Tag Archives: clare county council

FUTURE development of tourism in East Clare will require new strategies to ensure that key historical sites are sustained as drivers of economic activity, according to a local TD. Scariff’s Deputy Michael McNamara has made the case, once again, for an alternative management structure for the Clare sites operated currently by Shannon Heritage. Since the advent of the pandemic, sites like Craggaunowen and Knappogue Castle outside the village of Quin have remained closed, amid a steep fall-off in international visitor numbers. Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, which had been set to close in the autumn, secured an eleventh hour reprieve after a government funding injection of €2.6m. The money will enable it and King John’s Castle to stay open until the end of this year. Speaking to Scariff Bay Community Radio, the Independent TD said he had raised the need to support the wider Shannon Group, with Micheál Martin, before and since his election as Taoiseach. Deputy McNamara added that …

CLARE County Council, in conjunction with Ennis Rotary Club, is bringing the Rotary Ireland School Bikes Africa project to Clare. The Rotary Ireland School Bikes Africa project, with the support of Clare County Council, gives members of the public across Clare the opportunity to bring their unwanted bicycles to the Central Waste Management Facility at Ballyduff Beg, Inagh. From there, Rotary Ireland will deliver the bicycles to the open prisons at Loughan House, County Cavan, and Shelton Abbey, County Wicklow, where they will be refurbished by prisoners. They are then shipped to Africa and distributed to school children, giving them the chance of a better future. To date, Rotary Ireland has delivered 4,000 bikes and therefore helped 4,000 children to get to school each day, but the work is far from done. At a launch event for the Rotary Ireland School Bikes Africa project, at the Central Waste Management Facility in Inagh, the Mayor of Clare, Councillor Mary Howard, welcomed …

A STRONGLY-worded statement has been issued by Clare County Council, following concerns in some quarters about pedestrianisation measures in parts of Ennis. The local authority has moved to clarify that the initiative, which has seen the closure to traffic of the town centre’s main arteries, including O’Connell Street and Abbey Street, is a temporary response to the pandemic. In a press release, the council said that the Temporary Covid-19 Town Centre Mobility Plan for Ennis has been introduced “solely in response to Covid-19 and in line with Government guidelines on social distancing”. The statement comes in the wake of the authority’s recent decision to extend emergency road closures until early 2021 – a move which caused alarm in some sections of the town centre business community. The extension provoked criticism from one Abbey Street business owner who said the plans were more appropriate to Las Palmas or Fuengirola than an Irish market town. Noel Tierney of Tierney Cycles on Abbey …

The listed monthly rent in Clare increased four times higher than the national average last month, new figures have revealed. According to new statistics released by Daft.ie, the average listed monthly rent nationwide rose by 0.5% in June, the third consecutive month of marginal gains. The rise was largest in Leinster 1.5% but was present in all four regions covered, particularly in Clare where rent prices for a three-bed semi-detached house increased by 2% to €814. The national property website outlined that overall rents in Clare jumped by 2.4% up to €879 in July, which was one percentage point behind County Limerick where rents jumped by 3.4% up to €925. However, this was in sharp contrast to Limerick City where the average rent stands at €1,217 down 0.7% or in Tipperary where rent increased by 0.7% up to €858. Nationally, the average rent price is €1,412. The biggest increase in rents in Clare was recorded for large spacious properties as …

MEMBERS of the local community are being invited to participate in the development of a Town Enhancement and Mobility Plan for Killaloe-Ballina. Clare County Council and Tipperary County Council have started the preparation of the plan, which will facilitate a coordinated approach to public realm enhancements within Killaloe and Ballina, providing a clear vision for Killaloe and Ballina as linked settlements. The Killaloe-Ballina Town Enhancement and Mobility Plan is a non-statutory plan that is being prepared on behalf of both local authorities with a view to supporting the development and enhancement of the twin villages. The plan will deal with a number of topics, including transport and mobility, place making and public realm; street furniture design, tourism, blue-green infrastructure strategy and the development proposals for identified ‘opportunity sites’. Specific measures, designs and schemes will promote the towns’ complementarity, and create an overall focus on their joint strengths and opportunities in terms of functionality, aesthetics and the changing transport profile of …

NURSING homes across Clare to from benefit from a donation of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), secured after a fundraising drive coordinated by the Midwest Hospital Campaign. The initiative was prompted by concern at the start of the pandemic about the difficulty in accessing supplies of PPE, particularly for nursing homes and other congregated settings. “The donation will be especially important now that visiting has begun once again at nursing homes and there’s even more demand for PPE,” said Noeleen Moran, one of the coordinators. Some of the PPE was sourced through a network of contacts for manufacturers in Poland, while more was handmade by hundreds of individual volunteers and groups across Clare, including the Irish Countrywomen’s’ Association (ICA). Hilary Tonge of the Midwest Hospital Campaign said the effort to secure PPE had involved many groups and individuals from across the county. “When the pandemic was declared, there was a huge fear that there would not be enough PPE,” she said. …

A BATHING advisory notice has been lifted at Lahinch, inside the last half hour (Wednesday, August 12). The temporary notice had been put in place on the advice of the HSE, following recent heavy rainfall. In a statement, Clare County Council said that the bathing restriction had been lifted after analysis and on the advice of the Health Service Executive (HSE). The authority also advised that the safest place to swim is at lifeguarded locations. More information is available from Clare County Council’s environment section on 065-6846331 / enviroff@clarecoco.ie and visit www.beaches.ie

CLARE County Council is seeking to complement its hedge-cutting programme this autumn by facilitating landowners and community groups in maintaining hedgerows throughout County Clare. The Community Hedge Cutting Grant Scheme, which was the first of its kind to be developed in Ireland when it was piloted in 2013, will see €10,000 being provided to deal with the local road network over the coming autumn and winter seasons. Applications are being invited from communities and groups before September 30, 2020. Each application will be assessed and a grant of €50 per kilometre of hedgerow will be paid, subject to certain conditions and available resources. The scheme will provide some financial assistance to communities and groups that undertake hedge-cutting and the cutting of overhanging trees, and will assist landowners in complying with their responsibilities under Section 70 of the Roads Act, 1993. John Corry, Administrative Officer, Transportation, Clare County Council, said: “We are confident that this scheme, complemented by the Council’s ongoing …