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A PROFOUND sense of grief spread across East Clare following the untimely death of Whitegate’s Michael ‘Mikey’ Hynes.  The 22-year-old was a past pupil of Scariff Community College and a fourth-year Business Studies student at the University of Limerick (UL). His funeral mass at St Flannan’s Church, Whitegate, last Sunday (April 10) afternoon attracted hundreds of mourners to pay their respects and to support Michael’s parents Declan and Annette; his sisters Katie, Alison and Corinna; and his grandmother Teresa Hynes. Councillor Pat Burke, a neighbour of the Hynes family, said the scenes witnessed in recent days were unprecedented. “The outpouring of grief and sympathy for Michael and his family is something we have never seen before,” he said. “I have never seen as many people line the streets of Whitegate for anything, ever. There were six or seven different guards of honour from the likes of the national school, to the senior hurlers, to classmates from UL. Despite the crowds, …

CLARE Senator Timmy Dooley travelled to Kyiv earlier this week, where he met political leaders including Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, while he was brought to the sites of the atrocities close to the city. “We travelled out to Irpin and Buca, to see at first hand what the occupiers did while they were there. There is utter devastation, homes completely demolished, attacks on civilians, you can see where people were shot in their cars as they tried to escape,” he said. Senator Dooley said there were appalling attacks on civilians and there are strong indications of war crimes. “We were taken to a churchyard where people had been buried temporarily by the priest and the local community, just necessary for a sanitary point of view. In some cases they were able to get body bags to bury them and in other cases they had to buried in mass graves without any body bag. Now that they have pushed the …

CLARE County Councillors have expressed concern about the lack of a definite commitment to provide an economic dividend to the county if the controversial Lough Derg water abstraction proceeds. Irish Water is planning to proceed with its €1.3 billion project to pipe water from the Parteen Basin to Dublin using a 170 kilometre pipeline. Irish Water Resources Specialist, Angela Ryan said she would bring the request for a community dividend back to Irish Water to see if it can provide any more information on this proposal. She stated that any proposed economic dividend for Clare would be considered by Irish Water. While acknowledging the Shannon Scheme provided economic benefits for the country, Councillor Johnny Flynn said it posed major financial difficulties for Clare County Council, which wasn’t provided with any funding to deal with health issues for 5,200 workers. Councillor Flynn noted Clare County Council was so badly hit by increased costs it went into a dissolution in 1942. He …

SADNESS has been expressed in Ennis with the news that the popular Coote’s bakery will be closing on Saturday after decades in business. According to the Coote family the “hard decision” was made to shut the bakery due to “forever rising costs” which have made it no longer sustainable to continue. However they have assured that Coote’s shop on the Kilrush Road will remain in business. A post on social media on behalf of the family, accompanied by a photograph of the bakery’s ovens, stated this week, “For the bones of 70 years, these oil ran ovens have produced millions of Coote’s pans, thousands of apple tarts and hundreds of other products. “Over those years generations of the Coote family have worked tirelessly day and night along with a great team of long term bakers to serve the people of Clare and beyond. “Unfortunately due to the forever rising costs across this industry it is no longer sustainable so we …

CLARE’S artistic community have shown their true colours of generosity by finding various ways to support the people of Ukraine. From selling artworks to raise funds for charities helping those affected by the war with Russia, to offering to give lessons to refugees who have found shelter in Clare, a number of local artists across the county have offered their support. Among those is Lahinch-based artist Michael Hanrahan who recently auctioned off one of his paintings with funds raised going to the Red Cross to help the people of Ukraine. He has also offered to provide water colour classes for Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in North Clare, believing the power of art may provide some kind of therapy for the new arrivals. Michael, who travels the world teaching watercolour painting on cruise liners, painted a view of the Algarve in Portugal while visiting the country earlier this year. He said that when news began to emerge of what was …

Tiger Woods will be playing golf in the Mid-West this summer with confirmation he is to participate in the 2022 JP McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor. The fifteen-time Major champion will join a world class field including Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Leona Maguire, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau at the charity event which takes place over two days on July 4 and 5. Woods, who has 82 PGA Tour wins and has led the Official World Golf Rankings for a record total of 683 weeks in his career, will also be golfing in the company of celebrities such as Mark Wahlberg and Niall Horan among many others. Coming off the back of an unforgettable return to competitive golf at last weekend’s Masters, this will be Woods’ fourth appearance at the fund-raising event which supports charitable organisations throughout the Mid-West of Ireland. Tournament host, JP McManus, expressed his delight at the news: “Tiger has been a great friend …

NEWS that the sale of turf is set to be banned from September has drawn criticism from one Clare Oireachtas member but been defended by another. The proposed ban is being justified on environmental and public health grounds by the Green Party, but Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe has said it is excessive. Green Party Senator Róisín Garvey defended the move and said that people will still have the right to save their own turf and will be allowed to rent a bank if they wish to do so. She also said that people who would have bought a load of turf for the winter can purchase timber instead, which she said is more cost effective and provides more warmth. “It has a higher calorific value, so you get more heat off it.” Senator Garvey said that 1,300 people per annum die due to air pollution, and that turf is a particularly problematic fuel. “The people burning it in open …

WORK is still ongoing on the possible development of a rail spur to Shannon, Minister Eamon Ryan has told the Dáil. Clare TD Joe Carey asked for a report on progress with regards to the provision of a rail spur to the airport from the Ennis-Limerick line, and when he expects a study to commence. Responding, Minister Ryan said, “As stated in the National Development Plan the issue of a rail spur from Limerick to Shannon Airport is being considered in the context of the Limerick-Shannon Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (LSMATS). “As the Deputy may be aware, that strategy is being developed by the National Transport Authority (NTA) in collaboration with Limerick City and County Council, Clare County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland. “A draft strategy was published in September 2020 and was open for public consultation for eight weeks. “Since the conclusion of that public consultation exercise, the NTA has conducted further analytical work to inform the next iteration …