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MORE than 10,000 vaccine doses against Covid-19 were administered in two Clare mass vaccination centres over a one-week period, according to official figures. The UL Hospitals’ Group has confirmed a total of 10,171 vaccine doses were administered between the Radisson Blu, Meelick 7,267 and Treacy’s West County, Ennis, 2,904 sites from May 2 to May 9. Up to close of business on Sunday May 9th, Group vaccinators had administered a total of 57,573 Covid-19 vaccine doses across the Mid-West. This regional total is composed of 51,777 Dose One and 5,796 Dose Two vaccinations Doses administered at the three Mid-West Vaccination Centres in the Radisson Blu, West County Ennis and Abbey Court Nenagh to that point in time, account for 69% of the overall regional total, with 39,730 doses having been delivered there. Last week, Week 18 of the programme, was the busiest to date. Between Sunday May 2nd and close of business on Saturday May 8th, 11,406 doses were delivered …

CLARE Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe has tendered his resignation from the Ireland-Israel parliamentary friendship committee in protest against Israeli state aggression in the disputed Gaza Strip/West Bank region and in solidarity with those impacted by this action. “I have contacted the Ceann Comhairle’s office this afternoon to inform him of my intentions to resign from the Ireland-Israel parliamentary friendship committee with immediate effect,” said Deputy Crowe. “I am doing so in protest against continued Israeli aggression and incursions into disputed parts of the Gaza Strip. “In recent days, there has been a huge escalation of violence in the Gaza area with rockets being fired by both militant fighters on the Palestinian side and the Israeli Armed Forces. “I don’t condone what either side is doing but I think the root cause of this latest ignition of violence has been works to create a new Israeli settlement in the disputed land earlier this month. “The Israeli government has acted very …

Colm Collins says the Banner panel are ready to make the most of their opportunities THE longest winter in GAA history certainly rivalled anything that Game of Thrones could threaten. However, while spring has been essentially bypassed, it does open up a summer of possibilities albeit that it’s predicated on hitting the ground running, particularly when it comes to football. With the championship being straight knock-out and the imminent National League halved, Clare have only five guaranteed competitive matches in 2021, something which Colm Collins is only too aware of in advance of his eighth season in charge. “The games will be coming at us thick and fast over the next three weekends so we just have to be ready and make the most of the opportunity and I think we will, being honest. “There’s a great energy around the whole camp and that’s to be expected because if you look at it, the majority of them haven’t played a …

WITH the relaxation of Covid restrictions, a number of West and North Clare councillors have requested extra focus on dealing with the large number of visitors expected in the near future. Councillors Cillian Murphy, Joe Garrihy, Shane Talty and Susan Crawford combined on a motion for this week’s Municipal District meeting. The motion stated, “Given the experience of last summer, and the significant influx of visitors expected for this year, that the West Clare MD provide a detailed analysis of the extra human resources required to provide appropriate levels of management, and enforcement of the litter, parking and beach laws, at our coastal amenities, to include projected additional costs and identifying future potential income streams.” In a written reply, Acting Senior Executive Officer John O’Malley stated, “A number of debriefing sessions were held following the experience of summer 2020 at our main visitor attraction locations in West Clare MD and a Business Case developed to ensure that resources, both financial …

WITH a potential boycott of the National Camogie League prevented on Tuesday afternoon with the Camogie Association’s u-turn to align with the other three codes in a split season fixture approach, the path is finally clear for Clare to home in on neighbours Galway on Saturday. As opening National League tests go, Clare couldn’t have envisioned a tougher start as Galway have contested the last two all-Ireland Finals. However, possessing the coach that helped the Tribeswomen to only a third ever All-Ireland crown (2019) in Conor Dolan is certainly a huge boost to the Banner’s cause. And for the Meelick native himself, it promises to be a strange occasion as it’s the first time that he has faced Galway competitively since coming back to Clare in 2020. “It’ll be interesting. Look, I had nothing but good times and memories from the two years I was involved with the girls up there. “It was a great experience and we had a …

    LONG delays are expected for patients attending services across UL Hospitals’  Group this Friday as a result of a serious ransomware attack on HSE information technology systems. Emergency services across hospitals in the region continue to operate today. Patients with an outpatient appointment or a scheduled procedure across the group’s six hospitals are advised to attend for their appointments/procedures unless they are directly contacted by the hospital and advised otherwise. The HSE nationally has taken the precaution of shutting down all information technology systems in order to protect them from this attack and to allow the authority fully assess the situation with their own security partners. The HSE apologise for any inconvenience caused to patients and to the public and will give further information as it becomes available. It is appealing to members of the public to be patient as they switch to manual back-up systems. Emergency services and unscheduled care continue to operate across all sites. This …

THE stretch of road from Mullagh to Miltown is to be fully restored after pipe-laying works are finished. The news was relayed to Deputy Michael McNamara who said Clare County Council and Irish Water are committed to the works. Irish Water’s main civil engineering contractors have recently excavated the Mullagh Cross to Mack’s Cross road to accommodate the laying of a replacement watermain. “The replacement watermain will replace a section of main that had become extremely problematic in recent years and will hopefully bring a reliable supply of water to Miltown and several other areas en route,” explained Deputy McNamara. The Independent TD acknowledged the issues caused for road users during the upgrade, but stressed that those are short term. “While the inconvenience to road users at present is regrettable, it is also temporary,” he noted. “In response to my representation on behalf of the people of Mullagh and Miltown Malbay, the Road Section of Clare County Council says residents …

THERE was a n-ice surprise for the residents and staff of St Joseph’s Hospital in Ennis at the weekend. The family of resident Mary Skerritt came up with a novel way of celebrating her 99th birthday, while keeping socially distanced, by organising for an ice-cream van to pay a visit to the nursing home. Mary was born on May 8, 1922 in Miltown Malbay and is the mother of seven children, along with being a proud grandmother and great grandmother. Her son Michael told The Champion that because of Covid-19 they were unable to celebrate her birthday the way the family would have liked, so came up with this idea to mark the occasion while also saying thank you to the hospital staff for their dedicated care. “It was just a fabulous day and we had great weather for it. We were trying to come up with ideas of what we could do for her birthday and this one was …