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Non-critical patients can now be transferred directly by ambulance to the Medical Assessment Unit in Ennis Hospital as part of a new pilot project to ease chronic overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick. Paramedics were left with no option but to transport all Clare patients directly to UHL via ambulance following the controversial removal of 24-hour casualty cover from Ennis and Nenagh Hospitals in April 2009. The Mid-West Hospital Campaign has been informed this new emergency pathway will be accessible from Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. The patient must meet agreed clinical criteria and has to be accepted by the MAU physician in Ennis Hospital. The Mid-West Hospital Campaign has welcomed this announcement as a “stepping stone in the right direction” towards its desired objective concerning the return of around the clock emergency cover at Ennis and Nenagh Hospitals. A spokesperson thanked all the people involved in the Friends of Ennis Hospital, “Nenagh …

AN APPEAL has been lodged against the Council’s refusal of a small-scale social housing development, proposed for a site on the Limerick Road in Ennis.  The plans for five additional homes at Hogan’s Place, which would be operated by the Cluid Housing Association, were lodged in October by Kilshane Investments Limited.  Local authority planners turned down the plans in November, stating that the homes would encroach into existing public open space and would contravene conditions set out when permission was granted for the existing homes at the site. They said the additional housing would “seriously injure the amenities of the dwellings” there. Planners also found that the site is located in an area of high flooding risk, where homes are classed as “high vulnerable developments”. They said that notwithstanding a Flood Risk Assessment submitted with the planning application, the proposed development would be contrary to government guidelines on flood management.  An appeal to An Bord Pleanála has just been lodged …

ENNIS remains among the cleanest towns in Ireland with the county town claiming a top five spot in the national IBAL litter league. The final litter survey of 2022 by business group Irish Business Against Litter shows Ennis in fifth place in the ranking of 40 towns and cities nationwide. Three quarters of Ireland’s cities and towns were deemed ‘clean’ in 2022, compared to just over half in the previous year. Naas was again top of the rankings. An Taisce conducts the surveys on behalf of IBAL. Its report for Ennis stated, “A very strong performance by a former IBAL Winner – the location of the IBAL sculpture is the impeccably presented and maintained at Abbey Street Car Park. “Other top-ranking sites included the three approach roads and O’Connell Street, Market Place / Market Street Lower and Monastery Park.  Gort Road Business Park and Ennis Bus / Train Station were very much deserving of the top litter grade this time …

A NEW centre for housing refugees is to be opened in Shannon, despite local elected representatives and residents having been left uninformed about the matter. The OPW confirmed to the Clare Champion that it had made Unit 153 in Shannon Business Park available to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and that it is currently being adapted for emergency accommodation. Prior to Christmas, in a briefing document, Maurice Buckley, chairman of the Office of Public Works said that the OPW “has made a large property in Shannon available to the DCEDIY (Department of Children, Equality, Disability Integration and Youth) which is currently being adapted for emergency accommodation.” After coming upon this the Clare Champion contacted the DCEDIY, but it made no comment. The OPW was also contacted and confirmed that Unit 153 had been handed over. The Clare Champion spoke to Deputy Cathal Crowe on Wednesday afternoon and at that stage he was unaware that a building …

ENNIS Gardaí are appealing for witnesses as they continue to investigate an assault on a 20 year-old man in the town centre on the Thursday before Christmas (December 22).  The man was seriously injured in the assault which took place on Abbey Street at around 2.50am. Gardaí say the man was with a group of friends when he was approached and punched in the head by another male. A number of witnesses have come forward and Gardaí have thanked them for their cooperation, but say the street was very busy at the time and appealed to anyone else who may have witnessed this assault to come forward. They are also appealing to anyone who may have camera footage to contact Ennis Garda Station on 065-6848100. 

ENNIS employer Ecolect Technical Services Limited has won a prestigious award at the 2022 Generation Apprenticeship Employer of the Year Awards, taking home a ‘pioneering micro-employer’ award at the ceremony. Seven businesses from around the country have been crowned Generation Apprenticeship Employers of the Year by Simon Harris TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in an awards ceremony which took place on Thursday, December 8th, 2022 in the Morrison Hotel, Dublin. Commenting on their award win, the Ecolect Technical Services Ltd Team, based on the Tulla Road, said, “Absolutely thrilled to be nominated for the award. Our apprentices are the future of our company and are key to its further growth and expansion” Founded in 2001, Ecolect Technical Services Limited are a leading provider of innovative mechanical, electrical and instrumentation engineering solutions. It provides services to customers across sectors including Data Centres, Life Sciences, Industrial, Commercial, Substations and Renewables and operate across Ireland, the UK …

THE future of the fishing industry will be discussed at a major conference in Limerick next February. The event is a hybrid one, organised by The National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) around the theme of‘Thriving Fishing, Thriving Offshore Wind, Thriving Ports’. It takes place on February 23 in the Castletroy Park Hotel in County Limerick.  Speakers at the event will include Caroline Bocquel, Interim CEO, BIM; Noel Cunniffe, CEO Wind Energy Ireland; Brian Hogan, Chief Surveyor Marine Survey Office, and Norah Parke, Project Coordinator Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation Ltd. Further speakers will be announced closer to the date. Among the topics for discussion include what the fishing industry needs to thrive; the policy regime for renewable energy; implementation of the ‘future skills needs report’; the ecosystem impacts of offshore wind farms; and the future for Ireland’s fishing ports. The Minister for Agriculture and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue will launch the conference. “Having opened the first NMCI Seafarer Conference in 2022, I …

IMAGES of a former Clare convent building feature in a new photography book that captures the eerie beauty of abandoned buildings the length and breadth of Ireland. The exact location of the convent has not been disclosed in order to deter vandals, but the black and white photos taken by Down native, Rebecca Brownlie, speak of a bygone era of prayer and sacrifice.   The images feature in Rebecca’s book Abandoned Ireland, which includes a total of 150 scenes from abandoned Big Houses to humble cottages, schools to prisons, churches and dance halls. Rebecca’s publisher, Merrion Press, said that while these buildings may now be abandoned, they are far from empty. “As a photographer, Brownlie’s instincts are remarkable,” her publicist said. “In the seemingly ruined and mundane she finds diamonds in the rough; her images of the ordinary ephemera of past lives – dusty love letters, rusting spectacles, photographs yellowed and curled with age – paint the pictures of real …