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A NEW €560,000 Irish language plan for Ennis was launched by Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and Sport Jack Chambers on Friday. The plan comes with a guarantee of €80,000 in expenditure each year ofr seven, years, while there will be a language planning officer recruited, and an attempt to connect the language across public services and businesses. in Ennis. Speaking at Gaelscoil Mhíchíl Cíosóg on Friday, the Minister said, “It’s a really important morning for Ennis, we’re launching a language plan which will strengthen and promote the language, it’s a seven year plan with €80,000 per year. There’s the recruitment of a language planning officer and there will be an attempt to connect the language across public services and businesses. These plans are being rolled out across the country and it’s great to see a county and a town with such a tradition of language and culture, have all the groups work together to get to this day.” …

CLARE’S Imogen Cotter will be completing arguably her greatest test of endurance this Saturday when the talented cyclists completed a 340km cycle in Spain, writes Ivan Smyth. Cotter, from Ruan, will aim to complete the Pirinexus Challenge as she will start her cycle in Girona with the route taking her through the Pyrenees. This is a unique event in the cycling calendar with participants given 18 hours to complete the cycle as they start at dawn and have until midnight to negotiate this difficult course. The Clare cyclist is under no illusions as to the size of the task she faces. “I have never done a challenge like this. I will be travelling on road, gravel paths and even up mountains. It is a huge challenge. I’m tripling the distance that I usually race. I have to be self sufficient on the day so if I get a puncture, I have to deal with that myself.” Cotter enters this race …

  Gardaí have seized more than €50,000 worth of suspected cannabis in East Clare under Operation Tara following two separate searches on Thursday. Shortly before 4pm on Thursday, Killaloe Gardai assisted by members of the Clare Divisional Drugs Unit carried out a search of a premises at O’Brien’s Bridge. Suspected cannabis herb with an estimated street value in excess of €45,000 was seized. A man in his late twenties was arrested at the scene, and was subsequently detained at Ennis Garda Station under Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act, 1996. He has since been charged in connection with this seizure and will appear before a special sitting of Ennis District Court on Friday at 6pm. Meanwhile, shortly after 6.30pm Gardaí conducted a separate search operation at a house in Bridgetown, in South-East Clare. A quantity of suspected cannabis herb estimated to be worth approximately €7,000 was seized at this location. No arrests have been made in relation to this …

AN Ennis secondary school will be able to expand its number of student admissions after the Department of Education gave the go-ahead for a multi-million euro extension. The development at Rice College will see state-of-the art facilities added to the school campus including 13 new mainstream classrooms and a designated suite providing education and support to autistic students. Principal Louis Mulqueen has described the development as “a major advance in the post-primary educational infrastructure of Ennis”. The ability to increase student numbers has been particularly welcomed in light of unprecedented demand in recent years for secondary school places in the county capital, which Mr Mulqueen has described as “a major challenge” for post-primary schools area. As well as enabling increased pupil numbers, the new extension will also allow for an expanded curriculum and broader services for students with special needs at Rice College. Following the announcement, Mr Mulqueen said, “Rice College Board of Management welcomes the recent announcement by the …

UHL reports 89 suspected cases of Covid-19, the highest figure of any hospital in the country UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick is coming under considerable pressure dealing with overcrowding, a Covid-19 outbreak in two wards as well as looking after an “extraordinarily” high number of patients with suspected incidence of the virus, it emerged this week. The flaghship hospital was treating 89 suspected cases of Covid-19, compared with 23 in St James’ Hospital, Dublin, five in Sligo and four in University College Hospital, Galway on Tuesday. It also had the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country with 23, one higher than Cork University Hospital on 22. An analysis of offical Covid-19 figures in public hospitals has revealed 11 hospital had no suspected case, four had one case, six had two cases and four had three cases on Tuesday. This has been a trend for a number of days. HSE statistics show there were 86 suspected Covid-19 cases in UHL …

A Clare TD has compared a Garda investigation into alleged squaring away of road traffic offences in the Limerick Garda Division, to the Salem witch trials, which saw 20 people executed in the Massachusetts town in the 1690s, reports David Raleigh. Eight gardai suspended on November 8 last year remain so, pending the outcome of the two-year investigation which is being led by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI). Clare Deputy Cathal Crowe said gardai have come to him and told him they are concerned at the nature of the probe. Gardai have privately expressed fear they may face the threat of suspension or court for using discretion when dealing with members of the public. Deputy Crowe said, “You could almost call the Limerick Garda Division ‘Salem’ at the moment, because there’s a form of witch-trial being going on for the last two years there.” “Eight members suspended, 60 garda phones confiscated, morale has never been lower,” he …

Killaloe woman keen to highlight support she and her family have received from local organisations DONATIONS are still being made to local charities after a Killaloe woman completed a gruelling 250km triathlon in one day. The successful completion of “The Long Way In One Day” by Jade Hoynes (28) has raised €7,341 for the Samaritans and Sejare Adult Respite House. Her original target was €5,000, so she was thrilled to collect more than €2,300 extra for two charities that are close to her heart. “I would have been delighted to raise €5,000. The huge support and kind messages I have received really meant a lot to me. “It was one of the best days of my life. It was a day I will not forget. The support from my family, friends and the charities made the day so much more enjoyable and much easier.” The regular Ironman challenge is a 180 kilometre cycle, 3.8 kilometre swim, and marathon. Just to …

AFGHAN nationals now based in Ireland all came together in Dublin for a protest against the Taliban on Sunday. Among the protestors was Sayed Farid Sanai, the former TV news anchor who had to flee his home country and who is now based in Ennis. He was pleased with the protest and said that there had been a strong turnout from citizens of Afghanistan who are now based in Ireland. “It was a good protest, a lot of Afghan citizens came from different parts of Ireland, from Cork, from Limerick, from Waterford, from Galway, different parts of Ireland, Afghan people who’ve moved here from 2000 to now. They came to protest and they said that in the time they’ve been living in Ireland there’s never been this type of protest.” One of the major focuses of the protest was on the denial of women’s rights by the Taliban. “The main message of it was about women’s rights, that the Taliban …