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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 …

THE plight of residents of Clare housing estates caught up in red tape over wastewater services has been raised by Senator Róisín Garvey. The Green Party member highlighted in particular the situation at Westcoast View at the Crosses of Annagh in West Clare. “The people there have been waiting many years for the estate to be taken in charge,” she told Minister of State, Thomas Byrne. “At this stage they have been waiting nine years. It has its own wastewater treatment plant and the position of Irish Water is that it is not responsible for taking in charge of developer-provided water services infrastructure. “Clare County Council can no longer legally take a private wastewater treatment plant, WWTP, in charge as it is no longer a water services authority. How will we remedy this situation? “From doing lots of research and from many emails over and back it seems a number of estates in west Clare are in the same predicament, …

MARKING the conclusion of months of local fundraising efforts, Crusheen GAA grounds will be the venue for a sports and social evening from 5pm to 7pm on this Saturday. For the last six months locals have been selling tickets to a draw for a car, the raffle for which will take place in Clarke’s Bar later in the evening. The sports and social evening will see music from Tim Collins & Friends, dancers from Starlight School of dancing, and fun events like underage long puck, football crossbar challenge and a parish tug of war. Pat O’Sullivan is chairman of Crusheen GAA club and he said a huge fundraising effort has been put in, as plans for a new astroturf move towards completion. “Crusheen is experiencing very large population growth, there’s a lot of housing being developed, and the community is coming together to develop appropriate facilities. “We’ve created a new entity called the Crusheen Sports Arena and Community Hub. We …

UL Hospitals Group has notified of “significant” reductions in scheduled care in effect across its facilities as it continues to manage high volumes of patients through its Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick (UHL). The hospital raised its level of escalation on Monday, May 30, resulting in the deferral of all but the most time-critical elective activity this Tuesday and Wednesday. While outpatient activity at UHL is being restored this Thursday and Friday, almost all elective surgical procedures and diagnostic investigations are deferred for the remainder of this week until Friday, June 3. Elective and day surgery is also impacted at Nenagh Hospital and St John’s Hospital until this Friday. A spokesperson said, “We regret that some patients will have their surgery deferred and all affected patients are being contacted directly by hospital staff. Patients attending for day surgery at Ennis Hospital are advised to attend as planned for the remainder of this week unless contacted directly by the hospital …

DUBLIN Airport’s dominance of Irish aviation has seen other airports, including Shannon, decline or stagnate for years, but now that Dublin can’t cope, Sinn Féín wants the employees from competitors to save it. On Morning Ireland this Wednesday, its Transport spokesman Darren O’Rourke said employees from other airports should be deployed to Dublin. “In the first instance what I would say to the DAA and to Ministers (Eamon) Ryan and (Hildegarde) Naughton, is that they need to look within the resources of Dublin Airport, they need to look within the resources of the DAA group which includes Cork Airport, they also need to look within the resources of airports around the country,” Deputy O’Rourke told the presenter. “What we need is people who have sufficient experience and expertise to work these systems and every available person who has that skill set should be considered at this point in time. It really is a case of an emergency and an emergency …

A CHAINSAW was one of the weapons allegedly produced during a “horrible, unsavoury” incident last Sunday afternoon at an Ennis housing estate. At Ennis District Court after viewing CCTV evidence of the flashpoint at Davitt Terrace, Cloughleigh at 12.30pm last Sunday afternoon, solicitor for three accused men in the case, Daragh Hassett admitted the video “is not Bord Failte material for Ennis”. On Wednesday, Mr Hassett told the court: “It is unsavoury. It is horrible and it shouldn’t have happened but my clients say they are not guilty of the charges before the court.” Mr Hassett said that the CCTV footage produced by the State doesn’t help the State case in the charges against his clients. Mr Hassett said that the footage showed one man with an “active chainsaw” who is not one of his own clients. Objecting to bail against the three accused, Bernard McDonagh (55), Thomas McDonagh (21) and Michael McDonagh (32) all of the unofficial halting site …