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PLANS have been lodged for the largest ever residential housing

scheme in Clare with a €200 mil- lion proposal to create a new suburb of Ennis.

Ennis-based Crystal Partners Ltd is seeking approval for 471 residential units in the first phase of a master- plan that will ultimately deliver 700 new homes in the Gaurus area on the eastern outskirts of the town.

The first phase of the ‘Gaurus Vil- lage’ development involves an invest- ment of €125 million with the over- all value of €200 million put on the project.

The company ultimately plans to build 700 new homes which will al- most double the current population of Doora parish.

The overall site covers a 95 acre landbank which will incorporate a creche, a 16-teacher school and asso- ciated playing field, a neighbourhood

centre with shopping facilities and 14 residential serviced sites. There are also plans for walking trails and natural habitat areas including a 6 hectare lake.

The plan provides for an upgrade of Gaurus Bridge to include a footpath, cycle path, a pedestrian crossing of the river and a new water main.

The site was formerly used as a sand and gravel pit with lumber yard.

A spokesman for Crystal Partners described the project “as a vote of

confidence in the future growth and prosperity of Ennis”.

The application makes Crystal Part- ners well placed to become Clare’s largest developers.

Already, the company has_pur- chased lands formerly owned by the Diocese of Killaloe at Clareabbey, where it has secured planning per- mission for 219 residential units. The company is currently seeking permission for 240 residential units on the Kildysart Road outside Clare-

castle.

The Crystal Partners spokesman said: “Ennis is one of the fastest erowing towns in Ireland with a pro- jected population of 40,000 by 2016 and this project will attract people to Ennis from all over Ireland, particu- larly from Limerick and Galway. .

THE work done by Glor na hInse has been described as an exemplary model for others to follow.

Speaking on Saturday in Glor, when the Ennis Glor na nGael com- mittee was presented with first prize in the Irish Langauge Awards, Glor na nGael manager Nora Welby said, “This committee enjoys widespread Support in the community and em- ploys a highly effective means of planning. The committee’s approach to its work is an exemplary model that would be useful for other commit- tee’s involved with Glor na nGael”’.

Ms Welby praised the work done in providing Irish language classes for adults. She said, “Among the many achievements of the Irish language community in Ennis is the strong gaelscoileanna movement and over- coming challenging obstacles to pro- vide Irish classes for adults”.

Cathal Goan, Director General of RTE, was present to make the pres- entations at the ceremony.

The local Glor na nGael commit- tee in Ennis received €50,000 and a trophy, in national recognition of its achievements in promoting the Irish language in County Clare dur- ing 2007.

Second place was awarded to Rath Cairn in the Meath Gaeltacht, whose committee received an award to the value of €12,500.

Ms Welby added, “Youth provision also impressed the Glor na nGael adjudicators with Féile na hInse, the publication of a CD and the organi- sation an Fhéile Scoildramaiochta in Ennis ensuring provision for young people. Glor na hInse has a highly effective publicity strategy.”

On top of first place in the compe- tition, Glor na hInse won the Public Services Award, €700, sponsored by Gaeleagras na Seirbhisi Poibli.

She continued, “The committee

works closely with the state sector to encourage the provision of services through the medium of Irish. The li- brary received particular praise from the adjudicators on account of the Irish language resources its offers. There is also excellent cooperation with the County Council’s Irish lan- guage officer.

In total, Gl6r na nGael announced prizes amounting to more than €150,000 at the event in Ennis on Saturday.

Glor Shionna received national rec- ognition on Saturday night. The Irish language group won Duais Chonradh na Gaeilge, worth €2,000.

THE traditional selling period for holiday homes is fast approaching and as yet, agents specialising in this market are unsure whether or not the downturn in the property market will spread its tentacles to the coastal aoe

Aine Hussey of Sherry FitzGerald Hussey Madden, Ennistymon, is relatively upbeat about the prospects

for 2008.

“After a disappointing last quarter in 2007, 2008 kicked off with an un- expected but most welcome strong start, with a high volume of sales for the first quarter of our financial year.

This strong start may have been due to people holding off until the stamp duty issue was resolved in the Budget.

