Category: Uncategorized

A GROUP of locals in Liscannor has warned Clare County Council not to repeat the planning mistakes made in other coastal areas.

The residents, who are opposing plans by Atlantis Developments for a mixed use development on the village’s main street, including the redevelopment of Joseph McHugh’s and Egans’ pubs, state that the coun-

cil needs to draw up a strategic de- velopment plan for the village before any more tourism based development is granted.

“It 1s apparent that over-develop- ment has already taken place in Lis- cannor and the council should be taking steps to stop it from causing irrevocable damage to the village character,” they state.

“It is now at the stage where a small cottage in Liscannor has an asking

price of €1.5 million. How can local people expect to afford a site or home when prices have reached this hugely inflated level?”

The Atlantis Development plan includes a 14-bed hostel, five-two bedroom apartments, four retail units and the two large extensions to McHugh’s and Egans.

Atlantis Development also has ap- plications for park and ride parks in Liscannor and Doolin and decisions

on all three applications are expected later this month.

The local residents state, ““Let us not forget the Holland Park development — directly opposite the site — which included commercial units along the front facade. All but two of these are empty, 1n poor repair and some have been converted to residential units.”

The residents continue, “Liscannor is a small coastal village that caters for both permanent and seasonal residents. However, the excessive fra- tio of seasonal versus permanent ac- commodation is greatly deteriorating the fabric of the community.

‘Apartments, more akin to the re- quirements of towns and cities where space is at a premium, are not justi- fiable is a small village like Liscan- nor. The only reason for apartments in such a small village is to maxim- ise profitability at the expense of the architectural setting of the receiving village.”

The residents state that currently, the ratio of holiday homes to perma- nent residences in approximately 7:1 and this figures is even higher from the church to Knockaderry where it is in excess of 10:1.

They residents claim they have been for far too long subjected to the eradual and saddening deterioration in the fabric in the community. “This has taken place by developers being given free reign to build whatever they wish wherever they wish.”

FOR the first time in the event’s his- tory, this year’s Fleadh Nua will fea- ture performances from an Ulster/ Scots Pipe band.

A pipe and flute band in the Ulster Scots tradition, the Hounds of Ulster are one of the provinces most high profile marching bands.

Announcing details of the festival programme at last week’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, Rory Casey, of the Fleadh Nua committee, explained the festival is opening up to embrace the new cultural landscape.

He said, “We have to be careful

to address other cultures. There is a whole different cultural landscape out there than there was in Ennis in 1973. We talk a lot about the eco- nomic benefits of the Good Friday agreement but perhaps its time to reap the cultural benefits. If we are serious about living on this island to- gether, we have to develop relation- ships like this”.

The Hounds of Ulster, Mr Casey said, would not be marching in the annual Fleadh Nua parade.

The nine-day festival takes place in venues throughout Ennis from May 18-26.

Other highlights include a tribute

to acclaimed musician and teacher Frank Custy, a series of concerts in glor and a wide and varied pro- gramme of street performances and music workshops.

Mr Casey said the Fleadh Nua had survived because of the close links formed between the organising com- mittee, Ennis Town Council, local arts and cultural groups, Shannon Development and venues like the County Museum, Cois na hAbhna and Glor.

However, Mr Casey said he was disappointed with the response of the business community to last year’s BATE

“We have a close relationship with Ennis Chamber. But it was very dis- appointing, we sent out 300 letters and we only got one response. It is an Ennis festival and we do bring ben- efit to the town”.

Mr Casey explained that with 57 festivals taking place in Clare this year, the Fleadh Nua faced a chal- lenging, competitive market place.

Independent councillor Frankie Neylon said the festival should adopt a country each year to maximise the benefits of tourism.

Fine Gael councilor Johnny Flynn urged the committee to embrace new concepts like pod casting.

THEY are passionate about their fashion in Kilkee and this year Pai- san Faisean presenter Blathnaid Nic Dhonnacha will present the annual event.

The former Clare Rose in the Rose of Tralee contest will have 150 local models to introduce on the night.

In its fifth year, the fashion show run by the fourth year students from St Joseph’s Community College, Kil- kee 1s attracting models from all over the community.

Not only are the local football team signed up yet again, as well as many of their fellow students, parish priest

Donagh O’Meara will also take to the catwalk.

The fashion show has proven a success in the last number of years, proving one of the biggest fundrais- ers for the school.

Last year, as a result of the fashion show the school developed a canteen for students.

The money raised through the fash- ion show funded all the furniture for the canteen.

The school then invited a cater- ing company into the school to sup- ply healthy food to the students and provide another option to going into town for lunch for the students.

TJ’s catering provides soup and

sandwiches to the student. They can also bring their own lunch to school and avail of the new surroundings for Cr BnereaB Lm

This year’s fashion show will take place in the Kilkee Bay Hotel on April 18.

