The voluntary efforts of a St Anne’s Community College student who recently scooped a Garda award have been hailed as “magical” by the school chaplain. Aaron Hunt (19) Ballina, won an Individual Award at the Clare Garda Youth Award ceremony, having raised €26,000 from three Patrick McKeogh Memorial Tractor Runs. St Anne’s Community College Chaplain, Karol Torpey who nominated Mr Hunt with Sergeant Annette Ryan, Killaloe Garda Station, is delighted that he won an award as well as another student, Daniel Spaight. “I couldn’t believe two students from the school have won awards. Aaron Hunt is just magic. He is a magical student, he was always willing to help out and do whatever needed to be done in school,” she said. “Aaron is over six foot tall and anytime something had to be erected or taken down for Graduation Masses or an opening year ceremony, Aaron was always willing to help and get stuck in.” Ms Torpey explained Mr Hunt …

Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) has outlined his commitments as Co-President of the ALDE Party as one of the reasons why he finished third from the bottom in a Seanad league table for the number of votes he cast for the first six months of the year. The Fianna Fáil Senator voted nine times, compared to 17 for Senator Roisín Garvey and 33 for Senator Martin Conway after 36 ballots, which were held in the Seanad this year. Senator Dooley pointed out a vote is not held every day in the Seanad where ten votes could be held one day, there may be no vote for three or four weeks, there could be two votes before a long break with seven or eight held on another day. “You could be off site attending another meeting. You always have the permission of the whip to be absent. For the past two and a half to three years, I have been Co-President of …

A GROUP of medieval Vikings will engage in an eagerly-anticipated battle reenactment in memory of a former High King of Ireland during the 31st annual Féile Brian Ború festival, which runs until July 7. Lakes Vikings is a group of Viking age enthusiasts with 20 years experience sailing Viking longboats and organising fun festivals and events. Their longboats have featured in several TV series and documentaries. This is the first time that this group will participate in the Killaloe festival, and it is about ten years since Vikings made their presence felt in the twin communities. It all happened by chance when Féile Brian Ború committee member, Cillian O’Meara, met Paul Kavanagh of Lakes Vikings at a conference in Northern Ireland and invited them to Killaloe, which was taken up by one of their key people about a month ago. At the time of writing, the group had 60 members signed up for their trip to Killaloe including international participants. …

The government’s approval of a controversial €6 billion plan to abstract 330 million litres of water per day from Lough Derg to service Dublin, the Midlands and the East of the country will cost every household in the country €3,000, a local opponent has claimed. Emma Kennedy of the River Shannon Protection Alliance is totally opposed to the construction of this major water supply project. Ms Kennedy, who is the author of the “Kennedy Analysis” examining the new controversial pipeline said all the reports produced by Uisce Éireann and Dublin City Council contained a “litany of errors”. “The latest government approval is based on a secret document that was never published without any public scrutiny,” she said. Back in 2018, Ms Kennedy recalled the River Shannon Protection Alliance participated in what was supposed to be an independent review of public documents, which was “halted for no reason” without the publication of any report. “The Cabinet and the Government have been …

CLARE’S ability to attract foreign direct investment will be negatively impacted by the government’s approval of a controversial €6 billion plan to abstract 330 million litres of water per day from Lough Derg for Dublin, the Midlands and the East of the country, a local lobby group has claimed. The Government has received Cabinet approval for one of the largest infrastructure projects in the history of the State, which it predicts would ensure sustainable water supplies for half of the population up to 2050 and beyond. According to a government statement, the delivery of the Water Supply Project Eastern and Midlands Region is critical to sustainable economic growth, enabling housing delivery and attracting investment to support Ireland’s growing population for the next 30 years and beyond. This project, which has now got the green light to proceed to An Bord Pleanála, has a preliminary project cost estimate of €4.58 billion to €5.96 billion, which has been developed in accordance with …

Marianne Purcell loves using words. Long ones, short ones, unusual ones, forgotten ones, words are grist to her mill. The East Clare author loves the feel of them on her tongue. The way words conjure up a picture, an idea or an emotion. The Caher native believes the whole what, where, how and why of a story depends on the way words are used. Not only that, but pronouncing a word can bring its own form of delight. “I use words as the starting point because they are the seeds that one plants on a blank page to create a story,” she said. “The twists and turns of a word like ostentatious, the innocence of nosegay, the shambling ineptitude of hapless, the instant understanding of a word like whinge. And the picture they paint if you put them together. The hapless hero dropped the ostentatious nosegay. “Can’t you just see him, shabby, bumbling, the fancy flowers he found on the …

MAJOR investments in tourism facilities in West and East Clare have been hailed as some of the highlights of the outgoing first citizen’s 12 months in office. In an interview with The Clare Champion, Councillor Joe Cooney (FG) recalled the visit of Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys (FG) to West Clare last month to open the upgraded Loop Head Lighthouse Visitor Experience. Funded by the Minister’s Department under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) scheme as part of Project Ireland 2040, with 25% match funding by Clare County Council, the completed works include the restoration and conservation of the historic lighthouse keeper’s cottages and a new visitor hub with interpretation panels featuring stories from the local area. The total investment for this project is €1,623,800. The Minister also visited the Vandeleur Walled Garden and Visitor Centre, where anew interpretive centre was recently completed along with the newly renovated stable block, a gardener’s maintenance building and public toilet facilities as …

  Clare County Council has been urged to consider the provision of a new public car park in the centre of Tulla and to support a new elderly daycare centre and creche for the benefit of residents in six new housing estates totalling 180 dwellings. That’s according to businesswoman Ann Reidy, who runs the Reflections Hair Salon at Main Street, Tulla.   Ms Reidy has urged anyone living in Tulla, regardless of whether they are newcomers or residents for a long period, to contact Yoursay.clarecoco.ie and put themselves forward for chairperson, secretary, financial officer, and public relations officer for the new Tulla Towm Team. The closing date for expressions of interest is July 1. The council hopes to select a core committee of eight to ten people who will also need associated working groups to support the committee. While Ms Reidy has expressed an interest in becoming a community member, she is not interested in any of the main officer …