Category: News

BOTH the Department of the Arts and the Office of Public Works are passing the buck when it comes to claiming responsibility and authority over any potential purchase of the childhood home of Edna O’Brien for the State.

The plan for State to purchase Drewsboro House in Tuamgraney was launched last month by Labour TD, Michael McNamara, after the property together with nine acres was withdrawn from auction when failing to realise a bid in excess of € 200,000.

The Department of Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht has said that Minister Heather Humphries or her department has the remit to purchase the property and has deferred the matter to the Office of Public Works.

However, OPW says its a matter for the Department of the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, as it hold the purse strings for any potential purchase.

“Since 2011 I have been trying to find ways in which Drewsboro House might be purchased and conserved,” revealed Deputy Michael McNamara when calling on Minister Heather Humphries’ department to buy the property.

“There is now an opportunity for the State to acquire the house for a sum that represents good value for the State and turned into a writers’ retreat and museum, with the Kate O’Brien House in Limerick and the Heinrick Boll Cottage on Achill Island serving as examples of what might be achieved.

“Any community proposal for the future of Drewsboro House could only succeed with the support and blessing of Edna O’Brien.

“I have spoken to her on the future of the house some time ago and I believe that it is her dearest wish to have the house acquired and restored for a suitable purpose,” he added.

In 2007, a plaque extolling Edna O’Brien was unveiled near the entrance to Drewsboro, forty five years after copies of her second novel The Lonely Girl were ceremonially burnt in the church grounds of O’Brien’s home village of Tuamgraney.

The Clare author, famous for her Country Girls trilogy has sold millions of books throughout the world, a number of which have been made into movies.

Edna O’Brien was born in Tuamgraney on December 15th, 1930.

A DOG was reunited safe and well with his owners after surviving a 300 metre fall from cliffs in Kilkee on Sunday.

The family pet whose name is Vimes fell after losing it’s footing at Lookout Point near Dunlicky, Kilkee. The alarm was raised at around 3.30pm when a member of the public rang the emergency services to report that a dog over the edge at Look Out Point.

It is thought the small terrier slipped of the cliff edge after getting away from his owners.

The dog fell 90 metres and collided with part of the cliff face on the way down. He was spotted in the water below by a member of the public.

The Irish Coast Guard marine rescue sub centre at Valentia Island in Co Kerry was alerted an in turn requested the Kilkee unit of the service to mobilise. Rescuers quickly arrived at the scene and devised a plan for bringing Vimes safely back to dry land. But when the rescue boat went back out to the water, they found that the dog had already made his way to shore.

Vimes was then reunited with his grateful owners, who are believed to be from Limerick. A Coast Guard spokesman said that Vimes miraculously avoided injury despite enduring such a dangerous fall. “He was fine. He’s a tough dog,” explained the spokesman. Vimes himself later tweeted his thanks to the rescue services.

IN a week that saw the Kilkee unit of the Irish Coast Guard called out an unprecedented 11 times, water safety officials in Clare are urging swimmers to think safe when they visit the water.

With temperatures set to soar over the next seven days and beyond, large crowds are expected to descend on the Clare coastline.

Meterological sources are predicting temperatures as high as 24c by early next week.

Last summer saw four fatalities from drowning in Clare waters, three of which occurred within a month of each other and coincided with a steep rise in temperatures.

This summer lifeguards are continuing to deal with incidents on a daily basis.

Water safety officials are urging visitors to the county’s 12 lifeguarded beaches and lakes to only swim in designated areas.

“I keep saying it all the time, swim within the lifeguarded areas.

“Swim within the zones that the lifeguards set out and obey their directions,” urged head of Clare Water Safety, Clare McGrath.

“Don’t swim in unknown spaces. We don’t want people going to water holes and quarries. I would say swim in the lifeguarded areas.”

Ms McGrath believes however that swimmers are now beginning to heed warnings on water safety.

“I think they are, I think people are beginning to notice.

“But all the time, they need to watch the flags and watch the notices that the lifeguards put out.”

Ms McGrath’s warning came just hours after the Irish Coast Guard, Kilkee unit responded to its 11th callout in eight days on Sunday night.

