Tag Archives: Killard

OLYMPIAN Pat McDonald is being warmly remembered in his native Doonbeg, 100 years after he earned a place in the annals of sporting history, by winning a second gold medal. The Amsterdam Olympics of 1920 saw him reach the pinnacle of a long and illustrious sporting career. At over 40 years of age, when he took part in the world games in Holland, Pat McDonald still holds the honour of being the oldest Olympic track and field champion. Against rivals half his age, the towering 6’ 4’’ West Clare man was capable of throwing a weight of 56 pounds a distance of 11.26 metres, considerably further than his younger competitors. Former teacher Joe Hurley has a huge interest in Pat McDonald’s achievements and legacy, and has researched the story in great detail. The path the young Clare man followed was a well-worn one that took him from the rural west coast to the bustling and brash metropolis of New York, …

THE Chief Executive of Clare County Council has described the European Commission’s decision to award €23 million to a wave energy project off the Clare coast as a positive endorsement of the polices adopted locally to support renewable energy production projects. ESB WestWave is proposing to develop the first wave energy project in Ireland by 2018 off Killard in Doonbeg, generating an initial 5MW of electricity which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of households in nearby Kilrush and Kilkee. Council Chief Executive Tom Coughlan says the harnessing of clean renewable electricity from the plentiful wave energy resource available off Clare’s coast is one of key objectives of the County Clare Renewable Energy Strategy 2014-2020. Earlier this year, Clare County Council became one of the first local authorities in the country to incorporate such a Strategy into their County Development Plan. Among the targets set out in the strategy, Mr. Coughlan noted, is for the local authority to facilitate the …