Tag Archives: kildysart

THERE was a sense of hope and excitement in Kildysart this week, with news that €1.8 million has been allocated for the development of maritime and cruise liner-related training facilities at the disused school and convent in Cahercon. It is expected that a facility will be developed offering training in all sorts of activities related to marine industries, from piloting cruise liners to catering to mechanics for ships. Ultimately, it’s expected that private sector interests will develop the facility in the next couple of years, while a statement from Clare Deputy Pat Breen this week said that the National Maritime College of Ireland, which is based in Cork, will be central to providing the training. When it finally does open, it will bring a certain amount of new jobs and, presumably, a significant number of trainees and students to the nearby village. Such a development will be a major boost for Kildysart, the likes of which  it has not enjoyed …

Minister for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market & Data Protection Pat Breen has announced that €63,000 has been granted to Clare for agricultural shows next year. “This €63,000 will be a huge benefit to the nine shows in County Clare who will each receive a grant of €7,000 each. The Clare shows include Kildysart, Kilrush, Clarecastle, Corofin, Ennistymon, Mullagh, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Bridgetown and Scarriff. “This funding is particularly useful to the smaller shows that are susceptible to weather and other unexpected costs that can occur,” said Minister Breen. “Agricultural shows are hugely important to the rural economy, with surrounding towns and villages benefitting hugely from each show. “The Government considers this funding an important investment in rural communities and I am delighted that my colleague Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring has granted this funding for Clare,” he said

THE newly-appointed principal of St John Bosco Community College in Kildysart has revealed that students and parents have cited the provision of a hurling team at second level as a critical factor when deciding what school to attend. There are currently 210 students attending the Shannonside school. Denis O’Rourke, formerly an assistant principal at Ennis Community College, made his comments during an interview with The Clare Champion. “I went through our first year intake for next year. I rang the parents that have not come back with fees, which more or less means they are not coming. Out of the eight that I rang, seven of them mentioned sport as a factor. It’s all down to the Harty Cup. “Academically, you need your education but I do believe that sport should be a strong part of school,” Mr O’Rourke said. He also found that sixth class pupils in the Kildysart Community College catchment area had similar concerns. “One thing we …

FOLLOWING Saturday afternoons intermediate football semi-finals, Kilfenora and Kildysart qualified for the final. Kilfenora scored a 2-9 to 0-5 win over Shannon Gaels with the Malone brothers, Killian and Aidan scoring the goals. Kildysart won it 3-7 to 0-11, having trailed 0-7 to 0-3 at half-time against Kilmihil but second half goals from Neil O’Connor, Ger Kelly and Damien Hill won it for the men in blue. Kilmihil kicked nine first half wides and had corner back Allyn Dalton red carded eight minutes into the second half. The junior B football final will have to be replayed following a draw between Banner (1-8) and Wolfe Tones (3-2). On Sunday at 12.30pm in Doonbeg, reigning county champions Miltown will play Clondegad in the first of three senior football championship quarter-finals, followed by Cratloe v Ennistymon in Cusack Park and Doonbeg v Cooraclare in Kilmihil. The latter game will be preceded by the relegation final in which 21 time county champions Kilrush …

WHEN he left Ireland for Arizona in August 1958, the then 24-year-old Fr Michael O’Grady thought it would be at least 1965 before he would set foot in Kildysart again. He was one of four newly minted priests who sailed the Atlantic, having spent six years at the seminary in Carlow. One of the four was Fr Tom O’Dea from Newmarket, who is now based in Ballynacally. “All four us set off for Arizona from Cobh. The bishop wouldn’t let us fly. He wouldn’t pay for us, probably and then he made us go by train from New York to Tucson. I’d say we were two days on the train. We had been seven days on the boat,” Fr Michael recalled in his house in The Square, Kildysart last week. A Harty Cup winner with St Flannan’s College in 1952, Fr Michael also played minor football (three years) and hurling for Clare. His GAA skills didn’t desert Fr Michael entirely …

“DOMESTIC dispute – she stabbed me, I stabbed her”, were among the last words spoken by a man who died on the same evening as his wife in Kildysart, shortly before last Christmas. This was outlined at an inquest in Ennis into the deaths of South African couple, Cornelius and Angelique Billing. The inquest also heard that the couple’s two small children were hysterical in the aftermath of the stabbings and one of them was on Kildysart’s Main Street calling for help, as her mother was mortally wounded nearby. The jury heard evidence from gardaí, ambulance and fire service personnel, as well as Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis. Garda John Cahill said that on December 17 of last year he began work at noon and at around 6.25pm, he got a call to go to a fire at a hardware store in Kildysart. While on the Main Street, he saw a woman staggering in the direction of AIB. She …

TOM Cunningham, a Kildysart-born great-grandfather who has lived in the UK Midlands since 1952, has told his local newspaper, the Birmingham Mail, how he has never missed Birmingham’s St Patrick’s Day parade since attending the first event more than 60 years ago. Tom, 91, has become such a regular visitor to the festival that he cannot walk a few yards without being recognised among the crowds. The pensioner arrived in Britain in 1952, worked on the roads and settled in Handsworth. Mr Cunningham said, “I’ve been to every single one since it started, when it was very small. I enjoy getting out and meeting people. It’s nice for the Irish to get out and have a few drinks and have the craic.” Mr Cunningham added that he “always, always” enjoys catching up with friends over a few drinks. His daughter, Lucy Casey, from Great Barr, said, “Tom never, ever forgot his Irish roots. He still speaks with an Irish accent …

ONE hundred years ago this week, 26-year-old, Private Patrick King, who was born in Kildysart and lived in Turnpike, Ennis, died of “exit wounds” near Bailleul in France. According to information from the Clare Museum, Private King arrived in France with the 2nd battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment on August 14, 1914, just 10 days after war was declared. The South Lancashires were part of the 3rd Division that engaged in winter operations between November 23, 1914 and February 6, 1915. His division was involved in an attack on Wytschaete on December 14, 1914, which had resulted in high casualties. Private King was wounded just a few days before the ending of winter operations and died of his wounds on February 2, 1915, in a hospital close to where he is buried. In 2008, a successful effort was made to reunite Private King’s World War I Victory Medal with its rightful owners, following a Clarecastle man’s discovery that it …