Tag Archives: clare county council

THE protection of the environment is the theme of postcards designed by young people from across the county, which have been distributed throughout Ennis to coincide with Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. The Green Fleadh Postcard Competition for primary schools sought designs on the themes of litter and waste recycling, energy, water and travel. The winning postcards, which have been selected by the Green Fleadh team, are designed by Eabha McNamara, senior infants, St Mochulla’s Tulla; Dylan Williams, first class, Ennis NS; Sarah Gorman, fourth class, Clarecastle NS and Conor Farrell, fifth class, Corofin NS. The postcards featuring the successful puplis’ name, class and school are being made available at a number of locations, including the Fleadh Office Headquarters at Áras Contae an Chláir, the Fleadh Office in the Market, Ennis Tourist Office, Ennis Chamber of Commerce on O’Connell Street and the Visit Clare Office in Abbey Street Carpark. “The Green Fleadh team has implemented measures to keep Clare clean and …

Clare County Council is to host two free traditional singing workshops during Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Ennis next week. The workshops, which offer young singers the opportunity to experience County Clare’s rich singing tradition, take place at the De Valera Public Library in Ennis from 10.30am to midday on Tuesday and Wednesday. The sessions will also feature demonstrations of traditional songs and style by John Flanagan and Elle Marie O’Dwyer. Tuesday’s workshop will be facilitated by Corofin native John Flanagan, who is nephew of the renowned singers Sarah and Rita Keane in Galway. Elle Marie O’Dwyer, a primary school teacher from Cork, who is currently pursuing a Masters in Irish Traditional Music Performance, will host the Wednesday session. Siobhán Mulcahy, Clare Arts Officer, said “We believe these workshops will complement the existing traditional singing classes provided at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann by Comhaltas, with the intention of attracting more young people to traditional singing either as singers or listeners.”

The Israeli ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, Ze’ev Boker visited Clare County Council’s headquarters at Áras Contae an Chláir in Ennis today (Wednesday). Ambassador Boker was greeted by Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council Bill Chambers; Mayor of Ennis Ann Norton and Gerard Dollard, interim chief executive of Clare County Council. Ambassador Boker was accompanied by Mrs Amira Arnon, director of the Northern European Department in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is visiting Ireland this week.

IDA Ireland has welcomed the completion of the Stratetic Integrated Framework Plan (SIFP) for the Shannon Estuary, aimed at promoting investment and development opportunities. IDA’s Regional Manager for the Mid West, Niall O’Callaghan welcomed the culmination of the project which he was involved with on behalf of the agency and said: “Bringing all stakeholders along the Estuary together to work on a coordinated approach to market six strategic sites is a significant step in the Estuary’s future development.” The Shannon Estuary is Ireland’s premier deep-water port, routinely catering for bulk ships with key ports at Limerick and Foynes and direct connectivity to all major international shipping lanes. It is home to a number of large employers, including IDA-backed Aughinish Alumina. The project was launched in late 2013 and was developed with input from a cross sectoral working group, namely Clare, Kerry and Limerick City & County Councils, IDA Ireland, Shannon Commercial Properties and the Shannon Foynes Port Company. The project …

Clare County Council has teamed up with the creators of internet animation series Sminky Shorts to launch a new environmental initiative which aims to change dog owner behaviour in relation to dog litter. Funded under the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government’s Anti Litter Awareness Grant Scheme, the 80-second animated short highlights the responsibility of dog owners to clean up after their dog and features two cartoon pug dogs humourously conversing at the Cliffs of Moher. “The Sminky Shorts clip is a promotional tool and fun way to bring attention to the need for dog owners to take responsibility for their animals litter” explained Karen Foley, Environmental Awareness Officer with Clare County Council. “The clip will be used on Facebook and Twitter as a means of helping promote awareness of our Green Dog Walkers scheme and will also be included in part of our primary schools litter awareness programme,” she added Green Dog Walkers is a new scheme …

THE de-zoning of almost nine acres of land land in Quin due to flooding concerns has a potential loss of between €2 million and €2.5m in land sales, a former councillor has claimed. Sonny Scanlon has previously received in the region of €1m for selling land at Madara, Quin, which facilitated the construction of 45 houses in a new housing estate. The former Fine Gael Councillor had planned to provide land to a prospective developer to build phased housing on land adjoining the existing residential estate. However, Mr Scanlon’s plans suffered a major set-back on Monday after councillors supported a recommendation from acting chief executive officer, Ger Dollard, to remove residential zoning from this site and amend the settlement boundary accordingly. According to Mr Scanlon, he had received two offers to purchase this land for €2m and €2.5m from different developers. In a submission to the planning authority by Project Design and Building Services on behalf of Mr Scanlon, it …

A total of €4.71 million in funding for the Ennis South Flood Relief Scheme has been approved by the Office of Public Works. The money will be made available to Clare County Council when it addresses some technical aspects of the scheme. The scheme will involve extensive flood alleviation work to the St Flannan’s and Ballybeg streams in the Clonroadmore, Ballybeg and Clareabbey areas of Ennis and Clarecastle. “There are some residual matters that require further consideration by the council and its consultants prior to implementation of the scheme. The offer of funding has been made on the basis that the council addresses and satisfies itself in relation to these matters prior to entering into any binding contractual commitments,” explained Clare TD, Joe Carey. Responding to a parliamentary question from Deputy Carey last month, Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohue acknowledged that discussions relating to technical aspects of the scheme had impacted on progress but he expected that the OPW would …

Recently appointed consultants for the design and delivery of the new county library in Ennis visited Áras Contae an Chláir to meet with representatives of the Municipal District of Ennis and key stakeholders in the flagship project. Clare County Council hosted the meeting which represents the commencement of the stakeholder consultation stage of the project. The process of consultation will continue up to the final design later in 2016. The proposed €8.6m project will see the new library building developed at the site of the existing Glór facility on The Causeway Link providing a new county library for Clare to replace the existing De Valera Library on Harmony Row. Earlier this year, Clare County Council was allocated a €3 million capital grant towards the cost of the proposed project under the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government’s Capital Funding Programme for Public Libraries. An additional €1 million in EU funding was also allocated from the Southern Regional Assembly’s …