News

Legendary fantasy writer Terry Pratchett will visit Clare later this year it has been confirmed. Mr Pratchett, multi-million selling author of the Discworld series of books, will be the guest of honour at the first Irish Discworld Convention, which is being held in the county in November.

IF agreement on the future of Element Six and the severance package for departing workers isn’t reached by the end of September, the survival plan will be taken off the table and 370 jobs will be lost, as was originally planned, the company’s CEO Cyrus Jilla has said. This week, after sending a letter to employees regarding the situation, Mr Jilla granted interviews to two Irish publications, one of which was The Clare Champion, and he said he is frustrated with the lack of progress being made on the plan to save 163 jobs. He also claimed to be “astonished” that more urgency isn’t being shown by certain union figures.

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THE Mayor of Ennis, Frankie Neylon has warned that ghettoes could be created in the county capital if “coloured people” are given social housing very close to each other. He was speaking at a meeting of Ennis Town Council, where calls were made to allow councillors an input into the allocation of social housing in the town.“I know of one place where there were six coloured people allocated houses. I have no problem with this; they are excellent tenants. But I would not like to see a situation like in other counties where people are leaving their houses. That could create a ghetto,” Councillor Neylon commented.

Kilkee’s famous horseshoe beach, which is running out of sand, was described as “more of a garden than a beach, in parts of it,” at Monday’s meeting of Kilkee Town Council.Councillor Elaine Haugh-Hayes made the comment following news that the Tivoli Cup racquet tournament, which was won by the late actor Richard Harris four times in a row (1948-1951), is to be held this weekend for the first time since 1993.

A MAJOR question mark hangs over Clare County Council’s ownership of its central waste facility in Inagh, following a 70% drop in the amount of waste being land-filled for the first eight months of the year.Closure, leasing the facility, leasing to sell or maintaining the facility as a recycling centre are options currently being considered by Clare County Council in the wake of falling waste volumes.

A Limerick man who was in a canoe that capsized was pulled to safety last Monday evening in Shannon.Terence Briggs was out hunting close to Illaunmanagh with teenager Kyle Harney when he saw the man struggling. He swam out into the estuary to bring the canoeist to dry land.

IN a letter to Element Six staff this week, the company’s CEO, Cyrus Jilla, warned that there is a need for speedy action on the implementation of the sustainability plan. “I believe there are many of you who wish to discuss the plan, want to see it successful and want to maintain an attractive job at Element Six in Shannon for many years.“For whatever reason, a vocal minority of you and some of your union representatives have slowed down this process at every juncture,” he claimed.