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In Make A Difference, Bridget Ginnity explores how we can control our consumerism and waste generation STUFF. We are surrounded by it. Or are you an exception? Maybe your personal style is minimalist, with a single ornament against all white walls. Or perhaps you did a Marie Kondo in the past year and asked yourself what sparked joy in your home, and chucked out the rest. But for many of us, our shelves are cluttered, our wardrobes bulging with clothes that we’ll fit into next year, our sheds a danger to walk into. A lot of stuff is so cheap that even with a tight budget, we often don’t have to curb our impulse to buy. The price is low, but the cost is high. The carbon emitted to manufacture and transport all this stuff is causing the earth to warm and, like us when we are developing a fever, the earth is restless and uneasy. Floods, forest fires, heat …

WHILE West Clare community radio station Raidió Corca Baiscinn has kept broadcasting throughout the pandemic, it is now under serious pressure for funding. Chairman of RCB Paul Williams said that the station generally fundraises to continue operating, but that has been very difficult since March of 2020. “We receive money from various outlets such as Pobal, we get money from the BAI for programmes and we have to top that up with fundraising throughout the year. “We’d have bands playing in pubs, we’d have draws so people would go out and sell tickets, even things like the bucket shake, you can’t have any music, there has to be social distance, so we’ve been hampered in our fundraising efforts.” Without the income that would be coming in, it is hard to keep things running. “The money that we need to pay for day to day things has been reduced, we’ve been put to the pin of our collar to pay the …

THE Mayor of Ennis has urged people to pick up their litter following the success of the county capital in this year’s Irish Business Against Litter survey. The first post-lockdown survey by IBAL showed Ennis in third position in the ranking of 40 areas nationwide. The county capital was one of eight areas across the country to be deemed ‘cleaner than European norms’. The success of Ennis in this national survey comes just weeks ahead of the announcement of this year’s Tidy Towns competition results. Speaking at the monthly meeting of the Ennis Municipal District, Mayor of Ennis Councillor Ann Norton paid tribute to the outdoor staff of Clare County Council and the volunteers of Ennis Tidy Towns for their efforts in keeping the town looking its best. “We are extremely lucky that everybody in Ennis is extremely proud of their town and the work that is being done,” she said. She pointed to colourful displays of flowers saying “amazing …

ACCLAIMED Miltown Malbay duo O’Connell Brothers have announced their first-ever headline show later this month, and it looks set to be one of the gigs of the year.  Brothers Kieran and Jon O’Connell have plied their trade with local folk group The Fiddle Case for the past number of years and are well known for their performances in other bands, including The Walls and Serious Mischief.  When the first pandemic hit and with gigs cancelled, the brothers turned inward and seized the opportunity to forge a new creative path. They built a home studio and immersed themselves in a bubble of songwriting and recording, the fruits of which have proven hugely popular with music lovers.  Earlier this year, ‘Songbird’, their debut single, flew into the world and onto radio playlists and the reaction was hugely positive. “Some songs get tossed around for months, years; a lyrical idea or a bit of a melody, but some seem to just land in …

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has praised the Burren Agritourism sector for a host of innovative food and farm initiatives which saw hundreds of visitors head to the Burren area recently.   Minister McConalogue said: “I was delighted to see the Burren Food Fayre returned for a series of unique food and farm visitor experiences with a return to in-person events.    “I congratulate the organisers, the Burren Ecotourism Network, who are marking their 10th year in operation.”   The Minister said that it was encouraging to see that agritourism initiatives were continuing to go from strength to strength, adding: “We are proud to be funding these projects under the Department of Agriculture, Rural Innovation and Development Fund.”   During the bank holiday weekend, the Burren region hosted food and farm tours, walks, talks, cattle drives and tree planting which took place in locations all over the Burren which showcased the strong collaboration between farmers and tourism business owners. …

A BUNRATTY teenager is part of an all-girl team of Transition Year students in Laurel Hill Secondary School FCJ Limerick, taking part in a competition to design, engineer and manufacture a model Formula 1 car, writes Conor Clohessy. Maya Rooney (16) is the engineer for the the “Formula 1 in Schools” project, in which they will , blueprint the miniature car through computer design programmes; it is her responsibility to work around prototypes. The project is headed by the team manager Aaliyah Coughlan (15), who is responsible for ensuring everything runs smoothly across the board throughout the complex process. Other members include resources officer Lara Sheehan, designer Eva Kiely, fundraising and sponsorship officer Andrea Forde, and social media manager Ameenah Husseini – all 15. Maya explained: “First of all, me and Eva have to design our prototype on paper, and we work together to put it into design. While we do that, the rest of the team work on finding …

AN accident in which two school girls were knocked down while crossing the road near St Flannan’s College was recalled this week as Ennis councillors welcomed plans for a controlled crossing on the Clare Road. Last week the Clare Champion revealed that plans to reopen a pedestrian entrance at St Flannan’s College have been given the green light by Clare County Council. Under a condition of planning, no works are to take place until a controlled crossing is in place. At a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District this week Councillor Pat Daly said, “This is very, very welcome”. He recalled his early days using the old entrance to go into the school. “It is important that a controlled crossing is put in place to accommodate the kids crossing the road. I remember two students were knocked down in recent years.” Councillor Mary Howard recalled putting a motion before the council in 2019 calling for a crossing to be installed …

A MAN has been found guilty of a knife attack in Ennis that left the victim with a 20cm wound and the feeling that his face was “falling off”, writes Ronan Judge. At Ennis Circuit Court, a jury returned two guilty verdicts at the end of the trial of William McDonagh (30). McDonagh, with an addresses at Hazelbrook House, lower Gardiner street, Dublin and Clancy Park, Ennis, pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Wayne Higgins and the production of a kitchen knife during the course of the assault. Both counts arose from an incident that occurred in the Hermitage area of Ennis on the night of February 10, 2019. The two-day trial was heard before Judge Brian O’Callaghan last week. In evidence, Wayne Higgins (24), originally from Kilmaley and who has lived in Ennis, told the jury that he had been staying at the Laurel Lodge homeless hostel around the time of the assault. Mr Higgins said that …