Tag Archives: kilkee

KILKEE businessman Johnny Redmond has reacted angrily to Councillor Gabriel Keating’s suggestion that business in the town remains unaffected by the yet to be repaired damage to the seawall and parts of the Strand Line. Kilkee was extensively damaged during Storm Darwin last February. The road in front of his business is remains impassable. “The Strand Bistro and Restaurant is currently located at what I would call Ground Zero. Left and right of me the roads are completely closed. I have absolutely no passing trade or won’t have passing trade for the whole summer,” Johnny Redmond said on Wednesday. However Councillor Keating said that he feels the damage in Kilkee is not affecting business. “It’s not going to affect the business of Kilkee in my book or the people of Kilkee,” he maintained. “Gabriel Keating has some cheek to say that it’s not going to affect business in the town. How would he know about the impact of this on …

Kilkee Civic Trust (KCT) is usually associated with organising a summer programme of talks and music events, but the organisation is springing into action this weekend to support an important community effort. “Arising from so much terrible storm damage disfiguring our beloved Kilkee, we are putting out a call for assistance, at the request of our fellow KCT member, Mayor Paddy Collins, for everyone to assist in any way possible, to help by improving matters on the ground,” said spokesperson, Joseph McClosker. To this end, there will be a promenade clean-up, starting from 9am this Saturday. Volunteers are asked to meet at the Intrinsic Anchor, near Fisherman’s Corner, at the East End. This is an entire community initiative, and is being organised by friends of Kilkee, with the help of Kilkee Chamber of Commerce. It is important that suitable clothing is worn and that a mindset of safety is maintained throughout the clean-up.

Dan Danaher Exclusive PEOPLE living near nine asbestos dumps in West Clare should not attempt to examine or remove it, an Ennis pensioner, who has contracted the life-limiting asbestosis disease, warned this week. Seventy-nine-year-old, Cyril Quinn made the call, as Clare County Council continues its investigations into the alleged dumping of asbestos on public and private lands in Kilrush and Kilkee. Mr Quinn stressed that only personnel who were qualified to remove dangerous substances should be allowed to handle asbestos, once they were dressed from head to toe in protective clothing. Cyril requires an oygen supply practically on a 24-hour basis and needs to go on a nebuliser four times a day. His sitting room had to be converted into a bedroom as he is no longer able to climb his stairs. He said a neighbour of his died from asbestosis, while it has also claimed the lives of other Irish people who were working with asbestos in England down …

THREE weeks after Storm Darwin resulted in serious damage to the seawall and the Strand Line in Kilkee, the damage is still evident on the seafront. The issue was raised at this week’s West Clare Electoral Area meeting by Councillor Patrick Keane, who asked for a report on what he called “the sinking Strand Line road,” in Kilkee. Loop Head Tourism chairman and Kilkee business man, Cillian Murphy has also expressed concern at the state of the Strand Line, comparing it to a war zone. “I’m standing here looking at a hole that has been dug out of the pavilion in front of the Esplanade. It must be 30 feet by 40 feet. There was a small breach but the sea is after widening the breach and sucking everything out from underneath it. A load of concrete would have shuttered up the front of it and prevented further damage,” Cillian Murphy suggested. “From the esplanade down as far as the …

  CLARE County Council has confirmed that it has commissioned an external independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the depositing of asbestos-cement materials at a number of sites throughout West Clare. The council says it has informed the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) of its intention to remove the hazardous waste material from nine separate locations in the vicinity of Kilrush and Kilkee. A specialist asbestos consultant has been engaged by the council to advise the authority on the removal of the materials. West Clare county councillors have been informed about the process while the council has confirmed it will be liasing with members of the public living in the vicinity of the affected sites about the remedial works that are due to take place. “Clare County Council’s environment section received a complaint from a member of the public last June regarding a number of areas where asbestos waste materials were deposited. The council has since identified nine sites where …

By Peter  O’Connell CLARE County Council is investigating claims that there are at least nine asbestos dumps in the Kilrush and Kilkee areas of West Clare. The asbestos waste was dumped on both public and private lands and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed on Wednesday that it has been contacted on the issue. The matter was raised by Councillor PJ Kelly at Monday’s Kilrush Electoral Area meeting. He later told The Clare Champion that he had discovered that it would cost up to €2.9m to pay for the clean up operation. The council maintains, however, that the figure involved cannot be determined at this stage, as cost associated with carrying out these works “are as yet undetermined”. In a statement on Wednesday evening, Clare County Council said, “All of the asbestos material investigated to date consists of broken pieces of asbestos cement water main. It is considered that all of this material originated on Clare County Council water services …

By Peter O’Connell ONE of Clare’s best-known GAA supporters passed away recently. Kevin Stapleton, who was 92, was born in Limerick and reared in Kilkee but lived and worked for 46 years in England. Resident in Ennis since his return to Ireland in 1989, he was a regular at Clare hurling and football games. He was also a colourful contributor to The Clare Champion letters page. In an interview with The Clare Champion in October 2012, Kevin recalled growing up in West Clare. “I was born in Limerick but I was in Kilkee at nine weeks old. My mother died at birth, so I never saw her,” he recounted sadly. Kevin and his twin brother, Thomas, were reared by their grandmother, Bridget Stapleton, whom they treated as their mother. She was a woman with straightforward convictions, as evidenced by Kevin’s name change around the time of his confirmation. It turns out his name was not actually Kevin. “When I was christened, …

By Seamus Hayes GAA clubs across the country will agree it has become increasingly difficult to get volunteers to take on club officer roles and it has almost become the norm that some clubs fail to fill some executive posts at their annual meetings. Eventually, most manage to get someone to take on a specific task. Despite the fact that St Senan’s Kilkee have, so far, failed to find both a chairman and secretary, outgoing chairman Peter Muldoon is satisfied the club’s future is secure and that the posts will be filled. The positions remain vacant after the AGM and a further meeting failed to find candidates for the posts Outgoing officials Peter Muldoon (chairman) and John Lynch (secretary) signalled well before the end of last season that they would not be seeking re-election. Muldoon completed four years in the post, while outgoing secretary John Lynch has been the face of the West Clare club for the past 40 years. …