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CLARE road users tavelling to or from Cork City or parts of County Limerick can expect to encounter serious delays on a number of dates in the weeks ahead, starting on this Wednesday. The gardaí have said it is anticipated that delays will occur along the N20 between Charleville and Limerick City, and along the N69 from Limerick City to Foynes, due to the transportation of abnormal loads from Charleville to Foynes along these routes. Road users are advised that delays will occur along this route from 10am to 5pm on Wednesday; this Friday, Tuesday 13 and Thursday 15. Gardaí are requesting that all road users exercise caution and patience when travelling along the planned route when the convoys are present. The abnormal loads being transported are significantly higher and wider than normal loads, extending approximately 2 feet beyond the width of standard HGV trailers. Gardaí will be escorting these loads while they are travelling on public roads, and they …

ST Michael’s Community, Kilmihil is this year’s winners of the Best Web Design award in the Giga Spiders Category and the Suiomh is Fearr award in the Tera Spiders category at the 2014 eircom Junior Spider Awards. St Michael’s Community College won for their entries Green Kilmihil and Gaeilge Gaga The awards, now in their fifth year, recognise and reward primary and post primary students for the innovative way they use the internet specifically in terms of website development, school blogs and design. This year’s winners were announced at a special ceremony held in Dublin and hosted by RTE’s Aidan Power. At primary school level The Mega Spiders have three categories Best Project, Best School Blog and Best School Website. For post primary students the awards are split across two categories, the Giga Spiders rewards students from 1st to 3rd year and the Tera Spiders are open to students from 4th to 6th year. The Giga and Tera Spiders reward …

LISDOONVARNA, ‘the Gateway to the Burren’ and the Loop Head Peninsula, were both named in the The Restaurants Association of Ireland, in association with Admailer.ie from An Post, 10 finalists in the search for the ‘Foodie Town of Ireland’. Both areas will be looking for public votes to win the competition which is run in conjunction with Irish Restaurant Awards. The top ten ‘Foodie Towns’ of Ireland were announced at the weekend and among them were Cork City, Kinsale, Dingle/Daingean Uí Chuis, Galway City, Sligo Town, Howth, Kilkenny and the Westport and Clew Bay area. The ‘Foodie Town of Ireland’ award recognises a destination that actively promotes itself through joint promotional activities such as food festivals, gourmet trails or farmers’ markets as well as great dining experiences. Each of the ten finalists will now receive a  visit to the town by a representative from the Restaurants Association of Ireland and a representative from An Post. Combined with a national public …

BETWEEN 80 and 100 Irish people turned out to  search for missing Clare man Donal (Donie) O’Sullivan in Sydney on Tuesday evening, local time. Donie, who is originally from Clooney, was last seen on Saturday morning at around 10.30am on Bronte Road in Bondi Junction. The 33-year-old was spotted walking in the direction of the Cock ‘n Bull Bar on Ebley Street, but he did not enter the establishment. When last seen he was wearing a pink T-shirt, light blue jeans and white runners. Donal is of stocky build, around 5ft 10in in height and has light brown hair. The volunteers met at the Cock ‘n Bull premises on Tuesday morning Irish time, where they were split into groups and distributed posters with Donie’s picture in assigned areas. Groups searched the Eastern Suburbs, Darling Harbour, The Rocks and The CBD. Donie’s brother Johnnie and friends are hoping for a similar turnout for the daylight search organised for Wednesday evening at …

The president’s nephew has joined the local election race in Clare. Donal Higgins, nephew of President Michael D Higgins, submitted his papers to the returning officer at Clare county council on Saturday morning, ahead of the midday deadline. Born and reared in Ballycar, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Mr Higgins is looking forward to the challenge of local politics. Mr Higgins became involved in the Labour Party’ Shannon branch in 2011. He campaigned in the general election for Deputy Michael McNamara and in the presidential campaign of his uncle. This is Donal Higgins’ first time standing for election. The 35-year-old grew up on the family farm in Ballycar, where he went to school before attending St Caimin’s Community School. Mr Higgins worked in Dell for six years before becoming unemployed. He did an internship in Zimmer in Shannon and is now a machinist with the company. Mr Higgins is currently completing a degree in science technology in University of Limerick. He is married to …

By Dan Danaher THE lack of basic facilities for patients, nurses and visitors in hospitals has prompted former Clare hurling manager, Ger Loughnane, to embark on a €40,000 fundraising campaign. The hurling legend hopes to raise enough money to complete a revamp and modernisation of fittings, furnishings and equipment in the cancer units at University Hospital Limerick and at the Denis Burkitt Unit in St James’ Hospital in Dublin. During his treatment for leukemia in both hospitals in recent years, the stark surroundings in most wards became very real and the need to take action a necessity. “Cancer treatment is rarely easy and basic things like internet, a reasonably decent TV or even a comfortable chair to sit on would mean so much,” he said. “The doctors, nurses and care staff do an amazing job but they are performing miracles against the odds. There is scarcely a family who hasn’t been affected by cancer and this event is the GAA’s …

By Nicola Corless WELL-known community development worker, Adrian Feeney, has announced his intention to run in the local elections later this month. The Gort resident will compete for votes in South Galway, with sitting councillors Fine Gael’s Bridie Willers from Grannagh, Independent Michael Fahy from Caherduff and Fianna Fáil’s Gerry Finnerty from Ballymurphy. Mr Feeney will run as an independent candidate in the eight-seat Loughrea Electoral Area. “I decided to run on Monday,” he told The Clare Champion. “While I will run in the Loughrea Electoral Area, I want to focus mainly on Gort and its surroundings,” he added. This will be Mr Feeney’s third attempt to gain a seat on Galway County Council, having run in 2004 and 2009. He also ran for a Dáil seat in the Galway East constituency in 2007. “The recession has hit Gort particularly badly. It has been widely reported on. This has highlighted how desperately we need a good candidate. We are sick …

ENNISTYMON woman, Kate McGlennon was crowned Miss Clare 2014 at the annual pageant, held in the Auburn Lodge Hotel in Ennis. The event was hosted by Deric Hartigan of TV3. Kate, who is 20, is no stranger to beauty pageants and the modelling world after being placed first runner-up in Miss Clare 2013, first runner-up in Miss Sunday World 2013, top-three finalist in Miss Irish Sun 2013 and a current finalist in the Face of Toni&Guy 2014. Kate will now go on to represent her county in the Miss Ireland Pageant 2014 in Dublin, where a successor to current Miss Ireland, Aoife Walsh, will be chosen to represent the country in Miss World 2014. “We had 15 girls from around the county, between the ages of 17 and 23. The final six were Lisa Sexton, Lorraine Tubridy, Naoise Mc Cormack, Pamela Brown, Rachael Mullane and Kate McGlennon,” outlined organiser, Tess Purcell. “The standard of girls was fantastic this year. There …