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A special programme of chilling events with hair raising surprises await visitors to Bunratty Castle & Folk Park in Clare and King John’s Castle in the heart of Limerick City this Halloween. Monsters, misfits and mayhem will be the order of the day. This Halloween midterm Bunratty Castle & Folk Park is returning to its Irish pagan roots and will mark the festival of Samhain in its own unique way. Focusing on the old Irish traditions associated with this time of year, visitors are invited to come and experience a traditional Irish Samhain (or Halloween) from Saturday October 23rd to 31st. As part of the events, Bunratty Castle will unveil a creepy crypt full of scary surprises. Should you dare cross the threshold of this ancient structure beware of ghostly voices and spooky sounds at every turn. The fortress’ creepy castle guides tell you all about the deadly dungeon or monstrous murder hole. Visitors are encouraged to dress in costume …

THE brakes were pulled on the annual When In Doubt, Pedal It Out mental health awareness cycle last year due to Covid-19, but fortunately it is all systems go for this year’s event. Cyclists will take to the roads of Clare this coming Sunday, October 24. The event is being based out of the Clarecastle GAA facility and will depart at 10am sharp and take in parts of Clarecastle, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Shannon, Quin and Doora – Barefield parishes. One of the organising committee, Paul Murphy, is thrilled at the prospect of the event hitting the road again following last year’s enforced hiatus. “It’s fantastic that we are in a position to run the event this year and all of the committee are really looking forward to Sunday. Once again we in Clare Cycle Safety are being assisted by sponsorship  from Ennis Municipal District and we would like to thank them for their continued support. “Marshalling is being provided by volunteers and …

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation today celebrated the opening of its new manufacturing center in Castletroy, Limerick City, and announced its intention to increase its workforce to 850 employees in the coming years. This represents the creation of 250 additional jobs compared to what was initially announced at the groundbreaking in 2019. Edwards established operations in Ireland in 2018 at a facility in the Shannon Freezone and still employs people there. The new purpose-built facility will focus on the manufacture of breakthrough innovative therapies and life-saving medical technologies for patients suffering from heart valve disease. “Our announcement illustrates the continued growth of our company globally and demonstrates our confidence to the Mid-West of Ireland. By expanding our presence in the area, we aim to create a hub for Europe and bring us closer to the patients in the region who will receive these life-saving therapies.” says Michael A Mussallem, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Edwards Lifesciences. Employees at the plant will …

Scariff-Ogonnelloe 3-14 Clooney-Quin 2-8 A blistering start that saw Scariff-Ogonnelloe fire 1-1 in the opening two minutes set the East Clare amalgamation up for victory in the Under 13B championship final against Clooney-Quin in Broadford. Goalscorer Oisin Madden was to go on to have an outstanding final scoring 1-6 in total, all of which impressively came from play. Indeed the whole spine of the winning team was excellent, keeping Clooney-Quin on the backfoot for most of the match. The first half saw Scariff-Ogonnelloe in the ascendancy with further points from Madden (5), Caimin Dinan and two placed balls from Paul Rodgers giving them a 1-9 to 0-4 half-time lead. A different Clooney-Quin team emerged for the second period and despite Madden again opening the scoring with a point, they started to claw back the deficit. A goal through Marcas Fitzpatrick followed by a point allied to further singles from James Moloney, Sean Considine and Isaac Hassett had them only trailing …

CLARE County Council has unveiled details of a new economic and spatial strategy that will drive the economic, social and physical development of Ennis over the next 18 years. They claim it will lead to the town being “one of the best places in the world to live, work and visit.” The plan, entitled ‘Ennis 2040 – An Economic and Spatial Strategy’,was launched on Friday morning by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD. According to a statement from the Council the strategic objectives of Ennis 2040 are to position the town as a location for investment, to make it Ireland’s first climate adaptive town, to create ‘Ireland’s First 10 Minute Town’ where a range of community facilities and services are accessible in short timeframes and to promote Ennis as an accessible place of quality with a quality-of-life proposition that sets it apart from other locations. Mr Varadkar said, “I’m really happy to launch this exciting …

Ivan Smyth speaks to Podge Collins ahead of this weekend’s crucial vote on the football championship FOR Podge Collins the answer is simple, change the structure of the football Championship before it is too late. This Saturday delegates will vote on whether Proposal B will replace the current Championship structure. Under Proposal B the Championship will be run in a league format with each county guaranteed a minimum of seven games. “Proposal B would make the competition much fairer. The current format is skewed, you have 12 teams in Leinster and five in Connacht. The fairness of the competition is the main reason why we are pushing for change. Seven games will develop counties. We played Kerry last year and were well beaten and that was our year done.” “It is a broken system. Proposal B is not perfect. I’ll be the first to admit that but it’s better than what we have right now. I understand people have legitimate …

COMMUNITIES in South-East Clare were united in mourning last weekend when news filtered through of the sudden death of young Ogonnelloe man, writes Dan Danaher. A serving soldier, Private Gerard McMahon (24), had just returned home from a six-month tour of duty with the 63rd Infantry Group in Syria. The death of Mr McMahon following a tragic accident while on holidays in Spain has left his heartbroken family and Ogonnelloe residents devastated. A postmortem is expected to take place at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Malaga. Gerard was a skilled marksman, winning brigade and all army competitions during his military career. Described as a keen sportsman, he participated in a number of sports notably hurling, football and rugby. At the time of writing, no definitive date was known for the arrival of the deceased’s body back to his residence in Ballyloughnane, Ogonnelloe, which is located a short distance from St Mary’s Church where it is expected a military funeral …

CAMPAIGNERS supporting imprisoned Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will hold a ‘solidarity stall’ in O’Connell Square, Ennis this Saturday from 11.30am. This is part of an Irish Day of Solidarity with Assange, which will see a whole series of activities from Derry to Kerry in support of the imprisoned Australian journalist and publisher. It is organised by Free Assange Ireland in co-operation with other campaign groups and organisations for peace and justice. IRISH DAY of SOLIDARITY WITH JULIAN ASSANGE.SATURDAY, 23 OCTOBER: Check out our FB pagehttps://t.co/MfKUplGyCs#JulianAssange #JulianAssangeOurHero — Free Assange Ireland #1 (@assange_1) October 16, 2021 More than 20 events are being held ahead of Assange’s extradition proceedings which are set to continue in London’s High Court from October 27/28. Assange is currently in isolation at Belmarsh High Security Prison in London.