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Tag Archives: lahinch

Unofficial rally on Wild Atlantic Way

By Nicola Corless PARTS of the Wild Atlantic Way tourist route were closed to facilitate an unofficial “modified car rally”, it emerged this week. Gardaí have said they were “shocked” by a large, “planned and organised”, unofficial motoring event, which took place in the dead of night on roads between Lahinch and Ballyvaughan last month. On March 7, approximately 70 cars converged on the promenade in Lahinch before travelling to the Cliffs of Moher, Doolin and on to Corkscrew Hill in Ballyvaughan, where the main event occurred. Chief Superintendent John Kerin said that gardaí were shocked by what they saw on the night. “Activities of what people call ‘boy racers’ have dwindled a lot in recent years because of the economy but in the last couple of months there has been an increase in activities and they have become more organised so we put an operation in place to tackle this,” he said. “We had noticed ‘doughnuts’ on the roads …

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Helping to reawaken Irish America

By CAROL BYRNE CATHAL Goan, former head of RTE, will launch Irish America Reawakening: The Eoin McKiernan Story a book at Foras na Gaeilge in Dublin on Wednesday next. Eoin McKiernan was the son of Clare emigrant Delia Nagle from Lahinch, and founded the Irish American Cultural institute (IACI), which poured millions of dollars into the Irish economy over the latter part of the 20th century. His daughter, Deirdre McKiernan Hetzler has chronicled his life and achievements in a new book entitled Irish America Reawakening: The Eoin McKiernan Story, currently available in Ennis. Eoin’s mother was from Tullygarvin in Lahinch but he was born in New York City, and studied at the Irish Cumman na Gaeilge in New York and won a scholarship to study at Rosmuc. Eoin was a fluent Irish speaker and worked passionately for the language revival. He was on the faculty at the State University of New York and the president of what would become the …

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A grim room with a view

By Carol Byrne CLARE Champion Photographer John Kelly has scooped his 12th Press Photographer’s Association of Ireland (PPAI) award He claimed second prize in the Daily Life and People category of the national competition, which had almost 2,000 entries from 112 photojournalists around the country. John’s winning entry, Room with a View, was described by the judges as “a striking image graphically illustrating life for large families living in the restricted space of a caravan. Great thought and imagination used to create this image”. The black and white photograph was taken while covering the story of a school principal who was trying to secure emergency accommodation for the Sherlock family. Caroline Sherlock and her seven children were living in a small caravan without electricity or running water, next to a river and beach at Cregg, Lahinch. Black and white is becoming more prevalent in John’s work of late, as he has chosen to reawaken his passion for the medium he …

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Storm damage running at €36.8m

CLARE County Council has estimated that the damage visited upon Clare’s coastal communities following the recent storms at almost €37 million. In a report to Monday’s council meeting, senior engineer, Tom Tiernan said the estimated cost for remedial works to be implemented with a view to restoring appropriately the vast array of public infrastructure, damaged by the recent storms, was €36,801,284. The estimate of damage caused by Storm Christine was €23.7million but now, in the wake of Storm Brigid, the estimate has been revised upwards to €36.8 million. Having escaped the brunt of Storm Christine, Kilkee wasn’t so lucky second time round. The cost of remedial work in the resort is placed at €875,360. Lahinch was the big casualty with Mr Tiernan estimating the damage caused at €6,064,689. Further estimates included Cloughaninchy in Quilty (€4,716,945), Kilbbaha (€3,498,950), New Quay (€3,449,200) White Strand – Doughmore in Doonbeg (€1,550,250), Doolin (€1,025,500).  With regard to private entities, the report states there was damage to …

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Clare battered by storm

COUNTY Clare is once again counting the cost of storm and flood damage after the spring tides brought their expected fall-out in many coastal areas on St Bridget’s Day. A  Met Éireann weather warning remains in place for this Saturday night. Many road were impassable this morning, while thousands of homes, mainly in  North and Mid-Clare, were left without power. The Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre remains closed all day due to hazardous conditions there. Things came to a head about 6 o’clock this morning, when the sea surged in at Lahinch Promenade and Quilty, while the Strandline wall in Kilkee  was  also damaged. This time round, Killimer and Moyasta were badly affected along the estuary. Flooding also occurred at Clarecastle bridge, as well as on the road at Bunratty. The river at the Black Weir Bridge, near the Clare Inn, burst its banks, while the main Ennis to Kildysart Road, at Ballicorrick also flooded. Further flooding has been reported in …

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Valerie president-elect of ILGU

By Seamus Hayes WELL-known Ennis golfer Valerie Hassett has been appointed president-elect of the Irish Ladies Golfing Union. She will take over as president in January 2015 when current president, Mary McKenna, will have completed her two-year term. Valerie is currently lady president at Lahinch Golf Club and her appointment is well deserved, following a successful career as player, official and administrator. She is a past captain of both Lahinch and Ennis golf clubs. After being introduced to the game by her parents on summer holidays in Skerries, Valerie’s love for the game grew under the expert tuition of Bill Kinsella Snr. She was a regular on the nationwide tour of Ladies’ championships and Scratch Cups and represented Munster at inter-provincial level for 25 years before retiring in 1999. She made her senior ladies’ international debut in 2003 and represented Ireland for a further seven years. A past team captain of the Irish International Girls’ team in the late 80s, …

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Preliminary Clare storm damage bill hits €23.7m

CLARE County Council has estimated the total damage caused by Storm Christine in County Clare at €23,761,043 with Lahinch being the worst affected. At a specially convened meeting of Clare County Council on Friday, members were given an outline of a preliminary storm damage report, which estimated the total damage caused in Lahinch at €5,842,390. The next highest cost of repairs was in Kilbaha, estimated in the region of €3,423,950. Meanwhile, repairs at Cloughaninchy, Quilty are estimated at €2,581,250. Storm damage in New Quay amounted to approximately €1.854m, while the repair works necessary at Carrowdotia in Moneypoint are estimated at €1,115,400. Councillors viewed CCTV footage of the storm captured at Lahinch promenade. A contingency fund of €2,160,095 was also included in the preliminary report, and costs of non-coastal repairs were estimated in the region of €190,000.  Meanwhile, water services issues relating to the storm came to approximately €20,000. Senior engineer Tom Tiernan outlined in the report that the council also …

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Lahinch Golf Club members rally for clean-up

LAHINCH Golf Club members this week rallied to the call for help with the course clean up following the weekend storms. “We put out a message to the members on Sunday to anyone with time to join in a big clean up.  Around 100 volunteers from the local community, Ennis, Limerick, Galway and Dublin turned up on Tuesday when over 550 black bags were filled with rubbish. Fifty more volunteers turned up on Wednesday, concentrating  on cleaning around the 4th and 7th championship tee boxes and the ladies 18th tee box.  For the second day running, the volume of rubbish collected was extraordinary and more skips are arriving in the morning to remove everything off site”, general manager Paddy Keane said. The Lahinch official confirmed, “Work on repairing the damage to greens, tees and fairways is continuing.” The boundary fencing was completely removed and work is underway to replace it. The championship course is due to open for play on …

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