News

I despair for the future of Fianna Fáil in Clare if the thinking of the leadership of the party in this county on the Presidential election is anything to go by.

Sitting down to write this week, I am overcome with a powerful sense of déjà vu. Though it is difficult not to be enraged by recent comments made by Bishop Philip Boyce of Raphoe, the anger they engender is not in any way original or fresh. The bishop said the church was facing “testing times” as a result not only of the sins and crimes of priests but because of the arrows and external attacks from a “secular and godless culture”.

CLARE patients, who previously opted for day services and diagnostic procedures in Galway, could well face a 290km round trip to Roscommon if a new proposal is adopted in a Health Service Executive reconfiguration of acute hospital services.

A NEW €150 million windfarm development in West Clare, which has the potential to generate enough electricity to power 60,000 homes, has been given the green light by An Bord Pleanála.

THE new Clare Heritage Plan (2011-2017), which has three overall aims, will be implemented at a cost of €500,000 excluding staff costs, it was revealed at the launch in Kilrush this week.

A MAJORITY of Clare Fianna Fáil councillors have broken ranks with party headquarters by insisting the party should put forward an internal candidate for the Presidential election.

CLARE County Council has said it got “more than value for money” from the €50,000 it invested in an event at the Cliffs of Moher that organisers have now “postponed”.