A Government Minister of State has pledged to meet with representatives of the largest Clare charity providing therapy for children with special needs to discuss funding options. Clare Crusaders Clinic Manager, Ann Norton has confirmed Minister of State for Equality and Disability Anne Rabbitte has agreed to meet her with Senator Timmy Dooley to discuss possible funding streams for the clinic. Ms Norton also plans to highlight the difficulties parents are experiencing trying to get children with special needs a place in special schools and secondary schools during her meeting with Minister Rabbitte. She said an analysis needs to be undertaken why there are so many deficits in public services and why they are not getting better. “Some parents feel they are letting down their children but the system is letting them down,” she said. The former independent councillor pointed out children with additional needs are facing a wait of up to two years for therapy. In spite of the …

A former Tipperary goalkeeper has recalled the lifelong friendships forged playing hurling with an East Clare chipboard factory that provided vital employment for hundreds of workers for more than 50 years. Tipperary netminder, Séamus Shinners, was an intercounty opponent of legendary Clare custodian Seamus Durack. However, the two Chipboard Limited sales representatives united outfield to help the company capture a coveted All-Ireland Interfirm Hurling title in 1975 and became friends. Within 24 hours of lining out in opposing goals in the 1974 Clare versus Tipperary Munster SHC on a Sunday afternoon, they were back on their travels for All-Plast the following day. Chipboard Limited, Scariff, participated in the Shannon League against companies in Shannon in the sixties and seventies. After winning a few Shannon League titles, Chipboard Limited won the Munster SHC inter-firm title in 1974 and the All-Ireland crown the following May. Chipboard Limited used to train in Dr Daly Park, Tulla as Scariff didn’t have a senior hurling …

    Leonora Carey has been selected by Fine Gael to represent the party in the Clare constituency at the next General Election.   Party members ratified Ms Carey at the Clare Fine Fael Dáil Selection Convention, which was held in the West County Hotel in Ennis on Friday night. Senator Martin Conway and Ms Carey were the two candidates put forward for the Clare Fine Gael Dáil ticket at the close of nominations last month after former Deputy Joe Carey resigned his seat and from political life due on health grounds. However, Senator Conway decided to withdraw his name before the convention. Unless another candidate is added, Clare Fine Gael has given up on the prospect of winning two Dáil seats in the county in the next General Election. In the 2016 General Election, Fine Gael ran three candidates – Pat Breen, Joe Carey and Mary Howard, with Breen and Carey winning two seats in the four-seater when the …

The number of patients on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) has jumped almost tenfold from 2,422 in 2009 when casualty cover was removed from three hospitals to 21,445 in 2023, according to new figures produced by a local lobby group. Following the cancellation of surgery at UHL in recent weeks, the number of patients on trolleys fell from more than a 100 to 48 on August 29 before climbing back up to 78 on Wednesday. The Health Information and Quality Authority is compiling a report examining the need for a second emergency department in the Mid-West, which it says will not be published until the summer of 2025. A new document prepared by the Friends of Ennis Hospital, which has been submitted to HIQA presents a case for the upgrading of Ennis Hospital This document, prepared by Friends of Ennis Hospital, lays out the case for the upgrading of Ennis Hospital to a Model 3, which would allow for …

University Hospital Limerick (UHL) Chief Executive Colette Cowan has stepped aside from her role as part of a disciplinary process arising out of a second investigation report into the death of Shannon teenager Aoife Johnston, a local lobby group has claimed. The Mid-West Hospital Campaign has alleged that Ms Cowan and other senior figures working in UHL are facing possible disciplinary proceedings over the 16 year-old’s death in an overcrowded hospital in December 2022. It is understood that Ms Cowan has vacated her role temporarily pending the outcome of these disciplinary proceedings. Aoife presented at UHL at 5.40pm with suspected sepsis on December 17, 2022. According to evidence presented at her inquest last April, the hospital’s protocols on sepsis, which require sepsis queried patents to be seen urgently, were not properly followed. The teenager was not triaged until 7.15pm that night, and she did not receive antibiotics until it was too late. She died from meningitis at UHL on December …

THE Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District has called for radical changes to allow people seeking international protection status in Ireland to be allowed to work. Councillor Lillian Barr, who became the first public representative to be afforded a civic reception by a municipal district in Clare, said people seeking asylum in Northern Ireland are expected to live on £38 a month and are not allowed to work. A lot of services may not be accessible to people seeking asylum until they are successful with their asylum application, which she believes needs to be tackled. “The housing crisis is affecting everyone. If people seeking asylum were allowed to work they could pay rent and we could build more houses. The negative attitudes of racism and hate crimes is dividing our community. We need to focus on the contribution that migrants make when they come to the community,” she said. Asked about criminal damage caused to centres earmarked for international …

GLOWING tributes have been paid to a former Clare and Éire  hurler following one of the biggest funerals held in Ennis in recent years. Martin “Custy” Linnane (88) Considine Road, Cloughleigh, Ennis and formerly of Old Mill Street, Ennis, Co. Clare died unexpectedly at University Hospital, Limerick, recently. Hundreds of mourners queued from outside Kennedy’s Funeral Home up to Carmody Street, Ennis, on Tuesday, August 6. In fact, the deceased’s remains didn’t arrive at Ennis Cathedral until 10.15pm almost three hours after the appointed time of 7.30pm. Speaking at his Funeral Mass in Ennis Cathedral, Chief Celebrant Fr Tom Ryan said other “Townie” Funerals that were late to the Cathedral included the late Eugene McNamara, Noelie Ryan and Francie Mahon, who were all proud Éire Óg clubmen. After emigrating to work in England, Fr Ryan recalled Mr Linnane returned home in the late sixties and followed in the footsteps of his father, Mick, by playing for St John’s and Éire …

The Department of Housing has promised that an updated cost report for Clare home owners affected by pyrite will be prepared for Minister Darragh O’Brien. The Clare Pyrite Action Group chairperson, Martina Cleary has stated local homeowners who are availing of the Enhanced Defective Concrete Block (DCB) Scheme are still experiencing difficulties accessing SEAI grants to improve the energy performance of their homes. Even though her house will have to be completely demolished, Ms Cleary confirmed she has only been approved for a 60% grant of the cost of rebuilding and is 40% short of what she actually needs. When the rebuilding rates for affected home owners were set by the government in July 2023, Ms Cleary recalled these rates were supposed to be revised to take account of construction inflation a year later, which didn’t happen. For Clare pryrite home owners who were approved for inclusion in the Defective Block Scheme last June almost a year after the rebuilding …