News

Legislation dealing with companies and sole traders who experience serious financial difficulties needs to be radically altered, according to a local county councillor.

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) has been requested to ring-fence funding for clinical staff to run the new 16-slice diagnostic computer aided tomography (CAT) machine at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis.

Frozen pipes and increased demand have severely disrupted water supplies across the county over the past week. While a thaw began early on Tuesday, services had not been restored to numerous housing estates and individual homes by Wednesday evening, with many areas likely to remain without water for the coming days.

ON the evening of Monday, December 21, Tina Watkins drove home to Maurice’s Mills from Shannon.She noted a distinct nip in the air. She didn’t think, however, that the nip would escalate into the worst freeze in half a century and detain her at home for 24 of the following 25 days.

While the big freeze has ended for much of County Clare with the last of the snowmen melting away, a number of families on the Slieve Aughty mountains are still waiting for the snow to stop.

Growing uncertainty surrounding the Government’s allocation of €1.5 million in capital funding for the long-awaited new Doolin Coast Guard Rescue Centre has prompted criticism from a number of public representatives.

Disposable income in Clare is below the national average while the number of people signing on the Live Register has increased, according to figures released this week. Nicola Corless examines the affects of the economic decline on people in the Banner County.  

The disposable income of Clare people is now between the 90% and 95% of the national average, while people in Dublin, Kildare, Limerick and Meath had average disposable incomes above the national average.