News

SHANNON Airport lost a huge amount of revenue after being effectively closed from last Thursday to Tuesday.

AER Lingus passengers may have been shocked by the media scrum that assembled to record their return to Ireland from Tenerife on Tuesday evening. TV cameras, photographers and reporters were in Shannon following the arrival of the first plane into Ireland since the previous Thursday.

CLARE County Council’s management of Traveller accommodation in Ennis is under the spotlight again this week after vandals caused thousands of euros worth of damage to a halting site near the town bypass.

A NEW reconfiguration forum with an independent chairman, including all disciplines of healthcare in the Mid-West, should be established to plan for the future of acute hospital services in the region.

OVER €3 million has been allocated to Clare County Council under the 2010 Rural Water Programme to complement the work already undertaken to further improve the quality of drinking water in communities across the county.

GETTING people on the dole to work 19½ hours a week for their money, was suggested by the new Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív, as he met with Fianna Fáil members in Ennis last Friday.The minister stressed that what he was saying wasn’t policy as yet, but was something to be looked at and examined further.He said that the State is spending €2.7 billion on unemployment benefit and a further €1.5 billion on jobseeker’s allowance. “We’re spending €4.2 billion and saying stay at home and do nothing,” he said.The minister said that getting people to work 19½ hours a week would have a number of benefits. “It’s a win for the community, it’s a win for the genuine guy as he has something to do and it’s a win because it’s calling the bluff of people involved in scams.” He said that people could be given work in their local area.He also said that normal working practices would …

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley may have to face down disgruntled members of the public when he arrives in Ennis on Friday to officially open the town’s new water treatment plant at Drumcliff.

I imagine most people outside the Labour Party will dismiss Eamon Gilmore’s dream of becoming Taoiseach and leading the largest party after the next election as so much pie in the sky.