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COFFEE lovers in Clare are being urged to get brewing and get behind Cahercalla Hospice as plans get underway for the Bewley’s Big Coffee Morning Social for Hospice. Mary Maloney, Fundraising Manager at Cahercalla Hospice said, “We are delighted Bewley’s Big Coffee Morning Social for Hospice is back for another year raising funds in support of Hospice in-patient and community services around Ireland. “The ongoing support for this campaign over the last 30 years is a testament to the generosity of our coffee morning hosts, donors, ambassadors, and our long-time sponsor Bewley’s. “The funds raised each year by the Irish public ensure we continue to provide vital support to individual patients and their families every day.” This year’s event, which bids to raise €1.5million for “life-affirming” Hospice services across Ireland, was launched by Hollywood star Brendan Gleeson. He joined Hospice hosts and volunteers at the iconic Bewley’s café on Grafton St, urging hosts to get creative with their coffee morning social …

KILRUSH is the town in Munster with the highest rate of commercial buildings that are vacant. The town has had an issue with vacancies for some time and regularly features at the top of the periodic Geodirectory issued reports on vacancies. The most recent one showed that in the second quarter of the year there was a vacancy rate of 25.1% at Kilrush, the highest in Munster and the fourth highest in Ireland. However, on the positive side, the rate of vacancy in Kilrush was nearly 1% lower than at the same time in 2021. Jack Kelly, who has a well known business in the town, said that there has been a fairly good recovery since Covid-19 restrictions were raised. “I would say things are picking up, but Kilrush is always behind the curve on that, it is coming back, but slowly coming back. There have been a few extra units taken up around the town. “Has it changed much …

LAHINCH’S Marie O’Connor has been named Best Athlete at the 11th European Transplant & Dialysis Games in Oxford having won a staggering four medals. Marie began the week by securing gold in the Golf Doubles with partner Mick Dwyer from Cabinteely. Speaking after the win she said, “It was fantastic, we didn’t think we’d win gold, but we did. I know Mick and myself will say the same thing; our GOLD, we had it, (pointing to her kidney transplant) ever before we picked up a club, and God rest them that they give us the chance to do this. To win a gold medal and to be able to show we are able to say thank you.”  Marie went on to thank her donor and all Team Ireland donors. She followed this the following day with yet another gold in the Singles Golf event and won her third gold on Wednesday in the Petanque held at the splendid Blenheim Palace. …

THE fall of the Berlin Wall and the dilution of Soviet influence over much of Eastern Europe was closer than people realised, when Mikhail Gorbachev, who died this week, visited Clare, in April of 1989. The previous week’s Clare Champion’s lead story had the headline ‘Council sees Red on Gorbachev visit plans’.  “Wednesday’s adjourned Council meeting made it clear that nothing less than FULL COUNCIL REPRESENTATION would be acceptable, even though up to the time of the meeting no invitation to either the chairman Pat McMahon or to the Council as a body had been received.” The following week’s paper showed that that issue had been resolved, as the Newmarket man had been on the runway when President Gorbachev arrived, while that week’s front page photograph was of Gorbachev shaking hands with the Taoiseach, Charles Haughey. The lead story focused on the fact that President Hillary was in Ennis but not at Shannon when Gorbachev arrived, while it said that …

THE Clare event of the nationwide Pass Wide & Slow Awareness Ride/Drive will be held in Ennis this September with horses and ponies being brought through the town to highlight road safety issues. The event is being hosted at the Ennis Showgrounds on Sunday, September 18 at 2pm with those taking part embarking on a 6km circular route around Ennis. One of the Clare organisers Máire Gleeson explains, “This year we are going to be walking and driving the horses and ponies around Ennis town, we have the support of An Garda, Clare Civil Defence and the Clare County Council. “This Awareness Ride/Drive is being held to highlight the road safety issues horse and pony riders, carriage drivers and motorists experience while out on the roads. “As equestrians we use the roads to transfer the horses from the stables to their paddocks and back again. We also use the roads to train and exercise the horses/ponies. Some have little to …

PROCEEDS of a fundraising calendar for The Irish Cancer Society have been formally presented by Scariff photographer, James Treacy.  Mr Treacy, who took time out from his new venture, East Clare Matchmakers, presented a cheque for €400 to Jason Jenkinson, Support Services Manager for the charity.  The calendar features scenes of East Clare, and some of its characters. It was designed by Mr Treacy to support the work of The Irish Cancer Society. It follows a series of special Christmas cards which Mr Treacy produced and which raised €100 for the charity.

STUNNING scenes from deep under the waters off the Clare coast, captured by a Lahinch-based film-maker, will be showcased on RTÉ next year.  As part of the national broadcaster’s new season, ‘North Atlantic’ will air early in 2023, providing what RTÉ described as “a reflective, insightful narrative … featuring blue-chip natural history scenes bringing the viewer into the actual moment of discovery of marine creatures”. The three-episode series follows Ken O’Sullivan’s highly-acclaimed, ‘Ireland’s Deep Atlantic’, which aired in 2018.  The new work, which has been in production for two-and-a-half years features scenes captured during the height of the pandemic when coastal areas were almost empty. “Our funding came through a week before the first lockdown,” Ken told The Champion. “We were listed as essential workers, but were very careful not to stick to the guidelines and to avoid going in among people in small coastal communities. I shot a lot of footage on my own in my kayak. There was …

TRUST in An Bord Pleanála is at an all time low, in the view of Clare’s Fianna Fáil Senator, after alleged conflicts of interest at the appeals board.  Speaking to The Champion, Senator Timmy Dooley stopped short of backing calls from his party colleague Junior Minister Niall Collins, who insisted that the board should be scrapped.  Controversy engulfed the agency in recent months and led Deputy Chairperson Paul Hyde to step aside, ‘without prejudice’, pending a probe into allegations of conflicts of interest.  Senator Dooley said the matter has “rocked public trust”. “Most people I’ve dealt with on planning issues believed the board to be completely objective and independent,” he said. “As public representatives, we have the capacity to make representations to the local authority on planning matters, but we are precluded in law from ever engaging with An Bord Pleanála. “It has always been seen as beyond the reach of local politicians or anyone who would seek to influence …