Regional

A derelict unsafe inaccessible public space has been turned into a new multifunctional safe haven in front of Quin Friary, thanks to the hard work of the local tidy towns’ committee. An Tearmann, or The Sanctuary, will be officially opened by Evanne Canny, the daughter of the late Lizzie Clune, a trojan tidy towns’ worker and Clare County Council road sweeper, James Doherty, while master of ceremonies for the event will be Clare Rose, Aisling O’Connor on Saturday, June 15, at 3pm. Two years ago, Ms Clune switched on the Christmas Lights in the sanctuary and the group wanted to honour her memory by asking her daughter to do the official honours with Mr Doherty. Refreshments and food will be supplied to the entire village after the official opening, which are sponsored by local businesses. A showcase of local musicians, singers and storytellers organised by fiddle player, Maeve Donnelly will converge in the local hall, while the Ennis Brass Band …

There has been further disruption to water services in West Clare with locals complaining water outage is now a common occurrence and happens every three to four weeks. On Tuesday, Uisce Éireann said it had identified a burst in a watermain in the Doonbeg area saying it was working with Clare County Council to restore water “as quickly as possible” to approximately 40 affected properties. The areas affected in west Clare were Glascloune, Baltard, Bealaha, Farrihy, Doonmore, Doonbeg, Kilrush and some surrounding areas. Whilst the leak was fixed the following day (Wednesday), there was an initial problem with gaining access to the land due to soft ground and the engineers had to seek out another point thus delaying repairs. Doonbeg councillor and local election candidate, Rita McInerney (FF) described the overall situation as “very frustrating” saying a complete upgrade is needed in the area. She confirmed they have outages every three to four weeks saying she constantly receives calls from …

IZABELA Knotowska has organised a couple of fundraising events for June 1 in aid of her cousin Sara Fodrowska who is battling cancer. Izabela has spent nearly all her life in Shannon but is originally from Poland, where her cousin Sara lives. “She is soon to be 28 and she found out that she had cancer at the age of 23, so she has been battling for a few years now,” said Izabela. “When she went to the doctor she thought it was going to be ovarian cysts, but it turned out that it was stage four ovarian cancer. She went into emergency surgery straight away and she has been fighting it in Poland for more than four years.” To get the treatment she really needs, there is a huge cost. “There have been various chemo treatments, and they would help it, but it comes back and the cancer spreads,” she said. “We started looking outside of Poland for treatment, …

Clare County Council are planning to open the new interpretative centre for Holy Island in Mountshannon in the first quarter of 2025. The local authority is working closely with utilities to put in place the necessary infrastructure to support the refurbishment of the old rectory. Theresa Lannon Hughes of Clare Tourism outlined at a recent Killaloe Municipal District meeting the refurbishment of the old rectory is continuing with the objective of opening it as a visitor centre in the first quarter of next year. It is expected plans for a Part Ten planning application will be completed for An Bord Pleanála in September , while a tender will be sought for the fit out of the interpretative centre in the coming weeks. The public realm works in Mountshannon are due to start in the second week in June and will involve 75 metres sections to avoid as much disruption as possible. One side of the street in Mountshannon will be …

Last weekend a North Clare film received its world premier at the Berlin Irish Film Festival. The film, which is entitled Tabhair Aire Do na hÉin or Remember to Feed the Birds, was written by Gary Hetzler from the Corkscrew Hill, shot entirely in the Burren and stars North Clare musician, storyteller and actor Aindrias de Staic. The film, which was shot last summer in Clare, was a hit at the German festival over the weekend and hopes are now high that it will do well on the Irish festival circuit this year. According to producer Alanna MacNamee, hopes are high that it will be screened at a location in Clare in the near future. The film was made using funding from Clare County Council under the Engine Short Film Competition. “The film was written by Gary and was very much inspired by an experience that he had during Covid 19, and I think that the remoteness and loneliness of …

THE Clarecastle Regatta returns this June with organisers saying there is “great excitement” building as the village prepares for the popular event. The regatta takes place on Sunday, June 2, from 2pm to 6pm with committee chairperson Donal Carey telling us, “It is a real family day out”. “The regatta promises to be a day of fun with a wide range of events to thrill all members of the family,” he said. “Returning firm favourites include children’s fancy dress parade from the Church Grounds meeting at 1.45pm, dog show, bonny baby, children’s races, long puck across the water and best dressed lady competitions as well as a wide range of market stalls, vintage cars, live music and food.” Other events include the Hanging Tough Challenge, Soccer Dart, amusements, farm animals and zorbing. There will be hurling shootouts, a baking competition with the best tart being judged. The water events will include boat rides, kayaking, stand-up paddle boards and the highly anticipated …

OUTGOING Ennis Municipal District Councillor Johnny Flynn has resigned as a member of the Fine Gael party he has confirmed. In correspondence to Clare Fine Gael seen by The Clare Champion the Ennis councillor stated he is resigning his membership of the party as “it has been made apparent over the last week that the two current Ennis Municipal District Fine Gael councillors and other sitting  Fine Gael councillors  continue to fully support what I consider to be  destructive Council and Ennis 2040 DAC plans for Ennis town centre. This is despite that all councillors, including Fine Gael ones,  recieved written confirmation last October that a petition signed by 3,700 people was handed into the council opposing the plans.” Councillor Flynn, who announced earlier this year he would not be seeking re-election, said he intends to continue to work and campaign as an independent citizen against the “controversial plans of the Council to hand over ownership/control to a private company  Ennis 2040 …

HAVING put severe injury setbacks behind him, Ryan Nolan is now an important player for Hercules CF, the Alicante club that has just won promotion to Spain’s third tier. Hercules are a big club in Spain, with a stadium that holds 30,000 while they were in La Liga as recently as 2011. They have huge support in Alicante and there were incredible scenes of jubilation and a huge pitch invasion when they beat Lleida Esportiu on May 5, which meant they won the division and took the only automatic promotion place. Nolan, who spent the first eight years of his life in Shannon before his family moved to Spain, was famously signed by Inter Milan as a teenager. In 2020 he signed for Getafe and was on the brink of playing in La Liga, having been named on the bench. However disaster struck with a cruciate injury before he made his first team debut, and he left the club. Spells …