News

THE dispute over redundancy terms at Element Six could come to an end in the next week.Unions and management are due to meet under the auspices of the Labour Court this Thursday and the court is likely to issue its recommendations in the coming days.

A BUS used by the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) to provide transport to people with disabilities in rural areas has been vandalised for the second time in six weeks. Last weekend one of the specially equipped buses had its front windscreen smashed and its side wing mirror pulled off the vehicle while it was parked outside the Clare’s offices of the IWA at Centre Point Business Park, Orchard Lane, Ennis.

WORLD Suicide Prevention Day was marked in Ennis last Thursday by Mayor Frankie Neylon, who lit a candle at the Samaritans Centre on the Kilrush Road. The lighting of the candle was to symbolise the support the Samaritans offers to people during the darker times of their lives.

Forty key members of the Illinois Senate and House of Representatives are in Clare this week to explore new business and nurture tourism links between the US and Irish Mid-West regions.

CITYJET have announced that its Shannon-Charles De Gaulle route, which was introduced after the loss of the Aer Lingus Heathrow service two years ago, will be terminated from October 24. The Charles De Gaulle service offered the global connectivity that had been provided by the Heathrow route prior to its termination.

ECONOMIST and NAMA critic Dr Anthony Leddin, has told an Ennis business meeting that bank lending fuelled the housing bubble and that it was more extreme here than in any other EU country. The head of the Department of Economics at the University of Limerick said the dependence of the banks on foreign borrowing was greater than in other countries, with the exception of Iceland. He criticised the Central Bank for failing to exert its authority, stating it was “asleep at the switch”.

Numbers visiting Clare’s flagship tourism attractions at the Cliffs of Moher as well as Bunratty Castle and Folk Park tumbled last year, figures just released by Fáilte Ireland reveal.

A total of 11,687 motorists in Clare currently have penalty points endorsed on their driving licenses, with seven drivers having been disqualified from driving as they reached the maximum of 12 penalty points.