The Ballybunion thread

RiderOnTheStorm

The latest here is that the Goof Hotel will NOT be housing refugees or asylum seekers. On Radio Kerry it was announced that Jimmy Deenahan has said the GH was not fit for purpose (or something like that). So, it looks like its all over ..... for now!

There was to be a meeting at the community center this evening (and a TV crew was coming), but I am not sure if its still on ....

BPKS

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

The latest here is that the Goof Hotel will NOT be housing refugees or asylum seekers. On Radio Kerry it was announced that Jimmy Deenahan has said the GH was not fit for purpose (or something like that). So, it looks like its all over ..... for now!

There was to be a meeting at the community center this evening (and a TV crew was coming), but I am not sure if its still on ....

According to a few of the hotels trip advisor reviews, its one of the best hotels around. Strange that it wouldn't be fit for the purpose of housing refugees:eek:

Tychoo

There was no TV crew there another peice of miss information by the Goof hotel.

RiderOnTheStorm

This weeks newsletter (http://www.flipgorilla.com/p/23837411469453455/show#/23837411469453455/0 has good summary of all the recent events regarding Asylum Seekers...... as well as all the other news!

If the flipgorilla link doesnt work for you, go to "Latest Issue" on http://www.ballybunionnews.com/

snow scorpion

Goof Hotel ...

RiderOnTheStorm

The new building at Cregans Corner progresses. Looks like a cellar / basement is going in.... or maybe they are putting the ground floor of a 2 story building underground so as not to obstruct the view for the buildings behind.

RiderOnTheStorm

This weeks newsletter

http://www.flipgorilla.com/p/23837411469454198/show

Its a big one, so pls be patient opening it :-)

RiderOnTheStorm

Happy Christmas to all, from the North Kingdom (where it has been stormy & raining for months .... it seems!)

Hope your weather is good

Hope y'all have a great New Year ..... and to all Ballyb fans (that dont live in Ballyb), Hope y'all get a chance to visit in 2016

snow scorpion

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

Happy Christmas to all, from the North Kingdom (where it has been stormy & raining for months .... it seems!)

Hope your weather is good

Hope y'all have a great New Year ..... and to all Ballyb fans (that dont live in Ballyb), Hope y'all get a chance to visit in 2016

T-shirt weather here in New York on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

It felt weird ... Christmas in springtime.

What are we doing about the 23 December issue of the Ballybunion News? It looks like someone wasn't paying attention and let the website expire.

RiderOnTheStorm

Dont know what happening with the Ballybunion News website .... I will ask around.

Here is the latest newsletter, if it works for ya!

http://www.flipgorilla.com/p/23837411469454559/show

snow scorpion

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

Dont know what happening with the Ballybunion News website .... I will ask around.

Here is the latest newsletter, if it works for ya!

http://www.flipgorilla.com/p/23837411469454559/show

Thanks, Rider. It works for me using Windows 7.

snow scorpion

The Ballybunion Thread stats for 2015:

34,021 views for the year
93 views per day

Happy New Year everybody!

RiderOnTheStorm

snow scorpion wrote: »

The Ballybunion Thread stats for 2015:

34,021 views for the year
93 views per day

Happy New Year everybody!

Wow .... 90+ per day!!! thats most excellent ....

Not much news here .... the weather is the big story, with strong winds and heavy rains. We have just passed our 6th storm (Storm Frank) in 8 weeks, and the ground has reached (some time ago) its maximium saturation, so any rain that falls is causing floods, run-off, and even a mud slide! The poor folk in the Shannon basin are flooded regularly, as the hydro-dam folk regularly let off water to prevent the dam from bursting ..... folk are miserable here!

Some good news .... the lovely Aine (from the Mixing Bowl) has gotten engaged to Joe Hellard (of the Exchange pup Hellards). Hope they will be very happy .... bet the wedding cake will be grand!

snow scorpion

Bromore in a television commercial.

Anyone recognize how far up the Coast Road this is?

