News

KILRUSH Town Council revealed that just 31% of commercial rates have been paid in the first six months of this year and it may have to take legal action against those in arrears.

WHILE members of the local authority have faced complaints from the public, Clare County Council’s decision to buy 19 new commercial vehicles is actually going to mean a saving of around €200,000, it was claimed this week.

ALMOST 57,000 pupils received their Junior Certificate results across the country on Wednesday with results in Clare reported as very good.

THE proposed relocation of Eamon de Valera’s car to the foyer of Clare County Council’s headquarters in Ennis has been ruled out amid concerns about possible damage to the authority’s underfloor heating.

IT is slightly ironic but research suggests that babies who learn how to communicate through baby sign language, begin to talk before their non-signing counterparts utter a coherent word.Miriam Devitt, a Killimer-based baby sign language teacher, has taught her daughter, Robin how to sign. She has also written an illustrated baby sign language dictionary entitled SuperHands, containing the first 40 signs that a baby and their parents can use to communicate.“What you’re doing with sign is you’re bridging the gap between verbal and pre-verbal,” Miriam explains.“From birth, babies understand a lot. They want to communicate. Within hours of birth they’ll mimic. They’ll respond facially to what an adult is doing,” she reveals.“From three or four months they’ll understand words and intonation. If you start teaching them sign language from about three or four months, they’ll understand it and then when their hands catch up, instead of being frustrated, they can sign if they want their milk. Or they can start …

TRIBUTES were paid this week to well-known cave diver Artur Kozlowski, whose body was recovered from a cave near Kiltartan in South Galway at the weekend.

KILRUSH restaurateur Rory Fay, who runs the Harbour Restaurant in the town, had to temporarily close his business this week when an electricity pole was damaged in a storm on Sunday night. The pole was on the roadside close to the restaurant, next to Kilrush Marina on the Cappa Road.

BEING President of Ireland is a big job; if you get it you’re paid more than €6,000 a week, as well as getting a large house and chauffeured car. After you start, you’ll be the second-best paid politician in Europe, behind Nicolas Sarkozy but ahead of Angela Merkel.