Tag Archives: Miltown Malbay

The Willie Clancy Summer School takes place from July 2–10 in Miltown Malbay and if you’re unable to make it, then at least you can catch some of it on the radio. RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy have a partnership that goes back 50 years and the station will be broadcasting from the heart of the festival all week. The then fledgling radio station was in attendance the very first year of the school, in 1973, and has been there every year since to record or broadcast live from the West Clare music mecca. This year, the live broadcasts on RTÉ RnaG start on Sunday with the Éirinn is Alba concert at 8pm, celebrating the connections between the Celtic nations. Musicians on stage will include Hamish Moore, Connie O’Connell, Maighréad Ni Dhomhnaill, Paddy Glackin, Louise & Mick Mulcahy, and groups from Cape Breton, Wales and Québec. Neansaí Ní Choisdealbha will present the concert. Then the broadcasting …

THE ESB are currently battling three power outages in the Miltown Malbay area, all of which they hope to have resolved before midnight. They say that one is affecting 1315 customers, another 1027 and the third affecting 164 of their customers. There are also a number of outages in the Kilrush area, one affecting 107 customers, with three others affecting 43, 33 and 18 customers respectively. While a number of outages in the Kilkee area have been fixed, four more still have to be resolved, and it is expected some of the customers there won’t have their power back until tomorrow afternoon.

ACCLAIMED Miltown Malbay duo O’Connell Brothers have announced their first-ever headline show later this month, and it looks set to be one of the gigs of the year.  Brothers Kieran and Jon O’Connell have plied their trade with local folk group The Fiddle Case for the past number of years and are well known for their performances in other bands, including The Walls and Serious Mischief.  When the first pandemic hit and with gigs cancelled, the brothers turned inward and seized the opportunity to forge a new creative path. They built a home studio and immersed themselves in a bubble of songwriting and recording, the fruits of which have proven hugely popular with music lovers.  Earlier this year, ‘Songbird’, their debut single, flew into the world and onto radio playlists and the reaction was hugely positive. “Some songs get tossed around for months, years; a lyrical idea or a bit of a melody, but some seem to just land in …

EMERGENCY services have dealt with a chemical incident close to a popular beach in Clare, reports Pat Flynn. Clare County Fire and Rescue Service and Gardaí were alerted at around 1.30pm today following a report that a drum had washed onto rocks at White Strand near Miltown Malbay. Units of the fire service from Ennistymon and Kilrush stations responded to the incident. On arrival, fire crews carried out an assessment of the scene and confirmed that a 40-gallon container had washed onto the rocks about 300 metres from the beach and close to a popular walking path. Firefighters wearing specialist chemical suits for dealing with hazardous materials used a ladder to reach the scene. The incident was located in a small cove at the base of a 15m cliff. Fire crews confirmed that the plastic barrel had split and its contents had spilled onto the rocks. As a precaution, fire service personnel set up a cordon around the scene and …

OIDREACHT an Chláir presents a lecture, The War of Independence: events in Miltown Malbay and district, 1920-21 by Dr Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc this Saturday, October 16 at 8pm in the Community Centre, Miltown Malbay. The talk will examine some of the key events of the War of Independence in Milltown Malbay and the surrounding district, including “The Canada Cross Massacre” in April 1920, the Rineen Ambush, the murder of Charles Lynch, the assassination of Constable Stanley Moore and the IRA’s execution and “disappearance” of two British soldiers from the Royal Scots Regiment. Dr Ó Ruairc is a native of Meelick, Co. Clare.  He has a PhD in History and has published half a dozen books on the Irish Revolution of 1913-1923, including Blood on The Banner – The Republican Struggle in Clare. He is a regular contributor to RTÉ Radio & History Ireland Magazine. Admission is free. Fáilte roimh chách. Vaccination certificate required. As part of this commemorative project, which is …

THE doors of Larkin’s newsagents in Miltown Malbay closed its doors for the last time at the weekend, marking the end of an era. After 22 years serving the local community Michael Larkin describes the final days at the store as “very emotional” as customers dropped in to wish him well. The Kilkee native and his late wife Anne took over the shop from the Hurley family back in 1999, a few years after the couple had returned to Clare after living in New York. “We came back from the States in 1995 and we had a bar for four years, The Lark’s Nest. We decided we had enough, I was in the bar game in New York and if I was going to make money from it I would have there. We took over from the Hurleys in 1999, we bought the shop because it was a little goldmine. There were no supermarkets around at that time and Hurley’s …

A KILFARBOY couple have come together with eight other ‘dyed in the wool’ sheep farmers to champion a rare Irish breed and to campaign for a fairer price for their produce. Kieran and Bernie Shannon are among the founding members of The Galway Wool Co-op, who overcame the challenges of lockdown, to champion the merits of the Galway sheep. On Saturday last (June 26), members got to meet in person at Athenry Mart, when they took part in a ‘Wool Meitheal’ and sell their wool to a major processor in Donegal. “Wool prices are shockingly low,” Bernie explained. “An awful lot of wool is now coming in from China and our aim is to get a better price for Galway wool.” The award-winning farmers have 37 sheep currently and also farm suckler cows on their 100 acres. Kieran, a fourth generation farmer, said that while breeds like the Galway sheep produce high quality snow-white wool, many buyers are no longer …

THERE will be disruption to water supply in a Clare community this week as part of essential improvement work. Irish Water, working in partnership with Clare County Council, is carrying out water main improvement work between Mullagh and Milltown Malbay. In order to progress this essential work, there will be disruption to water supplies in the area on Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, May 25 from 10am to 4pm works will impact water supply primarily to Miltown Malbay village; but will also impact on Spanish Point and surrounding areas. These works will also impact on all group schemes fed from the supply including Rinnen and Glendine schemes. On Thursday, May 27, from 10am to 4pm works will impact water supply to the same areas and schemes. It may take 2-3 hours for normal water supply to return to all customers, but, Irish Water says, it is important to continue to follow the HSE guidance on hand-washing. The work involves the …