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WITH the evenings having started to shorten, planning is well underway for the most complicated back to school season in living memory. Large schools in particular are going to find opening up in the time of Covid-19 a most difficult challenge, with a huge amount of measures having to be taken. St Conaire’s principal Peter Walsh said work is well underway and he is quite confident that the school will be ready. “We’re moving all the furniture and following the Department’s Road Map for social distancing and things like that. We were over in Zimmer, we saw how they operated and we got that insight which was excellent. They very generously gave us hand sanitizer, markings, signage, things like that. We’re in good enough shape, we will be ready and we fully intend to reopen on the 31st, we’ve got great help from the staff, the caretaker, the teachers have been coming in and out and we’ll have the parents …

ENGAGING in industrial action at the region’s main emergency care facility is “ill-advised” and a step too far, a local doctor has warned. INMO members at UHL commenced a ballot for industrial action on Wednesday over the alleged refusal of hospital management to attend talks at the Workplace Relations Commission. The INMO represents over 1,000 nurses on site who are frustrated at the approach to date by management to resolving the persistent high nurse vacancy rates and other related issues. Among nurses’ concerns are the risks to patients, overcrowding in a COVID-19 environment and excessive workloads arising due to unfilled funded nursing posts in wards, emergency department and theatres. Dr Michael Harty has called on Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to immediately intervene to prevent any threatened withdrawal of labour at University Hospital Limerick (UHL). “Minister Donnelly needs to take the understaffing issue very seriously. He was very strong on this issue when he was opposition spokesman on health. “I can …

THE government is being warned that more people will die from delayed and missed cancer diagnoses, than from Covid-19, unless funding for oncology treatment and screening is properly supported over the course of the pandemic. Medical card campaigner John Wall, who himself has Stage IV cancer, was reacting to a briefing from The Department of Health outlining reduced services, as well as major increase in waiting lists. “Obviously, the pandemic is absolutely catastrophic,” he said. “But, the fact is that more people are dying every day of the week from cancer than from Covid-19. Covid cases must be dealt with in conjunction with oncology services. There is no doubt but that those delivering health services are doing their very best, but the reality is that people are already going undiagnosed and cancers are being missed, and that before you factor in the impact of Covid-19. I see, every day, the issues that people are having when they don’t get a …

EAST Clare has been affected far more than West Clare by Covid-19, according to a newly updated map with details of the level of infection in each electoral division, provided by the State. The figures take account of all confirmed cases up until August 12. For confidentiality reasons, no precise figures are provided for Electoral Divisions where fewer than five cases have been recorded. In Clare a very large number of the electoral districts are in the fewer than five category, and this is particularly true for the west of the county. Even in Kilrush, the largest population centre, the figure for both the rural and urban electoral divisions is below five. An exception in the west of the county is Miltwon Malbay, where there were nine confirmed cases from a population of 1,633. This gives a comparative figure of 551.13 per 100k. However in the east of the county there have been far more areas where multiple cases were …

THE State has allocated €2.6 million to Shannon Heritage to secure the immediate future of its iconic sites. It had been feared that Bunratty Castle and Folk Park and King John’s Castle would be forced to close at the end of the month, due to the colossal impact from the Covid-19 pandemic on revenue. However, the funding announced today means they will remain open until the end of 2020. Welcoming the news, Mary Considine, CEO, Shannon Group said: “The announcement by Hildegarde Naughton, Minister of State for International Road Transport and Logistics of €2.6 million funding to enable us keep our Shannon Heritage sites open to the end of December is very welcome. “The ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating for our heritage business which is hugely dependent on international visitors. With visitor numbers to our owned sites down -80% year-to-date on last year, we sought Government funding to support us through this unprecedented crisis. “Today’s announcement …

AFTER last night’s storm, a number of areas around Clare are experiencing power outages today. In North Clare, a fault at Ennistymon currently has 139 ESB customers without power. In East Clare, an outage is affecting 464 homes in the Tulla area, while in Scariff and the surrounding area, over 1,000 people have no power. At the moment Kilkee has around 41 homes and businesses without electricity. Clare County Council have advised people to stay away from exposed areas today, as strong winds are forecast.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that two people with Covid-19 in Ireland have died while there have been 54 confirmed additional cases, including some in Clare. Before today’s announcement, 439 persons have tested positive for the virus in the county. Officials have been notified of the 54 cases in the past 24 hours and the break-down of these new cases is -Dublin (19), Kildare (8) and Tipperary (5) with the remaining 22 in Clare, Carlow, Donegal, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Waterford and Wexford. There has now been a total of 1,775 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland while the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 27,547. Of the cases notified today 24 are men / 29 are women, 67% are under 45 years of age, 27 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case and eight cases have been identified as community transmission Acting …

INMO members at University Hospital Limerick have commenced a ballot for industrial action this Wednesday over the refusal of hospital management to attend talks at the Workplace Relations Commission. The INMO represents over 1,000 nurses on site who are frustrated at the approach to date by management to resolving the persistent high nurse vacancy rates and other related issues. Among nurses’ concerns are the risks to patients, overcrowding in a Covid-19 environment and excessive workloads arising due to unfilled funded nursing posts in wards, emergency department and theatres. To date management have declined to provide the INMO with the vacancy rate. Mary Fogarty INMO Assistant Director of Industrial Relations said: “It is imperative that these vacancies are filled prior to the opening of 96 much needed additional beds on site. However many of the wards also have historical low staffing levels and need additional nurses to cope with the demands of the Covid-19 environment. “Nurses at UHL are exhausted after …