News

SHANNON is set to receive a jobs boost with Ryanair about to do a deal to take on a hangar locally, with 150-200 jobs set to be created in aircraft maintenance and repair. It is understood that Shannon Group and Ryanair are on the brink of signing a contract under which Ryanair would take on the hangar, which had previously been used by Lufthansa, but has been vacant of late. Securing the business with Ryanair would be seen as a coup for Shannon Group, while the jobs to be created would largely be skilled and well paid. In recent years there has been a concerted effort to develop Shannon as a hub for aviation related companies, and there are now more than 80 of them in the area, with thousands employed.

HAVING had a base in Ennis since 1974, Vitalograph is set to announce an expansion next week. The expansion is actually being announced at a press conference in Limerick on Monday morning, and it seems likely that the announcement will largely focus on the creation of new jobs in Limerick, particularly as Mayor of Limerick Daniel Butler has been invited and his opposite number in Clare had not been this week. However, a source close to the company said there will also be some good news for Ennis, although they wouldn’t be drawn on what that might consist of. Vitalograph is a global provider of respiratory diagnostic products and clinical drug trial services. Its headquarters are in the UK, but it has had an R&D, engineering and manufacturing facility here for nearly 50 years. Accounts produced for Vitalograph Ireland for 2020 stated, “The directors acknowledge the financial performance for the financial year and consider that the operating profit of €770,624 …

FORMER county manager Joe Boland passed away last week in his hundreth year and following his death, there have been many tributes paid to him and the contribution he made to Clare. Lissycasey’s PJ Kelly has been a county councillor since 1974 and for the first nine years of his career he dealt regularly with Mr Boland, who he said had been responsible for several great innovations, which improved the quality of life for many people in Clare. “He arrived in the 1960s and at that stage there were a lot of thatched houses in Ennis. He was involved in four major improvement schemes at the Turnpike, St Michael’s, Marian Avenue and Hermitage. “As far as rural Clare was concerned he was a step ahead of his time. He arranged a water scheme from Doolough Lake which served most of west Clare, it was one of the biggest schemes in the country at the time.” “Then in 1978 he brought …

ANALYSIS by a car history check company has revealed a significant amount of imported cars being driven in Clare that have been salvaged or written-off despite being sold as “all clear”. An investigation by MotorCheck.ie estimates the market value of these so-called ‘Zombie’ cars in the Banner County to be as high as €7m. The company identified 39,336 such vehicles with a total market value of €318 million being driven on Irish roads and has conceded that the true figure may be even higher. Examples of Zombie cars were found currently for sale privately and on dealers’ forecourts with ‘All Clear’ histories. Despite the introduction of new Brexit-linked import charges, the number of vehicles imported from the UK to the Republic of Ireland remains high. In 2021 over 83,000 vehicles have been imported with a total of 457,000 coming across the water over the past four years. In an effort to understand the prevalence of Zombie vehicles (those brought back …

The Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Mr Malcolm Noonan has announced that €29,520 will be allocated to archaeological heritage projects in Clare under his Department’s 2022 Community Monuments Fund. The three Clare projects are Kilofin Church, south west of Labasheeda, which will receive €9,102; Templemaley Church, Ballyalla, which will also receive €9,102; and finally Kilchreest Chuch, Carrowkilla, which will get €11,316. The core objective of the Community Monuments Fund is to support the conservation, maintenance, protection and promotion of local monuments and historic sites. It contains a number of different measures aimed at enabling conservation works to be carried out on archaeological monuments which are deemed to be significant and in need of urgent support, encouraging access to archaeological monuments and improving their presentation and also building resilience in archaeological monuments to enable them to withstand the effects of climate change. Minister Noonan said “I am delighted to announce the Community Monuments Fund awards for 2022. The …

IT WAS a fairytale at Fairyhouse this week for one Clare man who watched his horse romp to victory in Ireland’s biggest race. Owner Pat Blake has admitted he might need a few days yet to come down from the clouds after seeing his Lord Lariat take the BoyleSports Irish Grand National on Easter Monday. The Kilkee man told the Clare Champion, “We’re a bit on the hoarse side after it. We knew there was a big day in him and he picked a good day to do it, it was brilliant, we had a great day.” The horse was brought down from his County Meath stable this Wednesday to parade in front of a big crowd in the seaside town with those that supported him at 40-1, and bigger, most vocal in their appreciation. Pat watched Monday’s drama unfold in the Fairyhouse parade ring accompanied by family and friends and trainer Dermot McLoughlin and there were joyous scenes as …

UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick has set an unwanted new record today with 126 patients being treated on trolleys at the Dooradoyle hospital. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has called for an emergency plan to be activated for UHL in the wake of the figures the highest number of patient overcrowding in any Irish hospital since the INMO began its TrolleyWatch in 2006. A spokesperson for the INMO said the level of overcrowding “is dangerous for patients and staff and requires an immediate hospital group-wide response”. The number of patients on trolleys in UHL this Thursday makes up over 28% of the total number of patients on trolleys across the country today (442 patients). INMO Assistant Director of Industrial Relations, Mary Fogarty said, “The fact that we are seeing a record number of patients on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick on the 21st of April means that the bed management system is completely broken. “The INMO has been sounding the alarm …

THE CHAIR of Clare County Council has asked that Shannon Airport be marketed as “the gateway to the Wild Atlantic Way”. At the April meeting of the local authority, Councillor PJ Ryan called on the Council to request Shannon Group, Clare Tourism, Fáilte Ireland and other tourism-related bodies to undertake the marketing initiative. A written reply from Deirdre O’Shea, Acting Head of Tourism said that the success of Fáilte Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way brand “presents a unique opportunity for the marketing of Shannon Airport”. “The Clare Tourism Advisory Forum, as an industry stakeholder-led forum comprises of representatives from Clare Tourism Department, Tourism businesses and State agencies, to include Fáilte Ireland and Shannon Group, meets on a bi-monthly basis,” the response said. “The marketing of Shannon Airport is a recurring agenda item. This facilitates all partners on the forum working collaboratively to ensure that Shannon Airport and air connectivity to the West of Ireland receives continued priority through collaborative marketing nationally …