Tag Archives: Clarecastle

THE village of Clarecastle will feature in this Monday’s episode of the popular RTÉ show Nationwide. The RTÉ Nationwide team with Anne Cassin filmed the programme in Clarecastle last November with the Clarecastle & Ballyea Heritage & Wildlife Group and other Clarecastle residents. Among those to feature are Pat Considine, the son of Anthony Considine who was the owner of 1950s cine-film featuring scenes around Clarecastle. Pat gave the Clarecastle & Ballyea Heritage & Wildlife Group access to hundreds of feet of the old cine-film and they found footage of ships being unloaded at Clarecastle Quay and scenes from the annual Regatta in the 1950s. They entered an edited 10 minute film – ‘Clarecastle in the 1950s’ from the Considine cine-films as their event for Heritage Week 2020 and won the Clare award for the film. The film was later featured on the main RTÉ evening news. The Nationwide team followed up on the story and decided to come to …

THE Mayor of Ennis has likened the development of the Clareabbey Roundabout to “putting a knife through a pound of butter” resulting in “dividing the two communities of Clarecastle and Ennis”. Councillor Paul Murphy has been a long-time campaigner for improved safety at the roundabout for pedestrians and cyclists. At the monthly meeting of the Ennis Municipal District he sought an update on the progress of three draft proposals submitted to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, as well as on a proposed sustainable biodiversity project. John Gannon, senior executive engineer, responded, “The Road Design Office has received approval in principle from the TII for the preferred design option submitted. The next steps required by the TII are to carry out baseline traffic speed and traffic volume counts including pedestrian and bicycle counts, to carry out a safety audit of the preferred design and to update the feasibility report with cost projections for the various design options submitted. In advance of any statutory …

A QUESTION mark has been thrown over plans by Supermac’s to construct a €10m Barack Obama-style motorway plaza outside Ennis off the M18 motorway. Last month, Clare County Council granted planning permission to Supermac’s MD, Pat McDonagh for the development in a long running planning saga that has been going on for six years. The fast food business lodged its first plan in December 2014 and now in response to the latest plan, three appeals have been lodged against the proposal by local businesses with An Bord Pleanála. Those to lodge appeals include the operator of the four-star hotel in Ennis, the Old Ground, Duesbury Ltd and four other businesses in one appeal along with appeals by Maxol Ltd and long-time opponent of the plan and local landowner, Shane Brigdale. Already, the appeals board has refused planning permission for a previous Supermac’s plaza off the M18 near Ennis necessitating revised plans to be lodged. In the Old Ground-led objection, consultant, Mandy Coleman stated that her clients have …

A CLARE community have rallied together to raise funds for a former county councillor whose family home went up in flames last Christmas. The Clarecastle home of former Fianna Fáil representative Bernard ‘Bomber’ Hanrahan was destroyed on the night of December 27. Fortunately Bernard managed to escape the blaze when he was alerted to the danger by his dog Daisy. However the fire destroyed the house in Barntick which has been in the Hanrahan family for generations. Now in an effort to help rebuild the family home a fundraising appeal has been launched. The United for The Bomber and Daisy campaign is aiming to raise €30,000, with close to €5,000 of that target raised just one day after the GoFundMe page went live. Organiser of the campaign Seamus Sullivan stated, “While insurance will go some way towards replacing the physical infrastructure, a lifetime of memories and mementos have been lost in the flames. Bernard Hanrahan is known far and wide …

GARDAÍ in Clare are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the occupants of a car suspected of being used in two burglaries in different parts of the county. A dark blue Audi A3 hatchback was spotted at the scene of the incidents in Clarecastle and Sixmilebridge. On Friday, January 8 at approximately 8.10pm a car reversed into the driveway of a house in the Hillview Estate, Clarecastle. Two males ran to the rear of the house and broke into the house through the patio door. They were disturbed by the teenage son in the house and left empty handed. This car then went in the direction of Sixmilebridge and at 8.20pm four males wearing gloves and balaclavas smashed in the front door of a house in the Woodview Heights estate. All the rooms were ransacked and a safe containing a substantial amount of money and an Apple IPhone 12 was stolen. Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Triona Brooks is urging anybody …

A FORMER member of Clare County Council says he is lucky to have escaped with his life, after a fire destroyed his family home in Clarecastle. Bernard Hanrahan, an active member of the community and former Fianna Fáil representative on the local authority, awoke in the early hours of last Sunday morning to find his home in flames. He told The Champion that if it wasn’t for the fact his dog alerted him to the danger, he might not have escaped the blaze. Bernard, who lives alone in the home where he was born and raised, credits his faithful bison frise with saving him. “It was around 5am when I heard Daisy barking,” he said. “She wouldn’t normally be looking to get out until around 7.30am. I knew something was wrong. I got up and then heard a bang. I thought straight away that someone was trying to break in. When I got close to the kitchen, I was hit with …

WORKS aimed at ending the discharge of untreated sewage into the River Fergus are to begin in the new year, Irish Water have confirmed. Irish Water, working in partnership with Clare County Council, is progressing with works to upgrade the sewerage infrastructure in Clarecastle. This will help eliminate the discharge of untreated wastewater into the River Fergus and the greater Shannon Estuary, bringing significant environmental, social and economic benefits to the area. This project involves the construction of 2.1km of new wastewater pipelines and upgrades to the existing Quay Road wastewater pump station.  The first phase of works involve the construction of 311m of sewer main between Clarecastle Church and Quay Road are due to get underway on January 4, 2021 for a period of five weeks. These works have been brought forward in order to facilitate the Clarecastle Streetscape Rejuvenation Plan which is being supported by Clare County Council, Clarecastle Community Development Committee and the local Tidy Towns group and …

CLARECASTLE Tidy Towns have swept away the competition and cleaned up in a national contest. The local voluntary group have been named overall winners in the National Tidy Towns Photography Competition 2020. The winning photograph was taken by Christy Leyden, chairperson of Clarecastle Tidy Towns and depicted a wall mural by local artist Niamh Hickey in Haggart View, Creggaunahilla which forms part of a biodiversity project. The message of the mural, and the photograph is, “Never underestimate the power of a planted seed”. Judges in the competition found that the picture said a lot about the spirit of Tidy Towns, in building community pride and displaying the various talents we have in our community The bio-diversity project started in the spring of 2019 when at a Clarecastle Tidy Towns meeting the poor state of the plot fronting a wall in the housing estate was discussed and a pollinator friendly bed was suggested. A bedding plan was prepared with an emphasis …