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Trócaire is calling on supporters in Clare to return donations from their Trócaire boxes, warning that a decline in donations to its Lenten Appeal would put many of its life-saving programmes at risk. The charity’s biggest fundraising campaign, which finishes this weekend (Easter Sunday), has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with many supporters unable to access their Trócaire boxes through the usual channels due to ongoing restrictions. Trócaire CEO Caoimhe de Barra said: “Unless our generous supporters in Clare return their boxes or donate online this year, we won’t be able to provide life-saving support to almost 3 million people who rely on our work overseas each year.” “We are asking our supporters in Clare to ‘make your Trócaire box count’. Please count or estimate what is in your box and donate the equivalent amount online, over the phone or via post. Many parishes have their own local arrangements in place for collecting Trócaire boxes, so people can also …

PROGRESS on the provision of a new primary care centre for Sixmilebridge has been stalled, following a difficulty around the purchase of the site. It is understood that while the original contractor will not be going ahead with the development now, the planning permission at the site remains in place, and there are hopes in some quarters that another contractor can go ahead with the project in the relatively near future. In 2019 Valley Healthcare Fund Infrastructure Investment Fund sought planning permission for a two storey primary health care facility on land between the Shannon Road and Ashview Drive in Sixmilebridge. The way it works is that a private developer builds the facility, which then comes under the auspices of the HSE, who would provide a range of services from there. Clare TD Joe Carey said, “The current hold up in the development of the new primary care centre in Sixmilebridge is disappointing, but I’m working to get the project …

A KILLALOE area councillor has welcomed the return to “the era of Bertie Ahern” in terms of spending on roads in Clare, following a significant increase in funds for the 2021 Schedule of Municipal District Works. At last week’s meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District, Senior Engineer John Leahy outlined how a total of €5.6m will be spent on roads in the area and noted an increase of 15% on the figure for 2020. An additional €4m will go towards the Killaloe bypass and crossing project. After Mr Leahy unveiled the total budget of €34.5m for Clare, €28m of which will go on the existing roads network, the senior engineer noted that for this was the first time the total annual allocation had significantly increased on the figure for 2008. “We had €31m at that time,” he said. “2008 was the end of the Celtic Tiger and the last time we had substantial grant funding, so we take that as …

An East Clare councillor has branded as “disgraceful and outrageous” the situation at The 12 O’Clock Hills in terms of illegal dumping and anti-social behaviour. Councillor Joe Cooney made his comments at the recent meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District when he called for a barrier to be erected to address issues including fly-tipping, theft, bike-scrambling and other unauthorised and illegal activities in the area. The Fine Gael member proposed that the barrier might be put in place on the link road between at Torpey Hurleys and the R471 at Oatfield Church. He stressed that this would only be done after consultation with householders, landowners, The 12 O’Clock Hills committee and Coillte. “There is a major issue with unlawful dumping and anti-social behaviour,” he said. “There’s a lot of concern over what’s going on at The 12 O’Clock Hills. A number of different groups have approached us and made an appeal to stop these illegal activities.” Councillor Cooney outlined how …

16 Clare artists are among an international line up taking part in this year’s Incognito 2021 online art sale in aid of the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation. The Incognito art collection is now live at www.incognito.ie with the online art sale taking place on Thursday April 22 at 10am sharp. The unique aspect of Incognito compared with any other art sale is that the identity of the artists behind the paintings – for sale at €60 each – is kept top secret until the sale has closed. The Incognito collection is made up of 3,000-plus original postcard-sized artworks in a range of mediums, from oils and pastels, to glass and metalwork, in a sale that is usually a sprint to the checkout. Everything sold out last year in just 15 minutes! Among the Clare artists taking part are Ennis native, Mick O’Dea, Luke Reidy from Miltown Malbay, Henry Butler from Tulla, Eileen Collins from Cratloe, and Dorothy Ledwith from Ennis. …

OVER the course of a 45 minutes conversation on a Friday afternoon, Ray Leyden stresses that he feels lucky, feels blessed, that the United States has been good to him, that he thrived in its military, that business and life on the far side of the Atlantic are going very well. He describes himself as a ‘glass half full’ type of person and that outlook has stood to Ray since he emigrated to New York as a teenager, where he built a career and life. As a young man he worked on construction sites all across the Big Apple, before joining the US military just weeks before 9/11. He would go on to see action in Iraq, being among the first US soldiers to cross the border. With distinguished service behind him, Ray would go back to college afterwards and since 2018 he has been running his own financial services company, Feninal Capital Strategies. Back in the autumn of 1994, …

THE Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of two additional deaths related to Covid-19. There has been a total of 4,715 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland. As of midnight, Friday, April 2, the HPSC has been notified of 511 confirmed cases of Covid-19. There is now a total of 237,695* confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland. As of March 31, 2021, 865,460 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland: 619,003 people have received their first dose 246,457 people have received their second dose

A MAN is being treated in hospital after he was injured in a rock climbing accident in North Clare on Friday evening. The man in his 20s had been climbing with a female companion at Ballyreen between Doolin and Fanore when the accident happened. It’s believed he fell about five metres (16 feet) after experiencing an issue with his climbing equipment. The alarm was raised at around 7pm when emergency services received a call to report that a person had fallen at the well-known climbing location. The area is a popular with recreational climbers but is also used by search and rescue crews for training. The Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard was tasked to the incident along with National Ambulance Service paramedics including an Advanced Paramedic. It’s understood that an off-duty paramedic, who lives close to the scene, also attended the incident and offered assistance. The injured man was assessed and treated the injured man at the scene …