Shannon

CLARE County Council has signed a contract with Atlantic Developments Ltd to complete the controversial development at Cluain Airne.In a statement on Tuesday, the council said the contractor should begin work quite soon. “In October 2010, the council terminated the original contract with Paddy Burke Builders Ltd for reason of failure by the contractor to comply with the terms and conditions of the contract. The construction of the scheme had experienced delays during the original contract due to severe weather conditions last winter, rights-of-way issues and the general economic climate.“Following the termination, the council entered into arrangements with the guarantor for the scheme to secure an alternative contractor to complete the scheme. The guarantor subsequently nominated Atlantic Developments Ltd to complete the project. It is expected contractors will take possession of the site by July 15 and the project will be completed in approximately four months.”Mayor of Clare Pat Hayes said he is pleased the development could now proceed. “The …

FOR the past 11 years, Shannon has been linked to the Goradiche orphanage and at the moment, Rosie Byrne from Pinewood is in Belarus, where she is volunteering.“We’re here for two weeks. Myself and my daughter, Ruth are here, there’s seven of us in the group, three from Clare. One of the girls, Julie Pipe, is from Connolly but she works in St Patrick’s Comprehensive in Shannon,” she told The Clare Champion this week.It is her seventh time going over and when she spoke to the newspaper, the group were helping out at another orphanage, at Cherven, outside Minsk, before going on to Goradiche. She says that in Belarus, small children routinely go without items that are taken for granted in Ireland. “The recession has hit here, prices have gone up and people are feeling the pinch, big time. In the past, there wouldn’t have been disposable nappies all the time anyway, but this year there are hardly any because …

THE deadline for submissions on the issue of church gate collections has passed and a good number of responses were received. Earlier this summer, Fr Tom Ryan asked for submissions on the matter. On the parish website he wrote, “Whilst many charities and community groups benefit from the tradition of holding church gate collections, strictly speaking, such collections do not fall within the remit of the church since they involve receiving a permit from the gardaí for a street collection. On a recent weekend in the month of May, a diocesan-wide census of mass attendance was taken in every parish throughout Killaloe diocese. This census, the first in a series this year, is being undertaken to establish the level of mass attendance in each parish. One-thousand five-hundred and sixty-five people attended mass in Shannon on the weekend of May 21-22. These churchgoing people are perceived as an easy target, since they require very little organisation or personnel on the part …

SHANNON businesses are being urged to get behind a new group looking to cut commercial rates.Tenants at the town centre were written to last week with information about the ‘Employers for Affordable Rates’ group and Darragh O’Connor, who has the Texaco station in Shannon, said he is hoping Clare business people will support it. “I heard about it starting up and I got in contact with them. “I found there wasn’t much happening in the Clare area so I offered to try and get businesses in. It turns out John Dillane in the Ennis Chamber is involved and both of us are trying to get businesses in Clare working. This started off as Wexford Employers Against Rates and it has turned into Employers For Affordable Rates and it’s being rolled out to the other counties,” he said.He said while other people may be suffering more than himself, the burden of rates is still very onerous. “It’s very serious. For me, …

ON Tuesday night Councillor Mary Brennan was elected Mayor of Shannon for the coming year. She has already held the mayoral chain for the last couple of weeks, having taken office a little early following the election of Tony Mulcahy to Seanad Éireann. Councillor Brennan was elected unopposed on Tuesday and speaking to The Clare Champion afterwards she said she is enjoying her role. “I took over a few weeks ago and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been to loads of functions and it’s a great honour.”She feels employment is the biggest issue facing local Government and her own family has been hit by emigration. “One of my sons went to Canada three weeks ago and the other one is going to Perth next Wednesday. 2It’s a shame that the airport is being used more for goodbyes than hellos,” she said.Councillor Brennan said she wants to see co-operation across party lines on the council. “All of the councillors have been …

A LANDSCAPED green area that has been developed on the site of the former Tradaree Court Flats, the scene of ongoing anti-social behaviour since the flats became derelict, was officially opened this week.Acting Mayor of Shannon, Michael Fleming was joined by Mayor of Clare, Councillor Christy Curtin to mark the occasion by joining with members of the project team and officials from Clare County Council in a tree-planting ceremony. The apartments, which were built in the 1970s to house single-parent families, comprised 30 one-bed apartments. They formed part of the property portfolio taken over by Clare County Council from Shannon Development in 2004.The flats, which were in a deteriorating condition, were finally vacated with the re-homing of last occupant in August 2009. The two apartment blocks were demolished in December 2010 allowing for the reinstatement of the ground for the provision of a green area. The project, which was included in the council’s Social Housing Investment Programme in 2009, was …

SHANNON Airport has welcomed a procedural change for US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that clears a significant hurdle with regard to capitalising on business aviation opportunities for the airport. Welcoming the revised procedures by US authorities, which will enable much faster turn-around for business jets, Shannon Airport director Mary Considine said this is a very important development for the airport. The announcement comes ahead of a business aviation conference titled Financial Solutions for Business Aircraft (FiSBA), co-hosted by Shannon Airport and Shannon Development on June 29 and June 30 at the Strand Hotel, Limerick. The potential for significant global private jet operations out of Shannon Airport is set to be explored as part of the first ever business aviation conference to be held in Ireland. Shannon Airport in 2009 became the first airport in the world to offer full US pre-clearance. “This change in procedure clears one of the most important hurdles that was in our way in terms …

MEMBERS of the Cronan Membership Association attended this week’s meeting of Shannon area county councillors to voice concerns about an alleged breach of planning conditions in the area.They claim that a condition imposed on a planning application granted five years ago has not been complied with.Jim Duffy of the group claimed residents have had to deal with an excessive amount of traffic in their area for a number of years because of a failure by Jim Woods Building Contractor to comply with a condition attached to the decision to grant him planning permission for a residential development in 2006.Mr Duffy claimed that a temporary access onto Cronan Grove/Cronan Lawn was supposed to be closed upon the opening of the Southern Primary Road in 2007. He said residents are now left dealing with “an astronomical amount of traffic”.“People are greatly concerned. It’s the main route for children going to St Caimin’s and St Conaire’s and it’s getting worse,” he added.Mr Duffy …