News

GLOWING tributes were paid to the work of Superintendent Brendan McDonagh at a recent Joint Policing Committee (JPC) meeting, writes Dan Danaher. Superintendent McDonagh has completed 40 years’ service with An Garda Siochána, 33 of which were in the Clare Garda Division. Chief Superintendent Seán Colleran noted Superintendent McDonagh wasn’t in attendance at the meeting ahead of his retirement later that week, and lauded his four decades of service with the force. Councillor Mary Howard wished Superintendent McDonagh well in his retirement, having served the force very well during his time in Clare. The Fine Gael Councillor recalled any time an issue was raised with Superintendent McDonagh she knew he would always deal with it in the best possible manner. Councillor PJ Ryan also praised Superintendent McDonagh’s work ethic. “Brendan has been a very good friend to Clare people. He is leaving a fantastic legacy behind him. When I served as chairman of the Joint Policing Committee for five years, …

CLARE County Council and Waterways Ireland have been urged to pool their resources to source an anti-slip mat following reports of an “extraordinary” number of falls at a popular east Clare bathing spot, writes Dan Danaher. It has been proposed that the mat, which would cost around €3,000 would help prevent swimmers getting injured on the slipway at Two Mile Gate, located between Ogonnelloe and Killaloe. Killaloe community members, Dr Alison Bonham and Pam Teese, have launched an online petition to expedite a solution to a series of accidents on the slipway. In a statement issued to the Clare Champion, Ms Teese outlined she is a regular swimmer at Ballycuggeran, where she belongs to a very active WhatsApp social swimming group. Having personally witnessed first-hand many concerning accidents on the slipway, she joined fellow group member, Dr Alison Bonham – herself a victim of concussion resulting from her own recent slip there – in launching an online petition to push …

DOZENS of submissions have now been made to Clare County Council on controversial plans for a serviced caravan/motorhome park at Kilkee Road, Doonbeg, writes Owen Ryan. By last Friday three county councillors – Gerry Flynn, Ian Lynch and Cillian Murphy – had made submissions on it, along with one from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). Others to voice concern include Doonbeg National School’s board of management, Doonbeg Community Development and Doonbeg Residents Group. The submission made by TII said the proposal is not in compliance with its requirements. “The Authority has examined the above application and considers that it is at variance with official policy in relation to control of development on/affecting national roads as outlined in the DoECLG Spatial Planning and National Roads Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2012). “The proposed development by itself, or by the precedent which a grant of permission for it would set, would adversely affect the operation and safety of the national road network”. In his …

AFTER a fraught and difficult 18 months for the hospitality industry, a number of tourism businesses in Clare were celebrating this week after landing prestigious national awards. Four local outfits were cited in the Georgina Campbell Irish Food Hospitality awards, while a north Clare hotel’s sustainability leadership was acknowledged at the Chambers Ireland Awards. This year’s Georgina Campbell winners were concentrated in the north and west of the county with Hazelwood Lodge, Gregan Castle Hotel, both Ballyvaughan, The Wild Honey Inn, Lisdoonvarna, and Vaughan’s Anchor Inn, Liscannor, winning prizes in their categories. Hotel Doolin, meanwhile, won the Excellence in Environment Award from Chambers Ireland. Hazelwood Lodge, Ballyvaughan, scooped the B&B of the year, with the citation stating there was a big welcome, genuine hospitality and a great sense of generosity about the place. Gregans Castle Hotel, Ballyvaughan won the Sustainability Award for its “constant drive to do things right, and do them better”, particularly relating to the environment. The best …

PEOPLE have been forced to sell their house and emigrate because of anti-social behaviour carried out by “neighbours from hell”, a local councillor has claimed. Clare County Council has undertaken 1,731 callouts dealing with anti-social behaviour this year. Many of these call outs were repeat calls where an incident of anti-social behaviour was reported the team would have initially responded to that complaint and would have followed up with repeat calls to help prevent recurrences. Since his election to Ennis Town Council in 2004, and ETC and Clare County Council in 2009, Councillor Johhny Flynn has expressed concern about the actions of a small but very troublesome minority of local authority tenants that are creating “havoc” for vulnerable neighbours, while vulnerable children in these households are also at risk. “Since the abolition of Ennis Town Council as a housing authority, I have seen a huge increase in influx of ‘neighbours from hell’ from rural parts of the county that have …

A COUNTY Clare farmer has told of his distress after losing 14 of his animals in a ‘sheep kill’ last year, writes Gordon Deegan. At Killaloe District Court, farmer, Martin Cooke said of the shocking find “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone”. After arriving on February 16 2020 on his lands adjacent to a canal bank at Clonlara, he couldn’t see any of his sheep but did see two dogs nearby. Mr Cooke said that there were around 50 sheep in the flock and after searching, six or seven dead sheep had to be fished out of the canal. He had earlier spotted two dead sheep floating down the river adjacent to his land-holding. Mr Cooke told the court that 13 sheep were found dead from the sheep kill and another had to be put down afterwards to bring the death toll to 14. The sheep kill, he estimated, had cost him around €2,000. In the case, Judge Mary Larkin …

THE phasing out of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is underway with the top three rates reducing by €50, meaning that a person previously receiving €350 will now get €300 per week. Students who will be in full time education for the coming academic year have already received their final payment. In Clare, the most recent figures show that the county had 2,636 people receiving the payment on September 7. This was a drop of over 500 on the previous week and this probably reflects the number of students no longer receiving it. While the figure is more than 8,500 less than the equivalent in early February, it is still substantial. There were also 4,111 signing on the live register in Clare last month The PUP has been the target of much criticism in recent weeks, with businesses particularly in hospitality struggling to recruit staff. With the departure of students from the sector, this has led to a crisis for some. …

CLARE County Council has sought further information on a proposal for a 14-unit development at Dun Aras Avenue. The planning application from Ballycasey Property Developments, was the target of a number of objections from residents of the area. In a letter to the developer, the Council stated that it had “a number of concerns”. The local authority pointed out that the pattern of development at the location is generally of low density style developments, with detached and semi-detached dwellings in the vicinity. As such it had a concern regarding the number of terraced units proposed here relative to the pattern of development in the area and also the house size, amenity area and layout provided for these terraced units. “In this regard it is considered that this element of the proposal (8-14) should be broken up to incorporate semi-detached units and/or the omission of some units. Please submit proposals in this regard. “Whilst the constraints of the site area noted …