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BOXERS from Ennis and Gort have won medals at the World Youth Boxing Championships in Spain this week. Gort boxer Cliona D’Arcy defeated her Polish opponent in the semi finals of the 81kg+ category on Wednesday evening, advancing to the gold medal bout on Saturday Earlier this year she was the winner of a gold medal at the European Youth Championships. On Wednesday afternoon Ennis boxer Jim Donovan came up just short in his semi final, losing out on a 3-2 split decision to his Kazakh opponent. Donovan was clearly devastated as the result was announced, as he fell to his knees in the ring and punched the canvas. Speaking to the Clare Champion afterwards Martin Donovan, Jim’s uncle and trainer, said that while he had come up short, the Ennis fighter has achieved a lot in recent days. “I’m a bit disappointed today but it’s great that he’s coming home with a world medal.” He felt that Jim had …

TALKS between Clare farmers and the Agriculture Minister have been described as “robust, full and frank,” as a delegation travelled to Dublin this week to fight for the Burren Programme and Hen Harrier Project.  Both schemes are at risk, as they are set to be subsumed into the new ACRES programme from the end of this year.  Michael Davoren, Aoife Forde, Dr Brendan Dunford and Councillor Joe Killeen made the case for retention of the award-winning scheme, that has made a multimillion Euro contribution to the sensitive environment of the Burren and to the local economy. Also addressing Minister Charlie McConalogue and Minister Pippa Hackett and their officials were Councillor Pat Hayes, Denis Tuohy and Ruairí Costello, who made the case for the retention of the Hen Harrier Project. A number of Clare’s Oireachtas members also attended. After the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, the ministers and officials undertook to come back to attendees, after giving consideration to …

RYANAIR have this morning announced that they will run services from Shannon to Naples and Porto in next year’s summer season. Speaking to the Clare Champion this morning the airline’s head of communications Jade Kirwan said, “We announced our summer schedule last month and there were two new routes, to Beziers and Newcastle. We’re announcing two more routes now, to Naples and Porto. “Naples would give you access to Pompeii and to the Amalfi coast, it’s a real good access point for travelling around and getting the most out of Italy. Porto then, in the north of Portugal, people go and stay there, it’s a cultural city, there’s lovely architecture, cathedrals, those kind of things. It’s a bit more chilled.” She said it is another vote of confidence in Shannon Airport. “In terms of route capacity we are going from 22 this summer to 26 this year. But when you look at capacity and the number of flights and stuff …

Solar power generation tends to invite jokes about the Irish weather but, says Bridget Ginnity, it can make a significant contribution domestically and industrially to Ireland’s renewable energy goals ONE of the incredible success stories in renewable energy is how the price of solar PV (photovoltaic) panels has plummeted. Solar power generation is now cheaper than fossil fuel generation, with India and China leading the way. In Clare, we have more wind than sun, and the energy generated by a wind farm is about ten times that of a solar PV farm over the same area. Ireland has among the lowest solar generation capacity in Europe, with at present less than 0.4% of electricity generated by solar. However, solar energy generation is an important balance to wind for those calm, sunny periods. Also, it’s much more feasible to generate energy from solar panels on a small scale and at the domestic level. Shouting from the rooftops Looking around the rooftops …

DISABLED parking spaces removed and replaced with Age Friendly parking in Ennis’ Cabey’s Lane will be relocated to the Lower Market area of the town, Clare County Council has confirmed. The Clare Champion was contacted by concerned members of the public who questioned why the disabled parking spaces were transformed into ‘Age Friendly’ spaces, fearing that the disabled spaces had been taken away for good. Can you help us out @ClareCoCo & let us know where those 2 ♿🅿️bays were moved to from Caby's Lane in Ennis? Same 2 spots are now repainted as "Age-Friendly". We had heard changes were made but assumed it meant relocation & not a very different type of relabelling? 🤷🏻‍♂️❓ pic.twitter.com/LRoyO0d9gE — The Struggle Is Wheel (@struggleiswheel) November 21, 2022 A council spokesperson has explained that the space available at Cabey’s Lane did not meet the current design standards for disabled parking. New disabled parking bays are to be installed in the Lower Market area …

DEER are causing “extreme danger” on roads across East Clare, a meeting of Killaloe district councillor has been told.  The matter was raised by Councillor Pat Hayes who said there had been a number of collisions in recent weeks and that deer were creating “a high risk” for all road users. “Anyone living on the mountain edges knows that is a continuous and major issue that has now exploded,” the Caher man said. “I’ve heard from several people who’ve told me they’ve had deer running against them when they’re out on the road. This is a real road safety issue right across the region. “The Slieve Aughtys are a haven for deer and they have now moved down into the valleys. Many farmers have 20 to 30 deers on their land when they go out in the morning. We are all now owners of a huge deer population and there’s extreme danger when they move out onto the roads.” Councillor …

Ennis athlete Dean Casey led the way on a successful day for his club at the 123.ie National Cross Country Championships on Sunday with a silver medal performance. Along with Casey’s second place finish in the U20 competition, Ennis Track’s Junior side secured gold as they progressed through to the ECCC Cross Country Championships next February, a competition which they won earlier this year. Meanwhile, Casey’s second placed finish helped him secure a spot on the Irish Junior team that will be competing at the European Cross Country Championships next month in Italy. He was part of the Irish team that secured silver at these Championships last year in Dublin. Mark Hanrahan has also been selected on the same team as he secured fourth on Sunday. The top three finishers in each age grade automatically qualified for the Irish squad but with a six-man team competing in Italy, Hanrahan’s strong showing was enough to convince the selectors that he should …

IT’S A far cry from the world of European finance to the buzz of the brewery, but Maeve Sheridan has made the change with ease. She left behind her day job in banking in Luxembourg to go into business with her brother, Michael Eustace, a civil engineer by profession. Today, along with Bridger Kelleher their brewer, the trio at Western Herd is brewing up a storm, with more craft beers than ever and a newly-refurbished and extended premises in Kilcloher.  Like hundreds of small family businesses the length and breath of Ireland, Western Herd came up against unprecedented obstacles during the pandemic. With most of their sales being through pubs and restaurants, prospects looked bleak until the natural drive to adapt and innovate kicked in.  The siblings are no strangers to innovation, both of them having changed careers radically to set up Western Herd. When the recession hit, Michael turned to managing a busy Dublin bar. Always a keen home …