A West Clare councillor has requested an update from Clare County Council on the appointment of a dedicated full-time road safety and active travel officer in the county. At the July meeting of the local authority Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) requested an update on the appointment of a full-time road safety officer and active travel officer saying he hoped it would be done and asking the officials “not to forget the west”. The councillor was following up on a notice of motion he had previously tabled in January 2023 “This is now becoming a very high priority given the significant rise in road deaths and serious collisions on our roads in County Clare over the last few years,” he said. In reply, Senior Engineer, Cyril Feeney reminded the councillor there is a nominated Road Safety Officer within the roads department albeit not a full-time dedicated role however, he acknowledged their commitment to road safety saying: “The issue of the Road …

East Clare is to receive a major jobs boost with Beckman Coulter Diagnostics set to create an additional 80 jobs at O’Callaghan’s Mills as part of a €10 million investment in its Clare site. Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, the largest employer in East Clare and amongst the largest in the county has said that today’s investment announcement underscores its commitment to innovation and growth in the region. It is envisaged the investment will enhance the company’s world-class diagnostics production with the addition of two new fully automated reagent filling lines and upgrades to the site’s infrastructure, aimed at boosting both efficiency and capacity. The company is actively hiring for 50 open roles and also announced 30 additional jobs arising, to be recruited between 2025 and 2027 for highly-skilled professionals at its County Clare facility for key functions such as Production Operations, Quality & Regulatory Affairs, Research & Development amongst other areas. Beckman Coulter has had a presence in County Clare since …

Fine Gael councillor Joe Garrihy who has been elected again to the Ennistymon local electoral area (LEA) has reiterated his comments made earlier this year around a need by national government to have a proper exit strategy and management plan to engage with the international protection accommodation service (IPAS) clients and North Clare community on. The Lisdoonvarna councillor added he will taking that request right to the doors of Leinster House at the earliest possible opportunity with a delegation from North Clare. His home of Lisdoonvarna has accommodated approximately 1,100 Ukrainians and 100 international protection clients meaning it is the LEA with the fourth highest number of IPAS residents in the country. The town’s population of around 900 people has more than doubled since the Russian war on Ukraine started in February 2021. Speaking to The Clare Champion following his victory, Councillor Garrihy was critical of national government saying that governing from a far is not working, and that a …

A group of 14 volunteers from West Clare are set to travel to Zambia next week to volunteer their skills with school projects there. Clare to Kabwe supports projects in the town of Kabwe, Zambia and volunteers from West Clare travel there every year linking up with the Irish Zambia Aid Project, Zamda Ireland. Ahead of travelling to Zambia, their aim has been to raise €20,000 to build a special needs classroom and first aid room for the Zamda Ireland run school. Zamda Ireland is a registered charity which was established in 2004 by Padraig O’ Fainin and his wife, and runs a centre called Sables Nua for the most vulnerable children in Kabwe. A refuge of happiness and hope, it offers food, clothing, medical care, emergency overnight accommodation, counselling, education and vocational training for over 300 orphaned and vulnerable children. Many of the children come from the street of Kabwe and Lusaka; they have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS, …

How does a small community in West Clare conceive how it will look 60 years from now in 2084? When George Orwell wrote 1984 in 1949, some of his predictions were alarmingly accurate, and they were from a vantage point of 35 years prior. The town of Miltown Malbay in West Clare is currently exploring such themes in a unique time machine pilot project that it will host later this summer. Work is progressing on the project, titled ‘Room With A View’ which has been commissioned by Creative Ireland and funded under the Creative Climate Action Fund. The fund supports creative, cultural and artistic projects that build awareness around climate change and empower citizens to make meaningful behavioural transformations. Four artists were initially commissioned to spearhead the building of this time machine in the town however, two of them Brandon and Lisa Lomax have since returned home to the US for personal reasons, leaving the other couple Maeve Stone and …

A Fine Gael candidate for Shannon Local Electoral Area who was eliminated on the ninth count has said the community in south-east Clare has been forgotten about by Clare County Council. First time candidate, Val Gillane said he feels south-east Clare is being forgotten about at local level: “I would love to see Clare County Council now wake up and come down and have a look at south-east Clare. South East Clare voted to stay in Clare. Please come down to us and now show us. We are completely forgotten about like we are between two boundaries. We are 2km from Limerick County Council and we are 40km from Clare County Council. We don’t have the representation. We don’t have the funding. We don’t have the back-up. We don’t have any of the basics…I am talking about communities and infrastructure. West of the Shannon Banks was built in 1966 like 1966 footpaths and 1966 lighting…” “I would love to see …

Cree native, Dinny Gould (IND) who was the first councillor to be elected in the Kilrush Local Electoral Area said he did not expect he would top the poll. Dinny Gould took 1863 votes in the seventh count after he picked up 143 transfers from Fine Gael’s Therese Doohan thus reaching the quota required of 1817 votes. Speaking to The Clare Champion following his victory at the count centre in Ennis, Mr Gould said he didn’t ever think he would come in first and even thought he might have been fighting for the last seat. “I am grateful to all the people who stood by me, and all the people who canvassed. I got a great vote, and you know everyone stood behind me – my own parish especially. He said the secret to his success was he is fairly well known throughout the region and wider county on account of his bookmaking business. He also attributed his achievement to …

Counting is continuing apace in the Clare Local Election Count Centre at the West County Hotel and indications are that Count 1 from both the Kilrush and Shannon LEAs should be announced shortly. To keep up to date with all the latest news from the count follow our live blog here