The Kilkee unit was among the busiest in Ireland last week, responding to three calls before 12 noon on Tuesday alone.

CALLS for the people of Clare to boycott Israeli products were made at a protest rally, which took place in Ennis on Saturday afternoon last.

Those attending the Ennis Vigil for Gaza in O’Connell Square, which was organized by the Clare branch of the http://www.ipsc.ie/ Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign heard calls the boycott of Israeli goods that was kickstarted in Kinvara to be rolled out around County Clare.

Last week retailers, cafés, restaurants and a pharmacy in Kinvara agreed to operate a boycott of Israeli goods in protest against the “ongoing bombardment” of Gaza.

According to the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), Kinvara is the first and only town in Ireland, to take this collective action in protest at Israeli action in Gaza.

Saturday’s Ennis rally was attended by about 50 people, with the lead address given by the chairman of the Clare branch of the http://www.ipsc. ie/ Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Tomás Mac Conamara,

“The numbers that are here today are testimony to the people of county Clare against injustice,” he said. “It is very important for us to remind ourselves that as we gather here today in Ennis, as people gather in Limerick and gather in Dublin and around the world in solidarity with Palestine, that the people in Gaza are being bombed as we speak.

“Children are being murdered as we speak. This did not start three weeks ago. This started with the occupation of Palestine and it will only end when the occupation of Palestine is lifted. It will end when the siege of Gaza is ended. If Israel wants safety for its citizens and if Benjamin Netanyahu wants safety for his citizens, get out of Palestine. It is not your country,” he added.

According to Kevin Squires, co-ordinator of the IPSC, the boycotting Israeli products is “an effective and peaceful way to bring pressure to bear on the Israeli state to end its occupation of Palestine, and persistent violations of International law”.

A LOCAL entrepreneur is attempting to capitalise on the popularity of craft beer after plans were lodged for Kilmaley’s first microbrewery.

Planning permission is being sought to change the use of existing sheds from agricultural to microbrewery at Kilclogher, Kilmaley.

Michael Eustace from the Lahinch Road in Ennis is the man behind the mico-brewery proposal.

In his application to the council, Mr Eustace states that the proposed brewery would be a “quite small” operation initially.

However, he states that if the business were to become a success, he would hope to expand the brewery’s product range.

“It is our intention to operate the micro-brewery in a manner which would have as little negative effect on our local environment as possible,” Mr Eustace states.

“All of our spent grains will be used to feed cattle which are farmed on the family farm.

“All water used for cleaning will be collected in our proposed holding tank and transferred to the slatted house where it will be mixed with animal waste to be used as fertiliser for the farm land.”

Mr Eustace states that the use of an “independent locally sourced supply of water for the microbrewery” would be a “unique aspect of this proposed brewery”.

He continues, “The increase in traffic to and from the area as a result of the micro brewery will also be negligible as outlined in the planning application. By their very nature, microbreweries are not designed or capable of producing beer on a large enough scale to cause severe disruption or congestion within the local area. There is already a large concrete paved yard in front of the existing shed, which will be more than sufficient to cater for all traffic coming to the microbrewery.

Mr Eustace states that the number of people working in the proposed microbrewery will be quite small, “1-2 for the foreseeable future”.

He adds, “If the brewery were to be quite successful we would hope to renovate the old dwelling house to enable us to expand our product range.

“We are aware that this would be subject to a new planning application”.

Ireland has experienced a craft beer boom in recent years with dozens of micro-breweries currently in operation throughout the country.

THE company behind some of the Mid West’s biggest tourism attractions is to undergo a “strategic review”, it has been announced.

Consultants are being sought to carry out a review of Shannon Heritage, the company that operates attractions such as the Bunratty Castle Folk Park and King John’s Castle in Limerick.

According to a tender notice posted by Shannon Development, “This review will analyse all aspects of the current portfolio and inform the future strategic direction of the business”.

Shannon Heritage employs close to 300 people during the height of the tourist season.

Shannon Development is currently in transition to become part of Shannon Group plc – an umbrella group comprising Shannon Airport, Shannon Development, Shannon Heritage and the International Aviation Services Centre (IASC).

