THE family of  Kerry teenager Donal Walsh has appealed to  young people to remember his message against suicide, as they face their first Christmas without their son. “This year, we lost a son and a brother. We are heartbroken and at times the future does not seem too bright but at times like this we think of Donal and the life he wanted to live,” Elma, Fionnbar and Jema said. “He would not have wanted us to use his death as an excuse for sadness but more as a motivation to keep his message to cherish living and life. The 16-year-old anti-suicide campaigner from Tralee was diagnosed with a tumour in his leg when he was 12. He underwent numerous treatments to fight the disease but he died at home in Blennerville surrounded by his family. The teenager bravely campaigned against suicide, particularly among teenagers. Hundreds paid tribute to the avid rugby fan on Twitter, with politicians and sports stars describing …

CLARE County Council took precautionary road safety measures on Sunday night when main roads and many secondary roads were gritted, as wet conditions followed by a drop in temperature,  were expected to lead to icy roads in the morning. With mixed weather conditions forecast for the coming days, motorists have been advised to exercise caution and to slow down. A number of accidents last week were attributed to flashes of sleet on roads. Ten incidents occurred on one stretch of the M8 motorway between Crusheen and Gort on Thursday last. Earlier, Met Éireann  issued a new weather warning, warning of wind gusts that could reach up to 130 km/h. The Status Orange Wind Warning was issued on an all-Ireland basis. It stated: “Preliminary Warning : A vigorous Atlantic storm depression is forecast to pass just to the northwest of Ireland overnight on Monday. “The exact track is still not certain, but it is likely to bring some severe winds in …

SINCE their memorable All-Ireland victory in September, members of the Clare senior hurling team and their management have received many awards. That list was extended on Saturday night when the RTE manager of the year and team of the year accolades were presented to Clare. At a function attended by many of the country’s leading sports personalities from the world of sport, the first award presented was the manager of the year trophy, which went to Davy Fitzgerald, who led Clare to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup in September. Davy was presented with his award by RTE head of sports, Ryle Nugent. A panel of sports writers and commentators choose Davy from a shortlist that included Dublin football manager, Jim Gavin; Tony Ward, the Galway camogie boss and Eamonn Ryan, the Cork ladies football manager. The team of the year was decided by public vote and the Clare hurlers were the popular winners. Team captain Pat Donnellan accepted the award from …

EMIGRATION is one of the most regrettable effects of the recession but with masses returning from countries like Australia and Canada, Clare businesses are getting a Christmas lift. Patrick Bourke has men’s clothes shops in Kilrush and Ennis and he says that the ‘Australia effect’ is obvious at the moment. “There are an awful lot of people buying clothing when they come home. They’re travelling light on the way home because of carriage and it’s so hot over there, but when they come home they’re frozen.” One visitor to his shop had little option but to go shopping quickly. “A fella came home with one pair of jeans on him, his mother asked him to bring in coal and he dirtied his only jeans! He was going buying more, but that forced his hand to do it a bit earlier.” He says that pubs will probably get more business from people back home for short visits. “There was a fella …

A NEW survey has found that only a quarter of people in Clare are on Facebook. Each of the 26 counties in the Republic were included in the survey carried out by eightytwenty.ie, which showed that 25.6% of the Banner’s population are on the world’s most popular social network. This is way lower than Dublin, where three quarters of people are on Facebook, and not only that but it is far less than neighbouring Limerick, where just over half of the public have signed up. The only counties with lower Facebook penetration are Mayo (24.5%), Laois (24.83%), Roscommon (19.04%) and Leitrim (18.87%). It also carried out a study of Twitter activity in Ireland during July. By looking at the 5% of tweets that were posted in Ireland and geo-tagged in July they identified where most Twitter activity comes from. These figures didn’t take account of the Twitter users who don’t tweet, but indicated what counties most tweets were coming from. While …

IF you have ever walked through Ennis and wondered about the significance of the little blue tiles over the doors of some of the older houses, then wonder no more. This year the Franciscans and Poor Clares are celebrating a Year of the Holy Name of Jesus beginning on the third of January 2014. The idea to celebrate this special year came about as the result of a discovery by the Galway Poor Clares that a wave of devotion to promote the Holy Name of Jesus began after a retreat in their monastery conducted by a Franciscan friar, Fr Francis Donnelly, in January 1914. It was Fr Donnelly who introduced the blue YHS tiles that can be seen over the doors of many houses in the cities of Galway, Cork and Limerick where he ministered and in other places such as Ennis and Tuam. The tiles depict an abbreviation of the Name of Jesus in Greek and they were placed …

THE  Lions Club of Ennis has come together with Ennis Rotary Club in aid of Cahercalla Hospice this Christmas with the creation of a Remembrance Christmas Tree in the county capital’s Market Square. People can remember a loved on by placing a ribbon on the town’s Christmas tree in their name for a €5 donation to the charity. According to a spokesperson for the organisers, the charity fundraiser has proven very popular over the years and they are encouraging people to continue their generous support. “The Remembrance Christmas Tree is a way for people to remember a loved one. It could be a loved one who has passed away or indeed someone overseas or someone away from home this Christmas time. As well as remembering someone, the tree will also raise much needed funds for Cahercalla. Both the Lions Club of Ennis and Ennis Rotary Club have come together on this initiative and we are delighted with the support we …

CLARE County Council has written to Kilrush Town Councillor Tom Prendeville on six occasions in an effort to elicit an apology for a comment passed to a member of their staff at a traffic management meeting in Kilrush in February. However, Councillor Prendeville insists that he did apologise in February and claims his apology is written into the minutes of that meeting. While he described the apology as “contrite and sincere”, Councillor Prendeville claims he was contacted six weeks later and told that the apology wasn’t sufficient. The comment was made during a debate on the placement of double yellow lines on both sides of the Back Road, outside St Senan’s National School in Kilrush. Councillor Prendeville opposed this development, which has led to parents having to park illegally when dropping and collecting their children from school. RIMS meetings are believed to be unique to Kilrush Town Council. They are held in camera, deal with traffic management issues in Kilrush …