News

NUI Galway student society, Draíocht will walk the 70km from Ennis to Galway this week to raise money for a new health centre in a Nepalese village.The students will carry water throughout the walk, in recognition of the challenges people in Nepal and other areas, face when trying to gain access to clean water.The volunteers will leave Ennis carrying five to 20 litres of water each, at 12am on Friday and continue walking 37km to Gort. On Saturday, they will continue their journey and walk the 35km to Galway.The Draíocht volunteers will use the money raised to begin construction on a new healthcare centre in Talamarang, Nepal this summer. Draíocht founder and Ennis native Melanie Hennessy, who is currently studying medicine in National University of Ireland Galway, realises the walk will be difficult but feels strongly about the positive impact the clinic could have on the village.“We know that this walk won’t be easy and that water is heavy. “These …

A MEETING between members of the local community in Ballyvaughan and Harbour Air Ireland took place on Tuesday night, with the company reportedly receiving quite a warm reception.The company is looking to introduce seaplane services between a number of different locations including Galway, the Aran Islands, Limerick and Dublin.Director Emelyn Heaps said they were very well received. “It was a credit to the people of Ballyvaughan; there was a very good crowd there and they put excellent questions to us. There was no ranting. We left it with them, we’re willing to look at bringing business there,” he said.He said they hadn’t been looking at Ballyvaughan as a base but had been impressed by the enthusiasm shown. “We were asked how long people coming would stay and what we said was we would bring people to the quay wall and then it was up to them to get people to stay. For us, it was a breath of fresh air …

WHEN Patrick Pearse and James Connolly led their soldiers into the GPO in Dublin on Easter Monday 1916, they did so with the intention of killing.Their aim was to strike a blow for Irish freedom but they believed they could not do that without killing. They had, of course, no mandate from the Irish people to do that. As a matter of fact, the Rising was opposed by the vast majority of the Irish people and when the rebels were rounded up at the end of Easter week, they were spat on and jeered by the ordinary people of Dublin.There were some terrible things done in the name of Irish freedom in the years that followed the Rising.  Some of those things, including the shooting of people in their beds in front of their wives and families, were ordered by the man many believe was the greatest Irishman of all times, Michael Collins. And many of the people shot as …

THE rise in unemployment in County Clare in a five-year period is reflected in the growing number of families qualifying for the Mortgage Income Supplement Scheme (MISS).In 2005, €96,000 was paid out to Clare social welfare recipients to assist them with interest-only repayments on mortgages but by the end of 2009, the figure had grown to over €1.2 million.Almost 300 Clare families now find themselves in this situation through the breadwinner’s loss of job or decrease in working hours. This is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the problem on a national scale.The scheme is quite restrictive, in that anyone in full-time employment is automatically ineligible, as are those working over 30 hours a week in part-time employment, while the income of a spouse or partner is also taken into account in the assessment.North Clare councillor Martin Conway has predicted the amount of money paid out under the scheme in the county could reach €3m by the …

COMMENT Environmental campaigners are very terse when confronted with the issue of overpopulation. It is seen as a dangerous area to tackle. Interfering in people’s right to reproduce is seen as somehow tantamount to eugenics but the time is fast drawing near for this issue to come out from the shadows and bask in the glow of public debate.

TWO County Clare women have played a key role in the development of a new national strategy for supporting terminally-ill children.

AFTER extensive campaigning, Crusheen looks likely to have its own rail stop within the next two years. However, the possibility of a rail link connecting Shannon Airport to Galway and Limerick was ruled out by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey at the official opening of the first phase of the Western Rail Corridor on Monday.

THE success of a cohesive economic plan to create jobs in Clare and the Mid-West will depend on the full backing of all the relevant interests, according to the newly-appointed Minister for Defence, Tony Killeen.