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Tag Archives: East Clare

Frank O’Meara is new Mayor of Tuamgraney

TUAMGRANEY’s community weekend attracted record numbers to the East Clare village this past bank holiday weekend, as the festival elected a new mayor, and celebrated the life and times of Brian Ború. After a hotly contested election campaign the new Mayor of Tuamgraney was announced as Frank O’Meara, representing Hassett’s Bar. A first time candidate, Frank beat off competition from Michael Daly representing Teach Uí Bhrian, Mary Hogan representing East Clare Equestrian Centre, and Louise Carey representing Ryans Fuels. With 2,200 votes cast across the whole weekend, it came down to 49 votes separating the mayor from his nearest rival, Louise Carey. The new mayor was announced at an event on Sunday night and the chain of office was presented to Frank O’Meara, by Councillor Joe Cooney, who knows a few things about poll topping, on Sunday night to a gathering of approximately 700 people in the Marquee at Hassetts. Frank’s first official duty as Mayor was on Monday when …

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Scariff youth club take time out to recreate Eden

A Scariff youth group were busy last weekend, helping their local Tidy Towns group and residents of the Connaught Road housing estate, create their very own Garden of Eden. Members of My Time Foróige Junior Youth Club joined with the Connaught Road Residents Association, Scariff Tidy Towns and the Irish Seedsavers Association to plant apple trees and fruit bushes provided by the Garden of Eden Project. In September 2013, the new Foróige youth club came into existence, catering for 10 to 12-year-olds, and has been going from strength to strength in the past eight months. Youth club leader, Tracey Doyle outlined how the group came about and what they have been involved in. “I’m involved with the older group, Scariff Foróige Youth Club, and they will be 10 years next year. This group is for 12 to 18-year-olds. My Time Foróige Youth Club was born out of many knocks at my front door, by people suggesting I start something for …

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Feather’s fly as eagles celebrate new arrival

The Mountshannon white-tailed sea-eagle pair, Saoirse and Caimin, has welcomed a new addition to their feathered clan, as the first white-tailed sea eagle chick is born in East Clare under the national re-introduction programme this year. The Golden Eagle Trust has confirmed that the sea eagles had been minding two eggs in their Mountshannon nest for over a month and, two and a half weeks ago, they believe the eggs hatched. One of the chicks has survived and the Trust confirmed this week that the surviving chick is doing well. The pair created history in 2013, when they reared the first chicks to fly from a nest in Ireland in over 100 years. A new nesting pair at Glengarriff was the first pair to hatch chicks this year, in late April. Unfortunately, the breeding efforts of this pair and a pair nesting in Killarney National Park failed, probably due to a combination of poor weather and inexperience. The East Clare …

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Funding bonanza for East Clare villages

Nine East Clare community and Tidy Towns groups have benefitted from a once-off funding allocation, totaling €34,000, under the Public Area Enhancement Scheme, to improve their own locality. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government is providing 75% of the finance, with the remainder being matched by Clare County Council. Scariff Community Council’s project to carry out improvement works to Riverside Park, and Sixmilebridge Development Association/Tidy Towns’ proposal to develop a Slí na Sláinte Walk Route have benefitted from most of the funding available, each receiving €6,000. Further to this, two East Clare groups will receive €5,000 under the fund. They include Kilkishen Development Ltd, which aims to develop a Kilkishen Castle Bog Walk, while Tuamgraney Development Association will also benefit from this funding, which will be used to carry out improvement works to the approach road to Tuamgraney from Bodyke. Aistear Iniscealtra Mountshannon have been awarded €3,000 in funding to upgrade the public park, while, in a …

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Kilkishen Church opens in new light

By Carol Byrne THE former Protestant church in Kilkishen hosted its last wedding more than half a century ago but now, under the ownership of the Kilkishen Cultural Centre Committee, it is likely the venue will host weddings once more. The church building, whose only occupants over the past 50 years have been a family of lesser horseshoe bats, has undergone a facelift and is due to open to the public this week. Now known as the Kilkishen Cultural Centre, the venue has been transformed from a derelict building and will be re-invigorated under plans to make it a busy community hub. The centre is to be made available for community, educational and drama groups and for concerts. Further to this, plans are underway to obtain a licence to hold civil marriages there. Committee chairman Mike Hogan says he is looking forward to holding a viewing day for the community, to finally get a glimpse of the great work that …

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East Clare Community Kitchen Opens to Visitors

EAST Clare Community Co-op has now opened the first half of their new LEADER funded training and enterprise kitchen, known as Sustenance. The initiative has been four years in the making with the idea being formed in 2010 and leading to the completion of a feasibility study, drawing up plans, consulting the Environmental Health Office on best practice, researching energy efficient measures and getting all relevant permissions to build it. The building and equipping is the final phase and the micro enterprise unit will open after Easter for bookings. The community kitchen is already attracting visitors from all over Ireland interested in the facility and who are looking to build something similar in their own communities. Recently visitors from North Kilkenny, who are involved in gardening and social enterprise projects through the Castlecomer demesne, were impressed with this community led project. Other visitors included Duncan Stewart who paid an impromptu visit to the facility and was very impressed.  “He gave …

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Wiley dissatisfied with broadband delay

Killaloe local election candidate and Bodyke resident, Liam Wiley has reacted angrily to comments made by Clare Labour Party TD, Michael McNamara on the provision of rural broadband in County Clare. Reacting to comments made by Deputy McNamara last week, where he announced that Eircom exchanges in Feakle and Scariff would be upgraded in the next 12 to 18 months, Mr Wiley said it was “completely unacceptable” to leave the people of East Clare waiting 18 months. “I find it amazing that Deputy McNamara can say with a straight face that it will take as much as 18 months to upgrade the rural broadband network in County Clare. What are the people of Clare supposed to do in the meantime? They have to deal with extremely slow broadband and the best they can hope for is quicker download speeds in 2015? “This is completely unacceptable and reflects just how out of touch the Labour Party has become with the problems …

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Jobs Needed to Give Economy a “Real Lift”

By CAROL BYRNE THERE is a reduction in those signing on the live register in East Clare this past year but with very little economic growth locally, Councillor Pat Hayes is calling for something to be done to deal with the 1,271 who remain unemployed there. While there are 183 less people signing on at the Tulla social welfare office in February 2013 when there were 1,454 people signing on than in February 2014, Councillor Hayes says he cannot account for the reduction. The Tulla social welfare office caters to its local community and extends to O’Callaghan’s Mills, Scariff, Whitegate, Feakle, Kilkishen, Bodyke, Broadford, Feakle, Ogonnelloe, Kilmurry and parts of Sixmilebridge. Councillor Hayes said the feeling on the ground is that there is no employment being created across East Clare, and the spending power is going from communities. “Young people have left, and people don’t have any money to spend in the local economy. When you don’t have jobs, you …

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