It will begin with a cheese and wine reception at 7.30pm with the show beginning at 8pm.

More than a dozen shops from Kil- rush, Kilkee, Miltown Malbay and Ennis will be displaying their fash- ions on the night.

Teacher, Deirdre Kennedy who has overseen the fashion show with the students for the past number of years, said that there has been great support

from the local community.

There will also be a number of stalls displaying jewellery, lingerie and other accessories to browse on the night.

“We have had support from all the shops in Kilkee, Kilrush and the county. They also sponsored ads in the programme as did a lot of local B)EISID ORT SI MMIC) OLoMSTAN TOD

“We would also like to thank the Kilkee Bay Hotel for its support last year and this year.”

Ms Kennedy said that the fashion show not only provides funds for the school but also helps develop the or- ganisation skills of the 25 students on the organising committee.

CLARE County Council has ex- pressed “serious reservations” about the first ever hotel proposed for Sixmilebridge.

Gerard and Martha Kearney lodged plans for the construction of an hotel on Sixmilebridge’s Main Street ear- lier this year.

Their consultants state that the Kearneys wish to transform an un- sightly fuel merchants and commer- cial yard into a development that will enhance the town.

However, revised plans will have to be lodged if it is to secure planning eau NUIT (OOF

The council, requesting revised plans, states that it welcomes the development of a modern hotel facil- ity within the centre of Sixmilebri- dge but has serious concerns about the proposed development under a number of headings.”

Specifically the council says it is not satisfied that the design and lay- out 1S appropriate for the prominent location of the site within the heart of an Architectural Conservation Area and fronting the Owengraney River.

The council said the proposed de- velopment would not be permitted and a significant alteration in layout

and design was required and this could involve a new planning appli- cation.

“The development of this piece of land in isolation to the undeveloped zoned land immediately to the west is contrary to the proper planning and development of the area.

The council panners also main- tained that the proposal represented “piecemeal and haphazard develop- nates laee

“It is the view of the council that these lands should be developed to- gether to form one comprehensive development which links to both sides of the town.

The council also point out that the development represents “over-devel- opment of the site’, and will result in significant overshadowing and over- bearing of the adjacent properties to the west fronting Main Street.

Expressing concerns over the project, local resident, Anne Casey States, “I believe that the mass and scaling of the proposed hotel is ex- cessive in relation to the site area and the construction of a three sto- rey structure in close proximity to the rear of my property will result in a serious reduction of natural light and leave the rear of my house over- shadowed during long periods of the or hae

NEXT week, Clare will travel to London and will record their fourth league win on the trot. It will bring some clear comparisons to Clare’s league run in 1990/91 when another relatively unknown Connaught man- ager came to the county and em- barked on his first league campaign.

Back then, John Maughan’s Clare began poorly, lost the opening half of their league games, then turned things around in the latter half of the competition. Incidentally, both campaigns included important wins against fancied Wicklow sides. It may be a sign.

On Sunday afternoon, with the warm down over, Frank Doherty was basking in the late afternoon sun gushing onto the Cusack park grass, but was still focused on next week- aKeb

“We’re going to take a professional view about the London game,” he says. “We’re not going away to have a bit of fun, because I want to finish the campaign having won four on the trot. I want to send a shock wave down to Waterford to say we’re not gone away, we’re here and we’re able to do business when they come to Cusack Park [in the championship] in five weeks time.”

The turn about in Clare’s league, he says, can be attributed to two com- ponents — one mental, and the other on the field.

“Confidence and training,’ he says. “I still believe if we beat Carlow we’d have been pushing the latter end of the league. This could have been a league final here today. But we lost our confidence after Carlow and then Antrim came here and gave us a wake up call and there were games

there we could have won.

“Then training was important as well. We didn’t have time to knuckle down and do some championship pace training but when the [one week] break came [just before Clare began to win again] we got back to solid training.”

The return of confidence and the opportunity to train at a pace Do- herty was happy with, provided the springboard for this hat-trick of vic- tories, culminating with Sunday’s defeat of Offaly.

“The big thing for me today was that we showed a lot of bottle and a lot of character at the end. Once they drew level, we stayed going and went down and kicked the winning point. Questions have been asked of this team and today, some of those were answered.’

After 40 minutes, with the score level, there came the odd bellow from the stands, calling on the man- ager to move things about around the centre of the field. Though Doherty didn’t heed any of those cat calls, he says Clare could have gripped mid- field with a stronger hold.

“We can do better at midfield, but we had two young lads there today, Frank [O’Dea] and Garry [Bren- nan]. David [Russell] came out and we moved Garry across, but we were missing [the suspended] Ger [Quin- lan’s] strength and presence in there as well.

