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AT LEAST three pubs in Lahinch are not allowing stag parties any more, Bill Slattery claimed at this week’s meeting of the Clare Joint Policing Committee.  Just days away from the June Bank Holiday weekend he said he was pleading that a couple of Gardai be provided to Lahinch for the hours between 7pm and 3am on Bank Holiday weekends over the summer. “People are afraid to drive through the area at that hour,” he claimed. Mr Slattery said that at the moment Ennistymon Garda Station is closed at night time and if there is anti-social behaviour, Gardai have to bring those involved to Kilrush.  Speaking afterwards Mr Slattery said that many young visitors to Lahinch have been noticeably wilder since restrictions ended, and there has been an absence of Gardai at nigh time. “Since the restrictions were lifted there seems to be a different mindset among the stag parties that are coming into Lahinch, they’re coming in large groups …

FOUR young Clare people were waiting between nine and 12 months for an appointment with the Child And Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), new figures have revealed. These figures were released to Councillor Mary Howard following a question tabled at a recent HSE West Forum meeting. Councillor Howard said it is worrying that the four children are waiting between nine and 12 months for a CAMHS appointment. She inquired what is the knock-on impact of being on a waiting list for CAMHS due to the lack of staff. Last April, 45 young people in Clare were awaiting a CAMHS appointment. From this total, 19 were waiting up to three months, 12 from three to six months, 10 from six to nine months and four from nine to twelve months. Maria Bridgeman, Chief Officer, HSE Mid West Community Healthcare, said it is always their intention to provide children with the best possible service they can provide. While someone may be on …

THE crisis at Dublin Airport is due in part to short-term failings, but also flawed aviation policy which saw it cater for approximately seven out of every eight flights into and out of Ireland, according to Clare TD Michael McNamara. “If you put all your eggs into one basket and it breaks then you’ve got a big problem and that’s what the country has done. But the management of human resources at Dublin has also been inadequate, to say the least,” he said. He said that there are policy levers that can be pulled to rebalance aviation, taking pressure off Dublin and giving more traffic to the other airports that need it. “You could set a cap on the number of flights going into Dublin Airport or alternatively you could set maximum percentages. “For airlines, you could say that a maximum of 75% of your flights can be into Dublin, so if you have 100 flights a week you have …

THE Walsh family in Kilrush whose treaured Ann was murdered in 2005 have given emotional and personal interviews as part of a TG4 series that airs next Wednesday. The latest in the Marú inár measc, true crime documentary series by Midas Productions for TG4, features the Walsh family who recall the night Ann was murdered and how this tragedy has changed them profoundly. On August 24 2005, Ann was strangled by her former boyfriend, Raymond Donovan in the grounds of the local church in Kilrush. Shortly after 1am in the morning, the Walshes woke to the devastating news that their beloved daughter and sister had been murdered. Gardaí arrested the man who committed the crime at the scene. Despite confessing to killing Ann, Raymond Donovan remained defiant when Gardaí charged him with her murder, however he was found guilty after a short period of time and sentenced to life. Although Donovan was convicted of Ann’s murder he remains one step …

THE reopening of society has contributed to a surge in reported crime in Clare, the joint policing committee heard this week. Among the headline figures were a 90% increase in burglaries; a 105% increase in thefts from shops; a 59% increase in detections of drink/drug driving and a 34% increase in domestic disputes. At this week’s meeting of the Clare Joint Policing Committee, Chief Superintendent Sean Colleran said that there have been dramatic increases in some categories of crime in the early part of 2022 compared to 2021. He added however that that was down to the relaxation of Covid restrictions, and the figures are not significantly worse than pre-pandemic. Clare’s most senior garda gave a presentation to the meeting which showed that in the January to April period of last year Clare had just 29 burglaries, but the figure was 55 for the same period of 2022, a rise of 90%. Thefts from shops increased from 55 in the …

The popular waterside tourist route, the Shannon Estuary Way, which incorporates Counties Clare and Limerick, is to benefit from a new promotional website. Officially launched by Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Patrick O’Donovan www.shannonestuaryway.ie was developed from collaborative work between business and community representatives right around the Shannon Estuary Way. The initial funding for the project came through Clare County Council to the Labasheeda Le Chéile Group, to support the development of cycling routes in Labasheeda. However, the group, a number of whom were participating on the Shannon Estuary Way Destination Development programme, saw the opportunity to create a greater platform to promote the Shannon Estuary Way as a whole, and better support local businesses and communities. Work began in November and a number of sub-groups focused on developing content under the key promotional areas for the Shannon Estuary Way, which include Heritage, Wellness, Cycling and Water. Manus McGee as chairperson headed the Shannon …

THE closing off of the entrance to the Cluainin apartments at Tullyvarraga could result in a death, so difficult does it make access for emergency vehicles, the May meeting of local councillors heard. In a motion before the meeting, Fianna Fáil’s Pat O’Gorman said, “I’m calling on this Municipal District to reopen the entrance to Cluainin apartments as a matter of health and safety. “There are a lot of residential care facilities within the above address, which call on emergency services on a more regular basis. “When there is an emergency and the Eircode is given out the ambulance is not directed to the house but to the entrance that has been closed off by Clare County Council. “The entrance has to be reopened or at the very least in the meantime the maps should be updated.” However a report from Senior Executive Planner Gareth Ruane explained the reasoning. “The Cluainin housing development received planning permission to use a temporary …

BOGUS tradesmen who are travelling to Clare and ripping off vulnerable people should be banned from entering the county, said Deputy Cathal Crowe at Monday’s meeting of the Clare Joint Policing Committee. He said one group of what he called “bogus tradesmen” from the North Kerry area have been in Clare since last winter. “They don’t operate that covertly at all,” he warned. Deputy Crowe said they had been in his own area of South East Clare, in Kilrush and in Gort, and distributed the same advertising material in each area. He said they charge for work that they fail to carry out correctly and that they are “cleaning out older people to the tune of tens of thousands”. Detective Inspector Padraic Frawley said that in many cases the victims of such crimes had been among the most vulnerable members of the community. He said there had been fewer than ten such cases reported over the last few years, but …