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THE government has been warned rural parts of Clare will remain a “broadband black hole” following the revelation that only four communities in Clare are scheduled for high speed broadband connection in 2021. This news will be greeted with dismay by thousands of Clare residents, who are working from home in line with public health guidelines to minimise the spread of Covid-19, despite difficulties with poor connection and coverage issues. Delays in the rollout of broadband will also hinder the government’s national plan to roll out 10,000 co-working and incubation spaces around the country over the next three years. Deputy Michael McNamara has expressed his disappointment at the “frustratingly slow” roll out of a high speed and future proofed broadband network across Clare as part of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) State led intervention. Deputy McNamara was speaking ahead of a briefing by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) to Clare County Council next Monday where the CEO Peter Hendrick will outline …

COMMUNITIES from Feakle to Killaloe are being urged to make themselves aware of the details of a planning application for a 19-turbine windfarm which have just been lodged with An Bord Pleanála. Along with reports detailing the potential impact on the environment and on wildlife habitats on the 749 hectare site, the Coillte application outlines the full specification for the Carrownagowan Windfarm, which is earmarked for the northern slopes of Slieve Bernagh. “I would strongly urge all of the communities of East Clare to make themselves aware of what is proposed,” said Chairperson of the Killaloe Municipal District, Councillor Pat Hayes. “People need to be satisfied about the impact this development might have on the quality of life for this generation and generations to come. People need to inform themselves and make their views known.” Because the project has been designated as ‘strategic infrastructure,’ it has gone directly to the planning appeal’s board. Submissions are being accepted up to February …

IT IS set to be a Christmas like no other. Level 3 restrictions have allowed religious ceremonies to resume and the popular Christmas tradition of attending mass will be a very different this year. Between the parishes of Ennis and Doora-Barefield alone, an unprecedented 33 masses will be celebrated over two days in seven churches. “We are of the firm belief that people want to come to Christmas mass and we will respond to that demand,” said Fr Tom Ryan, Co-PP of the Abbey Cluster. “We have to have social distancing and capacity restrictions, so our solution is to increase the number of masses. We’ll start on Christmas Eve at 4pm and finish with mass at midnight. On Christmas Day, we’ll have first mass at 7am and the last one at 6.30pm. We have the man power.” The two parishes, who alongside Clarecastle and Ballyea, and Quin, Clooney and Maghera make up the Abbey Cluster, are stopping short of issuing …

KILNAMONA’s Doireann Ní Ghríofa has taken the prestigious An Post Book of the Year 2020 award. A Ghost in the Throat her first prose work, was described as “a strikingly original combination of essay and auto-fiction”. Poet Doireann was unveiled as the winner during part of a special television show aired on RTÉ One, hosted by Miriam O’Callaghan, last night (December 10). The award winning book has received widespread acclaim for weaving together two complementary stories, that of the narrator and the life of eighteenth-century poet Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill. Read our full profile with Doireann here. Doireann is a native of Galway. She was raised in Kilnamona and now lives in Cork.

JOE Melody, a dairy and purebred suckler farmer from Bunratty, has been named the 2020 National Rural Network Biodiversity Farmer of the Year at this year’s FBD Young Farmer of the Year Awards. The National Rural Network Biodiversity Farmer of the Year Award recognises a farmer who is farming sustainably by encouraging biodiversity and protecting the environment. Joe farms 360 acres in partnership with his father. Around 260 acres of the farm is used for the purebred suckler cows, their calves, and rearing the dairy replacement heifers. He is an active participant in the Green Low-carbon Agri-environment Scheme (GLAS), where habitats such as Low Input Permanent Pasture (LIPP) and Traditional Hay Meadows (THM) are preserved. He is passionate about biodiversity and is aware of the importance of maintaining these habitats for birds and wildlife. The farm borders the Shannon estuary with over 3km of riverbank. The riverbank is immersed in reed bed that intersperses with salt marsh, all of which …

DECEMBER 1 couldn’t come quickly enough for hundreds if not thousands of Clare men whose hair had grown feral since the beginning of lockdown. Ennis barber Micheál Malone has been welcoming customers back and says business has been quite brisk. “It has been very busy, it’ll be very busy for this week, people are getting Christmas haircuts as well.” Customers are very happy to finally get tidied up and get a part of their routine back. “They’re delighted to get back and to see us as well, it’s a bit of normality as well. Six weeks is a long time with people getting a haircut every four weeks.” In business for the last 25 years, he says this has been by far the strangest and most difficult one. “We’ve only worked for six months of the year really, to be honest about it. It has been strange for the staff as well, you’re not seeing them. The first lockdown was …

A TREE of Hope planted in Shannon Town Park in October was vandalised last weekend. The tree was planted by the local Darkness Into Light group and its chairperson Brenda Leahy was very upset by the vandalism. “Devastated, absolutely devastated. I couldn’t believe it when I got the call to say it had been damaged and there were kids seen around the park. It’s terrible.” Each year Shannon, like many other towns and villages, hosts a Darkness Into Light Walk in aid of Pieta House, but with that being cancelled, the Tree of Hope was planted instead. “Some people were concerned that it might be damaged but we said we’d go ahead with it, and hopefully it wouldn’t be. It was just to give a symbol of hope, it was some place for people to go and remember their loved ones or to reflect.” Having lost her husband to suicide, Brenda said the tree had a special personal meaning to …

FOR some it’s the most wonderful time of the year, but for other it’s just the most expensive and stressful. Christmas is when the Mary Immaculate Conference of St Vincent De Paul in Shannon is at its busiest, helping the many local people who struggle to meet the financial demands of the season. Mary Corry has been involved in it for the last 25 years and she says that 2020 has posed very difficult challenges. “We’re not really doing visits at the moment, we just send vouchers to people. It’s much more difficult because we don’t meet to discuss cases or that sort of thing. Yet people’s needs remain the same, they’ve increased a bit I’d say. “ We haven’t been able to have a collection which is a huge drawback for us. We won’t be able to get food, we used to get an amount of food from the schools and the Giving Trees (positioned at local churches). We …