THOUSANDS of hospital protesters bowed their heads in silence in a show of support for the family of a Shannon teenager who died in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) before Christmas. You could hear a pin drop when Melanie Sheehan requested a minute silence to mark the tragic death of Aoife Johnston during protest speeches at Arthur’s Quay car park on Saturday. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar recently requested a new inquiry into Aoife’s hospital treatment after she contracted meningitis to ascertain if her untimely death could have been prevented. Her death sent shock waves throughout the Mid-West. Hospital activists are hoping her untimely passing will prove a watershed moment in their campaign to tackle overcrowding in the region. UHL has promised a “comprehensive investigation” into the circumstances which led up to Aoife’s death. Young family members and friends of Aoife held up framed photographs of her as they listened to speeches calling for the restoration of 24-hour Accident and Emergency services in …

AN Ennis family has called for an independent inquiry to address “unanswered questions” surrounding the death of a popular well known former Shannon Airport Chief Inspector and merchant navy man. Wilma O’Halloran has requested UL Hospitals Group group to conduct an independent inquiry into the circumstances that led to death of her father, John O’Halloran, Upper Cahercalla Road, Ennis before his life support machine in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) had to be turned off on February 22, 2022. In an interview with the Clare Champion, she said there are several “unanswered questions” how a very mobile, fit 83 year-old man who was taken via ambulance with a non-life threatening broken neck ended up dying in UHL. “John walked every day. He was very sociable and made a lot of friends in Éire Óg and from his walks. He would drop and collect his own grandchildren from school. He was very healthy. “I am looking for answers. I would not like …

A HOSPITAL rally organiser has vowed last Saturday’s march in Limerick is only the beginning of a “campaign of people power” that will force change in the delivery of regional health care. Mike Daly, who organised the protest with the help of the Mid-West Hospital Campaign, said he hoped this rally would result in the HSE reopening the three EDs in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s. “For 14 years we have watched as they closed our ED, robbed us of hospital beds and watched our people die on trolleys. Well no more, the time has come for change because we deserve better. “Our health system deserves enough workers so it can operate properly. Our elderly deserve better than to lie on a cold, hard trolley. Our young people don’t deserve to die from neglect. “Today, we march for our families, our children and mothers and fathers. When my own father died, it was from one of the most serious cases …

THE community of Loop Head in West Clare scooped a national award in the 2022 IPB Pride of Place Awards announced at a ceremony held at the Clayton Hotel in Dublin last weekend. Scariff Community Council, Mountshannon Community Council, the Shannon in Bloom project and the Loop Head Together Project were nominated by the Rural Development Directorate of Clare County Council to participate in the annual competition. The Loop Head Together Project was the overall winner of the “Coastal Community” category. The project seeks to facilitate the communities of Loop Head Peninsula to come together in a spirit of resilience and integration to create a place ‘where everyone can thrive’. It includes nature monitoring and nature tourism development. Loop Head also was named winner of the Climate Action Special Award for a regenerative farming experiment named Hemp4Soil, which explores the potential to improve soil quality and biodiversity while also creating alternative sustainable income streams for farms on Loop Head. The …

A DIRECTION from the Office of the Planning Regulator requesting Clare County Council to dezone huge tracts of land for development in the Draft 2023 to 2029 Clare County Development Plan has been criticised by local councillors. Describing a new document from the OPR as “frightening and unbelievable”, Councillor P J Kelly has urged councillors to unite to oppose the recommended changes. Council chairman, Councillor Tony O’Brien called a meeting of councillors from different political groupings on Tuesday and requested them to discuss this issue at Municipal District level to try and establish a consensus for challenging this intervention. While Cooraclare and Broadford have been earmarked for new waste water facilities under a proposed national scheme, Councillor Kelly noted material amendments to facilitate development have been ruled out in both locations, placing a question mark over the viability of these facilities. Speaking at a West Clare Municipal District meeting on Tuesday, the Lissycasey councillor claimed the OPR has wrongly based …

A 64-YEAR-OLD Yorkshire greyhound fanatic is still on track with his happiness goal after taking his most profitable “gamble” by moving to South-East Clare. Terence Roberts has written a new book “All Because of Daisy” initially for his family and close friends to help explain why he left them to come to live in Ireland and why he stayed. Thanks to his new environment and eye-opening experiences, the retired probation officer is making sense of his own life, his past, present and future. The book chronicles the characters, people, culture and community he has fallen in love with in Ireland. Terence was born in Ruthin, North Wales, but grew up in the old industrial heartlands of West Yorkshire after moving there at the age of four. After joining West Yorkshire Probation Service as a volunteer in the mid 1980s, he later qualified as a probation officer at the University of Huddersfield and then worked for more than 25 years in …

CLARE County Council has pledged to lend community development assistance to any local voluntary group that establishes a proposed new meals on wheels service for elderly people in West and North Clare. This follows a call from Councillor Cillian Murphy and Councillor Joe Garrihy for the West Clare MD, Age Friendly Clare, and the Rural Development Directorate to support local community groups, the HSE and OBAIR Newmarket in the establishment of a meals on wheels and odd job service for West and North Clare. In the context of the population, over 65, living in North and West Clare, many in rural and isolated areas, they pointed out this would enable older people to live healthier and longer in their own communities and to have a consistent regular contact linking them to locally delivered services. Responding to their joint motion at a West Clare Municipal District (MD) meeting on Tuesday, acting Rural Development Senior Executive Officer, Bernie Haugh, said the Directorate …

DAMAGE totalling €7,500 was caused to a public convenience just a stone’s throw from Killaloe Bridge, according to a recent estimate completed by a district engineer. Killaloe Gardaí have investigated criminal damage to the public toilets at the Pontoon in Ballina. Over the past year, Killaloe Gardaí have confirmed there have been repeated acts of vandalism on these toilets, which are located along a very popular walking route a short distance from the Ballina Outdoor Heating Swimming Pool. Between 10pm and 12 midnight on Monday night, October 31, windows were broken in the toilets and paving slabs were pulled off the ground outside the toilets. This last act of vandalism was condemned as “appalling” by Waterways Ireland Operations Controller, Éanna Rowe. In response to Clare Champion queries, Marcus O’Connor, Director of Roads, Transportation in Nenagh Municipal District, said the council was extremely disappointed with the ongoing acts of vandalism of these public toilets. He confirmed all the windows to the …