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Actor, singer, dancer, many words describe South-East Clare man Brian James Roche and this summer he will bring all these talents together as part of his entries to the World Championships of Performing Arts in Los Angeles. Brian is one of four people from Ireland selected from an auditions process to compete at the world championships, which as he describes is like the Olympics for the performing arts. The Ardnacrusha native is bound for Hollywood this July as he was selected to compete in three of the six categories at the world championships, competing in four competitions overall – dance, original vocals, cover vocals and acting. The other categories include variety, modelling and instrumentals. Now 25, Brian has been in showbusiness since he was 10 years of age and he got his first taste when he auditioned for the film Angela’s Ashes. Although he was unsuccessful in getting to role of young Frank McCourt, it did open doors for him …

The provision of funding worth €190,000 for a dementia unit in the Clarecastle and District Daycentre was sanctioned after the intervention of Health Minister James Reilly, despite opposition from the Health Service Executive.In March, uncertainty surrounding the future of dementia-specific daycare facilities in the centre was removed following confirmation of additional HSE funding worth in the region of €190,000 over the next five years.An extra €35,000 was provided to Clarecastle Day Centre in 2013 and this will be allocated to costs associated with daycare dementia services. This funding will be guaranteed from 2014 to 2017, after which it will become part of the core funding to the centre. However, it has now emerged that it took the support of Dr Reilly to ensure this funding was granted.Deputy Joe Carey has lobbied successive governments for funding for this development, including Dr Reilly, which the minister acknowledged when he officially unveiled the new dementia unit last month.In a statement to The Clare …

THE prospect of Councillor Gabriel Keating leaping off Loop Head, hand in hand with a “cailín eile,” similar to the fabled Diarmuid agus Gráinne jump during na Fianna’s heyday, was mooted at Monday’s otherwise mundane meeting of Kilrush electoral area councillors. Diarmuid Ua Duibhne and princess Gráinne became embroiled in a seemingly contentious love triangle involving Fionn mac Cumhaill and are reputed to have leaped off Loop Head and onto a small island, while pursued by irate friends of the furious Fionn. Up to 100 years ago, there was a viewing point located at Loop Head, at a place known as Lovers’ Leap. Visitors could see where the fleeing couple had jumped from and the island on which they landed. At Monday’s meeting, Councillor Keating suggested that Clare County Council re-establish the lookout area. “I would respectfully suggest to Councillor Keating, being a young man of ability and charm that he might re-enact Toraíocht Diarmuid agus Gráinne in the shape …

AS the sun shone outside Clare County Council’s headquarters on Wednesday afternoon, one youngster happily quipped “It’s just like Africa”. He wasn’t far wrong as inside, the rest of his family were enjoying the colourful celebrations being held to mark Africa Day.The day acknowledges 50 years of the African Union and African independence, with the Ennis event just one of many organised throughout the county celebrating the rich heritage of various African countries.A variety of food from South Africa, Nigeria, the Congo, Ghana, Morocco and Somalia prepared by women now living in Ennis was sampled by the many African and non-African Clare residents who attended the event. There was also music, while the young people of Ennis Community College also performed a dance. Among those taking part in the celebrations was Benjy Mba-Ileozor, a chief of the Nigerian Igbo tribe, who has been living in Ennis since 2002 with his family. They took the Irish citizenship test last year and …

A FORMER managing director of Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport has been appointed as the new CEO of Shannon.Fifty-two year-old Neil Pakey’s appointment was announced on Tuesday morning.The Scot faces a difficult task, with passenger numbers standing at just 1.4 million last year, with a target of 2.5 million by 2018. However, in the past he was involved in phenomenal growth at Liverpool, where passenger numbers increased from 867,000 to 5.5 million while he was managing director from 2002 to 2010.Mr Pakey was also part of senior management at Manchester Airport, at a time when passenger numbers went from under six million to over 16 million.From 2006 to 2010, Mr Pakey held the positions of deputy CEO and CEO of Peel Airports Ltd, which owned Doncaster Sheffield and Durham Tees Airports, as well as Liverpool John Lennon. Turnover increased under his stewardship and he brought it from being loss-making to returning seven-figure profits.Following Vantage Airports Group investment in Peel Airports in …

A FRAMED photograph of a 15-month-old Sixmilebridge Friesian heifer, named in honour of Chinese President Xi Xingping, was presented to him during a bilateral and trade parliamentary delegation on Friday.The heifer was born on the farm of James Lynch in February 2012 and was subsequently called after the then Chinese vice-president during his whistle-stop tour of Shannon Airport, the Cliffs of Moher and Bunratty.Led by Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett, the delegation met with President Xi ­Xingping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, which was unusual, as he normally meets only heads of state there.Deputy Breen said it was a great honour to make the presentation and to become the first Clare man to meet the new president, who spoke of fond memories of his trip to Ireland last year and in ­particular his visit to Clare. “The president, through his interpreter, conveyed his best wishes to the Lynch family, asked about their children, saying that his visit …

One of the most remarkable features of all recent opinion polls is the amount of people who are not happy with any of the political parties, whether of the Government side or the Opposition. That was also a feature of the recent Meath East by-election, with so many people not bothering to come out and vote at all. In a poll conducted by the Millward Brown group and published by last week’s Sunday Independent, 32% said they didn’t know which party they might support. In other words, they weren’t happy with any of them. In the same poll, only 19% – less than one in five – said they were satisfied with the Government. A massive 73% of those asked expressed dissatisfaction with the Government. That is a trend that has been there for some time now. Another way of putting that is to say that some three out of every four people are dissatisfied with how the Government we …

A coat belonging to Daniel O’Connell has been “totally forgotten about” and now languishes in the Clare Museum, according to an Ennis historian. Brian Dinan, while carrying out research for his book celebrating the centenary of St Flannan’s Terrace, A Terrace of Houses – A Passion of People, uncovered the history of the coat. He is calling for the garment to be put on public display in the county capital.“It has languished in the museum and never been displayed. Not displaying such an item of local historical importantce is akin to killing off an historic artefact. Such action is depriving the local community of gaining benefit, honour and pleasure from having such a treasure on display in our own museum,” he said.Museum curator John Rattigan has confirmed to The Clare Champion that the coat is in the Clare Museum, stating that there has been no funding available to allow it to be displayed in an appropriate manner. However, he added …