North Clare

THE inaugural memorial award in honour of a Ballyvaughan nurse was presented this week to a Clare woman nursing in University College Hospital in Galway.On Tuesday, Sharon Cassidy from Belkelly, Tuamgraney became the first recipient of Anna-May Driscoll Foundation Learning Bursary. The Anna May Driscoll Foundation was set up to commemorate the work that Anna May Driscoll from Murrough in Ballyvaughan pioneered in leadership in the corporate and voluntary sectors before her death from cancer two years ago.Having originally qualified as a children’s nurse, Anna May became a leading management consultant in the area of behaviour and organisation change. She worked with clients in Europe, Asia, and North America. Anna May left Clare at 16 years of age and qualified as a paediatric nurse at St Mary’s in Paddington. She worked in the Princess Louise Hospital Kensington and her work in ante-natal and post-natal clinics led her to working in family planning and from this into psycho-sexual counselling. Anna May …

North Clare county councillors have asked officials to look into stockpiling grit at various public locations and compiling a database of volunteers ready to help out in a crisis in an effort to stop the area being crippled by extreme weather.Of the 15 motions proposed by councillor at the recent North Clare Area meeting, 11 related to the conditions of roads. The majority of the motions arose from three weeks of freezing conditions in late December and early January following on from severe flooding in many places beginning in late November.The acting senior executive engineer at the Ennistymon Area Office, Stephen Lahiffe, in a written response to one motion, acknowledged “all minor roads in the North Clare area were affected, to some extent, by the severe weather over the December, January period”.Fine Gael Councillor Joe Arkins and Fianna Fáil’s Richard Nagle were both eager to see small grit dumps at critical locations to facilitate access in any further freeze up.Councillor …

Almost 500 local visitors made their way to The Cliffs of Moher on Monday to take part in St Brigid’s Day festivities. The first day of spring is an important day for the area, especially this year, as the first ever Cliffs of Moher Marathon was launched.The half marathon will take place in September 2010 between Doolin and Lahinch and is expected to draw as many as 1,200 participants in its inaugural year. Representatives of the Clare Crusaders, Special Olympics Ireland and St Vincent de Paul, who are among the charities who will benefit from the event, attended the launch along with representatives from the Clare Sports Partnership and the Clare Tourism Forum who, together with the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, have worked with Feel Good Events, the race organiser, to bring the run to North Clare. Organisers are hoping it will become an annual event.   At Monday’s open day, the visitors enjoyed a programme of events that celebrated …

REPRESENTATIVES of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre  last week visited China in an effort to encourage more people from the country to visit Clare.The Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre, together with other tourism partners from around Ireland, took part in a trade mission in the city of Sanya, in the southern Hainan province. The mission was organised by VisitBritain, in conjunction with Tourism Ireland in China.Consisting of a series of business-to-business workshops, presentations and networking events with influential Chinese travel agents, the trade mission provided an excellent platform for the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre and other participants to showcase their tourism product and to communicate what is unique about the island of Ireland.  According to Tourism Ireland, over the course of the two-day mission, face-to-face meetings were conducted with approximately 60 key Chinese decision-makers, encouraging them to include the island of Ireland in their future holiday programmes.Commenting on the long-term potential and importance of new and developing markets …

AS many New Year’s resolutions begin to fall by the wayside, one Burren-based organisation is urging people to make a new one and volunteer to help repair the local landscape.

THERE is plenty of land zoned for an increased population around Ennistymon in the coming years, according to the Draft Mid-West Regional Planning Guidelines 2010-22.

PEOPLE will be given a taste of how the Kett family from Rathclooney, Crusheen deal with cystic fibrosis in a new TV3 documentary series about organ transplant patients.

Conor O’Sullivan, who lives with his wife Ann between Corofin and Ruan in Cooga, has had a quiet Christmas. Too quiet.   A paraplegic who has been confined to a wheelchair for 26 years, Conor has been stuck in his house since December 21. Although his wife had a supply of medical supplies stocked up and he only had to do without antibiotics following an infection, Conor O’Sullivan ended 2009 and began the New Year completely demoralised. “There was no way we could get out from our house. It was just pure ice on both sides of our drive and it was just impossible to drive down to the main road,” he told The Clare Champion on Tuesday. “I’ve been in a wheelchair for the last 26 years due to cancer of the spine. I’m totally wheelchair-bound and I rely on my car,” he added. Along with having to stay in his house for the Christmas, Conor also missed out …