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Shopkeepers urged not to shell out eggs to teens

“THEY’RE not going home to shave their legs and they’re not making omelettes”, was the message of one councillor to Ennis business people as she urged that them not to sell eggs and shaving foam to youngsters during events such as St Patrick’s Day. Councillor Mary Howard at this week’s meeting of Ennis Town Council called on the local authority in association with other agencies such as An Garda Siochana, traders, Ennis Chamber and schools to devise a “code of conduct”. She outlined that this should deal with identifiable perennial events, “particularly antisocial behaviour on certain days by young teenagers”, on days to include St Patrick’s Day, the last day of school and festivals. She stated that there is a problem with antisocial behaviour among young people in the town on certain days of the year. And she said that she was told on St Patrick’s Day from 12 and 13 year olds that it was “too scary” in town …

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Loop Head lighthouse to re-open this weekend

CLARE County Council has reversed its initial decision not to open Loop Head lighthouse, on a daily basis, until the June Bank Holiday weekend. The lighthouse will now open on Saturday and will remain open daily (10am to 6pm) until the end of September. In last weeks Clare Champion Kilbaha businessman Bernie Keating said that the lighthouse should open “every day from the month of May,” as he felt visitor numbers warranted it. In 2013 the lighthouse opened on St Patrick’s Day. Clare County Council manages the lighthouse in conjunction with the Commissioners of Irish Lights. It is one of two Signature Discovery Points in Clare along the route of the recently launched Wild Atlantic Way and attracted 19,000 visitors during the six-month opening period in 2013. The figure represents an increase of 2,000 on the same period in 2012. “The public opening of Loop Head lighthouse will provide a significant boost to the local tourism sector and the economy, …

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Ennis Chamber’s fear for future of SMEs

CHAMBERS Ireland has called on the Government to make immediate changes to the public procurement process to facilitate SME involvement and benefit the economy as a whole. The call comes, supported by Ennis chamber, in advance of a meeting of stakeholders with the Office of Government Procurement. Chambers Ireland deputy chief executive, Seán Murphy said, “SMEs in Ireland are extremely frustrated over how they are effectively excluded from many public procurement processes. Businesses that pay rates and wages in Ireland are undercut by overseas competitors that are not bound by the same terms and conditions. Some of the requirements to just apply for a tender are highly onerous and often automatically exclude local businesses from participating in local tenders. These excessive pre qualification requirements must be addressed by Government immediately. Similarly, the lack of feedback for businesses when they fail to win a tender, combined with the absence of an appeal procedure, are issues which could be easily solved.” Continuing, …

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Pieta House Darkness into Light 5km walk/run

Pieta House Darkness into Light

The annual Pieta House Darkness into Light 5k Walk/Run will take place on the morning of May 10 at 4.15am. The event will start in the Dark of night and finish just as the Dawn is breaking. This symbolic occasion is the Pieta House signature fundraising and awareness event. It is the highlight of the Pieta fundraising calendar. It all started back in May 2009, when 400 people took part in the first Darkness into Light walk in the Phoenix Park. Since then, the event has grown and grown to become the nationwide occasion that it is today. In 2013 almost 37,000 people across 20 different venues in Ireland took part. The video below gives some idea of what the walk is about. The Ennis walk takes place at Ennis Courthouse and registration is available by logging onto http://dil.pieta.ie.

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Ennis is first in Ireland with free parking for eco-friendly cars

ENNIS has driven ahead with becoming Ireland’s first town to offer free parking for eco-friendly cars. Amendments to the town’s parking bylaws and on street pay and display bylaws adopted this week by Ennis Town Council, include the provision for free parking for electric and hydrogen powered vehicles at two town car parks. Under the new scheme, the vehicles will be able to park for free at Abbey Street and Glór car parks. The measure had originally been proposed by Councillor Brian Meaney who believes this will be an incentive for people to use more environmentally friendly modes of transport, as well as encouraging visitors to the county capital. “This is a first for Ireland” said the councillor following the adoption of the bylaws. “Ireland is almost completely dependent on very volatile imports of fossil fuels to power personal transport, we have to broaden our energy options. With only approximately 10 electric cars registered in Clare the changeover to the …

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Animal welfare this May Day

by Jessica Quinn AN Ennis based group of animal lovers are urging the people of the county to get behind a new awareness and fundraising day that they hope will go on to become an international event. On May 1, Clare will host the first ever ‘MayDay for Animals’. This awareness and fundraising day will see Clare people tying a balloon to their home or place of work to remember animals in need of rescuing, and to celebrate animals rescued. According to organisers, there is a real urgency now to communicate to people the cruel reality of what is going on for some animals in this county and country. In addition to this, they want to encourage people to think before they commit to getting a pet, as it is heart-breaking for a family pet to be suddenly removed from the family home and surrendered to the pound or worse, dumped miles from home. MayDay is about making people more …

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Shannon ‘neglected’ as local motor tax office ruled out

By Owen Ryan SHANNON is being neglected, the April meeting of the town council heard. Complaints arose after a letter was sent to the council that ruled out bringing a motor tax service to Shannon. At a previous meeting of the town council, a motion was passed requesting that the county council open a motor tax service locally. However, the letter from the council ruled that out. “Motor tax services are available online at www.motortax.ie. Year-on-year, the county-wide take-up of online motor taxing is growing, with a 46% increase in the proportion of online usage between January 2011 and January 2014. “For the month of January 2014, 13,715 motor tax transactions for County Clare were processed, of which 56% were handled online, with the balance transacted by post or over the counter in Ennis or Ennistymon. “The delivery of motor taxation nationally is currently being reviewed, as part of the national service efficiency reform agenda. Until the direction of national …

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Asbestos investigation in Shannon electoral area

By Owen Ryan CLARE County Council has confirmed it is investigating claims that asbestos has been improperly disposed of at a handful of locations in parts of the Shannon Electoral Area. This follows revelations some weeks ago that asbestos had been dumped at a number of locations around West Clare. In a statement issued this week, the council confirmed that it is looking into complaints in the Shannon area, but that no asbestos has been found to date. “One additional site with intact pipes which need to be removed has been identified at Clonmoney Reservoir near Shannon. A complaint regarding three additional sites in the general Shannon area is still being investigated. No asbestos material has been located at these sites yet,” the statement read. Clare County Council has also said that clean up work is progressing in West Clare. “Of the nine sites phase one works on four sites are substantially complete, it is expected that the phase one …

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