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WITH high levels of absenteeism among both children and staff during the current wave of the pandemic, it’s a difficult time in the county’s schools. Peter Walsh, principal of St Conaire’s in Shannon said that a lot of problems have to be dealt with. “I suppose there’s more Covid in the community and therefore there’s more in the schools. The children aren’t vaccinated so they’re bound to be more susceptible when it is in the community. “The lack of contact tracing also causes us an issue, in relation to it being pulled from schools. You see the schools replicating what’s happening in the community, I guess.” With teachers absent across all schools, it is increasingly difficult to find cover. “The vast majority would be vaccinated, but the problem is if they are off we are having difficulty replacing them, it’s a system-wide crisis. “We have a supply panel, a couple of supply panels actually here in Clare, but they tend …

  UL Hospitals’ Group vaccinators will open Walk-In Covid-19 Vaccine Booster Clinics for 60-69-year-olds this weekend. The group will continue to run separate walk-in clinics for anyone in the Mid-West who has not yet received their primary Dose One or Dose Two vaccines.   The Walk-in Covid-19 Vaccine Booster clinics for 60-69s will be held at the Mid-West Covid-19 Vaccination Centre in Limerick Racecourse this Sunday, November 28 from 8.15am to 6pm. They will continue on Monday at the former OPD at Ennis Hospital from 8.30am to 6pm, and the Abbey Court Hotel in Nenagh from 8.30am to 6pm. There is no appointment for these Walk-In Booster Vaccine Clinics, which will deliver a single booster dose of the Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. These clinics are for 60-69 year-olds only – no other age groups are permitted. Five months or 152 days should have elapsed since a person received their Dose 2 vaccine before attending for a booster. As with other …

New project looks to enable frontline practitioners achieve best outcomes for children CAMPAIGNER against domestic abuse Luke Harte has described a new resource launched in County Clare as a crucial step towards giving all children the best chance in life. The information resource for frontline practitioners ‘Listen, Hear, Act’ is aimed at providing enhanced awareness and understanding of children living with domestic abuse was launched on UN International Day of the Child in county Clare. The resource provides insight on how children don’t just witness domestic violence as passive bystanders, but see it, hear it and feel it. An in-depth project, it has been undertaken jointly by The Clare Local Area Network Opposing Violence Against Women (CLAN) and has been funded by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The project also provides information on how to identify the signs of domestic abuse in children, as well as a roadmap on how to access suitable services to help …

ORGANISERS of this year’s Christmas Market in Ennis have stated the event is going ahead. Confirmation comes after the official switch-on of Ennis’ Christmas lights, planned for this Friday in Abbey Street, has been replaced with a virtual switch-on. From December 2 to 5 Abbey Street Carpark will be transformed into a festive Christmas Village with live entertainment, creative crafts and food along with a vintage carousel, Christmas-themed amusements and other festive surprises. An estimated 10,000 people visited over the three-day event in 2019. Organisers say they are hopeful that by extending the event by an extra day this year, it will facilitate an anticipated increase in numbers. The appetite for live events has increased and to comply with government and public health guidelines an extra day is likely to be necessary. Thousands of people had been expected to turn out for the official switch-on of the county capital’s Christmas lights this Friday. However Clare County Council made the “difficult …

ST JOSEPH’S Tulla’s breakthrough to a Dr Harty Cup Quarter-Final in dramatic circumstances on Wednesday afternoon was the apex of an encouraging afternoon for East Clare, reports Eoin Brennan. Scariff Community College eased into the last eight of the Senior C Hurling Championship after overcoming neighbours St Anne’s Killaloe by 3-22 to 1-14 and are still on track for a Senior and Junior C double Also through to the quarter-finals as CBS Ennistymon (Senior C) and Ennistymon Vocational School (Senior E) while St Caimin’s Shannon can join them this afternoon (Thursday) when traveling to Tipperary Town to take on Abbey CBS in the Senior B Championship. Rice College will contest next Wednesday’s Junior B Hurling Semi-Final against Cork’s Charleville CBS but St John Bosco, Kildysart went one significant step further by brushing off the challenge of Mungret Community College to advance to the Under 15E Football Final against Gaelcholáiste Mhuire an Mhainistír Thuaigh (Cork) in a fortnight’s time. Munster Post-Primary …

CLARE businesses may be hit with a 3.8% increase in commercial rates, if local county councillors approve the first hike since 2009 in the Draft 2022 Budget at a meeting this Friday, writes Dan Danaher. With Clare County Council’s overall expenditure projected to increase to €138.6 million in 2022, up €7.8 million on the previous year, it is expected this proposed rates increase will generate an additional €1.3 million in revenue, if it is approved. The Clare Champion has learned that councilllors were presented with this proposed commercial rates increase at a recent briefing. In total, 3,430 occupied properties generated €37.2 million in commercial property rates in 2021. Ten levied properties pay more than €20 million. This income comes from energy generation plants, windfarms, global utility networks, national retailers and large industry. The balance of about €17 million is levied across 96% of properties in the county. While income from extra properties or new builds will generate an extra €1.15 …

A SENIOR intensive care clinician has warned health services are on a “war time” footing due to increasing cases of Covid-19. The head of the intensive care unit at University Hospital Limerick, Dr Catherine Motherway, has also stated some healthcare services will have to shut down, if Covid-19 figures continue to rise. Her warning came before official figures revealed the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Mid-West totalled 5,381 from November 9 to November 22. There were 1,361 new cases of the virus in Clare, 1,975 in Tipperary and 2,045 in Limerick during this 14-day period. The 14-day incidence for November 22 is 1,145 in Clare 1,237 in Tipperary and 1,049 in Limerick per 100,000 population. Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland earlier this week, Dr Motherway said that healthcare staff are “stretched and operating on a day-to-day basis” and noted that patients may not receive the same level of care as they would “in peace time”. She also revealed …

A CONCERTED campaign is being sought to tackle a junction on the main artery into East Clare, where people are “putting their lives at risk”. Several members of the Killaloe Municipal District issued stark warnings about the situation at Henchy’s Cross on the R352. The intersection is one of the preferred routes for traffic coming from the mart in Ennis and Shannon Airport onto the busy regional road. At the November meeting of the district, Councillor Pat Hayes appealed to the Killaloe director to make a case for major safety works. Efforts have been ongoing to secure funding from the Department of Transport for a major €2m scheme. To date, this has not been approved and the meeting heard that interim safety works are expected to begin next year. A frustrated Councillor Hayes said there had been several accidents at the junction and he did not want to see fatalities happen. “I’m calling on our Director of Services to take …