ORGANISED begging is taking place on the streets of Ennis, it has been claimed, as Ennis Town Council was urged to make the county capital a “begging free zone”. This week’s meeting of the local authority saw Councillor Paul O’Shea urge that Ennis Town Council work with the appropriate authorities, such as social welfare inspectors, to ascertain if those who beg on the streets are in receipt of social welfare payments. He stated that the town council should “endeavour to make Ennis a begging free zone in 2014, so as to encourage tourism in our county town”. He went on, “I don’t want to sound inhumane but there are certain people throughout the town who continue to beg. Tourist buses are coming in and they are being met by beggars and I have seen the same beggars who are in Ennis in Clonmel, County Tipperary. Is this organised begging? If it is, we need to do something about it.” According …

THE Inn at Dromoland was the venue last week for a gathering of 340 people from O’Callaghan’s Mills, to honour the sporting achievements of parishioners during 2013. Christy Philpott was the master of ceremonies and he met the main recipients, Colin Crehan and Ella Donnellan, who won handball world titles; Louise McCagh, the first Irish lady to win a Taekwando senior world title; Patrick Donnellan (captain) and Conor Cooney, both members of the Clare senior hurling team that won the All-Ireland title and Sean Hehir, winner of the Dublin City Marathon. Christy was assisted on stage by Davy Fitzgerald, Clare hurling manager and by Joe O’Gorman. Amongst the gathering was Sean Hehir’s coach, Dick Hooper, who represented Ireland in the marathon at three Olympic Games in 1980, 1984 and 1988. Also present were Arthur Forde, athletics coach from Ennis; Joe and Theresa Cooney, parents of Conor;  Patrick’s parents Stevie and Mary Donnellan and many others. As this was a night …

A DELEGATION from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, headed by chairman Clare Deputy Pat Breen, will travel to Tehran this Thursday for a series of engagements aimed at developing relations and bolstering trade links between Ireland and Iran. As well as meeting its parliamentary counterpart, the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, the delegation will hold discussions with Foreign Minister Dr Mohammad Zarif, Agriculture Minister Mahmud Hodjati and Dr Ali Laridjani, Speaker of Parliament, and will meet with the Iranian Chamber of Commerce. The delegation will also meet with the Head of the Iranian Human Rights Council Dr Mohammad Javad Laridjani. Committee Chairman Pat Breen will lead the cross-party delegation, which includes TD’s Eric Byrne, Sean Crowe, Maureen O’Sullivan and Senator Deirdre Clune. Deputy Breen TD said, “The visit to Tehran will provide a new impetus in relations between Ireland and Iran. We are looking forward to positive and open dialogue with fellow parliamentarians, senior Ministers, …

THE public are being urged to play their part in reducing the amount of Christmas waste sent to landfill by availing of one of the county’s five recycling facilities. The Environment Section of Clare County Council says people can bring a carload of recyclable waste to its recycling centres and transfer stations at Ballyduffbeg, Lisdeen, Shannon, Scarriff and Ennis for as little as €5. “With the Christmas holidays comes lots of extra packaging, particularly in the home,” explained Joan Tarmey, Clare Environmental Awareness Officer. “However, most of this packaging can be recycled. Clare boasts one of the highest household recycling rates in the country, and this year we are again reminding the public to bring their recyclable waste to our recycling centres and bottles and aluminium cans to the 54 bring banks around the county. “We are also reminding the public to keep bring bank sites clean and tidy by depositing only bottles and aluminium cans into the banks. Boxes, …

DESPITE a stormy December, visitor numbers at the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience in County Clare were up 10% during 2013. 960,134 people visited the world famous tourist attraction last year compared to 873,988 during the previous year. It is the third successive increase in visitor numbers to the Cliffs of Moher with year-on-year increases of 12% and 8% being achieved during 2011 and 2012 respectively. Management at the Cliffs of Moher say growth in the group travel market, good weather conditions during July and The Gathering Ireland initiative helped to deliver the increase. Fully Independent Travellers (FITs), mainly travelling by car, made up 49% of the total representing a 4% increase compared to 2012.   Groups, mainly travelling by coach, made up 46% of the total and this segment grew by 14.6% over 2012.  Walkers, cyclists and those travelling by public transport made up the remainder representing a 17.6% increase over 2012. “This is the highest number of visitors since …

CLARE County Council is urging home and business owners, particularly those in low lying coastal areas, to take precautionary steps in view of Met Éireann’s weather advisory for the coming days. Coastal locations in the West of Ireland are expected to be affected by heavy rainfall, tidal surges and severe gales on Thursday night and Friday. Clare County Council, in conjunction with the Emergency Services, says it is progressing contingency arrangements in terms of additional pumping capacity and other flood alleviation measures at flood prone locations. The Council confirmed that river levels have increased significantly over the past week, and arrangements have been put in place to continuously monitor the situation. In light of the high river levels, land, home and business owners along with motorists are being urged to exercise increased vigilance concerning the potential for localised flooding. Flooding advice is available on www.flooding.ie. Information included on the website includes advice on identifying flooding risks, protecting property against flooding, …

ENNIS Town Council is closely monitoring river levels in the town and has implemented a number of flood prevention measures on a precautionary basis. The council is also advising residents and business owners in flood prone areas of the town to familiarise themselves with actions that can be undertaken immediately prior to a flooding event to reduce the risk to life and property. Recent heavy rainfall has resulted in above average water levels along the River Fergus. With further heavy rainfall forecast over the Christmas period, the council says it will continue to monitor water levels on a continuous basis.

SHANNON Chamber has warned that the growing east west imbalance in tourism will continue unless actions are taken to redress the issue. Responding to a specific set of questions raised by the Government in its Tourism Policy Issues Paper, Shannon Chamber also recommended that tourism be treated as a defined sectoral activity, in terms of economic performance and value to the economy, in the same way as other sectors are recognised. “This may require collaboration between government departments who are supporting parts of the sector, but not regarded as mainstream providers. A Tourism Satellite Account, which will monitor and provide statistics on how tourism impacts the economy, would be an essential first step in this direction,” said the chamber’s chief executive Helen Downes. “Ireland is an island economy so we have to view it from a tourist’s perspective to maximise its performance. Visitors come to see multiple products in a single destination; getting them to move east west and west-east …