Tag Archives: Nicola Corless

TWO local media stalwarts have been honoured for a lifetime of service to the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) at a ceremony organised by the union’s Irish South West branch. Clare Champion Sports Editor Seamus Hayes and public relations professional, Colman Garrihy were honoured for their service to the NUJ over more than 40 years. Lissycasey native Seamus Hayes is well known throughout the county and the region in his role with The Champion, having joined the newsroom directly from St Flannan’s College in Ennis, where he excelled both as a student and sportsman on various teams. Seamus joined the union when The Clare Champion chapel was set up in 1971. In the early days, he was a member of a very trim newsroom staff, which included another long-time NUJ member, Tony Mulvey. He covered Shannon Town when it was in its infancy but sport was always his passion and he brought his personal experience to bear in his writing …

AN Ennis resident has won two international business awards for public relations and communications in Barcelona. Nicola Corless, originally from Mayo but who has been living in Ennis for the past 10 years is to receive a Gold and a Silver Stevie® Award at the 14th Annual International Business Awards, which will be held in Barcelona in October. The awards recognise her work within the Marketing and Communications Division of University of Limerick. UL was the outright winner in the Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Global Issues category for which it will receive a Gold Stevie® Award. The university marketing and communications division also won a Silver Stevie® Award in the Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Low Budget (Under $10,000 / € 7,000) category. Judges described the public relations campaign, Meet the Mesentery, The Organ Hiding in Plain Sight, led by UL’s Communications Officer Nicola Corless, as “an excellent showcase of PR skills and story-telling …

A CLARE Champion journalist hopes her award-winning article on a farm tragedy will help to increase public awareness of workplace risks and reduce further loss of life. Nicola Corless scooped a Local Ireland Media Award for writing the best Feature Story of the Year at a presentation ceremony in Tullamore last week. Her story, titled When all changes in an instant, was widely praised for its sensitive telling of how a family coped with the death of a husband and father. “There have been five farming-related fatalities this year to date and we aren’t even into the busiest time yet. I hope the award will mean that more people read the article and carefully consider whether or not the time saved by taking a risk is worth what could ultimately be lost. “I am glad to see voluntary organisations, like Embrace FARM, providing some support to farm families who have lost a loved one or been injured in a farming …

Clare County Council has said today (Tuesday) some progress has been made following its engagement with a committee of residents and local representatives relating to traffic management proposals at Blake’s Corner in Ennistymon. Two three-hour meetings have been held, during which detailed discussions took place in relation to the environmental, conservation and traffic requirements that require to be met for any proposal. The appointed project consultants have outlined the range of options explored to date to address the serious safety issues at Blake’s Corner and have presented the variants of different options to the committee. Following discussion and assessment of the options, one of the parties previously affected by land acquisition has been removed from the proposal as an alternative has been identified.

The Clare Champion broke new ground with our 2014 Local and European elections coverage. With regular updates on our websites  from our team of reporters, Nicola Corless, Carol Byrne, Dan Danaher, Peter O’Connell and Owen Ryan, and photographer, John Kelly, there was a huge following over the two-day count at Treacys’ West County Hotel in Ennis. There was also big engagement via Facebook and twitter. Up to Wednesday evening, our website election coverage had more than 48,000 hits. Of course, this week’s Clare Champion has  comprehensive election coverage, in particular a debate with former TDs Tony Killeen, Donal Carey and Moosajee Bhamjee, as well as analysts, Mike Torpey and Kevin Halpin.

Property prices outside Dublin registered their first quarterly increase since 2007 but not in Clare, which experienced the biggest fall in asking prices in Munster in the past year. ACCORDING to the latest Daft.ie House Price Report, the average asking price for properties outside of Dublin increased during the first three months of the year; the first quarterly rise since mid-2007 according to the report. Nationally, the average asking price is now €177,000, up 3.5% from the same time last year and down 53% from the peak. In Clare, however, prices in early 2014 were 9% lower than the same time in 2013, compared to a fall the previous year of 12%. The average house price here is now €130,000, 58% below peak levels. The latest figures show that the greatest fall year-on-year in asking prices here is in the one-bedroom apartment category which has fallen to €44,000, a drop of nearly 19%. The prices asked for five-bed detached homes …

THE abolition of the Ennistymon Electoral Area later this year was described as “a retrograde step” by a local representative. Councillor Michael Hillery was speaking at the final Ennistymon Electoral Area meeting held on Monday. In May, the electoral area boundaries change and a large part of the existing Ennistymon Electoral Area will merge with the existing Kilrush Electoral Area, while the remaining part will join with the East Clare Electoral Area. Local area meetings for the larger North Clare area will now take place in the new municipal centre in Kilrush. “I feel it is a retrograde step that the area is being disbanded and the main office is going to be in Kilrush. This will be a great loss to North Clare,” Councillor Hillery said. “This will continue as a service centre,” said Niall Barrett, Clare County Council director of service and area co-prdinator. Councillor Bill Slattery stressed that it remained unclear in “what form” the Ennistymon office …

KILCOLGAN Educate Together National School unveiled its new website this week. The school, which opened in September 2008, launched the new website (www.kilcolganetns.com), which promises greater input from pupils and teachers alike, according to principal Anna Eagleton. “With the rapid growth of our school, it is becoming increasingly important to have a wide-reaching and easily accessible and easily manageable platform to keep our parent body and community up to date. “A school website is, for many, the first contact they will have with a school and our hope is that any visitors to our site will enjoy the virtual experience as much as the real one,” said Ms Eagleton, who paid tribute to third-class teacher, Clare Lucey, who designed and built the site. “The most genuine and sincere thanks are due to Aidan McCarthy and Clare Lucey for developing the new website,” she stated. When the school first opened, there were just 20 children and two teachers. Now, in the …