RiderOnTheStorm

thats soo cool !!

thats my mates farm!! I remember him telling me (last summer) that a Chinese crew were over to shoot a commercial for irish dairy (or some such). He had a great laugh at the ins & outs of making a 60 second commercial taking all day, and using drone cameras, a fleet of black jeeps and the debate about placing a harness on the lady actor as she was so close to the edge of the cliff!

That farm & cliff is Bromore Cliffs. Its about 2 miles north of Ballyb, on the Beal road. The owner (Mike) has made a cliff-walk along the edge, complete with fences (for H&S!) , a car park (where the ticket machine is solar operated) and plaques in the ground telling you about what you can see from that point (eg Devils castle, or the Pigs Leap, or interesting plant life nearby). Cool place for a wander if you get tired of golf & amusement arcades!

BPKS

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

thats soo cool !!

thats my mates farm!! I remember him telling me (last summer) that a Chinese crew were over to shoot a commercial for irish dairy (or some such). He had a great laugh at the ins & outs of making a 60 second commercial taking all day, and using drone cameras, a fleet of black jeeps and the debate about placing a harness on the lady actor as she was so close to the edge of the cliff!

That farm & cliff is Bromore Cliffs. Its about 2 miles north of Ballyb, on the Beal road. The owner (Mike) has made a cliff-walk along the edge, complete with fences (for H&S!) , a car park (where the ticket machine is solar operated) and plaques in the ground telling you about what you can see from that point (eg Devils castle, or the Pigs Leap, or interesting plant life nearby). Cool place for a wander if you get tired of golf & amusement arcades!

Or the free cliff walk in Ballybunion?

snow scorpion

Fascinating look at the caves.

I never knew some of the caves on the Ladies Strand were connected to each other.

And the Nun's caves look really dangerous.

RiderOnTheStorm

The Grand Cave (the first one on this viedo) is easy to get into, and as soon as you turn the first corner, you can see daylight at the 'front' of the cliffs. You cant always walk out the front, only at very low tide. But you can always see it from the first turn. In fact you can see both the entrance & exit at the same time if you are standing on that first turn. Its quite safe, and very stunning in there. The 'roof' is 20m - 30m above you, and ground is always covered in sand. However, there is a side cave system halfway down the grand-cave, and when you go in here, the roof is very low and there are many turns & junctions & dead-ends. Once in here, it is pitch dark and very disorienting. It can be dangerous. This is the section that joins up with Scoilt na Druida (sp) ... the inlet where the 9 Daughters hole is located. According to local folk lore, you can go onward from there to the Nuns Beach caves, but on a recent explore we could not find the right cave. The sand shifts daily and could have blocked it off.

RiderOnTheStorm

this weeks newsletter ....

http://www.flipgorilla.com/p/23837411469456333/show

snow scorpion

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

The Grand Cave (the first one on this viedo) is easy to get into, and as soon as you turn the first corner, you can see daylight at the 'front' of the cliffs. You cant always walk out the front, only at very low tide. But you can always see it from the first turn. In fact you can see both the entrance & exit at the same time if you are standing on that first turn. Its quite safe, and very stunning in there. The 'roof' is 20m - 30m above you, and ground is always covered in sand. However, there is a side cave system halfway down the grand-cave, and when you go in here, the roof is very low and there are many turns & junctions & dead-ends. Once in here, it is pitch dark and very disorienting. It can be dangerous. This is the section that joins up with Scoilt na Druida (sp) ... the inlet where the 9 Daughters hole is located. According to local folk lore, you can go onward from there to the Nuns Beach caves, but on a recent explore we could not find the right cave. The sand shifts daily and could have blocked it off.

The Grand Cave is the one that always has a pool of water in front of it? I've never been in that one. I've only been in the caves that have dry entrances.
Never been curious enough to take off my shoes and socks off and roll up my pant legs to go inside.

Maybe next time I go over.

RiderOnTheStorm

snow scorpion wrote: »

The Grand Cave is the one that always has a pool of water in front of it?

