Regional

Memories of the Shannon Golf Club Pro-Am events in the late ’70s were recalled this week when news of the death of Seve Ballesteros was announced.The Spaniard was one of the leading attractions at the Shannon event that was played on the Monday after the Irish Open. In the mid-’70s, Christy O’Connor Junior was attached to the Shannon club and he was instrumental in getting many of the leading professionals to play in the Shannon Pro-Am, which raised money for various charities.In addition to the late Ballesteros, winner of 87 titles during his career, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam and Greg Norman also visited and played the Shannon course. Norman holds the record of having the longest drive and a special stone was erected on the 18th fairway to mark this.“Back then, the Irish Open was staged the week prior to the British Open. The field of competitors in the Shannon event would do justice to any of the majors,” recalled …

ON Wednesday, Clare County Council awarded a €1 million contract to L&M Keating Ltd, Kilmihil, to carry out a refurbishment and extension to the Sweeney Memorial Library in Kilkee. The work will be carried out to a design by Denis Byrne Architects in Dublin. The council initially made this decision public last December. The project has already been significantly delayed.  At the July 2010 meeting of Kilrush Electoral Area county councillors, director of services Nora Kaye acknowledged the refurbishment work was behind schedule even at that stage. “It appears to be about a month behind schedule at the moment, but hopefully all will go well for a start later in the year,” Ms Kaye explained. She said she had spoken to project architect, Ruth Hurley on the issue. “I’m disappointed to hear that there’s a delay. In these times I thought that we should be ahead of things. But if there’s a delay there’s a delay, although I would encourage …

THE National Roads Authority has “had difficulty” concluding the Public Private Partnership contract for the Gort to Tuam bypass due to the country’s financial insecurity, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has stated.Minister Leo Varadkar was responding to questions posed by Labour TD Colm Keaveney.“The N17-N18 Gort to Tuam project is being tendered by the NRA as a public private partnership, (PPP) but due to concern in the capital markets regarding Ireland’s overall financial situation, the NRA has had difficulty concluding this PPP contract,” Minister Varadkar stated.Deputy Keaveney said he had met with the minister “regarding concerns at unhelpful commentary in the national media about the future viability of the Gort to Tuam bypass”.“The Gort to Tuam scheme is being tendered by the National Roads Authority as a PPP. As such, we are reliant on private sector funding for the construction and for its operation. The contract for this critical infrastructure should have been awarded in 2010 and the …

A PROPERTY developer is appealing Clare County Council’s request for a development contribution of almost €125,000 in respect of a proposal to complete a housing scheme in Kilkishen on the basis it amounts to “double charging”.Jim Woods Building Contractor Ltd, based in Newmarket-on-Fergus, was granted planning permission to construct 16 houses at the Cluain na Laoi estate in Kilkishen on March 30 last.The local authority attached 24 planning conditions to the grant of planning permission and condition 24 forms the subject of an appeal to An Bórd Pleanála by the applicant.This condition requires the developer to pay a contribution of €124,984.32 in respect of public infrastructure and facilities benefiting the development.In an appeal document lodged with An Bord Pleanála, the applicant claims the development contribution levied amounts to “double charging” as “development contributions have already been paid in full under the terms of a previous planning permission”.The applicant explained in the appeal document that the 16 units for which planning …

It is expected the people of Ennis will see activity on site in respect of phase two of the Ennis Flood Relief Works by mid to late September “nearly the second anniversary of the flooding in Ennis”, it has been revealed. A motion was tabled at the Ennis West Electoral Area meeting on Monday by Councillor Tony Mulqueen calling for the proposed start date for phase two of these relief works. Responding to the motion, Eamon O’Dea, senior executive engineer, explained that works were “expected to begin by September” but this expected start date could “go up or down by a half a month on either side”. “The OPW will be forwarding the confirmation documents for the River Fergus Lower (Ennis) Certified Drainage Scheme to the Department of Finance before the end of May. It is anticipated that the confirmation documents will be returned to the OPW before the end of June and the required tender procedures will take a …

A COMMEMORATIVE garden dedicated to all those who suffered abuse in childhood was officially opened this week in the grounds of Ennis Town Council’s offices at Waterpark House.The garden, which features a central piece of sculpture by acclaimed artist Michael McTigue, was launched by Mayor of Ennis Councillor Tommy Brennan.The sculpture depicts words from the poem Lyric number 38 written by the late Clare poet Brendan O’Beirne. The inscription reads “Confront the footsteps behind you”, with the footprints incorporated into the table-like sculpture.Attending the launch was Deirdre O’Beirne, sister of Brendan, who said, “I think it’s fantastic that his poem has been used for this garden, he would have been so thrilled. Brendan lived in Drumbiggle in a council flat and he would be over here every week paying his rent so he often sat here. Those lines are very appropriate to this work, they can mean so much to anybody.”Brendan’s poem was among a number of works submitted by …

Years of speculation about a proposed extension of Limerick City’s boundary into South-East Clare is expected to finally come to an end when the new Environment Minister, Phil Hogan, issues his decision on the controversial findings of an independent report.Minister Hogan told a delegation of Clare County Council members and officials on Friday last that he planned to make a decision on this political hot potato before the Dáil summer recess early in July.Clare Against the Boundary Extension (CABE) and other community groups have vigorously opposed plans to transfer over 3,000 people from Shannon Banks, Westbury and parts of Clonlara in to an expanded Limerick City.This was one of the recommendations of the Limerick Local Government Report, chaired by Denis Brosnan. The report also proposed that Limerick City and County Councils be amalgamated to form one local authority with an estimated saving of €20 million.Last week’s delegation was organised after Killaloe Electoral Area chairman, Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald, tabled a motion …