Regional

Clare County Council are planning to open the new interpretative centre for Holy Island in Mountshannon in the first quarter of 2025. The local authority is working closely with utilities to put in place the necessary infrastructure to support the refurbishment of the old rectory. Theresa Lannon Hughes of Clare Tourism outlined at a recent Killaloe Municipal District meeting the refurbishment of the old rectory is continuing with the objective of opening it as a visitor centre in the first quarter of next year. It is expected plans for a Part Ten planning application will be completed for An Bord Pleanála in September , while a tender will be sought for the fit out of the interpretative centre in the coming weeks. The public realm works in Mountshannon are due to start in the second week in June and will involve 75 metres sections to avoid as much disruption as possible. One side of the street in Mountshannon will be …

Last weekend a North Clare film received its world premier at the Berlin Irish Film Festival. The film, which is entitled Tabhair Aire Do na hÉin or Remember to Feed the Birds, was written by Gary Hetzler from the Corkscrew Hill, shot entirely in the Burren and stars North Clare musician, storyteller and actor Aindrias de Staic. The film, which was shot last summer in Clare, was a hit at the German festival over the weekend and hopes are now high that it will do well on the Irish festival circuit this year. According to producer Alanna MacNamee, hopes are high that it will be screened at a location in Clare in the near future. The film was made using funding from Clare County Council under the Engine Short Film Competition. “The film was written by Gary and was very much inspired by an experience that he had during Covid 19, and I think that the remoteness and loneliness of …

THE Clarecastle Regatta returns this June with organisers saying there is “great excitement” building as the village prepares for the popular event. The regatta takes place on Sunday, June 2, from 2pm to 6pm with committee chairperson Donal Carey telling us, “It is a real family day out”. “The regatta promises to be a day of fun with a wide range of events to thrill all members of the family,” he said. “Returning firm favourites include children’s fancy dress parade from the Church Grounds meeting at 1.45pm, dog show, bonny baby, children’s races, long puck across the water and best dressed lady competitions as well as a wide range of market stalls, vintage cars, live music and food.” Other events include the Hanging Tough Challenge, Soccer Dart, amusements, farm animals and zorbing. There will be hurling shootouts, a baking competition with the best tart being judged. The water events will include boat rides, kayaking, stand-up paddle boards and the highly anticipated …

OUTGOING Ennis Municipal District Councillor Johnny Flynn has resigned as a member of the Fine Gael party he has confirmed. In correspondence to Clare Fine Gael seen by The Clare Champion the Ennis councillor stated he is resigning his membership of the party as “it has been made apparent over the last week that the two current Ennis Municipal District Fine Gael councillors and other sitting  Fine Gael councillors  continue to fully support what I consider to be  destructive Council and Ennis 2040 DAC plans for Ennis town centre. This is despite that all councillors, including Fine Gael ones,  recieved written confirmation last October that a petition signed by 3,700 people was handed into the council opposing the plans.” Councillor Flynn, who announced earlier this year he would not be seeking re-election, said he intends to continue to work and campaign as an independent citizen against the “controversial plans of the Council to hand over ownership/control to a private company  Ennis 2040 …

HAVING put severe injury setbacks behind him, Ryan Nolan is now an important player for Hercules CF, the Alicante club that has just won promotion to Spain’s third tier. Hercules are a big club in Spain, with a stadium that holds 30,000 while they were in La Liga as recently as 2011. They have huge support in Alicante and there were incredible scenes of jubilation and a huge pitch invasion when they beat Lleida Esportiu on May 5, which meant they won the division and took the only automatic promotion place. Nolan, who spent the first eight years of his life in Shannon before his family moved to Spain, was famously signed by Inter Milan as a teenager. In 2020 he signed for Getafe and was on the brink of playing in La Liga, having been named on the bench. However disaster struck with a cruciate injury before he made his first team debut, and he left the club. Spells …

A West Clare school has been honoured in a national research trials competition. Coolmeen National School in Kilrush, a two-teacher school, is one of just three primary schools which have been awarded a 2024 START Competition Trophy by University of Galway for using randomised trial methodology to answer a question related to their environment or lifestyle. The Schools Teaching Awareness of Randomised Trials (START) is an annual competition encouraging children throughout Ireland to learn about healthcare decisions and how health and well-being can be improved by learning about randomised trials. Sometimes called clinical trials, randomised trials are a type of research study often used to find out if a new medicine or treatment works. Awarded for its research project, Coolmeen NS were awarded first place in the 2024 START Competition for their trial titled ‘Do children learn more when working in groups or doing independent work?’ The students randomised their fellow schoolmates into two groups with a spinner wheel. Using …

A new Special Olympics Athletics Club is on the right track in Killaloe following research and planning undertaken by a local disability activist. Derg AC Inclusive Athletics was unveiled as a Special Olympics Athletics Club at an official launch in Clarisford Park, Killaloe on Saturday. This ensures that children can enter Special Olympics competitions, while Derg AC can now cater for more young members with special needs who want to participate in these events. This is in addition to the inclusive one-hour training session hosted by Derg AC in Clarisford Park on Saturday mornings. Nicola Welford, who set up the Inclusive Athletics Club in Derg AC, recalled it has taken a year to get through a lot of hoops and put all the necessary arrangements in place for the new club. Last year, five or six children won medals in competitions run by the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA), which was a source of great pride to the club. However, it …

ENNIS students have shown they are on the right path to success after being presented with awards at this year’s AIB Future Sparks Career Skills Competition by CareersPortal.  Three Coláiste Muire students recently attended the competitions awards ceremony in Dublin where they were presented with prizes after taking part in the competition which encourages students to focus on the importance of career skills and understand the role these transferable skills can play in their future careers. Aoibhín Collins won the overall prize in the Transition Year category of a Macbook Air and €1000 for the school guidance department for her career investigation on midwifery and her work experience with local florist Niamh Crowe of Keane’s Flowers with Niamh.  Fellow student Ciara Ennis was highly commended for her career investigation on sports physiotherapy and her recent work experience in Zest while Dea Krasniqi  was commended for her career investigation on educational psychology and her recent work experience in the Holy Family …