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ADDITIONAL gardaí will be on duty in Ennis this Wednesday as teenagers celebrate their long awaited Junior Certificate results in the Queen’s Hotel. Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Triona Brooks has insisted, “Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.” The alcohol-free Junior Certificate Disco takes place this coming Wednesday at the Queens Hotel Ennis between 7.30pm and 10.30pm. “Parents are to ensure arrangements are in place for the safe arrival and collection of their children. We are asking parents to stay until their children enter the disco,” said Sergeant Brooks. Transport Operators are to ensure that no alcohol is allowed on their vehicles, she adds. “Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated. Those found to have consumed alcohol or under the influence of other substances will be refused admission to the disco. Parents will be contacted in all cases where the Gardaí were required to intervene.” She reminded parents, “to discuss these matters with their children beforehand and to insist that they do …

RESEARCH carried out on behalf of Coillte shows that there is an almost universal view among the public that forests are important in helping to address the climate crisis. In April this year, Coillte, the semi-state forestry company, announced a new forestry strategic vision which aims to deliver multiple benefits from its forests and bring more focus to climate action, setting ambitious new targets on biodiversity and recreation, while continuing to deliver for the forest and wood products industry. The new approach aims to sustainably balance and deliver the multiple benefits from Ireland’s state forests across four strategic pillars: climate, wood, nature, and people. RED C independently analysed feedback from both Coillte’s public attitude survey and Coillte’s public consultation process, completed during summer 2022, which was part of Coillte’s commitment to consult widely with key stakeholders on its new strategic vision. The survey, conducted among a nationally representative sample of adults in June 2022, was combined with the response to Coillte’s public consultation process, and shows there is an almost universal view that …

A 65-YEAR-OLD man who was found by gardaí late at night in his car in a secluded rural location in Clare with a vulnerable 15-year-old girl and a box of Viagra tablets has been sentenced to 11 months in prison. At Ennis circuit court, Judge Francis Comerford said it was “praiseworthy that gardaí were able to intervene” in the incident that took place at McNamara’s lake, O’Briensbridge in the early hours of August 23, 2017. Details of the incident were heard at the sentencing hearing of Pat Barry (65). Barry, a retired stable hand with an address at Garryglass Avenue, Rosbrien, Limerick, pleaded guilty to a single count of sexual assault. Judge Francis Comerford imposed a 20-month prison sentence with the final nine months suspended for what he called a “sexual assault, without consent, on a vulnerable young child”. Garda Áine Troy told prosecuting counsel, Lorcan Connolly BL she had two other colleagues were on patrol on the date in …

CONCERN among residents of Doora about pedestrian safety in the village has led to calls for a new footpath to be built between two key local amenities. The Ennis Municipal District has confirmed that an application is to be submitted to the National Transport Authority for the development of a footpath from Doora Church to Doora School. Councillor Paul Murphy raised the issue at a recent meeting of the local authority, urging that Clare County Council to seek Active Travel funding for the project. He outlined that Doora has a big population including many school-going children, insisting, “It’s important that road safety for pedestrians is prioritised”. Ian Chaplin, acting senior executive engineer responded, “The Ennis Municipal District will seek to have an application submitted to the NTA for footpath project from Doora Church to Doora School when the next funding cycle is announced for the NTA for 2023. It would also be essential that the proposal is in line with …

GARDAI have issued advice to companies in county Clare on how to recognise potential invoice redirection fraud after a local firm lost a substantial amount of money to such a scam. Clare crime preventioon officer Sergeant Triona Brooks said, “Unfortunately during the week a business in the county received an e-mail from a known supplier requesting to change bank account details and to lodge monies into this account which they did and realised after the lodgement that they had been compromised and are at a loss of a substantial amount of money.” Sergeant Brooks said, invoice redirection fraud, otherwise known as business e-mail compromise can occuer when a fraudster sends an e-mail to a business purporting to be one of their legitimate suppliers. The e-mail contains a request to change bank account details that the business has for a legitimate supplier. The victim business changes the bank details and sends the next payment to the fraudster’s bank account where the …

THERE were 1,140 household dwelling purchases across Clare in 2021, with almost a third of them in the Ennis area, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office. Their research shows that the Ennis Municipal District accounted for 340 of the transactions, which was twice the 170 recorded in the Ennistymon Municipal District. The Kilrush and Shannon Municipal Districts accounted for 220 each, while the Killaloe Municipal District had 190. The median price was also highest in the Ennis MD at €217,000. It was next highest in the Shannon MD at €205,000 and wasn’t much lower in the Ennistymon MD at €203,000. In the Killaloe Municipal District it was €195,000 while the lowest median price was in the Kilrush Municipal District, where it was €146,000. However, while the Ennis Municipal District had the highest median price it didn’t have the highest median income. In the Ennisymon MD the median income of purchasers was €72,100; in the Shannon MD it was …

FOUR leading Clare GAA stars took off for Africa this week to take part in a project to plant a million trees and raise awareness of the impact that climate change is having on some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Clare GAA stars Podge Collins, Dean Ryan, Ellen Roche and Eimear Kelly have joined 50 sportsmen and women from across the country on a week-long trip to Kenya, which included playing a series of GAA matches billed as the ‘Plant the Planet Games’, which took place in Nairobi at the weekend. Participants aren’t just raising awareness about climate change either, as they are collectively aiming to raise more than €350,000 in sponsorship support, to plant a million trees in Africa and support the efforts of Irish development charity Self Help Africa to combat the effects of climate change amongst small-scale farming communities. The event is being organised by former Galway dual-player Alan Kerins ‘Warriors for Humanity,’ the Gaelic Players …

A GROUP of volunteers from Clare were among the winners at the Clean Coasts Ocean Hero awards ceremony this week. West Coast Surf Club was one of the recipients of the Ocean Hero Youth of the Year Title. The West Coast Surf Club is a surf non-profit club based out of Lahinch with 270 members, who work regularly with Clean Coasts group Keep Lahinch Clean, and host beach cleans in the area. In particular, the junior board riders in the club are very active participants in these beach cleaning events and take great pride in participating. The work of Spanish Point Community group was also showcased during the ceremony, being one of the nominees in the group of the year category. This year, the group got involved in a lot of activities, including the Big Beach Clean, Clean Coasts Rocky Shore Safari with David Wall of National Biodiversity Data Centre, #2minutebeachclean and Think Before You Flush, and many other sustainable …