Regional

DONALD Trump’s company, TIGL Ireland Enterprises Limited, could end up before the circuit court in Clare for “a fully-fledged battle royale” civil case, if progress is not reached over a right-of-way at Doonbeg Golf Club. The American business tycoon purchased Doonbeg Golf Club and its lands earlier this year, for a reputed €15million, but it has emerged that a negotiated settlement with the previous owners, prior to the sale, provides for a right-of-way on these lands. This settlement was not implemented by the previous owners, Doonbeg Golf Club Ltd, and legal proceedings have been issued against them as a result. Ennis Circuit Court heard on Tuesday that the settlement reached in May 2013, providing a right-of-way on lands now owned by Mr Trump, was never signed or implemented by the then owners, Doonbeg Golf Club Ltd, prior to the sale. James McNulty of Ballinagun, Cree, one of the parties to the settlement, has taken a civil action against Doonbeg Golf …

As the State exams drew to a close this week, Met Éireann issued a status yellow ‘high temperature warning’ for County Clare, with temperatures on Wednesday reaching between 26 and 28 degrees Celsius. According to Met Éireann, the maximum temperature recorded at the Shannon Airport weather station on Tuesday was 25.8 degrees Celsius. By midday on Wednesday, temperatures had already reached 24 degrees and the warm weather is forecast to remain into the weekend, with Thursday, Friday and Saturday to each hit 20 degrees, though there will be some cloud cover. This is not just good news for those out enjoying the fine weather but also for businesses here. “In Lahinch, every car parking space was filled,” Michael Vaughan, owner of Vaughan Lodge and former president of the Irish Hotels Federation, said on Wednesday afternoon. “I see people parked on verges and the beach is thronged, so there are plenty of visitors to the area but I am not certain …

Two Donegal women are trekking through Galway and Clare on Wednesday making their way on horseback from Malin Head to Mizen Head in aid of three charities. Friends Amy McGarvey and Esther O’Kane are in Gort from 2pm to 2.30pm, will be in Crusheen an hour later before arriving in Ennis between 3.50pm and 4.30pm. The women and their horses will have a bucket collection in Newmarket on Fergus between 5pm and 5.30pm before concluding this leg of their week-long trek in Shannon between 5.45pm and 6.15pm. The pair will be back in the area on Sunday when they attend the Forgotten Horses family fun day in  Labane on Sunday. Amy is an equine management student in Enniskillen while Esther own’s her own business Tip Top Horses. The two began their trek from Malin Head to Mizen Head on Monday, raising money for the Donegal Hospice, Forgotten Horses Ireland and Animal Haven Animal Rescue. A casual chat between the equine …

Former Irish Ladies rugby star, Rosie Foley and an Ogonnelloe TG4 presentation director will bid to make history by becoming the first two to swim the full 38 kilometre length of Lough Derg from Portumna to Killaloe this Saturday. James Lynch and Rosie Foley estimate it will take them 15 hours of continuous swimming to make the lake crossing depending on weather conditions and other factors. While Mr Lynch will be wearing a wetsuit for the event, Ms Foley, plans to swim without the wetsuit as she hopes to qualify for an attempt at the English Channel in the future. Up to now the pair have been training in pools since January and from late April they have been swimming long distances in the open water, to help them prepare for the event. The two swimmers and their support crews will be leaving Portumna on Saturday morning around 7am will subsequently make their way south along the lake to Killaloe. …

CARRIGAHOLT fisherman Donal Farrell was stunned to find that he had a whale for company on the Shannon Estuary when he was fishing this morning. He was fishing, under the early morning sunshine, between between Kilcredaun and Ballybunion, which is located across the estuary on the north coast of Kerry. “It’s very unusual to see them in the estuary at all. You see them passing by Loophead in the Autumn but it’s very unusual to see them in the estuary,” Donal told The Clare Champion. “I’m not sure whether it was a Minky whale or a Right Whale. It was one or the other. It passed relatively close and it looked like it was heading in the river,” he explained. The Carrigaholt man said that the mammal was making rapid progress. “It was motoring and moving very fast. It looked healthy enough. It was probably just in with the high tide, feeding on mackerel. But it was still very unusual …

BODYKE National School is taking a giant leap forward as it plans to go digital for the coming academic year, with pupils from the age of five being given a laptop from this September. The board of management, staff, and parents association have decided to embark on a project to ensure that every child from the age of five in this 24-pupil school has a laptop for the coming year. The ambitious proposal comes on the back of the school being one of a number of schools in County Clare to be awarded a Digital Schools of Distinction Award earlier this year. Colm Ó Tuathaill outlined how it came about.  “We sat down as a school, staff and board of management recently and we set about creating a new vision for the school, and that would be an e-learning vision. We could see the benefits of ICT (Information and communications technology) and we were looking at the Department of Education’s …

A County Clare graduate will work at Navan Racecourse after she was selected as one of five Horse Racing Ireland interns. Niamh Baker from Tubber began her 12-week work placement at the Navan track last Wednesday. In November 2013, HRI launched its first Student Internship Programme, offering five placements at HRI headquarters and each of the four HRI-owned racecourses, Leopardstown, Tipperary, Navan and Fairyhouse. Over 120 applications were received from students throughout the country and 35 students were shortlisted and interviewed. Niamh has just completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree at NUI Galway. Niamh grew up on a stud farm and has a keen interest in horses and horse riding. She also plays Gaelic football, camogie, basketball and soccer. As part of her role at Navan Racecourse, Niamh will be required to assist in many areas of racecourse operations such as marketing, sales, social media, website maintenance, raceday operations and the promotion of events over the summer season. Welcoming Niamh, …

MONICA Stirling, who lives in Mullagh, has had a book of poetry published, somewhat against her will. Musings and Memories contains more than 70 poems, all written by Monica, who has been encouraged by Kilmurry-Ibrickane Active Retirement Group chairperson, Helen McGrath, to publish her work. “I’ve been writing for years but most of them were under the bed and scattered around the house. And a lot of them have gone out in the rubbish,” Monica laughed. Musings and Memories is Monica’s first collection of poetry. “The active retirement group have been after me for a couple of years to put them together in book form. I was reluctant but they decided they’d get on with it themselves. There are 70-plus poems in it. They have been up and down for few days, trying to fit them in,” the retired nurse explained. Monica and her husband, Bill, lived in Zambia for many years. She spent a year there in 1964/1965, before …