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THE O’Briensbridge/Clonlara Com- munity Group is launching the newly developed Loop Walks, which link the two areas, as part of the Heritage Council’s heritage week events.

The routes will be officially opened with an introduction walk to view and experience the new heritage amenity walkway on Saturday, Sep- tember | at 11.30am.

Walkers are invited to start at the Riverside Park in the village on the banks of the Shannon where the trailhead and map board are located and where the loop walks start and nUONI OR

The walks cover an overall dis-

tance of 16 km and are made up of three loops (red, blue and green) each of which can be walked as sep- arate routes or as shorter distances. The red loop, which follows the Old Barge Way is 12km, the blue loop along the Errina Canal loop is 7km and the Parteen Weir loop is 5km.

“This walkway is most unique for a number of reasons including, it does not use public roads, it’s on land which is under public owner- ship and does not infringe on private land,” said Group Chairman, Mick Murtagh.

“Its location is all along waterways and for most of the time is out of ear- shot to the hustle and bustle of mod- ern living. It connects two rural vil-

lages, O’Briensbridge and Clonlara, without touching on a public road.

The red loop (Old Barge Way) is an elevated walkway which starts in the village of O’Briensbridge and runs downstream along the bank of the River Shannon and the Errina Canal to the village of Clonlara.

Walkers cross over seven 17th cen- tury quaint heritage stone bridges or archways which have all been re- stored. On the way is the now der- elict lockkeeper’s house alongside Ireland’s only treble lock.

The Loop Walks have been devel- oped by The O’Briensbridge/Clon- lara Community Group in asso- ciation with Shannon Development, Waterways Ireland, and Clare Coun-

ty Council and with assistance from, the Heritage Council, Leader Group and the ESB; other bodies like the Shannon Fisheries Board and Road- stone have also provided funding for the project

The walks are part of the Shannon Regional Trails Programme which were launched earlier this year by Shannon Development and are a Shannon Development initiative.

The development of these loop walks have also allowed the Lough Derg Way to be re-routed through the villages of O’Briensbridge and Clonlara. The loops are also marked as approved high grade loop walks under the Failte Ireland Looped Walks initiative.

SHANNON-BASED Fine Gael councillor, Tony Mulcahy has se- cured planning permission for five homes in spite of local opposition to the proposal in Shannon.

Along with business partner Noel Justice, Cllr Mulcahy secured plan- ning permission for the five homes after An Bord Pleanala ruled that the homes would be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

Earlier this year, Clare County Council gave the go-ahead for the

homes. However, these decisions were appealed by “concerned citi- zens of Clairin Glas”.

Cllr Mulcahy said yesterday, “I was never in any doubt that the homes would get planning permission as the proposal met with council policy.”

He added, “I would be critical of the innuendo…that somehow I was doing something wrong looking for planning permission. Everyone is entitled to apply for planning and go through the proper process and that is what I did.”

Cllr Mulcahy said that planning had already been given for four

houses on the site a number of years ago and “to seek planning for an ad- ditional two houses is not out of the Kesha ae

The inspector in the case recom- mended that planning permission be granted having regard to the provi- sions of the Development Plan as varied for the area, the urban nature of the site and the pattern of develop- ment in the area.

In their appeal, the residents claimed that the “council have con- travened the county plan in relation to proper densities for the Clarin Glas area”.

THE Ennis Tennis and Badminton Club has raised ‘major’ child pro- tection concerns in response to a planned apartment block overlook- ing the club grounds.

Last month, Cluid Housing Asso- ciation lodged plans for a five-storey apartment block on the grounds of Waterville House on Ennis’s Mill Road to construct 21 one-bedroom apartments and six two-bedroom apartments.

However, the proposal has prompt- ed stiff opposition from the Ennis Tennis and Badminton Club and lo- cal residents.

In its objection, the Ennis Tennis and Badminton Club raises ‘child protection’ concerns. It states, ““With a large junior membership, the club has rigorous child protection

schemes. Consequently, units with views overlooking children at play is of serious concern to all members.

‘The current proposal with viewing balconies virtually on or very close to the dividing boundary is of major concern for all members and visitors, be they male, female or junior, vis a vis privacy, security and child pro- tection.”

