Tag Archives: North Clare

Faults in the electricity network left almost 7,000 homes and businesses in North Clare and Ennis without power overnight. More than 5,600 premises and homes in Ennistymon, Lahinch, and Lisdoonvara were left without power, while 8740 customers in Doolin were  left in the dark. Almost 1,000 customers in the Ennis area also experienced a power outage. ESB crews are working both areas and it is expected power will be restored everywhere by mid-morning (Thursday). Austin Hobbs

John Galvin WHEN Peter O’Connell’s first action as the new editor of The Clare Champion was to send me to Ballyvaughan to cycle 60km early on a Saturday morning, I feared for our future professional relationship. I don’t do mornings, particularly on bank holiday weekends. There were extenuating circumstances, as this was no ordinary cycle. It was a cycle led off by none other than the legendary Seán Kelly. Suddenly, I was interested. My brothers and I grew up through the era of the twin cycling supernovas. Kelly and Stephen Roche divided the spoils between them seemingly at will through the ’80s. While Roche won the big one, the Tour de France and got to meet Charlie Haughey on the Champs Élysées, in our house, it was the quiet man from Carrick who was the big hero. Although he started with the reputation of just being a sprinter, he became a consummate all-rounder, able to lead a breakaway or power …

LISDOONVARNA and other areas of North Clare featured in an episode of a popular Australian TV show, The Living Room last week. The show aired on Network Ten and included an interview with matchmaker Willie Daly, and a visit to the Cliffs of Moher Filming took place last autumn and was supported by Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland. The Living Room is presented by Dr Chris Brown , an Australian veterinarian, TV personality and author, famously known as the ‘Bondi Vet’. Sofia Hansson, Tourism Ireland’s manager for Australia, said, “Tourism Ireland is delighted that Dr Chris and the team from The Living Room chose to film in County Clare. With an audience of about 700,000 viewers per episode, it’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase Lisdoonvarna and the county to a huge Australian audience. TV and film are recognised as strong influencers on prospective visitors and Tourism Ireland regularly works with TV and production companies around the world, to facilitate the making of travel …

A MAJOR international conference at the Falls Hotel & Spa in Ennistymon in November will be the forum for the launch of a world-wide sustainable tourism destination programme. The Burren & Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark, which is hosting the ‘GeoparkLIFE: Tourism for Conservation’ conference, has produced a code of practice tool-kit and a heritage sites and trails management model under its five-year GeoparkLIFE conservation programme, which concludes this December. The associated destination manager guides and supporting tool-kits include an online code of practice in sustainable tourism for tourism businesses, a monitoring app for trails and heritage site management and an online data management tool for planners, managers and communities. The project coordinators say the tools, developed in conjunction with local businesses, communities and conservation agencies, enable a balance between tourism development and the conservation needs of the North Clare region.

THE Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience is now Ireland’s second-best performing tourist attraction after Fáilte Ireland this week published the list of Ireland’s best performing tourism attractions in 2016. The North Clare tourist attraction experienced the most growth in the top five Irish attractions, having jumped by 14% to 1,427,166 visitors in 2016. The most popular fee-paying attraction remains the Guinness Storehouse, which experienced a 10% jump in visitors last year, welcoming 1.6m visitors through the gates. Fáilte Ireland’s annual list of Ireland’s top visitor attractions details the attractions registering strong growth, which is reflective of the strong tourism growth experienced during 2016. Among Ireland’s free-to-enter attractions, the National Gallery of Ireland continues to lead the way with numbers up 5% to more than 755,000. The top five fee-paying attractions during 2016 were Guinness Storehouse; Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience; Dublin Zoo, 1,143,908 (+3%); National Aquatic Centre, 1,037,992 (+4.5%) and the Book of Kells, 890,781 (+6%). Another Clare attraction features …

AN inquest has returned a verdict of manslaughter in accordance with the findings of the Central Criminal Court into the death of 43-year-old Ballyvaughan woman Deirdre McCarthy. Just days before the sixth anniversary of Ms McCarthy’s death, Colm Deely of School Road, Ballyvaughan was sentenced to eight years in prison for her manslaughter. He had denied murdering Ms McCarthy but in early March 2017 he pleaded guilty to her manslaughter at the Central Criminal Court. At a sitting of the County Coroner’s Court in Ennis on Thursday, an inquest found that Ms McCarthy’s death was due to asphyxia, with blunt force trauma as a contributory factor. County Coroner Isobel O’Dea said, in holding this inquest, she hoped it “helps to bring some closure to what was a tortured and arduous journey” for Ms Carthy’s family. Superintendent John Galvin, acting as coroner’s officer, offered his sympathies and those of An Garda Síochána, describing this case as something that has “been going …

A boil water notice affecting over 300 premises in Turlough, in North Clare has been lifted, making the local water safe to consume. The lifting of the notice, on the advice of the Health Service Executive, follows completion of work at the treatment plant and the subsequent recording of satisfactory monitoring results that indicated that the water is now safe to drink. This notice was put in place by Irish Water and Clare County Council in July 2016 due to the detection of low levels of Cryptosporidium in the Turlough water supply. The works carried out at the treatment plant involved the installation of an ultraviolet (UV) disinfection system on the supply. Customers can now resume normal use of the water supply for drinking, food preparation and brushing teeth. Katherine Walshe, regional manager with Irish Water, commented, “Irish Water and Clare County Council acknowledge the patience, co-operation and assistance of the general public during the period of the Boil Water …

Remains found in Galway Bay last week are those of a missing North Clare resident, Maria Hennigar, gardaí have confirmed. 35-year-old Ms Hennigar was reported missing on November 22 although she hadn’t been seen since early November. Family and friends of Ms Hennigar had been searching large areas of north Clare despite having no indication where Maria was or if she was actually missing.Hundreds of people joined the searches which also involved the Irish Coast Guard, Clare Civil Defence and gardaí. When part of a body was discovered in the sea near Kilcolgan on November 29, Ms Hennigan’s family was informed and DNA samples were taken so they be could compared to those taken from the body. Maria’s family have thanked the Gardaí and volunteers search teams for their efforts in the search. Today (Friday), her sister, Amanda Hennigar posted of Facebook, “Sadly, we confirm the passing of our sister Maria. We wish to express our sincerest gratitude and appreciation …