News

A SOUTH Galway survivor of coercive control has called on the Justice Minister to change the law on protection and barring orders to safeguard people who have suffered abuse, writes Dan Danaher. Sourney Linnane believes a barring order should be attached to any person who has suffered abuse and should not be tied to a particular address. The mother-of-three previously got a barring order prohibiting her former partner Kilrush man, Martin Mulqueen from visiting her at Bawn Street, Roscommon. This order, however, is non-transferable and she feels it is now effectively useless, having moved to another part of the West of Ireland. Martin Mulqueen (53), Ballynote, Kilrush, but with an address in Bawn Street, Strokestown, Co Roscommon, was the third person to be jailed for coercive control in Ireland. In March 2021, Mulqueen received a combined sentence of 54 months, with the final 20 months suspended for four years. The sentence was backdated to the time he went into custody. …

A man has died after he was swept out to sea while walking along the shoreline in West Clare this afternoon, reports Pat Flynn. A major search and rescue operation was mounted after the alarm was raised at around 2.15pm. Watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue sub centre on Valentia Island in Kerry launched and coordinated a multi-agency search and rescue operation in an area north of Kilkee. The Kilkee unit of the Irish Coast Guard; the Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter – Rescue 115 – the Aran Islands RNLI lifeboat; National Ambulance Service and Gardaí were requested to respond. The exact details of the circumstances surrounding the tragedy are not yet known however, it’s understood that the man in his 30s had been out walking on the shoreline near Farrihy Bay north of Kilkee when he lost his footing and and fell into the sea. Emergency services responded to the area by land, air and sea and …

LOCAL Councillors gave their backing to the Shannon Town Masterplan at a meeting this week. The masterplan has provoked a lot of local discussion in recent months, and was the subject of many submissions from the public after the initial draft became public. At Tuesday’s meeting director of services Liam Conneally said that there are two aspects to delivering the plan, one being statutory and one related to funding. He said that the plan will yet have to be incorporated into a review of the County Development Plan. Regarding funding, he said that Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage ahd rejected an application for URDF funding for the Venue development, due to concerns about the location and with making a significant State investment without the masterplan being completed. “The Masterplan is now nearing completion and a new funding application will be made to the Department in 2022,” he added. He said that the Department are anxious that an application …

THE notorious Brennan’s Cross in Meelick is an “accident waiting to happen”, a local Dáil Deputy has claimed. Deputy Joe Carey has called on Clare County Council to realign Brennan’s Cross in the interest of road safety as well as providing public lighting, footpaths and infrastructure from the Knockalisheen Centre back into Meelick. The Fine Gael Deputy has made representations to the council for road improvement works in Meelick following a recent visit to the area with Councillor John Crowe. Several residents had been in touch with Deputy Carey in relation to the dangers posed to pedestrians, cyclist and motorist using both Brennan’s Cross and the Knockalisheen Road. Deputy Carey warned these issues will be exacerbated when the new road linking Coonagh to the Knockalisheen Road, which is currently under construction as part of Phase One of the Limerick Northern Distributor Road, is open to traffic. “It’s my understanding that a section of the Knockalisheen Road is planned to close …

AFTER five decades of reporting the news from Inagh, Flan Garvey has handed on the mantle of notes correspondent and is just beginning a well-earned retirement.  A retired school principal, Flan has been at the heart of local news and notes for almost 50 years. He was Inagh’s very first notes correspondent, after spotting a gap in The Clare Champion’s coverage in the early 1970s.  “I was a very young, enthusiastic teacher in the parish and joined the staff of Gortbofarna National School in 1965,” he outlined. “In 1973, I started at the national school Inagh and was there until I retired. I was an avid reader of The Champion and noticed that some areas had notes and details of local events. I approached Frank O’Dea, the editor at the time and Flan Galvin, the owner, with a view to starting the Inagh notes. They said, ‘Yes, by all means’ and it took off from there. I suppose I wanted …

WORK has finished on a new documentary on the death of North Clare woman Emer O’Loughlin, which will be broadcast on TG4 in May. A talented artist, Emer was 23 years of age when her body was discovered in a burnt out mobile home at Ballybornagh, Tubber on April 8, 2005. Subsequent forensic tests showed that she was murdered. Seventeen years on there still has not been a conviction. A man named John Griffin, who lived close to Emer and her partner, is someone that Gardai wish to speak to about the matter. Following an incident on Inis Mór shortly after her death, he was taken into custody by Gardai, and subsequently brought into psychiatric care in Ballinasloe. However, he was allowed to leave a few days later, went back to the Aran Islands and is thought to have attempted to fake his own death there. He is subsequently known to have travelled from London to Germany. Gardai believe he …

CONCERNS have been raised by planners over the amount of housing development in Crusheen, given the level of community, educational and commercial services currently available.  The Council outlined that view in a Further Information (FI) request to developers who are seeking permission for the fourth large-scale housing estate in the village in recent years. The authority warned that the intensity of housing development proposed may not be suited to the village.  Woodhaven Developments lodged plans last December for 42 more homes on a site on the Gort side of Crusheen. The company said the estate represented the next phase of a masterplan for lands close to the village centre, that are zoned for mixed use and transport utilities. While Woodhaven said the plan was in line with the target of boosting Crusheen’s population, planners have now warned that appropriate services may not be in place to serve additional housing. In a detailed FI request, planners said that when three housing …

THERE has been “huge demand” for first year places at St Flannan’s College in Ennis, with the school confirming that extra places have now been made available. An additional 24 first year places are being offered at the secondary school, principal Fr Ignatius McCormack confirmed this week. In a statement, he said, “Due to the huge demand for first year places at St Flannan’s Killaloe Diocesan College the Patron and Board of Management of St Flannan’s College has revised our intake for this year. “Following a careful review of our teacher allocation and our accommodation provision we are in a position to offer a further 24 places in the first year class, bringing the total number to 240. “These extra places will be allocated in line with our admissions policy which can be viewed on our school website www.stflannanscollege.ie.”