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THE State has allocated €2.6 million to Shannon Heritage to secure the immediate future of its iconic sites. It had been feared that Bunratty Castle and Folk Park and King John’s Castle would be forced to close at the end of the month, due to the colossal impact from the Covid-19 pandemic on revenue. However, the funding announced today means they will remain open until the end of 2020. Welcoming the news, Mary Considine, CEO, Shannon Group said: “The announcement by Hildegarde Naughton, Minister of State for International Road Transport and Logistics of €2.6 million funding to enable us keep our Shannon Heritage sites open to the end of December is very welcome. “The ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating for our heritage business which is hugely dependent on international visitors. With visitor numbers to our owned sites down -80% year-to-date on last year, we sought Government funding to support us through this unprecedented crisis. “Today’s announcement …

AFTER last night’s storm, a number of areas around Clare are experiencing power outages today. In North Clare, a fault at Ennistymon currently has 139 ESB customers without power. In East Clare, an outage is affecting 464 homes in the Tulla area, while in Scariff and the surrounding area, over 1,000 people have no power. At the moment Kilkee has around 41 homes and businesses without electricity. Clare County Council have advised people to stay away from exposed areas today, as strong winds are forecast.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that two people with Covid-19 in Ireland have died while there have been 54 confirmed additional cases, including some in Clare. Before today’s announcement, 439 persons have tested positive for the virus in the county. Officials have been notified of the 54 cases in the past 24 hours and the break-down of these new cases is -Dublin (19), Kildare (8) and Tipperary (5) with the remaining 22 in Clare, Carlow, Donegal, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Waterford and Wexford. There has now been a total of 1,775 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland while the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 27,547. Of the cases notified today 24 are men / 29 are women, 67% are under 45 years of age, 27 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case and eight cases have been identified as community transmission Acting …

INMO members at University Hospital Limerick have commenced a ballot for industrial action this Wednesday over the refusal of hospital management to attend talks at the Workplace Relations Commission. The INMO represents over 1,000 nurses on site who are frustrated at the approach to date by management to resolving the persistent high nurse vacancy rates and other related issues. Among nurses’ concerns are the risks to patients, overcrowding in a Covid-19 environment and excessive workloads arising due to unfilled funded nursing posts in wards, emergency department and theatres. To date management have declined to provide the INMO with the vacancy rate. Mary Fogarty INMO Assistant Director of Industrial Relations said: “It is imperative that these vacancies are filled prior to the opening of 96 much needed additional beds on site. However many of the wards also have historical low staffing levels and need additional nurses to cope with the demands of the Covid-19 environment. “Nurses at UHL are exhausted after …

Met Eireann has issued a Status Orange Wind Warning for Clare and six other counties as Storm Ellen tracks in over the country tonight and during Thursday bringing a period of potentially damaging winds. Severe gusts are likely and there is a risk of some disruption. Due to the combination of storm surge, spring tides and onshore winds there is a potential risk of coastal flooding. The weather warning is valid from 9pm tonight until 12 noon on Thursday. The warning covers other coastal counties of Mayo, Galway, Limerick, Kerry, Cork and Waterford.

So, this is the second part of our lockdown staycation. After visiting the Twelve Hotel in Galway, I got a taste for another adventure so last weekend we went off to another of my favourite places, BrookLodge in Co Wicklow. Because the weather was so nice, the humans decided to take that funny car with a tent instead of a proper roof. It was bought last year but it seemed to spend most of the summer in the garage with bits being done to it but it seems to be ready now. I only half listen but I believe it’s had softer springs fitted since I drove in it last and it really makes a difference. I can snooze comfortably in the footwell now and that’s all that matters. Even though rain was threatening as we arrived in Aughrim, the roof was folded down for the last bit of the journey, allowing me to sniff the air. As we pulled …

DOCUMENTS filed by the liquidators to Shannon company Avara state that the winding up process should probably be completed within six months. While the date of commencement of the winding up was as far back as July 11 of last year, even in recent weeks there has been speculation that new investment may be found to retain some of the jobs there. The recently filed Liquidator’s Statement of Proceedings said that from July 11 of last year to July 10 of 2020 there had been total realisations of €4,889,409.65 and total disbursements of €3,468,199.98, leaving cash in hand of €1,421,209.67. At the date of the commencement of the winding up there were assets of €1,190,478, while secured creditors came to €1,560,000 and unsecured creditors of €19,574,336. Only recently it emerged that the IDA had spoken to a Swiss company about possibly taking over the Shannon plant. “The workers who are left at Avara have spent over a year now in …

CLARE is among the counties to report positive Covid-19 cases today (Sunday, August 16). There have been 66 new cases nationally. There have been no new deaths reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). There has now been a total of 1,774 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland. As of midnight Saturday, August 15, the HPSC has been notified of 66 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 27,257 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. Of the cases notified today; • 34 are men / 29 are women • 67% are under 45 years of age • 12 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case • 3 cases have been identified as community transmission • The remainder of these cases are still under investigation • 21 in Kildare, 16 in Dublin, 6 in Limerick, and the rest of the 23 cases are in Clare, Donegal, Laois, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, …