WITH Christmas being a high-risk period for fires and accidents in the home, Clare County Fire and Rescue Service have issued a warning in respect of safety measures. In the event of a fire in your home, Clare Chief Fire Officer, Adrian Kelly has warned, “Get out, stay out and call the fire brigade out”.  The fire service can be contacted by dialling 999/112. The annual campaign comes as the Fire Service confirmed that brigades throughout Clare were mobilised to 44 incidents during the 2012 Christmas period, representing a third successive drop in festive fire callouts since 2009. The call-out figures for the period December 20, 2012 to January 3, 2013 were less than those recorded during the corresponding periods in 2009, 2010 and 2011 when the fire service was mobilised to 81, 64 and 48 incidents respectively. The majority of emergency call-outs were attended by Ennis Fire Brigade with 20, followed by Shannon at 13, Killaloe with three, Ennistymon …

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade meets today with Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), to discuss the work of the court. The ICC opened its doors in July 2002 to try those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Chairman of the Committee Clare TD Pat Breen says, “The International Criminal Court was established with the purpose of ensuring that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole do not go unpunished. Ireland is a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court and was among the first 50 states to sign the Rome Statute, which governs the running of the Court. “. The Court is a relatively young international institution which requires political and diplomatic support to ensure its effective functioning. Following an outline of the work of her Office, Committee Members will have an opportunity to consider the achievements of the ICC in its …

CLARE County Council is to commence interim remedial works at the Tradaree Point wastewater treatment plant in Shannon this weekend. The desludging of the plant is aimed at reducing sewage-related odours emanating from the facility. The works will continue next week and into the early weeks of 2014. “Clare County Council wishes to alert residents, on a precautionary basis, that odours may be generated during the desludging operation because of the nature of the operation itself,” explained a Council spokesperson. “Tanks will have to be drained down in sequence, and this may expose solid materials gathered on the floors of the tanks which may be a source of odour while they are being removed. However, even though the operation may cause odours in itself, the overall purpose of the operation is to alleviate odours in the longer term.” “The Council has also secured aeration equipment to blow additional air into the tanks once they are desludged and refilled in sequence. …

By Owen Ryan WORKS which should help cut out the foul odours that are plaguing Shannon have begun, but Clare County Council have warned that things may get worse before they get better. Interim remedial works began at the Tradaree Point wastewater treatment plant at the weekend. The work will continue into the New Year and aims to reduce sewage-related odours. “Clare County Council wishes to alert residents on a precautionary basis, that odours may be generated during the desludging operation because of the nature of the operation itself,” said a Council spokesman. “Tanks will have to be drained down in sequence, and this may expose solid materials gathered on the floors of the tanks which may be a source of odour while they are being removed. However, even though the operation may cause odours in itself, the overall purpose of the operation is to alleviate odours in the longer term. “The Council has also secured aeration equipment to blow …

MICROBIOLOGICAL compliance in Clare County Council’s public water supplies was 100% for the third successive year in 2012, according to a new report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The report, entitled “The Provision and Quality of Drinking Water in Ireland: A Report for the Year 2012”, also shows Clare’s chemical compliance levels to be amongst the highest in the country at 99.2%. The EPA also featured a summary of boil water notices and water restriction notices active or issued to consumers by Clare County Council during 2012. One water restriction notice, affecting approximately 80 customers of the Ennis Public Water Supply, remained active at the end of 2012 while no new boil water notices were issued during the year. Clare County Council is responsible for the operation of 21 Public Water Supplies serving a population of 79,913. The EPA is the supervisory authority over public drinking water supplies and provides powers of enforcement to ensure actions are taken where …

THE  latest Live Register figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the number of people out of work in Clare has dropped by 7% over the last 12 months. The number of people on the Live Register across Clare has fallen by 68, from 9,628 to 8,947 during the last year. Around the county, unemployment figures are down 8% in Ennis, Ennistymon and Tulla and by 3% in Kilrush. “These are yet more encouraging figures from the Live Register, which show that the national unemployment rate has fallen for the seventeenth month in a row, to 12.5%. While this rate remains too high, these figures clearly show that the downward trend in unemployment figures is well established, as more and more people get back to work “The unemployment rate is falling in every region across the country. This is testament to the fact that small businesses are getting back on their feet and once again creating jobs. Jobs growth …

CLARECASTLE’S Tommy Howard has stepped down from his post of manager of the Kerry senior hurlers citing a lack of commitment by some players as the reason for his sudden departure. Howard and his management team, which also included fellow Clarecastle man Fergie 0’Loughlin as trainer, issued a joint statement to a meeting of the Kerry County Board last week outlining the reasons behind their decision. Speaking on Radio Kerry, Howard said he and his management team felt the Kerry team had to “up their game for next year’s league and saw pre-season training as key to this.” “The management team met six weeks ago and tried to critically review the 2013 season and what we needed to do to improve on our performance in 2014. We met the county board and received a positive response from them on our plans. One of the critical areas we identified was to improve the general fitness of all the players. This would …

THREE Clare voluntary groups will be hoping to emulate the success of organisations like The Clare Crusaders, Kilnaboy Youth Club, Tuamgraney and other Clare communities in previous years by being named a category winner at the IPB Pride of Place awards ceremony in Derry on Saturday. Clare County Council has this year selected An Sean Dún Housing Estate in Roslevan, Mountshannon Community Council and Miltown Malbay Tidy Towns to participate in the annual All-Ireland competition, which aims to recognise and celebrate the vital contributions that community groups make to society. In July, representatives of the three groups made presentations to the competition judges, Blaise Tracey and Declan Nelson. Speaking ahead of Saturday’s awards ceremony, Mayor of Clare Councillor Joe Arkins said, “The council’s decision to nominate each of the three participating groups is recognition of the hard work they have undertaken for the good of their communities. The communities of An Sean Dún, Mountshannon and Miltown Malbay can be justifiably …