West Clare

KILRUSH Town Councillor Tom Prendeville has warned that the future of the town council may be at stake if members “fail to grasp the seriousness of the situation we find ourselves in”.

IF there is sufficient interest among Kilrush people to grow organic food, Kilrush Town Council would consider allocating a number of plots to them, councillors heard recently.

Retired Kilrush UN peacekeeper, Colonel Michael Shannon was appointed president of the University of Limerick-based Irish Peace Institute last Thursday in succession to Tom O’Donnell. The appointment was made by the international board of the institute.

If Kilrush town councillor Paul Moroney’s plans come to fruition, the town square and Place de Plouzane will have close-circuit television cameras (CCTV) in place by next summer.

IF draft Casual Trading Bylaws are adopted in Kilrush, street traders, with some exceptions, would have to hold a casual trading licence for a specified event. This would include people who sell Christmas trees in Kilrush town square. They would have to pay a daily fee of €12.70 for their casual trading licence.

MONDAY’S meeting of Kilkee Town Council heard that Clare County Council has a winter maintenance programme plan in place to deal with a possible repeat of last winter’s severe weather, which made travel impossible in some parts of West Clare.

OVER €2 million has been invested in the provision of a variety of community facilities at the West Clare Resource Centre in Miltown Malbay since 1993, Mayor of Clare, Christy Curtin has revealed.Councillor Curtin believes the success of the resource centre supports the retention of Clare Vocational Education Committee, considering all the support the VEC provided the local committee since its inception.Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe has proposed that Clare VEC should amalgamate with North Tipperary VEC as part of a controversial reorganisation of the whole VEC sector.However, this amalgamation is being opposed by Councillor Curtin, who stressed that Clare is well served by Clare VEC in its current form and warned that local initiatives such as the resource centre could suffer in any new unit involving two counties.He invited Minister O’Keeffe to visit the resource centre to see what could be achieved when Clare VEC, Clare County Council and other bodies worked in co-operation with a local group.“I believe we …

For Kilkee businessman John Redmond, it was a challenge to beat the mother of all challenges – to start and complete the gruelling Barcelona Maresme Iron Man Triathlon 2010.Even though John had been training for the past year with colleagues Cillian Murphy and Martin Busher in the Limerick Triathlon Club for the event that comprised a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride and a 42.2km run, he really didn’t know if his body could be pushed to the point of exhaustion and still respond. Despite all the preparation, only time would tell. But it was mission accomplished when John crossed the finishing line 12 hours 15 minutes and 46 seconds after having set off. He finished 27 minutes behind Cillian and 27 minutes in front of Martin. “As you can imagine, we have been training throughout the last year for this epic event. We have been taking part in triathlons for almost five years now and it has always been …