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Tag Archives: shannon

Frustration at inaction on Shannon anti-social behaviour

THE last couple of years have seen many complaints of anti-social behaviour around Shannon, and this week two men have spoken about their homes repeatedly having been attacked by local teenagers. The two houses are in a relatively prominent part of the town, and the occupants say that they, and two other neighbouring properties have been targeted again and again. One of the men said that he is utterly sick of his home being damaged, and with Gardai saying they can do little due to the age of those involved, he says he will protect his own home in future. “I’ve been to the Guards a number of times, they do nothing about it, they don’t care, they’re not interested, so I’m taking it into my own hands. I’m sick of it, I went to three houses and the parents didn’t give a f**k.” He said that videos of the offenders have been shown to Gardai, but there is no …

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Large scale absences expected as Clare schools reopen

CLARE schools resume today at a time when Covid-19 transmission is at its highest point since the pandemic began. With a huge amount of people either having tested positive or having been close contacts of positive cases, there will inevitably be many teachers and pupils absent in the coming days. On Wednesday, Peter Walsh, principal of St Conaire’s in Shannon was preparing for the resumption, aware that a large cohort of teachers won’t be available for the first day back. “At the moment I’m looking at six and possibly seven (who won’t be there). That’s just over a quarter of my teaching staff.” He said that he had spoken to colleagues on Tuesday and Wednesday who were also expecting similar levels of teacher absence. Mr Walsh said that it is very difficult to prepare when Covid-19 is so prevalent. “It’s very, very challenging. It’s probably even more challenging than it was back in September, now that Covid-19 is everywhere with …

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Mum of 2022’s first Clare baby says she was scaring taxi drivers!

THE first Clare baby to be born in the University Maternity Hospital Limerick in 2022, was from Shannon, writes Owen Ryan. Michael Jimmy O’Connell O’Keeffe arrived at 10.47am on January 1, born to mother Treacy O’Connell and father James O’Keeffe. Speaking to The Clare Champion this week Treacy said she was delighted with her newly arrived son and joked she was making taxi drivers nervous that the delivery would occur in their cars, given her size. “Most of the taxi drivers around Shannon thought I’d deliver in their cars because I was so big!” It looked like the little boy, who is called MJ as short for Michael Jimmy, would arrive before the end of 2021. “They called me in on the 29th to have him, but it didn’t work out then. I went down to the Labour ward about 2.30 in the morning and they induced me, and off I went then,” Treacy laughed. She came home on January …

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Council thanks public for participation on Draft Shannon Town Centre Masterplan

CLARE County Council has thanked everyone who made submissions to the final round of public consultation on the Draft Shannon Town Centre Masterplan. The closing date for submissions was December 20, 2021. Cllr John Crowe, Cathaoirleach, Shannon Municipal District, said: “I welcome the positive engagement on the Draft Shannon Town Centre Masterplan from members of the public, stakeholders, residents and business groups, and I thank all those who participated in the public consultation process. Clare County Council acknowledges the positive input and will take on board all of the submissions received.” Brian McCarthy, Senior Planner, Clare County Council, said: “We are delighted with the quality, informed nature and positive contributions of the submissions received on the draft plan during the consultation process, each and every one of which we will review and analyse over the coming weeks with a view to informing the final plan. “We will also be consulting with the Elected Members of Shannon Municipal District to get …

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Parish Goradiche custom survives Covid restrictions

AS is customary in Shannon, the long-running custom of selling Goradiche gift vouchers is continuing this year at the Parish Office. The Gift Tokens/Christmas cards go on sale every December to raise funds for the Goradiche orphanage in Belarus, said Parish Priest Father Arnold Rosney. “It’s going for over 20 years. In the year 2000 we started off the campaign to support the children and the orphanage, following the Chernobyl disaster. We started it as a Jubilee project and it has been going ever since.” Local people have traveled to the Orphanage to help for many years, and even though visits are not a runner right now, there is still much being done in Shannon to help. “At the start of Covid we did an emergency collection and people were very generous, but the fundraising has been more challenging since Covid came along and obviously people can’t go out. I understand they are send out clothing there now.” The Orphanage …

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Damian ensures the band plays on in Shannon

DESPITE the obvious difficulties Damian O’Rourke has made great efforts over the last few years to develop local live music, and to give young people in Shannon an outlet, writes Owen Ryan. Last weekend he was involved with Busker’s Way, an initiative to play live music in the Town Centre, as festive shoppers made their purchases. “It’s something that we had going before Covid, but that kind of stopped it. When there was a bit of a break in that we got it going, but it stopped again,” said Damian, when he spoke to the Champion last Friday afternoon. “I spoke to the manager Brian, he wanted to do something coming up to Christmas so we got a few buskers for last Friday and Saturday.” At that time he was also preparing for a young people’s event to be held in the Town Centre on Wednesday, December 22. “We’ll have seven young musicians in one of the units in the …

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New Covid-19 mass testing facility opens in Shannon

Irish Covid-19 testing company, RocDoc, has announced the opening of a new new mass testing facility in Shannon Business Park. The new centre is one of three being opened by RocDoc this week along with centres in Cork and Swords in Dublin. The announcement also sees the creation of 120 jobs spread across the three locations. The new mass testing facility in Shannon will provide additional capacity to meet the demands of the busy Christmas season and the additional testing requirements for international travel due to the Omicron variant. RocDoc currently operates a drive-thru testing centre at Shannon Airport, two testing facilities at Dublin Airport and one at Cork Airport. All three new facilities will be walk-in only. Commenting on the announcement, RocDoc Chief Executive, David Rock, said; ‘’We’re very happy to be able to announce that our new mass testing facility in Shannon opens to the public today, providing additional capacity at this critical time. “A lot of hard …

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Warmest November day for 43 years in Shannon with reduced rainfall also

WITH storms battering the coast this week, the weather has been a far cry from last month. Shannon recorded the highest temperature in Ireland in the month just past, that day was also the warmest November day there for 43 years. A temperature of 17.7 degrees celsius was recorded in Shannon on November 14, the warmest temperature in the town in the month of November since 1978. There was also 25% more sunshine in Shannon over the course of the month than in an average November. Met Éireann statistics show that the amount of rainfall in Shannon during the month was 43% below what would be expected in an average November. In its summary of the month Met Éireann said the first two thirds of the month were mild with the high pressure mostly centred to the south of Ireland. The final third of the month saw high pressure shift to the west of Ireland, allowing cooler air masses from …

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