Tag Archives: Ennistymon

THE steps at Blake’s Corner in Ennistymon will not be back-filled, it emerged this week, after Clare County Council withdrew its Part 8 application to carry out the works at the contentious junction. The reason for the withdrawal, according to the county’s senior engineer, is that it would probably have been refused “as such a development would contravene the council’s own Development Plan”. Local Councillor Bill Slattery is livid at what he sees as a council u-turn on the issue. “After getting confirmation from Clare County Council that the Part 8 planning application would not proceed because it would contravene the County Development Plan, I was very annoyed and disappointed,” he said. “I am in the council four and a half years and after being selected to replace Senator Martin Conway, I immediately asked for the steps to be back-filled for the safety of pedestrians and motorists. I felt this request would have been adhered to due to the severe …

A NORTH Clare couple and their four young children are among the 6,239 people currently seeking accommodation in Clare. James Sherlock and his partner, Caroline Sherlock, have been living in a caravan at the front of Caroline’s family’s home in Ennistymon for the past year and a half. Now with four children, aged between four years and four weeks, the couple are at their wits’ end. “We have to go into my parents’ house to use the toilet, the shower and to do any cooking. Even at night, if my daughter wants to go to the toilet, we have to go out in the rain to get to the toilet in the house,” Caroline outlined. The family found this summer especially difficult because of the wet weather and are dreading the winter. “Like all children, they just want to play outside but, basically, they have been stuck in here,” Caroline said, indicating the one-room caravan. The caravan does not have …

Famous travel and adventure show, The Road Less Travelled, stopped off in Clare this week as they toured Ireland. Presented by explorer and adventurer, Jonathan Legg and broadcast to an audience of up to six million, the show travelled the country, as the presenter and crew filmed an episode for their upcoming fourth season. The team followed a route, drawn up by Fáilte Ireland, to showcase Irish food and drink, along with some new and unusual experiences on offer across the country. In Clare, the crew took in Doolin, Ennistymon and visited the Cliffs of Moher. Describing their experience in Ireland, Jonathan said,”The food in Ireland was a highlight. Once you put a forkful in your mouth it immediately impresses.After speaking with some of the country’s top chefs I understand why. Irish chefs are taking real pride in locally sourcing their food and the quality of the ingredients comes directly from the quality of the land on which it was …

Mary Immaculate College, Lisdoonvarna 3-9 Ennistymon CBS 2-9 North Clare neighbours and rivals Mary Immaculate College Lisdoonvarna and Ennistymon CBS produced a most entertaining hour’s football at a well appointed Corofin on Friday morning when they clashed in the final of the Clare colleges senior football championship. [doptg id=”67″]When Pat Cosgrove sounded the final whistle, Mary Immaculate College were deservingly in front of their neighbours who went into the game as favourites. Having hit 2-5 without reply in a fifteen minute spell in the opening half, Ennistymon CBS looked set to justify favouritism as they opened an eight point lead. However, the Lisdoonvarna outfit put in a strong finish to the half hitting 2-1 in the closing five minutes to trail by just the minimum with wind advantage to come. Ennistymon will point to missed chances in the opening half as a reason for this loss and while it was certainly a factor, the winners were the better balanced side …

TEN-year-old Clare children are inadvertently engaging in cyberbullying, according to a local community garda. Garda Deirdre Scanlon, who is based in Ennistymon, has also warned that there are 11 and 12-year-olds with Facebook pages who are befriending people online who they don’t know, without realising they could turn out to be a sex predator. Having delivered a series of cyberbullying talks to primary and secondary schools over the last two and a half years, she believes the increased availability of different forms of information technology has facilitated more cyberbullying by children and teenagers. “Children and teenagers put up a comment and they have no idea it is up there forever. It seems every comment has to be worse than the next. It can be a case of bitchiness with the girls, who tend to be worse than fellas. Fellas don’t seem get as involved as much but girls can get involved in groups. “I tell children, ‘if you met a …

A homeless family, living in emergency accommodation for the past three and a half months, is begging Clare County Council to house them, as they cannot find suitable private, rental accommodation locally. Martin Mongan, his 21-year-old partner, Kathleen Delaney, and their two young children are currently living in one bedroom in a bed and breakfast in Lahinch. “It has been very, very hard. There is a lot of moving. Where we are now, we leave at about 12 noon or 1pm and we have to be gone until about 8pm or 9pm. My parents and brothers would collect us if the weather is bad but we have a double buggie and, in the fine weather, we walk down to Lahinch and wait there until we get collected,” Martin explained. “Then we wait with my parents in their house in Miltown Malbay and then, at night, we come back again. We have breakfast here and that is good and then, within …

THE newly appointed Kilrush Division Garda Superintendent, Martin McGonnell is still coming to terms with the geographical size of his new beat. Yet the Monaghan man, who served for 13 years in Donnybrook before moving on to promotion to West Clare, feels that similar policing principles apply in rural and urban settings. “I think I was in Clare once previously, which a lot of people find surprising considering that it’s such a scenic area. Compared to Dublin, where you might have a lot more incidents but in a much more confined space, it’s a big change. “To go from Kilrush to Ennistymon is a round trip of around 120km and 140km up to Lisdoonvarna. The distances are huge. It’s a stretch from Loop Head right up to Ballyvaughan. It’s going to take a bit of time and patience to get used to it,” Superintendent McGonnell told The Clare Champion. “In the Donnybrook area you have 34 embassies, including the British, …

This week, Enistymon CBS students started working with Sky Sports ambassador Thomas Barr, who is hoping to represent Ireland in the 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing later this year and at the Olympics in Rio in 2016. The Barr family, who are from Ferrybank in Waterford, could have double representation in Rio if Thomas’s sister Jesse also makes it. Jesse is already an Olympian, having represented Ireland at the London Olympics in the 400m hurdles. Thomas, who is studying for a Masters in Sports Performance at UL, will seek to help the Ennistymon pupils in sporting and academic terms during his visits to the school. “We’re using sport as a model. We do this thing called the Six Keys To Success. We go through all of the different attributes of an athlete and what it takes to get to the top. You can apply that to anywhere in life, no matter what you’re doing. It could …