Regional

BOOKINGS are now being taken for classes at Shannon Leisure Centre, which is due to reopen on July 3. Councillor Patricia McCarthy is on the board of the leisure centre and she said that work is now back on track. “Everything is on target now for July 3 and bookings are being taken for classes. The tennis courts are nearly done – we’re waiting for the surface to go on them and for netting. The skatepark is nearly finished too, we’re just waiting for the modular shape to go in,” she said.Work on the leisure centre was delayed after a dispute with builders. The length of the delay sparked an online campaign seeking its reopening and a public protest outside a meeting of Shannon Town Council earlier this year. Membership of the leisure centre can also be booked and prices are at 2007 levels.Details of upcoming activities are available on the leisure centre’s website, on a noticeboard at the town …

WORK on the provision of a state-of-the-art €10 million two-storey nursing home in Westbury is expected to start during the summer months. The development got the green light from Clare County Council and, barring a successful appeal to An Bord Pleanála, the Athlunkard Partnership, consisting of six Limerick businessmen, expect that construction work will start on the 110-bed nursing home over the coming months.Athlunkard Partnership spokesman Flor McCarthy told The Clare Champion he is delighted to secure official approval for the multi-million euro development.“The partnership sees this development as an enormous opportunity to provide the Limerick and Clare area with a nursing home built to an exceptionally high standard.“Overall, the 20 planning conditions are fair and we are happy that we will be able to meet them in full. We are currently assessing the construction requirements of the development and hope to start work during the summer months,” he said.The planning authority gave the go ahead after developers made a …

A campaign is underway to have a footbridge linking Clare and Limerick at Plassey reopened for the benefit of hundreds of local walkers, runners and fishermen who frequently used the crossing.Limerick East Labour Deputy Jan O’Sullivan has written to Waterways Ireland and contacted Limerick County Council in an effort to have the Black Bridge, situated near the Plassey fishermen’s huts, re-opened. Closed to the public since November 22 following severe flooding on the River Shannon, it now requires a structural survey costing an estimated €100,000.“As a regular walker on the Plassey Bank, I have had dozens of conversations with people from all parts of Limerick and South-East Clare who love the area and they are determined to have the bridge re-opened,” stated Deputy O’Sullivan.The footbridge, which dates back to about 1840, has been in almost continuous use for about two centuries. Some of the timber supporting the piers has rotted away, as confirmed in a preliminary report undertaken by Waterways …

Ahead of the mayfly fishing season, a Scariff angler has made a thrilling catch that yielded a 9lb 9oz trout, measuring 29.5in long, in the Scariff River.Joseph O’Shaughnessy and his brother, Brendan from Scariff set out fishing last Wednesday morning thinking it would be similar to every other angling experience on the river in their 20 years fishing there. With their largest trout weighing 2lbs over those two decades, little did they think that there was a trout of more than 9lb to be caught.But that changed when they felt the draw on their line at 11.45am. Initially thinking they had hooked a pike, a closer examination revealed it was not. The fish was hooked by Joseph who, exhausted after half an hour of a tough struggle, passed the rod to Brendan, who continued the titanic battle to land it. A total of 45 minutes passed before they succeeded in reeling in the hefty trout.The O’Shaughnessy brothers are from a …

The Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI) has received a string of complaints on its website regarding the closure of toilet facilities at Mountshannon Harbour last weekend.The voluntary body of waterways enthusiasts has had a number of its members post complaints on its forum page that they were unable to access the toilet facilities, which are run by Clare County Council.Clare Jordan, chairperson of the Lough Derg Branch of IWAI, said, “Among our own members there has been a lot of talk and concern about onshore toilet facilities. All of the harbours have had issues with toilets. We are coming into the May Bank Holiday weekend now and we will be hoping they be open this weekend, as it is probably one of the busiest weekends in the area. Toilets being locked up is usually a hot topic for discussion at our branch meetings and one I would expect at our next meeting,” Ms Jordan added.She highlighted that with the …

EAST Clare businessman Pádraig Giblin and his wife, Anne, are to embark on a business initiative in the area, which will provide up to 100 jobs locally, after they got the green light to develop a hotel and leisure facility in Tuamgraney.It is expected that between 50 and 80 jobs will be created during the construction phase, while a further 20 to 30 seasonal jobs will be provided when the complex is operational.The proposed mixed-use tourism, recreational and commercial development has three elements to it, including an 18-bedroom hotel, with a function room, restaurant, bar and lounge. The next element is eight apartments, which includes five two-bedroom and three three-bedroom short-term chalet self-catering accommodation units, all serviced by the hotel. The third aspect to the development is a leisure complex, with a leisure pool, changing rooms, recreation and exercise rooms.Earlier this week, Clare County Council granted planning permission for the proposed development, subject to 27 planning conditions.Speaking to The Clare …

New Quay dairy farmers in North Clare scored a major success at the 2010 JFC Rural Innovation Awards Ceremony held in Cavan on April 12, when the area provided two of the 13 finalists in the prestigious all-Ireland competition, which attracted more than 60 entries.