It goes on, “A more compatible one and a half storey development with velux windows to the northern boundary would be more sympathet- ic to the protected structure and its setting and would have less adverse impact on the use of our facilities.

“The proposed height of five sto- reys would block sunlight from courts. Loss of light and particularly sunlight would drastically reduce the enjoyment of the sporting amenity in terms of surface deterioration due to

dampness. Court 1 would become a dark court.”

The objection states, “The pro- posed development has inadequate public and private open space and is not compatible with the adjacent en- vironment.”

The objection is accompanied by 42 individual objections lodged by club members.

The general objection states, “We wish to emphasize that, whilst the members of the club recognise the need for orderly development, they feel that it is incumbent on the cur- rent members and committees to protect the security, privacy and safety of this most valuable, long- standing sports facility, which is the only tennis and badminton club in the expanding town of Ennis.”

A decision is due on the application later this year.

JUST one of the 60 new hospital con- sultants announced last week are to be based at Ennis General Hospital.

The HSE announced that it was investing more than €10 million to create the 60 new posts in 24 hospi- tals that have emergency departments which are performing well.

While the Mid West Regional Hos- pital, Limerick, has been awarded the largest number of consultant posts nationally – eight in total, with four more consultant posts spread across the Mid Western Hospital Network,

just one of the consultants will be stationed in Ennis.

The new general medicine consult- ant will be part of the Mid Western Hospital Network “with a commit- ment to Ennis”.

The Ennis hospital whose 24 hour Accident and Emergency Depart- ment is currently under threat of downgrading to a part time nurse led service, Will also share an Emergen- cy Service Consultant with the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limer- ee

Three Emergency Medicine Con- sultants have been allocated to the

mid-west under the scheme, but all three will be shared between Limer- ick and the three hospitals, including Ennis, believed to lose their A and Es following the publication of the Mid West Hospital Review.

The Ennis hospital currently has a “0.3 A and E consultant”.

It also has three anaesthetists’ con- sultants, three surgical consultants and three physicians.

The hospital is also functioning with just one radiologist with one new post to be advertised according to the HSE.

The HSE said it expects a number

of improvements in the system as a result of the appointment of the doz- en consultants in the mid-west.

It outlined improvements such as on-floor clinical supervision and de- cision making, enhanced infection control and clinical liaison service.

It also pointed to rapid assessment of medical or surgical patients – re- sulting in earlier discharge of inpa- tients, significant improvements in relation to access to diagnostic pro- cedures and reductions in the “OPD new” to return ratios.

It is envisaged that the additional posts will increase the number of

senior decision makers who would be present in emergency departments as well as the length of time such cli- nicians will be available.

‘These posts will also help improve direct GP access to diagnostics and speed up the availability of diagnos- tic results,” according to the HSE.

“Each type of post has been de- cided on the basis of local needs and will enable the successful hospitals streamline further their internal processes to enable their emergency department operate at their best,” a HSE spokesperson said.

ENNIS will go for All-Ireland glory in Miltown this weekend when the south Dublin club plays host to the All-Ireland Ladies Senior Cup finals. In the centenary year of the club, vic- tory in the flagship event of the ladies club game would be the best possible way to celebrate 100 years of golf in the county capital.

And, Ennis will be looking to the talents as such luminaries as two- time Irish Close champion, Tricia McDonnell, former British Seniors champion Valarie Hassett and young gun Sarah Cunningham to bring a long overdue All-Ireland title to the county.

Ennis are among five district cham- pions (Carlow, Co Louth, Galway and Royal Portrush are the others) at the quarter-final stages. The other teams Laytown & Bettystown, Kilkenny and Roscommon.

All four quarter-finals will be

played Friday after which an open draw for the semi-final pairings will be made. Whatever the outcome of the first day’s play, Saturday is sure to see a feast of competitive golf for the ILGU’s blue-riband Senior Cup as the cream of elite club golf descend on Milltown for the weekend.

Ennis are playing Connacht cham- pions Galway. Two years ago when Ennis reached the semi-final stage of the competition that was hosted by Woodstock GC, but went down to eventual champions and Senior Cup specialists, Royal Portrush.

