News

ENNIS was recently invaded by Vikings. However, it was not gold these Vikings were after but knowledge. They came to learn how to set up family learning classes. Twenty-four Norwegians visited the Clare Family Learning Project. Their ultimate goal is to set up family learning programmes in their region in Norway, similar to what is being done locally in Clare. While here, the group gained valuable ideas through visiting classes in action, meeting parents who have already attended classes and meeting family learning tutors and the partners that the Clare Family Learning Project work with. The visitors, from Nedre Eiker Municipality, included 11 adult education teachers, two primary school principals, three kindergarten teachers, the head of all schools and kindergartens in the region, a volunteer co-ordinator, a cultural leader, a pedagogical leader and others interested in the notion of family learning. Principal of the Adult Learning Centre in Nedre Eiker, Elizabeth Engeset, visited the Clare Family Learning Project website and …

HUNDREDS of cyclists will set off from Ennis this month for a very special fundraising event and to remember an avid member of a local cycling club, who died suddenly last year. This year’s Dolmen Challenge Tour is being dedicated to the memory of the late Seamus Mullane, a keen cyclist and member of Dolmen Cycle Club. The father-of-four was also known to many through his work with Aer Lingus in Shannon and, more recently, the court service in Ennis. As part of the cycle, the participants will pass the Mullane family home in Kilnaboy and will mark a minute’s remembrance at the nearby graveyard. The cycle will take place on April 27, leaving from the Woodstock Golf and Country Club on the Shanaway Road at 10am. As well as honouring the life of the late Mr Mullane, the event will also raise money for the valuable work of Doolin Search and Rescue. According to John Colleran of Dolmen Cycle …

THREE chapters of BNI in Clare have announced the appointment of brand new leadership teams and chapter directors consisting of prominent local business people. The highly successful Abbey, Armada and Heritage chapters welcomed Jason Coyle (CJT Motor Services), John Hogan (Hogan and Co Accountants) and Tomas McKenna (McKenna Consulting Engineers) as chapter directors, while six other local business people have assumed leading roles as membership co-ordinator and secretary treasurer respectively. The new teams will steer the networking groups in building new business and boosting the local economy through effective networking among its members. The three BNI chapters support more than 200 jobs locally and consist of local businesses and trades, including a kinesiologist, printer and engineer. The groups have generated more than €1,700,000 in business in 2013, a record set to be broken this year under the guidance of the new leadership team. Speaking of the new Clare leadership teams, Sandra Hart, executive director, BNI Ireland South and West said …

This week, we’ve published a special Home and Garden supplement, full of hints and tips to help improve your property now that spring is here. We are making an online version of the supplement available free of charge. Read the supplement here.

THE new chairman of the Clare Association in Dublin (Muintir an Chláir) is Gerry O’Reilly. A native of Moyhill, Corofin, he has been an outstanding supporter of the association for many years. A committe member and PRO for the association in recent years, he succeeds Inagh native Liam O’Looney, who stepped down after over six years as chairman, having been first elected as interim chairman. Tributes to Mr O’Looney were led by the new chairman at the association’s annual general meeting in Wynn’s Hotel, Dublin. Mr OReilly told the meeting that Mr O’Looney is a long-serving, dedicated member of the association and made an outstanding contribution as chairman. He has played a big part in the success of the association and he was glad that he would be remaining on in the committee as PRO. Mr O’Reilly also made an appeal to all Clare people in Dublin to join and support the association. He noted a lot of young people …

THEY provide the sweat and the gears but it is up to you to provide the blood. Over five days, from May 12 to May 16, a group of around 20 gardaí, including Sergeant John Ryan and Chief Superintendent John Kerin from Ennis Garda Station, will undertake a gruelling 1,000km cycle that will see them visiting each one of the 26 counties. The Garda Blood4Life 2014 Cycle is a novel charity event. It’s not a fundraiser. Instead, it aims to recruit blood donors and to raise awareness about the importance of blood donation in communities in every county. People are asked to pledge a unit of blood on the IBTS website at www.giveblood.ie. Alternatively, call 021 4807400. Better still, attend a local clinic and turn your pledge into a donation. Many of those who pledged a unit of blood last year have since returned to give second and third donations.

By Peter O’Connell CITING “family considerations” for his decision not to contest the forthcoming county council election, current Kilrush Town councillor, Tom Prendeville  is to retire from public office at the end of May, after almost 30 years in local politics. The Fianna Fáil councillor’s rejection at local convention, and subsequently not being added to the party ticket, had heightened speculation that he would enter the field as an Independent candidate. However, he is insistent that his own personal preference would have been to stand for re-election but that “I had to bow, however reluctantly, to family matters.” A poll-topper in his first election to Kilrush Urban Council in 1985, he was elected to Clare County Council in 1991 and held his seat until 2009. In his dual urban and county mandate, he wore the town mayoral chain of office for three terms. Councillor Prendeville is adamant that his greatest achievement in public life was the All Saints Shanakyle Cemetery …

The East Clare Memorial Committee’s annual wreath-laying ceremonies will take place in Tuamgraney and Scariff on Easter Sunday. Events take place at the East Clare Memorial Park in Tuamgraney and at Scariff Church and continue the long-standing tradition in East Clare of annually commemorating the Easter Rising and the struggle for independence over decades. This year, the ceremonies will place a special focus on the role of women in the revolution, to mark the 100th anniversary of the foundation of Cumann na mBan in 1914. The memory of one of the county’s most active Cumann na mBan women, Nan Hogan, will be acknowledged when her relatives will lay a wreath in Tuamgraney. The memorial park in the village is the only memorial in Clare to publicly acknowledge Cumann na mBan. Nan Hogan was the O/C of the second battalion of the East Clare Brigade and was one of the most committed republicans in the county. She was interred in 1923 …