“To emphasise a more commercially focused property remit, Shannon Development will soon be renamed Shannon Commercial Enterprises Ltd, trading as Shannon Enterprises.

“Shannon Development is focused on delivering competitive property solutions to our customers”, states the company profile.

The company operates from Shannon Airport.

Shannon Heritage is one of the largest operators of heritage products in Europe. It manages a portfolio of seven day visitor experiences and four evening entertainments in Clare, Limerick, Galway and Dublin.

Figures released last year to mark the 50th anniversary of the medieval banquet at Bunratty Castle, stated that Shannon Heritage’s mediaeval banqueting operation contributes to an estimated € 20 million in spin-off revenue annually to the local economy.

It was estimated that over the past 50 years, Shannon Heritage day visitor attractions and evening entertainments have attracted almost 20 million visitors from all over the world.

Shannon Heritage is one of the largest and longest operating tourism companies of its type in Ireland employing almost 300 people at the height of the season.

The company also oversaw the € 4.7 million revamp of tourism facilities at King John’s Castle in Limerick city.

According to figures released last year by Shannon Heritage, over 40,000 people visited the re-vamped King John’s Castle during the first four months of opening in 2013.

THEY’VE a pretty special and select club out in Ballyea now.

In the long history of Clare hurling and most times unrequited love for the game where the winning Munster championships are concerned, the bounty that has been enjoyed by Ballyea these past few years is nearly unbelievable.

Apart from the Munster titles that Tony Kelly has won – it now stands at five – not to mention the three AllIrelands between senior and under 21 there are the personal honours.

The hurler of the year x 2 last year, the All Star and last but not least the honour of captaining his county.

He has done it at minor, under and senior – remember he doesn’t turn 21 until early December.

And, thanks to Wednesday’s win he’s made that select club out Ballyea way.

It’s like this – up until last year there were only three men who’d captained their county to Munster minor and under 21 success. They were Anthony O’Riordan (Limerick), Diarmaid Fitzgerald (Tipperary) and Shane O’Neill (Cork).

O’Riordan’s time was 1984 and ’86; Fitzgerald had his turn in 2001 and ’04, while the final link in this holy trinity was provided by O’Neill in 2004 and ’07.

Ballyea, a club for so long in the shadow of fellow parishioners Clarecastle and others in the hurling environs of Ennis, have well and truly gate-crashed that club now. They’ve made it their own.

Paul Flanagan was Munster final captain at Munster minor and Under 21 in 2010 and ’13 respectively; now Tony Kelly joins him on that pantheon thanks to his captaincy winning years in 2011 and ’14.

All under the guidance of Donal Moloney, Gerry O’Connor et al. Before the final Kelly spoke of giving something back to this management team when he said: “Donal and Gerry gave us a chance at such a young level. We’re just trying to pay them back at the highest level we can and by winning trophies,” he added.

How they’ve done that and more over the past five years at underage level, but Kelly wouldn’t let the occasion of his victory speech pass without thanking them once more.

“To captain a Clare side is a fantastic honour, but to captain a threein-a-row-winning one is something special,” he said. “I would like to pay tribute particularly to the management of Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor that put us on the road back in 2010,” he added.

OVER four months after Clare County Council applied to the Office of Public Works for funding for remedial works in respect of the extensive storm damage suffered in the county at the turn of the year, the Clare authority are still awaiting a definite answer from the OPW.

Included in the submission was a request for funding of € 12.1m in respect of strengthening coastal protection works, including at Cloughaninchy where property and land were damaged by unprecedented storm surges.

Over the past days residents of Cloughaninchy in West Clare, an area the Council listed as a priority in their submission to the OPW, have made their feelings known to local TDs and councillors about the delay and uncertainty.

However it is still not clear as to when the OPW will issue a response.

According to Fianna Fail TD Timmy Dooley, the residents of Cloughaninchy are just the latest victims of some electoral politics:

“In the immediate aftermath of the storms we had a succession of Government ministers coming down to Clare being photographed with those that had suffered hardship, dangling the promise of funds to repair and strengthen the coastal defences,” Dooley told The Clare People on Monday after meeting with the Cloughaninchy locals.

