Tag Archives: Kilrush

IN recent weeks, Kilrush Town Councillor Tom Clyne retired from his role as a FÁS job initiative worker in the town. The former town mayor, who was first elected to the local council in 2004, has worked in the position since 1998. As he remembers it, a significant amount of people were employed on the jobs initiative scheme 15 years ago. That figure has since drastically reduced. “There are about 10 people on the scheme in Kilrush at the moment. We have lost a lot of people through retirement or death in the last few years. I think there was 21 on the scheme in 1998,” Mr Clyne said this week. The Westmeath man, whose wife Breda is from Kilrush, worked primarily as a maintenance man on the scheme. “I was one of the people assigned to do the house maintenance for Kilrush Town Council, who were our sponsors. I was a general operative starting off but as we progressed, …

JASON Ryan has got to know almost every back road in West Clare in recent months. The Kilrush man, who is a retained fire fighter in the town, has been partaking in four hour early morning training stints as he prepares for a five day, 2,100km (1,350 miles) cycle around Ireland. The cycle starts at 3pm in Trim on Sunday and is due to last five days. Jason, who is fundraising for the West Clare Cancer Centre in Kilkee and the Clare 250 Cycle, is confident that he is in physical shape to cycle up to 500km daily. “I’ve been out most mornings, nearly every morning, for the last couple of months. I’ve been clocking up between 80 to 100km at least four mornings a week. When it was brighter I was heading out at 5 or 5.30am but for the last few weeks it has been about 6.30am,” he told The Clare Champion this week. Once he leaves his …

AT least 10 CCTV cameras will be erected in Kilrush town centre following the completion of a tendering and Part 8 planning process. At Tuesday’s September meeting of Kilrush Town Council, members unanimously backed the initiative, which was originally proposed by current town mayor, Councillor Paul Moroney. “What’s proposed is to have a number of cameras throughout the town. There’s a total of ten. Six of them are fixed at various locations throughout the town. Four of them are zoom cameras, which can move. The town centre is deemed an area of concern,” town clerk John Corry stated. “We’re going to have a fixed camera on the credit union and the Vodafone shop (subject to approval). There’s also going to be cameras on poles either side of the town hall. One will take in Moore Street, Francis Street and the square. The other one will take in Henry Street, John Street and Burton Street. We’re also going to have a …

MORE than five months after the National Famine Commemoration was held in Kilrush, local town councillors still cannot decide where to locate the commemorative sculpture. In fact, only one member of the public responded to a council invitation for suggestions as to where the sculpture by Paddy Murray should be installed. After a long debate at Tuesday’s Kilrush Town Council meeting, councillors decided to defer a definite decision until October. Some councillors admitted that the location issue has dragged on for so long they would struggle to recognise the sculpture if they saw it. “I’ve forgotten what it looks like and how big it is,” Councillor Ian Lynch said. “We don’t know what it looks like. Because of the plinth, we haven’t seen it all,” Councillor Mairéad O’Brien stated. Town clerk John Corry revealed that an invitation for submissions from the public, issued in July, was met with an under-whelming response. “I received one submission. The location that was identified …

By Peter O’Connell Kilrush 2-11 Kilkee 0-7 A LIGHTNING start helped Kilrush into the quarter-final of the senior football championship. After less than seven minutes, the 2012 county semi-finalists led 2-1 to 0-0, following neat goal finishes from Chris Dixon and Rory O’Connor. The winners led 2-4 to 0-2 at half-time and while their level dipped appreciably in the opening 15 minutes of the second half, they were never in real danger of being reeled in by Kilkee. Kilrush’s ploy of using corner-forward Jack Browne in a free outfield role worked very well, as the Kilrush youngster picked up plenty of possession and used it intelligently. It was Browne’s lovely cross-field pass, changing the direction of play, which set up corner-back Niall Clancy for a nicely taken left-footed point. Dixon scored Kilrush’s first goal in the fourth minute, his finishing resembling that of Robin Van Persie. The ball broke to the Kilrush midfielder, after a Stephen Sweeney shot was blocked. …

UNTIL she joined a meet and train group in Kilrush 22 years ago, Maura Falsey never envisaged taking up running as a pastime. The Kilmihil National School teacher, who lives in Cooraclare, has since run 30 marathons, up to 60 half-marathons and numerous shorter distance road races. When she’s not pounding the roads, Maura can be seen gardening, walking, cycling or Irish dancing. When she’s feeling a bit tired, she reads running magazines. Yet back in 1991, she had yet to be convinced of the merits of running. “I never ran a mile until I joined Mary Clarke’s meet and train group in Kilrush. She’s my inspiration. It has completely changed my life and has opened up a new life for me since I joined that day. I’d say I couldn’t even run a quarter of a mile when I was 31. That’s the truth and this is why I’m trying to inspire other people of my age,” Maura told …

SOUL Space, an exhibition by Ennis-based artist Dympna Bonfield is going on show at Glór on Saturday, September 7 and will be there until October 26. Dympna was born and raised in West Clare but was away for many years before returning to her native county. Much of her work has reflected this move and it is the people and landscape of West Clare that largely inspired her paintings. She began her career as a primary school teacher but later attended the National College of Art in Dublin and qualified as an art teacher. This led to teaching art in secondary schools and much of her early work during this time took the form of murals painted in some of the places she worked and can still be seen today. Whilst teaching in the capital, she began exhibiting work in a couple of Dublin galleries and as her reputation grew, she began to exhibit further afield. Her work has now …

Despite the cold weather conditions, there were big entries for competitions at Lahinch over the Easter period.