News

THE distance between Quilty and Croke Park is 173 miles. On March 17, Kilmurry-Ibrickane supporters should make it there in about three and a half hours.If the journey time glides by as enjoyably as the hour it took Kilmurry to dismantle Portlaoise in the Gaelic Grounds last Sunday, the Kilmurry cavalcade could walk backwards to Dublin and probably still make Croke Park for the 3.45pm throw-in on St Patrick’s Day. Never in the history of Clare GAA has a football team from the county nailed down their place in an All–Ireland final, 17 minutes before the semi–final has finished. When Noel Downes stroked home Kilmurry’s goal 13 minutes into the second half, Kilmurry knew they had made it. Nine points ahead and with two men more than Portlaoise, they had secured a Clare place in an All–Ireland football final for the first time since the county’s minors were beaten in the 1953 decider. Ten years ago, the then Kilmurry U-14 …

CLARE patients face longer waiting times for surgical procedures, futher day bed closures and a reduction in community services following a €18.532 million cutback in the budget for local services, a nursing union has claimed.

MOTORISTS in Clare have been labelled “the worst in the country” after two-thirds admitted crashing because they were either texting, emailing or applying make-up at the wheel.

CLARE TD Tony Killeen has said he would be “very honoured” if he were elevated to Cabinet following the departure of Willie O’Dea. The Kilnaboy man is Paddy Power’s favourite to be the next Minister for Defence, at odds of 2/1, ahead of Peter Power who is at 9/4.

A DRAMATIC overhaul in the provision of community psychiatric services including the provision of a new state-of-the-art dementia facilities for complex cases in Ennis will be provided next April, the Health Service Executive has confirmed.

SURFACE upgrade and strengthening work on between 100 and 120 kilometres of roads throughout Clare will have to be postponed following a €450,000 reduction in funding from the Department of the Environment.

A MAJOR Clare sports organisation is considering implementing a quality assurance policy for mass participation events like marathons and cycle races in the county.

REPRESENTATIVES of the various local authorities in the Mid-West have come together to request that some of the millions raised from the €10 air travel tax be used for the development of an international cargo hub at Shannon.