Regional

ENNIS Town Council has put the brakes on a call for free car parking to be provided in the town in the run up to Christmas.The council has rejected a suggestion by Councillor Johnny Flynn, who urged that shoppers visiting Ennis should be able to avail of free car parking on streets and in council car parks on all Friday and Saturday afternoons between 2pm and 6pm until December 30.At a recent meeting of Ennis Town Council, Councillor Flynn stated, “Limerick city is offering free parking this month, Kilrush are doing the same thing and there are reduced parking rates in Galway. The last six weeks of trading have been very tough, we have had adverse weather and the budget.”He argued that free parking would increase the number of people coming to Ennis to shop. “People will be spending local. We have to try and sustain jobs in the town. According to a study by the Economics Foundation in London, …

ODDS on a white Christmas have been slashed and after a very cold winter to date, concerns have been expressed about the quality of water meters and the possibility of further damage being caused by freezing conditions.At this week’s meeting of Shannon area councillors, Councillor Patricia McCarthy put down a motion asking “the owners of all housing developments not taken in charge be contacted to establish (a) if they have correctly installed the water metres and (B) carried out remedial works where problems have been identified”.Also at meeting a letter was presented claiming the materials that the local authority puts in place itself are in order. The communication from the council’s water services engineer stated, “The meter box/stopcock systems Clare County Council have been installing in the Shannon Electoral Area are Talbot Matrix boxes. These comply with current standards, part of which requires that the device can withstand a temperature of minus 15 degrees centigrade for 15 days. “These devices …

Concerns about the safety of roundabouts in the town were expressed at this week’s meeting of Shannon area county councillors.Councillor Patricia McCarthy put down a motion asking that the roundabout at the comprehensive school be replaced by traffic lights.In a written response, area engineer Eugene O’Shea stated, “I will request the road design office to examine whether any possible improvements, including the provision of traffic lights, can be made at the junction.”Councillor McCarthy said it was time for an improvement to be made. “There have been some serious accidents and it’s time we looked at it and replaced it.”Councillor Gerry Flynn said there had been “loads of accidents” at the site in question, which he said made safety improvements necessary. He said that his sister lives by the roundabout and that a woman had died in an accident there some years back. The idea of installing traffic lights was supported by Councillor PJ Ryan, who said that at one time …

WHEN East Clare resident Terri Shoosmith left school, she never thought she would pursue an academic career in history, let alone Irish history but today she finds herself in the midst of a PhD, looking at settlement and change in the barony of Tulla prior to the Famine.Terri, originally from Brighton in the UK, lives in Faha just north of Killanena. She readily admits when she left school, she did so with an F in history.“I hated the subject with a passion. This was in England, of course and they wanted to teach us colonialism, imperialism and the industrial revolution and I slept through 10 years of history and came up with an F. I had no intention of going into it. I did love history, in that I was very interested in the past how people used to live but I wanted to know things like what did they eat for their dinner, how did they tell the time, …

CHRISTMAS and the new year can be a difficult time for bereaved families, the loss feeling more acute as families come together at this time. Seeking help can seem daunting and sometimes difficult to access but in East Clare help is at hand with the launch of a new counselling service.After extensive re-structuring, the counselling service run by East Clare Community Co-op will re-commence this month.The service was initially set up for families in need in the area to provide bereavement and separation counselling but following a re-examination of the service, it has now been re-structured and includes a wider panel of counsellors, who specialise in children’s issues, mental health, sexual and addiction issues.The Family Support Agency has provided East Clare Community Co-op with a grant for bereavement and separation counselling and donations from the public for books in the reception in the co-op will provide the funds for other forms of counselling.The service is confidential and will take place …

THE Kilrush Town Council Mayoral Endeavour Awards and the annual Cissie Roughan awards were presented in the town last Tuesday. Kilrush Town Council said, in a statement, they recognise the concept of rewarding excellence and with this in mind they introduced a Special Mayoral Award in Kilrush for 2010. “It was felt there was a wealth of talent in Kilrush, across a broad spectrum of activities and Kilrush Town Council would like to reward such excellence and to encourage people to continue to challenge their minds,” a council statement explained. The mayoral awards were presented under the following categories: innovation, academic, sporting/cultural and community/voluntary. The award winners were as follows:InnovationVincent O’Halloran, Chapel Drive, Kilrush, who was a founder member of the Inis Cathaigh Comhaltas Ceoltóirí festival in Kilrush in 2008 when the Éigse Mrs Crotty festival was discontinued.AcademicMichael Shannon of Cappa Cove, Kilrush, who received the overall award at the Scifest competition at Limerick Institute of Technology in October 2009. …

CLARE County Council has 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 proposed scheme comprises additional library space, theatre and exhibition space and multifunctional spaces. Construction work on the proposed development is expected to get underway in the coming weeks and will be completed by the end of 2011. During the development period, the library will be temporarily relocated to the Kilkee Community Centre. The existing building is approximately 4,465ft2 and the revised layout will provide approximately 7,340ft2, at ground and first-floor level The theatre and foyer have been designed to accommodate approximately 130 people.The brief for the project has been developed in conjunction and consultation with many groups, including Clare County Library, Clare Arts Office, Clare County Council, Kilkee Town Councillors, area councillors, Kilkee Civic Trust, and drama and community group representatives from the Kilkee area. The project is being funded through a …

THE Burren and the Cliffs of Moher moved a step closer to achieving official Geopark status recently. Clare County Council, through the Burren Connect Project, submitted an application to the European Geoparks Network (EGN) for the European and Global Geoparks status for the Burren and Cliffs of Moher region of North Clare.The EGN was founded in 2000 to help protect geodiversity, to promote geological heritage among citizens and to support sustainable economic development of regions through the development of geo-tourism.The network currently consists of 37 territories in 15 European countries, two of which are in Ireland, the Copper Coast Geopark in Waterford and the Marble Arch Cave Geopark in Cavan and Fermanagh.“If successful, the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark project will provide the area with an identity as a region for sustainable ecotourism that is recognised across Europe,” explained Edel Hayes of the Burren Connect Project.European Geopark status is a non-legislative designation and, as such, it has no impact …