Tag Archives: clare

SINCE September 2021, The Local Creative Youth Partnership (LCYP) based at Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, has been working with a very dedicated team of young people to develop Kilkee Youth Theatre. This performing arts initiative offers young people in West Clare a taste of performance and production for stage and screen and is presented in partnership with Clare Arts Office, Cultúrlann Sweeney and St Joseph’s Community College. For spring 2022 a new series of taster workshops has been organised. For 9 to 12 year olds the workshops will take place from 11.30am to 1pm in Cultúrlann Sweeney, Kilkee Library on February 26, March 5, 12, 26, April 2 and,9 with the final session in St Joseph’s. The 13 to 17 year old workshop is from 1.30pm to 3pm in Kilkee Community School on February 26, March 5 and 12,, to be extended subject to demand. Facilitators for the youth theatre include Moyasta native Fiona Claffey-Kelly, Ennistymon resident, …

THE newest fully qualified member Lough Derg RNLI’s lifeboat crew has told how good it feels to be able to help others, as the organisation urges others to volunteer and get involved. Following his final assessment with Helena Duggan, RNLI Assessor/Trainer, earlier this month, Tom Hayes has been passed out as a fully qualified lifeboat crew member with Lough Derg RNLI.   Encouraged by volunteer helm, Dom Sharkey, Tom joined the station first as a Deputy Launching Authority, a responsibility he held for two years.  The role of Deputy Launching Authority is central to operations within all RNLI lifeboat stations, as they make the decision to launch the lifeboat when a request is made by the Coast Guard to do so. Once the decision to launch is made, crew pagers are activated and both lifeboat crew and shore crew immediately travel to the station to attend to the call out.  Watching volunteers train and launch on ‘shouts’, and encouraged by Liam Maloney, …

ENNIS’ deputy mayor has admitted he was “mortified” to discover he had accidentally used a disabled parking space, sparking calls for a re-paint of the spaces to make them more noticeable. Councillor Paul Murphy made the admission at the monthly meeting of the Ennis Municipal District saying parking in the space was “not deliberate”. He explained he had reversed into a space at the Active Ennis John O’Sullivan Park Lees Road in the dark and it was only on his return to the vehicle that he realised it was a disabled parking space. “I was mortified, it is something I have always frowned on,” he said. “The colour of the space wasn’t even blue, just in spots. The wheelchair sign was there, but it was extremely faded.” Following the incident, he brought the need to re-paint the spaces to the attention of Ennis Mayor, Councillor Ann Norton who as well as her role in the council is a well known …

SHOCKING video footage of attacks on homes and cars in Ennis, understood to be linked to an ongoing feud, circulating on social media in recent days, have been condemned as an “absolute disgrace”. Calls are now being made for more resources to be made available to gardaí in Clare, as well as for the re-establishment of an Ennis specific Joint Policing Committee (JPC). Videos of car windows being smashed and a home being targeted in the county capital were shared across social media. Other footage shows a high-speed car chase with a vehicle on the wrong side of the road. Chair of the Clare Joint Policing Committee Councillor John Crowe commented, “It’s an absolute disgrace and as a community and as a county we can’t stand for the likes of this carry on.” He continued, “It’s getting out of control, not alone in Ennis but all over the county. I know the powers that be are doing the best they …

ENNIS students have raised more than €4,000 for charity, while also highlighting barriers to education which have left some youngsters ‘Locked Out of Education’. Gaelcholáiste an Chláir Transition Year students recently presented the St Vincent de Paul with a cheque for €4,259.45, the proceeds of a fundraising and awareness raising campaign last December. The campaign highlighted that many young people face being ‘Locked Out of Education’ because of rising rents and other costs while also raising funds for the St Vincent de Paul and was organised as part of their Young Social Innovators project. As part of their fundraising, the students camped out for a night at the school, and operated the St Vincent de Paul shop in Ennis for a day. Gaelcholáiste an Chláir Transition Year Co-ordinator Martina McNamara has expressed appreciation to all of those who supported the students in their fundraising efforts and awareness campaign. She explained that the students were moved to act when they discovered …

CONTROVERSIAL plans to increase the size of the development of a primary healthcare facility have been given approved by An Bord Pleanala. Valley Healthcare Fund Infrastructure Investment Fund ICAV had lodged an appeal after Clare County Council refused permission for the plans at the former Braids site on Station Road. Last year in a split decision, the local authority refused to amend planning permission previously granted for a mixed use development that would increase the floor area from 7,250sqm to 8,008sqm with the provision of an additional floor set back at roof top level. The plans had initially included an additional deck of car parking which was later omitted by the developers. While refusing to allow the increase in size, the local authority gave the go-ahead to other aspects of the application seeking to amend the initial health care facility plans. During the local authority planning process the proposals had been the subject of a number of objections from local …

THE Supreme Court has overturned a decision allowing Clare County Council to evict a Traveller family who have been living on lands in Ennis for several years. An injunction had been secured by the local authority from the High Court requiring Bernard and Helen McDonagh, and members of their family, to immediately vacate council-owned lands at Cahercallamore, Ennis. However, this week the family’s appeal against their eviction was upheld, with five Supreme Court justices ruling unanimously in favour of the McDonagh family. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has welcomed the ruling, describing it as significant. The mandatory injunction, granted in 2019, was to remain in place pending the outcome of the full hearing of the dispute. Seeking the injunction, the council claimed the McDonaghs were unlawfully occupying the site and had also breached the 2000 Planning and Development Act by the unauthorised development there of a roadway and courtyard. The injunction was upheld on appeal by the Court …

THE Ennis St Patrick’s Day parade will be going ahead this year, the Ennis Municipal District have confirmed. The last time a St Patrick’s Day parade was held in the county capital was 2019, with the annual celebrations cancelled since then due to Covid-19. The theme for this year’s parade will be ‘Coming Together’ with full details of the event set to be released in the run up to the parade. According to the local authority the parade will be a celebration of Irish heritage and social networks, particularly communities. According to a spokesperson for the council, “Ennis Municipal District with the assistance of other agencies is organising the 2022 St Patrick’s Day parade in Ennis, in accordance with the public health guidelines at that time. “The Mayor of Ennis Municipal District, Councillor Ann Norton, is delighted to announce the theme of this year’s parade is ‘Coming Together’, a celebration of our Irish heritage and social networks, especially our communities. …