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EDITORIAL WHAT an accolade. Loop Head Peninsula has been named the best place to holiday in Ireland.  

**NEWS UPDATE** ON Thursday morning, An Taisce admitted on Radio 1’s Morning Ireland that Lahinch and Miltown should have been awarded blue flags and that there was a flaw in the system. Blue flags are to be reinstated at both Lahinch and White Strand in Miltown Malbay. **MAIN ARTICLE** A “MATHEMATICAL anomaly” in a new system of evaluating Ireland’s beaches has resulted in Lahinch and White Strand (Miltown Malbay) losing their prestigious Blue Flag status, Clare County Council has claimed.This will come as a big blow to tourism promoters in these areas, who see the Blue Flag as an important endorsement of their beaches. Outside of regular users of the beach, whose concerns should be easily assuaged, the absence of a Blue Flag could be a factor in other visitors bypassing them.Blue Flag beaches all over the country have been affected by the revised system of awarding flags. Ireland has only received 74 Blue Flags, a drop of 13 on …

MORE than €3.2m worth of internal business referrals have been generated by the Armada Chapter of Business Networking International (BNI) over the past four years, it has emerged.The chapter, which was established in West Clare in June 2009, has 15 members. Business is generated through word of mouth referrals and only referrals that result in paid-for business transactions were included in the overall figure.The Armada BNI Chapter has met 194 times, resulting in 8,650 referrals since it was set up. The chapter, which has members from Kilkee, Kilrush, Doonbeg, Cooraclare, Quilty, Miltown, Inagh and Ennis, among other areas, meets every Wednesday at 6.30am in the Armada Hotel, Spanish Point. Only one person from each profession is allowed to join a BNI chapter.Kilrush-based Eileen Clair, who operates a holistic centre, is the current Armada BNI Chapter director.“When I walked in first of all, I thought that this was a group of guys from trades. But it has made a huge difference …

THE Clare reel is proving beneficial in the treatment of Parkinson’s patients, according to an Italian neurologist. His findings will be presented at an international health conference during this year’s Feakle Festival.Dr Daniele Volpe, director of neurological rehabilitation at St Raffaele Arcangelo Hospital in Venice, is a regular attendee of the international music festival in Feakle and arising from an experience there in 2010, he launched a study into the potential benefits of set dancing for Parkinson’s sufferers.Speaking to The Clare Champion, Dr Volpe explained how the research came about and how the reel step, with origins in Clare, is proving more beneficial to patients than any other set dance.“It all started in June 2010. I usually attend Irish music festivals in Ireland and one of my preferred festivals is the Feakle Irish Music Festival, where I love to play guitar in music sessions. One night I was playing in Pepper’s Bar and a man with Parkinson’s started to dance …

A PASSIONATE plea for something to be done to help the homeless was made by an Ennis priest this week at the funeral mass of Josef Pavelka, the Czech national found dead in a laneway earlier this month.Fr Ger Fitzgerald, speaking at Ennis Cathedral on Tuesday, said, “To those in power, here in Ennis and Ireland, I ask you, I plead with you on my knees to you as a representative of Jesus here in Ennis. I ask you to please review the policies towards the homeless and the weak.”In a touching tribute to his friend, Fr Fitzgerald gave “one last little present” to Josef, carefully laying the stole he wore on his ordination to the priesthood on the coffin. “Josef always wanted it,” he said.In his homily to more than 100 people, Fr Fitzgerald described Mr Pavelka as “almost like an enigma”. “Many people will recall happy memories of Josef outside the church here or maybe inside, or across …

SUPERINTENDENT Seamus Nolan is to replace outgoing Kilrush and Ennistymon Garda Superintendent Gerry Wall, who has been transferred to a similar position in Leixlip, Kildare.Supt Nolan was stationed in Henry Street, Limerick and has been described by Supt Wall as an experienced acquisition for the garda force in Kilrush and Ennistymon.“The people in Kilrush can rest assured that Supt Nolan brings considerable expertise and he can only do good for the people in the Kilrush and Ennistymon garda districts. He comes at a period of time in Kilrush when there are challenges under certain categories of crime of which he’s fully aware. “He has the added advantage of having served in a very difficult policing environment in Limerick. He has risen to the top in that challenge and that’s why he’s a superintendent,” Supt Wall told The Clare Champion on Wednesday.The outgoing superintendent, who has served in Kilrush since 2010, acknowledged that his successor will have some pressing issues to …

COUNCILLOR Pat Hayes has said he is “sickened” by the worsening fodder crisis which he says will lead to a greater financial crisis and has warned that the unsustainable pressure on farmers will cause their mental health to suffer. “A lot of farmers are struggling with the fodder crisis but the main crisis as I see it is the financial crisis and people can’t get over that. If this continues, it will lead to a lot of mental anguish and mental problems and social problems because people can’t sustain the present scenario. This has to do with the weather and the cost of inputs. I’m only a local councillor and the amount of people that have been onto me asking me if they can get jobs, or get onto a scheme or can you do anything to help us. People are at their wits’ end. I know its weather-related but the fact we had the sustained bad weather last year …