She added, “most of our sales early this year have been to people moving

permanently to the north and west Clare area. From Easter onwards is traditionally the start of the holiday home sales and we have found that the rate of enquiries has increased ten fold since St Patrick’s weekend, particularly for the popular costal villages of Lahinch, Doolin, Liscan- nor and Spanish Point with some strong offers already on the table. “The buyer profile of recent years doesn’t seem to be changing, with

the majority of our enquiries gen- erated by prospective buyers from Limerick, Dublin and the Midlands. However, despite the weakening sterling, we have increased our UK client base both for permanent and holiday homes”.

Holiday home purchasers in 2007 were waiting for adjustments in the markets including stamp duty before moving on second homes, now that the criteria’s have been met we see

strong demand for the 2008 season.

Asked which properties are cur- rently drawing attention, Aine said, “The School Road development of 77 homes continue to sell from plans and as usual there is strong demand for properties with sea views”.

All told, Aine is feeling confident and anticipates that the Clare coastal market will remain resilient in 2008.

“We are looking forward to a busy summer season.’

WITH a high-ranking report on how the Irish abuse drink due out today, Clare TD, Timmy Dooley has called for serious measures to curb the cul- ture of alcohol misuse.

Following the recent bank holiday weekends when more than 1,100 ar- rests for drink driving were made na- tionally, Deputy Dooley said serious measures are required to curb the culture of alcohol misuse.

The deputy is calling on the Alcohol Advisory Group (AAG) established by Justice Minister Brian Lenihan, to target alcohol sales in premises other than licences public houses, and to look at the role legislation can play in keeping the number of anti social behaviour offences down.

The AAG comprises high ranking members of the Gardai, the HSE, and academics and was due to report to the Government today.

Deputy Dooley said it is intended that the legislation changes recom- mended by the AAG will be enacted by the Government before the sum- mer recess.

“Clearly we have a problem with our patterns of drinking in this coun- try, and that this problem 1s adding to public disorder.

“While this alcohol culture needs to be tackled at many levels, I believe the Alcohol Advisory Group must start with the issue of alcohol avail- ability and visibility in our commu- nities,’ he said

“Recently published research indi- cates that alcohol consumption in- creased by 17 per cent between 2005 and 2006.

‘Alcohol is available to buy now in Supermarkets, convenience stores, and even petrol stations. We must stop now and look at this seriously to see what legislation must be intro- duced to tighten up the availability of alcohol,” Deputy Dooley said.

“Regulations relating to the sale of alcohol from these outlets need to be tightened up dramatically. If an un- der age person is served alcohol in a pub, there are severe penalties that apply. Penalties as punitive as this must also apply to other outlets in order to safe guard fully against the sale of alcohol to minors,” he said.

THE efforts of four Ennis teenagers were recognised this week as Eddie McCarthy, Martin Molloy, Brian Mc- Donagh and Seamus Higgins from the Cloughleigh area, were awarded An Gaisce awards.

Eddie and Seamus are studying for Leaving Cert Applied at the Clare Youth Service in Ennis and Martin is preparing for Junior Cert at En- nis Community College and is also involved in projects with the Clare bolts mero a’s (een

The awards represents further en- dorsement of the work being done at Clare Youth Service after Minister of State Pat Carey held discussions with staff and students there over the

weekend.

The awards, which were presented to the young people by Minister of State Tony Killeen and hurling leg- end Davy Fitzgerald, recognised the personal challenges undertaken by the young people involved in four ar- eas – community, skills, physical and adventure.

“The young people really had to challenge themselves to achieve these awards. It requires commitment each week to work on the four sections and while the president’s award leader can guide and encourage the partici- pant, the real work is up to the young people themselves,” said Patrick Mc Mullin of Clare Youth Services.

Two of the young people Brian Mc- Donagh and Eddie McCarthy were

presented with silver awards. This was their second award as they were previous recipients of the bronze Gaisce. Seamus Higgins and Martin Molloy received bronze awards.

The young people hiked across the Burren, helped run programmes for younger members of their group and assisted in residential weekends.

They also worked on a community farm in France assisting in the feed- ing and care of the animals as well as helping to build traditional French ovens.

There was also the small matter of skill – for this, all the recipients com- pleted various stages of the British Horse Society riding tests and stable management programme. For physi- cal activity, the young people in-

volved themselves in achieving vari- ous levels in kayaking and canoeing.

