Tag Archives: shannon

WELL over a year after Clare County Council rejected Aldi’s plans for a Shannon store, An Bord Pleanála has yet to make a decision on an appeal. A spokesperson for An Bord Pleanála this week said that its inspector has already completed work on the case, but it still has to go before the board of An Bord Pleanála. She was unable to say when this would happen, but that the agency is dealing with a significant backlog. While the board usually goes along with the inspector’s recommendations, that is not always the case. Indeed, on a previous occasion an inspector had recommended allowing an Aldi store to go ahead in the town, only for the board to overrule them. There has been much anger in recent years over how Shannon has developed, and the Council’s decision to block Aldi’s proposals led to more disquiet in the town. When the most recent Aldi application came before the Council, it was …

SAINT Aidan’s National School has received the green light for a single-storey extension, that will consist of two special educational needs classrooms and one mainstream classroom. The planners’ report said that the “extension measures (to maximum dimensions) 33.7m in width, 22.3m in depth and 5.4m in height. “The design of the proposed building will be similar in design and scale to the existing building and will contain a series of pitched roofs, albeit with more contemporary finish.” It also says the application included “the extension of an existing covered bike shelter located to the rear of the existing school building in the playground”. “The proposed bike shelter will be extended by an additional 2.7m which will allow for an additional four Sheffield stands to accommodate eight bicycles.” The application also included the extension of the existing car parking area to accommodate six cars. Regarding zoning, the planners’ report stated, “The proposed development site is located on land zoned within the …

JUST under €10 million was spent on residential property in Shannon town in the first six months of the year. According to figures from the Residential Property Price Register, there were 46 transactions during the first half of 2022, with a total spend of €9,978,750. That gives a mean price of €216,929. April was the quietest month of the year, with a mere four transactions, while there were nine in January and May and eight in each of the other three months. The largest sum paid was €560,000 for a house at Tullyglass Hill. The least costly transaction, for which full market price was still paid, was the sale of a property at Brú na Sionna for €90,000. The level of activity seems to be slightly higher than pre-pandemic, with the 46 transactions in the first half of 2022 slightly more than the 38 in the first half of 2019. Councillor Gerry Flynn said that there are finally some private …

AFTER spending the last five years in Shannon, Father Francis Xavier Kochuveettil is moving to Toomevara, where he has been appointed as co-parish priest, beginning there on August 26. An Indian native, coming to Shannon was obviously a huge change, but he says he adapted quite quickly. “The people are very friendly, very, very friendly. When I came here I had no idea about Ireland at all, I learned everything from Shannon. “People supported me and encouraged me with everything. When I came here Tom Ryan was the parish priest, there was Canon Brendan and Father Arnold was the curate at that time, and we’ve had a good team here. “People are lovely here and I always thank God for bringing me here. It’s such a nice place here.” To the uninitiated, the accents in Clare are not the easiest to comprehend, and that was something he had to get used to. “I can follow English, but the Irish-English is …

RESIDENTS of a Shannon neighbourhood are crying ‘foul’ at being kept awake at night by ‘talking’ signs urging dog owners to clean up after their pets. A meeting of the Shannon Municipal District heard that there are “sleepless nights in Drumgeely” with residents disturbed by the signs which were installed to help prevent dog litter on the streets. The signs play pre-recorded messages reminding dog walkers to obey the law when it comes to dog litter, however according to Councillor Gerry Flynn the message is being heard late into the night in the homes of residents. He told the meeting that he has been contacted by people living in the area about the issue saying, “This is a very settled community with older people living there, people can’t sleep at night.” He continued, “It’s a disgrace these signs have been put in an inappropriate place next to the pioneers that made Shannon.” Tom Mellett, senior executive engineer stated that the …

TEN years after the vision of a multifunctional arts venue for Shannon was floated, the directors of the Shannon Venue Limited have facilitated the transfer of their site at the Town Centre to Clare County Council. In a statement the directors said the sale of the site “has been completed to enable the Council to develop the One Shannon Hub, an iconic, multi-functional civic and community facility in the heart of Shannon Town Centre.” Recent years have seen much disillusionment regarding the lack of recreational facilities and amenities in the town, and the fact that the Venue never got the support required to see it come to pass was a very sore point for many local people. However, the directors of the Shannon Venue Ltd (which was designed as a not for profit company formed to deliver the project) say that the One Shannon Hub will finally deliver what they had hoped to provide. “In essence, this facility is exactly …

WOODHAVEN Developments Limited has received planning permission for the construction of 55 houses and a childcare facility at Smithstown, Shannon. The County Council granted planning permission subject to 28 conditions, three of which require the developer to make separate payments, which, added together, come to over €600,000. One of the conditions requires “a contribution of €311,801 to Clare County Council in respect of public infrastructure and facilities benefiting development in the area of the Planning Authority that is provided for, or intended to be provided by or on behalf of the authority in accordance with the terms of the development contribution scheme under Section 38 of the Planning & Development Act 2000”. A separate requirement is for a cash security of €275,000 until the development is taken in charge by the Council or until there has “satisfactory completion of the development”. Separately before work starts a Special Development Contribution must be paid to Clare County Council, towards the upgrading of …

A BIKE sharing scheme introduced to Shannon in July is having to be scaled back already due to anti-social behaviour. While it is not being scrapped, it has been suspended while improvements are being made.  “We have had some instances of anti social behaviour so we have temporarily paused the scheme, we’re introducing some new security measures within the app. We’re having younger teenagers accessing the scheme, and we just need to put in some extra security measures so we can verify their age before they sign up. We’re developing that and we hope to reactivate it in the next week to ten days, back to full capacity,” said Jarlath Gantly, CEO of CoMotion, the company that provides the bikes. Shannon has experienced extensive problems with anti-social behaviour in recent years, with numerous complaints made to authorities about vandalism and intimidatory behaviour.  Councillor Donna McGettigan said that many people have been using the bikes, but that the actions of a …