SHANNON Christian Church are applying for planning permission for a place of worship in one of the town’s hubs of industry. The West of Ireland Evangelical Trust, which they are part of, has lodged the application for a change of use at an existing industrial premises in the Smithstown Industrial Estate. They wish to change the use of one building from commercial to a church which include reception meeting rooms, an assembly area and associated site works. The application states that the church is already occupying pending planning permission. There are already 59 parking spaces at the site and the application says that the church would operated from 9am to 10pm. Alec Good is one of the trustees named on the application and he told The Champion; “The Shannon Christian Church would cater for people from around 22 nations, so it’s a multi cultural, multi national collection of people from quite a wide variety of backgrounds and what they have …

MOTORISTS  have been cautioned by AA Roadwatch to exercise extreme care amid many incidents of flooding and excess surface water across many counties. Most of the flooding had receded by Monday afternoon when the rain gave way to bright sunshine but there cannot be any complacency in winter driving conditions. With more heavy rain forecast, AA Roadwatch advised motorists coming across floods not to drive through water unless certain it’s  not too deep for their car. The New Year looks like it will get off to a wet start, as a heavy band of rain is expected on Wednesday, Met Éireann said. There will be some respite on  New Year’s Eve, as the night looks like being mainly dry . However there will be showers is some southern and western coasts. By morning on New Year’s Day, heavy rain is expected for Munster and is forecast to spread to all areas early in the day . Met Éireann forecast that the …

LIMERICK  City Museum and Archives (LCMA) is to host a major photographic exhibition featuring rare images of South East Clare and Limerick City, dating back to the early 20th century. “The Street” exhibition, comprising of photographs from The Haselbeck Collection, will be launched at Limerick City Hall on Monday, January 13 by Mayor of Limerick Kathleen Leddin and Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan. Franz S. Haselbeck worked as a professional photographer in the Mid-West from 1912 until his death in 1973. He cycled all over Limerick City and throughout South East  Clare to photograph the important events of his time, including the War of Independence and major construction projects, as well as everyday events. Today, The Haselbeck Collection is regarded as one of the most important collections of 20th century Ireland. Some of the earliest photographs featured in the exhibition relate to the Irish Volunteers and the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1913 and 1914 at a time …

  AN allocation of  €121,000 has been provided to Clare County Council under a newly announced Government scheme aimed at the repair and conservation of protected structures and generating employment in the local construction sector. The funding is being provided by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht under the Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme, the closing date for which is Friday, February 7. Eligible structures include those listed in Clare County Council’s Records of Protected Structures (RPS), those proposed for inclusion in the RPS but have not yet been formally approved for inclusion, and those within Architectural Conservation Areas (ACAs). Risteárd Ua Cróinín, the council’s architectural conservation officer, explained that the scheme seeks to leverage private capital for investment in a significant number of labour-intensive, small-scale conservation projects across Clare and to support the employment of skilled and experienced conservation professionals, craftspeople and tradespersons in the repair of the historic built environment.

COMMERCIAL traffic movements at Shannon were down marginally year on year going into December, according to statistics from the Irish Aviation Authority. According to their figures commercial traffic at the airport was up by 1.8% in November compared to the same month last year, but is down by 1.7% for the year as a whole. The negative growth for the first 11 months of the year is almost certainly due to the airport’s poor performance in the first few months. However, since the summer things have been improving and with increases in services to the US, Britain and Europe starting next year, things should improve significantly. It should also be noted that commercial traffic movements are seen as a less significant indicator of performance than passenger numbers. Commenting on the first eleven months of 2013, Eamonn Brennan, Chief Executive of the IAA said; “Recently Shannon has had some positive announcements from both Ryanair and Aer Arann and in November its …

ELECTRICITY should  be restored to all homes in County Clare by the end of the day, according to the ESB. Power outages occurred in many areas, as a result of the storm-force winds of recent days. Throughout the West and South-West, ESB repair crew had a very busy few days dealing with power lines brought down by falling trees and damage to high voltage lines. In the Ennis area, as many as 200 houses were without electricity up to Sunday afternoon, while pockets of other parts of the county were also affected. Met Éireann’s forecast is for continued bad weather with a warning to motorists to watch out for ice on roads, especially minor roads, in the event of temperatures dropping below freezing on wet surfaces.  

MAGIC  moments in an incredible year for Clare hurling were recalled on Saturday night when the U-21s were feted at a function in the Auburn Lodge, Ennis. There was a tremendous atmosphere at the packed to capacity event, as  team members were presented with their Munster and All-Ireland medals Tributes were paid to the achievements of the up-and-coming stars of Clare hurling, among them Hurler of the Year, Tony Kelly, in retaining the provincial and All-Ireland [beating Antrim] titles. The contribution which many of them made to the senior All-Ireland winning side was also acknowledged. The efforts of the management and backroom squad in having the side prepared to such a high level of fitness and skills was praised. Hopes were also expressed that the U-21s, with an infusion of some additional players from minor level, could go on to defend their titles in 2014. The achievement of Davy Fitzgerald and his charges in bringing the Liam MacCarthy Cup back …

As County Clare took a battering from storm-force winds last night and in the early hours of this morning, the roof of a stable in Clarecastle was blown off. Two horses in the stables of Carole McLaughlin escaped injury. A few miles away, at St Flannan’s College a mature tree was toppled along with heavy branches from other trees. Around the county, there were other reports of some trees down but there were no reports of serious damage.   Met Éireann has downgraded the red and orange weather alerts to moderate winds and rain.