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  Irish Raw Chocolate Business Magic Mayan has expanded its sales into Northern Ireland and is growing in size following owner Darren O’Connor’s appearance on RTE’s Dragon’s Den last night (Sunday, April 30). While the county Clare family business did not secure an investment from the five dragons, in the days after filming Magic Mayan signed a contract to export its chocolate and protein bombs into the UK via Northern Ireland. Employing five people and with plans to expand the workforce and production of chocolate and protein bombs even further in the coming months, the artisan raw chocolate business based in Ennis continues to grow. “We are currently selling 35,000 protein bombs a month and more than 1,000 bars of hand made chocolate each week through our Irish distributers, and online,” explained Darren, who took over Magic Mayan two years ago with his wife Sinéad. “The protein bomb market is growing at a huge rate internationally as people are becoming …

Shannon Airport was in celebratory mode at the weekend as one of the world’s best known airlines, Lufthansa, commenced scheduled flights for the first time from the airport as its new Frankfurt service took off. The service to the financial capital of continental Europe and one of Germany’s most interesting tourism cities took to the skies on Saturday afternoon and will operate weekly until the end of October. The Frankfurt service will be a significant boost for tourism in the Shannon region, outbound business and tourism options, as well as offering one-stop connectivity to around 200 destinations worldwide. Welcoming the start of the service Andreas Köster, Senior Director Sales UK, Ireland and Iceland Lufthansa Group said: “Shannon, as the gateway to the Wild Atlantic Way, is the entry point for one of the most spectacular tourism regions in the world and there’s a strong demand in Germany for what’s on offer here. The service is already proving to be an …

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) will begin a month long intensive farm inspection campaign on Tuesday next. Approximately 500 inspections are planned with the focus on tractor and machinery safety. Each year, nearly half of all farm deaths, and many more serious accidents, are linked to tractors and machinery.  To date in 2017 there have been six farm fatalities with four involving tractors or machinery. In an effort to reduce these accidents inspectors will be encouraging farmers to plan work and have systems in place that minimise risk particularly during silage harvesting. Pat Griffin, senior inspector with the HSA said that many serious and fatal accidents on farms occur when someone is crushed or struck by machinery. “The movement of machinery, whether in the yard or in a field, can be hazardous and farmers need to be aware of the risks, particularly if there are young children living on or visiting the farm. Incidents of crushing someone against a …

THERE will be a welcome on the mat for all this Sunday at Fr Ted’s House in the heart of the Burren. The hosts, Cheryl and Patrick McCormack, will be on hand to offer tea and scones. Visitors to the house made famous as the ‘parochial house’ for Fr Ted Crilly in the award-winning TV series Father Ted, between 6pm and 9pm on Sunday evening will be asked to part with €10, as a fundraiser for the RNLI. John and Shelly Galvin of The Clare Champion are promoting the event in recognition of the outstanding work being carried out by the RNLI lifeboat personnel all over the country. John lauded the bravery of crew members in facing into very difficult situations to deal with emergencies on sea and inland waterways

AN inquest has returned a verdict of manslaughter in accordance with the findings of the Central Criminal Court into the death of 43-year-old Ballyvaughan woman Deirdre McCarthy. Just days before the sixth anniversary of Ms McCarthy’s death, Colm Deely of School Road, Ballyvaughan was sentenced to eight years in prison for her manslaughter. He had denied murdering Ms McCarthy but in early March 2017 he pleaded guilty to her manslaughter at the Central Criminal Court. At a sitting of the County Coroner’s Court in Ennis on Thursday, an inquest found that Ms McCarthy’s death was due to asphyxia, with blunt force trauma as a contributory factor. County Coroner Isobel O’Dea said, in holding this inquest, she hoped it “helps to bring some closure to what was a tortured and arduous journey” for Ms Carthy’s family. Superintendent John Galvin, acting as coroner’s officer, offered his sympathies and those of An Garda Síochána, describing this case as something that has “been going …

Corofin man Joe Killeen is the new vice-president of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO). The principal of Lough Cutra National School, near Gort, was elected to the post at last weekend’s annual congress in Belfast. The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation has in excess of 43,000 members, of which 7,300 reside in Northern Ireland. Its members teach in the region of 600,000 pupils. Mr Killeen began his teaching career at Kiltrusten National School in Strokestown, County Roscommon, and became principal at Lough Cutra in 1987. In the same year, he became Gort INTO branch secretary. He went on to represent the Gort INTO branch and District 6 of the INTO (Galway/Roscommon) for over 20 years. In 2008, he was elected to the central executive committee of the union to represent INTO District 6, which has a membership of 2,500 teachers. Mr Killeen was a member of the Small Schools Task Force, set up in 2012 by the union to advise …

A VETERAN peace activist charged with causing criminal damage to a US navy plane, has revealed that as he was being arrested he handed gardaí a list of names of children who have been killed in the Middle East. Edward Horgan was one of two men arrested at Shannon Airport on Tuesday who were subsequently charged at Ennis District Court with causing criminal damage to an aircraft. It is understood that the words ‘danger, danger, don’t fly’ were written in marker on the plane. Mr Horgan (71) has an address at Newtown, Castletroy, Limerick while his co-defendant, 35-year-old Dan Dowling, has an address at Grace Dieu in Waterford City. Speaking after appearing in court, Mr Horgan said, “I believe that the list I gave to the guards had almost a thousand [names]; there were 35 pages. The total list, unfortunately, has almost one million people since 1991”. He added, “I handed it to the gardaí at the time of the …

THE Minister for Health, Simon Harris has announced that the Government has approved the investment required to enable the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board to award the construction contracts for the building of the main children’s hospital on the St James’s Hospital campus and the two paediatric outpatients and urgent care centres on the Tallaght and Connolly Hospitals campuses. This decision means that the project can proceed without delay. Construction of the new children’s hospital will commence within weeks. At the site of the new children’s hospital, Minister Harris said, “Today (Wednesday) is a huge step forward for the children’s hospital project, ending years of doubt as to whether it would ever be built.  Today, there is no more doubt.  This hospital will be built. The new state of the art children’s hospital, and the two paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres, will provide a fitting place where we can provide our children with the best modern clinical care. “Our children …