News

Peter O’Connell DONALD J Trump and his family touched down in Shannon airport on Monday morning. The visit represents the billionaire owner of Trump International Golf Links Ireland first visit to the county since his €15 purchase of Doonbeg Golf Club earlier this year. Accompanied, on a private jet, by his sons Donald Junior and Eric and daughter Ivanka, Mr Trump said that his company would “double or triple” their initial outlay in Doonbeg, while he also said that the company would create “many hundreds of jobs.” Healso  confirmed that his company has been in touch with the European Tour, regarding the possibility of The Irish Open being stated in Doonbeg. Stating that remedial and improvement work on the golf course would be largely completed within 90 days, Mr Trump said that Clare County Council and Mayor of Clare Joe Arkins had “killed,” wind farm plans for the area. Both Clare County Manager Tom Coughlan and Councillor Arkins were amongst the …

A MULTI-AGENCY approach is being adopted to further improve safety on Clare’s roads, through the formulation of a new road safety strategy for the six-year period, 2014-2020. During the life of the previous six-year strategy, there was a 79% reduction in road fatalities in the county. Among the actions undertaken to reduce deaths on the roads was a series of public awareness campaigns, an increase in the garda presence and the introduction of GoSafe speed vans, a significant investment in the motorway network and improvements in the local road infrastructure. The public are being invited to have their say with the latest strategy, which is being being formulated by Clare County Council, supported by An Garda Síochána, the Fire Service and the Road Safety Authority. Mayor of Clare, Joe Arkins, commented, “We all use the roads every day, so we should all have a say in how we share the roads with each other and how we can work together …

A SILENT protest in solidarity with the schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria has been organised to take place in Ennis this Sunday. The event will take place at O’Connell Square, between 2pm and 3pm and has been organised by friends Ayessa Supiana-O’Keeffe and Brenda Barry. Ayessa said, “We are hoping that a good crowd will attend and show their support for these girls. We have told people to bring candles and handmade signs. Every woman in the world who can, should speak up now in solidarity. Every girl deserves an education and what some girls have to endure to get that education is unthinkable. The mass kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls just trying to get an education and threatened with the unthinkable, being sold in one of the most grotesque examples of human trafficking. We all need to stand together.’’

CHILDREN from Lurga National School in Beagh on the Clare-Galway border will make their national television debut this Sunday evening. Interviews with four of the pupils will be broadcast on School Around the Corner on RTE One at 6.30pm. The school was contacted early last year and informed that it had been selected to audition for the new series of School Around the Corner. All pupils from junior infants to third class were interviewed on March 21, 2013. According to staff, both children and crew enjoyed the experience. The school was later informed that four pupils had been selected to represent Lurga on the programme. Doireann Veale, Oisín Glynn, Macauley Brennan and James Scanlon, all junior and senior-infant pupils at the time, travelled to Dublin just over a year ago, accompanied by their families and a bus of supporters from the school and all over Beagh parish, for filming. The new series is presented by Ray D’Arcy, who interviewed Doireann, …

TAOISEACH  Enda Kenny was in Ennis on this Friday, as part of the Fine Gael’s campaign to muster support for their candidates in the European Elections. After meeting party members at the Temple Gate Hotel, and speaking with the local media, Mr Kenny went on a walkabout with MEP Sean Kelly, Clare’ Fine Gael Oireachtas members, councillors and local election candidates. Among those he meet were pupils from Coláiste Muire on their lunch break.

By Peter O’Connell EIGHTY-TWO-year-old Kilkee man, JJ Barry, is hoping to vote for the first time in Ireland on May 23. An emigrant in England for 63 years, JJ returned to his native town two years ago. A man with a keen interest in politics, JJ voted Labour when in England but has yet to receive confirmation that he can vote in the upcoming local and European elections. “I’ve been trying to get a voting card for the last two years. I haven’t got it yet. I don’t know whether I’m voting or not in this election. They don’t send you anything. I’ve never got a letter to say I was registered or anything,” a rather frustrated JJ told The Clare Champion. “I want to vote now because I don’t know how many years I have left. I always wanted to have a vote but, in my time, there was no voting in Ireland until you were 21. I was …

THE nine-year-old boy who fell into the water at Black Head in North Clare last weekend, died in hospital this Thursday afternoon. On Sunday last, Doolin Coast Guard was tasked to go to the area at 9.13pm after the alarm was raised that a child had fallen into the water close to Black Head Lighthouse. A number of people had been fishing in the area and attempts were made by those present to rescue the boy, but it is believed the tide swept him out and he got into difficulty. Shannon Coast Guard Rescue helicopter was also tasked. The boy was located quickly and was recovered from the water at approximately 9.50pm to the boat. The boy was  airlifted to Galway University Hospital and subsequently transferred to Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin.

By Peter O’Connell A FORMER Clare IFA chairman said “nothing has been achieved” to date, with regard to the installation of flood defences along the banks of the Shannon Estuary and on to Doonbeg. At a meeting of Clare County Council’s Environmental and Water Services Strategic Policy Committee on Wednesday, Seamus Murphy claimed Clare farmers have been “abandoned and let down by the State”. He also revealed that Clare IFA-generated professional assessments of flood damage was deemed not acceptable by the Office of Public Works (OPW), who had been forwarded the reports by Clare County Council. “The county council staff in this section were overwhelmed with other storm damage work of a higher priority and could not undertake further work. They suggested farmers hire private engineers to undertake the assessment work,” Mr Murphy explained. “Officials from the OPW met with the IFA last week and, in the course of discussions, it was revealed that they would not act on the …