THE developers of a proposed hous- ing development in Lahinch have successfully argued that 1s not viable to retain the route of the West Clare Railway that lies close to the devel- opment.

This follows Clare County Coun- cil giving the go-ahead to Patricia Stackpoole to build eight homes on Station Road in Lahinch.

The council had expressed con- cerns over the scheme’s impact on

the West Clare Railway, pointing out that it is policy of the council to only permit development on or adjacent to the west Clare plan that will not con- flict with the policy.

The council stated that, “The pro- posed plan includes for a number of building unit and their rear gardens to be built over the line of the west Clare railway. Please address this matter by way of revised proposals.”

However, in response, consultants for Ms Stackepoole stated that, ““The line of the railway to the east and

west of the site as indicated on the at- tached map has been fully obscured and built over by numerous different ownerships for an extensive period of time

“Clearly, it is not possible that the line of the railway can be developed in this area as parts of a recreational route to achieve this objective. The rationale of maintaining the area of that line traversing the site does not therefore appear to be viable.”

In the planner’s report recommend- ing that planning permission be

eranted, the planner agreed with the developers that it was not possible to utilise the route of the West Clare Railway as a recreational route due to the amount of private land interest AN Cevercm seem eeuuleloe

The planner stated that the provi- sion of a walking route will prove extremely difficult and will require the acquisition of land and houses.

In its formal order, the Council gave the plan the go-ahead as the site is zoned as residential in the North Clare Area Plan, the intended use

of the proposed land and would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or of property in the vicinity.

The proposal attracted a lot of local Opposition and the ultimate arbiters of the merits of the application look set to be An Bord Pleanala.

In one of the objections that reflects local feeling over the plan, Marie O’Donoghue stated that, “Lahinch is a seaside village and haphazard backland development of this nature and size constitutes over-density and Waaey Deny Ac 1H (O)n ae

THE effects of Open Skies on the operation of Shannon Airport is al- ready being felt with reduced serv- ice on the transatlantic this coming winter.

According to the mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia McCarthy, the number of transatlantic services – not includ- ing Aer Lingus routes – will decrease from 35 to 23 this coming winter.

This follows moves by American Airlines, Continental Airlines and Delta Airlines to reduce services.

With the attention in the region focused on the Shannon-Heathrow slots in recent weeks, Cllr McCarthy said that it is very important that no further transatlantic services are lost.

Cllr McCarthy also accused Aer Lingus of having an anti-Shannon agenda that is apparent in its opera- tion of the transatlantic routes.

Having returned from the Irish Fest at Milwaukee as part of a del- egation promoting County Clare, Cllr McCarthy said, “We did our job which was promoting Clare and

routes into Clare and it is dreadful to be selling an airline even though you know that they have stabbed you in the back.

She added, “Talking to operators and people there, it seems that Aer Lingus is operating an anti-Shan- non agenda. I have been saying that for years, but people came up to me and told me Aer Lingus are offering routes where it is cheaper to fly to Dublin rather than Shannon from US destinations.

‘Another person who was trying to fly to Shannon was told by an Aer

Lingus employee that Dublin was the airlines’s preferred destination and said that it was easy to get from Dublin to the west coast.”

Speaking earlier this summer, the executive chairman of the Shan- non Airport Authority (SAA), Pat Shanahan sounded an upbeat note on the future of Atlantic services when he said that the SAA is aim- ing to increase its transatlantic pas- senger base by 300,000 in the years after the ending of the Shannon Stop-over.

The phased ending of the stop-

over will come fully into force next April with the introduction of full Open Skies.

Currently, the number of North America bound passengers from Shannon is 700,000.

Executive chairman of the SAA, Pat Shanahan said: “In the first cou- ple of years of Open Skies, we may see a Slight dip in the transaltantic traffic going through Shannon and it may dip from 700,000 to 650,000, but I believe that the volume of traf- fic coming into Ireland with Open Skies will increase.

A €50,000 weekend drugs seizure was the biggest ever haul to be found in a house in Shannon.

The assortment of drugs, including heroin, cocaine, ecstacy and canna- bis, was uncovered by gardai during raids on two houses in the town on Friday night.

