Growing concern about the increase in absenteeism among nursing staff at Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis Hospital has prompted calls for an official investigation into the causes of this long-running problem.

CLARE County Council was given an E ranking, leaving it in 26th place, according to a review of Ireland’s planning system by An Taisce.

SHANNON Airport expects the number of French visitors to increase by up to 40% this year.

The number of people waiting on trolleys at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Ennis has been reduced by 83%, according to recently released figures.

PASSENGER numbers at Shannon slumped by 7% last year, down to 1.6 million. Dublin Airport Authority figures show Shannon was again the worst performing of the three State airports, as Dublin saw a 2% increase, while Cork saw a 3% decline.The decline at Shannon was slightly smaller – 6% – when domestic travel was excluded. However, the 1.6 million is less impressive when one considers that it includes US troops transiting through Shannon and a twice-daily British Airways service, which stops to allow passengers use the US CBP preclearance facility, before continuing to New York. The airport has been in decline since 2006 when a record 3.63 million used it. While 2011 saw a smaller decline than any of the previous three years, the number is still way down on even the 2009 figure of 2.8 million.In a statement reacting to the figures, acting Shannon Airport director Niall MacCarthy said 2011 had been challenging but there were still some positives …

Newly released figures show the Clare Motor Tax Office issued a total of 126,600 tax discs during 2011, down 7%  from 135,800 the previous year.

THE number of women attending Clare Haven’s outreach services this year has jumped by about 25%, according to manager, Denise Dunne.According to official figures released by the centre, 111 women and 201 children stayed in their refuge this year to date, which has remained constant over the last two years as this crisis accommodation service has been full to capacity.Counselling and one-to-one confidential non-judgemental support was provided to women attending outreach facilities, which recorded a 25% increase from 2010. Clare women suffering from domestic violence, who need help to secure legal aid are also accompanied to court hearing and other services when they are at their most vulnerable.The women’s refuge is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition to accepting a pay freeze for the last few years, the staff of nine full-time and 19 part-time workers have co-operated with a cost-cutting restructuring programme to cope with annual cutbacks in funding.Ms Dunne admitted it was becoming …

Domestic car sales in Clare are down by over 43% in July compared to the same month last year, the latest figures reveal. The drop in Clare is well above the national average of 35%, but below neighbouring Limerick. Car sales in the county are up overall in the year to date.The drop in new car sales last month is mainly due to the ending of the Government scrappage scheme which saw discounts of €1,500 initially and then €1,250, off Vehicle Registration Tax on cars 10 years or older. “The fact the scrappage finished on June 30 would have pushed a lot of people who were going to change their cars forward and we had expected to find that July would fall flat after that,” explained Eddie Rynne, general manager, T Sheils & Co. Ltd, Ennis. “Taking Ford in Clare, our market share I believe we are running 3% to 4% above the national average so we were punching well …