“We basically have four competing for two positions. I have to put David on the team because he’s working hard and his effort has been mighty. Ger would have horsed into Ciaran McManus if he was there and that would have freed up either Garry or Frank. In fairness, the lads today are young and we have to compliment

them and drive them on rather than be hitting on them.

He’s asked about his decision to withdraw his captain, Michael O’Shea, before re-introducing him.

“I think it was obvious why he was taken off. Michael will give every- thing, he was winning ball but we were giving away ball too softly. I didn’t want to sit around and wait, so we brought on Sean Collins and he was just on a minute or two and kicked a point.

“T can never doubt Michael’s com- mitment to Clare, but turning ball over and losing it is a cardinal sin. But I put him back in and he kicked a score. I don’t want to be unkind to anybody but at times, you have to do that. You can’t kick a ball into a goalkeeper’s hands after commit- ting playing forward. It allows them re-group and leaves your team ex- posed.”

He goes on to explain that Rory Donnelly had just passed a fitness test on Saturday night and as his hamstring problem re-surfaced, the manager felt it was wiser to take him off than risk further injury. He also says the decision to play Gordon Kel- ly at corner back was a tactical deci- sion, made with the scoring threat of Niall McNamee in mind.

“Gordon did well again, he kept McNamee quiet. You can’t ask for jeeKO)KommM er: DaMAer-limae

London next week before the crunch visit of Waterford on May 25. From here, there’s no reason why Clare can’t string five wins together.

NEW Ennis Chamber President Niall Garvey has identified Cusack Park, Shannon Airport and pedestrianisa- tion as the key issues impacting on businesses in Ennis.

Mr Garvey, of accountancy firm Niall C Garvey Accountants and Co, was speaking after he was elected president at the recent Annual Gen- eral Meeting of Ennis Chamber, held at the Old Ground Hotel.

The meeting consisted of a review of the activities of Ennis Chamber during the past year by Outgoing- President Michael Evans and CEO Rita McInerney.

Michael Evans outlined the coor- dinated approach undertaken by the

Regional Chambers of Limerick, Shannon, Ennis and Galway in the wake of the announcement on Shan- non – Heathrow Services in August 2007.

He said he believes that this coop- eration 1S necessary in order to de- velop an economic counter pole to Dublin.

Mr. Evans went on to say that he had liaised with the Local Authori- ties over the past year and stressed the importance of the rapid comple- tion of the permanent Water Treat- ment System in order to ensure a reliability of the source.

The outgoing president also called for the fast-tracking of improved in- frastructure for the town including the road network and parking par-

ticularly in light of discussion around the pedestrianisation of O’Connell Street and Abbey Street.

The meeting then proceeded to elect the new officers and executive of the board with the following re- sults: President: Niall Garvey, Niall C. Garvey Chartered Accountants; Vice-President: Guy Flouch, New Idiom; Treasurer: Tony Barrett, AIB; Secretary: Margaret Neylon.

In his acceptance speech, incom- ing – president Niall Garvey said he looked forward to continuing the work of his predecessors in leading the chamber for the forthcoming year.

In particular, he would continue to co-operate with other bodies to pro- mote the greater good of Ennis, par-

ticularly as a place to do business.

He said the chamber must remain positive in promoting Ennis in an in- creasingly negative business climate, and he looked forward to dealing proactively with the known forth- coming issues, including the pro- posed development of Cusack Park, proposed pedestrianisation, and con- nectivity for Shannon Airport mov- ing to the future.

The additional members of the Ennis Chamber Executive for 2007 – 2008 are Michael Byrne, Wil- liam Cahir, Dervilla Evans, Mary Jo Duffy, Gerry Flynn, Paul Flynn, John Galvin, Grainne Hassett, Roger Leyden, John Madden, Diarmuid Mc Mahon, Oliver Moylan, Paul Mul- lane and Con O’Callaghan.

CLARE farmer Michael O’Brien will represent the county at the an- nual Macra Na Feirme Mr Personal- ity competition to be held this Friday and Saturday in Kilkenny. The fes- tival which is in its third year will be held in the Springhill Court Ho- tel and will again be sponsored by Kilkenny Carlow and District Farm Relief Service.

Clare hopeful Michael Carey is a

26 year old farmer from the Kincora Club whose interests include Macra, hurling, socialising and he is also a big supporter of Manchester United HIG ON E-buer

He also feels he will be a good Mr Personality because he’s very ap- proachable and he gets on well with everybody.

The competition consists of a two day schedule of activities in which the contestants will be judged on their ability to interact and display

their individual personalities.

They will be interviewed on stage on Friday night by former Macra president Matt O’Keeffe followed by music by Domino Effect and DJ till late.

On Saturday morning, the contest- ants will participate in challenges and in the afternoon, they will be interviewed by an esteemed judg- ing panel — Helen Carroll present- er on RIE’s farming programme Ear to the Ground, Seamus Phelan

former Macra President and Sinead O’Sullivan former County Person of the Year in Kilkenny.

