North Clare

THE inaugural Doolin Heritage Weekend begins this Saturday, bringing local and national experts and enthusiasts together to raise awareness about importance of conservation.

Difficulties finding two North Clare villages, both homes to members of Clare County Council, were highlighted to the local authority at a recent Ennistymon Area Meeting.

Traditional music will reverberate in one of the county’s most unlikely locations later this month. Castleconnell Stone Fort, thought to date back to between 400 and 1,200 AD, will host an Irish traditional music concert on Tuesday, June 19 at 9.30pm.

NORTH Clare is set for a €250,000 economic boost later this year as 2,500 cyclists take part in this year’s An Post Tour de Burren.This is the seventh year of the event, which will take place on June 23 in Ballyvaughan.“The An Post Tour de Burren has a national reputation of being a quality event, in a unique environment, and we want to maintain that,” said co-organiser of the 2012 event, John Sweeney, Clare Sports Partnership.According to Barbara Faulkner, chair of the Clare Tourism Forum, “The success of this event over the past number of years has helped raise the profile of the area and provided a huge boost to the local economy. It is estimated that again this year the event will bring revenue of €250,000.”There are four routes this year for the event and three of them have brand new elements to them.“We have spiced up the routes this year. We are very conscious that a number of …

The villages of Ballyvaughan and Fanore will play host to the first ever summer festival Féile an tSamhraidh or Burren Summer Festival next week. Events run over the June Bank Holiday from June 1 to 4.

A County Clare hotel operator has announced the creation of 15 full-time jobs in Doolin. The Tír Gan Éan House Hotel, which closed last year under another operator, is to trade under businessman John Burke, who is the managing director of the Armada Hotel in Spanish Point and Hotel Doolin.

the failure to build a controversial interpretative facility at Mullaghmore has meant “the provision of information, interpretation and education for visitors to the Burren National Park has suffered” according to a Government minister.

Green teens from Ennistymon Vocational School scooped the Senior ECO Community Development Award with their project The River Boys at the 13th annual ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards finalist showcase and awards ceremony last week.