North Clare

AN Bord Pleanála has been urged to overturn Clare County Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for a multi-million Euro housing scheme in Lahinch. The council recently turned down plans for the development of seven detached four-bedroom dwelling houses with detached sheds at School Road, Attycristora, Lahinch. Associated site development works included wastewater pre-treatment and connections to public services. A Natura Impact Statement was also submitted on behalf of the developers, SPL Property Limited, Saint Flannan’s View, Ennis. This was the applicant’s second application for the proposed development at this site, which sought to address the council’s concerns raised in a Further Information Request in relation to the previous application. In this subsequent application, the applicant’s design team revisited the layout and as indicated in the Senior Executive Planner’s Report dated July 1, 2022, the council’s concerns were successfully addressed in relation to a number of aspects. These included drainage attenuation, boundary treatment, pedestrian infrastructure, construction traffic, management, water capacity, …

A UKRAINIAN refugee, who was forced to flee Odessa, is thoroughly enjoying working in North Clare where her safety is guaranteed. Anastasia Hordieieva (31) is working as a swim teacher in Lahinch Leisure Centre, as part of an eight-hour shift three days a week. In an interview with the Champion, Anastasia revealed she only started to have a good night sleep when she felt safe in her new Lisdoonvarna hotel residence. “When I was travelling through Romania I couldn’t sleep properly and would wake up after just two hours. Now, I can have a good sleep. “The war in Ukraine is a horrible nightmare,” she outlined. On March 20, Anastasia arrived in North Clare on her own, having escaped the horrors of the Ukrainian war. Her mother, who is an accountant in a pharmacy company, is still living in Odessa, as she has to take care of her grandmother, who recently suffered from a heart attack. On February 24, Anastasia …

CONSTRUCTING something like the Lahinch Leisure Centre on a new green field site would cost between €17 and €18 million compared to the €6 million it cost to refurbish the existing facility, according to a former manager. Councillor Joe Garrihy said the new revamp, which was done at about 30% of the cost of a new building, represents great value for money. Urging community groups in towns to look at what has been achieved in Lahinch, Councillor Garrihy said a new leisure centre, public toilets, rescue centre, public realm works and upgraded Lahinch Sportsfield are now all within walking distance. “When community, state agencies and stakeholders work together collectively, you can achieve a lot more. We now have a centre that will generate year-round business with tourism providing the cherry on top.” Councillor Garrihy said a state-of-the-art facility had to be provided when the roof started leaking years ago and was close to blowing away. When the Fine Gael councillor …

WATER Safety Clare (WSC) is working closely with the Irish Coast Guard, the Gardai and other groups to develop an early response support system along the Clare coastline. The initiative was announced by WSC chairman, Patrick O’Grady at the opening of the new €120,000 Lahinch Rescue and Training Centre, which will be used as a base by volunteers to provide support for community response groups. Clare LEADER provided a grant of €50,000, another charitable organisation provided €30,000 and the remainder was raised through fundraising. Procedures are being put in place that adhere to best practice for the safety and training of local volunteers from this new centre. Since the 1940s, WSC has worked to promote swimming and basic rescue techniques as life skills throughout the county. “Initial attempts to develop this Lahinch project were made in 1992. Unfortunately, the necessary support was not there to support these early efforts,” Mr O’Grady outlined. “Fortunately, this changed in recent years, at a …

THE €6 million redevelopment of Lahinch Leisure Centre will attract thousands of visitors to this North Clare hotspot and create in the region of 100 jobs. That was the confident prediction of Rural and Community Minister Heather Humphreys before she officially unveiled the new state-of-the-art leisure facility this week. Minister Humphreys said the spectacular view of the Atlantic Ocean from the centre reminded her of Seamus Haney’s poem Postscript where he urged people to drive out West to the Flaggy Shore. As part of the government’s Our Rural Future, she outlined old buildings were receiving a new lease of life to regenerate rural towns and villages. In February 2019, she recalled the centre secured €2.9 million from the Rural Regeneration Development Fund, which was one of the first in the country to receive money from this fund and also received €250,000 from the LEADER programme. Funding from the RRDF also provided improvement for the public realm, car park, promenade and …

VOLUNTEERS from all around Clare helped clean up 240kg of litter while taking part in Clean Coasts and Fáilte Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way Community Clean-ups of Lahinch Beach on Saturday.  According to Clean Coasts it is important that as we enjoy the coast, that we remember to help protect and care for Ireland’s waterways, coastline, seas, ocean and marine life by ensuring they are free of litter and to educate ourselves on how best to do that.  These clean-up events were created by Clean Coasts as part of their summertime Enjoy and Protect campaign with support from Fáilte Ireland. The national tourism body supports the long-term sustainable growth in the economic, social, cultural and environmental contribution to tourism in Ireland and the events’ overall aim is to raise awareness to keeping marine and wildlife spaces clean for locals and tourists alike to enjoy and admire.  This event on Lahinch beach in Clare included tea and coffee for all participants. 40 …

A CLARE man has been appointed to the board of Ireland’s largest youth organisation. Kilnaboy’s Seán Roche moves to the top table of Youth Work Ireland after 43 years of voluntary service to Clare Youth Service and Kilnaboy Youth Club. Youth Work Ireland comprises nationwide youth services from Donegal to Cork and a national office that works together to support, empower and educate young people through the delivery of best practice youth work services.  Seán has represented the voice and experience of rural youth clubs within Clare for many years and CEO of Clare Youth Service Margaret Slattery said his move to the national forum will be very positive. “This is a significant appointment for Clare. Seán is a strong voice representing the experience and challenges of rural youth services  and their importance to the health of the community and wellbeing of young people especially those who are rurally or socially isolated,” said Ms Slattery. “I know that he will bring …

PLANNING permission has been granted for a 36-metre telecommunications mast to serve a north Clare community. A support structure, carrying antenna and dishes, enclosed within a 2.4 metre high pallisade fenced compound, at Coillte Ballydonohoe, Rooska, Lisdoonvarna has been given the green light by planners. In a document accompanying Cignal Infrastructure Ltd’s application, it said, “Deploying a 36m tower with a headframe at Coillte Ballydonohoe will allow this site to accommodate three mobile operators and a broadband provider, all above the surrounding topological clutter, thereby extending the reach of communications technologies into areas that currently have poor or non-existent mobile wireless voice and data services.” It claimed the proposed structure would allow operators to bring “significant improvement” in voice and broadband services to the area, particularly Toovahera, Ballteige, Toornahaun, Fernhill, Knockagaff and Caherkinalla. The structure would facilitate multiple network operators to deploy a number of different types of technologies. These may include 2G voice services, 3G voice and data, 4G …