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LAHINCH Leisure Centre was spending up to €120,000 just to heat its swimming pool a few years ago. Now, as part of a major €6 million retrofit the complex has been transformed into a Near Zero Energy Building (NZEB). In an interview with the Clare Champion, John Hayes, Senior Building Services Engineer with contractors Tipperary Energy Agency recalled the centre was spending €120,000 on oil just to heat the pool and half the building. Mr Hayes estimated the centre will now spend €85,000 annually to heat the entire building. “Now the heating system is heating all the building at a fraction of the cost. Lahinch Leisure Centre is a great example of what can be achieved in public buildings. “A lot of swimming pools are still putting in gas boilers. We had an option to keep the old oil boiler as a back-up but we decided to go fully green. “Lahinch Leisure Centre is a flagship project to show this …

EFFORTS are to be made to ease the process of providing information to health professionals when people need emergency care.  Councillor Mary Howard is proposing that ‘Smart ID Cards’ be created, so that when people need care, their medical records can be easily and quickly accessed. At the July meeting of the local authority, the Fine Gael member asked that Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, be called on to investigate the matter. “These Smart ID cards would contain information like date of birth, PPS number, allergies, health conditions, surgeries etc these would be especially useful if they need to attend hospital or A&E,” Councillor Howard’s motion said.  Councillor Howard told Council meeting that she heard about the idea through the HSE West Regional Health Forum. “They would be similar to PPS card really,” she explained. “People don’t get sick, especially those who are infirm, 9am and 5pm. Often they are upset, in pain, or brought in by neighbour. “To have …

Paul Minihan gives the background on the centenary of a significant action from the Civil War in Clare FROM July 1 to 25, 1922, Corofin was the focal point of the Civil War in Clare. In 1922, the Clare Brigades of East-Clare, Mid-Clare and West-Clare formed part of the 1st Western Division, that also comprised the South-East Galway, and South-West Galway Brigades. This latter Brigade included the city. In the wake of the Treaty, the IRA slowly began to rupture throughout the spring of 1922. On the eve of the Civil War, there were two opposing 1st Western Divisions – one Pro-Treaty or ‘Free State’, under Michael Brennan, and one Anti-Treaty or ‘Republican’, under Frank Barrett, former O/C of the Mid-Clare Brigade. As the British Army withdrew from various barracks from January to May 1922, many of these were occupied by the IRA – in some cases Pro, in some cases Anti-Treaty. In Ennis, Republican troops had occupied the main …

YOUNGSTERS at one Ennis GAA club are proving themselves to have a lot of ‘bottle’. A joint initiative between Ennis Tidy Towns and Éire Óg GAA has resulted in the creation of very special recycled and reusable water bottles. The bottles, which have been specifically designed to reflect the club’s colours of red and white, have been given to the club’s younger members in a bid to cut back on plastic waste. As well as looking good and helping make sure the kids stay hydrated, they also aim to discourage the proliferation of single-use plastic bottles. According to Cormac McCarthy, chair of Ennis Tidy Towns the young players have been “delighted” with the new bottles which have become a popular accessory at training sessions. He explained, “One of the main focuses of the national Tidy Towns movement, as well as tidying towns is to develop sustainability initiatives. “We are always looking to partner with local groups and organisations in the …

A SIXMILEBRIDGE family has vowed not to meet members of a Garda Cold Case Review Team until its concerns are addressed about the process of conducting a Garda review of previous Garda investigations into the death of a 23-year-old banqueting manager. Former Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald appointed retired District Court judge Patrick Clyne to lead an inquiry into the Garda investigation and disciplinary inquiries that took place following the death of Patrick Nugent (23) Feenagh, Sixmilebridge at the end of a 40th wedding anniversary party in the early hours of February 11, 1984. His death was one of the 320 cases examined by the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) set up by Minister Fitzgerald, following a complaint made by the family relating to alleged Garda misconduct in June 2014. Justice Minister Helen McEntee has confirmed the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has instructed that a fresh investigation be undertaken into the matters as part of a so-called cold case review, which …

ROADS in a Clare housing estate were described as “an embarrassment” at a meeting of the local authority. Asking that funds would be allocated next year to the Municipal Districts (MDs) for infrastructure in local authority estates, Councillor Cillian Murphy was scathing about the situation. “At the heart of this motion is a lived and very frustrating experience,” he told the July Council meeting. “The issue is falling between the Housing Section and the MD offices. If you take Marian Estate in Kilkee, the roads there are, quite frankly, an embarrassment and they should be to the Council. “I have asked the Housing Section and they said it’s the MD office. The MD said they had no budget, and round and round and round we go. The only solution is to have a specific item in budget for MDs to tackle estates. We are not asking for more money, but for clarity.” Co-sponsors of the motion, Councillors Pat O’Gorman, Shane …

The number of attendances at the Medical Assessment Unit (MAU) in Ennis Hospital increased by 52% in the two years to 2021, with a further 8% increase recorded during the first five months of this year. That’s according to figures released by the HSE in response to a Parliamentary Question from Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara. Official figures show the number of attendances at the MAU in Ennis increased from 3,740 in 2019 to 5,673 in 2021. It has also emerged that average inpatient bed numbers in Ennis Hospital remained static at five. The HSE also confirmed the recent recruitment of seven new staff with additional recruitment underway in relation to allied health, general support and radiology positions at the MAU. Deputy McNamara, who has pressed the HSE and Government on the need to increase services at Ennis Hospital since the 2020 election, has welcomed the ongoing investment in services in Ennis, noting that the MAU now has capacity to …

AS a 17-year-old boy Pat Conway was behind the first Lahinch to Liscannor swim in 1972, and he will complete it for the 50th and last time, on August 7.  While different charities benefited from the swim in its early years, for a long time now all of the proceeds have been going to the Burren Chernobyl Project. That will be the case again this year, and while Pat won’t be directly taking part after 2022, he plans for the event to continue and his favoured charity to continue to benefit. In the summer of 1972 Pat was a teenage lifeguard in Lahinch, and was one of a small group that organised the first swim, but he could hardly have thought it’d still be going 50 years on. “It’s something we started as a fun challenge, going from the lifeguard box over to Liscannor. Then we said we might as well do it for charity. It kind of built from …