An Gaisce or the President’s Award is an inspiring adventure into per- sonal development for young people aged between 15 and 25 years. The awards aim to cultivate personal development and encourage young people to set and accomplish their own personal challenges.

In reality it achieves much more – instilling confidence, encouraging team effort, inspiring dreams and fostering friendships.

SHERRY FitzGerald McMahon has a number of excellent commercial properties on its books at present, including a landmark office building at Quin Road Business Park, which would be ideal as corporate head- quarters. With 337.2 sq.m. (3,630 sq.ft.) of floor space, this bright, modern accommodation is fully fit-

ted.

According to Paddy Darmody of Sherry FitzGerald McMahon, * What we have here is a prime location to the front of park with adjoining oc- cupiers including Brian McCarthy Contractors Ltd., Decibel & Univer- sal Business Systems.

The accommodation is laid out over two floors and is fitted to a high standard including air condition-

ing. Accommodation comprises a reception area, six principal offices, a comms room, canteen and WCs” . This premises is close to Ennis town centre and the lease terms are negoti- able.

Across the road in the Clare Marts complex Paddy Darmody has a light industrial warehouse on his books. There’s 230 sq.m. (2,475 sq.ft.) of floor space and a_ secure yard of some 180 sq.m. (1,940 sq.ft.). This unit is suitable for many uses. The lease term is 4 years 9 months and rent is €20,000 per annum (exclu- SAVE

Those seeking a shop unit in Ennis should take a look at the two-storey shop unit at Harvey’s Quay.

Said Darmody, “With its central lo- cation, just 110 yards form O’Connell Square, extensive shop frontage and generous floor space of 2,400 sq. ft., this premises is ideal as a retail out- ae

This property is for sale or let. The asking price is circa €1.1 million or to rent it’s €50,000 per annum.

A CLARE construction firm has tak- en the first step to power a new €20 million commercial development on the outskirts of Ennis through wind- NEAT

Earlier this year, one of the largest construction firms in Clare, Keco Construction Ltd secured planning permission for a commercial devel- opment at Ballymaley, Ennis oppo- site the existing Ballymaley Business Park.

Now, the company has lodged plans with Clare County Council for a test wind-turbine at Ballymaley to test the viability of powering the new com- mercial development, which includes car showrooms, through wind.

The company, employing between 75 and 100 people and with a turno- ver of €30 million, is headed up by local builders, Eugene Keane and Michael Cotter.

A spokesman for the company stat- ed that data collected from the test mast would establish “what size and number of turbines will be required in order to produce enough electric- ity to service the development”.

A company spokesman said: “The wind mast will stay in place for one year and the average wind speed can be established from a data logger connected to the mast.”

He added: “The turbines will not be multi-megawatt machines like those located on large scale wind farms. They will be micro type, mounted on the larger building and will be FWegexol AYA) UL MO) ana (oAy’2

“The turbines will likely be ‘verti- cal shaft’. Most turbines we are fa- miliar with are horizontal shaft and look like a propeller.

“The vertical shaft turbines are quiet and will feed power into a number of battery banks in order to store the electricity for when its actu- ally required.”

Along with the proposed wind-tur- bines, Keco state that the Ballymaley development will also include use of solar power for all water heating, use of treated rainwater for all purposes other than human intake and use of energy efficient heating and air-con- ditioning systems.

KECO has been operating since 1998 and some of its recent Ennis commercial projects include Carraig Donn, Hughes & Hughes Bookstore and Westpoint Retail Park while its housing developments include Cluain Ros Leamhain (Roslevan) and Gar- ran na Coille in Shanaway Road.

It employs 75-100 people and has a turnover of over €30 million. It is currently working on commercial projects in Galway City, Oranmore, Loughrea and Carlow.

COIS na Abhna, Ennis, will be the venue next week for the launch of ‘Flame on the banks’, the second solo album from acclaimed musician Maeve Donnelly.

The album, a collection of Irish and international fiddle music, 1s a col- laboration between the Quin based musician and Canadian guitarist Tony McManus.

Paidi O’Leonaird, presenter of TG4’s popular trad music series Ar- dan, will launch the album and will be joined on the night by some of the best-known names in traditional muSIC.

In spring of 2006 Maeve and Tony

toured Quebec and Ontario, and in spring of 2007 they toured the East Coast of the US. The CD “Flame on the Banks” was recorded last August in Ireland.

