Clare County council has been awarded half a million euro to help with the improvement of water services in the county.

The 504 thousand euro comes from the Government, and is part of a 20.5 million fund granted to local authorities nationwide.

The county council's portion of the funds will assist with the running costs on their water and sewerage treatment plants
 

The Taoiseach has urged the people of South East Clare to remain calm and sensible about the possible extension of Limerick City into County Clare.

It follows calls from the Mayor of Clare, Christy Curtin, "to Leave County Clare alone", as he addressed Brian Cowen and other government representatives at the opening of the new Limerick Tunnel.

Plans for a five million euro national surf lodge on Lahinch's prom have been given the green light.

Clare County Council has approved proposals for the five storey watersport facility in spite of concerns by local surfers.

The development which includes an indoor wave machine for surfers or learners to practice as well as retail units bistro and activity centre - lies opposite the Spinnaker and adjacent to Lahinch Sea World.

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A man rescued from a boat off Lough Derg is in a critical condition in hospital.

The alarm was raised shortly after half eleven last night after reports that a boat with one person on board had run aground at Tinkers Point on the southern tip of IIaunmore, an island in Lough Derg.

The RNLI lifeboat was launched and the crew discovered a man in the helm's seat of the boat who  was deeply unconscious and appeared  severely hypothermic.  No body else was found on the boat.

A post-mortem's due to be carried out on the body of a man recovered off the West Clare coast at the weekend.

The grim find was made on Saturday evening when two women spotted the man's remains floating in the sea near Kilkee.

The body is believed to be that of a German tourist whose rental car was found abandoned on a country road at Derreen near the Cliffs of Moher on Thursday.

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A body has been recovered from the sea in Co Clare.

The alarm was raised at around 7 o'clock when a body was seen floating in the sea near Kilkee.

Members of the Kilkee Marine Rescue Service recovered the body a short time later and removed it to the local rescue centre.

Gardaí are investigating whether the body is that of a German man whose rental car was found abandoned near the Cliffs of Moher on Thursday night.

It's feared creating one single Limerick authority encompassing large chunks of South East Clare will actually weaken both Limerick City and the region as a whole.

The Environment Minister's set to meet with the head of the committee set up to local at local government structures in the city as reports suggest Denis Brosnan set to recommend a boundary extension into Clare.

It's believed the committee is recommending not just the inclusion of Shannon Banks and Westbury but also possibly Meelick and Parteen.

Limerick City could be getting its boundary extension into South East Clare.

Newspaper reports today claim that the large suburbs of Shannon Banks and Westbury are to be recommended for inclusion in a new single local authority covering Limerick City and County.

According to a report in today's Limerick Leader its claimed that Denis Brosnan- the man who headed up the five strong Limerick Local Government Committee is set to recommend that large parts of South East Clare be included in plans to develop one local authority area governing Limerick City and County.

Clare Emergency services involved in the response last winters severe flooding and freezing believe they reacted better than represented in an Oireachtas report which criticises the way in which the crisis was handled.

The report on the big freeze and last Novembers flooding across the country and Clare communities like Ennis and Clonlara, has called for an overhaul of emergency management systems and clearer leadership in future.

A report into the severe flooding in Clare, Galway Cork and other parts of the country last November is expected to criticise aspects of the emergency response.

Details of the probe carried out by an Oireachtas Committee is set to be released this afternoon.

It examined the causes of and subsequent response to the flooding which afflicted several areas of Clare including Ennis, South East Clare particularly Clonlara and Shannon Banks and Carron in the north of the county.