Tag Archives: kilkee

THE Clare Champion has learned that Kilkee businessman and tourism consultant, Cillian Murphy, will stand for Fianna Fáil in West Clare in the local elections on May 24. The tourism consultant will join sitting councillors, PJ Kelly (Lissycasey) and Bill Chambers (Cooraclare) on the Fianna Fáil ticket. Twenty eight elected members sit on Clare County Council, representing four electoral areas across the county.

With well over half of the holiday homes in Kilkee unoccupied for the most part of the year, it has now emerged that there are actually more mobile homes in the resort that residents. And at a public meeting in the community centre, called because of the concerns about the proliferation of mobile homes in the town, the resident population issued a clear and unequivocal message that “enough is enough”. Local businessman John Williams said that while the mobile homes are a valuable accommodation bases for a large number of tourists, the fact of the mater is that there are now more mobile homes in Kilkee than people. “The message from the meeting was cut and dried; residents don’t want any more mobile homes and that was it,” he told The Clare Champion. The attendees at the public meeting included elected members of Clare County Council as well as candidates in the next local elections. “They will have been left …

AN Post has today (Thursday) issued two stamps marking the Irish Coast Guard’s provision of search, rescue and monitoring services at sea, on the coast and waterways of Ireland.  The stamps designed by Vermillion Design, are based on an original painting by the late Caitriona Lucas, who sadly lost her life in Kilkee while volunteering with the Coast Guard on September 12, 2016. Members of the Irish Coast Guard and Bernard Lucas, widower of Caitriona, unveiled the set of stamps in the GPO while a Coast Guard team displayed the new stamps in Dublin Bay.  The artwork depicts a rescue team working at sea, both in the air and on the water. The scene in the painting was divided into two stamps by Vermillion Design. The Irish Coast Guard responds to maritime and inland search and rescue emergencies with its main objective to reduce the loss of life on lakes, waterways, rivers, sea and coastal areas.  The brave men and …

JUST 20 years of age, Mike Taylor is likely to be the youngest candidate in Clare for the 2019 Local Elections. The Kilkee man may also be the first openly gay man to run for election in Clare. In his final year studying for a BA in Law and Sociology and Politics at NUI Galway, Mr Taylor said he got involved in Fine Gael while still a child. “It goes back to 2011; I was about 12. My mam was involved with some sort of footpath issue or something like that. She called Pat Breen and he got the issue sorted. The election came around and mam was asked to go and canvass. She said ‘I won’t canvass but I know somebody who will’. I dropped some leaflets that day and I’ve been hooked ever since.” Very involved in the campaign for yes votes in the abortion and same sex marriage referendums, he said that he never experienced any real …

THE latest news and views from Clare Champion journalists Carol Byrne and Owen Ryan. This week they discuss the inquest into last May’s double drowning in Ennis, the plight of Shannon Airport, the Kilkee murder trial, LIT opening a Clare campus and the impact of smartphone use on young minds.

After deliberating for over three hours a jury in the Central Criminal Court acquitted a 23 year-old Kilrush man of murder but convicted him of manslaughter. Robbie Walsh, (23), of Island View had pleaded not guilty to murdering 25-year-old Karl “Gobbo” Haugh at Marian Estate, Kilkee in the early hours of August 6, 2017. The jury took over three hours to return a unanimous verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. Ms Justice Carmel Stewart thanked the jurors for their time and attendance and excused them from further civic duty for five years. She remanded Walsh in custody and ordered a report from the Probation Service pending sentence hearing on March 25 next. Earlier, the jurors had sought clarification from Ms Justice Stewart about the verdicts open to them. Ms Justice Stewart said for a guilty verdict, the jury must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Walsh had intended to kill or cause serious harm, where …

THE Marine Casualty Investigation Board has today published its report into the incident in Kilkee, on September 12, 2016, which led to the Coast Guard volunteer, Caitríona Lucas, tragically losing her life. Speaking this afternoon, Transport Minister, Shane Ross, said that the reports recommendations will be implemented. The report found that there was  no evidence of an “effective management system” at the Kilkee Irish Coastguard Station. Catríona Lucas was a member of Doolin Coastguard but was on board a Kilkee Coastguard Delta rigid inflatable when she died. “I wish to again express my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Caitríona, who lost her life so tragically, doing the volunteer work she loved. Caitríona was a talented, hardworking and deeply committed member of the Doolin Coast Guard Unit. She was a selfless member of a unique group of people, those men and women who dedicate themselves to the protection of others at great risk to themselves. Caitriona made …

WHEN Donald Trump comes to West Clare, one house he shouldn’t call to is Janet Burke’s, even though she is a fellow American abroad. Trump might not be a popular president anyway, but when Janet talks about him it is very clear her dislike of The Donald is very acute. Even when he was just a celebrity billionaire she didn’t care for him, and her attitude only hardened as the Trump presidential campaign proceeded, and Janet says his two years in office have been much worse than she feared. “Living through that election process, the things he was saying and the way he was behaving, at first it seemed like a joke. From the beginning it was terrifying to think that this man might get that job. He was so erratic, he was so divisive and hateful. “I was worried when he got it, but he has far surpassed how bad I thought he could be. I didn’t think he …