Home » Tag Archives: Tulla (page 11)

Tag Archives: Tulla

Songs of Sanctuary in Tulla

KEEPING spirits up in challenging times is the aim two special, socially-distanced concerts coming up in Tulla next week. One Tuesday and Thursday, September 15 and 17, during Culture Week, Songs of Sanctuary will take place at St Peter and Paul’s Church. “What we want to do is to give people an opportunity to dress up and come out for the evening,” said one of the organisers, Joan McNamara. “While many of us involved are members of the Tulla Parish Choir, this isn’t a night of religious music. We’re grateful for the use of the church, because we need the space for social distancing. We have five wonderful singers who have picked two songs each and we five musicians. Our singers have picked songs from the likes of Christy Moore, Ennio Morricone, Christy Hennessy, Kate Rusby and more.” The Songs of Sanctuary idea has its origins in the weeks of the lockdown when Joan and fellow singers wanted to show …

Read More »

Anger in Tulla over third incident of theft from graveyard

A SPATE of thefts from graves in Tulla has sparked outrage in the local community, and an appeal for vigilance from the authorities. Six incidents have been reported to Gardaí in recent months, with the latest taking place between 9pm last Thursday (September 3) and 1pm on Friday. A number of grave ornaments, including lanterns, were removed from graves, in a theft which has been condemned by Gardaí. “These items have relatively small monetary value, but have a huge sentimental value to the families involved,” said Inspector Adrian Queeney of Killaloe Station. “These thefts cause huge distress and I would appeal to anyone with information to come forward.” Inspector Queeney said that there is no suggestion, at this point, that any particular family or individual is being targetted. “The thefts seem to be random. We don’t suspect that there’s any issue of targetting, but these thefts are now something that seems to be ongoing and we would appeal for anyone …

Read More »

“They have no outlet at all”

TUESDAY evening’s decision to keep pubs which don’t serve food, was bad news for the vast majority of rural Clare’s publicans. Many such pubs closed for the last time during the recession and among those still standing, there are fears that Covid-19 could be the coup de grace. “You’d be afraid customers would stop coming to pubs, the whole thing could change.” warned John Quinlivan of the Honk in Newmarket on Fergus on Wednesday. Allowing only a select few pubs to open their doors may actually be counterproductive, giving too great a concentration of people, he believes. “I think it’s actually more dangerous. We were away for a weekend and there were only two pubs that did food in this area, and everyone was gravitating to these two places and funnelling into them. Between people inside trying to come out, people trying to get in and people trying to book, there was a whole heap of people at the one …

Read More »

Funds boost for five Clare areas under Town and Village scheme

FIVE Clare towns and villages have received just under €115,000 as part of a new Government scheme to help them adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic. They are among 106 towns and villages across the country that will benefit immediately from €2.8 million in funding under the enhanced Town and Village Renewal Scheme. The local areas that will benefit from the initial tranche of €114,274 in funding are: Tulla: Social distancing community meeting space (€13.050) Tuamgraney: Improvements to East Clare Memorial Park, including footpaths, seating and boundary wall (€25,000) Kilkee: Reconfiguration of playground layout to allow for social distancing (€22,295) Carrigaholt: Provision of outdoor tables and seating with temporary awnings (€24,229) Killaloe: Provision of measures to promote social distancing in main pedestrian areas (€29,700) Welcoming the funding, Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Carey said the money will help communities to shop, socialise and work safely as they adapt to the post-Covid reality. “It is vitally important that we see an increase in …

Read More »

“It was a lot easier close than it will be to reopen”

JUST 24 years of age, Diarmaid Murphy must be one of the county’s youngest publicans. He runs a venerable establishment, Flan McArthur’s, near to the top of the windswept hill of Tulla. It was just last October that he took over the pub, and it will be at least a few more weeks before he pulls another pint, with the move to stage 4 now put back until August 10, at least. “I thought we would be back some bit anyway, I was kinda gearing up for it, but I suppose it was never going to happen,” says Diarmaid. He feels that the August Bank Holiday was a stumbling block, with the numbers that would have been moving around had the restrictions been eased in advance. Now he wonders if he will even get to open his doors on the new target date. “It’s hard to know. They’re putting such an emphasis on opening schools, if they open the pubs …

Read More »

Council urged to ‘give confidence back’ to East Clare businesses

AN appeal has been made for support for the East Clare business community, as Ireland moves into the second phase of the re-opening of the economy. Addressing the May meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District, Councillor Pat Hayes asked that the local authority might look to the example set in County Cork where a plan had been devised to support 28 towns in re-opening for business. “We depend on rate payers,” the Fianna Fáil member pointed out, “and they depend on public services. Almost every business has had to close and they’re now slowly re-opening. I would ask that the council officials speak to the business community in East Clare to see what they need to get them back on track, with so many restrictions continuing around public health.” The Caher-based councillor noted that Cork County Council had been making strong efforts in supporting its urban centres to resume economic activity after the lockdown. “When you look around the country, …

Read More »

Bank of Ireland to re-open three Clare branches

BANK of Ireland has confirmed that three Clare branches closed due to Covid-19 restrictions will re-open later this month, but with reduced opening hours. Concern had been growing when outlets in Tulla, Kilkee and Miltown Malbay remained closed since mid-March. There has been a widespread welcome for news that the branches will open from Monday, June 29. Bank of Ireland said that where ATMs are available, these will also have facilities for the lodgements restored. The three Clare branches will have advice and self-service banking available from 10am to 1pm. Announcing the date for the re-opening, the bank said it would have dedicated supports for healthcare workers, carers, self-isolating customers, mortgage holders and businesses. Gavin Kelly, CEO of Retail Ireland at Bank of Ireland, commented: “We have been monitoring and adapting our operations throughout Covid-19 to reflect customer demand and public health advice. As the economy starts to reopen, which is critically important for families and businesses across Ireland, we …

Read More »

Campaign continues to re-open Tulla Bank of Ireland branch

A CAMPAIGN to have the Bank of Ireland in Tulla re-opened is gaining momentum. The branch was one of 101 nationwide which were closed temporarily in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Branches in Kilkee and Miltown were also shut down, as Bank of Ireland said it needed to switch focus to priority services. Members of the Killaloe Municipal District are to send a letter to the regional manager seeking the restoration of services, while a petition is circulating in the town and a Facebook campaign ‘Open Our Bank’ has been set up. Sheila Vaughan of Vaughan Supply said the concern locally is that the bank has used Covid-19 as an opportunity to close the Tulla branch permanently. “Bank of Ireland saw its chance and moved very quickly to close the doors,” she said. “The move is anti-rural, especially when so many small businesses are finding things tough.” Ms Vaughan said that while many services can be conducted on-line, the lack …

Read More »