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.
THE number of planning applications in the county were up last year, albeit by a very slight margin.
According to the National Housing Construction Index, there was an increase of two per cent in planning applications for Clare in 2013.
However, project commencements for the year showed a decline, of five per cent. The majority of the projects seeking planning or about to go to construction in the county are selfbuilds or extensions to homes.
The team of researchers at www. link2plans.com have examined every housing construction planning application and planning commencement from January to December 2013, in the production of the National Housing Construction Index.
Viewed on a nationwide basis, the National Housing Construction Index reveals there is a very slight decrease in planning applications – down one per cent, with a drop in project commencements of four per cent since last year.
Clare bucks the national trend however and with the number of planning applications made increasing by five.
From January to December 2012 there were 322 planning applications made in the county, compared to 327 for the same period in 2013.
The previous year again, 2011, there was a decrease of 32 per cent, indicating the rate of decline has slowed and there are signs of recovery in the sector.
While there was a drop in the number of builds started in Clare in 2013, the reduction was not as significant as the previous year.
According to the managing director of Link2Plans, Danny O’Shea, the National Housing Construction Index shows a positive outlook for construction in Clare.
“The slight decline overall in the National Housing Construction Index for project applications and commencements was further evidence that the construction sector in Ireland is stabilising. Also of note is the introduction of the new Building Regulations which has resulted in a sharp increase in the number of planning commencements, in order to get started on projects before the more onerous building regulations come into force,” he said.
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.
A TOURISM venture, which is expected to increase the number of visitors to Clare this year, was launched on Thursday in Dublin, much to the annoyance of some West of Ireland tourism bodies.
The Government chose to launch the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s first long distance touring route along the West coast, in the East.
Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring promised visi- tors the “journey of a lifetime” as he officially launched 2,500-kilometre route.
Fáilte Ireland is investing € 10 million during 2014 in the route which stretches from the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal to Kinsale in County Cork, and incorporate west and north Clare.
Minister Ring said, “It’s the world’s longest touring route through some of Ireland’s most beautiful places, and is already proving a hit in our key overseas markets like Britain, the US, France and Germany.
“It has massive potential to bring more visitors and more jobs to rural communities right along the western seaboard.
“That’s why we will soon be promoting it even further a field in places like Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.”
The minister has also said that while the Government has invested in the promotion of the venture it would not be providing specific finances to repair any damage along the route due to recent storms.
Clare County Council has to date paid out € 1 million in repairs along the Clare part of the tourism route.
Director of Services with Clare County Council Ger Dollard told The Clare People , “Responsibility for roads rests with the council but we are dependent on funding from Government.
“We see the Wild Atlantic Way as a major tourism project for County Clare with huge economic and tourism potential.
“We are obviously anxious that the overall product is presented to the highest standard possible.”
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.
THOSE dying for a bargain have the opportunity to avail of a once in as lifetime sale this month, as graves 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.
The Graveyard Committee hope that the sale of some grave plots in the coming weeks will offset the cost of extending the full to capacity cemetery in Kilimer.
Sean Culligan of the Burrane Graveyard Committee said that while there have been a number of enquires about the purchase of a last resting place in the new graveyard, sales have been slow.
It is hoped that by reducing the cost of the graves for a limited period, people will be encouraged to pur- chase this inevitable commodity in the coming weeks.
A double grave at Burrane Cemetery costs € 550, but a hundred euro reduction will see the cost drop to € 450 for this month.
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.
The new graveyard extension will have a modern green field layout, with no kerbs and there will be guidelines when it comes to headstones.
The design of the modern layout shows headstones back to back so that there will be a single path to a row of graves.
“This will help with the maintenance of the graveyard,” explained Mr Culligan.
There are three cemeteries in the parish of Kilimer-Knockerra – Burrane, Knockerra and Molougha, and all three are either full or nearing full capacity.
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.
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.
A FLOOD warning remains in place along the western and northern coast of the county with high tides expected to threaten beleaguered flood defenses again today.
A number of roads were closed across the area yesterday with Loop Head, Quilty, Lahinch and Liscannor already sustaining damage.
At high tide, 6.30pm last evening (Monday), the people of the Loop Head peninsula were preparing to be isolated from the rest of the county again.
This is now the fourth month the community has to endure tidal and storm damage. Just six hours before, the only remaining road on to the peninsula was reopened as it has been flooded again by high tide earlier that morning.
At 6am the Fodra Road, the only life line for the West Clare communities was closed by the tides. The main road to Kilbaha remains closed as Clare County Council works to repair it, while the road at Ross is closed and no work has begun on it.
Yesterday the people of Rhinevilla and Kilduane were again virtually living on an island as the high tides raised the floods once again.
On a happier note, Yvonne McNamara from Kilbaha, who had feared she would not be able to make it to hospital to have her baby if the tides were in, gave birth to a healthy baby girl and Friday. Mother and daughter were safely home in Kilbaha again before the only access road was closed for a period of six hours.
Meanwhile in Quilty the high tide burst through some of the council work at Cloughnainchy, and water has come in on some of the land again, while other coastal defences held.
Meanwhile, the Lahinch to Liscannor road was closed once again yes terday, while Clare County Council cleared boulders and other debris from the road. The promenade in Lahinch sustained further flooding during the high tide on Monday morning but it is not thought that and further significant structural damage has been done.
“High spring tidal conditions resulted in some flooding at various locations along the Clare coastline overnight and this morning [Monday],” said a council spokesperson.
“This flooding has since receded. The main road at Liscannor was closed for a time this morning to enable council workers to remove rubble from the road.”
THE war of words and scientific data over the proposed construction of Ireland largest fish farm off the Doolin and Fanore coast may just have been won.
The Journal of Fish Diseases, who first questioned the research put forward by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) on the likely effects of sea lice on the local wild salmon as a result of the fish farm, have retracted their complaints.
The Journal of Fish Diseases had described the research, which was carried out for BIM by the Marine Institute in Oranmore, as having ‘fundamental errors’. The article, which was attributed to ‘Krkosek et al’, was the source of much criticism from groups opposed to the farm, including government agency Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI).
The twin fish farms, which will located about 10 kilometres off the coasts of Doolin and Fanore, would be the largest facility of its kind ever built in Ireland, if it gets the go ahead. The proposed farm has been met with stiff opposition, not least by groups of fishermen, business people and environmentalists in North Clare, who believe the farms will be a threat to local wild fish stocks and tourism.
“I welcome the apology by the journal for the inadequate editorial procedures followed and the unfairness with which they treated the Marine Institute by not affording us right of reply prior to the publication of Krkosek’s accusation,” said Peter Heffernan, CEO of the Marine Institute.
“Scientific peer review is all important to the quality, accuracy and integrity of research. However, what people must be made aware of now is that Krkosek et al’s work has now been reclassified by the Journal as a ‘Comment’, which is akin to an opinion piece.
“The journal has also updated its author guidelines to clearly state the level of peer review for the different types of articles.”