Regional

GOVERNMENT funding of €524,000 has been approved for Clare County Council to proceed with the design and planning stages of a major regeneration project for Scariff Town Centre. The funding will pave the way for a further application of funds to provide a multi service innovation and engagement hub in the east Clare town, to add to the ever growing network of remote working facilities in the Banner county. The project will also deliver improvements to the public realm in Market Square and the town centre, and provide enhanced parking and ancillary facilities. The application was submitted under Category 2 of the Government’s Rural Regeneration and Development Fund and will facilitate a further application under Category 1 of this Scheme to make these plans a reality. Fine Gael Deputy Joe Carey welcomed the funding saying, “This regeneration project will be a game changer for the town of Scariff and its large hinterland. He added, “I want to acknowledge the huge …

THE housing crisis in West Clare, and elsewhere, is being worsened by short-term letting, a meeting of the Council has heard. A motion was tabled, at the December meeting, by Councillors Cillian Murphy, Tony O’Brien, Alan O’Callaghan and Pat Hayes calling on the Minister for Finance to look at a tax policy solution to encourage a switch from short-term to long-term rental. Outlining the situation, Councillor Cillian Murphy said that a search of Daft.ie had shown a total of 1,830 properties to rent nationwide. Of these, four were in Ennis and its environs; one in Lahinch; none in Ennistymon or Lisdoonvarna; two in Kilrush and its surrounds; none in Kilkee and six in the Shannon area. The Fianna Fáil member contrasted that situation with short-term letting, as revealed by the ‘Inside Airbnb’ research. “Across the whole country, there are 15,851 entire homes or apartments available for short term let on Airbnb,” he explained. “6,420 of those are operated by hosts …

THE first Clare baby to be born in the University Maternity Hospital Limerick in 2022, was from Shannon, writes Owen Ryan. Michael Jimmy O’Connell O’Keeffe arrived at 10.47am on January 1, born to mother Treacy O’Connell and father James O’Keeffe. Speaking to The Clare Champion this week Treacy said she was delighted with her newly arrived son and joked she was making taxi drivers nervous that the delivery would occur in their cars, given her size. “Most of the taxi drivers around Shannon thought I’d deliver in their cars because I was so big!” It looked like the little boy, who is called MJ as short for Michael Jimmy, would arrive before the end of 2021. “They called me in on the 29th to have him, but it didn’t work out then. I went down to the Labour ward about 2.30 in the morning and they induced me, and off I went then,” Treacy laughed. She came home on January …

THE proud record of Ennis in presenting a clean and tidy face to the country was maintained with another high placing in the IBAL rankings. The final survey of 2021 by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) shows Ennis retaining third spot in the ranking of 40 towns and cities. According to the study, nationwide litter levels have risen slightly, with cities faring particularly badly. PPE litter was found to be at its highest level since the pandemic began. Naas finished top ahead of Portlaoise and Ennis to record its first win in the annual rankings. There was a slight fall in the number of clean towns nationwide, to 22. The An Taisce report for Ennis stated: “It is only fitting that the 2021 Tidy Town winner should score so well in the IBAL litter league. “It is particularly encouraging that a site which had been seriously littered over the last number of IBAL surveys was now deemed top-ranking …

DISCUSSIONS are underway with a view to installing a filter light for those travelling from the Limerick Road to Old Gaol Road in Ennis, the local authority have confirmed. Councillor Pat Daly highlighted the need for the light at the monthly meeting of the council at a recent meeting of the Ennis Municipal District where he urged the council, “to install a filter right arrow on the traffic lights at the Clare Road, adjacent to the tyre centre, to accommodate traffic coming from the Limerick Road side who presently are finding it very difficult to turn right in the Gaol Road.” Ian Chaplin, Executive Engineer, responded, “The Ennis Municipal District recently installed two hatch boxes at this junction to assist access from Clare Road Tyres and the hatch box at the Captain Macs Cross side of the junction should assist the traffic flow as buses will not be obstructed when turning left out of Old Goal Road. The Ennis MD …

THE position of planters and bollards on the segregated cycle way on Clonroadmore are forcing motorists to cross the centre line of traffic it has been claimed. Councillor Johnny Flynn told the monthly meeting of the Ennis Municipal District that the planters and bollards from the front of St Flannan’s to the Kilrush Road should be adapted. He insisted this is needed so that drivers exiting estates and private houses “can do so without crossing the centre line onto oncoming traffic”. Eamon O’Dea, Senior Executive Engineer, in his written reply stated, “The Road Design office have confirmed that all the junctions comply with DMURS. On the tighter junction radius the driver has to approach the junction square to the main road and then rotate to the left. If the driver proceeds to cut the corner they will either mount the kerb (hit the bollard) or have to cross the centre line to turn left. The purpose of the tighter radii …

WORKS aimed at connecting parts of Ennis with walking trails are set to begin next year the Ennis Municipal District has confirmed. Funding totalling €950,000 has been secured by the council under the government’s Active Travel grant scheme. The plans were detailed at a recent meeting of the Ennis Municipal District where Councillor Johnny Flynn had sought an update on the Connecting and Co-Creating Ennis project which was undertaken in 2020 by the Intelligence Unit (IU) of the School of Architecture at UL. The project was undertaken on the invitation of the Director of Service of the Ennis MD executive Carmel Kirby, in conjunction with the elected members. The councillor outlined that this project looked at Connecting, by re-joining parts of Ennis physically and socially and Co-Creating, getting citizens and visitors actively involved in the development of Ennis. Councillor Flynn described the document as “a very important piece of work”. The students and academics who worked on the project spent …

DEVELOPERS looking to build a 24-metre mast in Quin have offered to reduce the height of the structure as part of an appeal against the council’s decision to refuse permission. After a significant local opposition, and multiple objections, County Planners refused an application from Vantage Towers for the structure at a site at Quinnville South. The planning authority said that the proposed mast would materially contravene the zoning of the site and adversely affect Quin as an Architectural Conservation Area (ACA). In addition, planners noted national guidelines stating that free-standing masts should only be located, as a last resort, in residential areas or close to schools. County Planners added that the mast development would also impact negatively on a medieval settlement area. In an appeal lodged earlier this month with An Bord Pleanála, Vantage Towers has now offered to reduce the height of the mast to 21 metres. The company said that this is in order “to uphold the attractiveness …