Shannon

REVENUE officers have seized drugs with an estimated street value of €146,000 at Shannon Airport this morning. On Thursday morning, as a result of routine operations, Revenue officers seized 7.5 kgs of herbal cannabis, with an estimated value of €146,000, at the airport. The illegal drugs were discovered, with the assistance of detector dog Harley, concealed within water heaters declared as ‘Machine Parts’. The consignment had originated in Spain and was destined for an address in Carlow. Investigations are ongoing. This seizure is part of Revenue’s ongoing operations targeting the importation of illegal drugs. If businesses or members of the public have any information regarding smuggling, they can contact Revenue in confidence on Confidential Phone Number 1800 295 295.

TAOISEACH Mícheál Martin was at EI Electronics in Shannon today, where he officially opened the company’s new 10,000 square metre facility. The company are locally owned and one of the biggest employers in Clare, while they expect to add around 200 more staff over the coming year. When construction on the new facility began in 2020 they predicted that the development would allow them “to significantly expand our teams and current production capacity over the coming years, as well as deepening our ties with the local community and region.” The new development provides provides additional Manufacturing Capacity, R&D, and Office Space. The continued success of EI Electronics was lauded by Clare TD Cathal Crowe, who welcomed the fact that its headcount will increase once again. “Today’s announcement by Chief Executive of EI Mick Guinnee is a hugely positive endorsement of Shannon, Clare and the Midwest region as a whole,” said Deputy Crowe. “The Shannon Free Zone is proving time and …

A concert to raise funds for the people of Ukraine will be held in Shannon on Wednesday night (March 9), writes Owen Ryan. Cuppa Tea TV (which is run by Damian O’Rourke), the Love Shannon Community Council and Shannon Leisure Centre all came together to organise the event. “We have Luka Bloom, David Hope, the Shannon Gospel Choir. There’ll be a good few from Youth in Music singing at it, and a lot of other locals, there’ll probably be 15 or 16 playing on the night,” said Damian. The proceeds are all for the Irish Red Cross and explaining how it would work, Damian said, “It’s donations on the door, anyone can come along and throw in whatever they want into the bucket. We’re working on a GoFundMe link, so anyone who can’t make it on the night can make donations through that.” Karl Fogarty, manager of Shannon Leisure Centre, was the person who got the ball rolling on the …

ON March 1 Teresa Woods will retire having been Parish Secretary for the last 17 years. She took up the role in February of 2005, working for then parish priest Father Tom Ryan, with the Parish Office having opened a couple of months afterwards. People call into the office for all sorts of reasons, from baptisms to bereavements, buying mass cards and booking weddings.  Looking back on the last 17 years Teresa says the people she has encountered have made the job a really fulfilling experience. “I’ve worked with incredible people in the parish. First of all the clergy have been terrific. The parishioners as well.” Shannon has a unique mix of people, and she feels that one consequence of its demographics is that people give each other a chance. “We’re a very unique parish in that we’re all kind of blow-ins, and we all get on well with each other, we take each other at face value. I think …

LOCAL woman Brid Casey is part of the first all-female team that will compete in the GRIMP North America competition which will be held in Los Angeles next month. It is an international rescue skills challenge and will be hosted on the Battleship Iowa. GRIMP is a competition that originated in Belgium in the mid 2000s for rescue teams to pit their skills against one another. “Some of them are fire service, some of them work in industry and come together, some of them are rescue teams from different mountains, there’s cave rescue,” explains Brid. “The competition goes over four days, there are different scenarios set, everyone competes on those and there’s a winner announced. GRIMP North America is a spin off from that. “It was on in LA in 2019 and initially they planned to have it every second year, but Covid interfered with that. This is going to be the second year of it. “Twelve teams compete, it’s …

Dan Danaher on plans from a Clare-based group at the leading edge of change in aviation Providing air taxis for players and patrons attending the 2027 Ryder Cup in Adare Manor is an achievable target, according to a new Shannon-based aviation consortium. This is one of the exciting enterprises planned by the new group piloting a revolution in how air taxis and unmanned drones will completely change aviation over the coming years. Skyports, Future Mobility Campus Ireland, Avtrain and Shannon Group have joined forces to establish Ireland’s first passenger and cargo vertiport at Shannon’s FMCI campus, encouraging participation and investment in Ireland’s Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAM) industry. Their goal is the establishment of Ireland’s first air taxi service and routine beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations. The consortium includes Skyports, the world’s leading passenger air taxi and cargo drone vertiport provider; Future Mobility Campus Ireland (FMCI), Ireland’s first test bed for future mobility located next to Shannon Airport; …

ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour in parts of Shannon is leading to the “terrorising” of people trying to go about their daily lives, Clare’s Fianna Fáil TD has said. Deputy Cathal Crowe told the quarterly meeting of Clare’s Joint Policing Committee (JPC) that a stronger approach needs to be taken to tackle a raft of incidents in the town. “This is a parental and a policing issue,” he said. “There are kids being dropped off from Sixmilebridge, Quin and from across the region and they think their children are just spending time with their friends. “The truth is that there is terrorising going on in the shopping centre. Last week, a trolley was pushed down two or three flights of stairs and it narrowly missed a pensioner who was out doing the shopping.” Responding to the Fianna Fáil TD’s concerns, Chief Superintendent Seán Colleran said the issue of anti-social behaviour was widespread. “This is not just a concern for Shannon,” he said. “There …

DRUGS with an estimated value of €50,000 have been seized at Shannon Airport with the assistance of detector dog Harley. Revenue officers seized 2.5 kgs of herbal cannabis concealed within metal cans manifested as “Jasmine Tea”. The consignment had originated in the US and was destined for an address in Cork. Separately, at Dublin District Court Revenue officers were granted a three-month cash detention order by Judge John Campbell. This followed the seizure on 18 February 2022 of €10,000 at Dublin Airport. The cash was discovered when, as a result of routine profiling, Revenue officers stopped and searched a passenger prior to boarding a flight to Instanbul, Turkey. The cash is suspected to be the proceeds of, or intended for use in, criminal activity and is detained by Revenue in accordance with proceeds of crime legislation. Investigations into both seizures are ongoing. These seizures are part of Revenue’s ongoing operations targeting organised crime groups and the importation, sale and supply …