Regional

THE launch of this year’s Cooley Collins Traditional Festival takes place in Harte’s Pub on Bridge Street, Gort next Monday from 8pm to 10pm with Kevin Rohan of Galway Bay FM.

AN East Clare bar is marking 40 years of unbroken traditional music sessions next week.Shortt’s Bar in Feakle has been hosting the popular session every Thursday at 10pm since 1970.

EXTRA traffic calming measures are needed to prevent the possibility of a serious traffic accident in Dromindoora village, a local councillor has warned.

SISTEr Angela Mary Doyle of the Six Crosses, Kilmurry McMahon and Brisbane, has recently published her memoirs titled Mercy, Mater and Me. The book is a story of a young woman, a Sister of Mercy from Ireland, arriving in Brisbane in 1947 aboard an old troop ship, having left behind her family and friends.

The Kilkee-based Loop Head Tourism group was one of 25 tourist destinations from across Europe presented with the title of ‘2010 European Destination of Excellence in Aquatic Tourism’ at an awards ceremony in Brussels on Monday.

TWO North Clare men will represent Ireland in what has been dubbed the Olympics for tradespeople.Shane Stringer from Doolin and Gerard O’Loughlin from Inagh have both been selected to compete at the 2010 World Skills Competition in London.

A barge floating through the country this month on the Grand Canal is heralding a new movement in architecture – Slow Architecture – based on the same principles of the Slow Food Movement.

OVER 800m3 of water entered Lough Derg every day during the unprecedented flooding of the River Shannon last November, Ardnacrusha hydro manager Senan Colleran has revealed.In fact, Mr Colleran confirmed that even if the level of Lough Derg was at a lower starting level, it would have been refilled within one day and the peak flow was almost twice the volume of the operating range of the lake.The ESB was asked to address a number of concerns and questions by Geraldine Quinlivan on behalf of the Springfield residents in Clonlara, whose submission about the flooding was endorsed by all county councillors at a recent Killaloe Electoral Area meeting.In a response to this submission, Mr Colleran insisted the ESB has no strategic interest in storing water upstream of Lough Derg, while the level in the lake at the start of the flood has no real impact on the amount of water that has to be sent down the old Shannon during …