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THE three dolphins who stunned experts by coming inland as far as Bunratty this spring have been spotted back in the Shannon Estuary.Simon Berrow of the Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Foundation said he is pleased they are still alright and that the right choices were made when they were at Bunratty. “It’s a great story and it’s always nice to have an ending. When they left we assumed they went back to the estuary but we didn’t know for sure, so it’s nice to have confirmation that they are fit and healthy and we made the right call.”He said they were found very quickly after summertime monitoring got underway. “I have some research assistants for the summer to do dolphin monitoring and on their first trip out they came across dolphins off Moneypoint and they were the three at Bunratty. The fact that the three of them are still together as a group is impressive.”The second time they were seen …

KARL Michael, who spent nine years of his childhood in Shannon, has reached the semi final of BBC show The Voice.When judge Danny Donoghue of The Script fame opted to give Andrea Begley a so-called fast pass, Karl and Mitchel Emms were left at the mercy of the viewers. Ultimately they decided to put Karl through.Speaking to The Champion this week, he felt his time on the hit show was up. “It was terrible, I thought I was going home,” he acknowledged.He actually felt he had done quite well. “I thought the performance was good but there’s always room for improvement. I’ll do better this week.”The 27-year-old is looking forward to the penultimate round. “I’m singing I believe I can fly by R Kelly. It’s non stop practice, I can’t wait to do it, it’s a great song.”Karl is now based in London and on his first appearance on The Voice, all four of the judges turned their chairs around …

PRIMARY school inspector Gerry Kearney recently launched the booklet, Curriculum and Technology – Twelve Schools – Twelve Approaches, at the Clare Education Centre, Ennis.This project began in January, when all primary schools affiliated with the Clare Education Centre were invited to demonstrate how they were effectively and innovatively using ICT to support and challenge pupils in their learning. From this initial process, 12 schools expressed an interest in sharing their practices with the wider educational community in the region.All interested parties were invited to the Clare Education Centre in early 2013 to discuss, develop and begin to document innovative practices from their classroom. Advisors encouraged schools to share their practice through group discussion and dialogue. Furthermore, advisors demonstrated ICT resources, with schools then being invited to trial these resources in their own classrooms. This process continued with visits to schools to assist the project from local Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) regional advisors, David McMahon and Michael James Malone …

EFFORTS to restore the Blue Flag status at one of West Clare’s most popular beaches were deemed too expensive and too risky by Clare County Council. Now though, a local councillor wants to have one of the possible solutions identified by the local authority, re-examined.The beach at Spanish Point lost its Blue Flag status in 2002 and was closed briefly, along with two other beaches, last year after E-coli traces were found in the water. Councillor Michael Hillery recently asked the council how it planned to restore the beach to Blue Flag standard.Paul Moroney, senior engineer, Transportation, Water Services and Environment Directorate, gave a detailed written response outlining what the council considered.“The position remains the same as 2012. Spanish Point failed the bathing water quality criteria because it has a small stream entering the beach,” he explained.At the time, Clare County Council proposed a number of solutions.“Chlorination of the stream was ruled out as unacceptable as the dosing rate could …

KILRUSH Town Councillor Ian Lynch is asking that the Government establish a Department of Emigration to help support the thousands of Irish emigrants leaving the country. Councillor Lynch told The Clare Champion that he knows of four families who have left West Clare. He completed the Leaving Certificate in 1995 and says that while his contemporaries didn’t immediately emigrate, several have left the country in recent times. “In my year, we had 58 people sitting the Leaving Certificate. Even after college, only about eight of us headed off on our travels but now in an era of uncertainty, as many as 20 of us have emigrated to start a better life. We are not even part of the emigration generation. The generations after us, especially those who completed their Leaving from 2005 onwards, find themselves graduating from third level with no job prospects,” Councillor Lynch stated. Emigration significantly hit the Kilrush Community School class of 2001. “The class of 2001 …

FARMERS have had a difficult start to 2013 due to the slow start to the growing season. Regardless of the time pressure, farmers should make sure they retain safety at the top of their priority list over the coming months. Many dangers on the farm are obvious – poorly maintained tractors and machinery; unguarded PTO shafts and inadequate fencing. However, farmers need to look out for danger as they carry out their routine tasks. For example, when preparing for spraying, it is vital to pay extra attention to handling and storage of chemicals and spraying equipment.During the breeding period, it is important that farmers are conscious of possible dangers with particular regard to the introduction of new bulls to the herd. Every bull, no matter how docile he might appear, must be treated as a potential danger.With such a late spring, the movement of cattle out onto grass might require extra hands on deck, which again implies safety considerations. The …

ON Wednesday Loop Head Tourism (LHT) announced details of a parking initiative for cycling and walking tourists in the peninsula.The ‘Park Your Car’ initiative enables visitors on walking or cycling holidays to park their car for the duration of their stay in the Loop Head area, while their personal belongings are delivered to their places of accommodation. Accommodation and activity providers and other hospitality industry members in the peninsula have signed up to the initiative.The tourism initiative forms part of ‘Summer on the Loop’ featuring a range of activities and events taking place across the peninsula, recently named the Best Place to Holiday in Ireland.The programme features Clare’s first working Hedge School in 200 years as well as a series of food, heritage and activity-based trails including Currach Racing in Kilbaha (June 16); Hell of the West Triathlon weekend in Kilkee (June 21-23); Kilkee Loophead Maritime Festival (July 12-14); Carrigaholt Family Festival (August 15-18); Nell Galvin Traditional Music Festival in …

SUPPORTERS have not presented a convincing case for the Seanad’s retention, according to Clare Deputy Michael McNamara.If its abolition results in savings of up to €100 million over five years, he said this could be better spent on improving health and education.“I don’t think the Seanad is serving a useful purpose in its current form.“The Seanad hasn’t held the Government to account because about one sixth of the Seanad are appointed by the Taoiseach. “The party whip system also applies to the Seanad which means there aren’t any meaningful checks and balances. Apart from major budgetary issues, I don’t believe the whip system should apply to committees in the Dáil.“Everyone in the Labour Party supports the plan to put the abolition of the Seanad before the people in a referendum. I can understand why senators want to retain this institution but I am not aware of any compelling reason for its retention.“However, I am willing to listen to what people …