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Lifestyle

Shannon’s Garrii unbowed by homophobic bullying

CRUEL, sickening homophobic violence overshadowed Garrii Bailey’s teenage years in Shannon, but now he is bringing his drag act back to his hometown in November. In the aftermath of last year’s same-sex marriage referendum it is easy to forget how deeply ingrained homophobia was, to the point that violence and verbal abuse aimed at gay people was relatively commonplace, something which often went unremarked upon. But Garrii’s stories of growing up in Shannon during the 1990s shine a light on just how intolerant things were in the quite recent past. “I’m kind of open about speaking about it now because I feel like I’ve got respect for being who I want to be and I feel like I can talk about it. We had our house bricked, egged; my mum’s car got thrashed. I used to have to walk down a boreen to get home and I’d be petrified. I even walked through it the other day and I was …

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Sky is the limit for high-flying Sabena

SOMEHOW Sabena Moylan manages to mix working as an air hostess for Virgin Atlantic with rugby refereeing in Munster, along with extensive charity work for the London-based Atlas Foundation. As recently as August, her work brought her to almost every continent. Rugby-wise she has attended the Rugby World Cup and the 2009 Lions tour to South Africa. Next month, the former Shannon Comprehensive and IT Tralee student will touch down in Chicago for the Ireland v New Zealand international. Currently working her way back from a knee injury, Moylan started refereeing in 2012. She calculates that there are four female rugby referees in Munster and 10 in Ireland. “There was a bit of communication between me and the Munster branch. I was touch judge in my first game out in St Mary’s. I wasn’t thrown in at the deep end in the middle of the pitch. They’re good like that. They let you touch judge for a month or two …

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Another award for Champion journalist

Long serving Clare Champion journalist, Tony Mulvey has been honoured with a Media Award for his distinguished service to the regional press. A native of Colonroad in Ennis, Tony joined The Clare Champion staff all of 58 years ago and during his time with the newspaper, owned by the Galvin family, he has chronicled events be they news, current affairs or sporting events that have defined the Banner County. His late father, George was editor of The Clare Champion prior to his death in 1958. Tony was presented with his award at the annual Mid West Press Ball in The Strand Hotel, Limerick by special guest, Finance Minister Michael Noonan. Limerick Live95FM’s Len Dineen, who has been working in radio locally since the 1970s, was also honoured. JT McNamara, the Limerick jockey who died tragically in July from injuries sustained in a fall, was the posthumous recipient of the biennial Shannon Group Media Merit award. Presented by special guest Finance …

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17th century artefact found in Quin friary dig

AN American apprentice archaeologist, who flew in from Ohio to participate in the archaeological dig at Quin Friary earlier this week, has uncovered the first artefact, a clay pipe that dates back to 1628. Jenny Sacher from Cleveland, Ohio, has worked with archaeologists Joe McCooey and Graham Hull previously at Caherconnell and when she heard that they would be conducting a dig at the well-known historical site in Quin, she offered to volunteer. Mr McCooey said the find was made in trench one, where they believe there are remnants of a road and house. “It is a very small old-fashioned clay pipe. The size of the bowl suggests the date. Clay pipes are very well documented and we can narrow them down through the years in a sequence. We have drawings of other clay pipes that we take our references from and we found that pipe in the sequence and that’s how we got the 1628 date. We only have …

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Maternity Hospital’s ‘baby box’ initiative

MID-West parents are to be supplied with “free baby boxes”, in addition to important literature, when they leave the University Maternity Hospital Limerick, it has been announced. The proposal, which is being introduced at no cost to the HSE, is now at a stage where all the necessary groundwork has been carried out and has been  launched  this Friday. Over the last two months, the University Maternity Hospital Limerick, led and co-ordinated by Dr Mendinaro (Naro) Incha, have been working on a project to distribute free baby boxes to the parents of all newborn babies. It is expected to be rolled out in the next few weeks. Among those involved in the project is Dr Emma Kearney of Ennis Family Medical Centre. She has contributed to the initiative by helping to prepare an online information resource, which will be given to all new parents, along with their baby box, before they leave the hospital. This type of project, which was introduced …

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Ennis Market officially opened

Mayor of Ennis, Councillor Ann Norton cut the tape today to officially open the new €1.75 million covered building for market traders in Ennis town centre. Councillor Norton completed the formalities in the presence of Clare County Council, CEO, Past Dowling; Mayor of Clare, Councillor Bill Chambers; President of Ennis Chamberof Commerce, Jean McCabe and street trader, Gobnait Kelly. The ceremony marked the completion of phase one of the redevelopment of the market at Garraunakilla, the site of the Farmers’ Market. Councillor Ann Norton said, “This very significant investment by Clare County Council in the heart of Ennis will enhance the market to standards expected in the modern age. It will provide traders with a quality and convenient location to promote their locally-sourced and produced goods. We will continue to enhance the facility over the coming months so that its use can be maximised for the town.” “In developing this project, Clare County Council, supported by the elected members, local …

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Star Wars Fans to Storm Scariff?

PEOPLE who Google Scariff from now on could be directed to a galaxy far, far away as a planet with the same name is to feature in the eagerly-anticipated Star Wars: Rogue One film. Filming for the eighth instalment of the Star Wars franchise took place in West Clare in May. It took the county by storm and it seems Clare’s association with Star Wars is set to continue with this latest announcement. Director Gareth Edwards revealed that the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One would feature the planet Scarif at the Star Wars Celebration event in London recently. He outlined it is based on a paradise world and that they had to go to a paradise to film it. Sadly, East Clare lost out in this regard, as filming was done in the Maldives. However, that is not to say that Scariff won’t benefit from this latest revelation, as locals believe it has firmly put the town on the galactic …

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Concerns over demetia home suppport

The Alzheimer Society of Ireland (ASI) has voiced concerns regarding ongoing media reports in relation to issues people are experiencing accessing adequate home supports. The ASI is today calling for a definitive statement from the Health Service Executive as to the viability of rolling out all 500 promised Intensive Homecare Packages for people with dementia, promised under the National Dementia Strategy amid this climate of uncertainty.Currently, just some 133 packages have been delivered out of a promised 500. Head of advocacy and public affairs with ASI, Tina Leonard said,“We are hearing concerning reports from services around the country that people with dementia and their carers are finding it increasingly difficult to access home care supports. We would now call for a definitive statement and timeline from the HSE at this time as to whether there is indeed a freeze on the provision of these supports. “Continued cuts to home help and home care packages means people with dementia are being …

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