Lifestyle

Senate Spokesperson for the Irish Overseas and Diaspora and Chair of the Ireland America Association, Mark Daly has called on the Government to ensure 2016 is the year the 50,000 undocumented Irish can come home to see their loved ones. “With 50,000 Undocumented Irish in America, we estimate that approximately 500,000 people in Ireland, that includes mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and other family members are affected by the lack of Immigration Reform in the United States,” said Senator Daly. “There has been little progress made in 2015; humanitarian visas were not made available, despite my request that the Government ask for President Obama to include such a provision in the Executive Action which is now being challenged in the supreme court. People should be given access to humanitarian visa, this would allow them to return to the US if they need to travel home to Ireland to be with family members in times of distress, illness or bereavement. “I am …

Members of the public are being invited to attempt to break a Guinness World Record this festive season. The challenge related to the Irish Christmas Tree Throwing Championship takes place in Active Tim Smyth Park, Ennis, from 1pm to 3pm on  Sunday, January 3. The championship, which is based on age-old lumberjack traditions across Germany and Austria, will see members of the public competing to achieve the longest distance for throwing a standard 1.5-metre tree. 2014 winner, Gary O’Growney from Dublin and 2013/2015 winner John O’Dea from Limerick share the Irish record At 10.2 metres. This is under two metres short of the world record held by Klaus Pubnaz, who hurled a tree a distance of 12 metres. Last year’s U-12 section was won by Shane Kenny, while the ladies section was won by Audrey Kavanagh (4.1m). The proceeds raised by the event will go towards the West Clare Mini-Marathon Cancer Centre. Organised by Clare County Council in conjunction with …

Christmas is a special time. For most of us, it is a time to be together with our loved ones, our families; a time to pause and reflect; a time to recognise and give thanks for the good people, and happy events in our lives. If Christmas is a time to celebrate, it is also a time to share. We share each other’s company, each other’s achievements together with each other’s pains, hopes and dreams. For we must not forget that Christmas is also a time of hope. At this time, in the deepest darkness of winter, we celebrate the triumph of light over dark, of dreams over the setbacks of the past. We renew our sense of possibilities not yet realised. As we take stock over this holiday period, we are given an opportunity to reflect on our lives and the world we live in. As we do so, we are reminded of the hardship experienced by countless people …

A campaign aimed at promoting good recycling practices and cutting down on the mountains of waste sent to landfill over the Christmas period has been launched. The Southern Region Waste Management Office has published a list of items that often end up contaminating recycling bins having been mistakenly identified as recyclable. Among the items are foil containers or crisp bags, crisp tubes, jars, nappies, plastic film and soiled packaging. “Recyclables get rejected if the recycling companies spot contamination that can spoil the quality of the recycled materials and the sorting machinery,” explained Pauline McDonogh, Regional Waste Prevention Co-ordinator, Southern Waste Region. “This waste can be very expensive to dispose of, while it also leads to more waste than is required being set to landfill,” she added. Outlining some tips for recycling, Ms McDonogh stated, “Plastics with recycling codes 1, 2 and 5 are fully recyclable and should always be put in the recycling bin. These codes are located at the base …

An estimated 20,300 people in Clare are suffering from fuel deprivation according to trade union Unite, which has issued a brief report highlighting the prevalence of fuel deprivation on a county-by-county basis. Entitled A Cold Christmas, the document uses the most recent (2014) figures for the EU-SILC heat affordability indicator, which show that over 700,000 people were unable to afford heating at some point during the year,  and adjusts them for county-level income figures to arrive at a county-by-county estimate.  The union also proposes a package of short and medium-term measures to address fuel deprivation. Unite Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly said, “Fuel deprivation impacts on the personal dignity, health and well-being of those directly affected. It diminishes family life at home and can impact on productivity at work. It also results in an increased demand on health and social services. Fuel deprivation is directly related to the increased rate of death in cold weather – what is known as excess winter mortality. The causes of fuel …

FRENCH Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Jean-Pierre Thébault, will visit Kilmaley National School on Monday morning to pay tribute to the school’s 127 pupils for their butterfly condolence card sent to the French embassy, following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. School principal Leonard McNamara told The Clare Champion the children wanted to somehow extend the hand of friendship to the French people following the attacks, in which 129 people died. “We have roughly the same number of children in the school as the number of people that were murdered in Paris. The children each created their own butterfly to represent each person who died in the tragedy. We made a large card, depicting the map of France,” Mr McNamara explained. “The children represented France in the French colours in crepe paper, like a large butterfly, with the River Seine coming out from the butterfly. The children had all of the other butterflies mounted onto the card. It was as if you …

MORE than 22,000 meals were delivered by Clarecare staff in homes or in one of its centres in 2014. That is just one of the more interesting statistics contained its annual report for 2014. One of the most worrying conclusions is the fact that the charity is struggling to meet increased demand, while simultaneously experiencing cuts in funding. Services are delivered by almost 500 staff members, with 370 employed as part-time home helps, 74 core staff and 33 as Community Employment Scheme (CES) participants. In excess of 11,000 meals were provided in people’s homes by home helps and more than 11,000 meals were provided in the Clarecare centres last year. Specialised social workers for older persons received 4,233 contacts in face-to-face meetings, telephone calls and written enquiries in 2014. Clarecare general manager, Fiacre Hensey, acknowledged 2014  was an extremely difficult year for the charity, with the demand for services continuing to increase, coupled with the continued decrease in statutory funding. …

A PHOTOGRAPHIC exhibition capturing some of the golden moments and world famous faces that visited Shannon Airport has just opened. Closing the curtain on a year of celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of the first commercial transatlantic flight into Shannon, or any land-based Irish airport, some 64 images, dating from the 1950s up to now, have been placed in a permanent exhibition on the walls of the airport’s transit lounge. The exhibition, which was officially launched by Shannon Group chairman Rose Hynes, reflects the international standing of Shannon as a global aviation crossroads as it includes some of the world’s best known personalities of politics, stage, screen and sport. Famous faces and events captured in the exhibition include every US president from presidents John F Kennedy to Barack Obama; other global political and religious leaders such as Nelson Mandela, President Mikhail Gorbachev, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Cuban President Fidel Castrol, Pope John Paul II and the Dali Lama. Shannon Group CEO, …