Tag Archives: Barcelona

A NEW Barcelona-Girona service from Shannon Airport is to begin next month. It will operate twice weekly, each Tuesday and Saturday, commencing Tuesday, March 29 until the end of October 2022. Welcoming the service Mary Considine, CEO, Shannon, “We know that restoring connectivity is important to our airport customers and that is why we have been working hard with our airline partners to create exciting holiday opportunities. This is incredibly positive news for Shannon Airport. We have been working closely with Ryanair to deliver this service and are looking forward to the commencement of it at the end of March.” Ryanair’s Director of Commercial, Jason McGuinness said, “We are pleased to add this new route to Girona as part of our summer ‘22 schedule from Shannon. This route will operate twice weekly for the summer season, starting from March 29. Girona is the perfect destination for anyone seeking an authentic Spanish city escape, with its winding cobbled streets, medieval architecture …

A MOUNTSHANNON man’s innovative start-up company is funding ground-breaking research on marine microplastics, with a view to proving how prevalent the issue is. Dr Alvin Orbaek White, who works at Swansea University, has pioneered a technology that changes waste plastic into valuable compounds for the energy industries, reducing plastics pollution in the process. The research will be instrumental in addressing the global transition to more efficient, cleaner energy resources and providing a new life for waste plastics, keeping them out of land and sea. Dr Orbaek White’s company TrimTabs is supporting research currently underway in Barcelona where artist and boat builder Mark Reddan is working with marine scientists to look at how plastics are entering the food chain. “Part of what we want to do is to get our technology out of the lab and addressing the issue of microplastics which are in everything from our tea to our washing machines,” Dr Orbaek White said. “There’s an annual currach festival …

RYANAIR has delivered on a promise to refund a school group from St Joseph’s in Tulla, whose planned Transition Year tour to Barcelona last April had to be called off because of the pandemic. The repayments were confirmed by Deputy Cathal Crowe who said the money was received on Tuesday morning (March 16). Following the intervention of Deputy Crowe and Senator Timmy Dooley, Ryanair agreed to make the refund. The money went to the school who then repaid students and families. “Even though, following my intervention last month, Ryanair’s CEO Eddie Wilson agreed to directly refund the school so that they in turn could reimburse all parents, the reimbursement was delayed,” said Deputy Crowe. “This prompted me last week to engage with Ryanair to ensure that the matter would be brought to a conclusion. I’m delighted that there has been a successful outcome to this dispute.” Despite the successful outcome, Deputy Crowe described the delay, on Ryanair’s part, as “ridiculous”. …

COUNTY Clare is the homeland of the Maloney name and derivations of that name. Molowny is, I presume, one of these? If it is, and I suspect it undoubtedly is, it is rarely seen these days in County Clare, nor in Ireland. It is, however, a famous name in the Canary Islands, but more of that anon. Census records between 1847 and 1863 record only five households in Ireland who registered under the name Molowny. The name seems to have died out in Ireland, with perhaps people changing it to the more common Moloney form. Yet, by some strange set of circumstances, the largest number of people bearing the name Molowny in the world reside in Spain. There are 150 registered Molownys, most of them residing in the Canary Islands, with a few families in Madrid. By sheer accident, I discovered a connection between one particular Molowny and Real Madrid Football Club. I was having a coffee one morning in …

Shannon Airport’s revival has been recognised with yet another award. It has been given the overall Airport Achievement Award for 2014/2015 from the European Regions Airline Association (ERA). The award, which was announced at prestigious ceremony at the Catalunya Congress Centre in Barcelona on Wednesday night makes for an unprecedented 10 days for the airport in terms of award wins. On Monday week last, it landed the international marketing prize for airports under four million passengers at the World Routes Awards in Chicago. It also follows Shannon Airport’s inaugural Airport Achievement Award at the Irish Aviation Industry Awards in June. This latest award, presented at the Association’s General Assembly, is the first time an Irish airport has been presented with the overall ERA award, which was established as the ‘ERA Airport of the Year Award’ in 2002. Previous winners of the award include London City, Budapest and Munich Airports. The aim of the award is to recognise the best achievement(s) …