“Once the local elections were over however the funding has not been forthcoming.

“This was soft talk with no followup delivery.

“Clare County Council can’t print the money needed, they have already carried out the repair work, the Government now needs to make good on the commitments they made to the people of West Clare,” Dooley added.

TWO Ennismen are to bid for the for their place in The Guinness Book of Record this August by playing 80 hours of non-stop snooker to raise money for local cancer charity Sláinte an Chláir.

Student Gordon O’Loughlin and truck driver Kieran Ferns will attempt to break the world record in their marathon which will begin on August 15, after they were selected to take part in the challenge by Ennis Snooker Club proprietor Gerry O’Loughlin.

“The two guys I picked, they seem to get on, they play well together — you really have to like a guy to be looking at him for 80 hours. So I think they’re the best team we have right now,” says Gerry O’Loughlin.

Former world snooker champion Ken Doherty has pledged to support the record attempt.

The guidelines for the challenges are strict, with only five-minute breaks permitted every hour, though the option is there to play on and eventually accumulate up to four consecutive breaks, thereby enabling 20 rather than just five minutes of rest. They also require two witnesses switching on and off table duty every four hours, with at least one of them having to be an expert in the field.

The snooker club was reopened last February by Gerry O’Loughlin, whose brainwave it is to try and bring a world record to Ennis after a target of 76 consecutive hours of snooker was set recently in England.

Now, with final preparations being for the snooker challenge, the proprietor has revealed that he has enlisted the services of former world champion Ken Doherty to support the event.

“Ken is coming down,” he revealed. “Sunday night, the guys will still be going strong, so hopefully we’ll have an exhibition, and there’ll be people going in and out. He’s aware of what’s going on and thinks it’s great. He’ll be there on the Monday too, so hopefully he’ll be there to promote it when they break the record.

“It’s a very good charity that we’re raising money for, and the idea would be to try to promote it and get people in [to watch the event] at the nighttime and they might donate to the charity then as well. They might be coming in at night-time, coming off shifts and stuff like that, and they’d hopefully give a hand to them,” he added.

THE latest enhancement of Ryanair services out of Shannon represents a huge boost to tourism and the ongoing efforts by airport executives at building route development out of Clare’s international airport.

That’s the message delivered by Tourism Ireland and airport CEO Neil Pakey this week on the back of last Thursday’s announcement by the low-cost airline that it is to strengthen its winter schedule with the addition of further capacity from the end of October.

The airline announced that it is to add a daily Manchester service, replacing a three times weekly Liverpool service, and a weekly Kaunas in Lithuania flight, as well as extra flights to Stansted, to its winter schedule that will begin at the end of October.

This will bring the total number of Ryanair services from Shannon to 11 this winter – six more than the 2013/2014 winter season.

The new routes operated by Ryanair from Shannon this winter are Paris, Berlin, Fuerteventura, Warsaw, Krakow, Manchester and Kaunas. These are in addition to their existing services to be Gatwick, Lanzarote, Stansted and Wroclaw.

“We welcome this further commitment by Ryanair to our upcoming winter schedule, which includes an excellent mix of inbound and outbound opportunities for passengers,” said Neil Pakey.

“We are currently in the middle of a very busy summer season, which has led to a 15 per cent overall increase in passenger numbers in the first six months of the year. Having extra capacity this winter very much strengthens our hand for the off-peak season,” he added.

Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons said the new flight from Manchester to Shannon Airport this winter, which will help boost tourism to Clare and the West of Ireland from the all-important British makret.

“We already work very closely with Ryanair and we look forward to co operating with them to maximise the promotion of this new flight to Shannon,” he said. “As an island, the importance of convenient, direct, non-stop flights cannot be overstated – they are absolutely critical to achieving growth in visitor numbers,” he added.

“Tourism Ireland is undertaking an extensive programme of promotions in Britain throughout 2014, which includes a major focus on the Wild Atlantic Way. Co-operative campaigns, with key partners like Ryanair and Shannon Airport, are an important element of our programme to boost travel to Ireland.”