A mixture of drugs, consisting

mainly of cocaine, but also including quantities of ecstacy and heroin, was seized at a house in Inis Ealga. The value of that haul is estimated to be €47,000. Several thousands of euro was also found at that house, which is a local authority dwelling.

A quantity of cannabis resin, with an estimated value of ©5000, was Seized at a rented house in the Cro- nan area of the town.

The raids were carried out simulta- neously on the houses — in an op- eration involving local plain clothes and uniformed gardai, backed up by members of the Clare Divisional Drugs Unit — at around 7.30pm.

Two young men, in their early 20s, were arrested at the houses, under the Misuse of Drugs Act, and were questioned at Shannon Garda Station overnight. They were released with-

out charge on Saturday evening and a file is being prepared for the DPP.

Gardai, meanwhile, will continue to investigate the matter, while the drugs have been sent for analysis to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Dublin.

“This is the largest haul of drugs found in a house search in Shannon. It was significant. We believe the drugs, or the majority of them, were

destined for the local market,’ said a garda spokesman.

“We would be concerned about the amount of hard drugs making their way into the area,” he added.

‘We are determined to keep on top of the problem. Further searches and investigations will be carried out in Shannon, on a day-to-day basis, in an effort to combat the spread of drugs,” added the garda.

RESIDENTS in the tourist village of Bunratty are demanding that plans for a large extension to a quarry in the village be limited to a 12-15 year period.

A decision is due on the application by Roadstone Provinces Limited later this month and, in a fresh sub- mission, local residents claim that the operation of the quarry is having significant adverse effects.

They state, “We are tolerant of the quarry operation and the submis- sions we make are not unreasonable — insofar as we don’t request the closure of the activity. However, we must request that a buffer zone of at least 200 metres is strictly enforced between our residential boundaries and the active quarry area.”

It goes on, “As residents, we put our health and safety first, the amenity value of our area second and finally

consider the scope for expansion of the area.”

Hence, they request “the limit of 12-15 years for the permission and the request for a community liaison group .

The residents are seeking that the conditions that the council impose “will provide for the protection of the local residents and their amen- ity, and the protection of the tourist resource in Bunratty”.

The residents are also demanding that the council insert a condition that “within six months of the date of this permission, the developer shall establish a local consultative eroup to include representatives of the developer and members and rep- resentatives of the local community and landed interests. The group shall constitute a forum to address op- erational issues of the quarry which are considered to impact upon local amenity”.

THE countdown is on to Ireland’s first ever outdoor painting competi- tion, which takes place in the Burren Painting Centre this weekend. Outdoor painting competitions or ‘paint-outs’ have became popular in America in recent years but this is the first one which has ever been organised on this side of the Atlantic. The competition sees a large group of artists gather together on one day to paint and offer different artistic takes on the same moment in time. “It’s an opportunity for good ama- teur artists to come together and

paint for one day. Each person who comes to the day will have their can- vas or paper stamped in the morning and they will be sent out to three lo- cations around Lisdoonvarna’’, ex- plained Chris O’ Neill of the Burren Painting Centre.

“At the moment we have about 30 artists registered, but people can still sign up until Friday. When they reg- ister on Saturday morning we will give them the three secret locations where the painting will take place.”

The judging panel includes Irish painter Rosemary Carr and water colour expert Charles Harper. Paint- ers will be allowed to enter two

paintings either in oil and acrylic, pure water colour or mixed media, pastel and gouache.

‘People can paint all day, as long as they have their entries with us by 6pm on Saturday evening. I would say most people will enter one paint- ing but I know of people who have told me that they will be entering two, usually one water colour and one acrylic.” Following the competi- tion and judging a prize-giving lunch will take place in the King Thomand Hotel on Sunday September 2, from lpm to 3pm. Prizes will be presented to the winning artists by Lady Alison Rosse of Birr Castle.

The Burren Painting Centre was established in 1974 and has been at- tracting budding artists from Ireland, Europe and America to the Burren since then. Courses are run each year in Lisdoonvarna, from May to Au- cust, with ‘away trips’ organised in April and October to various parts of the world.

The Outdoor Landscape Paint- ing Competition will take place on September 1. Registration will take place at the National School, Lis- doonvarna from 8:30am to 10am. For more information contact the Burren Painting Centre in Lisdoonvarna on NEOs