East Clare

The Irish Taekwon-Do Team returned from the ITF World Championships in Jesolo, Italy with an impressive haul of five gold, six silver and five bronze medals, placing them fourth overall out of 60 countries. Among the Irish squad of 39 were three competitors from Quin Taekwon-Do club and each of them returned with a medal. Stephen Ryan, head instructor in Quin Taekwon-Do club was competing and coaching at the event and won the silver medal in 4th to 6th degree patterns, beating off opposition from Finland, Russia, New Zealand and Italy before narrowly missing out on the gold to his Canadian opponent, Maxime Bujold. The last time these two faced each other in the final was at the 2006 World Cup, with Maxime taking the decision on that occasion also. Stephen though feels his performances are only improving with age and experience, and will now reflect on whether to focus fully on coaching or to continue to compete at the …

Members of Killaloe Coast Guard Unit responded to two call outs on Saturday night – one to a man who suffered a suspected heart attack and the second to a cruiser which ran aground on Lough Derg. The man was airlifted to hospital after he suffered cardiac arrest on board a boat at Banagher. The Killaloe unit was alerted and responded as did the Shannon based search and rescue helicopter, Rescue 115. Ambulance paramedics and gardaí also went to the scene where the boat had moored at Banagher. The man was removed by the helicopter crew and flown to Galway University Hospital. While returning to their base at Killaloe, the unit was directed to a second emergency call. A 40-foot cruise boat with five people on board had run aground south of the Silly Island on Lough Derg. Conditions were bad with darkness setting in. Shore teams were also sent to the area by road and a stricken cruiser was …

Clare County Council, as an agent of Irish Water, are currently carrying out works to repair a burst main in the Tulla area. The burst main may result in temporary disruption to the water supply in Tulla, O’Callaghan’s Mills and surrounding areas.  Group Water Schemes in the area are also affected. Clare County Council says it expects to complete the works by 10am tomorrow, Thursday

Irish Water has been accused of engaging in “double standards” by meeting county councillors in private about some issues, while offering to make a presentation about the controversial Lough Derg abstraction project at their July meeting. The charge has been levelled by Councillor Pat Hayes, who has opted to boycott Irish Water’s regular meetings with his colleagues in the Killaloe Muncipal District Area, concerning billing and maintenance issues. Councillor Hayes took the stance after the national water authority refused to send one of its representatives to a full council meeting where issues could be debated in public and reported on by local media. The Fianna Fáil councillor believes IW is engaging in “double standards” by offering to send representatives to the full council meeting because of its desire to press ahead with the contentious water abstraction from Lough Derg. He said local councillors are strongly opposed to IW’s plans to take water from Lough Derg to boost Dublin’s water supplies. …

THE East Clare economy soared by an extra €500,000 last year, thanks to the lure of the first successful breeding pair of white-tailed sea eagles in the country in over a century. Clare County Council, which funds the popular White Tailed Sea Eagle Viewing and Information Point at Mountshannon Pier, confirmed the facility generated more than €500,000 for the local economy in 2014. A visitor survey conducted last year found that 43% of people reported the attraction of the sea eagles was the primary factor influencing their decision to visit Mountshannon. More than 10,000 people flocked to the shores of Lough Derg between mid-July and September 2014 to catch a glimpse of the eagles which had nested on Bushy Island, off Mountshannon Bay. A person from Northern Ireland on a sabbatical completed a visitor survey of those attending the viewing and information point. Dr Allan Mee of the Golden Eagle Trust acknowledged that some day trippers visiting Mountshannon last year …

Gardai in East Cork are appealing for witnesses to a road traffic accident in which a Tulla man was fatally injured. Thirty three year-old Cathal Torpey received fatal injures when struck by a car on the Cork side of Castlemartyr at approximately 5.15am Monday morning. He was removed by ambulance to Cork University Hospital where he later died. He is the only son of Margaret and the late Martin (Mar) Torpey. The driver of the car was uninjured. The road was closed to facilitate an examination by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators. Gardai are appealing for witness to contact Midleton Garda Station on 021- 4621550, the Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111 or any garda station.

  Pony enthusiasts in the Mid-West have been left disappointed following the cancellation of the eagerly-awaited Whitegate Pony Races. The main headline event of the May Bank Holiday Festival in Whitegate, which was due to take place on Sunday, May 3 at 1 pm, has fallen foul of adverse weather conditions. A decision was taken by the festival committee on Saturday morning to postpone the first meeting of the flapping season until Sunday, May 10 following a race course inspection. The Midlands Horse and Pony Association was immediately contacted so that the race participants could be given adequate notice of the race cancellation before finalising their travel arrangement. Equine enthusiasts from places like Cork, Dingle, Kenmare, Claremorris, Kildare and all over the country were preparing to flock to Whitegate for the nine-race card involving between 60 and 70 ponies. These races at Dromaan overlooking Lough Derg have gone from strength to strength since they were revived four years ago and …

Thousands of euro has been raised for the first online community radio station in East Clare. A group of eight people from Scariff were all on the one wavelength concerning the need for a new radio station broadcasting news and sport online at weekends and the promoters of Scariff Bay Community Radio are planning their debut broadcast later this month. While a definitive schedule has not yet been decided, it is expected the internet radio station will be live for two hours on Saturdays and Sundays. After Raidio Corca Baiscinn, which is based in Kilkee, this will become the second community station that is currently operating in the county. Jet FM operated for a seven-year period in Shannon until it ceased in 2011 and this was followed by an offshoot Rinn Fm, which broadcast for about a year. A fundraising target of €4,000 had been set by the promoters to cover the initial start-up costs and the estimated annual running …