I DON’T know if you are as bad as I am when it comes to figures, official or otherwise but I cannot make head or tail of any of the economic statistics we have been given recently.We have been told over the past week or more that the Christmas and New-Year retail sales’ figures were up and back to the good old days before the recession. We have also been told that tax revenues were up in December, employment figures were up and unemployment down.Where in the name of NAMA do they get such figures? Government spokesmen have been at pains to point out that the Irish economy is on the mend, thatthere are green shoots appearing once more and that we have turned thecorner.Now, wouldn’t we all love to believe all that? However, we were told the same things about three or four years ago by the late Brian Lenihan, God be good to him.I was never any good …

A YOUNG woman filmed appearing drunk and boasting about her father’s alleged well-paying job, has found an unusual defender in MEP for Clare, Jim Higgins. Mr Higgins expressed his concern about the welfare of the girl who features in the footage, which went viral on social media sites over the last week. He branded the response to the video as “cyber bullying” and called for an end to it. “It’s been a real online hit with various euphoric comments praising the hilarity of the video. This is cyber bullying and given the recent cyber-bullying-related suicides I, personally, have had enough. This isn’t a case of ‘teaching her some manners’ or ‘taking her down a peg or two’ as many of the online comments suggest, this video singles out a young girl and uses the internet as a machine for hatred against her,” Mr Higgins stated.“The internet is a fast-moving and remorseless beast. The girl is clearly identifiable and this is …

EVERY home and business in Clare must have access to high-speed, fibre-optic broadband, a Government TD has said.Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Carey said that continued improvements and investment in the fibre broadband network in County Clare is a must if the county is to position itself to benefit from continued foreign direct investment and the domestic tech industry.The national Eircom fibre network plan aims to reach 300,000 premises during the current phase and one million by the end of 2014. Several new locations in County Clare have recently been added to the current and next phase of the scheme by provider Eircom.“It is absolutely vital that where possible, every home and business in County Clare is able to avail of high speed fibre networks. This is not just essential for businesses but for many being able to conduct personal finance and many other transactions online is a necessity. We cannot be left behind as the world moves forward and …

Plans for the approved development of a new gymnasium building for Parteen GAA club have been put on hold following an appeal lodged to An Bord Pleanála by a local objector.Despite requesting Parteen GAA Club to submit a revised Flood Risk Assessment for the gym and an objection from a local resident, the local planning authority  gave the proposed development the green light last December.In his appeal to the appeals’ board seeking to overturn planning approval, Tom Buckley claimed the proposed site is on a flood plain and is at severe risk of flooding.Mr Buckley expressed  surprise the council didn’t refer to this in their granting of permission, as this area was completely flooded in early February, 1990.“The report submitted by St Nicholas GAA club implies that the risk of flooding is a one-in-100-year event. This is clearly not the case because in 2011 during the flooding of the river when the water levels were exceptionally high, going within four …

The Minister for Education and Skills announced an extra €3 million to assist third-level students facing financial hardship on Wednesday. Minister Ruairí Quinn made the allocation in response to the delay in the processing of some student grants and higher education institutions reporting a significant increase in demand for the Student Assistance Fund.Minister Quinn is allocating the money to the Student Assistance Fund, which is available to third-level students who are experiencing severe financial hardship or who may have to drop out of college for financial reasons.This will bring the fund up to €11m and is expected to assist in the region of 16,000 students this academic year. This year, universities, Institutes of Technology and other third-level institutes are reporting an average increase in applications to the fund of 67% to date.  “I am acutely aware of the severe financial difficulties facing many families and students this academic year,” said Minister Quinn, “In light of this and the delays to …

THE development of a much-discussed multi-million euro global centre for humanitarian aid in Shannon Airport will not be going ahead, following a State-sponsored report, which found it wouldn’t be viable.The report also outlined how one non-governmental organisation (NGO) said it would use a potential site at Shannon Airport but only if Irish Aid or another donor paid for the transport costs.A statement on the Irish Aid website this week said, “The Programme for Government set out the Government’s desire to explore the possibility of positioning Shannon Airport as an international hub for the storage and distribution of EU and UN emergency humanitarian supplies. “An independent feasibility study was initiated earlier this year, with the specific aim of providing an independent, evidence-based assessment of the viability and value for money of a possible humanitarian hub at the airport. In November last, a final version of the study was presented to Minister of State, Joe Costello, by the independent consultants, who had …

WHILE the Irish Aid report says Shannon could still be a suitable location for an EU Civil Protection hub, Minister for State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Joe Costello, said a recent European decision means this is no longer a runner.“There’s a commitment from the EU to provide civil defence, [to respond to things like] earthquakes and catastrophes within the EU. The original proposal was that it be consolidated in one location. That would require a huge logisitical capacity and training and all the rest of it. That’s not my area so I referred it to the Minister for the Environment but shortly after it went there, about a month ago, the EU member states decided the best way of dealing with this would be for each state to have its own civil defence, rather than to centralise it, as had been the intention of the commission,” he told The Clare Champion.The Labour TD felt it had been worth …

“Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.” – Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) A grim piece of video footage appeared online recently. It was grim for a number of reasons. These reasons have been bashed out at length both online and, to certain extent, in the mainstream media. I, along with many people, will have found much to recommend both sides of the argument. A young woman has been vilified and subjected to sometimes startling abuse. This is difficult to condone, given her age. Those who argue that the ugly sentiments she expressed were symptomatic of a destructive mindset cannot be ignored either. As the father of a daughter, the video chills me because it is among the many hundreds online, which signpost the fact that growing up, youthful indiscretion and mistakes cannot be considered in any way private or forgettable. In theory at least, someone expressing the kind of sentiments this young woman …