Regional

JASON Ryan has got to know almost every back road in West Clare in recent months. The Kilrush man, who is a retained fire fighter in the town, has been partaking in four hour early morning training stints as he prepares for a five day, 2,100km (1,350 miles) cycle around Ireland. The cycle starts at 3pm in Trim on Sunday and is due to last five days. Jason, who is fundraising for the West Clare Cancer Centre in Kilkee and the Clare 250 Cycle, is confident that he is in physical shape to cycle up to 500km daily. “I’ve been out most mornings, nearly every morning, for the last couple of months. I’ve been clocking up between 80 to 100km at least four mornings a week. When it was brighter I was heading out at 5 or 5.30am but for the last few weeks it has been about 6.30am,” he told The Clare Champion this week. Once he leaves his …

AT least 10 CCTV cameras will be erected in Kilrush town centre following the completion of a tendering and Part 8 planning process. At Tuesday’s September meeting of Kilrush Town Council, members unanimously backed the initiative, which was originally proposed by current town mayor, Councillor Paul Moroney. “What’s proposed is to have a number of cameras throughout the town. There’s a total of ten. Six of them are fixed at various locations throughout the town. Four of them are zoom cameras, which can move. The town centre is deemed an area of concern,” town clerk John Corry stated. “We’re going to have a fixed camera on the credit union and the Vodafone shop (subject to approval). There’s also going to be cameras on poles either side of the town hall. One will take in Moore Street, Francis Street and the square. The other one will take in Henry Street, John Street and Burton Street. We’re also going to have a …

MORE than five months after the National Famine Commemoration was held in Kilrush, local town councillors still cannot decide where to locate the commemorative sculpture. In fact, only one member of the public responded to a council invitation for suggestions as to where the sculpture by Paddy Murray should be installed. After a long debate at Tuesday’s Kilrush Town Council meeting, councillors decided to defer a definite decision until October. Some councillors admitted that the location issue has dragged on for so long they would struggle to recognise the sculpture if they saw it. “I’ve forgotten what it looks like and how big it is,” Councillor Ian Lynch said. “We don’t know what it looks like. Because of the plinth, we haven’t seen it all,” Councillor Mairéad O’Brien stated. Town clerk John Corry revealed that an invitation for submissions from the public, issued in July, was met with an under-whelming response. “I received one submission. The location that was identified …

WITH autumn now upon us and dark evenings prompting a more sedentary lifestyle, Shannon Chamber has enlisted the help of sport and recreation expert, Dave Mahedy, Director of Sport and Recreation at the University of Limerick, to help members and business people generally to prepare a personal programme for a healthier lifestyle. Mr Mahedy will deliver a presentation, entitled ‘Fit for Work, Project Me: A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body’ in GECAS Shannon next Tuesdayevening  from 5.30pm to 7pm.   The event is being run by Shannon Chamber, with the support of GECAS, as part of Chamber Week, which runs from  September 16 – 20 nationally. Making the announcement, Shannon Chamber’s chief executive Helen Downes said, “Summer is a time for the outdoors and exercise comes naturally but it’s difficult to find the routine as we head into winter. It’s easy to fall into a sedentary pattern, yet exercise is so important for our well-being, it relaxes and stimulates …

DOORUS resident Mark Dwyer, along with 10 experienced swimmers, will take to the sea later this month to raise money for facilities for local boy Conor Keane. Mark will swim 2.4km from Oileán Eide to Lynch’s Pier, Doorus to raise money for the Conor Keane Trust on Saturday, September 28. The swim takes place at 10am and Mark believes it can be done in 40 minutes. “It will be a high tide but the rate of knots in the deepest part will be slack. We have rescue set up with RibWest, a local company that run trips to the Aran Islands and the GOYA gang here will also provide kayak support. I am hoping that we will have 10 to 12 swimmers on the day but I don’t really want any more than that because I want to have sufficient support and safety really is paramount,” he said. Weather conditions will not deter Mark and his fellow participants and he …

A DECADES-long wait for a sewage treatment plant in Kinvara is nearing an end. An Bord Pleanála this week gave the go-ahead for construction of the wastewater treatment plant in the South Galway village. Currently, untreated sewage is pumped into Kinvara Bay about 100m from the pier. “It has been one of the longest running sagas in South Galway but the end seems near for the development of a new sewage treatment plant for the town,” Junior Minister Ciarán Cannon commented. “This is the last major stumbling block out of the way and we are now ready to begin the preparation of contract documents and commence the tendering process. There are no really onerous conditions attaching to the grant of permission and this makes the next stage very straightforward,” he said. “I have been liaising closely with council engineers and they have confirmed to me that they will now finalise the contract documents and are hopeful that we can go …

The Restaurant Association of Ireland has kick-started a campaign to highlight how critical it is that the reduced VAT rate of 9% is kept in place for 2014 and beyond, in order for the Irish economy to remain competitive. The nine-day campaign began on September 9 and getting behind it is Ennis bar and restaurant The Cloister, run by husband and wife Dermot and Noreen Fetton. The couple are in their first year of business at this premises and are hugely concerned that the forthcoming budget could see a VAT hike, something that would make trading extremely difficult for them going forward. In embarking on the campaign to maintain the current VAT rate, The Cloister has lobbied Deputy Timmy Dooley for support. Mrs Fetton said the reason they got behind the campaign  is to stave off any further increase in overheads in their sector and to ensure jobs are retained and a quality service is maintained, while remaining competitive. “We …

THE prospect of a crematorium being built in Shannon is back on the agenda again, after a number of years of silence on the issue. Some years ago, former Clare county councillors Tony McMahon and the late Sean Hillery proposed the development of a crematorium at Illaunmanagh. Nothing has been heard about it for some time but at the very end of this week’s meeting of Shannon electoral area councillors, town manager Bernadette Kinsella said while the original parties are not involved, another party is now interested in proceeding and it will be proposed that the lands in question be disposed of. Ms Kinsella also said the third party is in the process of applying for an extension of planning permission. Attending the meeting, Councillor Gerry Flynn, who had opposed the development, restated his opposition to it. After originally getting the green light from Clare county planners, the decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanála and in 2009 it granted …