Yup, thats the one. About 80% of the time there is a deep pool right at the entrance (in the archway). But you do get days when its dry. Its well worth taking off shoes & socks for!

BPKS

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

Yup, thats the one. About 80% of the time there is a deep pool right at the entrance (in the archway). But you do get days when its dry. Its well worth taking off shoes & socks for!

I wouldnt be advocating that people who don't know the area and/or the tides go into the Grand Cave. Its only 20 years ago that a father and his young son went into the Grand Cave to explore it and unfortunately drowned when they lost their way in the network of caves off the main tunnel.

RiderOnTheStorm

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

... However, there is a side cave system halfway down the grand-cave, and when you go in here, the roof is very low and there are many turns & junctions & dead-ends. Once in here, it is pitch dark and very disorienting. It can be dangerous. ....

I was in no way encouraging people to go explore the grand cave. It is dangerous in there, and you are quite right, 2 people have lost their lives by getting lost in there (in broad daylight).

I am sorry if my post read as if I was casually advocating that the cave is anything other than dangerous ..... my bad

RiderOnTheStorm

This weeks newsletter

http://www.flipgorilla.com/p/23837411469456865/show

RiderOnTheStorm

this weeks newsletter

http://www.flipgorilla.com/p/23837411469457258/show

Thanatosgratus

Ballybunion Golf hotel in Kerry closes with loss of 100 jobs due to lack of support from local "tourism bodies"

From their facebook page
facebook.com/TheGofHotelBallybunion

GolfHotel Ballybunion

Public notice
A decision has been taken that the Hotel will not reopen and after 49 years in business ,employing up to 100 staff each year and been a huge supporter for local festivals and events the hotel has decided to close its doors for good .
The owners took the decision after careful consideration for all the loyal staff and patrons who supported the hotel through the good and the not so good times .
The lack of Failte Ireland support and no independent tourism organisation in Ballybunion has been a main factor for the decision taken .
The hotel was also the subject of false information put out last December led by Minister Deenihan and our local SF Councillar ,plus our want to be TDs Brasill and Gorman .
The hotel spelt out its position but when individual people who contribute nothing to our town but want to be heard by creating hatred its abivious our town is quiet split and going no where .
Also Some Individuals who had vested interest in the same type of business used local media and along with these want to be public figures only helped to drive the owners into making this decision today .
We need to inform all patrons that no bookings will be taken for 2016 season and the planned Easter opening will now not happen .
As regards the listowel Race Week any of our patrons can avail of hotels in Tralee for €45 per person sharing .
The hotel will sell off all contents in the coming four weeks and private viewings will be held with a ptivate auction on Easter Saturday .PM Here
Maybe the lesson here is people who don't contribute to business life should be ignored in future as they helped in 80 jobs been lost today .

RiderOnTheStorm

I was watching with interest the 'debate' on Facebook over the closure of the Golf Hotel. There were many posts (for & against) and it got quite heated at times (and I suspect, the dust has not settled on this yet).

Thx to Thanatosgratus for that post. I had not decided what to post here regarding the closure. Suffice to say that it is a hot topic here in BB at the moment, and I dont know what side of the debate I am on!

juneg

Is there any information on the future use of the hotel? Are those "false information proposals" still a possibility?

Thanatosgratus

Didn't listen to the radio at all yesterday but the RadioKerry website had the below

"Proprietor Micheál Carr has alleged that ‘bad publicity’ – surrounding the possible re-location of refugees to Ballybunion – saw a drop in bookings for the coming season.
However he also stated while the hotel is not to re-open, he doesn’t intend to sell"


radiokerry.ie/news/management-announces-sudden-closure-of-golf-hotel-ballybunion

RiderOnTheStorm

Although there is no hard info regarding the future of the hotel, they (The Golf Hotel) have also said that they will have an auction to sell off contents of the hotel . Doesnt look good...

There was also a rumor that the same was going to happen to the Theatre (to be closed & auctioned off) but turns out its just the auditorium is being closed, and the theatre will still hold functions & bingo.