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A BIKE rental scheme for Ennis town and its environs would be the solution to a shortage of parking in the county capital, Ennis’ Deputy Mayor believes. Councillor Paul Murphy made the call for the introduction of such a scheme to be “prioritised” as part of the Ennis Town Mobility Plan at a recent meeting of the Ennis Municipal District. The motion seconded by Mayor of Ennis Councillor Ann Norton who voiced her support. The proposal will be considered in the Ennis Town Mobility Plan, Leonore O’Neill, senior executive officer with the Ennis Municipal District confirmed. Councillor Murphy stated that the inclusion of a bike rental scheme “should be a key component” of the mobility plan for a number of reasons, to improve mobility and also to give more options to people who want to come into town.” He added that the villages of Clarecastle and Barefield should be included in the proposed scheme. “People could come and park on …

A LUCKY Clare lotto player scooped €457,080 in Saturday night’s draw. The most coveted prize in Irish Lotto history remains up for grabs after Saturday night’s record breaking €19.06 million jackpot draw continued to roll without a winner. However Clare player matched 5 numbers and the bonus ball to share a €914,160 prize pot with a Donegal winner, with each player winning €457,080. The player in Ennis purchased their winning Quick Pick ticket on the day of the draw at the Tesco store in Ennis Shopping Centre while the Donegal winner picked their own numbers on a Normal Play selection on Thursday, November 25 at Kernan’s Spar store in Ballyshannon in County Donegal. As no additional funds were added to the capped Lotto jackpot, the funds that would usually go to the jackpot were instead distributed to the next prize tier at which there was a winner and in Saturday’s, this was the Match 5+Bonus category.  The National Lottery are …

GARDAÍ at Ennis are appealing to the public for assistance in tracing the whereabouts of 30-year-old Jason Burcombe who is missing from his home in Ennis, Co Clare since Tuesday, November 23. Jason is described as approximately 5’ 6” in height, of medium build, with short fair hair and blue eyes. When last seen he was wearing a black jacket, dark grey tracksuit pants, a grey beanie hat, navy runners and white socks. His family are concerned for his wellbeing and are seeking assistance from the public in locating him. Anyone with information is asked to contact Ennis Garda Station 065-6848100, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.

State accused of ‘stalling tactics’ by Clare advocate “A LITANY of broken promises” has been condemned by the founder of the Clare Pyrite Action Group, after confirmation of further delays in access to the defective blocks scheme. Dr Martina Cleary said that more than 100 homeowners in Clare will now have no option but to take legal action and engage in further protests. Despite assurances from the Housing Minister on August 27, that a decision on extending the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme would be made “within weeks”, the process has become protracted. After raising queries with the council about the cost of a technical report it submitted in July, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) has now sought further technical data. This added hitch has sparked anger, with Dr Cleary accusing the Department of “stalling tactics”. “The Department is now looking for additional test data and it’s clearly a delaying strategy,” she told The Champion. “I …

A woman was rescued from the sea this morning after getting into difficulty while swimming off the Black Rock at Spanish Point. The alarm was raised at around 11.30am when emergency services received a report of a person in trouble. Watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue sub-centre on Valentia Island in Kerry mounted a multi-agency search and rescue operation involving the Kilkee unit of the Coast Guard, Clare County Fire and Rescue Service, National Ambulance Service, RNLI and An Garda Síochána. A man walking on the beach at the time is understood to have entered the water and helped the woman ashore. It’s believed the woman, thought to be in her 60s, got into difficulty after finding herself out of her depth. The Shannon-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter, Rescue 115, and the Aran Islands RNLI lifeboat were also tasked but were stood down when it was confirmed that the woman had been brought ashore. The Kilkee Coast …

AN out of this world song created by a group of Ennis students has helped them secure top prize in a national science video competition. Coláiste Muire Ennis Transition Year students Neila Ryan, Gemma Hannon, Laura Hayes and Aimee McNamara were among the winners in the ReelLIFE SCIENCE Video Competition Awards. The students were named winners in the Best Science Song category, voted for by the public, for their tune ‘Are Aliens Real?’ School principal Jean Pound explained, “ReelLIFE SCIENCE is a novel science video competition for Irish primary and secondary schools, which aims to promote science in the classroom and beyond, by inviting students to produce a short video communicating a scientific topic in an engaging and entertaining way.” She outlines that Neila, Gemma, Laura and Aimee wanted to make people aware of the possibility that aliens actually do exist with their short video clip. “In their song they outlined how big the universe really is,” said Jean. “They …

Non-profit organisation looks to harness power of connectivity to breathe life into rural communities NEWMARKET resident and National Broadband Ireland chairman David McCourt has launched a new non-profit organisation the Rise Global Foundation. The goal of the organisation is to support businesses and social enterprises, seeking to combine an entrepreneurial mindset with technology to create jobs and pride of place. Last week in Newmarket, Mr McCourt said he wants the new foundation to help rural communities build on the opportunities that the provision of broadband is giving them. “I’ve seen how Newmarket has changed over the last 20 years, we used to have seven shops, now we have one supermarket. We used to have two bakeries, now we have none, we used to have two butchers now we have one. We used to have a woman’s clothing store on the corner. “If you go back 50 or 60 years we used to have a movie theatre. A lot of things …

VEGETATION encroaching on a number of roads in East Clare has resulted in drivers losing wing mirrors and windscreens, a meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District has heard. The topic was raised by Councillor Pat Burke who described it as “a famous item” as it is comes up so often. “Many landowners do great work, but there are still sections of our roads where they don’t,” he said. “In this day and age, people deserve better, particularly drivers of HGVs. The problem hasn’t gone away. “The council are doing their bit and lots of landowners do good work. Some respond to letters from the Municipal District office, but others don’t. It’s a major problem. “Last Saturday, a lorry driver broke a mirror. In this day and age, it’s not good enough. Driving a car is no problem, but if you’re in a lorry or a tractor, mirrors are at risk. It’s awful to think you have to keep out to …