South Clare

A woman was pronounced dead following a fire at a house in Firgrove at Hurler’s Cross in the early hours of this morning. The alarm was raised at around 1.30am and the emergency services were summoned. The woman was 70 years of age and she was pronounced dead shortly after 5am at the scene. Her name has not been released at the time of writing.

The keynote speaker at this weekend’s Young Fine Gael conference dinner will be An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, while TV rugby pundit, George Hook will deliver what will undoubtedly an entertain after dinner speech. The conference opens at the Radisson Blu Hotel this Friday evening and  will continue until Sunday afternoon, during which time a wide range of party and national issues will be discussed. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and MEP Mairead McGuinness will be among the speakers.  

A dementia specific respite and daycare centre in Ballina/Killaloe, has been shortlisted for a prestigious Irish Healthcare Award, 2015. Waterman’s Lodge, which has been nominated under the Specialist Centre of the Year category, is one of two national respite centres run by the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland. A former hotel, the premises was acquired by the Alzheimer Society of Ireland in 2008 and extensively modernised and converted into a dementia specific care centre. The purpose of the respite centre is to provide dementia specific person-centred care to the person with dementia and their carers in the community. The centre can accommodate up to 11 respite clients per week. Currently there is 35 staff employed at Waterman’s Lodge all of whom have received dementia specific training. The Irish Healthcare Centre Awards 2015 will be presented on March 27.

KILLALOE gardaí are investigating the circumstances surrounding a suspicious fire, which has caused in the region of €20,000 to €40,000 worth of damage to property at a hay barn in Garraunboy, Killaloe. Gardaí received a call at 6.30am on Sunday, alerting them to a fire at a hay barn, where farm machinery is stored, in the townland of Garraunboy. At the scene, gardaí found that extensive damage was caused to not alone the hay barn but also to two silage trailers and a sprayer. An investigation was launched and the fire is being treated as a deliberate act of vandalism. Gardaí have determined that there was nothing in the hay barn or any external factor that may have caused an accidental fire at this location and so are treating the incident as suspicious. The owner of the property, who works as a farm contractor and lives nearby, was alerted to the fire by neighbours, who heard an explosion and contacted …

GOOGLE maps can be used by criminals to find out where oil tanks are situated on people’s property, a county councillor has warned. Councillor Alan O’Callaghan, who is in the fuel business, said there is a perception out there that fuel criminals have local knowledge or are following oil trucks but he feels the internet is also being used as a tool. “People need to be aware that you can go onto Google maps to see exactly where people’s oil tanks are, so it might not be local knowledge,” Mr O’Callaghan said during a discussion at a meeting of Killaloe councillors, attended by Chief Superintendent John Kerin. Councillor O’Callaghan said he believed it was true that some people didn’t realise how much fuel they would receive, especially around the time oil prices peaked. He said it was fair to say that some people thought fuel had been stolen because they had run out of fuel quicker than they expected and …

The Consecration of Kenneth Kearon as Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe took place in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin on Saturday. The service was led by the Archbishop of Dublin, The Most Reverend Dr Michael Jackson, and the Bishop of Meath and Kildare, The Most Revd Pat Storey, and the Bishop of Tuam and Killala, The Right Reverend Patrick Rooke, were co–consecrators. The preacher at the service was a friend of Bishop Kearon, the Most Revd Dr Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales. As well as Archbishop Morgan and a number of serving and retired bishops of the Church of Ireland – including The Right Reverend Sam Poyntz, the new bishop’s father–in–law – Bishop Kearon’s consecration brought together a large number of attendees from across the Church of Ireland, the wider Anglican Communion and, notably, the Methodist Church in Ireland also. The President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Revd Peter Murray, along with the Revd Donald Ker, former President …

A GROUP of students from St Anne’s Secondary School have raised almost €11,000 for their charity trip to South Africa later this month. Under the stewardship of teacher Brendan O’Brien, four fourth year students are making final preparations for their trip to the Missionvale Township. The group, which includes Mr O’Brien, Emma Collins, Ballina; Ben King, Ballina; Emer Mooney, Ogonnelloe and Michael O’Shea, Bridgetown, leave for Missionvale Township, Port Elizabeth, on Saturday, January 24. They will return on Wednesday, February 4. The total funds raised, to date, after a concert they held and other donations, is €10,866. The group has also begun an appeal for unused or unwanted Christmas wrapping paper and plastic shopping bags. Each year, on December 15, which is Fr Christmas Day, 8,000 children in the Missionvale Township receive Christmas parcels from Fr Christmas, and, as this is a huge undertaking, it has to be planned in advance. As the group will also be involved in this …

AN Bord Pleanála has been asked to examine if Clare County Council’s approval for the completion of a housing development in Westbury represented a “trade-off of sorts” with NAMA. Councillor Cathal Crowe has submitted a planning appeal to An Bord Pleanála on behalf of former defence minister, Willie O’Dea and 125 residents, who are strongly opposed to the completion of 22 residential units and site works in Westbury. In a recent submission lodged with the appeals board, Councillor Crowe stated the question had to be asked “if the impartiality of Clare County Council in adjudicating this planning file was compromised”. However, Clare County Council has responded by saying that the planning process is totally open, with all reports available for inspection on the planning file. The planning authority said it is “extremely disappointed” with Councillor Crowe’s allegations, describing them as “totally inappropriate” and “unjust”. A spokesperson for the council said it will be making observations on the appeal direct to …