A RULING by the European Court of Justice requiring payment of royalties for the use of TV/radio broadcasts by guests in hotel bedrooms has been slammed by hoteliers.

Irish people living abroad should of course have the right to vote in Presidential elections here. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore started a new debate on this issue at the weekend when he said the matter was to be discussed at the all-party council on the Constitution.I would go further than merely giving Irish people living abroad the right to vote in Presidential elections here. I would extend the right to Irish people living in Northern Ireland and I look forward to the day when our fellow citizens in Belfast, Derry and other parts of the North can vote in Dáil elections.You could argue that people who do not pay their income tax here should not have the right to vote here but that would not be a valid argument. A lot of Irish people living here do not pay income tax here or any place else either because they cannot afford to pay it. The right to vote should not be …

GETTING Irish citizenship is a milestone for emigrants and the Clare Immigrant Support Centre (CISC) has been involved in preparing a workshop on the matter, which will be given next week.CISC and Doras Luimní are jointly hosting the workshop entitled Practical Guide to Citizenship Procedure, which will take place on Tuesday night from 6.30pm to 8.30pm at Pery’s Hotel, Glentworth Street, Limerick.Orla Ní Eili of CISC said people applying would benefit from what’s on offer. “To apply for your citizenship in Ireland, you have to be here for a certain amount of years and fall into a certain category. It’s a very hard process and a lot of it has been quite unclear over the years, not very transparent. Now, there is a cost involved in applying so we’re trying to make sure that people apply with the best chance of success, by having everything that’s needed with all the details. There’s an application form that you fill and a …

THE delay in waiting for Garda clearance has been described as “not on” by a local councillor, with suggestions that university graduates looking for work could be used to clear the backlog.At this month’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, Councillor Paul O’Shea called on the local authority to urge the Minister for Justice to reduce the waiting time for Garda clearance for people wanting to take up voluntary and paid work throughout Ennis and the county to the same waiting period as in Northern Ireland.“People want to go to America and England and they have to have garda clearance but they could be waiting months. “At a recent meeting of the County Development Board I heard of one councillor whose daughter applied last October and, up to last week, she hadn’t got anything. This is not on when they can do it in Northern Ireland within two to three weeks. We have thousands of graduates, can they not be brought …

Diabetes Ireland Research Alliance (DIRA) in association with Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) are holding a type one diabetes research development meeting in The Greenhills Hotel, Limerick on Tuesday at 7.30pm. DIRA is a subsidiary group of Diabetes Ireland.Experts will provide information on the latest cutting-edge type one diabetes research and how to help find the cure. Type one diabetes is an auto-immune disease and tends to occur in childhood or early adult life. It always requires treatment with insulin therapy. It is not caused by lifestyle choices and cannot be prevented or cured.The development of an artificial pancreas is a long-sought-after system of insulin pumps and glucose sensors that deliver insulin to diabetics, mimicking the function of a real pancreas. While the current state of insulin replacement therapy is appreciated for its life-saving capability, the task of manually managing the blood sugar levels with insulin alone is arduous and inadequate for over 300 Clare children and adults with type …

Kilmurry Ibrickane 1-9   St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield 1-7   AS important as the result was St Joseph’s determination to make a game of their first meeting with Kilmurry Ibrickane since last year’s one-sided county final.Now under the management of Mark Raftery, St Joseph’s displayed plenty of vim and vigour in Quilty. However, they didn’t avail of the strong first-half wind sufficiently and, in fact, trailed 1-5 to 0-5 at half-time. Keith King scored Kilmurry’s first-half goal in injury time.The second half was fairly evenly fought but St Joseph’s didn’t threaten to bring a result home until Cathal Duggan goaled six minutes from full-time. However, Kilmurry midfielder Niall Hickey kicked the game’s last score to secure both points for the reigning Cusack Cup and county champions.Twelve months ago, this Cusack Cup fixture ended in a draw but bearing in mind St Joseph’s flat county final display, they will be relieved that they did themselves more justice this time.Kilmurry Ibrickane: Peter O’Dwyer; Martin …

The overall bill of almost €1 million on basic pay, allowances and expenses paid to 34 Clare County Councillors [two changes were made after the Seanad elections] dropped by a 3.4% last year, despite huge cuts in salaries and overtime in the private sector.In 2010, Clare’s 32 county councillors were paid a total of €949,9651.80 to cover their representational allowance. This figure fell by €33,000 to €916,311 last year. The only real difference was in the number of councillors who were paid after Councillors Bill Slattery and Seán McLoughlin were co-opted to the council following the departure of Councillor Martin Conway and Tony Mulcahy on their election to the Seanad.As expected, Mayor of Clare, Councillor Pat Hayes and the previous Mayor, Councillor Christy Curtin, were the two top earners. Councillor Hayes, who welcomed the public disclosure of councillors’ payments, was paid €414,038 in 2011, which includes a mayoral allowance of €13,500. It also included two separate payments for office equipment …

Clare County Council has been requested to consider banning dogs from certain public places to reduce the serious health risks associated with the increasing problem of dog excrement on footpaths in towns and amenity areas.Clare County Councillor, Brian  Meaney has proposed that the areas leading up to schools, hospitals and amenity areas such as beaches such be declared a no-go zone for dogs.The Green Party Councillor has also requested the council to engage in “shock tactics” by erecting the following sign – “warning dog s**t on payment” to reduce the increasing amount of dog fouling.He made his proposal after Clare County Council admitted it had issued one on-the-spot litter fine of €150 under the Litter Pollution Act, 1997, in relation to dog fouling.In addition to raising the sign aloft at a recent council meeting, Councillor Meaney argued the council should abandon its efforts to prevent dog faeces being strewn on the county’s footpaths and warn people in the most graphic …