South Clare

OPPONENTS of the adoption of a controversial €120 million distributor road into the Clare County Development Plan are becoming increasingly concerned that it could get the green light this Friday afternoon. Judging by the vociferous objections from councillors at a recent council meeting, concerned residents in Parteen were confident that it would not get the required numbers for its adoption into the Clare County Development Plan. However, councillors who are against this proposal are now fearful that some of their colleagues may change their minds, following a briefing last Thursday conducted by consultants appointed by the council who endorsed the emerging preferred route without any change. Last week, Clare county councillors decided to defer making a decision on adopting the road into the County Development Plan, following trenchant opposition from a local lobby group. Councillors were given a deadline of July 31 at the council meeting to make a decision on the proposed Northern Distributor Road. No councillor spoke in …

Clare County Council’s opposition to the proposed Lough Derg water abstraction project may be drowned by the huge waves of support from vested interests in the east of the country, local councillors have claimed. Councillors have warned that the lack of professional, technical and engineering support for their objections makes it harder to fight the huge volume of submissions supporting the planned abstraction of over 330 million litres of water daily from Lough Derg, to supply the greater Dublin region. Local councillors expressed trenchant opposition to Irish Water’s plans to take water from the lake at a special briefing session for the Killaloe Municipal District. Councillor Pat Hayes lamented the fact there is “no one to fight for our side” and noted the former North Tipperary Council still had not made a submission after entering into an agreement with the previous promoters of this project, Dublin City Council, to get financial assistance for an independent assessment of the plans. Claiming …

Clare County Councillors decided to defer making a decision on adopting a controversial road into the County Development Plan, following trenchant opposition from a lobby group. Councillors were given a deadline of July 31 at Monday’s council meeting to make a decision on the proposed Northern Distributor Road. No councillor spoke in favour of proceeding with the preferred route option. Senior planner Gordon Daly warned if councillors decided not to adopt the variation, it had the “potential to end the project for now” and noted that it may not go ahead in the future. Councillors voted by 17 votes to nine to defer a decision on this contentious route until Friday, July 24. The deferral was proposed by Councillor Pat Burke and seconded by Councillor Tom McNamara. Councillor Tony O’Brien proposed a sub-committee be set up including councillors, planners and engineers to try to devise an acceptable alternative proposal. Before the vote, chief executive officer, Tom Coughlan, reminded councillors this …

Killaloe nurse Charlotte Gleeson will travel to New York later this year to observe practice at one of the world’s top cancer centres. Charlotte, (33), who works at University Hospital Limerick, is off to the world-renowned Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan for a week’s clinical observation in October after winning the inaugural Sheila Clarke Travel Bursary at the annual conference of the Irish Association for Nurses in Oncology (IANO). The award is worth €2,000 and is named in honour of the late Sheila Clarke, a pioneer in the development of cancer nursing as a specialty in Ireland and a former president of the IANO. Charlotte was nominated for the Innovation in Clinical Practice Award by her clinical nurse manager Cathleen Osborne and by Catherine Hand, nurse services manager, cancer services, University Hospital Limerick. The award recognises not just Charlotte’s excellent care but also the manner in which she has driven innovation in clinical practice for the benefit of …

An elderly man has to be rescued by an RNLI lifeboat after his boat suffered engine failure and drifted into shallow waters on Lough Derg. The alarm was raised at around 11.20am when members of the public spotted a 30ft motor cruiser stranded in reeds close to Terryglass Harbour. A man, in his 70’s, was on board the vessel and wearing his lifejacket. The agitated pensioner confirmed to his rescuers that he was the only person on board. The lifeboat managed to pull the cruise boat clear and towed it into Terryglass harbour where an off-duty RNLI volunteer and members of the public helped tied the boat alongside. It’s understood that the cruiser had been on its way south from Portumna when it suffered engine failure. The man had been stranded for almost an hour before the alarm was raised.

Clare bus drivers were “shocked” by the indiscriminate murder of Athlone-based bus inspector, Laurence Hayes and his wife, Martina, according to a local councillor. Laurence and Martina, who were in their 50s, were on holiday in the resort of Sousse in Tusinia last week, when they were among the 38 victims killed by terrorist, Seifeddine Rezgui. Meath woman, Lorna Carty was also killed in the attack. Martina came from a large, well-respected farming family in Kiltoom, County Roscommon, not far from Athlone. The couple, who are survived by daughter, Sinead,  lived in West Lodge, an estate on the western side of the Shannon in Athlone. A Bus Éireann employee, Councillor Tony O’Brien, who knew Mr Hayes personally, said it was “incomprehensible” what had happened to the couple. He said the couple had packed their bags and were waiting for a bus to go home, when they were brutally murdered. Describing Mr Hayes as a “very witty, chatty and friendly” colleague, who loved life, Councillor …

THE High Court has found that consultant engineers and Limerick County Council were responsible for the wrongful demolition of a family home during the construction of a new dual carriageway between Limerick and Nenagh. Brian and Mary O’Shaughnessy described the destruction of their single storey two bedroom old Irish farmhouse, The Hollows at Annaholty, Birdhill, County Tipperary on September 6, 2006 was a nightmare. The site was never used for the new road. Giving judgment, Mr Justice Donald Binchy, who said it was “abundantly clear” what happened “was not down to any single act”, found the consultant engineers, which was a joint venture called RPS Scetauroute, was 70% responsible while the local authority was 30% responsible. A third party which carried out the actual demolition was found not to be negligent in the matter. The O’Shaughnessys sought damages for alleged negligence from several parties, including Limerick CC/The National Roads Authority, who it was claimed were both responsible for the operation, …

THE impact of an accident, even a minor one, can have long-term repercussions for a farmer. One Clare man recalls how he had an accident with livestock that left him needing surgery but he couldn’t have the necessary operation until later in the year when work on the farm eased off. Andrew Dundas is a mixed farmer from Ardnacrusha. He is also Clare’s IFA chairman and looking back on an accident he had two years ago, even now he is not sure he could have prevented it. “With the best care in the world, something can happen. Whatever about taking chances, you can often get caught when you are using the best care in the world,” he says. Andrew understands better than most that, on farms, the dangers are everywhere. Figures show that from 2004 to 2013, tractors accounted for more than one fifth of all farm accidents, with 14% of accidents down to machinery. Drowning, or slurry gas, accounted …