North Clare

The prestigious International Blue Flag has been awarded to seven of County Clare’s beaches, including Lahinch which lost its Blue Flag status in 2013. Despite the extensive storm damage caused along Clare’s coastline earlier this year, Blue Flags have been awarded to Fanore, Kilkee, Cappa, White Strand (near Doonbeg), Ballycuggeran, Mountshannon and Lahinch. The flag is awarded to hundreds of beaches and a small number of marinas across Europe each year. The award challenges local authorities and beach operators to achieve high standards in the four main categories of water quality, environmental management, environmental education and safety. Anne Haugh, Director of Services for Transportation, Environment and Emergency Services with Clare County Council expressed confidence that Clare could increase its complement of Blue Flag beaches from 7 to 8 in 2015. “White Strand near Miltown Malbay was not considered for a Blue Flag this year due to the ongoing construction of a new community-based Lifeguard Training Centre by Irish Water Safety. …

The playground in Lahinch, which was badly damaged by storms earlier this year, will be one of the beneficiaries of a white collar boxing event taking place in Ennis next month. Tide versus Pride is being organised as a joint fundraiser for Lifford AFC and Lahinch Playground Rescue Fund. Lahinch playground has been closed for months because of the severe storm damage and the committee behind it are hoping to have it reopened before the summer. “We need to get the ground works finished in it to install the accessible equipment. We wanted to do this before the storm damage and had started fundraising for that but if we don’t have a playground, we can’t get more equipment. Accessible equipment is quite pricey. It would be about €20,000 for that alone, just for the equipment and its installation,” said committee member, Nicola Hartigan. “Unfortunately, the playground is still closed and we have signs up indicating that but people are not …

Lissycasey county councillor PJ Kelly (FF) won his eighth successive election to Clare County Council when he was elected on the eleventh count. “It was good I got elected. I’m delighted. It was awful cheeky to go for eight in a row but I made it. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this. If we were to have predicted who would win or lose, the bookies would have been in for a good day,” he said of a day of twists and turns in the west Clare race. Meanwhile Bill Chambers (FF) was equally relived to have pulled through at the same stage of the day long count. “It feels great and I’m delighted with the result but I’m really sorry too that we’ve lost two marvellous colleagues in Oliver Garry and Patrick Keane. Two thorough gentleman,” he commented. He described the new west Clare constituency as a challenging one geographically. “It has proved we were …

There are signs of a Fianna Fáil resurgence in West Clare as party men will occupy four out of the eight council seats in the electoral area for the next five years. Sitting councillor Michael Hillery (FF) was elected in the 11th count. He puts part of his vote down to the elimination of Fine Gael’s Corofin-based candidate Gerry Kennedy. “When the tally came in yesterday and I had almost 1400 votes I thought I was in fourth position so I thought I was quite safe. Looking at the overall tally I knew there were a lot of candidates in the Southern section of the area and when they would be eliminated I wouldn’t get many votes from that particular area and that is what would happen but when Gerry Kennedy was eliminated that is when the thing changed around and it looked good from there on in and I’m delighted that it resulted in me being elected in Clare,” …

Councillor Richard Nagle, (FF) has been re-elected to Clare County Council. Shortly after 6pm Councillor Nagle was elected as the second councillor to West Clare, after Christy Curtin (NP). Councillor Nagle paid tribute to his canvassers and all who had helped him get elected, especially his family, “who have seen very little of me over the last three months and did everything possible to support me and put up with my moods during the campaign.” “It is equally as tough on family members as it is on the candidate because during a long campaign, extending over three months candidates have various mood swings going from highs to lows and the people living with them have to put up with those mood swings and everyone in my family helped out in several ways, not just in one way and it is as difficult, if not more difficult, for family members as it is for the candidate. Today is one of the …

A clearly emotional Bill Slattery hugged an even more emotional Senator Martin Conway at the count centre in Ennis after the former was deemed elected shortly after 6pm on Sunday. Councillor Slattery was co-opted to a seat in North Clare electoral area after Conway, then a county councillor, was elected to the Seánad in 2011. Councillor Slattery ran in the local elections in 1999. “I went with Martin Conway and geographically we weren’t situated that well, I being from Lahinch and he being from Ennistymon…I didn’t get elected and I haven’t been involved in politics until I was asked to go for co-option in 2011, after the election of Martin to the senate. I was very reluctant that time because I had left politics but since I was co-opted I put my head down and worked very hard for the last three years to get where I am today and it has paid off with the work I have done …

Gerard Kennedy (FG) didn’t get the birthday present he was hoping for today after a recount of the West Clare electoral area saw him eliminated. Mr Kennedy requested the recount after he was eliminated on the fifth vote with just six votes separating him from Fianna Fáil’s Pat Keane. “The advice I got was that it was worth having a recount because at that stage we didn’t know what the story was. I was always under pressure in the position I was in because so many of the candidates around me were all from the Southern end of the constituency so I was unlikely to pick up any transfers,” he told the ‘Champion. Yesterday (Saturday) it looked like Mr Kennedy had polled much worse than his 1,010 first preferences. Tallies showed him more than 200 below this. “I was very disappointed because I thought that 780 was a poor enough reflection on what we had done on the canvas, and …

For the fifth time, Independent Christy Curtin has topped the poll in his electoral area. He was elected on the first count with 42 votes to spare. He gathered 1,938 votes in the new constituency which includes much of the old Ennistymon Electoral Area. According to Christy, the change in boundary made a considerable difference. “The change in boundary definitely benefitted me. I am strategically located in Miltown Malbay and I worked in Kilmihil for almost 30 years, I started my career in Ennistymon but I am located well geographically and the demographic suited me,” he said. The change brought Miltown Malbay, his home, back into the electoral area in which he was standing. “I was extremely nervous. I was back again in my own home town after 22 years and there was a strong candidate there already and for that reason I felt nervous, but they did not let me down, they stood by me,” he said. Councillor Curtin …