail was opposed on a number of grounds including the seriousness …

THE proposed development of training facilities at Cahercon proved not to be economically viable, the Dáil heard recently and the matter was again raised by Councillor PJ Kelly at a meeting of Clare County Council.  He requested a report outlining the employment related projects now being pursued in the Shannon Estuary. The report subsequently received from Director of Service Liam Conneally said, “There are very real opportunities for both Moneypoint and Cahercon and all of Clare to play a key leading role in the establishment of a hub for offshore wind energy together with the route to market and supply chain associated with the Offshore Renewable Energy industry. “In this regard Clare County Council have been actively supporting and liaising with the key Offshore Renewable Energy companies seeking to build Offshore Floating Wind farms off the Clare Coast. “These companies will utilise the Shannon Estuary, for manufacturing, assembly, servicing, and associated supply chain requirements of the large-scale turbines and critically …

THE fact the local authority is prohibited from acquiring second hand houses means more and more properties will end up as holiday homes, a meeting of Clare County Council has heard.  Councillor Cillian Murphy put forward a motion asking that Clare County Council request that counties with large numbers of holiday homes be exempted from an embargo in place on acquiring houses. He said he knew of a case where a family had been reared in a local authority house. In recent times when the mother of the family had wanted to move away, she had gone to the Council first as she wanted another generation to have the option that her family had. However she was told that was not possible, as the the Council have been directed to focus on the construction of homes, and that there is a country wide embargo, with only 200 houses per annum to be purchased. Councillor Murphy said that in west Clare …

TWO wind farms with a total of 15 wind turbines could be located in close proximity to each other in South-East Clare after a developer unveiled new plans for another renewable energy development, writes Dan Danaher. EDF Renewables Ireland has announced plans to develop a 50 megawatt wind farm with up to seven turbines on land to the east of Broadford. The proposed Lackareagh Wind Farm, which could power more than 35,000 homes, will be located in the townlands of Killeagy and Shannaknock. The project team is currently gathering wind data and mapping the environmental constraints on site which will be used to create a preliminary wind turbine layout. Detailed environmental studies will also be carried out at the site, including ecology, noise, landscape and visual assessments. The results of these studies, together with feedback gathered in consultation with local communities, will be used to determine the final wind farm layout and number of turbines. This is in addition to …