THE number of commercial movements at Shannon Airport in February was down by 17% on the figure for the same month in 2012.Shannon is having a difficult start to life as an entity separate from Dublin Airport, as the poor numbers recorded in February follow a 10.7% year-on-year decline seen in January.In February, there were 1,012 commercial movements at Shannon compared to 1,219 in the same month of last year. A certain amount of the decline can be attributed to the fact that February was one day longer in 2012 due to the leap year.Overall, the airport saw a decline of 13.78% in commercial movements in the first two months of this year compared with the first two months of 2012.The two other State airports also saw declines, albeit much less dramatic ones. The number of commercial movements at Cork in February was down by 2.1% year on year, while at Dublin Airport the drop was 1.6% year on year.As …

The winners of the bank holiday weekend two-ball rumble at Dromoland were Nicky Duggan and Alan Neville, with 56 points, from Damien Ryan and Brian Sheedy with 48 points. In third place were Paul O’Brien and Robert Healy with 48 points.

Waterford 3-7   Clare 2-5 The Clare U-14 ladies’ football team travelled to Fraher Field in Dungarvan last Saturday to play Waterford in round two of the Munster Championship. Clare were beaten 3-7 to 2-5, with Waterford the physically stronger team.

“Alcohol is the anaesthesia by which we endure the operation of life.” – George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950) IT’S Ireland’s first official alcohol awareness week. The seven-day series of events and seminars has been organised by the Alcohol Forum. Their website describes the group as, “a charity working to reduce alcohol-related harms in Ireland, it’s hoped the campaign will raise awareness, challenge thinking and ultimately start a process of re-evaluating Ireland’s harmful drinking culture”. The group advocates a reduction in drinking. It runs seminars, carries out research and advocates on behalf of vulnerable children activities which, most people will agree, are laudable. What is missing from the website is any acknowledgement of the reasons people are drinking excessively in the first place. Ireland has a historically close relationship with alcohol. It is widely parodied in popular culture and the recent St Patrick’s Day celebrations are viewed internationally as an excuse to drink industrial quantities of liquor and behave in …

LOCALLY owned, Dazzlers Day underlined the importance of the horses for courses theory when landing the Friends Of Liam Hogan Handicap Chase at Limerick last Sunday.

The Irish Cancer Society are calling on people in Clare to join the fight against cancer and support Daffodil Day this Friday. All funds raised on the day will be used to fund the Society’s free nationwide care, information and support services for people with cancer and their families.Over 4,000 volunteers will be on streets and in shopping centres in towns around the country, and in Clare, selling fresh daffodils and daffodil pins aiming to raise €3.4million.You can support by buying a daffodil or daffodil day merchandise from a volunteer; phone CallSave 1850 60 60 60 to donate; text Daff to 50300 to donate; make a donation online visit www.cancer.ie/daffodilday; you can even buy a virtual daffodil on the Irish Cancer Society’s Facebook page or you can download our Daffodil Day smart phone app, available to download free from all app stores, and make a donation.

THE badminton Ireland U-13, U-15 and U-17 inter-provincials were held last weekend in Dublin. Clare had 10 players playing for Munster at U-17 (Ciara Dwyer, Megan Bredin and Amy MacNamara), U-15 (Moya Ryan, Karen MacNamara, Áine Ryan and Lana Browne) and at U-13 (Alexandra Troy, Katie Browne, all from Ennis and Aisling O’Meara Killaloe).

Fourteen years ago, in March of 1999 children attending Barefield National School were busy making flags and displaying their maroon and white colours ahead of the All-Ireland Club Hurling final in which the parish team, St Joseph’s, defeated Rathnure from Wexford.