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Gardaí have arrested a man and seized €18,500 worth of suspected cannabis plants in Miltown Malbay on Tuesday. At around 1.30pm, Gardaí from Kilrush executed a search warrant at a house in Miltown Malbay. During the course of the search, Gardaí found 23 suspected cannabis plants, which were at various stages of growth. The suspected drugs will now be sent for analysis. A man, aged in his 40s, was arrested at the scene was detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at Kilrush Garda station. He has since been released without charge with a file being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecution.

COUNCILLOR Joe Garrihy (Fine Gael) has been elected as Chairman of the West Clare Municipal District group of councillors. It is his first time filling the role and he succeeds Councillor Bill Chambers (Fianna Fáil). At today’s (Tuesday) AGM of the West and North Clare county councillors, Councillor Garrihy was proposed by Councillor Shane Talty and seconded by Councillor Gabriel Keating. The North Clare councillor is in his first term on Clare County Council, having been elected in the Ennistymon Electoral Area in May of 2019. “We have a challenging year ahead but a great team to lead the recovery of West Clare,” Councillor Garrihy said following his election as chair. Kilkee based Fianna Fáil councillor, Cillian Murphy, was elected vice chairman. He is also in his first term on Clare County Council.

SHANNON Group CEO, Mary Considine, has called for the immediate lifting of travel restrictions and the 14-day Quarantine period by July 1 as highlighted in the interim draft Aviation Recovery Taskforce report presented today (Tuesday) to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. Commenting on the publication of the interim report, the CEO of Shannon Group and Aviation Recovery Taskforce member, Mary Considine, has called for the urgent implementation of all four key recommendations in the report to support the recovery of aviation. The report also includes a recommendation on the adoption of a national code of practice for air safety travel, and the continuation of existing COVID-19 relief measures including the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme to support employment. Ms Considine said: “The interim report recognises the critical role that airports, including Shannon, play in supporting the regional and national economy and promoting balanced regional development. “As an island nation, aviation is the lifeline that connects us to the global …

CLARE Fianna Fáil TD, Cathal Crowe, has said that Irish Water has committed to “significant upgrades” to address water supply issues in Miltown Malbay. Residents in the Miltown and surrounding areas have been experiencing outages and interruptions to their supply for several months now and they are at their wits’ end. The most recent outage occurred when a water main burst on June 14 at Coore, which was later repaired. However, this led to a significant delay in supply returning to the Dunsallagh, Ballard and Glendine Group Water Schemes in the area, with supply eventually coming back on June 20. This, Irish Water says, it because of “major issues with the operation and maintenance of the Group Water Schemes”. “This has been a long-running saga for households in Miltown Malbay and so many surrounding areas too,” said Deputy Crowe. “It is completely unacceptable that some homes were left without running water for almost a week and in some cases longer, …

RYANAIR will resume 16 services at Shannon Airport from July 1, as the airport reopens to passengers. While the airport remained open for essential services to facilitate cargo, repatriation and emergency flights during the COVID-19 crisis, scheduled passenger services were suspended since the onset of the pandemic. Ryanair is due to recommence services from Shannon Airport from July 1 to Alicante, Barcelona-Reus, Faro, Fuerteventura, Kaunas, Krakow, Lanzarote, London-Gatwick, London-Stansted, Malaga, Manchester, Palma, Tenerife, Warsaw, Wroclaw and Vienna. Commenting on the new measures being taken at the airport, a spokesperson for Shannon Group said: “The health and safety of our passengers and employees is our number one priority. We have remained open throughout the pandemic, facilitating the arrival into Ireland of vital PPE equipment and were proud to do so. Preparations are now underway to ensure that our passengers returning to Shannon Airport can feel confident with the COVID-19 measures we have put in place throughout the airport. “We are aiming …

Production of a new TV film for one of Germany’s largest broadcasters, ARD, will commence in Kilkee next month. “Planlos in Ireland/Clueless in Ireland” is a joint production by H&V Entertainment GmbH and Treehouse Media Ltd. Kilkee was chosen for its stunning scenery and ease of access to Shannon Airport. The first day of principal photography is scheduled for July 22. The production has developed a HSE-compliant Covid-19 action plan and will be implementing stringent measures to assure the safety of the crew and the public at large. The production is working with stakeholders in the region to implement the Government of Ireland guidelines and protocols to ensure a safe return to work for the cast and crew, prioritising safety for the town of Kilkee. The main character in the movie, ‘Connie’, is in her mid-50s and has worked as an executive secretary in Germany for many years. When she finds out that fluency in written and spoken English has suddenly …

THERE has been a very significant increase in the level of illegal dumping around Clare and unauthorised Limerick waste collectors are dumping tonnes of rubbish here, the recent Clare County Council meeting heard. A number of the members brought motions before the meeting on the theme of illegal dumping, including Councillor Alan O’Callaghan, who said that in Limerick City it is estimated that 25 unauthorised collectors operate.  “They are coming to East Clare and South-East Clare with tonnes of rubbish, not bags,” he observed. Where people are fined for illegal dumping, their details should be published on the council’s website, he said. While GDPR has been put forward as a reason for CCTV cameras not being in place to combat illegal dumping, he said that it should be used. Councillor Joe Cooney described the current situation as “outrageous, disgraceful and embarrassing”. He also called for the use of CCTV and with so many unlicensed operators operating nearby, he said the …

Further searches were conducted and an additional six people have been arrested in relation to Operation Coronation, which was conducted by Gardai in Clare, Limerick and Tipperary. Gardai have revealed that last Wednesday evening, further searches resulted in the recovery of €40,000 cash along with evidence relating to the sale and supply of controlled drugs. Eleven bank accounts were frozen containing in excess of €200,000. Three high-value cars were also seized along with evidence of the accumulation of wealth from suspected drug trafficking. A fourth car was seized for having no valid insurance. A further six people were arrested during the course of the evening. On Saturday morning a search was also conducted on waste ground in Prospect, Co. Limerick. Two firearms and an extendable taser baton were seized during the course of this search, all of which were concealed in plastic wrapping. Update on arrests: Nine people were charged in relation to the sale and supply of controlled drugs …