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SHANNON is set to see two festivals this June, one being organised by Damian O’Rourke of Cuppa Tea TV and the other by Chris Walshe of Hippo Sound and Lighting. The Shannon Summer Music Festival, which Chris is working on, will be a one-day event on June 11, while Damian’s one will be over the last week in June, and will be known as the Wings Festival. Both are being supported by Clare County Council and by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. Speaking this week about the Shannon Music Festival, Chris said, “It’s taking place on June 11 in the Town Park. It’ll be taking place around the bandstand, early on there’ll be a family fun day with music, children’s entertainment, cultural performances. “In the evening then, from around 6pm onwards, there’ll be a main stage there where bands and local performers will take over, it’ll be live music for the rest of the evening.” …

Munster Senior Hurling Championship Round 2 Clare 3-21 Tipperary 2-16 CLARE thundered into the Munster Senior Hurling Championship to blitz hosts Tipperary and open up the door of possibility in Semple Stadium, Thurles this afternoon, writes Eoin Brennan. With both sides craving a victory for differing reasons, three first half Banner goals with the aid of the conditions through Ian Galvin, Peter Duggan and Tony Kelly carved out a 13 point interval cushion that would effectively end Tipperary’s championship hopes, only a full week into the new campaign. The return of Peter Duggan and Shane O’Donnell were pivotal ingredients to detonating the first championship upset as the Clooney-Quin talisman had a direct hand in all three goals while the latter was a huge source of inspiration throughout. Those star performances took some of the attention on top scorer Tony Kelly who finished with 1-7 while John Conlon, Rory Hayes, Diarmuid Ryan and debutant Robin Mounsey were others to excel in …

AFTER more than a decade with the Irish Chamber Orchestra Jörg Widmann is preparing to bid farewell to his Mid-West residency. A hugely successful spell at the ICO in University of Limerick draws to a close with two concerts this coming week. The first, his home ground lap of honour as it were, is in the University Concert Hall, while he rounds off his tenure with an appearance as St Brendan’s Church in Birr, at the Birr Festival of Music. For his swansong the ICO performs Widmann’s brilliant Oboe Concerto alongside his virtuosic Petite Suite for Flute for the first time. These two works are bookended by delights from Mozart including his Linz Symphony and the gorgeous Cosi Fan Tutte Overture. Jörg reluctantly relinquishes his role with ICO to juggle with the constant demands of his diary and career as one of world’s most prolific composers, clarinetists, and conductors. His contribution to ICO has been immeasurable. ICO chief executive Gerry …

HEALTH services for women in the Mid-West must be improved as a matter of urgency, according to a former Mayor of Clare. At the April meeting of Clare County Council, Councillor Mary Howard described the waiting list for gynaecological appointments at Ennis General Hospital, which are the second highest in the country, as a sign of an “ongoing crisis”. In a joint motion, tabled with Councillors Donna McGetitgan, Alan O’Callaghan and Liam Grant, the Ennis woman outlined how figures released to the Dáil recently. These show the average wait time for an outpatient gynaecology appointment at the hospital is close to one year and five months and is second only to Tallaght Hospital nationwide “Waiting times at University Hospital Limerick are around half that number, averaging out at 291 days,” the motion said. “Some 599 women are currently waiting for such appointments in Ennis, along with a further 1,455 at UHL. “On foot of this information we request the Minister …

THE Ballyvaughan community continues to prove itself willing and welcoming to Ukrainian refugees with various collections and fundraisers being organised with the help of the Ballyvaughan Development Group. With the sudden surge of Ukrainian refugees arriving in Ireland, the Ballyvaughan Community Facebook page became a kind of forum for organising what was needed and where. Karen McDonnell, who runs administrates and runs social media accounts for Ballyvaughan Development Group, explained that an email address quickly followed to streamline the process of distributing supplies to the refugees. She said, “What I did was monitor the comments on our social media and redirect people to co-ordinate it better. “Now, we have coalesced with Lisdoonvarna Fáilte, who have a full-time office. We have linked up to found a new website, NCCommunity.ie, which is now the umbrella group in North Clare for recognising needs and matching them with what we can offer. Last week, we had so many donations that we had to declare …

Eoin Brennan previews this afternoon’s Munster Senior Hurling Championship Round 2 between Clare and Tipperary at FBD Semple Stadium Thurles JUST as Tipperary’s sense of injustice motivated an uprising against recently crowned National League champions Waterford last weekend, Clare will be targeting a similar assault this Sunday as they look to hit the ground running in this year’s provincial championship. With both sides justifiably irked at being largely discounted in the conversation for the top three in Munster, Tipperary’s backlash landed but ultimately failed to knock down their opponents which leaves them with no room for error as they scramble for points this Sunday. Being Clare’s competitive bow, they obviously have a little more wriggle room but realistically if the Banner are to make an impression in the provincial series, a win is almost a prerequisite in Thurles. Easier said than done, after Clare took 90 years to previously make that breakthrough back in 2018 on their way to knocking …

Although Ken Ralph has more than earned his Banner citizenship, an intriguing sub plot to this weekend’s clash with Tipperary is the selector trying to defeat his county of origin. Ralph represented Tipperary at minor and U-21 level before he was offered a job at De Beers (now Element Six). After initially living in Limerick, he migrated to Clarecastle as he helped the Magpies enjoy some of the greatest days in their history, when winning county titles in 1997 and 2003. Although the two time county champion with Clarecastle admits that he does hold a soft spot for Tipperary, there is no doubting his determination to inflict a second straight loss on Colm Bonnar’s charges. “Coming up against Tipp is something I’ve dealt with years ago. I’m in Clare longer than I was in Tipp. I do have a soft spot for Tipp but my kids were born in Clare. I’d nearly be forgiven for rooting for Clare. When Clare …

WHILE there has been a certain amount of improvement in queueing times at Dublin Airport in recent days, scenes of congestion and stories of long waits will undoubtedly remain in the public’s mind for some time. The difficulties at Dublin are in stark contrast to the ease of using Shannon, or indeed several other airports around the country. Limerick Chamber of Commerce has now called on the Department of Transport to compel the DAA to work with other Irish airports to solve the difficulties and to ensure that passenger delays are minimised. It’s a view that has previously been expressed by a number of political and business interests in the region, as Dublin has clearly been unable to cater for what it has, while Shannon badly needs more passengers. Limerick Chamber CEO Dee Ryan said that the Department of Transport needs to take a role if Dublin is not willing to explore the possibility of flights going to other airports. …