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TWO Clare Champion journalists were winners at the Local Ireland media awards last week, Jessica Quinn winning the best news story category and Carol Byrne taking the National Lottery Best Community story award. The awards ceremony took place at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Athlone last Thursday night and was hosted by RTÉ personality and Clareman Marty Morrissey. The awards were open to all 43 member titles of Local Ireland and their staff and it attracted hundreds of entries across the country. Cork newspaper The Southern Star was the only other newspaper to win two awards on the night. Jessica’s award came for a story on the proposed Supermacs development close to Clarecastle, which appeared in August of last year headlined ‘Bogus letters shocking’. In the story, Anne Marie Russell told The Clare Champion that she had received a letter in the post from Clare County Council addressed to her father, with a receipt for €20 paid for a planning …

THE biggest security operation seen in the Banner County for at least 15 years will begin on June 5, when US President Donald Trump touches down at Shannon Airport. At the moment, details of Mr Trump’s visit are relatively sketchy but it is understood he will meet with Taoiseach Leo  Varadkar at Shannon Airport on June 5, spend the night at Trump International in Doonbeg, fly to France for D Day Commemorations on June 6, return to Doonbeg that evening and depart from Shannon Airport on June 7. Garda sources confirmed to The Clare Champion on Wednesday that it will be the most significant undertaking in Clare since George W Bush’s visit in June of 2004. However, on that occasion, they had months of notice, whereas the Trump visit was confirmed just a fortnight before his arrival. It is understood that extra gardaí from other parts of the country will have to be brought in to assist during the visit. …

IN a first for any local authority, Clare County Council, together with The Clare Champion, will conduct a full live video broadcast of a local election count. The Clare Champion and Clare County Council are partnering up to produce this fully programmed live streaming broadcast, ensuring the public are kept up to date on events as they unfold from the count centre. Counting for the 2019 Local Elections will begin at Treacy’s West County Hotel on Saturday morning and continue into Sunday, after the county goes to the polls on Friday. Clare Champion editor Peter O’Connell said he is conscious that the way the general public consume news is changing and that, as a media organisation, it is important to adapt to meet that demand. “The print edition of The Clare Champion will always take priority for us but the way in which people consume media has altered radically and we want to ensure that we are at the forefront …

THE King and Queen of Sweden are to visit North Clare next Friday (May 25) as part of their State visit at the invitation of President Michael D Higgins. King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia will visit Ireland from Wednesday to Friday before returning to Sweden from Shannon Airport. Alongside official talks during the Dublin leg of the trip, a number of meetings will be held between Irish businesses and Swedish representative groups.

AMBROSE Loughlin, a former partner at McCann Fitzgerald Solicitors, Dublin, and Stephen Rae, business and media advisor, have been appointed to the board of Shannon Group PLC. Mr Loughlin and Mr Rae have been appointed by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross, TD, to serve on the board for a three-year term each. Rose Hynes, Chairman, Shannon Group said:  “Ambrose Loughlin and Stephen Rae are very welcome additions to the board.  Their experience will be invaluable to Shannon Group. Our new directors complement the board’s existing expertise and I look forward to working with them at this exciting and challenging time for Shannon.” Ambrose Loughlin was a partner for 22 years with McCann FitzGerald, one of Ireland’s leading law firms where in addition to client advisory work on financial services, he served in several senior management roles involving finance and risk. He is a board member since 2016 of the National Museum of Ireland and chairs its Audit …

A 58 year old Clonlara man has died following a fall while climbing Carrauntoohill in Kerry on Saturday. The task of recovering Ger Duffy, a father of three, took a  number of hours due to the difficult terrain. The accident happened at about 12 noon on Saturday. Rescue 115 was alerted but could not land on the terrain. The Kerry Mountain Rescue Team led the search and recovery operation.

VISITOR numbers at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park should go up by almost 50% within a five year period, following a major redevelopment. A document included in a planning permission application, which has been sent to Clare County Council says, “The primary goal of the proposed development is to achieve an increase in visitor numbers by investing in new products and experiences that will broaden the market appeal of the Castle and Folk Park and attract greater number of repeat visits. Specifically the aim is to increase the total visitor numbers from almost 410,000 per annum (October 2017-October 2018) to a total of over 610,000 per annum over a five year period. It is anticipated that by providing an enhanced offer throughout the Folk Park, there will be an increase in repeat visits during the low season, specifically amongst local families.” Should visitor numbers increase by such a huge amount, it would be a great boost to what is one …

MORE contractors are set to cease employment at Moneypoint within weeks and there are genuine fears that after their departure, permanent ESB staff will be the next targets. Councillor Ian Lynch said on Wednesday that he understood the remaining contractors are to leave at the end of this month. “I have spoken to a lot of people and I’m quite annoyed over the whole thing,” the Kilrush man said. He said that he believes management are looking to cut jobs now, but that Moneypoint will not be closing and in the future those who are let go will be replaced by lower paid workers. “Anyone who thinks that Moneypoint is going to be gone for the future is not with it, they have spent quite a lot of money in upgrading the emissions and that hasn’t paid for itself yet, so the facility will stay going until that’s paid for. They have now refurbished all three turbines, following the issues …