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Tag Archives: Doonbeg

Swimming ban at Whitestrand Doonbeg

Clare County Council, on the advice of the Health Service Executive (HSE), has announced that due to elevated levels of bacteria (e-coli) in the bathing water arising from heavy rainfall on Sunday night and Monday morning, swimming is prohibited at Whitestrand Doonbeg. Public bathing notices indicating that swimming is prohibited are being put in place.The councilis carrying out an investigation into the cause of the pollution. Clare County Council is hopeful that the restrictions could be lifted for the weekend pending that water test results from today and tomorrow are deemed by the HSE to be within bathing water quality limits. None of Clare’s other designated bathing waters are affected.

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Trump, Doonbeg and the Bald Eagle

IN a wide ranging interview with The Clare Champion on February 28, 2014, the then business man, Donald Trump, said that wind-farms were “destructive, destroy tourism, depreciate property values and kills birds.” He made his comments during a telephone interview from his office in New York following his purchase of Trump International Doonbeg earlier that month. Up to that point, he had been unaware that Clare Coastal Wind Power had submitted revised plans to Clare County Council for the construction of nine wind turbines, two kilometres south of Doonbeg village. The now President Trump outlined his deep concerns for bird life, focusing specifically on the Bald Eagle. “They wipe out the birds,” he said of wind-farms. “You might as well be standing at the shore with a shotgun. They just wipe them out. In Arizona we have the Bald Eagle. If you kill a Bald Eagle, they put you in jail and yet the windmills have killed all of them. …

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“I endeavoured to do what I could do about it,”-Varadkar under fire over Doonbeg call

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar is under intense political pressure today, after claiming he had sought to help Donald Trump prevent a windfarm being built near Doonbeg. At a lunch in Washington yesterday, he spoke about receiving a phone call from Mr Trump three or four years ago, at which time he was Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. In the call, Mr Varadkar said that the future President told him he had a problem near the golf course, where a wind farm was being proposed. Afterwards, Mr Varadkar said he tried to assist Mr Trump. “I endeavoured to do what I could do about it,” Mr Varadkar claimed. “I rang the County Council and enquired about the planning permission and subsequently the planning permission was declined and the windfarm was never built. Thus the landscape being preserved. The President has very kindly given me credit for that. Although I do think it probably would have been refused anyway. But I’m very …

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Club v county still an issue in Clare

IN 2017, it took 36 weeks to complete the seven-round Cusack Cup campaign. It started on March 11 and concluded on November 29, when Kilmurry-Ibrickane won the competition for the seventh successive season. While a semi-final date has not been fixed for this season’s Division 1 football league, the aim seems to be to finish the league before the first round of the Senior Football Championship. The last round is on May 27 or June 9 and, with only one semi-final to be played, Clare GAA might pull it off. The team that finishes top of the table automatically qualifies for the final, while second and third meet in a semi-final. One of the issues raised last year was the absence of county players for a round played mid-summer. This weekend, with Clare playing Roscommon in their refixed NFL game, club teams will line out without their county players. Clubs are not enamoured about this but it seems likely that …

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Farmer guilty of dumping animal carcasses over cliff

A 65-year old farmer this week pleaded guilty to a charge in connection with the dumping of 12 decomposing animal carcasses from a 300 ft high cliff four years ago in West Clare. At Ennis Circuit Court today (Tuesday), Martin Gerald Foley pleaded guilty to disposing of waste in a manner that is likely to cause environmental pollution on dates unknown between April 20th 2013 and March 13th 2014 contrary to Section 32 (1) of the Waste Management Act. The 12 carcasses were made up of eight horse carcasses and four cattle carcasses. At a previous court date, counsel for Mr Foley, Pat Whyms BL said that his client would be contesting the charge and that the trial would take over one week. Judge Gerald Keys was ready to be impaneled in the case on Tuesday, however, Mr Foley of Lislanihan, Kilkee said ‘guilty judge’ when arraigned on the single charge in court. The guilty plea followed a lengthy Garda …

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Russian gangsters may have teamed up with Trump on Doonbeg, US intel committee hears

RUSSIAN mafia figures may have become involved with Donald Trump in Doonbeg, it has been claimed at a sitting of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In an interview with the committee in November, a transcript of which was published this week, researcher Glenn Simpson detailed links between US President Trump and Russian organised crime figures. Mr Simpson also said that in the course of carrying out research on the US President at the time he was a candidate, it had been found that the development of Doonbeg was one of several unusual deals. A former journalist, Mr Simpson works at Washington commercial research firm, Fusion GPS. In the autumn of 2015, it was hired to take an open-ended detailed look at Trump’s business career, litigation history and his relationships with what were described as “questionable people”. Asked about deals of interest involving the now US President, Mr Simpson said, “Some of the things that we have…looked …

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Clare County Council Grants Coastal Erosion Works in Doonbeg

Clare County Council has issued a decision to grant permission for the development of coastal erosion management works at, and adjacent to, Carrowmore Dunes, White Strand, Doughmore Bay and Trump International Golf Links and Hotel, Doonbeg. As per the provisions of the planning acts, any decision made may be subject to a first or third party appeal to An Bord Pleanála within four weeks of the decision date. The application was lodged on December 22, 2016 and has attracted more than 40 submissions from interested parties, including Eammon Ryan TD,  West Coast Surf Club; Irish Surf Association Ltd; Save the Waves Coalition;  Friends of the Irish Environment; community groups and individuals. The decision is subject to nine planning conditions, which include the payment of two separate planning conditions totalling €265,231. The conditions set out that public access and rights of way to the beach shall not be obstructed in any way by the proposed development. Mitigation measures outlined in the …

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‘every parent’s worst nightmare’

A verdict of accidental death was returned at the inquest into the death of a 15-year-old boy in Killimer at Clare’s Coroner’s Court this week. Described as “every parent’s worst nightmare” by County Coroner Isobel O’Dea, the jury heard how Kevin Donnellan, of Ballycurrane, Knock spent his last few hours with a friend at “his favourite place” – Killimer Ferry. The tragic events that unfolded, after the consumption of a significant amount of alcohol for a boy of his age, has had devastating consequences for his family and for the woman who accidentally caused his death. The court heard that Kevin left his home on Hallowe’en night, 2016 to meet a close friend near Burrane National School. His friend outlined that Kevin had brought a litre bottle of vodka, which was half full and hip flasks also containing vodka. They arrived at the school around 1.40am and decided to walk towards the ferry, which was “Kevin’s favourite place”. His friend …

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