Tag Archives: west clare

VODAFONE has fixed a fault which had caused a long-running problem with phone coverage in Loop Head. The company was contacted last week after local dairy farmer John Keane told The Champion of his concerns over the coverage for phone and data. He outlined how his family had paid over €1,000 over a six-month time-frame when they had virtually no coverage on the network. In response, Vodafone apologised for the network issue. This week, the company said its engineers have replaced a part on the network and that services are now available once again to customers in the area. The Keane family have confirmed that, as of last Monday, their phone coverage, and that of their neighbours, has been restored.

IT is time to plan to head off the worst effects of the loss of a huge amount of tourism business from West Clare, according to Councillor Cillian Murphy. Ahead of a meeting of West Clare Municipal District councillors on Thursday, he compiled an analysis of the relative importance of tourism in the county’s various municipal districts, showing that the impact on West Clare could be particularly severe. “The most at-risk sectors are those that are dealing with the public, that have high levels of personal contact. If you look at where our rates base is in the county, you see what the potential impact is for the county,” he said. Councillor Murphy said that the consequences of losing a season are very severe, while he said many areas of tourism are concentrated in the west of the county. “There are no caravan parks in any other municipal district, apart from West Clare. If you look at pubs, hostels, guesthouses …

ON Saturday morning, Jimmy Guinnane will leave his home at Toonagh around 5.30am and travel to Annacotty to pick up hundreds of loaves of Brennan’s bread, before spending the next 13 hours or so distributing them around Ennis and West Clare. He has spent thousands of days doing the same routine but Saturday will be the last time, as he finishes a job he has really enjoyed since beginning it 32 years ago. “I was working for Michael O’Sullivan before that in Corofin. I used to do a run up in North Clare and I did a run in Galway for him for six months with Kiely’s Bread. Then I started in West Clare in 1987 with Brennan’s bread.” He says he is very grateful to all the customers and the friends he has made on the route over the years. “I love meeting the people, meeting so many people every day. You’d have the craic with everybody. When I …

CLARE’S Independent TD has called on Minister Richard Bruton to clarify what exactly is planned for Moneypoint, when it comes to the end of its operating life in 2025 as a coal burning power station. Dr Michael Harty has written to the Minister for Communication, Climate Action and Environment to express his concerns about the future of the power station. Dr Harty said there is a lack of any hard information in the Department’s 2018 Annual Transition Statement other than it is Government policy that coal-fired electricity generation should cease at Moneypoint by 2025 and that any final decision to replace coal-fired electricity generation must be consistent with stated Government energy and climate policy. “Although Moneypoint is owned by semi-state ESB Power Generation, Government must set the agenda on behalf of the citizens of the country. I ask the minister to clarify what exactly is planned for Moneypoint when it comes to the end of its operating life in 2025 …

OVER €6 million was spent on staff costs at Trump International last year, while it employed an average of 213 people. While President Trump is very unpopular in Ireland, the Doonbeg business is now perhaps the most significant employer in West Clare, a region which has suffered from major economic disadvantage for many years. Today, West Clare is almost totally devoid of large industry, with Government agencies having no track record of bringing foreign direct investment to the region. However the recently filed accounts show that Trump International was employing an average of 213 people during the 12 months of 2017. It is understood that this number rises to around 300 during the summer. The accounts show that wages and salaries for the year came to €5,435,373, up from €4,719,000 in 2016. Social welfare costs were €576,146 for the year, up from €542,238 in 2016, giving total staff cost of €6,011,519. Although it was loss making in 2017, the Directors …

  The Government has come under fire for “neglecting” two of the main West Clare towns – Kilkee and Kilrush. Michael Haugh from Doonbeg is keenly aware of impact of rural depopulation in West Clare, having seen the closure of Baltard National School in recent years. He believes that urgent action is needed to secure a major new industry for West Clare. “The Government has neglected towns like Kilkee and Kilrush. They are putting no new industry into these towns. “I have been to towns in Kerry where ministers like Dick Spring got in industries to places like Tralee and Killorglin. “What can be done to create jobs? A big factory should be brought into Kilrush. They have these factories in places like Killorglin, Kenmare and Cahersiveen but not in Clare. “Our problem is we don’t have a senior minister. Brendan Daly brought the Kilrush Creek Marina to Kilrush, nothing else has happened since then. “We need a big industry …

DISTURBING new figures have revealed that the projected number of enrolments in seven West Clare schools, in just three years’ time, will just be sufficient to fill a single classroom. Additional statistics also found that there is significant decline in full time residents living in Doonbeg village, with only 41% of houses occupied permanently. According to information obtained by the Clare Champion, the combined influx of Junior Infants in the three most westerly parishes on the Loop Head Peninsula, Kilkee, Carrigaholt and Cross, will be just above 30 pupils in 2021. Co-parish priest of Kilkee, Cross, Carrigaholt and Doonbeg, Fr Gerry Kenny warns that more national school amalgamations will have to be considered in the peninsula, unless there is a dramatic increase in population. Fr Kenny expressed grave concern about the generation gap, pointing to the lack of young people in their 20s and 30s, settling down to live in West Clare. “While urbanisation will always be a factor, current …

Gardaí have dented the operations of a major supplier of class A drugs in West Clare, after cocaine and heroin, with a combined value of €26,320, was seized during a day-long search operation in Kilrush this week. The drugs were seized from a premises in the Chapel Street area on Tuesday, as part of a joint operation between the county’s Divisional Drug Squad and Kilrush gardaí. Searches took place across the town of Kilrush and involved up to 12 gardaí. One man was arrested following the detection on Tuesday and was detained under drug trafficking legislation. He was released without charge that night and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. Gardaí also confirmed that they are looking for a second man in connection with this seizure. Chief Superintendent John Kerin said the drugs haul is among the highest in the county so far this year and warned that class A drugs have taken a foothold in …