Cllr Rita McInerney who is widely expected to top the poll in Kilrush today has attributed part of her vote- getting success to her Fianna Fáil family, and the team that surrounds her. Reacting to her top position in yesterday’s tallies, she said ‘”I am very optimistic, very delighted, shocked really and very surprised at the tallies so far. Transfers will pay a part especially the lowest candidates on the tallies might not necessarily transfer to me so it will all depend.” “It was very much a team effort. I had people in all corners of the constituency mainly from the party, mainly from Fianna Fáil. It was the Fianna Fáil network. I don’t come from a huge family so the wider Fianna Fáil family paid a huge part definitely. Community people in lots of different places which was key.” She also paid tribute to her campaign manager, Pat Considine who she said is well known on very doorstep which …

Kilkee councillor and candidate, Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) has said it is “all to play for” in filling the last seat in the Kilrush local electoral area at today’s election count. It is looking like he, Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) and Alan Troy (FF) will be battling it out for the fifth and final seat. However, Cllr Murphy has questioned the accuracy of yesterday’s tallies, which is offering him a degree of hope. “We know the tallies are a little bit all over the shop. I was speaking to Cllr Pat Burke yesterday and his vote was out by 100 from the tallies so there is a big discrepancy with the tallies now. “If you look at the tallies for the Kilrush electoral area effectively you have got me, Gabriel Keating and Alan Troy in the hunt for the last seat and that is me being an adult about what I am seeing but now the tallies are suspect…” The …

For all the latest local election news from the count centre at Treacy’s West County Hotel, follow the Clare Champion’s LIVE blog from our news team. Log on to the Clare Champion website and click on the blue Local Election icon at the top pf the page to access the rolling LIVE blog. The Kilrush and Shannon counts are currently underway at the centre.

The first result from a Kilrush local electoral area tally area suggest current councillors are holding their own overall, and in their respective home areas. The tally issued in the past hour reveals two current sitting Fianna Fail councillors out front with Cllr Rita McInerney (FF) on 1,008 first preference votes. Significantly, she polled strongly on her home ground of Doonbeg polling a considerable 419 votes – over double that of Dinny Gould (Ind) who polled 191 there. Cllr McInerney was co-opted to the council in January by retiring councillor Bill Chambers. Cllr McInerney is followed by her party colleague, Cllr Cillian Murphy on 777 votes picking up 249 votes and 176 at the two Kilkee NS boxes. However, independent candidates are next strongest in the local electoral area with Cree’s Dinny Gould (Ind) on 747 (191 first preferences gained from his home village) and An Cathaoirleach for West Clare Municipal District, Cllr Ian Lynch on 756. Cllr Lynch picked …

Readers can follow all the latest live news from The Clare Champion news team at the Clare Local Election count. For live results from the count centre at Treacy’s West County Hotel, simply click on the blue Clare Local Election icon on the home page. The first boxes were opened, and the first tallies are now in for Ennis and Shannon, so continue to monitor our blog on our website throughout the day as the Clare Local Action count progresses.

There has been further disruption to water services in West Clare with locals complaining water outage is now a common occurrence and happens every three to four weeks. On Tuesday, Uisce Éireann said it had identified a burst in a watermain in the Doonbeg area saying it was working with Clare County Council to restore water “as quickly as possible” to approximately 40 affected properties. The areas affected in west Clare were Glascloune, Baltard, Bealaha, Farrihy, Doonmore, Doonbeg, Kilrush and some surrounding areas. Whilst the leak was fixed the following day (Wednesday), there was an initial problem with gaining access to the land due to soft ground and the engineers had to seek out another point thus delaying repairs. Doonbeg councillor and local election candidate, Rita McInerney (FF) described the overall situation as “very frustrating” saying a complete upgrade is needed in the area. She confirmed they have outages every three to four weeks saying she constantly receives calls from …

A West Clare councillor has called on Clare County Council to write to Uisce Éireann requesting an urgent update on their timeline for the delivery of action places as directed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and at the same meeting, another councillor referred to the water company “an absolute disaster”. Councillor Rita McInerney (FF) told the May meeting of the West Clare Municipal District (MD) that in light of the 2023 EPA site visits and reports for the West Clare Regional Water Supplies on water quality and incidents, with actions required by October 27, 2023, the local authority ought to request an urgent update from Uisce Éireann on the timeline for the delivery of these action plans. She has also called on the water company to answer the EPA’s recommendations, and is looking to see information from the water company including THM parameter values, completion data, monitoring details, prevention measures, monitoring of cryptosporidium, and operational information. “Water is one …

A West Clare school has been honoured in a national research trials competition. Coolmeen National School in Kilrush, a two-teacher school, is one of just three primary schools which have been awarded a 2024 START Competition Trophy by University of Galway for using randomised trial methodology to answer a question related to their environment or lifestyle. The Schools Teaching Awareness of Randomised Trials (START) is an annual competition encouraging children throughout Ireland to learn about healthcare decisions and how health and well-being can be improved by learning about randomised trials. Sometimes called clinical trials, randomised trials are a type of research study often used to find out if a new medicine or treatment works. Awarded for its research project, Coolmeen NS were awarded first place in the 2024 START Competition for their trial titled ‘Do children learn more when working in groups or doing independent work?’ The students randomised their fellow schoolmates into two groups with a spinner wheel. Using …