Originally from the village of Kylemore Abbey near Loughrea in East Galway, an area steeped in tra- ditional music, Maeve has been play- ing the fiddle since the age of five.

In 1976 she was the youngest of 25 musicians invited from Ireland to perform at the Bicentennial Festival of American Folklife in Washington DC.

During this tour, Maeve and her friends, Maighread Ni Dhomhnail, Sean Corcoran and Eddie Clarke re- corded the album, “Sailing into Wal-

poles Marsh”.

Maeve is also featured on a compi- lation album of compositions of the late fiddler Ed Reavy.

As a founder member of the group Moving Cloud, she recorded and toured in North America playing at such prestigious venues as the Mil- waukee Irish Fest, the Lincoln Per- forming Arts Centre and the Wash- ington Irish Festival.

Her solo debut fiddle album simply titled “Maeve Donnelly” was wel- comed with rave reviews.

After a long period playing in a eroup, Maeve is excited to be work- ing on a solo project.

She said, “Trad music I suppose, 1s a very niche market. We’re expecting

it to be a good night.

“There will be plenty of musicians there. I am looking forward to a nice night of atmosphere and music. It’s an open night, no invitations; eve- ryone is welcome to come along. I toured a lot with Moving Cloud, so I’m kind of anxious to get this solo project going.”

The launch of Maeve’s self titled solo debut album, Maeve Donnelly drew huge crowds to the Old Ground. She is hoping for a similar response eheee bee

“It was great, I think there was about 1,000 people packed into the big room upstairs. We should have another good night in Cois na Abh- na’.

ADDICTION is being glamourised, the head of the mid-west’s new coun- selling institute has warned.

The Minister for State at the De- partment of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Pat Carey offi- cially launched the National Coun- selling Institute of Ireland, which is now based in the mid-west.

The launch ceremony at the insti- tute’s new premises at the National Technological Park in Limerick also marked the announcement of the start of four new professional degree courses which will get underway in the autumn.

These include a BA in Counselling Studies and Psychometric Testing, BA in Youth and Counselling stud- ies, BA in Counselling Skills and Addiction Studies, and a BA in Adult Guidance Studies.

“There is a red alert warning sign across all classes in our community regarding addictions which needs to be addressed,” said the President of the NCIT, Maria Carmody

‘In today’s celebrity society, addic- tions are being glamorised in the me- dia through pop stars, fashion idols, film and television stars, creating the very dangerous impression particu- larly among young people that this is fashionable, trendy or acceptable.”

has learned that Clare County Council has with- held payments from the consultants overseeing the planning of the multi- million-euro Lahinch Promenade Development because of continued delays in the project. It now also looks certain that con- struction work on the development will be ongoing throughout the busy

Summer season, despite guarantees given that this would not be the OF Ton

‘Unfortunately, it seems to me that we are still some distance away from the development actually starting,” said Cllr Richard Nagle (FF).

“I requested at the last local area meeting that the meetings with the stockholders would take place as soon as possible. We are now in the month of April and we are told that

this has not been done.

“We were told that this was to hap- pen in September 2007, then we were told January 2008, and now we are still looking at an uncertain time. I welcome the construction work on the lifeguard centre but this is just getting started and will take at least 14 weeks. This is going to be a se- vere hindrance throughout the tour- ism season. We have already heard that the playground is being held up

because of this.

“I know myself that payment has been delayed to the consultants be- cause of the delays and they have not been helpful. We are sick and tired of being fobbed off. We have been wait- ing for five years and this is not good enough.”

Questions were also raised about the willingness of Clare County Council to push the project forward.

“Realistically, nothing has _ hap- pened in the last five years on this and all the responsibility does not lie with the consultants. If a project is not driven, it doesn’t get anywhere, and this project hasn’t been driven. It is looking like we are going to end up doing work during the peak tour- ist season, which is wholly unaccept- able,’ said Cllr Joe Arkins (FG).

The role of the council in driving the project forward was defended by Senior Executive Engineer, Hubert eek

“There might be an impression there that this is not being driven by the council and that is not really fair. An awtul lot of work is being done on this and I wanted to make it clear what is going on,” he said.

The consultants have said that the photomontage of the project will be completed in the coming days and a meeting will then be held with Sea- world and the Golf Club.