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SHANNON Airport Group today announced that it had over 1.51 million passengers in 2022, bringing it back to 88% of its pre-pandemic numbers, despite travel still being impacted in the early part of last year. “The accelerated pace of the rebound in air travel from Shannon has exceeded our expectations and shows the pent-up desire for international travel following the lifting of pandemic travel restrictions,” said CEO Mary Considine. European services recovered strongly in 2022 with over 532,000 passengers travelling through Shannon. This actually surpassed 2019 pre-pandemic levels by 7% and was a 225% increase on 2021. Shannon recorded over 638,000 passengers on its UK services in 2022, a 309% increase on the previous year.After an absence of almost two years, transatlantic services returned in March 2022 and saw a strong rebound of almost 240,000 passengers on services to New York (JFK), Boston and Newark. A further boost is expected from May 2023 when a new daily nonstop seasonal service …

THERE is significant Clare interest in a brand-new documentary airing tomorrow night on one of the most divisive political figures of our time. ‘Trump’s Last Stand’, a special programme on the former US president and owner of an exclusive county Clare resort Donald Trump will air on Virgin Media One tomorrow night at 9pm. The documentary is the work of Virgin Media News Correspondent Richard Chambers, who himself has strong links to the Banner county, being a resident of Lahinch for most of his formative years. In this exclusive documentary, Chambers charts Donald Trump’s attempt to naviagate a route back to the White House, meeting those whose lives have been upended by the political division, violence and conspiracy theories that have divided America. Chambers travels from the Mar-A-Lago mansion where Trump announced his second bid for the Presidency across a broken America where lies about Trump’s election defeat continue to drive fear and loathing with often deadly consequences. The documentary …

FOR many teenagers their mid-term break away from school is a time to kick back, take it easy and relax. Not so for 16-year-old Claire Cuddihy from Lissycasey who this February is set to take on an incredible challenge with the aim of raising mental health awareness as well as funds for a well-known charity. Claire is preparing to complete not one, but an amazing, seven marathons over the course of just one week in aid of Pieta. The student of St John Bosco Community College, Kildysart, will be taking on a gruelling 42km run each day, getting back out on the track every day for seven straight days in a row. Speaking to The Clare Champion ahead of her marathon challenge, she laughs as she considers the daunting challenge she has set herself. More seriously, however, she adds her strong belief that the issue of mental health needs to be highlighted, while she also wants to raise awareness and …

Sean Meere, like most teenagers his age, is completely sports mad. The 13-year-old loves playing for his native club Clarecastle in both hurling and football while playing in the storied blue of St. Flannan’s is equally special to him. However it is soccer where Sean is currently making big waves. A graduate of the Clare Emerging Talent programme that competed in the 2022 Galway Cup Sean recently signed League of Ireland forms for Limerick side Treaty United and will play in the FAI Under 14 National League of Ireland. A proud moment for his family but as his father Alan informed the Champion, it was a moment he earned through sheer hard work “It’s like a ladder really with all these different steps, firstly participating in the emerging talent programme for Clare which led to a regional programme over a three-month period with numbers being cut constantly. “After completion of the regional programme Sean attended the FAI Centre of Excellence …

A WEST Clare councillor has made a passionate plea for the region’s roads to receive a slice of the exchequer surplus of €5 billion.  Strong growth in tax revenue and an end to many Covid supports resulted in an exchequer swing of €12.4 billion at the end of last year from the €7.4 billion deficit recorded in 2021. Given the windfall, Councillor Ian Lynch has written to Ministers Eamon Ryan and Micheál McGrath highlighting the dire state of roads in the West Clare Municipal District. The Independent member made the case for an injection of €50 million for Clare County Council for road improvements, focusing on vital surface dressing and strengthening improvements.  In correspondence seen by The Champion, the Kilrush man told the Ministers for Transport and Public Expenditure said: “Decades of underinvestment in rural roads no longer allows for these finances to be tucked away for a rainy day the investment in rural roads must be made now. I …

A search has resumed this Monday morning for a person reported missing in the Ennis area on Sunday. A search operation was launched after a man in his 60s was reported missing in the Ballybeg area south of Ennis. Gardaí had mounted an initial search but requested assistance from the Irish Coast Guard. It’s understood that man was last seen on Saturday evening as CCTV footage shows him leaving his home at Riverside off the Clon Road in Ennis. Members of Galway Civil Defence’s drone team have travelled to Clare to assist their colleagues who are also using the technology in the search. Neighbours and other locals as well as work colleagues of the missing man have also been taking part in the search. The area of operation has now been widened with Civil Defence personnel and members of the public now searching an area around Cahercalla Hospital. Weather conditions are still poor with reduced visibility reported in the search …

SHANNON Airport Group is to be asked to consider extending the free 15-minute access to the car park at the airport. At last week’s meeting of Shannon Municipal District, Councillor Pat McMahon said that while first of all the Airport should be thanked for the free access, there are problems with it, especially in the evenings. A motion he put before the meeting asked that Shannon Airport Group “consider providing additional free short-term parking for pick-up or drop-off of passengers as the current 15 minute free park is not sufficient”. Councillor McMahon said that at the moment people park up at the roadside on the way in, as they don’t want to go in too early and face the €3 charge if they are inside for longer than a quarter of an hour. The Fianna Fáil councillor said that it can be “quite dangerous”, with people parked at the side of the road on the way towards the car park …

CLARE County Council has declared plans for the construction of a permanent family home for Deputy Cathal Crowe are withdrawn after he opted not to respond to a Further Information Request from the planning authority. In its request for Further Information, Clare County Council considered the information submitted in the planning application for a private dwelling house, detached garage, wastewater treatment system and associated site works at Heathmount, Cratloe for Maeve Fehilly and Cathal Crowe is insufficient to make a complete planning assessment of the proposal. The applicant was requested to submit a site layout plan with a slope of 1:8 or less as per the EPA guidelines and was advised it may be necessary to carry out revised percolation tests and a trial hole evaluation. With regard to the proposed water supply, it is noted the application form states that there will be a new connection to a private well. However, the site characterisation form indicates a connection to …