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North Clare

Threat of protest at Blake’s corner

Councillor Bill Slattery has upped the ante considerably with regard to his opposition to the traffic issues at Blake’s Corner, Ennistymon. While the January meeting of the West Clare Municipal District heard suggestions that the controversial bridge should be blown up, on Tuesday Councillor Slattery told The Clare Champion that he would act decisively at the busiest time of the year in Ennistymon and Lahinch, if an upcoming consultant’s report on the issue is not to his liking. Councillor Slattery believes the only option left to progress the issue is for him to spend time on the bridge during the upcoming visitor season. “I will protest on the bridge during busy weekends for the 2015 season. I want this brought to the attention of the people of Ireland and not only the people of North Clare. I’m getting complaints from Dublin about this. This is an absolute disgrace,” he thundered angrily. “The vast majority of people in Clare want this …

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Multi-vehicle crash on motorway

UPDATE:15:00 A multi-vehicle car accident on the south-bound lane of the M18 motorway, on the Ennis side of Crusheen early today (Tuesday) resulted in the road being closed for over an hour. The crash occurred at approximately 7.30am and resulted in major diversions while the scene was being cleared and gardaí investigated. No one was seriously injured in the crash. Drivers heading from Ennis to Galway were initially asked to divert at the Tulla road junction, while, those travelling from Galway to Ennis as asked to divert at Gort through Tubber. However the route has since reopened. This morning’s crash is understood to have involved cars stopping to help a motorist who had skidded before a further vehicle skidded in the slippery conditions. Gardaí have issued an appeal to all road users to exercise particular care as the cold weather is set to continue over the coming days. “We would remind all motorists to drive as the conditions determine. We …

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Lahinch promenade masterplan completed by consultants

Clare County Council is currently preparing a programme of repair works to infrastructure damaged by the storms from December 13, 2013 to January 6, 2014. When completed, the programme will be submitted to the Central Emergency Response Unit of the Department of the Environment for approval. This news emerged following a motion from Councillor Bill Slattery asking for an update on planned remedial works for Lahinch promenade and a timescale for when the work is expected to be completed. He said he appreciated the work carried out in 2014 by the council but said more is needed. “Lahinch is one of the major seaside resorts in Munster,” he pointed out. Councillor Slattery also questioned the masterplan, which he said he has not seen. The plan was referred to by senior executive engineer, Steve Lahiffe, in his written reply to the motion. Councillor Slattery said, “This masterplan is a joke. Councillor Nagle was involved in a masterplan before I became a councillor …

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Department recognition for Mol and Óige

MOL an Óige Steiner National School in Ennistymon was this week granted permanent recognition by the Department of Education. School principal Una Garvey told The Clare Champion that the news is a huge boost to the school, which is the first Stenier school in Ireland to receive this recognition. “It’s a complete validation of the Steiner approach and Steiner methodologies. It’s a recognition of all of the fantastic work that goes on in the school. This says that this school does wonderful work, does it in a different way but it delivers the curriculum to the children and gives them what they need,” Ms Garvey said. She also believes this development validates the Steiner approach to the public. “It puts it in the public sphere. We know what we do inside here and we know how well it works. But now it’s in the public domain that the Department of Education also recognises the good work that happens inside here,” …

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Healy retires from inter-county football

ENNISTYMON’S Laurence Healy has opted to end his nine year inter-county football career. The 33 year old school teacher was not a regular starter in 2014 and has decided to call a halt as Clare near the start of their 2015 division 3 NFL campaign. “I loved the training part and playing with the best players in the county. Getting to mark some of the best players in Ireland was also something I enjoyed. Last year I was on the panel but I was a sub. When you’re used to starting it’s hard to face into being a panellist. Steven Gerrard had the same issue at Liverpool,” Healy joked. “I’m not good at being a sub anyway. I know that from last year. I suppose you’re selfish in that way in that you just want to be playing. It was great that the team went well but it’s just not the same when you’re not playing,” he conceded. Healy said that …

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Inagh-Kilnamona to lose Arthur brothers?

THE newly-elected senior hurling management team at Inagh-Kilnamona will, it seems, have to plan without two of the team’s leading lights, the Arthur brothers, Ger  and Niall. Both are understood to have indicated to the club that they intend playing their club hurling in Dublin, where they work and live. Should this prove to be the case, it will mean that nine members of the team that reached the Clare championship semi-final in 2012, will not be available to the club in 2015. Jamie Davin (full-back) and David Hegarty (centre-back) have both retired. Brian Glynn is in Australia, while his brother, Eamonn, is in New York. Eoin Vaughan is also in Australia and Cathal Lafferty moved to Dublin at the beginning of last season. Ronan O’Looney re-graded to junior last year.

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Clare Cascaders move to Inagh

CLARE Cascaders Basketball Club has established   Inagh Community Centre as its headquarters for the season ahead. Since the club moved there in September, the membership is growing every week. A very important factor in the club’s decision to re-locate to Inagh was the fact that the centre is equipped with state-of-the-art adjustable basketball boards to suit all age categories. The club caters for boys and girls from U-10s right up to senior ladies and the Ennistymon senior men work out there on Thursday nights. “We needed a new home for basketball and it was great that the centre was finished on time with facilities second to none. The committee has been very supportive and welcoming to the club, its members and volunteers. Consequently, basketball is now flourishing in a new location with everyone looking forward to the new year,” according to a statement from the club. The club has plans to run more coaching clinics in the coming weeks and a basketball …

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It’s a wrap for Cliffs of Moher

Tourism Ireland kicked off its promotional drive for 2015 this week with a campaign that includes ‘wrapping’ the Daily Telegraph with images of Ireland, including one of the Cliffs of Moher. The wrap was seen by more than 1.2 million readers and potential holidaymakers for Ireland, across Britain. This is the first time ever that Tourism Ireland has ‘wrapped’ the Daily Telegraph in Britain. The four-page wrap also features Powerscourt Gardens in County Wicklow, Eyries (on the Beara Peninsula) and Dublin. The Tourism Ireland campaign, which is being rolled out in Great Britain, the United States and Mainland Europe, has been timed to coincide with the Christmas holiday period and aims to grab the attention of travellers everywhere, as they begin looking at potential destinations and planning their holidays for the year ahead. Niall Gibbons, Tourism Ireland’s CEO, said, “Our end-of-year campaign has been specially designed to highlight short breaks and holidays in Ireland and to appeal to our key …

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