UP to 16 US dancers and their families, as well as an additional 10 to 15 dancers from Ireland, will spend the next week in Mountshannon immersed in Irish dance, music and culture as part of a new dance camp.

Monsters UniversityDIRECTED BY: Dan ScanlonVOICES: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Helen MirrenCERT: G The once-mighty Pixar has been going through a bit of a slump. Brave was a popular, Oscar-winning hit, but it was well below the studio’s high standard and Cars 2 was really little more than a cynical merchandising commercial. The former kings of animation were badly in need of a killer comeback.

The Pepsi Challenge was rigged.

  MORE than 1,000 people visited Scattery Island last weekend for the inaugural island Gathering festival. The tranquil island on the Shannon Estuary was resplendent under the weekend summer sun. Dr Bernadette Whelan of the University of Limerick’s History Department was the guest speaker at the event, which was organised by the Scattery Island Heritage and Tourism Group. “When I met the group for the first time, back in September, it was very clear that this weekend’s series of events would take place because this is a dedicated and committed group of people, with a shared interest, willing to work for the good of the local and wider community. “For you living here in Kilrush, looking out on Scattery Island/Inis Cathaigh every day, you know that Scattery Island had its own people, the islanders, from the monks, to the fishermen, the farmers, the pilots, the teachers, men, women and children lived there until the late 1970s, when Bobbi and Patty …

THE heat of the late evening sun enveloped the Keavey family homestead west of the Crosses of Annagh last Sunday evening. Far across the freshly cut fields, the Atlantic glistened blue and serene, as news filtered through of Kilmurry Ibrickane’s latest O’Gorman Cup success in neighbouring Doonbeg.

THE Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience recorded a 10.5% increase in visitor numbers between January and June, compared to the same six-month period in 2012.

ENNIS’ status as Ireland’s first Purple Flag town was formerly recognised at a ­ceremony in the UK recently. The town achieved the coveted award in February. ­However last week Ennis and six other newly accredited towns and cities were honoured at a ceremony in Lincoln.

THE success of the Ennis Town Historical Trails App has sparked calls to now translate the app into different languages for the county capital’s tourists.