Tag Archives: Mullagh

MILTOWN Malbay and the wider West Clare community continue to count the cost of the cancellation of an event whose economic value has been set at between €5 and €10 million annually. The Willie Clancy Summer School, whose cultural value is probably impossible to estimate, is among the casualties of the coronavirus restrictions. Its absence, on what would have been its 48th birthday, will be felt well beyond the Banner county. This year’s event had been expected to attract 1500 students  between July 4 and 12, with many thousands more attending for sessions, talks, seminars, dancing, concerts and the general festival atmosphere. Administrative Director Harry Hughes described the cancellation of this year’s Scoil Samhradh as “disappointing but inevitable” in the context of Covid-19. “We had been hoping things might improve in terms of the virus, but that wasn’t to be,” he remarked. “We are very disappointed for all of our students and tutors who attend year after year and the cancellation …

CONCERN at ongoing delays in upgrading the water service in the Miltown Malbay area has prompted one local woman to go public on the matter, saying that a fourth outage in as many weeks, has put her family and her livestock at risk. In a letter to The Clare Champion, Dolores Murphy of Rineen described a litany of issues that she and her neighbours have endured in recent years. While Irish Water has apologised for the situation, the utility has confirmed that it will be 2021 before all works to secure the supply are completed. Last week, a burst water main led to an outage affecting Miltown Malbay, Mullagh, Spanish Point, Cree, Cooraclare and those on surrounding Group Water Schemes. Commenting on the situation, Mrs Murphy, wrote: “It has come to the point where I can no longer sit in silence. In the past month (four calendar weeks) we have been without water four times. The latest interruption to service …

BETTER known nationally for his skill behind the microphone, Marty Morrissey will show the nation his best moves from Sunday evening, when Dancing with the Stars returns to RTÉ One at 6.30pm. Locally, Marty has been spotted jovially jiving in celebration of a Kilmurry-Ibrickane championship win but, this time, the entire country will be keeping an eye on the Mullagh man. “My first dance on Sunday is the quick step. It’s very much about the frame. There are brain cells being used for the first time in 20 years, trying to remember ‘what the hell happens here’,” he laughed, when speaking to The Clare Champion this week. As show time approaches, Marty has started to dwell on what he has got himself into. “At this stage, nerves are jangling a bit. I remember when I eventually said to RTÉ that I would do it, I was heading to Australia so it seemed like an eternity away. But now it’s on …

Minister for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market & Data Protection Pat Breen has announced that €63,000 has been granted to Clare for agricultural shows next year. “This €63,000 will be a huge benefit to the nine shows in County Clare who will each receive a grant of €7,000 each. The Clare shows include Kildysart, Kilrush, Clarecastle, Corofin, Ennistymon, Mullagh, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Bridgetown and Scarriff. “This funding is particularly useful to the smaller shows that are susceptible to weather and other unexpected costs that can occur,” said Minister Breen. “Agricultural shows are hugely important to the rural economy, with surrounding towns and villages benefitting hugely from each show. “The Government considers this funding an important investment in rural communities and I am delighted that my colleague Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring has granted this funding for Clare,” he said

THE wife of West Clare undertaker George Morrissey led the frantic effort to revive the 73-year-old, after he was penned by a mini-digger. The popular businessman and father-of-four died in a workplace accident at his home on February 27 last. Mr Morrissey sustained crush injuries after being penned down by his Bobcat mini-digger at his workshop at Clonadrum, Mullagh. Mary Morrissey was married to George for 47 years and, in her deposition at a coroner’s inquest in Ennis this week, she said she used to work as a nurse and described how she gave her husband cardiac massage and mouth to mouth resuscitation until the emergency services arrived. Minutes earlier, Paul Coughlan – who worked for the Morrissey family – raised the alarm after hearing a noise in an adjoining shed. Mr Coughlan said he saw that the frame of the mini-digger was on Mr Morrissey and that he tried in vain to lift the forks up, pointing out that the gear stick was in the way of freeing Mr Morrissey. Mr …

KILRUSH Gardai and the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) have launched separate investigations into the tragic death of Mullagh man, George Morrissey, on Monday. It is understood that the deceased man, who was in his 70s, was working in a building, next to his house, when part of a mini digger fell on him. Three units of Kilrush fire service, along with Gardai and an ambulance, attended the scene. Mr Morrissey was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. A postmortem examination is to take place at University Hosptial Limerick.

A WEST Clare woman has won a High Court order overturning a grant of permission for a development of four wind turbines near her home at Coore, near Mullagh. In a judgment strongly critical of absence of clarity and specificity in An Bord Pleanála’s grant of permission, Mr Justice Max Barrett said decisions of public bodies must be clear enough for people to decide if there is a legal basis to challenge them. “Proper planning was never intended to be, nor can it be allowed to become, a perk reserved for the few who can afford expert lawyers, with something less than best being the lot of the many who cannot,” he said  on Tuesday. Kathleen Connolly was “rightly insistent” there be full compliance with the law before a windfarm is planted by her homestead, he said. While the board had criticised her case as “opportunistic”, arguing it had “little or nothing to do with a bona fide concern for …

TWO days in Mullagh is George Casey’s ideal method of relaxing and staying in touch with his roots. Having emigrated to the US in 1970, the West Clare man has made a living on the folk singing circuit and, since 1985, as a full-time comedian. When he spoke to The Clare Champion last week, he was preparing to leave for Copenhagen the following day, where he linked up with the cruise ship company who employ him as their on-board comedian. Now aged 64, Casey went to primary school in Mullagh and secondary school at St Flannan’s College. He has fond memories of his native village. “We were right in the square. The church was next door and we had the shop with the petrol pumps and a furniture store,” he explained, adding that his parents were Sonny and Tessie Casey, while George was one of six children. His brother, Michael, still lives in Mullagh. “In my comedy act in the …