News

THE Irish Postmaster’s Union (IPU), is to hold a meeting for Clare postmasters, their families and supporters in  Ennis this week to discuss plans to ensure the sustainability of all local post offices. All public representatives are being invited to attend the meeting at Treacy’s West County Hotel on Thursday night. Tom O’Callaghan, national executive member for Clare with the IPU, will host the meeting, which will form part of a major campaign seeking a coordinated plan from the government to ensure the sustainability of the Post Office network. “Many Post Offices in Clare are seriously threatened with closure right now. We urgently need the Government to deliver on its commitment made in the programme for government and produce a plan that will sustain the network. We plan to move our political lobbying up a gear through a nationwide campaign involving all members and this meeting is a stepping stone in an overall national campaign to secure the future of …

SIX Clare pupils have been named as finalists in the sixth annual Doodle 4 Google competition. They are now amongst 75 children from across Ireland who now have the chance of being named Ireland’s top doodler and having their doodle displayed on the Google Ireland homepage for millions of people to see. Everyone in Clare is now being urged to visit www.google.ie/doodle4google and vote for Caroline, Fionn, Samuel, Kyla, Paul and Seán. · Caroline Hamilton from Kilmurry National School, Sixmilebridge (Group 1) · Samuel Hamilton from Kilmurry National School, Sixmilebridge (Group 2) · Paul Hamilton from Kilmurry National School, Sixmilebridge (Group 3) · Fionn Rush from Kilfenora National School, (Group 1) · Kyla Baumann from Knockerra National School, Kilrush (Group 2) · Seán Lineen from St Michael’s Community College,  Kilmihil (Group 4) The 75 finalists were shortlisted by a panel of judges including Ciara O’Shea, Marketing Manager of Dublin Children’s Museum, Imaginosity, Irish artist Christine Crotty of The Swan Academy …

SURGERIES will be overwhelmed by patients if the Government pursues its current objectives of introducing free GP visits for all citizens without any increase in resources for general practice. The warning has come from the GP Committee of the IMO in response to claims made by Minister for Primary Care, Alex White. Dr Ray Walley,  chairman of the GP Committee,  said that claims made on Monday by the Minister for Primary Care, Alex White TD, that there was “no evidence” that visit numbers would increase when free GP visits were introduced were “mistaken”.  “The Minister is wrong and his views are not supported by the research.  The Government has consistently used incorrect visitation rates as a starting point when the true figure, backed up by published research in the Irish Medical Journal, is 24 million consultations a year in general practice.  The research further demonstrates that demand for visits to GP services is likely to increase by four million visits a …

MINISTER for Housing and Planning, Jan O’Sullivan has announced that €30m will be invested in upgrading the energy efficiency of local authority homes this year.The funding is part of a three year jobs stimulus programme that will see the energy efficiency of 25,000 of the poorest insulated local authority homes improved. Last year, Clare County Council carried out energy efficiency retrofitting on 366 houses. Clare, which had a 2,330 local authority dwelling stock in 2011, will receive a general allocation of €75,000 this year, together with a supplementary allocation of €222,632, based on the proportion of exisating stock, which brings the initial allocation to €297,632. Minister O’Sullilvan said an initial €15m funding should substantially complete the first phase of the insulation programme announced in June 2013 and ensure that every local authority house will have at a minimum draught proofing, attic insulation and where appropriate cavity wall insulation. When Phase 1 is complete a further €15m will be allocated for …

FARMERS and householders in Ardrahan and other areas of South Galway are still in serious difficulty with flood waters following the recent storms. There are concerns that further rain in the coming day days could exacerbate the situation in an area where thousands of acres have been flooded and some families have had to leave their homes. For some, it is a repeat of what happened a few years ago and they not be able reoccupy their home for a considerable period of time.

By Jessica Magee and Emer Connolly A Kilmihil man who raped a Brazilian woman he had asked to clean his house has been sentenced to seven and a half years, after a judge said he couldn’t “buy himself out” of a custodial sentence. Father-of-four Thomas Egan (47), a developer, of Cahermurphy, Kilmihill, paid over €10,000 in court to be forwarded to his victim, who has since returned to Brazil. Mr Justice Barry White suspended the final three and a half years of the sentence, noting that Egan had a previous “unblemished record” apart from a minor road traffic offence. Egan was convicted last May by a jury at the Central Criminal Court of raping the 23 year-old woman at a house in Tipperary on July 5, 2010. He had denied the charge. Egan admitted having sex with the woman, but told gardaí it was consensual and that she had not shown any fear. During the trial, Seán Gillane SC prosecuting, …

ENNIS Chamber has welcomed the added economic boost which came to the town with the hosting of Clare’s opening National Hurling League game against Kilkenny. “The success of the All-Ireland winning senior hurlers in winning their first Allianz hurling league match was made a little sweeter for the local economy by the thousands of people who came to Ennis to see the game yesterday.  The welcome reprieve in the recent stormy weather conditions also meant that spectators were able to travel in comfort.  Given the calibre  of teams in Division 1 of the league and as kingpins in hurling, Kilkenny attracted many of their supporters to follow their team to the West of Ireland,” commented Chamber CEO, Rita McInerney. “Ennis Chamber welcomes the playing of such league games in the County Grounds of Cusack Park.  It brought a real buzz to the town at an otherwise quiet time of year.  Local hotels reported a busy weekend both for Valentine’s and …

THE Freight Transport Association of Ireland (FTA Ireland), has welcomed the announcement by the UK and Ireland governments that they are to introduce a marker that will help tackle fuel fraud. This has to be good news to help reduce fuel laundering,” the organisation general manager, Neil McDonnell said. The product will be used to mark rebated fuels, including the off-road diesel commonly known in the UK as ‘red diesel’, in a move that will boost both countries’ fight against illegal fuel laundering. The marker will help HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Irish Revenue Commissioners tackle the criminal market in off-road diesel, marked with a red dye in the UK and green in Ireland, and also kerosene primarily used for heating oil. Neil McDonnell commented, “FTA welcomes any effort such as this to tackle fuel laundering. The costs of fuel laundering to the exchequer, to fair competition, to the environment are simply too high, and are not being …