Tag Archives: kilkee

THE search continues for a missing Japanese tourist eight months after the body of her travelling companion was recovered from the waters off Kilkee. An inquest into the death last August of 63-year-old Eiji Takagi at Clare’s Coroner’s Court this week heard that the search is ongoing for fellow tourist Ushio Azaki, who also went missing. The remains of Mr Takagi, who had a Californian address, were recovered in Kilkee bay in water about 27m deep on August 30 of last year, following an extensive search of the area. The inquest was told that the pair were last seen alive when they checked out of The Bellbridge House Hotel and were due to visit Kilkee. Concern was raised when their hire car was seen parked at George’s Head for a number of days and a search operation was launched. Along with search and rescue teams from Lough Derg, Ennis and Aughinish, local coast guard units from Kilkee, Doolin and Ballybunion …

A KAYAKER in his mid 30s, who is believed to have been visiting the area, was pulled from the water in the West End, Kilkee late on Wednesday afternoon. Members of the public had tried to help him by throwing life buoys into the water. The man got into difficulty at Majella’s Cove just before 5pm and was rescued shortly afterwards, after Kilkee Coastguard were alerted by the public. “It kicked off at 4.55pm, following reports from numerous members of the public that there was a person in difficulty in the bay in Kilkee. He was clinging to a kayak that had got overturned. The weather had got extremely bad here fairly fast,” Martony Vaughan, officer in charge of Irish Coastguard Unit in Kilkee said. “We were alerted and we got him over on the rocks. We took him to safety, recovered his kayak and several other bits. Members of the public had been throwing life rings into him from …

“Kilkee and all that lies about it offers only ordinary happiness, a most precious thing that any child can enjoy or any old man. But on the right day in West Clare, under the right light, that ordinary happiness takes on an immaculacy, an innocent radiance which lifts it near to what we mean by heavenly delight.” (Kate O’Brien) One searches in vain to aptly describe Kilkee in winter; the best I can come up with is ‘an experience with a difference’. The month of February usually spells the beginning of, or at least the onset of, spring. However, Sunday last, February 5, certainly defied that assumption. I awoke to the sound of John Bowman on radio followed by Sunday Miscellany, which has remained an enduring part of my Sunday morning line-up for almost 40 years now, together with that all-important, Sunday morning fry. When I woke, I had promised myself a walk over towards the Diamond Rocks prior to …

Imogen, the latest in a spate of storms, is lashing the Clare coastline today (Monday). With high winds on the back of high tides, damage has been caused in the Kilkee area and Carrigaholt, near the Irish College.  Clare Champion photographer John Kelly is out and about recording the progress of the storm.   [doptg id=”96″]

AN insight into what drives an athlete to shine at national and international level was afforded to members of the Clare Association in Dublin and their friends at the weekend. At the association’s annual dinner in the Ballsbridge Hotel last Saturday night, Kilkee athlete Willie Keane, who was presented with the association’s Clare Person of the Year award for 2016, explained how being beaten in the All-Ireland Senior Cross Country Championship in 1973 was big turning point in his career. He waited exactly 12 months to turn the tables on Mick Priest, training for 30 consecutive days in hail, rain and snow in the month of January to prepare for the next championship race. In March 1974, he regained his title and, in fact, was not beaten again in a championship race until 1980. He continued to compete for many years after that despite maintaining a heavy work schedule. At times he trained at 7am or 10pm. He rarely felt …

WHEN Sister Mary O’Connell retired from teaching business studies and accounting at Kilkee Community College last year, it marked the end of a 136-year link between the Sisters of Mercy and education in the town. Sr Mary, who completed her Leaving Certificate in 1966, taught in Kilkee since 1980, having had previous stints in Nenagh and Tulla. She served as deputy principal in Kilkee since 2006. “It’s a good stretch. It has been a good life,” Sr Mary reflected recently when The Clare Champion visited. She still lives in the nuns’ house on the Miltown Malbay road in the town. She feels and hopes that she grew into her role since she first decided to enter the order as a teenager. “Who knows what it is really? It’s one thing when you’re 17 and it’s another thing by the time you’re 37. Why wouldn’t it be because we grow and we change. We have another experience and then another one. …

THE latest legal challenge by a County Clare man against the result of the same-sex marriage referendum has been dismissed by the High Court. Gerry Walshe, an electrician, of Lisdeen, Kilkee asked the High Court to quash the Referendum Returning Officer’s decision to certify the result last August, which had the effect of formally confirming the outcome of the ballot. In a ruling on Wednesday evening, Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan dismissed Walshe’s demands for several orders that would have frozen proposed new legislation currently before Dáil Éireann enabling same-sex couples to marry. The Judge described as misconceived Mr Walshe’s interpretation of Returning Officer Riona Ní Fhlanghaile’s statutory function to sign the certificate confirming the result. The Judge also awarded the State its legal costs against Mr Walshe, an application Mr Walshe had opposed. He also sought orders staying any further actions being taken in relation to the Same Sex Marriage referendum result until his case has been determined. Mr Walshe, …

GIVEN the thousands of visitors from Limerick who decamp to Kilkee every summer, rugby talk isn’t exactly foreign to the resort town. There was plenty of rugby speech heard beneath the soft September air earlier this week and those loosening their tongues, in advance of the Rugby World Cup, knew what they were talking about. Former All Black number eight Zinzan Brooke, Scottish fly half Craig Chalmers and Welsh international Leigh Davies found time to project ahead to the autumn tournament, while on a brief break from the Mizen to Malin cancer fundraising cycle. Before they got to the rugby though, these rugby men couldn’t but have the odd dig at each other, or at themselves, regarding their cycling skills. “When you’re in the peloton and there is a big pothole coming up, you need your other team members to warn you. When you start getting to the hills, you sort of stop talking. On the flat you can get …