On Saturday evening there will be an informal gala banquet followed by music by Loaded and the Mr Per- sonality 2008 will be announced at approximately 12 midnight.

The winner will be presented with the perpetual trophy, a cheque for €500 and a weekend which is beigng sponsored by the Springhill Court ee)roe

THE champagne flowed amid the glitz and glamour of the foyer of the West County Hotel on Saturday night – and this was even before the official proceedings of the night kicked off.

It was the prologue to Avenue Unit- ed’s big party to celebrate 25 years that took the form of a champagne reception.

As the bottles were uncorked, there were Samba dancers on hand to add a little bit extra colour to the occa- sion.

Then the long night that stretched

into the late morning hours began in the Liam McCarthy Suite.

It all took place 25 years to the day that Avenue United was established – it was 12 April, 1983 and time had now raced on to 12 April 2008.

The maiden voyage was in Mickey Kerins’ bar in Lifford with a meet- ing chaired by Gerard ‘Paddlers’ O’Grady from Marian Avenue. What to call the club was one of the most important items on the agenda. Some said Marian Rovers, the mouthful of Boreen Rambling Rovers had a few supporters, but in the end Avenue United was adopted unanimously.

Paddlers lives in Mayo now, but just as he journeyed down to the old town for the launch of Ollie Byrnes’

THE sister of the two McDonagh brothers said that “one was as bad as WsTome) 0 8(o) uae

Ann Marie O’Loughlin – said Patrick was “crying like a baby” when she and her husband arrived at the hospital that night. Patrick had been treated for injuries including a split lip, broken nose and slashed ear, received during an earlier fight with Si itbab ler

She said that Patrick insisted on going home to his wife and three children.

Ned McDonagh, a third brother, said Charlie arrived at his house at about 11.30 pm that night. He seemed drunk and was very upset about the fact that Patrick had broken the win- dow of his van during the argument.

Ned tried to calm him down, tell- ing him they could sort everything out in the morning. Ned agreed with Brendan Nix, defending, that Charlie had been known to bite people when he was drinking and was in a tem- per.

He said Charlie ran off down the street and hailed a taxi. Ned followed in a van with his brother-in-law.

The taxi driver, Paul Kelleher, agreed with Mr Nix that Charlie told him he was being chased by his

brothers who intended to hurt him,

They’re after trashing my van. I’m Court, Charlie saw that Patrick had

but also agreed that Charlie had going to kill them.”

told gardai, “They’re my brothers.

When they arrived back at Bridge

smashed the front windows of his house. Gardai were at the scene.

Charlie told Mr Kelleher he would wait until they had gone and would get a Slash hook.

Ned McDonagh told the trial that he asked gardai to arrest Charlie so that no one got hurt, but they re- GUI or6 B

The trial heard that a short time af- ter Patrick returned to his home, he received a phone call from Charlie. “Charlie was offering Patrick out- side,’ Ann Marie O’Loughlin told the trial.

Despite attempts to stop him, Patrick picked up a hatchet and went out to his brother. Charlie was stand- ing bare chested in the middle of the road, holding a knife he had taken from a neighbour’s house.

Ms O’Loughlin said that the two men started to fight. She and her hus- band eventually managed to disarm them and separate them but Patrick picked up the knife from where it had been thrown and ran towards his brother.

‘He grabbed the knife, his eyes were wide open and that’s when I went into shock.”

She said her brother Charlie was a “gentleman, 100 per cent”.

A RESIDENTS association in Shan- non has played a key role in buying a defibrillator for a local primary school.

The Gleann an Oir residents as- sociation raised more than €3,000 and bought the defibrillator for St Conaire’s National School, which is located close to the housing estate.

All of the 40 houses in the estate sold tickets for the worthy cause. Not

only did it raise the money, but the initiative also raised the profile of the local residents group, which was formed last year.

The group had hoped to raise €2,000, but when this was surpassed by 50 per cent, they decided to also donate money to the neo natal unit at the maternity hospital in Limerick.

This was in memory of a young baby from the estate who died.

PRO of the residents group, Michelle Hayes explained the think-

ing behind the idea.

“Our chairman Mike Fleming had been talking to people at the school and they said they wanted to raise money for a defibrillator and that was where the idea came from,” said Ms Hayes.

“This will raise the profile of the residents association in the area,” she added.

“It is important to have a defibrilla- tor. A lot of young children die sud- denly and every school should have a

defibrillator,’ added Ms Hayes.

She said that locals are pleased with the success of the residents as- sociation, since its formation.

“The estate is kept very clean and tidy. It is good to have a residents group, for initiatives like tidy towns and grants which may be available,’ she said.

“It is also good to get to know the neighbours as a lot of the residents are young families,’ Ms Hayes add- ed.