Month: March 2014

CLARE County Council has been granted € 16.8 million to repair the damage wrought by this January’s devastating storms – more than € 7 million less than than the € 23.7 million in damage estimated to have taken place in the county.

This tranche of funding represents an allocation for the January storms alone, with the possibility of additional funding being made available to cover the € 13 million worth of damage, which was suffered by the county during the St Brigid’s Day storm in February.

The € 16.8 million is made up of an € 16,205,637 allocation from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government alongside a once-off refund of € 608,878 to cover money already spent by Clare County Council.

The funding has been already earmarked for a programme of repair works to roads, piers and harbours, coastal protection repairs and tourism infrastructure but no decision on how much funding will be allocated to each local area has yet been made.

“Clare County Council is cogently aware of the importance of undertaking repair works to damaged infrastructure and has already invested a considerable amount of its own resources in undertaking interim remedial works to ensure that the impact of the storm damage on local communities has been minimised,” said County Manager Tom Coughlan.

“In light of this extremely positive announcement, the council will now begin a process of engagement with the relevant funding departments and agencies with a view to proceeding with vitally important infrastructure repair works along Clare coastline.

“We would hope that further funding allocations will be made but the level of this allocation enables very significant works to be progressed. Due to the extensive disruption to community life along the Clare coastline and in light of the upcoming summer tourist season, the local authority is committed to progressing the planning and delivery of repair works as quickly as possible.”

The combined funding of € 16.8 million is in addition to the € 6 million already allocated by Government for the construction of a new pier at Doolin. This work includes the development of a pier as well as some flood defense works for Doolin.

It is unclear if the original Clare County Council estimated presented for damage at Doolin included a request for flood defenses which were already accounted for in the other € 6 million development.

THE promise of a belated Lisdoonvarna pub crawl is bringing Oscar winning director Cynthia Wade, to North Clare this St Patrick’s Day where she will film one of the most original musical groups ever to form.

Wade, who won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2008 and was nominated for a second Oscar in 2012, is currently producing a documentary on groundbreaking American group, the Hutchins Consort.

The Hutchins Consort is the only group in the world who play violin octets – a collection of eight violintype instruments, which are each of a different size and produce a different sound.

Wade is currently working on a new documentary on the group and its founder, the late Carleen Hutchins who invented the instruments. The family of the band’s leader Joe McNally visited the Roadside Tavern in Lisdoonvarna two years ago and that prompted him to bring filming all the way to Ireland.

“When I heard of the group I sent an email to them them over in San Diego, saying that they had got me interested. The man I spoke to was Joe McNally and as luck would have it his whole family had been in the Roadhouse in Lisdoonvarna two years ago and Joe had missed the night,” said Peter Curtin of the Roadside Tavern,

“So when he decided to come over, he said it was make up for the pub crawl that he missed two years before. It’s a very exciting event. Where else in the west of Ireland would you get an Oscar winning director coming to film this incredible group on St Patrick’s Day.”

Footage from the Roadside Tavern will be used as part of Wade’s latest film, ‘Second Fiddle’, which tells the story of Carleen Hutchins. Wade has won festival accolades all over the world including at the Academy Awards, Primetime Emmys, Sundance Film Festival, Palm Springs, Aspen and the Hamptons, as well as film festival awards in Spain, Italy, Argentina and Belgium.

The Hutchins Consort will perform at the Roadside Tavern St Patrick’s Day, Monday March 17, from 2pm.

DONALD Trump could become the unlikely bed-fellow of Fracking Free Clare following the purchase of Doonbeg Gold Course and the Lodge at Doonbeg by the American billionaire last month.

UK-based company Enegi Oil are currently exploring the prospect of hydraulic fracturing or fracking in the Clare basin and an abandoned mine just south of Doonbeg is the centre for its exploration.

With the Doonbeg site less than ten kilometres from Doonbeg Gold Club, it is likely that some evidence of fracking will be visible from Trump’s new purchase, should Enegi Oil be granted a license to proceed to a commercial operation.

