News

POST-mortem results are due later this week following the death of an Ogonnelloe pensioner from what is believed to be a suspected heart attack in Killaloe on Monday.Michael O’Connor, Ballyhurley, Ogonnelloe, was driving from his home to the Green in Killaloe when he apparently collapsed at the wheel of his car in New Street and then struck a pole.Killaloe gardaí have confirmed there was only a small amount of damage caused to the front of his car, which has prompted speculation that the 83 year-old bachelor farmer may have died from a suspected heart attack before the collision.The collision happened at New Street just outside the local fire station and only a short distance from Killaloe Garda Station. Fire-fighters arriving for a training session at their station, who happened to be near the scene, provided some medical assistance before ambulance paramedics arrived.Despite extensive efforts to resuscitate the pensioner, he was pronounced dead at the scene. He was removed to the …

A STATEMENT by Transport Minister Leo Varadkar claiming Shannon Airport could be left behind on the runway by Knock this year in terms of passenger numbers has been slammed as “farcical and ludicrous”.Clare TD Timmy Dooley also accused Minister Varadkar of making the claim in an attempt to create fear in the Mid-West. It isn’t the first time the minister, dubbed ‘Leo the Lip’ by some, has caused annoyance in the Mid-West. Late last year he also warned that Shannon could be overtaken by the Mayo airport.In an interview this week, Mr Varadkar said there is “a fairly good chance that Knock will overtake Shannon this year in terms of passenger numbers”.He made the statement despite a huge gap in passenger figures between the two airports in 2011, with Shannon at slightly over 1.6 million passengers and Knock having 654,500. Knock management has forecast 9% growth for 2012, while it is expected Shannon will see a decline, albeit a marginal …

FOR the first time in the history of Kilkee Marine Rescue Service, an all-female crew can now take to the waters off the coastal resort town. The service has approximately 20 fully trained members currently, although that figure increases during the summer months. In recent weeks, Orla Hassett, Vanessa Keane, Annette Stanford, Lorraine Lynch and Fiona Kenny have completed their training and if they were the first five to respond to a call-out, they would form the rescue crew. Furthermore Deirdre Kenny often co-ordinates call-outs from the lifeboat station.“Up until now there could never have been a female crew because enough of us weren’t qualified. We would have been able to be part of a crew but we would have had to have some of the others with us. Now, if it turned out that we were the first to turn up to a call we could go out,” Orla Hassett explained. All five live either in Kilkee or within …

SEVEN Clare schools have been included in the Department of Education’s list of school building projects for the next five years. As announced last December, construction of a new building for Ennis National School is to get underway this year. Ennis Educate Together, currently based on the Gort Road in the county town, is to get a new school with work beginning in 2014/15. Work on a new school for St Joseph’s Tulla is set to begin in 2015/16.In 2014/15 extensions for Shannon Comprehensive School, Ennis Community College, St Anne’s Community College, Killaloe, and Knockanean National School are to go to construction.There was disappointment in Sixmilebridge as the local national school was omitted from the list.Speaking to The Clare Champion on Wednesday, parish priest Fr Harry Bohan said he is still hopeful that Minister Ruairi Quinn’s mind could be changed. “We have had contact with local politicians and I got two calls yesterday to say that Minister Quinn is going …

A West Clare County Councillor is calling on Clare County Council to create an inventory of signage in the county that it is responsible for following the disappearance, misplacing and vandalising of a number of signs in the county. Councillor Christy Curtin tabled a motion at Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council asking that the director of services advise the council of recent reported missing, misplaced or damaged road direction and statutory signs in the county and the costing of same. In the motion he also sought the adoption of a revised Code of Practice at area level for the maintenance of an updated signage inventory.Councillor Curtin explained that in the past 18 months he was aware of a number of misplaced, damaged or missing signs along the N67 that he brought to the attention of the council and he claimed the follow-up in relation to this signage was “not to satisfaction”. He said there were two signs, one for …

WHY are so many people getting their knickers in a knot over that bogus tweet to RTÉ’s Frontline programme prior to the general election last year?What’s the big deal anyway is the question I have been asking myself so often over the past week and failing to find an answer. Like a lot of people in this country, I hardly know the difference between a twit and a tweet.  Does it make a twitter of a difference?RTÉ was certainly wrong in not checking  the veracity of the tweet which claimed Sinn Féin were going to produce the man who allegedly gave presidential candidate Sean Gallagher a €5,000 cheque for Fianna Fáil.  The station was also wrong for not disclosing a further tweet from Sinn Féin which denied the first tweet.  For that they were rightly reprimanded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.Now RTÉ has to answer further charges that the audience was manipulated in the final debate of the presidential …

A Clare TD will celebrate St Patrick’s Day Stateside after becoming the first chairman of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee to be invited to the White House. Deputy Pat Breen will travel to the US for a programme of events to mark St Patrick’s Day. While there, he has promised, he will “relay the message that Ireland is open for business”. “It is an honour to represent the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade at this year’s St Patrick’s Day reception in the White House,” Deputy Breen commented.“Our national holiday, St Patrick’s Day, offers our country a unique opportunity to present itself on the world stage. While it is a time when people around the globe celebrate Ireland and what it means to be Irish, it also offers a chance to build relationships and strengthen bonds,” he added.Deputy Breen stressed the value of the “enduring friendship” and “economic ties” between Ireland and the United States.“There are now around …

Former colleagues and students celebrated a Ballyvaughan resident with what was described as “the ultimate honour for a professor in America” on Wednesday.Professor Emeritus Mary Ann Nevins Radzinowicz was presented with a festschrift, which literally translates to ‘feast of writing’, consisting of a volume of written work in her honour contributed by various authors. Only the most accomplished professors receive a festschrift and Professor Radzinowicz said one of the most enjoyable aspects of the experience has been the organisation of “a sort of Irish academic hoolie” to celebrate. She also expressed her delight to be presented with the festschrift by one her former students, Professor Margaret Olofson Thickstun, the Jane Watson Irwin professor of English Literature at Hamilton College, New York State. “What I like most of all about this is that, because the people who are giving this to me and the woman who edited the book of essays and is presenting it to me is coming a long …