North Clare

A CELEBRATION of the traditions and beliefs that have sprung up around St Brigid’s Well in Liscannor is taking place in North Clare currently. The exhibition ‘Dabhach Bhríde’, which is centred around Lá Fhéile Bríde, opened at The Courthouse Gallery and Studios earlier this week and will run until Saturday, February 4. Tying in with the new Bank Holiday to celebrate Ireland’s only female patron saint, the exhibition is located at The Red Couch Gallery space. It is the creation of Clare-based artists Frances Bermingham and Mary Fahy and the opening last Tuesday involved a gathering to make traditional Brigid’s Crosses and share stories of the rich tradition around the medieval saint. Both Mary and Frances are involved in a study of aspects of St Brigid’s Holy Well at Ballysteen, Liscannor currently. “I am intrigued by the traces we leave, through our contact with people, objects and places,” Galway native Mary said. “My current body of work explores ritual grief …

A BELOVED sporting tradition of North Clare makes its comeback this Christmas after two years on the sidelines during the pandemic. The annual Ennistymon Christmas Day basketball game returns for the 62nd time on the 25th of the month. First played in 1958, Covid put a halt to the game so while it is 64 years since its initiation this will be only the 62nd edition. No year had been missed where possible however, and the location of the games helps to illustrate some of the history of basketball in the area and its survival, Enda Byrt told the Clare Champion. The game has been played at the Market House (The Madison Square Garden of basketball in its day!) The Town Hall, The Sluagh Hall Lahinch (now demolished) The Community Centre Ennistymon the Centre Lahinch, outdoors at the old Scout Hall court the Vocational School and once at the Pavilion Lisdoonvarna! In recent years the Inagh Community Centre has hosted …

WAKING up to the beauty of nature is the theme of a new exhibition that will open in Kinvara next week.  The show by artist Nicole O’Donnell is entitled ‘Awakening’ and will run at the Courthouse, in conjunction with Kinvara Area Visual Arts (KAVA) from October 20 to 26. Nicole is a Galway-based artist who has a Masters Degree in Creative Practice and an Honours BA in Contemporary Art, from the School of Design and Creative Arts, at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU).  “As a visual artist who grew up in the West of Ireland, my practice is influenced by the wilderness of the Irish landscape, daily observations and the natural world to create imaginative landscape paintings that deal with themes of experience of place, memory and are inspired by the endless complexity found in nature,” Nicole explained. She added that her solo show, ‘Awakening’, “means “an act or moment of becoming suddenly aware of something”. “This collection of works …

IT seems you can’t move in Clare for American TV crews with yet another travel show filming in the county recently. Following on from earlier high profile Samatha Brown and Michael Londra visits, a crew from the NBC TV network in the United States has been filming in the Banner county recently. They were filming here for four separate TV shows which will be seen by millions of people, or potential American holidaymakers for Ireland, later this year and during 2023. Tourism Ireland invited the NBC crew to come and film here for the Today show (news and talk morning show), 1st Look (weekly travel and lifestyle show which reaches around 1.2 million viewers), Open House (architecture, design and real estate show which reaches over 1.5 million viewers) and NBCLX (a local news network). Their busy schedule was designed by Fáilte Ireland and with more good news about transatlantic services for Clare this week, it is expected to lead to …

CLARE County Council is set to engage immediately with affected landowners as it bids to progress a new relief road in Ennistymon that will alleviate traffic problems in the town. Following approval by An Bord Pleanála for the Council’s N67/N85 Inner Relief Road Ennistymon (Blake’s Corner) Compulsory Purchase Order 2020, the local authority is commencing plans to procure a contractor for the works at the earliest juncture. Should the engagement process go smoothly with attendant approvals from Transport Infrastructure Ireland, work could begin on the project early in 2024. Senior Engineer with Clare County Council, Seán Lenihan, added: “Following the decision by An Bord Pleanála, we will now arrange to complete the detailed design and tender documentation required to procure a contractor for the works at the earliest juncture. “We will also commence the engagement process with affected land and property owners in terms of agreeing compensation packages and other associated arrangements required.” Clare County Council published the CPO in …

WITH the amount of Ukrainian refugees in Ballyvaughan now greater than the permanent population of the village, the local Community Development Group has asked that no more be housed there. With local services struggling to cope, Ballyvaughan Community Development Group wrote to Minister Roderic O’Gorman last week about the issue. The group claimed the population of the area had suddenly risen from 300 to 700, and as a result the local national school is struggling, while there are long waits for appointments at its Medical Centre. It also warned that small businesses that rely on Ballyvaughan tourism will struggle if there is no tourist accommodation and that the winter could see a lot of boredom and frustration among the new arrivals, due to the relatively meagre facilities in the area. “The local community is becoming increasingly frustrated and angry with the lack of Government support and the lack of communication between IPAS (International Protection Accommodation Services ) and the local …

DISCARDED cigarette butts, food-related waste and extensive dog fouling has been reported from Lahinch in a survey by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) of beaches and harbours. The popular resort slipped to ‘moderately littered’ in the report, as did Doolin Pier and Harbour. On the plus side, Mountshannon was again found to be ‘Clean to European Norms’. Overall, litter levels are on the rise, with only 8 of 33 areas surveyed receiving the ‘Clean’ designation. Alongside its impact on tourism and recreation, IBAL is warning that coastal litter has grave implications for the future of our planet. The An Taisce report for Lahinch stated: “There was plenty of dog fouling signage, some attached to railings and rocks, some imprinted on the ground and an audio message – and yet dog fouling prevailed. “Cigarette butts were also obvious, particularly around the drains. Other litter items included plastic bottles, fast-food wrappers and sweet papers; marine related items included fishing lines / nets …

LAHINCH’S Marie O’Connor has been named Best Athlete at the 11th European Transplant & Dialysis Games in Oxford having won a staggering four medals. Marie began the week by securing gold in the Golf Doubles with partner Mick Dwyer from Cabinteely. Speaking after the win she said, “It was fantastic, we didn’t think we’d win gold, but we did. I know Mick and myself will say the same thing; our GOLD, we had it, (pointing to her kidney transplant) ever before we picked up a club, and God rest them that they give us the chance to do this. To win a gold medal and to be able to show we are able to say thank you.”  Marie went on to thank her donor and all Team Ireland donors. She followed this the following day with yet another gold in the Singles Golf event and won her third gold on Wednesday in the Petanque held at the splendid Blenheim Palace. …