Tag Archives: Kilrush

THE newly appointed Kilrush Division Garda Superintendent, Martin McGonnell is still coming to terms with the geographical size of his new beat. Yet the Monaghan man, who served for 13 years in Donnybrook before moving on to promotion to West Clare, feels that similar policing principles apply in rural and urban settings. “I think I was in Clare once previously, which a lot of people find surprising considering that it’s such a scenic area. Compared to Dublin, where you might have a lot more incidents but in a much more confined space, it’s a big change. “To go from Kilrush to Ennistymon is a round trip of around 120km and 140km up to Lisdoonvarna. The distances are huge. It’s a stretch from Loop Head right up to Ballyvaughan. It’s going to take a bit of time and patience to get used to it,” Superintendent McGonnell told The Clare Champion. “In the Donnybrook area you have 34 embassies, including the British, …

A DOCUMENTARY by renowned filmmaker Daisy Asquith, which explores the very personal story of her mother’s conception and subsequent adoption after a dance in the 1940s in West Clare, will be screened on Channel 4 on Sunday, March 29 at 8pm. Her grandmother had to run away and give birth to her baby in secret before handing the baby over to nuns. Daisy’s mother was eventually adopted by English Catholics from Stoke-on-Trent. Her grandmother returned to Ireland and kept her secret. The identity of Daisy’s grandfather remained a mystery for another 60 years until Daisy and her mother decided it was time to find out who he was. Their desperate need to know took them on a fascinating and moving adventure in social and sexual morality and the fear and shame that Catholicism has wrought on the Irish psyche for centuries, connecting them with a brand new family living an extraordinarily different life. “I was compelled to find out who …

TWO men in their twenties and two women in their thirties with Kilrush addresses appeared before Ennis District Court this afternoon charged with breaches of the Consumer Credit Act of 1995. The four were Diana Casey, 12 Wood Road, Kilrush; Patrick Casey, Beverley Hills View, Kilkee Road, Kilrush; Ann Marie O’Brien, 12 Sycamore Drive, Kilrush and James O’Brien, 28 Chapel Drive, Kilrush. All were remanded on bail until March 18, when they will appear before Ennis District Court once more. Similar conditions were imposed on all four in relation to bail. The defendants are required to sign on at Kilrush Garda Station on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. They are also required not to come within 100 metres of Kilrush Post Office between 8.30am and 1pm on Tuesday and Thursday, nor to have any contact with the complainants.  

WHILE pre-Christmas and festive trading was certainly no worse than in previous years, there hasn’t been much evidence of increased spending in the Banner County, according to retailers. This week, Pat Kelly, manager of SkyCourt shopping centre in Shannon, said trading was quite similar to 12 months previously. “It was on a par with previous years, not better, but on a par with previous years. There was a lot of talk about the uplift but I thought we’d see more of it.” He said that Dealz, which sells goods at discount prices, had a very good Christmas but that most of the businesses at SkyCourt “generally found it was similar to last year, not the uplift we had probably expected”. Patrick Bourke, who has men’s clothes shops in Ennis and Kilrush, said there had been an improvement, albeit not a dramatic one. “We were busy, I have to say. We’d be up on last year, not hugely up. There were …

Gardaí today (Tuesday) confirmed that no arrests have been made in relation to an incident in Kilrush on Christmas night. Four  men were hospitalised following a public order incident at Sycamore Drive in the John Paul Estate at approximately 9.30pm. The four men, who are in their 20s and 30s, were removed to University of Limerick Hospital. They are believed to have been treated for bruises but their injuries were not serious. All four men were subsequently discharged from hospital.  

THE Simon Community-run food bank in Kilrush has been inundated with requests for food and household items for West Clare families since it opened three weeks ago. The food bank is the first of its kind opened in the town and Mid-West Simon Community manager, Jackie Bonfield says the resource has been flooded with requests for aid. “We have 49 families registered and three single people registered in Kilrush to collect food from us every week. It’s a huge number. If you take an average of three children per family, you are talking about 200 people. It’s not just Kilrush town. We are getting people from across West Clare. Every day we are seeing new faces,” Ms Bonfield said. She has found that those using the food bank are from a cross-spectrum of people. “Some people are in social housing and we’re also meeting people who are in private rented accommodation, some getting rent supplement but some of whom are …

Newly appointed lifeboat operations manager at Kilrush RNLI, Pauline Dunleavy, had her first callout in charge, when an alert was received on Sunday morning. The lifeboat was launched to reports that a plane flying overhead had observed an indication that a fire may have broken out in the cargo hold. In these circumstances it is standard procedure to launch the lifeboat and it gave Pauline a chance to see how fast the lifeboat can be launched and the response of the volunteers in times of emergency. The lifeboat was launched at 9.20am and kept a presence on the river before they learned that the flight, which was en route to France, had landed safely at Shannon Airport and they were stood down. Commenting on the callout, Pauline Dunleavy said, “During my first callout in this new role, it was great to see the lifeboat crew respond to an emergency from the other side. I had the opportunity to see the …

MORE than 160 outlets, including shops, pubs, post offices and banks, have closed in West Clare in the last 25 years. These approximate figures, which have been compiled by The Clare Champion, do not include additional outlets such as seasonal businesses in resort towns like Kilkee. The figures show that the region, from Ballynacally to Kilbaha and up to Miltown, has lost 102 shops and 53 public houses since 1989, while AIB has closed outlets in Kildysart and Kilkee. Ballynacally, Coolmeen, Cranny, Cross and Knock have lost their post offices in that period. In the last decade, Kilrush has lost eight pubs and a total of 53 businesses, including 19 in Moore Street alone. However, in the same period, 42 businesses have opened in the town. The breakdown of what has closed in West Clare towns and villages during that period include: Ballynacally, two shops, one post office. Lissycasey, two pubs, two shops; Kildysart, three pubs, two shops and AIB …