News

CONSTRUCTION work has commenced on the provision of a new €400,000 pedestrian and cycle bridge over the railway track, adjacent to the bridge on the Quin Road in Ennis. A contract has been awarded to L&M Keating Ltd., Building & Civil Engineering Contractors from Kilmihil, and the €400,000 project consists of the construction of the new bridge over the Ennis to Athenry railway line, adjacent to the existing masonry arch bridge on the Quin Road, immediately to the north of Ennis Railway Station.  It includes four ramps at each end and connection to the existing public footpaths, while public lighting facilities will also be provided along the entire length of the new structure. It is expected the works will be completed by late May.The commencement of work has been welcomed by the Mayors of Ennis and Clare.Speaking after a visit to the site of the new bridge, Mayor of Ennis Councillor Peter Considine stated, “This bridge will be of very …

KILKEE man Seamus Mulconry, who is executive director of Philanthropy Ireland, will play a key role in this year’s National Giving Campaign. The report of the Forum on Philanthropy and Fundraising was launched by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister Phil Hogan last year. The forum report targets a 10% increase in philanthropic giving year on year in Ireland from its current level of approximately €500m per annum to €800m by 2016. “Philanthropy Ireland is an organisation which represents funders for good causes in Ireland. Our members invest somewhere in the region of €60m a year in good causes in Ireland. Members include The Ireland Fund, Atlantic Philantrophies and the St Stephen’s Green Trust,” Seamus Mulconry explained. “We are part of the Forum on Philanthropy, which was re-established last year to promote philanthropy and fundraising in Ireland. It’s a joint partnership between government and the philantrophic sector. Irish people are fairly generous. In excess of 80% would have given money to …

Taking the fear out of tracheostomy management will be the theme of a national study day in Limerick on February 27, organised by the Department of Otorhinolarygology at the Mid Western Regional Hospital.The event, being held at the University of Limerick with the assistance of the Graduate Entry Medical School, will focus on “The Tracheostomy Safety Pathway – The Journey from ICU to HDU to Ward to Successful Decannulation/or Home.”ENT consultant Joe Hughes commented, “We hope to guide a wide variety of our medical and nursing colleagues through the Safety Journey by simplifying the core principles. In particular participants will be taken through the accidental decannulation and cardiac respiratory arrest scenario and reinsertion with ‘hands on’ expert support by our multidisciplinary team using natural and simulated airways.“In addition a number of patients who have lived the experience have volunteered to assist, which is a tremendous act of public service. They continue to inspire us to do even better in this …

ENTREPRENEURS with disabilities are being encouraged to Let’s Get Started as part of a new project. It is aimed at helping entrepreneurs with disabilities to explore and plan a small business or micro-enterprise in their local area, with family and community support.  Brothers of Charity Clare are leading the project but local organisations Clare Volunteer Centre, East Clare Community Co-op, Obair and EmployAbility Clare are also involved.  Sharon Meaney, manager of the Clare Volunteer Centre spoke about the impact Let’s Get Started could have around the county. “This is a fantastic project which will have positive outcomes for everyone involved.  We have a fabulous corps of volunteers in County Clare with wide ranging skills, who very generously give their time and expertise. The support model that Let’s Get Started is using will provide rewarding volunteer roles and experiences, especially for people with business skills. I think their motto ‘ideas into action’ reflects the positive, action focused nature of the project.” …

THE launch of the Famine in Clare Exhibition in Kilrush Library will take place on Tuesday at 6pm.The exhibition concentrates on the Famine in the county from 1845 to ’52 and explores each Poor Law Union, its electoral divisions and workhouses.  Reports are included from those such as English Poor Law Commissioners and Relieving Officers, the Board of Guardians and Poor Law Inspectors, with lists of names of those who died in the Kilrush and Ennistymon Workhouses.Kilrush has been selected as the host location for the main 2013 National Famine Commemoration, which will take place on Sunday, May 12. At 7.30pm on Tuesday in Teach Ceoil, Jackie Whelan will give Kilrush and District Historical Society’s monthly lecture, on The story of the West Clare Railway.The West Clare Railway (WCR) originally operated between 1887 and 1961. This 3ft narrow gauge railway ran from the county town, via numerous stopping-points along the West Clare coast to two termini, at Kilrush and Kilkee, …

Tributes have been paid to volunteers and staff from Clare credit unions who successfully completed the Advanced Certificate In Credit Union Practice conferred by University of Ulster. They were presented with their certificates at a graduation ceremony in the Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick.They were among graduates from Chapter 13 (Clare, Limerick and Tipperary) of the credit union movement, who were presented with their certificates by Jimmy Johnstone, president of the Irish League of Credit Unions.He acknowledged the graduates’ hard work and commitment to continued professional development. Mr Johnstone added that such commitment and dedication is shared by many across the credit union movement. To date, over 2,000 credit union volunteers and staff have completed the Advanced Certificate in Credit Union Practice (ACCUP) programme. Graduates from Chapter 13 were part of the 570 who completed the programme in 2012, he said.He also told the graduates that education is a core co-operative principle and ACCUP participation rates speak volumes for their commitment …

ENNIS may miss out on essential infrastructural improvements because the town is to be stripped of its hub town status.The warning was sounded by Councillor Brian Meaney who said Ennis is to lose its special hub town status arising from the abolition of the National Spatial Plan.“There is a policy vacuum because a revised plan has not been put in place,” stated Councillor Meaney.“In the last few months it has been announced that Ennis is losing its town council and now it is losing its hub town status.  I am not saying that the National Spatial Strategy was perfect. The strategy was a kind of a one-toothed wonder in that it gave designation to urban centres around the country but very little resources were put in place to back up those designations.“All hub towns were to have an improved sewerage treatment plants. This never happened in most towns but, at least, while a town was designated a hub town, it …

Ennis is the first town in the country to receive the prestigious international Purple Flag award and a conference earlier this week heard how successful city and town centres can be managed with a focus on the evening time.