Regional

In a three-part series, Owen Ryan speaks to some of Clare’s leading business figures, beginning with Shannon Airport chief executive Neil Pakey. Next week, Irish Hotels Federation president Michael Vaughan of Lahinch will be featured   SHANNON’S performance is important for everyone in Clare. Many of us wouldn’t even live in the county but for it. If it weren’t for the tourists it brings to the county, huge numbers of jobs and businesses wouldn’t exist. Its Heathrow and US links have helped make the Mid-West of Ireland a hub for multi-national companies. The decline of the airport, which had its worst year since the ’80s in 2012, is a serious problem and a Scot has been brought in to get it back on track, 52-year-old Neil Pakey, the new chief executive, who was appointed in May. At the moment, he is commuting to Clare and heading back to Britain at the weekends, where his family are based. “My two boys …

THE Ché Guevara mural saga has taken yet another turn in Kilkee with retired pharmacist and former Kilkee Chamber secretary, John Williams, claiming the resort town is in the throes of rebellion. One complete and a second partially complete mural of Ché Guevara have been painted on the side of privately owned property in the town in recent days. This follows Clare County Council’s decision to remove a 20ft-high mural of the famous Argentine revolutionary from a ball alley wall at the West End of Kilkee beach last week. The image of Ché Guevara was part of the publicity for the annual Ché do Bheatha Festival in the town. The removal of that mural has led to an upsurge in mural creations in recent days. “It’s a rebellion after the high-handed way the council treated the town. It’s a rebellion as befits Ché Guevara,” a furious Mr Williams told The Clare Champion on Wednesday. He predicts several images of the …

THE West Coast Surf Club, based in Lahinch, held its annual longboard surf competition last weekend, hosting some of Ireland’s best male and female surfers. More than 65 contestants competed for national men’s and women’s longboard surfing trophies. Surfing has been going from strength to strength in recent times, with North Clare residents Peter Conroy, Fergal Smith and Ollie O’ Flaherty all making international headlines for their big wave surfing achievements. Last year, Peter was nominated for the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Award – the award for the biggest wave surfed by anyone worldwide. The previous year, Ollie was also nominated. Peter said this year’s longboard competition “shows just how much talent there is in Irish surfing, as well as it being a fantastic event for the community of West Clare”. “The competition turned the whole town into a festival with live music bands and deals in local pubs and restaurants that hosted their own theme in conjunction with …

Shannon Airport’s steady recovery in passenger numbers continued for a third consecutive month in August, figures revealed by the airport today show. Passenger numbers for the month show that 170,000 people travelled through Shannon in August, a 3% increase on August 2012. The increase comes on the back of strong gains also in June – the first time in five years growth was seen in month-over-month figures – and July. Transatlantic services again showed the greatest uplift in August, with 35% more passengers travelling between Shannon and the US/Canada compared to 12 months ago.

EAST Clare has fared out very well at this year’s Tidy Towns competition, with gold and bronze medals going to Mountshannon and Tuamgraney respectively, while Tulla received the endeavour award for the county. Mountshannon was awarded gold in category A of the Tidy Towns competition with 311 points, just five points shy of the national winners Moynalty, County Meath. Indeed its potential for national success was something that was pointed out by the Mountshannon’s tidy town’s adjudicator. “If you sustain your current enthusiasm and commitment and attend to the relatively few remaining issues for attention Mountshannon has the potential to again secure the top prize,” the adjudicator commented. Mountshannon also received a highly commended in the county awards. Another East Clare village celebrating this week is Tuamgraney, having taken a bronze medal in category B with 304 points, seven points more than their 2012 effort. Their potential for national success was also noted in their tidy towns report. “If you sustain …

KILKEE based community radio station, Raidio Corca Baiscinn has been granted funding from the latest round of the of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) Sound and Vision Scheme to make a documentary on The Clare Champion, which has been in existence since March 1903. Grants totalling €4.462m have been offered to broadcasters and independent producers to support the production of 102 radio and 17 TV projects. When completed, the funded projects will be broadcast by a range of community, commercial and public service broadcasters across the country. All of the projects being offered funding will explore the themes of Irish culture, heritage and experience. “We are thrilled about this as you can imagine, and I am really looking forward to getting started on it,” Derrick Lynch, Programme Co-ordinator with Raidio Corca Baiscinn, said.

A radical new design concept has been put forward for the first phase of a planned re-vamp of Ennis’ market. Phase one of the redevelopment of the market will begin at Garraunakilla, the site of the current Farmer’s Market. The plans involve creating a ‘covered’ market, with the first phase part of a wider scheme of improvements to the entire market area. Consideration had been given to having ‘umbrella’ style covers of the market. However, the new design unveiled this week involves the creation of a permanent roof for market goers made of patent glazing or plexi-glass. The concept includes the creation of a landmark entrance from a new pedestrian forecourt in a highly visible location on the boundary between Market Place and Garraunakilla. The new enclosure design features a covering of the entire public circulation areas of the market with the permanent roof with retractable awnings giving cover to stalls on market days. It is proposed that the space …

THE number of YouTube hits for a song written by a young Killaloe man jumped from 300 to 33,000 in just 24-hours. Eighteen-year-old Noel McInerney, who lives in the Millstream Housing Estate in Killaloe, did not envisage his tribute song to the Clare team’s hurling efforts The Banner’s Road To Croker would prove to be an internet hit. At the time of writing, the number of hits was at an impressive 59,728. The song is set to feature on the RTÉ News this Thursday evening, while it is expected a clip will also be played on Up for the Match on Saturday night. A casual conversation with his father Willie, who is a caretaker at the local Waterman’s Alzheimer Respite and Day Care Centre, about the All-Ireland semi-final between Clare and Limerick got Noel thinking about a song for the final. Within minutes, he had the chorus written down on his phone and composed the entire song within two hours. …