News

IT is anticipated that the new Ennis Primary Care Centre will be operational in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a progress update provided by the HSE. Deputy Michael McNamara recently asked the Health Minister Stephen Donnelly when the Ennis Primary Healthcare Centre at Station Road Ennis will be fully operational. The Sonas Medical Centre, which is being operated by Dr Conor Fanning is currently operating out of the new Primary Care Centre. A variety of services will be provided from the new Primary Care Centre when it becomes fully operational. They include public health nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, psychology, speech and language therapy, ophthalmology, audiology, podiatry, lymphoedema, dental, chronic diseases management, integrated care programme for older persons, community diagnostics and TUSLA. Deputy McNamara also asked Minister Donnelly the status of the recruitment of specialist roles at the proposed chronic disease management hub and when will the hub become fully operational. Mid-West Community Healthcare has been funded …

THE Soccer Sisters, a social soccer club in Ennis, came out in force for Rape Crisis Midwest recently. The club organised a Charity Soccer Blitz featuring several teams from across County Clare raising €5,000. The club, which has a large membership of women, is a relatively newly established soccer team and community is at the heart of the club. The teams took part in a Round Robin type tournament at the astro turf at Planet Entertainment, Ennis, last Saturday week, July 2. It was very much a family affair with children, parents and partners joining in to support the players, to hand out food and refreshments and to present the prizes. The winning team was Bunratty Cratloe with Bridge Celtic FC in second position and the hosts Soccer Sisters finishing third. Laura Thompson of Soccer Sister explained, “Fifty-seven fantastic women took part on the day, 46 matches over six hours. I would like to thank the coaches, referees and volunteers …

THE number of people signing on the live register in Clare has increased by 17% in June compared to May. Statistics for last month show that there were 4,587 people signing on in Clare, compared to 3,899 in May.  In Ennis there were 2,303 on the live register, up by 289 on May. In Ennistymon there were 923, up from 658 in May. Kilrush saw an increase from 649 to 723, while Tulla went from 578 to 638. The numbers signing on in Clare were 383 higher than June of last year, but the Pandemic Unemployment was still in existence at that stage. Clare has received a substantial number of refugees since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and some of these may have been included in the figures. Commenting on the national figures, Morgan O’Donnell, statistician in the Labour Market Analysis Section, said: “The unadjusted Live Register total for June 2022 was 186,819. When seasonal effects are considered, the seasonally …

PLANS for the development of a new dedicated economic crime unit in Clare are still on track, a local Garda chief has revealed. In an interview with the Clare Champion, Chief Superintendent of the Clare Garda Division, Seán Colleran, confirmed economic crime is currently being investigated by the Detective Unit. However, Superintendent Colleran said gardai are planning the establishment of an economic crime unit and as part of their continued focus on economic crime and fraud. This new task force was mooted after an increase in fraud crimes in the county in the last quarter of 2021. “We don’t have the new economic crime unit formally established yet, it is part of the crime unit. This is something we are looking at, which is resource dependent. This is something we want to achieve, but this doesn’t mean we are not investigating economic crime now,” said the Chief Superintendent. “To have a specific economic crime unit within the overall crime unit, …

ANGER has greeted a decision by Aer Lingus to cut back on its services from Heathrow to Shannon Airport, this week, in order to meet the London airport’s new rules on passenger numbers. Senator Timmy Dooley has expressed his frustration at decision of Aer Lingus to pull the 7.20pm daily Shannon to Heathrow flight for this week. The Irish airline had said Aer Lingus decided that the flight being cut this week will be the 7.20pm service from Heathrow to Shannon. The service is the last of the day to Shannon. Anyone looking to travel to Shannon this week from Heathrow will only have the options of the 9.20am or the 2.45pm service. All airlines were told to cut flights from Heathrow in order to bring the number of outgoing passengers moving through the airport down to 100,000 a day between now and September. “Shannon Airport has again lost out as aviation decision makers continue their obsession with Dublin Airport,” …

AN ENNIS Councillor has hit out at “anti-social criminals” creating havoc in their own homes and neighbourhoods.  In a motion tabled at the July meeting of the local authority, Councillors Johnny Flynn, Clare Colleran Molloy and Pat Daly, called for a “multi-agency emergency response team” to address the problem. They also sought greater protection for the children living in homes with those engaging in anti-social behaviour.   Councillor Flynn said that despite the great work of the Council’s tenancy enforcement unit, there are “communities in crisis”. “This is because of a very small number of  people,” he said, “who are basically criminals and getting away with it. The tenancy team is already answering around 500 calls a month and doing an extraordinary job, but there are people living in terrible situations, locked into mortgages, who cannot move away from these issues.” Councillor Colleran Molloy pointed out that the tenancy enforcement team is not a permanent one. “We want the tenancy …

MEMBERS of the regional health forum for the Midwest are being urged to make the case for the restoration of services at Ennis General, when they meet senior hospital officials next week.  In a statement, the Midwest Hospital Campaign, Clare, outlined that a meeting is to take place next Tuesday (July 19) between the management of University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and forum members representing Clare, Limerick and Tipperary. It follows a unanimous call for the restoration of Emergency Department (ED) services in Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s in Limerick, at the May meeting of the HSE West Regional Health Forum. The request for a follow-up meeting was made by Clare Green Councillor Liam Grant and Tipperary Independent Councillor Séamie Morris. “The Midwest Hospital Campaign Clare calls on all members of the forum to use this opportunity to advance the case to upgrade Ennis Hospital, to a model 3, which would mean the return of  24/7 Emergency Department to the county,” …

POPULATION projections in the forthcoming County Development Plan have been described as “utterly redundant”, on foot of new Census data.  Addressing the July meeting of the local authority, Councillor Cillian Molloy pointed to figures showing a population increase in Clare of 7.2% since 2016. Meanwhile, the plan allows growth of 9.94% up to 2029. In light of that, Councillor Murphy had asked that clarity be sought from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR). Referring to a response from the OPR, which said it had no comment to make, Councillor Murphy was sharply critical.  “We have already reached 75% of our future projected population growth out to 2029 even  before submissions to the draft have been taken into consideration and the unelected body, who will run a rule over what we are told repeatedly is our County Development Plan, will not offer us any clarity as to what we can do …