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“MY personal opinion is that it will be an episode that will get remembered. I don’t know if I’m being a bit brash about it but it had such an impact on me; I left at the end of the meal traumatised. I’m not an easy person to get into that kind of state so if I felt that, I can only imagine what the public will think when they see it on Thursday.” So says Peter McInerney, who lives in Ballycasey Park and works at the Shannon Knights off licence, ahead of this Thursday night’s episode of First Dates on RTÉ. The national broadcaster’s publicity for the show says, “Lorraine (51) from Limerick is seeking a Hollywood leading man in the mould of Orlando Bloom, mixed with Johnny Deep and topped off with The Rock. Is off-licence manager Peter (52) from Clare the action hero to save her love life?” The date has been promoted by RTÉ on the …

There was Clare success at this years BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. Sarah McNamara, a student of Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna took first place in the Biological & Ecological Intermediate Individual award for her project. Her project was entitled “A tale of two soils – a comparative study of upland and lowland soils in the Burren”. Fellow Lisdoonvarna student Roisin McNamara was highly commended for her project, which carried out an examination of ash die back in the ash trees in an area of the Burren. Science teacher at Mary Immaculate John Sims was also honoured with the Perrigo Educator of Excellence Award, as he attended the exhibition with students for the 30th year. Elsewhere, Lara Mellett and Niamh McMahon of Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon were honoured in the Social and Behaviour Sciences category for their project, which asked if the Leaving Cert was fair, while Jennifer Weston of Colaiste Muire, Ennis, was commended for her project “Kefir & Kombucha: …

*WARNING: CONTAINS DISTURBING IMAGES A WALKER taking a quiet stroll in the scenic and peaceful area of Upper Tyreda in Tulla was met by a gruesome find on the roadside, when he discovered multiple dismembered parts of deer strewn on the road side. The individual, who did not want to be named, said, “I reckon it is young deer heads, and there is a bigger one there where it looks like the antlers have been cut off it. I don’t understand how people can do that, at least if they buried it, but to think of cutting the heads off of animals like that, for me it’s terrible and then to dump it on the side of the road”. This quiet road, which is populated by a few houses, and leads to a local garage, is only six or seven feet wide, and this horrible sight is visible to anyone traversing the road.           The walker added, “You …

ON Saturday morning, Jimmy Guinnane will leave his home at Toonagh around 5.30am and travel to Annacotty to pick up hundreds of loaves of Brennan’s bread, before spending the next 13 hours or so distributing them around Ennis and West Clare. He has spent thousands of days doing the same routine but Saturday will be the last time, as he finishes a job he has really enjoyed since beginning it 32 years ago. “I was working for Michael O’Sullivan before that in Corofin. I used to do a run up in North Clare and I did a run in Galway for him for six months with Kiely’s Bread. Then I started in West Clare in 1987 with Brennan’s bread.” He says he is very grateful to all the customers and the friends he has made on the route over the years. “I love meeting the people, meeting so many people every day. You’d have the craic with everybody. When I …

ATTENDANCES at the Emergency Department at UHL increased in the week ending January 6 and are expected to rise further in the coming weeks. High volumes of elderly patients with medical conditions, in particular respiratory conditions, have been presenting in recent days and the number of flu cases has also begun to rise. There were 1,301 attendances to the ED at UHL between December 24 and December 30 and this rose to 1,343 attendances in the seven-day period December 31 to January 6. The Christmas/New Year period has also proven busy for the Injury Units Ennis, St John’s and Nenagh hospitals. Between December 24 and January 1 there were a total of 790 attendances to the three units combined, an aggregate increase of 6.5%. The numbers attending at Ennis were 245 (-18); at Nenagh 251 (+21) and at St John’s 294 (+45). “The hospital is currently operating at capacity and all available surge capacity is in use. Initiatives introduced under the winter plan  – such as expanding …

THE fire service and Kilrush Gardaí attended the scene of a fire at the dilapidated Inis Cathaigh hotel in Kilrush on Tuesday night. It is understood that the fire started in the second floor and spread to the third. Three units of the fire service from Kilrush and Kilkee used breathing apparatus at the scene. It is believed that extensive damage has been caused to the disused building. Frances Street in the town was closed to traffic, while the fire service attended the scene. The hotel, which incorporated a nightclub, has been closed for many years and has fallen into a state of disrepair. It is located at the bottom of Frances Street with idyllic views of Kilrush Marina.

TRINITY College Dublin have issued a statement following the death of one of their students, after a tragic fall at the Cliffs of Moher last Friday afternoon. The man is from India and it is understood that the tragedy happened when he was taking a photograph. The nearby Doolin Coast Guard unit responded to the accident as did Shannon based Rescue 115, which searched the area, where the man had fallen in. The man was removed to Doolin where he was pronounced dead. He was then removed to University Hospital Limerick for a postmortem.“We are deeply saddened by the tragic death of one of our students at the Cliffs of Moher on Friday afternoon. We are doing all we can to provide support to them following the shocking news of the accidental death of their son,” the statement from Trinity College said. “We are also reaching out to his fellow students, friends and staff here at Trinity supporting them during …

A SUSPECT device that was discovered at the Clean Ireland Recycling premises in Shannon last week, turned out not to be explosive. Gardai confirmed that while the device was taken away and disposed of, it turned out not to be dangerous and there is no suspected offence to further investigate. Owen Ryan