News

ILLEGAL dumping at Clare Abbey, one of the county’s most historic sites, has been described as “soul destroying”. A meeting of the Ennis Municipal District this week saw Councillor Clare Colleran Molloy ask that the Clare Abbey Task Force Group be recalled and a meeting organised to address a number of concerns raised about the national monument. She described “ongoing” problems of fly tipping and anti-social behaviour at the abbey on the outskirts of Ennis saying a meeting of the taskforce is needed. A recalled meeting of the taskforce should also focus on accounting by the municipal district as to the recording of “dumping” complaints lodged, and action steps taken to address these complaints. The meeting would also help identify concrete proposals to improve “this longtime ongoing unacceptable situation”. The councillor outlined that a previous meeting of the taskforce was attended by representatives of the OPW, council and local interested bodies. She said that illegal dumping in the area is …

Dan Danaher on the comprehensive victim impact statement of Aimee Foley following her father’s conviction and sentencing for raping and abusing her An Ennistymon woman who was sexually abused and raped by her own father has described him as a “monster, paedophile and an animal”. In fact, Aimee Foley outlined in her Victim Impact Statement read out in the Central Criminal Court calling Michael O’Donoghue an animal is “an insult to the animal kingdom because no animal on the planet could have and would have done what you did to me”. “You stole, spat on and destroyed by soul, my childhood. You stabbed me in my heart with your betrayal, your malice. You have ruined me. “I hope you are happy knowing you broke your own child. I won’t allow this though. I won’t allow your manipulation to keep me restrained, to overpower me. I will beat you. I will learn to overcome what you did to me. I will …

Dan Danaher speaks with Aimee Foley who waived her right to anonymity following her father’s conviction and sentencing for raping and sexually abusing her AN ENNISTYMON woman, who was sexually abused, raped and traumatised by her father for years, is seeking changes in the sentencing regime for people convicted of domestic violence, rape and serious sexual assault. On December 13, Michael O’Donoghue (44) from Ennistymon was sentenced to five years for brutally raping and abusing his only daughter. Setting a headline sentence of 12 years, Mr Justice David Keane reduced it to seven years, taking mitigating factors into account and then suspended the final two years. O’Donoghue, with an address of Colmanstown, Ballinasloe, Co Galway, pleaded guilty to 31 counts of sexually assaulting Aimee Foley, one count of raping her and one count of producing child pornography. In her comprehensive victim impact statement, she described her father as “a monster, a paedophile, an animal”. The Director of Public Prosecutions has …

OVERCROWDING surged again in University Hospital Limerick this week close to record levels following recent calls for an independent inquiry into why this continues to be a problem at the region’s flagship acute hospital. The number of patients on trolleys increased from 63 on Tuesday to 89 on Wednesday after 78 patients were waiting for a bed on Monday, according to the INMO’s Trolley Watch. An Taoiseach Micheál Martin has pledged to ask Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to set up an independent inquiry into chronic overcrowding in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) after two record-breaking days of trolley numbers last week. Surging admissions, which resulted in 97 patients languishing on trolleys in UHL on Tuesday, January 25 and 111 on Wednesday, January 26 have prompted calls for an independent inquiry into overcrowding. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Taoiseach to commission an official independent inquiry to establish “what is the problem with healthcare in the UHL Hospitals’ Group”. The Taoiseach said there …

IRELAND finds itself in a prime position to be a global leader in climate action, and that position may find its beginning off the coast of Clare, writes Conor Colhessy. That’s according to Councillor Joe Killeen who pointed out the combination of west coast wind and Moneypoint infrastructure that puts Clare in a leading position. The European Union aims to be climate-neutral by 2050, becoming an economy with net-zero greenhouse gases, an objective at the heart of the European Green Deal. In order to substitute the use of fossil fuels, the EU proposes to use its own natural resources instead – the west coast of Ireland records the highest wind speeds in the entire Union. Councillor Killeen told the recent west Clare municipal district meeting: “This isn’t a competition with the east coast of Ireland, but obviously it is. We do have the one huge advantage in that we have a link from Moneypoint to all parts of Ireland for …

EMOTIONS ran high among those gathered at The Height in Ennis on Saturday for a rally to highlight the problem of pyrite in homes across the county. One West Clare homeowner urged everyone to stand up to the discrimination this county faces as it continues to be excluded from the State-backed redress scheme. Addressing the 200-strong gathering Linda O’Callaghan, who lives in Cooraclare, spoke of her anger and frustration. Her home has had extensive testing to prove the presence of defective material in the blocks, after she noticed severe cracks emerging some years ago. “Every single person living in County Clare should be livid with anger,” she said. “This Government is riding roughshod over the people of County Clare. This Government is discriminating against the people of County Clare and all the residents of County Clare, not just those with pyrite in their houses. “My house has pyrite. My house has cracks. My house has been assessed by an IS465-qualified …

MORE than 130 landowners in the Killaloe Municipal District have been contacted and reminded about their obligations to maintain hedges while the season is open until the end of February. The figure was revealed at last week’s meeting of the district committee, on foot of a motion from Councillor Pat Burke. The Whitegate member sought an update after raising the issue previously last November. There was widespread support when Councillor Burke raised the matter and told the meeting that drivers, particularly those in high-sided vehicles, were losing windscreens and wing mirrors on a regular basis.  In a written response to Councillor Burke, Niamh Madden, Senior Executive Engineer, said many landowners had complied with correspondence from the authority, but that a number of them had not.  “Between September 2021 and December 2021, one hundred and thirty five letters have been sent by the Killaloe Municipal District to land owners/occupiers outlining their obligations under under S70 of the Roads Act 1993 and …

MODEL plane enthusiast Michael Kelly whose collection is housed at Shannon Airport, met with Hollywood star John Travolta when he made a recent visit, writes Owen Ryan. Michael’s collection is one of the largest in the world, developed over several decades and it has been housed at Shannon Airport for the last three years, with many passengers stopping to take a look. On Saturday he met with the Pulp Fiction and Saturday Night Fever star at Travolta’s request. “Besides acting, he loves his aviation,” said Michael. “He was coming into Shannon Airport, and I’d be out there with model aviation and he had seen bits and pieces about me on YouTube. He wanted to see the gallery and catch up with me if he possibly could,” Michael told the Champion. “There’s a man working in the airport who was looking after his aircraft. He had a chat with him and he asked if he could possibly go up and see …