Trump has, in the past, been a vocal supporter of fracking in America. In a tweet from 2012 he said that fracking would lead to American “energy independence” and described it as a “tremendous advantage” for the country. In more recent times however, he has opposed a number of energy producing developments which interfered with his own property, most notable an off shore wind energy factory in Scotland.

Fracking Free Clare said yesterday that it would welcome Mr Trump to join the anti-fracking campaign in the Clare basin and said that if he is serious about tourism, he will oppose fracking.

“Time will tell if he will become an ally. If he is interested in devel- oping tourism in West Clare, and in particular in the Doonebg area, then he could be a great help to our cause, because you cannot have tourism and fracking in the same place,” said Lorraine Hughes of fracking Free Clare.

“If he is really interested in tourism and developing what we have in West Clare, then he could be a brilliant ally. People are not going to want to go on holidays or play golf beside a big fracking platform.

“If this goes ahead there would definitely be a drilling platform next door to the golf club in Doonbeg. If he [Donald Trump] is up for developing tourism and stopping fracking in West Clare then we would absolutely welcome him into out group.”

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are currently completing a major investigation into the possible effects of hydraulic fracturing on the Clare basin. The Minister for Energy, Pat Rabbitte (Lab), says no decision on fracking will be made until after the EPA report is made available.

ST JOSEPH’S Secondary School Spanish Point is continuing the fight to raise funds for the county’s first second level education unit for students with Autism.

In its second year, the ‘Fight for Autism’ white-collar boxing competition has been organised again to raise funding to equip the specialised unit.

Last year € 20,000 was raised for the cause, with the organising committee hoping to reach the same fundraising milestone this year.

As many as 12 women and 20 men from all over west and north Clare have been training to get into the ring for this cause since January 1.

So popular is the event that the 700 tickets have already almost completely sold out, even though they only went on sale on Saturday morning.

The Fight for Autism will take place in the Armada Hotel, Spanish Point, on Sunday evening next.

The boxers parade will begin at 6.30pm, with six women’s fights and 10 men’s fights then scheduled to take place.

Deputy principal at St Joseph’s Secondary School, Spanish Point, Paul Reidy paid particular tribute to Ennis Boxing Club.

“We have to say a huge thanks to the club, without them this would not be possible,” he said of the boxing club that provided training and facilities to train to the 32 participants.

THOSE dying for a bargain have the opportunity to avail of a once in as lifetime sale this month, as plots in a West Clare graveyard are part of a once-off sale.

The new extension to Burrane Cemetery can accommodate more than 50 double graves and from now until the end of the month they are available at a knock down price.

A single grave at the cemetery overlooking the Shannon Estuary will set the buyer back € 350 but this will drop to € 300 if bought in the next four weeks.

HAIL stones, which struck cars like “little ball bearings”, caused a spate of car accidents on the M18 near Newmarket-on-Fergus, as people made their way to work on Thursday morning last.

The freak hail storm caused three separate accidents involving five cars in just half an hour – with both lanes of Clare’s busiest motorway being closed for extended periods during rush hour.

The first accident was reported on the north bound carriageway just after 8.30am – with the motorway being closed for 90 minutes and one person being hospitalised with minor injuries.

Two separate accidents were then reported at the same location on the south bound carriageway, just ten minutes after the first accident. No one was hurt in either of the south bound accidents but the south bound carriageway was closed for more than a hour.

The National Roads Association (NRA) yesterday blamed the freak hail storm for the spate of accidents.

“Weather totally changes the conditions on how the driver and the road interact. Depending on the severity of the hail, it can act like little ball bearings and therefore the best course of action is to reducing your speed,” said NRA spokesperson Sean O’Neill.

The NRA also confirmed yesterday that it will now conduct an “engineering assessment” of the the M18 north of Crusheen, where six separate accidents took place during stormy conditions on the morning of December 19 last.

Despite requests from Clare County Council, the NRA will not conduct a full safety audit, but have instead committed to completing a engineering assessment within the next next few months.

Mr O’Neill also said that the NRA “cannot fully eliminate” the possibility of water pooling on this section of the road during heavy weather and suggested that permanent signs asking motorists to reduce speed in bad weather could be erected.